the end of the "9-to-5" & the future of work

Summary

The video discusses the challenges of job stability and wage stagnation in the modern economy, highlighting the reduced loyalty between employers and employees and the decline of unions. It emphasizes the need for adaptability, uniqueness, and diversification in careers to future-proof one's self against economic uncertainty. The speaker shares personal experiences with layoffs and offers strategies such as building career capital, networking, and creating passive income streams to secure one's financial future.

Takeaways

• 😟 The current job market is unstable, with many people experiencing layoffs and wage stagnation.
• 🌐 Traditional 9 to 5 jobs are becoming less common, leading to increased job hopping every 2 years for better pay and opportunities.
• 🔄 Reduced employer-employee loyalty and the decline of unions contribute to the lack of job security.
• 💡 Adaptability is crucial for career success, including being flexible with job types and locations.
• 🌟 Building career capital involves accumulating resources and abilities that can be leveraged for future opportunities.
• 📈 Networking is essential; maintaining weak ties can lead to new opportunities and ideas.
• 🚀 Staying unique in the professional world can make one irreplaceable, either by specializing in a niche or building a strong personal brand.
• 💰 Wage stagnation is a significant issue; to combat this, one must focus on diversifying income sources.
• 🛠️ Passive income streams, such as investments or content creation, can supplement earnings and provide financial stability.
• 🏡 The gig economy and freelancing offer ways to create additional income beyond a traditional full-time job.
• 🔮 Self-reliance in terms of economic vitality is key for surviving future market fluctuations and changes.

Q & A

What are the two factors that have drastically changed the way we work?

The two factors are the reduced loyalty between employer and employee, largely due to at-will contracts, and the decline of unions as businesses push for their extinction.

What is the impact of at-will contracts on job security?

At-will contracts mean that employers can fire employees without consequences and vice versa, leading to less job security and a lack of long-term commitment from both parties.

Why have businesses been pushing for the extinction of unions?

Businesses dislike unions because they defend workers' rights, which can lead to higher costs for employers and limit their control over labor conditions.

What is the negative feedback cycle caused by employers not taking care of their employees?

The negative feedback cycle results in employees being asked to do more work without compensation, leading to dissatisfaction and a higher turnover rate as employees leave for better opportunities.

How does wage stagnation affect individuals working for the same company for many years?

Wage stagnation means that individuals' salaries are not increasing at the pace of inflation, leading to a decrease in spending power and a lower standard of living over time.

What is 'quiet hiring' and how does it impact job stability?

Quiet hiring refers to the practice of hiring people as contractors for specific projects instead of committing to full-time employees. This keeps companies lean and reduces their obligation to provide benefits, contributing to job instability.

What are the three strategies to future-proof your career according to the script?

The three strategies are adaptability, uniqueness, and diversity. Adaptability involves being flexible and open to learning new skills. Uniqueness is about building a professional brand that makes you irreplaceable. Diversity means creating multiple income streams.

How can one build career capital?

Building career capital involves accumulating resources and abilities throughout your career that enhance your future opportunities. This can be achieved through credentials like degrees or certifications, financial savings, and networking.

Why is it important to maintain 'weak ties' in your professional network?

Weak ties, or acquaintances and people not in your immediate circle, are important because they often bring in new opportunities and ideas. They can introduce you to different ways of living and thinking, and provide a lifeline during challenging times.

What is the significance of being open to learning in building career capital?

Being open to learning and acquiring new skills is crucial for adapting to the changing demands of your industry. It allows you to stay relevant and anticipate future needs, thus increasing your value and employability.

How can passive income help in diversifying one's income streams?

Passive income sources, such as investments or ad revenue from content creation, allow you to earn money over time with minimal ongoing effort after an initial investment of time or money. This can provide financial stability and reduce reliance on a single full-time job.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Economic Uncertainty and Job Insecurity

This paragraph addresses the concerns of individuals facing unemployment or fearing job loss in the current economic climate. It touches on the anxiety caused by dwindling job prospects and the impact of inflation on everyday luxuries. The speaker shares personal experiences of being laid off and observes the changing job market dynamics, highlighting the decline of traditional 9-to-5 jobs and the rise of at-will contracts and the decline of unions. The paragraph emphasizes the need for adaptability and forward-thinking in the face of an uncertain job future.

