The Freelance and Work From Home Economy

Make no mistake about it: years from now we will look back and see where the years from 2008 to 2010 fundamentally changed how the world does business.

There is little debate anymore about how much consumers have changed in just a short time. The Great Recession has left them skeptical, and thus more informed in their decisions. They are connected everywhere through social media. The advance of the Internet means they are shopping businesses 24/7.

But it isn't just the consumer that will be different tomorrow; so too will be the workforce.

Freelancers and home offices will be commonplace, not just due to changing technology, but also a changing economy.

It is true that online project management applications and web conferencing software make communicating with remote employees easier than ever, and the technology with only keep improving. It is the changing economy, however, that will be the driving force that leads to more individuals freelancing and working from home.

Despite the fact that many individuals have wanted to pursue freelancing opportunities, businesses have traditionally been reluctant to rely on these professionals in a meaningful way.

What businesses are finding, however, is that business models and technology are changing so fast that they are finding the need for professionals that are specialists in certain areas, and needed for only short amounts of time. It is freelancers, and not high-priced specialty firms, that are best suited to fit this need.

While this prospect can be unsettling for many, for those who have always wanted a freelance career, the prospects are exciting. Knowing your specialty, the problem it solves for businesses, and having a strong personal brand will be the key to your success.

How Mobile Internet May Further Weaken Radio

On a recent road trip back to my hometown in Southern Illinois, my wife and I got bored with not only the radio, but all of my CD's.  It's a four-hour drive, and it's a trip we make quite frequently.  Not only do I know every stretch of highway like the back of my hand, I know almost every radio station along the way.

Bored with the monotony of the same songs we hear all of the time, we got creative.  I had just purchased a car adapter that allows me to play music and podcasts from my Blackberry through my car stereo, and my wife had just downloaded the Pandora app for her Blackberry.  It was time to put two and two together to see just how good our listening experience could be.

What we discovered was that we could listen to a great mobile stream even in the middle of nowhere. Any issues in quality were more the fault of my Blackberry-adapter combo than from the Pandora stream.  I quickly realized that if my car stereo was connected through the Internet, not only would those issues go away, it would be much easier to access.  I would stream it all of the time.

And that's the way things are heading.  Audi just announced they are going to start introducing in-car mobile Internet.  Chrysler, Cadillac and Ford have already made plans and/or introduced similar products.

I recently wrote about how faster broadband speeds will completely change the way we watch television, and in-car Internet will completely change how we listen to the radio.

Will it kill off traditional radio completely?  Likely not, but at some point further erosion in traditional radio audiences will cause at least some stations to go out of business. Once your car stereo is connected to the Internet, and the price for in-car mobile Internet service becomes cheap enough that most people are willing to pay for it, it's only a matter of time before people switching their listening habits to a medium that allows them to listen to whatever they want, whenever they want.

It's a much better choice than the limited selection offered by traditional radio stations. In order to survive, those stations must innovate now. Otherwise, they run a very strong risk of going dark.

Will Google Fiber End Traditional Television Networks?

The Google fiber initiative is whipping communities and technology buffs into a frenzy.  City officials and economic development types across the country are scrambling to put together solid responses to Google's Request for Information in an effort to pursuade Google to choose their community as a test market for their experimental fiber optic network, while everyday citizens are coming together on Facebook pages to show their support for those efforts.

As Google's (or another company's) efforts ultimately become successful, we can't even begin to imagine the benefits that broadband speeds that are 100 times faster will bring.  Dreamers will dream, and businesses will innovate.  One thing that is certain is that it will completely change the way we consume media today.

Just over three years ago, in December of 2006, I posted a blog article about how ultra-fast broadband speeds would allow content producers to bypass traditional delivery methods (like network and cable/satellite channels) and simply deliver their content straight to consumers. At the time, I envisioned this as taking place in 5-10 years, and today we are right on schedule.

We are already seeing traditional media bypassed through YouTube and web-only channels, but most people are simply watching this content on their computers and not on televisions. The lack of quality in which these videos would stream live on a big screen makes watching them undesirable.

Televisions are already being connected to the Internet, however, and faster broadband will encourage the practice that much more.  As we start depending on the Internet to deliver channels to us, and not cable and satellite, we'll start seeing more web applications that are specifically designed for television viewers.

We'll start watching content that would have never been picked up by traditional media outlets in the past, but that is now available simply because someone had an idea and the camera crew to pull it off.

We'll interact with our television shows more, through live streaming social media feeds that you can watch (and comment on) as the show you are watching plays live.  (CNN recently did this online during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address).

Traditional television channels who fail to innovate will be cast aside.  Those who do will thrive, along with new media options that do not exist today.  How things will look 5 years from now are anyone's guess, but there has never been a more exciting time to work in media, or be a media consumer.

Google Fiber Initiative a PR Success

Google’s announcement that they want to bring their experimental fiber network to select communities throughout the country can’t be described as anything other than a huge marketing and public relations success.

With their decision to ask interested communities to fill out a Request for Information in an effort to persuade Google to choose their community as a test market, they have managed to get the attention of top-level city officials and economic development gurus in communities across the country.

Here in Columbia, Missouri, the business community has rallied together with a Facebook page that as of this posting has over 1,900 fans.  Kirksville, Missouri, about 100 miles to our north and with about one-fifth of our population, has over 1,300 fans for their Facebook page.

The brilliance of Google’s move can be found in the fact that they’ve managed to make a lot of people WANT what they are offering, and want it bad.  When Google ultimately chooses one or two test markets and leaves everyone else out, people will still watch these test markets with excited anticipation waiting to see what benefits the network brings.  If it is successful, and Google starts expanding the service, they’ll have millions of people who can’t wait for it to come to them.

What about the PR ramifications if the service doesn’t work out?  Nothing major…remember, it was all just an experiment, and Google will be able to tout anything it learns from it as being a success.

Google fiber…brilliant, brilliant, brilliant PR.