Jon Younger PhD’s Post

If you haven't read this (and only a few people seem to have discovered it), I encourage you to do so. A wonderful article on how we stress ourselves to respond to emails quickly and often hastily. Freelancers, take note! Adam Grant is terrific at breathing practical and sometimes surprising life into social psychology research. He is well worth following. #freelancerevolution

Excited to share my new article: "The Outlook for Freelancing: Global Leaders Share Their Views" I asked 20+ leading CEOs and thought leaders to share their forecasts for the freelance revolution during the next 3-5 years. Their answers provide powerful insightful into the opportunities and challenges facing freelancers and the companies that hire them. Here's an excerpt: PAT PETITTI CEO CATALANT TECHNOLOGIES. “Companies seek ways to get work done better, faster, and more cost effectively. Designing an organization and work force that is agile, flexible, and adapts quickly to change is critical. Freelancers are a powerful way to provide organizations with the flexibility and specialized skill access needed to quickly adjust. Freelancers are becoming a larger component of more company workforces and reaching upwards of 20% of the workforce at the Fortune 500.” Don't miss this article: https://lnkd.in/eWgVy23u #freelancerevolution

If you believe in the importance of a positive customer experience when problems arise, read this interview with Instant Teams' co-founders Liza Rodewald and Erica McMannes. What's their secret? Read on: https://lnkd.in/gs_vuaSW Here's an excerpt: The company has grown significantly since we first reported in 2020, hasn’t it? Liza: So much has changed. Covid forced us to embrace remote work which, in turn, opened opportunity for new, distributed CX work to emerge. Our talent community has grown 4X and our revenue 6X, but our learnings have increased even more as we learned our military spouse community is a greater asset than we realized. To truly elevate a brand experience, you need connection. No one knows how to establish interpersonal connections like military spouses. We learned that a global community of US talent gave us market advantage. Our community is able to connect with brands, solve customer problems, and outperform competitors. And we learned how to develop career paths in CX that opened new opportunities to our community. We have leaned into our vision and are seeing the high growth potential it delivers for our clients. #freelancerevolution

Good call Matthew Mottola! Toptal just completed its acquisition of Growth Collective. The freelance market is very fragmented, and more startups on the way. As Matt points out, consolidation is coming. #freelancerevolution

If you know my writing on Forbes, you know that I like to revisit startups I've written about, and tell readers how they've performed. For Instant Teams, revisiting was a chance to hear about the great progress the company has made in creating better CX for top companies who care about their customers and want them to have a positive experience. Thank you Liza Rodewald and Erica McMannes for creating Instant Teams! Want to learn how tech enabled talent and a positive work culture can conjure up a great company? Here's an excerpt: What’s the secret sauce of Instant Teams? What’s made it a success in a very tough industry? Liza: We listen. We are eager to learn, improve, and adapt. We listen to what customers and brands tell us and design solutions to address their challenges. We listen to what our military spouses say about their accounts, their enthusiasm and frustrations, and we improve and pivot. We usually get it right and it’s always done with heart. We reject the “churn and burn” philosophy of many competitors in our space, and insistent about a positive, caring, culture. It’s helped us keep a low 7.5% attrition rate, a fraction of the 50-80% plus attrition our competitors routinely face. We believe when you unite remarkable talent with career paths and growth potential, brands deliver better customer experiences and happier teams. #freelancerevolution

Are you are an independent professional working as a fulltime freelancer, an employee building your professional bona fides, or a professional building a side-gig? In this increasingly competitive times, it's important to understand what's requires to build real expertise! This HBR article by Anders Ericsson and his colleagues provides a solid answer to that question and is worth reading and sharing. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/ebHxaZic #freelancerevolution

A useful article in today's Wall Street Journal describes the virtues of a hybrid workforce. I like a quote from a MSFT HR VP when he wrote, "People will return to the office when its worth their time to do so." Meanwhile, the best way to hollow out the quality of your professional workforce is to insist on a fulltime return to the office: "Meet The ‘Freelance Lite’ Employee: They’re The Future" https://lnkd.in/eUZK2aiZ #freelancerevolution