The 4 threats to advertising are consultants, Software, New business and The gig economy.
This is the slide deck presented to Vega in Durban 5 October 2017
For booking contact brent@whatthefreelance.com
I thought i would just tell you a story and let you decide what the main topic was.
No presentation is complete without a slide showing these companies logos right?
People talk about disruption
Whats left?
Banking?
Insurance
Education?
EMPLOYMENT?
30 years in one job with the gold watch at 65 and the slow deterioration
of this into 18 months per job and the desire to work where you want how you want.
To gigs and daily work over months of employment
WPP represents the advertising industrial complex [omnicom, Publicis, interpublic, Dentsu]
Wire and plastic products.
Martin Sorrel
One of the big 4
£14B revenue
205k employees
I spend my life in the local advert, media and marketing space.
Threat one. Consultants.
Mckinsey represents the consultants
Bain, KPMG, deloitte, accenture, price waterhouse etc.
Higher prices
Accenture 400k employees
Higher level C suite.
They set strat and marketing makes it a noise.
Consulatants can buy creative, but creative cant buy consultants
Sept 2017
Threat 2: tech and ERP systems [Enterprise resource planning]
Shoprite checkers story
Local makro
Know their clients and can target live info to limited people. Expiring chocolates.
When this happens your digital agency is dead!
S-A-P, a German corporation, stands for Systems, Applications andProducts (Systeme, Anwendungen und Produkte in German Language). Calling it SAP as acronym and not S-A-P causes a huge misunderstanding because SAP is a German Slang meaning Pigs. So, during international conference calls with clients in Germany, special care was taken that nobody calls it SAP because that would just offend the Germans.
Advertising is less invasive and we see less of it everyday
Amazon teaches the world how to buy online and have devastated retail where they play
They bought whole foods for $14b and never even burped. The market paid for that purchase and their share value went up in one day more than the purchase price.
The first 1 trillion dollar market cap biz?
#3: new business
Alexa
We buy category, we dont buy brand in FMCG
Toilet paper, green soap, batteries.
House brand.
When they approach P&G for prices and they decline they will insert housebrand / other.
Amazon Prime – 2nd box
Amazon is killing BRAND. [especially in FMCG space]
Eat them alive.
Threat 4: ipros and freelancers
Who are freelancers / ipros?
Frelance are self employed and more often than not highly skilled.
NOT kids out of school but qualified and more often than not with traditional employment history.
The growth in iPros in the EU since 2004 has been remarkable.
Numbers have increased by 45% from just under 6.2 million to 8.9 million
.
2008 economic crisis – EU loses 7m jobs. 1 in 10 unemployed with skills.
Through the collaborative economy we let strangers sleep in our beds and drive our cars or babysit our kids –
all activities we would in the past only have entrusted to people we know as neighbors or friends or perhaps strangers which were recommended to us through people we know.
It has grown by 25% since 2009 to turnover an estimated £109 billion a year, more than the entire automotive sector,
SIDE hustle
9-5
For my 5-9
Public service co is a new LLC structure to identify and manage ipros.
Different tax laws
The Freelance Isn't Free Act also aims to protect freelancers from employer retaliation, and can increase monetary consequences for employers who refuse to pay
To recap, the law mandates that freelancers be paid in full for work worth $800 or more, either by a date set forward in writing or within 30 days of completing an assigned task.
"Starting today, New York City will be the first city in the nation to protect freelancers and independent contractors from getting stiffed," Councilman Lander stated Monday.
iPros are highly skilled self-employed individuals who work for themselves but do not employ others.
They range from journalists and designers to ICT specialists and consultants.
iPros represent a significant segment of professional working generally,
Mothers:
25% of all those working in professional, scientific and technical work
22% of all those in arts and entertainment.
Expert estimations foresee that by 2020 in the US, contingent workers will make up nearly half of all US workers,
And 11% of these will be working for on-demand platforms
In February 2017, about 123.61 million people were employed on a full-time basis
50% = 60 Million in US.
Freelancers are not vega students.
They are 40+ qualified, experienced and not only creative.
Not just creatives
Biz consultants, Bankers, traders, lawyers, accountants , developers, actuaries
Information workers selling time and IP.
Knowledge workers
A survey of 7000 employers found that
76% of employers hired freelancers less expensive,
46% because they could get work done faster and
31% because it was difficult to find talent locally.
ALSO allows quick scale
The WTF audit came up with similar results
opportunity (55%) far more than a necessity (28%).
Importantly, becoming self-employed was a positive choice:
clear signs that the collaborative economy is creating a structural shift in the labour market towards more temporary freelance employment.