05:02

🔄 Adaptability and Career Capital

The speaker discusses the importance of adaptability in the modern job market, encouraging individuals to be flexible with their career expectations. This includes considering freelance work, contract positions, and the potential benefits of not being tied down to a specific location. The concept of career capital is introduced, which refers to the resources and abilities accumulated over time that can enhance future career opportunities. The speaker suggests building career capital through credentials, financial savings, and networking. The role of learning new skills and staying up-to-date with industry trends is emphasized, with a personal example of learning email marketing through Skillshare.

10:03

🌟 Uniqueness and Personal Branding

This paragraph focuses on the value of uniqueness in the professional world, suggesting that individuals either become the best at what they do or create a personal brand that makes them irreplaceable. The speaker discusses the strategy of niching down to a specific area of expertise to limit competition and the importance of being early in a field to gain recognition. The paragraph also highlights the power of personal branding, using social media influencers as examples of individuals who command high value due to their unique personal brand.

15:04

💰 Diversification and Passive Income

The speaker addresses the issue of wage stagnation and the limitations of trading time for money. To combat this, the paragraph emphasizes the need for diversification of income sources beyond a full-time salary. The concept of passive income is introduced, explaining that it involves initial effort that yields ongoing returns over time, such as investing in real estate or earning from YouTube ads. The speaker argues that having control over one's income streams provides more stability than relying on a full-time job, as it allows for direct response to market trends and provides a safety net during economic downturns.

Keywords

💡Unemployment

Unemployment refers to the state of being without a paid job. In the video, it is a central concern for individuals who fear job loss and its impact on their financial stability and future prospects. The speaker discusses the anxiety caused by the uncertainty of job security in the current economy, where layoffs are common and job prospects are dwindling.

💡Job Market

The job market refers to the availability of jobs and the dynamics between employers and job seekers. The video highlights the challenges in the job market, including stagnant wages, the decline of traditional 9-to-5 jobs, and the rise of at-will contracts that reduce loyalty between employers and employees. It suggests that these changes have led to a more precarious employment situation for many workers.

💡Inflation

Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and subsequently, purchasing power is falling. In the context of the video, inflation is a significant factor contributing to the financial stress experienced by individuals, as the cost of living increases while wages remain stagnant, eroding spending power and making it harder to afford basic necessities and luxuries.

💡At-Will Contracts

At-will contracts are employment agreements where either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, without consequence. The video points out that the prevalence of at-will contracts has contributed to reduced loyalty between employers and employees, as it allows for easy termination without legal repercussions.

💡Unions

Unions are organizations that represent the collective interests of workers in various industries, aiming to secure better working conditions, wages, and rights. In the video, it is suggested that the decline in union influence has negatively impacted workers, as unions were a way for employees to defend their rights and negotiate for better待遇.

💡Adaptability

Adaptability refers to the ability to adjust or change in response to new conditions or challenges. In the video, adaptability is presented as a key strategy for future-proofing one's career, emphasizing the importance of being flexible and open to new ways of working, such as freelancing, remote work, or changing job roles to stay relevant and competitive in the job market.

💡Career Capital

Career capital encompasses the skills, experiences, and connections an individual accumulates throughout their professional life that can enhance their career prospects and earning potential. The video stresses the importance of building career capital through continuous learning, networking, and saving, which can provide a safety net and open up opportunities in an uncertain job market.

💡Uniqueness

Uniqueness in a professional context refers to the distinctive qualities or skills that set an individual apart from others, making them irreplaceable or highly valued in their field. The video suggests that by developing a unique professional brand or specializing in a niche, individuals can increase their employability and demand in the job market.

