It's all the rage. You log on to the internet and you come across professional YouTubers or bloggers. You turn on the TV, same thing. Community manager, web influencer... apparently these are the professions of the future. Add to that a good dose of Uberization and a hint of multi-level marketing (MLM) and you have an image of the professions valued by today's society, especially for the generation Z, and to a lesser extent for the Ys who are already considered outdated...
Yet when you look more closely, there is nothing really new under the sun. Your servant started using the web in 1994 already, when neither Google nor Internet Explorer existed. At the time, we used Netscape as a browser and Yahoo or AltaVista as a search engine. There was no video, images took a long time to load and so the pages were mainly text-based. The choice of sites was not huge, but it was progressing at a crazy pace. So the basic tool was already there.
Similarly, the possibilities of getting paid for your services appeared very early on the web, with sites like Elance in 1999, well before Uber (2009). For multilevel selling, nothing new either since it was already being discussed in 1950 with Tupperware... And if we look even more broadly, independent professions have always existed: lawyers and doctors of course, but also plumbers, painters, translators, psychologists, etc.
Research also shows that the Generation Y, portrayed as the one who wanted to break the codes of the employer/employee relationship, is so far neither more nor less independent than the generation X. There have always been freelancers and there always will be, but not necessarily more. Independence is above all a question of personality, more than a story of technological tools or generation.
So where does this image of a society that is evolving towards a world of freelancers come from? Isn't it rather a mold that they want to make us fit into? And why?
When you think about it, it makes sense. When you're a children's toy company, you can just send your latest products to Swan and Neo (YouTube child stars) for free so they can promote them. It doesn't cost you much, at least much less than the usual advertising channels, and it gives the illusion of a more authentic message. And of course, we don't care what it's going to be like later, when Swan and Neo are teenagers and their classmates bring out the videos during class, or even later when they want to pursue a career as a manager...
More broadly, an independent workforce is a godsend for any company. No fixed costs to pay, no social security coverage, and very often poverty wages, depending on turnover, number of page views, number of clicks, etc. Uber taxis line up indecent hours for ridiculous remuneration, websites demand hours of creation, development, maintenance and promotion to generate traffic and generate some insignificant advertising revenue, or even a few sales.
Of course, there are rare exceptions. Those who really make a fortune. But we have the impression that these are models cited as examples by the web giants to attract even more suckers. In truth, the vast majority of these new freelancers earn little money, because they actually work for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Airbnb... The traditional employer has been replaced by American virtual superstructures. And it's far from better.
So there is always the possibility of multi-level marketing... except that it is exactly the same problem... you work for those above you in the chain and most of the time you make very little money, if you are lucky enough not to lose any. Some multi-level structures have also been accused of being pyramid structures, like a Ponzi chain.
I have been running this site for seven years. It brings me a tiny bit of money, enough to round off the month, but very far from enough to live on it. If we look at it in relation to the time invested, it is clearly worse paid than any unskilled job. If I continue to run it, it is just for pleasure. On the contrary, investing in a company requires a tiny bit of analysis at the beginning, then I am calm and well paid for several years.
So between freelance or investor I quickly made my choice. And you?
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What strikes me is the number of blogs or YouTube channels that have flourished recently, whose authors explain to you that they have made a fortune, often through the Web (notably in online sales) but also in real estate or other, tell you about their journeys and supposedly give you the keys to success, while also offering you the essential training or coaching - for a fee of course - to achieve the same.
I have no doubt that some have indeed made a fortune. However, I think that they are mainly selling dreams by making people believe that it is within anyone's reach, provided they train themselves.
Training before embarking on a professional adventure, whatever it may be, is certainly necessary but probably not sufficient. You have to be ready to work hard. You have to have a minimum of intelligence. You have to have the spirit of an entrepreneur. You have to have a taste for risk but above all the ability to analyze and control it. You need a minimum of general cross-disciplinary knowledge in areas such as accounting, law, taxation, IT, marketing, etc., because even in the case of delegation, you have to understand what you are told and advised. Moreover, these new "gurus" are probably not altruists: I don't think they have any interest in encouraging the emergence of competitors; they probably keep certain keys and a head start for themselves, respectively have as their main source of income a business other than the one they teach and share.
In short, just because an entrepreneur is successful does not mean that anyone else who follows his teachings and tries to reproduce his method will be successful too.
In conclusion, it is clear that those who wish to free themselves from a job and therefore from an employer are more and more numerous, that some have understood this demand by surfing the wave in a more or less honest way by selling dreams and creating false hopes, and that not everyone has the skills and personality necessary to be a successful independent, able to provide for their needs.
That said, I want to make it clear that I don't want to discourage budding entrepreneurs, quite the contrary. I just want them to get started with full knowledge of the facts, and to avoid being fooled by dream sellers.
Finally, the Internet is a tool that has revolutionized many things, opened many doors, and facilitated certain businesses. Those who master the Internet, are intelligent and have an entrepreneurial spirit have many possibilities, with lower start-up costs.
For my part, I don't feel able to earn my living with the Internet.
Thanks for this nice comment. I think it's quite easy to earn (a little) money with the Internet, but on the other hand it's much harder to earn a living with it.
Those who embark on the adventure should do a cost/opportunity analysis beforehand: how much do I earn today per hour of work in my job and how much I can earn tomorrow on the Internet, without false hopes and knowing that it will take time for traffic to increase and for potential customers to arrive.
In the end, it should remain a hobby, which allows you to round off your income a little, and if suddenly things take off, then you can start making a few more plans for the future. If you do it too early, you will be giving up on false hopes and you will quickly throw in the towel.
In any case, it requires time, knowledge and work.
On the contrary, investing is much less time-consuming 🙂
Being both your own boss and your own employee is a dream for many people, but most people forget how hard it takes and underestimate the risks of failure. We always hear about those who have succeeded and we forget about all those who have started and lost everything. Being self-employed is far from comparable to living on passive income. Ah, dividends, I love you! 🙂
I don't have the entrepreneurial spirit that my father had, but I think I have some good ideas for making money with the Internet. However, since I work in front of two 21-inch screens and to develop my ideas I would have to spend my free time in front of my computer, just thinking about it, it discourages me. My ideas will probably never emerge and I will have no regrets. I much prefer investing to the stock market; it takes less of my time and is less mentally energy-consuming.