Have you heard about it?
Are you ready to get started?
Do you know how to take part?
It’s called the You Economy. Freelance economy. On-demand economy. Gig economy. And the Knowledge economy. However you label it, it all means the same thing.
It’s a piece of the economy that you own and control-full time or part time-you determine your life.
How it Works and Why it’s Powerful
There have always been entrepreneurs, and earning a second income isn’t new.
But the You economy is taking off thanks to the internet, technology and a change in mindset.
With technology you can easily:
- conduct meetings via videoconferencing
- share documents through various software and apps
- digitally download books, music, photos and videos
- sell and ship goods on-line for delivery everyplace
- take courses and earn a degree
- find and bid on freelance work
- source your products from overseas
All of this gives you, the self-employed, the power to conduct business from anywhere at anytime with relatively little cost. The whole world can find you on-line and buy your products and services.
The really cool part, it doesn’t require a full-time presence. If you don’t want to, or can’t leave a job, you can still participate. Schedule time around your full-time employment.
Pursue your business on weekends, after work, during lunch breaks, or during commute time.
The additional advantage is that you no longer have to do what you did at your job. Instead you can pursue your passion and purpose, use your education, skills, interest or hobbies to do what you love, and get paid.
Economist Paul Zane Pilzer projects that 50% of the US workforce will be participating in the YouEconomy by the year 2020.*
How You Can Participate in the You Economy
Entrepreneurship offers many advantages, see my article-5 Reasons to Be an Entrepreneur Instead of an Employee.
There are many ways you can take part.
Find a need in the market and fill it.
Produce and sell a product or service.
Freelance, if you’re a writer, photographer, graphic designer, virtual assistant, web designer, project managers.
There are plenty of people who can use these services. You can market yourself or sign-up with a freelance website to connect with clients., 99designs and Fiverr are two examples.
If you have a talent to create, you can market your products through your website, or sell through sites such as Amazon, Ebay or Etsy.
Or become an affiliate marketer selling other peoples products for a fee.
If you don’t know what you want to do, you can still take part. Sell your time running errands, offer a delivery service, become a dog walker, or a handyman. There are apps and website that make connecting with customers easy, such as Handy or Taskrabbit.
According to the Burson-Marsteller study, one-third of YouEconomy participants—some 14.4 million people—are making more than 40 percent of their income through YouEconomy endeavors. Nearly 30 million other Americans are supplementing their primary income in this way.*
This two minute video sums it up perfectly.
Self-educate to Fill In the Gaps
Concerned you don’t have enough education or expertise to start or run a business? Feel that without a degree or a certification, you’re not good enough?
There are countless places for self-education to learn what you need to know.
In addition to books, there are both free and paid courses on-line. See 12 Dozen Places to Educate Yourself Online For Free.
Baffled by the business world, click Here for some useful resources that explore the many facets of running a business. Search on Amazon or Google for books, courses, and video series to help fill in your knowledge gaps.
Read daily to keep learning and improving yourself. The only way to excel is to keep learning.
How to Get Started
Once you establish that you want to be part of this You economy, you have a few decisions to make.
First– Ask yourself, what’s your purpose and your passion, what are your dreams, what motivates you, what skills and talents do you have, and how will you make money?
Second– To determine if you can make money, identify your target market, their needs, and how you can fill them.
Check out the competition to see what they’re doing, and get feedback from potential customers. If you don’t know your potential customers, go to relevant on-line forums or Facebook groups and see what they are saying. Listen to their problems and what questions they have, figure out how you can provide a solution.
Third– Define your long-term goal and break that down to more manageable 90 day goals. Create a step-by-step checklist of little actions you need to take, include deadlines, to accomplish your goals.
The most important part-Take action. Don’t wait.
Fourth-Get started by doing the first, necessary task that moves you forward. Then the second and third. Let each action move you to the next and keep going.
Need Some Help?
For an in-depth program that walks you through everything from finding your passion to getting started with a business, check out my FREE e-course, 7 Steps to Creating an Independent Income.
Sign-up and get lessons and worksheets sent to you by e-mail every few days.
*All statistics in this article are from Success magazine, introducing the you economy.
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