Perspectives: The Future of Work
“The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, where whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought for some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.” - Albert Camus
What is Work
Have you ever stopped to really think about what "work" means? We casually throw the word around daily, but to most, work means just a job title or a to-do list. I think at its core, work is about making something. It's about output. If you're putting in hours but not getting anything out, well, that's just activity.
So, why do we do it? Why do we work? Money, of course. But also, a sense of purpose, a way to contribute, and maybe, just maybe, because we're wired to create.
Over the years, work has really changed! From farming to factories to the internet, we've seen a wild ride. Let's take a quick trip through time to see what mattered back then that doesn't now and what might matter in the years to come.
The History of Work
For ages, work was basically associated with dirt. You were out there, farming, growing food and keeping animals. Your hands were probably rough, you knew the seasons like the back of your hand, and your whole life was more or less tied to the land. This period of time was the agricultural age. Physical strength was very important for work. People worked really long hours and formal education wasn’t widely marketed, you learned by doing.
Eventually, the world was ushered into a different time when the Industrial Revolution hit. Factories popped up everywhere. Suddenly, you're not farming anymore, you're working a machine, doing the same thing over and over, all day, every day. Work hours were long and monotonous, think 12, 14, even 16-hour shifts. And, again, education? Not really a priority. Businesses made money by pumping out as much stuff as possible.
Fast forward to the modern age we live in. The internet showed up, and everything changed. Suddenly, it's not about how strong you are, it's about what you know. Tech skills, creativity, being able to figure things out? That's what matters. You can work from anywhere, anytime, if you want. Because of the importance of knowledge work in today's age, education is really important. The people who thrive in the information age are always learning and always adapting.
A few decades ago, it was all about showing up at the factory on time. Now, it's about being able to solve problems, work with people all over the world, and keep up with technology that changes every five minutes.
Crazy, right? It's like, what mattered then – being tough and following orders – is totally different from what matters now, which is being smart and flexible.
The Creator Economy
The internet brought about a lot of changes in the 21st century. One of the most important changes the internet made was democratizing distribution. Now you don’t need a publishing house to share your book, you can just upload it to your website for millions of people to read. You don’t need to go to the bank to get money when you can make mobile transfers with your banking apps. We can now instantly share stuff to a global market.
The "creator economy" refers to a digital ecosystem where individuals, often called "creators" or "influencers," generate content online (like videos, articles, art, music) and monetize it directly through platforms like social media, by selling products, subscriptions, sponsorships, or advertising, essentially building their own brands and earning income from their audience.
The creator economy has exploded thanks to the internet, essentially democratizing content creation and distribution. Suddenly, anyone with a passion and a connection can build an audience and monetize their skills. Platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch have eliminated the traditional gatekeepers, allowing creators to directly connect with their fans and earn a living through their work.
Whether it's producing music, writing blogs, creating art, or teaching online courses, the creator economy empowers individuals to bypass middlemen and build sustainable businesses around their unique talents, fostering a new era of entrepreneurial creativity.
The Rise of The One Person Business
“In my little group chat with my tech CEO friends, there’s this betting pool for the first year that there is a one-person billion-dollar company. Which would have been unimaginable without AI and now will happen” - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
A business is simply an exchange of value. I provide you with something useful, and I get something useful in return. Business is a concept that has been around for a very long time and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. If you want to truly make a dent in a world that revolves around money, you will have to participate in business at some point in your life.
A "One Person Business" refers to a business that is owned and operated by a single individual, essentially meaning there is only one person responsible for all aspects of the company, from managing finances to delivering services and relating with customers.
The internet has given everyone the ability to become an entrepreneur, choose their working hours, and earn an income based around their interests, talents and obsessions. The one person business is an increasingly attractive model for those that value self-reliance, creative expression and freedom
The One Person Business stands on 3 pillars; Branding, Content and Offers.
Branding
For those that want to do what they want and help the people they can help the most – traditional branding, marketing and content will lead you in the wrong direction. The personal brand however is the most powerful storefront in our times.
A personal brand is the associations people make with you. It’s what they think when they hear your name or what they say about you when you are not in the room. The personal brand is relatable. It builds a human connection. It inevitably turns YOU into the customer avatar and the solution at the same time. With good personal branding, customers will buy from you because they like you and can relate with you.
Everyone has a reputation, therefore everyone has a personal brand. As a one person business, it is your responsibility to drive and shape your personal brand to be the best possible reflection of your values, beliefs. hopes and dreams.
The thing about branding is that it doesn’t have to be directly stated in many places. Maybe on your website where you can explain your brand message, but aside from that – people will pick up what your brand message is through the content you put out.
Content
Content is how you build the personal brand. Content is the messages, ideas and concepts that you put out into the world. One thing about content is that it compounds. The messages you put out compounds in people’s minds until your entire message clicks.
People aren’t going to understand you from one reel, youtube video, or blog post alone. Rather they begin to build their understanding of you after consuming more and more of your content. You need to put time in the game if you want to have a shred of authority from your content.
Make sure your content hits the mark with your audience by connecting the problems your content addresses with the goals your audience is trying to achieve. As a one person business, your content has to be centered around the problems/pain points of your audience, but packaged from your perspective.
For Instance;
Everyone can have the same goal of “making more money” but how are YOU going to make that a reality?
For me, it is by leveraging AI, systems design, marketing and content creation.
For another person, it could be wellness, mindset, and fitness.
And another, it could be personal development, writing, and productivity.
Either way, we can all still achieve our goal of “making more money” regardless of the specific path we follow in pursuit of that goal.
Okay Udoka, I get you. Content is important but HOW do I create consistent content around topics I’m interested in?