💡Diversification

Diversification, in the context of careers and income, means spreading risk and effort across a range of activities or revenue sources to reduce reliance on a single job or income stream. The video emphasizes diversification as a strategy to cope with wage stagnation and economic uncertainty, suggesting ways to create passive income or side hustles to achieve financial stability.

💡Skillshare

Skillshare is an online learning community that offers thousands of classes on various topics, including productivity, design, and business. In the video, Skillshare is presented as a resource for individuals to enhance their career capital by learning practical skills at their own pace, which can be applied directly to their professional lives.

💡Passive Income

Passive income refers to earnings derived from a resource that requires little to no ongoing effort to maintain. The video discusses passive income as a way to create additional financial stability beyond a traditional full-time job, by leveraging initial work into ongoing收益 over time, such as through investments or content creation that continues to earn revenue.

Highlights

The traditional 9 to 5 job is fading away, with reduced loyalty between employers and employees.

At-will contracts contribute to the lack of job security, allowing employers to fire employees without consequences.

The decline of unions has negatively impacted workers' rights and job security.

Employers and employees are caught in a negative feedback cycle, with employees expected to leave every 2 years for better opportunities.

Quiet hiring allows companies to hire contractors for projects instead of full-time employees, contributing to job insecurity.

Wage stagnation is a significant issue, with many unable to keep up with the pace of inflation.

Adaptability is crucial for future-proofing your career, including being flexible with job expectations and location.

Building career capital involves accumulating resources and abilities that can enhance future career opportunities.

Networking, especially with weak ties, can open up new opportunities and ideas.

Continuous learning and staying ahead of industry needs is essential for staying relevant in a rapidly changing job market.

Creating a unique professional brand can make you irreplaceable in your field.

Early adoption of new technologies or niche expertise can provide a competitive edge.

Diversification of income streams is key to overcoming wage stagnation and job insecurity.

Passive income, such as investments or ad revenue, can provide financial stability without additional work.

Having your own business or income streams can offer more stability than a full-time job in a volatile economy.

The future of work requires individuals to take control of their economic vitality rather than relying on companies.

Skillshare offers a community of classes for learning practical skills and building career capital.

The video creator emphasizes the importance of adapting to changes and taking personal responsibility for career and economic stability.

