The world is changing rapidly. Things seem to be converging more and more as our personal lives and work lives become more intermingled. Today, we think nothing of watching a fun video on YouTube at 10 in the morning or answering business emails at 10 at night. This is the picture for many of us who work in service industries. Traditional employment is fast becoming a thing of the past. On the positive side, the cloud and the digital tools we’ve come to take for granted offer us more independence than ever before. We’re discovering that we can take control of our own lives and futures, which is exciting. But there are also downsides to this brave new world.
The aftershocks of the financial crisis are profoundly affecting the way we’re viewed by the governments and the corporations that may have provided us with traditional employment. If we have a safety net at all, it has holes that are growing larger all the time. We’re being encouraged to become more independent so that we don’t cost governments so much money. Corporations are shedding us and outsourcing so that they can save money and make more for their shareholders. In this case, we have little choice over whether we become independent or not.
If we become successfully self-employed and working in the cloud we’re faced with the challenge of getting our work-life balance right. But, we’re told, the consequences of failing to get work-life right can have disastrous effects on our well-being and that of our families. We’re also in danger of becoming isolated and lonely without an office to go to and a water cooler to gather round.
But there is a third way of working and that’s ultimately what this book is about. It's called E-Ployment. I know it works because I’m one of its pioneers. I say this simply because it’s true. I don’t necessarily have any more vision than anyone else. Along with a small group of other people, I arrived at this way of working out of necessity and not because I wanted to build an empire. (although I have to say that a modest global empire is quietly building itself.)
I wrote this book because I know that working anywhere and everywhere in the cloud offers a huge amount of freedom and massive benefits for people like us and our clients. Above all, though, I wrote it because I want to share my story and inspire you to change your life.
'Ad agencies and marketing service companies should be extremely nervous right now about the freelance networks going out to compete with them. Networks made up of people achieving a better work/life balance, becoming more free and taking control of their own lives and future. This book tells you why they're succeeding and how you could too.'
- Lynn Franks, Women’s Empowerment Guru, Business Women
‘There is a shifting tide in consciousness. A shift towards nurturing the whole human being in employment, a shift towards caring for their whole life. A growing number of people, employees and employers alike, are beginning to question the traditional, narrow metrics of what is means to be successful. Who is wealthier: a person who commutes an hour to work for 12 hours, and returns home to miss their baby’s bath time? Or someone who commutes to their home office, has lunch on the beach, and runs the bath themselves? This book strikes to the heart of such questions. Its time has come.'
- Simon Cohen, British social commentator and broadcaster
