It’s been in the news and it’s now being studied by business schools. Have you heard the phrase “Gig Economy”? It refers to the growing percentage of the US work force that works independently. Think everyone from Uber drivers, to high end consultants, and everyone in between.
In the past few years, I’ve seen colleagues, some with 10-20 years at the same company, move on to new ventures. Switching jobs is nothing new to us. Companies launch new products and staff up and others get bought out and lay off.
When you’re selling well, you ride a high of money and accolades. When you’re struggling, you drown in self-doubt and identity crisis. It’s the environment sales people have lived in for years. Gig economy workers share the same uncertainty of income, feeling of isolation, and risk of distraction that outside sales reps experience. At the same time, they receive several freedoms that corporate sales people can only dream of:
The freedom to define success
Corporate sales people are told how much to sell. Despite earnest attempts to make sales targets fair, there are always winners and losers. As we all know, the externallly imposed measurements, (see. ) directly affect our income, self-esteem, and motivation going forward. Gig economy workers have the ability to say when they have and haven’t accomplished enough.
The freedom to change directions
Corporate sales people are the first to know when a sales initiative isn’t working. At the same time, they are often pressured to stay the course. Gig economy workers are limited only by their own resistance to failure. They have no one to blame other than themselves. In contrast, corporate sales people are often blamed for “poor execution” when someone above them wants to avoid blame for a bad idea.
The freedom to define their product
Most sales people in corporations sell a product or service they do not produce or control. At most, they choose what to say about their product and what customers to target. Have you ever had to grudgingly acknowledge that a comptetitor’s solution was actually better than your own? Gig economy workers have the ability to throw out rules and craft their own solutions on a customer-by-customer basis.
In a recent Harvard Business Review Article entitled, “Thriving in the Gig Economy”, authors Gianpiero Petriglieri, Susan J. Ashford, and Amy Wrzesniewski, interviewed 65 workers successfully working in freelance occupations. They discovered these entrepreneurs shared four common strategies they used to cope with the highs and lows of their work. These included self-defining your place, routines, personal support network, and purpose.
A sales job in corporate America can provide you with the first three elements. That is, until you outgrow them. As for Purpose, if your sales job comes with a sense of meaning, consider yourself very lucky! Most of us attempt to substitute money for that.
Sincerely,
Meaning2work