People are starting to rethink and redefine what work means to them

An early blog post by Francesca Pick — November 14, 2012.

Have you ever thought about quitting your job and starting your own company? Due to the economic crisis and the opportunities that technology has created, many people seem to be currently asking themselves this question and are increasingly choosing microentrepreneurship as an alternative to employment.

This development was also the topic of a panel at last month’s Social Media Week, a global event with panels and workshops about social media and topics such as collaborative consumption and crowdfunding. At a panel titled “The way out of the crisis: quit your full-time job and found a company?” four speakers discussed why they decided to turn their back on a traditional nine-to-five work life to pursue jobs that truly fulfill them.

What were some things that intrigued me? All panelists described the internet as being a key reason they were able to build their business. Compared to 20 years ago, the startup costs of online-based businesses are a lot lower, since they require few physical resources. The internet is a crucial element in enabling people to make the transition to being self-employed.

It’s not only the low entry costs that are promoting self-employment. Technology is also enabling more flexible and independent work models such as coworking. According to a global coworking survey conducted by Deskmag, the size of the coworking movement has doubled every year since 2006. Their most current research states that the number of coworking spaces has grown from one in 2005 to 1,800 coworking spaces worldwide in 2012.

Read my full article about “changing concepts of work in the 21st century” on OuiShare.net.