Welcome to The Shift!

Field Guide to the Future of Work and Living.🕵🏻‍♀️

Tips + tools to transform your work and thinking. I curate the best content & conversations online and interview interesting people to share their stories & successes.

Exploring different perspectives on how technology might shape the new worlds of work.

Get inspired and grow!

In your inbox, every Sunday.

A radically remote future of work

The global pandemic has forced companies to change how they do business, speeding up existing trends in remote working, tech/AI and changing employer-employee relations.

As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in April:

We’ve already seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.

Many companies have adapted quickly to the new world of work, but the speed of the transition has exposed limitations around skill sets, agile working, trust, and business models. We’re now facing a tsunami of job losses.

How can companies adapt to new ways of working that are still unfolding? Will government policy support the changes? How will AI and digital transformation change how we work and live?

The world of work is changing and there’s been a shift in mindset from White-collar professionals to no-collar professionals. Work is something we do not a place we go to. We want flexibility, remote working, education, collaboration, purpose AND paycheque.

I’m excited to be around for this – we have an opportunity to reinvent how we work and live to be happier, more productive humans.

Industry 4.0: Shaping the new worlds of work.

The full-stack freelancer

In some ways, the world has been catching up with how many freelancers work and that’s given us a head start. We’re used to working remotely and flexible working. We’re seeing the rise of a new kind of worker, the Full-Stack Freelancer, who responds to tech-driven trends.

Full-Stack Freelancers are responding to a series of technology-driven trends — contingent employment, intensifying globalization, and automation — by taking advantage of the other side of the coin: technology finally becoming powerful enough, cheap enough, and user-friendly enough to be deployed productively by a single individual.

They borrow freely — from tech startups, digital nomads, lifestyle designers, independent contractors, the sharing and peer-to-peer economies — but placing them squarely inside any of these categories is not quite right.

That’s because Full-Stack Freelancers manage a portfolio of income streams, not a job based on one set of skills.

It requires a skill that virtually none of us are educated for: portfolio thinking. Tiago Forte

And it’s something that’s available to everyone. It can enhance personal growth, creativity, and learning.

The rise of the creator economy

Over 50m people around the world consider themselves creators despite the creator economy being just 10 years old. It’s the fastest-growing type of small business. There are now 2m professional creators making content full-time – and 200,000 of these are writers, podcasters, musicians and illustrators.

As Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon said: “Creators, we’re on the verge of the ‘Second Renaissance’ of the arts making this the best time in history to be an artist.

The internet is just 30 years old, and it has revolutionised the way we live and work.

Why has creatorship grown so quickly?

There’s been a societal shift in consciousness towards caring more about feeling fulfilled in our jobs, having control over how we spend our time, and being our own boss. It’s not a simple path but people aspire to follow that path that gives their lives meaning (and never leads to a cubicle). The creator economy has led to more startups here to help creators find their niche and make a living.

The burnout generation

So, how do you avoid burnout when your work is your passion and we live and work online? I’ve been there with years of hustle, precarious gigs and living in expensive cities. Energy is finite and we need to respect that. My strategy is to earn more and hustle less – work smarter not harder with scalable systems – creating digital products & services that offer high value. As Anne Helen Peterson says, burnout is a societal problem, not a personal one.

We can’t do this forever. I think we’re gonna have to decide as a society and as a generation to figure this shit out.

We’ve made being busy and ‘always on’ a badge of honour, which needs to change.

Shaping the future of work, travel + citizenship

What will your work life look like post-Covid? It’s predicted there will be one billion digital nomads by 2035. A new visa is emerging, as smart countries see the economic benefit of visitors who work remotely. Barbados, Estonia and Georgia have all launched digital nomad visas – these moves by smaller countries will change the way we work and travel forever.

A rise in slowmads, which is more enjoyable and better for the planet. We’ll live in a place for longer and give back to the local community. I want to see a lot more of the world in this way before I pop my clogs!

Connect with me on Nomadlist.

In the meantime, will virtual travel provide the same benefits? I’ll be exploring VR/AR trends for immersive travel.

What problem can I help fix?

I’m Nicci, a writer & journalist.

I’m passionate about improving our work culture and making the principles of good work – economic security, wellbeing, growth, freedom, & nurture – available to all.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve worked as a freelancer and employee in companies large and small - blue-chip, creative agencies, trade unions, media & publishing, non-profits and individuals. I offer a flexible writing service for startups, tech and Saas companies. www.niccitalbot.io.

I want to see more diversity in journalism so I’m on the NUJ London Freelance Branch committee and Freelance Industrial Council, campaigning for better pay & conditions for freelancers, #FD4F, and a loud & proud union member.

I love helping people explore their creativity and develop their business skills. I’m a mentor and media trainer and Support a Sister via Women for Women International charity, AllBright’s Digital Sisterhood and The Dots.

Always happy to chat! Email nicci@niccitalbot.io. Clubhouse, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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