let me guess you got out of work or
school to be here today huh you wanted
to break out of your routine to hear
some great ideas you escaped for the
afternoon to imagine the possibilities
you don’t have to sit at work stuck at
your desk clicking through your emails
and waiting for the workday to end this
is how many of us think about work in
America isn’t it we clock in we work our
9:00 to 5:00 take a quick lunch break
often tethered to our phone in our boss
and then we get home just in time to
make dinner watch some TV
go to bed and do it all again tomorrow
the nine-to-five that controls our lives
clearly creates a dichotomy between work
and play but life doesn’t have to be
this way instead imagine waking up not
to the firm of your alarm but to the Sun
peeking through your blinds imagine
stretching as you get up taking the time
to cook a full breakfast and then
sitting down to actually think about
what you want to accomplish during the
day imagine writing down three items
tops and then actually checking those
items off your list imagine working
until you get those things done and then
taking the rest of the day for yourself
not pushing until 6:00 p.m. or later and
then imagine having the money and the
time to experience everything you want
in life maybe travel to some far-flung
places seeking out new adventures or
exploring some new hobbies this
lifestyle is part of the new freelance
based gig economy that’s developing in
America people are choosing to work this
way the 40-hour workweek developed
during the Industrial Revolution in the
early 1800s when we had artificial
lighting and could work inside and not
worry about sunrise or sunset that’s
largely persisted until the past decade
because we always had to go to a place
to work whether that was on a
blue-collar manufacturing floor or a
white colored US job but that’s changing
for some workers according to a 2014
survey commissioned by the freelancers
Union 34 percent of Americans are
independent workers and they project
that by 2020 that could go up to 40
percent independent workers are also
known as freelance or remote which means
they can work from anywhere in the world
now that we can do so much with our
portable devices a lot of part-time and
full-time jobs can be done from anywhere
and at any time and studies are showing
that these workers are healthier happier
more fulfilled and have a more flexible
schedule and this is what workers want
and it’s what the current generation is
making happen as of 2015
Millennials took over is the largest
generation in the workforce and 72% of
those Millennials myself included and
many of you out there value time and
experience over money and things in our
careers we place the greatest value on
our time which is in short supply when
we’re stuck behind our desks all day but
we’re no longer looking for that idea of
work-life balance because we know
balance is impossible and it’s really
hard to chase instead we’re looking for
a work-life schedule which gives us the
flexibility to shake up the workday
break out of our routines it
accomplished what we need to do in the
timeframe we need to do it I’m part of
that statistic when I graduated from the
University of Georgia with the
newspapers major yeah when that still
existed my first job in the real world
was at a newspaper any cubicle I had a
relatively flexible schedule in the
sense that I could wear 10:00 to 6:00 or
11:00 to 7:00 but after about a year in
that job although I had wanted to do
journalism my whole life I began to feel
stifled I was still at that desk five
days a week if not six or seven and I
was still always tied to my phone and
email in case my editors
did me that work stress became so
intense especially when I was covering
the first election of governor nathan
Deal that I got sick really sick in fact
when I was working in the newsroom on
Thanksgiving Day I got so sick I had to
go to the emergency room the doctors did
tests on me for a couple of days and
finally diagnosed me with an autoimmune
disease which they thought was triggered
by my work stress I knew then that
although I loved journalism I needed to
change my job and so I did in this new
job at UGA although I was healthier I
was still stuck at a desk I would often
look out my window on North Campus and I
would be jealous of the students who
were walking around on a nice day during
my year in that job I wrote for the
local newspaper and some online blogs
and I remembered I still had a passion
for journalism but I needed to do it in
a different way so I decided to work for
myself in freelance for different
publications at first I wasn’t quite
sure how to do this so I looked to
others for inspiration I read some
online blogs and soon I found that
others had figured out a way to do this
freelance lifestyle – so I started small
I wrote for one magazine and I built my
way up from there within two years I had
a full-time income from writing and now
five years out I make two times the
salary I had at both of my desk jobs and
I still have time to pursue the other
passions I have in my life such as
teaching journalism on campus or running
a business that I co-owned with my best
friend where we help local artists in
Athens and I’m not alone in this I write
a series for paste magazine where I
profile others who’ve said bye-bye
to the nine-to-five I called them escape
artists let me introduce you to a few
this is Chris Geller bow of the art of
nonconformity he traveled to all 193 UN
recognized countries by the age 35 and
this is Kirsten rich she has the website
the blonde abroad she left a
corporate finance job to blog about
travel fashion in photography and this
is Dan Miller who runs points with the
crew he uses credit card points and
miles to take his wife in six kids on
adventures and they’re not all writers
this is Marcelo Aaron BD of wandering
trader he’s a day trader who works from
anywhere in the world and has great
adventures and this is Jody Edinburgh of
legal nomads she’s a lawyer who also
blogs about food anywhere in the world
in Chris Burkard
was a studio photographer who decided to
take his act on the road and now he
photographs the outdoors lifestyle and
surfing for big brand names like them
you can be an escape artist you can
schedule your life this way too and you
know companies are paying attention a
recent study by Deloitte and 2016 found
that 51 percent of global executives
want to hire more independent workers in
the next three to five years and
researchers are fascinated as well
they found that although this freelance
lifestyle can be stressful independent
workers are often happier and healthier
than their counterparts in a cubicle in
fact recent surveys by the freelancers
Union that I mentioned earlier did some
surveys and found that more than
two-thirds of these workers often earn a
higher salary than they did in their
previous nine-to-five job have a higher
job satisfaction and feel a greater
sense of purpose working this way the
first step in getting there of course is
considering the idea is this type of
work right for you do you feel stuck in
your current job have you ever wondered
what it would be like to break outside
of the confines of work as we know it
it’s possible and you can do it you know
instead of one trajectory one career
path in one choice we actually have
multiple trajectories multifaceted
futures and several choices about what
we want to do
and who we want to be it’s never too
early nor too late to make our daily
lives what we want them to be the
Internet has definitively changed the
way that we work and industries are
adapting now individual workplaces are
beginning to transform essentially the
way that we work is changing and the
question we have to ask ourselves is are
we ready to change with it thank you [Applause]