So the number of young people starting their own
business is on the rise - no surprise there as far as I'm
concerned.
While I might not fully agree with Simon Dolan's guest post 'University is a waste of time, start a business
instead', if I were 18 I'd be thinking seriously hard about the
value of saddling myself with a minimum £30,000 debt to secure a
degree solely on the basis everyone else has one.
And if I were 21 and poised to 'graduate' to a job market with
2.5million unemployed, I'd be looking around me thinking, hmm,
slave labour internship, dole queue, McDonalds or bar job and
deciding there probably wasn't a better alternative than to see
what I could earn for myself.
Today's graduates face the same employment prospects as
immigrants have traditionally in this country and are reacting the
same way: they're hustling a living for themselves.
Those that are hustling now will reap the rewards in the long
term. Young and old, working for yourself will become the norm.
Jobs for life are extinct. Full-time contracted jobs will
continue to decline regardless of economic growth. Companies will
increasingly outsource and contract out work to each other and
individuals: and the employment market will respond.
It'll become the norm - especially for the skilled and educated
- to be self-employed and either contract out your skills or work
for a number of companies at once.
In the same way you might once have started at a company as an
apprentice, trainee or graduate on a low salary and developed
skills and increased earnings over time, you'll have to start out
offering your services at a lower cost and gain experience and the
reputation to charge and earn more.
Even if you're a full-time employee, you'll need to think like
you're self-employed. Employment should serve as your
entrepreneurial apprenticeship. I'd speculate that before long all
graduates - if not just all workers - will at some point work for
themselves.
Everybody, in employment or not, should be acutely aware of what
skills and services they have to sell - be taking steps to market
those services and building a potential customer base around
them.
Whether you are or aspire to be, literally, a butcher, baker or
candlestick maker, you need to be thinking that come the point you
need to do this for yourself, who will buy your services?
The key is to create an online identity and track record
showcasing who you are, what you do, what you're knowledgeable
about, what you've done in the past, why people found it valuable,
what others have said about you. The more collaborative you are,
the more others find you helpful, the greater amplification your
saleable assets will receive.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, a simple blog or free
website are your tools - your initiative is your headstart. Get it
right and you'll never struggle to work: for yourself or anyone
else.
The future will see roughly the same number of Bransons and
billionaires but self-employment holds boundless opportunities for
normal working Britain. Those that realise it first will prosper
before it eventually becomes the norm.