What You Need to Thrive in the Gig Economy
If you can summarize what it means to be a freelancer, this is getting pretty close from a new Harvard Business School report:
Unconstrained by managers and corporate norms, people can choose tasks that maximize their talents and reflect their true interests. They feel responsible for what they produce and for their entire professional life … The price of such freedom is insecurity, which, it seems, will not disappear over time.
According to the study, about 150 million workers in North America and Western Europe participate in the gig economy, and while some of these people have joined the ranks of Uber and Uber-like companies, “knowledge-intensive industries and creative professions are the largest and fastest growing segments of the freelancing economy.”
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Greater flexibility is a boon, but trade-offs include unpredictable schedules and finances – you are a creative / business / HR division with one person. You always strive for the next job, manage your budget and existing customer relationships, and remind yourself to put on your pants at some point.
This is a way of working that many of us are not trained to excel in. So what does it take to be successful?
Despite the drive for flexibility that prompted many to leave “full” jobs, a report that examined the habits of 65 giant economists requires structure and habit formation for gig workers to feel productive and efficient. The study points to four connections workers need to develop to thrive: location, daily routine, purpose, and people.
These connections “help them cope with emotional ups and downs at work and draw energy and inspiration from their freedom.” And they’re not just useful for freelancers – even traditional employees could benefit from focusing on these four aspects of their work life.
Place
Despite being removed from the traditional office, successful freelancers have created their own workplaces to stay focused and grounded.
“People fail because they don’t create space and time to do what they need to do,” one writer told HBR.
HBR noted a few similarities among the spaces they explore: they feel limited, they are used consistently for all basic work, they are filled with work tools and more, and they are purely for work.
Routine
Workers developed a daily routine to feel focused and efficient, and to increase their sense of control.
Several procedures improve people’s workflow: adherence to timetables; following a to-do list; start of the day with the most difficult job or call to the client; leave an unfinished sentence in an unfinished manuscript to make it easier to start the next day; sweeping the floor of the studio, thinking about a new piece. Other daily routines, usually associated with sleep, meditation, eating, or exercise, include taking personal care of people’s working lives.
This may seem like the opposite of why many people become freelancers – to avoid tedious office work – but routine development is actually effective when done on its own terms.
Target
The freelance workers interviewed had to do work that they felt fulfilled some higher purpose or hobby – they need their job to pay bills, yes, but it is also “more than a means of earning a living.”
Purposefulness gives these workers the confidence to give up work that drains their energy or goes against their code of ethics. And this is what distinguishes the successful from the less successful.
“The big difference between successful independent professionals and those who have not returned or will not return [to corporate work] is understanding what you have to do,” one of the trainers told HBR. “It gives me resistance to ups and downs. It gives me the strength to give up work that doesn’t match. “
Ultimately, having a goal in mind improves their performance.
People
Successful independent people are aware of the risks of social isolation – they all have a network of friends, family, or similar backgrounds that they can turn to to help them “get through difficult times and inspire them to make decisions. … the risks that their work entails. “
“While many are ambivalent about formal peer groups, which they often see as a tasteless substitute for collegiality, everyone reported that they have people to turn to for support and encouragement,” the report says.
They may not have a group of permanent employees, but they always have quality people in their lives who guide them or simply act as a deck.
Building these four connections allows independent employees to succeed and thrive in a way they would not be able to in a normal office setting. “People in the gig economy must … [find] a balance between predictability and opportunity, between vitality (the promise of continuing to work) and vitality (a sense of presence, authenticity, and vitality in their work),” the report says.
If you work alone or feel less than successful in your independent work, this is a good lesson to learn.