I’ll probably write more about this question in the near future but for now I’ll give you a simple 3 step plan to make more content.
Keep a second brain: The brain is really good at thinking. But it’s not so great at remembering stuff. I’m pretty sure you had a dozen good ideas last week. I’m also sure you can’t remember half of those ideas. To avoid forgetting your best ideas, I think it's best to write down all your ideas, inspirations and drafts in the same place for safekeeping ( I personally use my notes app ). That way you have an ever growing bank of content.
Choose Your Content Pillars: Your content pillars are the foundational things you want to talk about regularly. For me it's technology, philosophy and business. I can talk about these topics forever. Your content pillars can be whatever you are interested, passionate, obsessed about or experienced in. If you have problems finding your content pillars, then you can use one of the ever green markets; health, wealth and relationships. You can never go wrong with these 3 topics.
Create and Distribute: Now that you have your ideas and topics, it’s time to start creating. Make those videos, write that tweet. Just do a lot because you are still finding your voice. Just keep creating.
What’s more important than creating content is distributing it. That’s where we have the most leverage. Take this newsletter for instance. Here is how I’m going to distribute it;
I’ll send it to my email list
I’ll post it on my blog
I’ll repurpose 2 headings to write a post for medium and substack
I’ll share the blog link on my instagram story
I’ll share the link on my whatsapp story
I’ll share the link on my snapchat story
I’ll dm friends and family
And that's not all the ways I COULD distribute it. I could do a lot more with this piece of content ( and I will in the near future ) including;
Tweeting about my blog post on X
Turning the main points of this post into an X thread
Recording this content and posting as a podcast on Apple podcast, spotify, audiomack and youtube music.
Recording this content and posting as a youtube video
Recording this content and posting it as a module of an online course
The biggest leverage with content is that you only need to make it once and you can distribute it to millions of people across dozens of platforms at almost no cost. It’s a crazy time to be alive for creators
Offers
An offer a proposal made by a seller to a potential buyer, presenting specific terms and conditions for purchasing a product or service. An offer is essentially an invitation to buy by providing an incentive like a discounted price, bonus item, or special deal.
As a one person business, you need to start making offers ASAP. Your first offer will most likely be trash. There’s no escaping it. That’s why you should get that first crappy offer out immediately. You can’t improve something that doesn’t exist. You need to learn what it’s like to sell. You need a real-world vessel to apply all of your marketing and sales learnings to. Once you have made your first offer, you can then continue to improve and iterate on it from the data you get from the market.
Now you might say “Okay but how do I make a good offer?” Again, I’ll probably write more about this question in the near future but for now I’ll give you a framework to think through in order to make great offers.
Here's a breakdown of the essential elements of a compelling offer:
Desired Outcome: Your offer must genuinely solve a clearly defined problem that people have. It should be something that they truly desire.
Credibility: Use straightforward and believable language, and provide evidence that you can deliver on your promises. People need to trust that you can do what you say you will.
Immediate Availability: The ability to get what they want quickly increases the likelihood that people will buy. Minimize the delay between ordering and receiving the desired outcome.
Simplicity and Convenience: People prefer things that are easy and stress-free. The less effort or sacrifice required to obtain your product or service, the more likely people will be to buy it.
For most people starting an online or one person business, the best offer you can make at the beginning will most likely be tied to education or access. An education offer is either going to take the form of a course or coaching program where you get on the calls, help people with their problems, and dedicate yourself to researching effective solutions for those problems.
For an education offer, you don’t need all of the answers at the start, you just need knowledge and experience on the topic you are teaching and need more time than the other person has. They don’t have the time to solve the problem themselves. That’s why they pay for your service anyway. They value speed, convenience, and accountability.
Access is a slightly easier offer to sell. Once you have something that people want, you can charge them a fee to access the resource much like Netflix charges you to access their library of movies. Here you also don’t need to have all the answers, you just need a way to determine who gets access to what and a way to collect payments for said access.
Your Next Move
A lot of us have seen the meteoric rise of influencers, streamers and youtubers. We’ve seen just how much money these people make and we envy their lifestyle. Yet many people are still scared to get started. The biggest killer is that people don’t believe that business is for them, or that they don’t have enough experience.
But I don’t think that's the case. In fact, I believe that if you don’t see the opportunity, it’s because you aren’t in the arena. The opportunities can’t register in your mind's eye because you haven’t even stepped through the door.
The truth is that no two people are going to be obsessed with the exact same crevice of reality. And as you evolve and experience more, this becomes even more true because we all learn, practice and experience slightly different cocktails of existence. What goal are you working towards? Why are you working towards it? What is the desired outcome that you are trying to achieve? These are the unique things that people are going to follow you for.
There is no saturation… when done correctly.
The one-person business model is the best option for a large population of people, especially in recent generations, especially if you are just starting out.
Famous billion-dollar founders like Zuckerberg, Munger, Buffet or Musk started their entrepreneurial journey with 2 things – an idea and themselves. They didn’t just start with a billion-dollar company, instead they made increasingly bigger bets on themselves and their ideas.
When you start a one-person business, it is on you to learn the skills necessary to make it work. It’s on you to put in the necessary practice. It’s on you to have the unbreakable belief in yourself and your ideas. If you haven’t started, then your next move is to start. And if you have started, then you have to keep going. That’s it, that's your next move.
The landscape is shifting, and the power to shape your own career has never been more accessible. Embrace the tools at your fingertips, build your unique voice, and step into the role of a creator. Don't just observe the change; be the change. Your potential is limitless, and the opportunity to define your own success is here and now. Let's build it together, the future of work starts with you.
Love,
Udoka