Transcripts

are you unemployed fearful of becoming

unemployed or are you just someone with

a strong desire to quit your job but are

too anxious and uncertain about the

dwindling job prospects and the future

state of our global economy after

watching all of your friends get laid

off and seeing the price of common goods

rise to the point where you can no

longer not only afford the house that

you were once promised but even basic

luxuries like oat milk lattes and

avocado toast that were apparently

preventing you from affording that house

in the first

place if so then this video is for you

and thank you skillshare for sponsoring

this video more on that later

in the last two years I have been laid

off twice and many of my friends have

been as well and those that have been

lucky enough to keep their jobs are

still fearful that they're going to lose

them and if they're not then they have

to worry about the fact that their wages

are stagnating they're not getting

raises they're not getting promoted and

if they didn't get a 10% raise in the

last year that means that their salaries

actually went down because of inflation

and no this isn't the first time the job

market has gone through something like

this this but it does feel a little bit

different this time and a big part of

that is because the traditional 9 to5

that we were once told would provide us

stability and security and everything we

wanted out of life until the day we

retired is now slowly going away let's

get into it now there are two factors at

play here that have drastically changed

the way we work and the first is the

reduced loyalty between the employer and

the employee a big reason for this is

the commonality of at will contracts and

that essentially just means that the

employer can fire you without

consequences you can leave the company

without consequences and nobody has to

know other than the moment it is

actually happening the second part of

this is that a lot of big businesses

have been pushing for the extinction of

unions this has been a thing that's been

going on for a very long time they don't

like unions because unions are a way for

workers to defend their rights

oh my God so horrible so now we've

entered this really negative feedback

cycle where employers are not really

incentivized to take care of their

employees and they can ask more of them

ask them to do multiple jobs wear more

hats and not really pay them or promote

them in any way and then the employee

gets fed up because now they're being

asked to do more work without any sort

of compensation for that and they decide

that hey I'm going to leave which is why

now people pop every 2 years because

that's the only way that you're actually

going to get more pay or promotion that

you want but employers now know that

employees come in with the intention of

leaving in a few years and so they are

even more incentivized not to hire

people for the long term and around and

around and around we go and now this all

means that the 40-year stable job that

our parents once promised us and

experienced themselves is no longer a

reality for a lot of the younger

generation instead instead we get to be

blessed with mass layoffs because

companies no longer have any incentive

to think about the future well-being of

the people they hire you also see a lot

of companies now engaging in what is

considered quiet hiring and that just

means that instead of having to commit

to a full-time employee where you God

forbid have to pay them benefits you

instead can just hire people per project

as contractors and keep your company

lean that way so that if things change

we all decided this was all temporary in

the first place so no one can be mad and

the second problem here is the

stagnation of wages which I'm sure we

have all noticed that everything is

ridiculously expensive and nobody can no

longer afford a home unless you bought

it prior to 2020 or you have some form

of generational wealth to help you I'm

not going to harp on this point I think

we get it but the point is if you plan

on working at the same company for more

than a few years you most likely are not

going to be out earning the pace of

inflation which means that your spending

power cost of living all of that is

going to go in a very bad Direction

unless you decide to get up and leave so

unfortunately that means that the days

where you were able to just show up to

your job do what was asked for you in

exchange for being able to afford basic

things like food and shelter is now a

thing of the past so now that we have

officially established that capitalism

sucks what's y to do run away to a lower

cost of living country like Thailand in

order to profit off of the wage

discrepancy between here and the

US I wouldn't do that look I can't tell

you what the future is going to look

like or what the economy is going to be

like a few years from now but there are

still three things you can do to Future

prooof your career no matter how things

shape up the first is adaptability

second is uniqueness and the third is

diversity the first really big important

part of being adaptable is being

flexible A lot of people are still tied

to this idea that your job has to be for

a big company at an office tied to a

certain location and the more you can

remove yourself from those expectations

so not only are you going to work at an

office but can you work as a freelancer

can you maybe be a full-time contractor

maybe you decide to keep renting because

buying a house is expensive and you

don't want to be tied down to one city

in case an opportunity comes up

somewhere else the more you're able to

untie yourself from all of these

specific expectations for the qualities

of your job the better chance you're

going to have at jumping on an

opportunity when it comes and in

addition to flexibility you also want to

start thinking about career Capital

career Capital just refers to all of the

resources and abilities that you

accumulate throughout your career that

allow you to do more with your career in

the future in other words it's all of

the Investments that you're making now

that are going to help you in the long

run and some of the ways you can do that

are through credentials so that's

getting degrees or certifications that