WTF positive statements:
‘I look forward to Mondays’ or
‘At work I feel bursting with energy’.
This contrasts with findings from research on workplace engagement
Our research literature typically emphasises the importance of
autonomy,
choice,
personal Flexibility and wider issues of
lifestyle and wellbeing,
which correlate with high reported levels of satisfaction with working in this way.
sharing economy
platform economy
crowd work
We are moving out of an economy where it was the master of infrastructures who created value and into an economy where it is the master of data who creates value.
service based freelancers are horizontal in scope and don’t rely on major assets to deliver the service [unlike airbnb] + UBER
collaborative economy
A gig economy is an environment in which temporary positions are common
and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements.
Pricing is now global.
Large platforms set mean average prices and are leveling out the McDonalds bigmac index.
CLIENTS AND SUPPLIERS ARE GLOBAL
TOP INDUSTRIES for people with freelance in title
A combined role of economic change and culture are both important factors shaping choices over becoming an iPro.
the reasons for self- employment being a preference are much as we would expect –
independence and fulfillment (68%),
followed by flexibility over work (35%),
with income prospects (20%)
and business opportunities (9%)
a key driver for becoming independent was dissatisfaction with previous work (56%) along with having a business idea (85%).
Had a single client to start
Thought shift:
Having a job vs working for clients
Legitimise being employed and be seen with less of “unemployed and more self employed”
Freelancers are looking for less suspicion and less marginalization and see that
The greater the professional sector in the economy, the greater the opportunity to practice independently.
What stops people becoming freelancers?
This fear of failure is most stark in relation to young people (UNDER THE AGE OF 25),
with a paltry 17% wanting to be entrepreneurs, compared with 60% in South Africa and
30% in Middle East states. Source
The state of global youth entrepreneurship’ Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
Entrepreneur = risk taker in Latin
Co-working spaces:
The 1st co-working space opened in San Francisco in 2006;
March 2013 there were almost 2,500 such shared working locations worldwide.
2016 – 8700 .
2017 estimated @ 12700.
1,3m FREELANCERS in the spaces in 2017 [40% growth]
46% increase 2016 – 2017 worldwide
each space has now grown an average of 46% in terms of new members.
510k subscribed members worldwide in 2015,
735k in 2016 and
65% independent workers.
61% of all coworking spaces are planning to expand their workspaces in the coming year.
[source Coworking Europe Conference Global Coworking Survey]
One of the top 3 requirements raised in new employee interviews are “remote working” and flexytime.
A study from 2016 found that 66% of employers allowed their staff to work
remotely at least occasionally, up from 34% in 2005.
In June, Automattic – the company behind Wordpress, a blog platform –
announced that it was closing its office in San Francisco and encouraging
all employees to work remotely.
A local example of ABSA bank moving to flexi and remote working in sept 2017
Flexi time and flexi space POLICY
We Roam is one of several young companies targeting millennials with “workations” ranging from two weeks to a year.
They are tapping into the rise in self-employment and the increasing popularity of remote working.
There is a distinctive shift to a more collaborative way of working.
iPros value autonomy and freedom, yet to be effective they need the appropriate support.
Unsettled.
One month at a time
As their specific needs are not recognized, iPros have developed their own supportive environments in the form of co-working spaces and professional hubs.
Annette just spent a month in Bali and met people in multiple tech start ups and investors while working and doing yoga.
Japans Softbank fund $4,4 Billion
WeWork has a current valuation of roughly USD $20 billion.
WeWork designs and builds physical and virtual communities in which entrepreneurs share space and office services and have the opportunity to work together.
The company’s 100,000+ members have access to health insurance, an internal social network, social events and workshops,
WeWork has more than 2000 employees and has locations in 23 United States cities and 16 countries
IBM rent space for 2nd office for staff at wework
Station F, a 34,000-square-metre space that, since the end of June,
has played host to 1,000 small technology companies from around the world.
3000 freelancers
Backed by a €250 million investment from French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel,
Station F - which takes its name from engineer Eugène Freyssinet, who built the original freight station in 1929 - aims to turn Paris into a global startup centre
THIS ISNT FROZEN YOGHURT FAD.
% of core vs freelance
85% VS 15%
AGENCIES THAT ARE PM, AM, SALES AND ACCOUNTS – ALL CREATIVE OUTSOURCED.
the actual costs of employing staff:
R100 an hour
+ leave + bonus + recruitment + desk, chair, office, laptop, software,
coffee and toilet paper + HR + payroll costs + mentoring time + HEADACHE.
Productivity @ 130 hours vs 195
Freelancer at 3 times the hourly cost SEEMS expensive.
