Jon Younger: The Godfather of The Freelance Revolution
A conversation every single leader needs to hear.
Y’all,
As you know, self promotion isn’t our strong suit. But our recent episode with Jon Younger needs to be in the hands of every leader wanting to make an impact in the future of work.
Jon is a hero to both us and the industry. He’s been an independent trailblazer that’s consistently put talent first.
Recently he led a global survey of over 1,900 freelancers, across 30 countries, and 77 different platforms in collaboration with University of Toronto (his summary, the full report).
In this episode we’ll get in the weeds about the survey, his outlook on the freelance economy, and where us leaders need to focus in 2022.
*Reply if you’d like the transcript as we’re still in beta testing an exclusive membership portal. (the transcript will be great to copy/paste from for leadership decks, investor decks, and reports!).
Themes We Loved
It’s not just a war for full time talent, it’s a war for freelance talent.
The freelance economy is a better way to provide what we all want…autonomy, affiliation, and community.
60% of freelancers said they have more than enough work.
The shift from employee paranoia to freelancer optimism.
The way Companies are structured today isn’t the way they’ll be structured tomorrow.
The most striking example of this, is companies believing things need to be built in house.
Tomorrow companies will be structured around a flexible, distributed workforce, enabled by technology, and driven by a different set of values that people have.
Covid accelerated this already inevitable future.
According to Jon, “I don’t think work will ever be the same. The old model of talent is unsustainable and not cost efficient”.
Stats We’ll Cover On The Episode
The Good…
Why freelance?
78% said flexibility and independence
69% said to meet and work with interesting clients
64% of freelancers described themselves as ‘full-time by choice’
40% of freelancers felt more successful than colleagues
Only 11% were negative about their work
The Bad…
Only 61% of freelancers said they had strong relationships with clients
30% of freelancers struggle, with 34% of freelancers worrying about their financial performance
Interesting: 69% were loyal to one or two platforms rather than several
Other Questions We’ll Ask Jon:
What’s the point of a freelance platform?
Will freelancers using freelance platforms increase or decrease as the freelance economy grows?
What are some commonalities amongst the highest earning freelancers? Then amongst the happiest freelancers? Then amongst the freelancers stuck in the feast/famine.
What should young leaders interested in our space do today? Should they freelance? Go work for a rising startup like Gigged? Or established players like Paro, MBO, or Upwork? work for something totally unrelated? Hint…I think every leaders needs to have survived solely on freelance income before they build something in our space.
Connect With Jon
Want To Be Featured In The Human Cloud?
We accept selections on a case by case basis. Our process is that we vet the leader, the thesis, then give you complete autonomy to publish on Human Cloud Insights.
To apply, reply to this email.