might help you in your industry it could

also be through just Financial savings

building up an emergency fund so that if

you do decide that you need to leave

your job or something happens you have

some sort of Runway to keep you going

for a little bit longer and another big

piece of this which I'm sure you're sick

of hearing truly is Network at least in

America our circles are getting smaller

and smaller which isn't a bad thing in

some ways I think quality over quantity

is great I'm an introvert I don't want

to have 500 friends have to take care of

all the time but there is a social

networking term called weak ties and

weak ties refer to all the acquaintances

and the people that are not necessarily

your closest friends and families they

are still part of your overall Network

and these are the people that usually

bring in the most opportunities and

creative ideas and just introduce you to

new ways of living and thinking because

they're not necessarily in the same Echo

Chamber Of The Five People You Most

surround yourself with and it's really

important to keep maintaining those

connections and building those

connections whether that's through

joining a sports league if you're a part

of a church getting involved in that

maybe just being a part of your

neighborhood or Community Building those

weak ties are what's really going to

give you a life boat when and if crap

hits the fan in the future and probably

the biggest part of building career

capital is honestly just being open to

learning and being willing to learn new

skills learning how to learn which is a

whole video in itself nowadays it's not

enough to go to college and get a degree

and stop there and just keep learning on

the job you actually have to really be

proactive and start anticipating what

your industry is going to need in the

future and learn those skills before it

has asked from you because if you're

having your company ask you to learn

something it's already too late that

means that you're not doing the job that

they want or somebody else is going to

be able to come in and take that job

from you I personally currently work as

a content creator and this is an

industry that is rapidly changing at a

very fast clip all the time and in order

to stay relevant it is critically

important that I stay up to date not

only with platforms but with new ways of

connecting my audience and one of the

ways that I'm currently doing that for

example is by learning email marketing

because is as much as people like to

talk about short form and Tik Tok really

the best thing you can do for yourself

right now as a Creator is learning to

own your own audience and to have it in

a place that is not connected to a

social media platform so email is

something that I have been making a very

big priority in this last year and one

resource that I have found very helpful

in learning that is skillshare so

skillshare has a community of thousands

of classes in topics like productivity

design business pretty much anything you

can think of and all of it is self-paced

you're able to fit it into your own

schedule especially if you work a

full-time job and all the classes are

also outcome oriented which means

they're teaching you practical skills

you can actually apply directly and

immediately in your life and because

there are so many members who come from

creative backgrounds and are looking to

build their own businesses there's a ton

of content out there on building your

brand building side hustles how to be a

solar preneur or just creating passive

income streams in general and one of the

newer features that I actually learned

about recently that I think is pretty

cool is called their learning paths this

is essentially just a group of curated

classes so instead of picking and

choosing each class directly you can

just say I want to learn about this

specific subject and they'll give you a

list of different classes that actually

build on each other and make sense

together to help you learn specifically

what you're looking for so for me right

now I want to learn about email

marketing and I've been taking this

learning path that is dedicated directly

to that so I learn a lot about marketing

through email building an email list and

there's also a lot of other really cool

ones that I'm interested in like

negotiation and pricing for Freelancers

that's something I'm really bad at and

definitely need to take some tips on if

you're interested in YouTube

specifically I've actually created a

class about branding yourself on YouTube

so if content creation is your thing go

check that out and if you want to give

it a try you can actually use my link in

the description the first 500 people who

use it will get a free trial thank you

again to skillshare for sponsoring this

video now let's get back into

it okay now that we have talked about

how to be adaptable let's talk about

some ways to be unique uniqueness at

least in the professional sense is

really just about building a

professional brand that makes you

Irreplaceable and there's two primary

ways you can do this one is by being the

best in the world at what you do if you

choose to just do one thing and that is

a very large popular thing then this is

going to be very hard if you want to be

the best chest best player in the world

best violinist um best front-end

software developer you're probably going

to have a lot of competition and it's

not going to be possible for you to

stand out just in that area alone so

what you can do is either Niche down and

become very specific so instead of being

a wedding planner who takes care of all

of the northeast of the US you could

specifically be a wedding planner that

specializes in month before coordination

and takes care of the Sacramento area

for Budget Brides looking for rustic

weddings that way your competition and

the people who are able to offer exactly

what you offer becomes a lot smaller

it's also a little easier to be the Best

in Class when you are early so people

who got onto YouTube for example back in

2010 had a way easier chance of being

known and getting views because there

were so few people on the platform at

that time or the people who are going to

AI now for example if you're an AI

engineer everyone wants you whether