BUT costs a third less over the lifecycle of a business.
The “BOX” that supports old school employments 6 p’s.
product
people [HR, culture]
Process
Policy [that guides process]
POP [promise of payment] – huge – no stress,
Protection.
GET EDUCATED AS A FREELANCER.
NOT JUST ON YOUR SKILL BUT ALL THE OTHER SOFT SKILLS YOU WILL REQUIRE TO SURVIVE WORKING ALONE AND REMOTELY
Add the agency questionnaire
Single biggest issue was How the freelancers DONT run a business and dont know business works
Clean books and SARS clearance's.
SARS to be lenient on IPros.
VAT REGISTER
USE FREELANCER IN JOB TITLE
Aqua Haylee story
FREELANCE BANK – RICH
Bank do know how to deal with you... Are you Unemployed??
Govt Regulation and frameworks need adjustment
Freelancers are invisible on govt literature
Deemed self employed, unemployed or SME according to stats
Yet they provide a responsive, competitive supply of expertise to cater for constantly changing client needs and contribute to economic growth. At a time of rapid change and increased competition, it is critical that policy makers and the business community understand freelancers, the skills and innovation they provide, and ways in which their contribution to the economy can be nurtured
GOVT AND law is slow, the Internet and freelancers are fast
Government’s are desperate to classify freelancers into categories that can be tracked and taxed.
IN SA YOU ARE Employment brackets are being tabled and separation of
platform workers from labour broking
self employed from is consuming committees.
Act like a business for policy but retain your independence and required balance
Be identified as a working professional that contributes to the economy
[especially in tough economic times]
Get business training – you are a business FFS.
Dont let Business and corporate to take advantage of the workforce
don’t hate, collaborate [with big business]
You are at war
You are a business
You have a 10 month model.
use 2 months studying and improving and get some business skills under your belt
Have a sales plan.
Product , USP differentiator is, who your preferred clients WILL be, how you will reach out to them and sell?
Have rock solid contracts in place to protect yourself against the corporates until such time that local policy steps in and protects you.
Recognise the cost of late payments implications and impact on freelancers.
“Its never been easier to start a business, its never been easier to fail” Gary Veynerchuck
Use tools
CRM
Accounting
Email
Calendar
Chat
Social media
Newsletters
Project management
Website
Marketing your own brand.
Owning your media channels.
Paid media
Social media.
Create content
1 9 90
You have all seen an organogram right?
What does yours look like?
What if you had a few freelancers who worked well together and then hired a
freelnace Client service person? Project management? What about a freelance MD?
In the EU, in 2015 gross revenue from collaborative platforms was estimated
at € 28 billion, almost doubling compared to 2014 * 2016
1.platforms provide an algorithm that allows for an effective matching of labour providers and users.
2. tech brings down transaction costs to the extent that platforms can also facilitate micro- transactions. THINK FIVERR
3. platforms provide services to reduce or manage risks involved in market transactions, hence addressing such market failures as incomplete information about the labour provider or the risks of cheating.”
Platform economy
LITERALLY 100’s OF PLATFORMS Apps, job boards and freelance sites and co-working spaces.
Add to this the dissatisfaction with agencies and professional consultancies.
12M registered freelancers and
5M registered clients.
3M jobs are posted annually, worth a total of $1 billion USD, making it the world’s largest freelancer marketplace
What is the app that you belong to? How many do you belong to?
There is no correlation between earnings and skills/experience, but that, instead, reputational mechanisms (such as customer ratings on previous jobs) do have an effect.
Join platforms that pool virtual workers.
Three main drawbacks were identified by people why they DONT use freelancer platforms: 1. lack of awareness of who is responsible if a problem arises (41 %); 2. lack of trust for internet transactions (28 %); 3. lack of trust for the provider/seller (27 %).
You Must build digital trust.
NO SAFETY NET
Savings,
PROVIDENT,
PENSION
medical aid.
You have removed the safety net and must provide your own.
Risks: freelancers are exposed to known risks of online work
(in case of virtual services),
notably stress,
visual fatigue and musculoskeletal problems;
other issues mentioned are technology addiction, information overload
[but really no difference from some agencies I know}
precariousness of work, INSTABLE WORK LOADS
where it is sometimes unsure even from one hour to the next whether there will be
work to do, what it will entail and how much it will pay;
this insecurity of employment and income is associated with psychological morbidity .
KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
Remember that there are some big sharks out there eating the small guys... But if you arrange yourself like a business and act like one.... NEXT SLIDE
You can eat those sharks
So now you can decide what you want to title my talk.
Thanks