you're mediocre great you don't even

have to be the best at it everyone's

going to want you because there are so

few who are able to do that job at this

moment but a picking a very specific

Niche sounds kind of limiting to you or

you're not really sure that you could

commit to just one thing forever the

other way to make yourself Irreplaceable

is to create a very specific and

tailored personal brand so for example

get ready with me really popular trend

on Tik Tok right now lots of girls are

doing it they're a dime of dozen but

Alex Earl she can charge any amount she

wants to any brand for doing the exact

same thing simply because she is Alex

Earl she is not replaceable if you take

any other person and do the same exact

format as her same with Emma Chamberlin

she did very downto Earth lowii style

Vlogs and a lot of people do that now

too but no brand is going to go up to a

random person who's making just a very

simple Vlog and say Here's $100,000 to

promote my product they're only going to

do that to Emma Chamberlain because they

want the Emma Chamberlain name so either

you are going to be the best at what you

do regardless of who is doing it or you

are going to make sure that you as a

person are what is bringing value to

your career because at the end of the

day if your job can be done by any other

person for the same price or cheaper you

are at the risk of being replaced now

while adaptability and uniqueness might

make you more appealing to prospective

employers there's still one critical

issue that we haven't addressed yet and

that is wage stagnation the problem is

even if you are the best of what you do

even if you are desirable and you never

get laid off you always have job offers

coming in you're still trading your time

for money and at the end of the day we

all only have 24 hours so there's only

so much you can raise your hourly rate

before someone chooses not to pay you

that much so if you want to earn more

money or you want to be able to save

again going back to that flexibility

aspect and making sure that you have for

Savings in casee something happens or if

you just want to be able to create more

income for yourself because you're

worried about inflation and your hourly

rate isn't keeping up with that then

you're going to have to

diversify and all diversification means

is just finding other ways to create

money for yourself instead of only

relying on the company that is paying

you a full-time salary and I know we're

all tired of hearing about the gig

economy and we don't want to have to

work multiple jobs just to survive it

sucks yeah

but it is the unfortunate reality we are

handed with and there are some ways that

you can make it a little bit easier so

number one is passive income you know

passive doesn't mean that you're not

putting any work but it does mean that

you are leveraging the amount of initial

hours you put into a project and getting

gains from that over time so a very

classic example of this is investing or

real estate you spend a lot of money up

front and that effort compounds over

time and gives you more money even

though you're not putting any additional

effort also AdSense from YouTube or

Creator funds that's another way to get

passive income you create videos up

front and then those videos continue to

earn over and over again as time goes on

and this is essentially a way of

increasing your hourly wage without

actually having to put in more work per

hour or having to work more hours

because again we're limited to that

24-hour time period every day and this

is actually a really big reason why I

keep saying that having your own

business or having your own streams of

income that you control is actually

more stable nowadays than a full-time

job because while a full-time job might

give you the same consistent paycheck

every month that money can stop and go

to absolutely zero overnight and you

will have no heads up so you go from

making however much a year to $0 a year

whereas if you are running your own

business or you have your own income

streams they are still victim to market

trends but ask any business owner it's

very uncommon that your business is

going to go belly up over overnight

there's always signs months ahead of

time sometimes even years ahead of time

that things are not going well for you

and so you have time to create an

alternative plan and pivot before it's

too late and I'm not saying that

everyone has to quit their jobs and

start their own business but if you can

create some sort of part-time passive

income stream or even something like a

freelancing business that you do

occasionally that means that if you are

laid off or suddenly let go you do have

some income coming in to sustain you

while you're looking for your next gig

and this really is the key to surviving

economic downturns at least the way that

we're going to experience them in the

next few years and probably Beyond

because at the end of the day no one is

immune from Market fluctuations we're

all going to suffer when the economy

goes down but if you're in a full-time

job you're one stepper moved from how

the economy is doing so if the economy

is doing well the economy is doing bad

it actually doesn't affect you it's your

boss and your boss's boss that decide

how it's going to affect you whereas

when you have your own income streams

you are actually connected directly to

how the market is responding if the

Market's not responding well you're

allowed to fix it if the market is

responding well then you get to reap

those benefits and if there's one thing

that you take away from this video let

it be that from 2024 and Beyond the only

way to survive whatever change is coming

is to start taking care of yourself and

to stop leaving your economic Vitality

in the hands of companies that could

care less about you oh my gosh I so

sorry I've been talking for so long I

haven't let you get a single word in

here I'll stop tell me what you think

about

this actually crap I forgot I have an

appointment I think I'm late for it um

why don't you just leave your thoughts

in the comments below and we'll discuss

it there instead uh yeah you can just

see yourself out and don't forget to

sign up for skillshare before you leave

and I will see you in the next

one