Welcome to a new way to look at work – the Flexible Free Agent.

As we migrate from our old industrial (make things) age, to our new intellectual (provide service) age, the definition of work also changes. In a workplace that now more heavily relies on on talents and natural aptitude instead of skill and experience, one of the changes we see is for more people working in their talent areas for several employers, instead of working in just one job that uses only some of your talents.

This section of the site is in process – so bookmark this page and check back regularly. Its goal is to give you ideas of how to create work on your terms – so you create the life you want, have the resources you want, and get to do each day what you do best.

First, I have to ask – Why does work have to be 40 hours, in 5 days and for the same company? Why not change it to do more of what you love in more environments. Why not build your day around what you are good at and passionate about doing, instead of doing a job that only has part of what you love at its core? Why not consider being a Flexible Free Agent – building your work life around organizations that need the specific high-value things you do well. This is how to work “millennial style.”

Many organizations learned through the recession that they can get by with a smaller core of full-time employees. Less cost, less overhead…great decisions. That means that these same organizations will need to bring in more temporary or part-time employees for specific projects that the full-time employees can’t handle. These roles belong to you – the flexible free agent.

This is your site for some new – completely out-of-the-box thinking about how to work today. Challenge every traditional approach to work because the workplace is changing. Check here for ideas to become a flexible free agent. Maybe the time is now for you to redefine how you want your work to be. Read on for more information.

First post. Wisdom from Seth Godin in his June 2, Blog:
Background: As you think of redefining work for you, don’t think of yourself as a part-time employee, rather think of stringing together several roles as an “free agent.” What are you great at? What are you passionate about doing? This is your starting point. Review Seth’s 16 questions to get you thinking in “free agent” mode:

Here are his questions to help you get started:
1. Who are you trying to please?
2. Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?
3. How will the world be different when you’ve succeeded?
4. Is it more important to add new customers or to increase your interactions with existing ones?
5. Do you want a team? How big? (I know, that’s two questions)
6. Would you rather have an open-ended project that’s never done, or one where you hit natural end points? (How high is high enough?)
7. Are you prepared to actively sell your stuff, or are you expecting that buyers will walk in the door and ask for it?
8. Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?
9. If you take someone else’s investment, are you prepared to sell out to pay it back?
10. Are you done personally growing, or is this project going to force you to change and develop yourself?
11. Choose: teach and lead and challenge your customers, or do what they ask…
12. How long can you wait before it feels as though you’re succeeding?
13. Is perfect important? (Do you feel the need to fail privately, not in public?)
14. Do you want your customers to know each other (a tribe) or is it better they be anonymous and separate?
15. How close to failure, wipe out and humiliation are you willing to fly? (And while we’re on the topic, how open to criticism are you willing to be?)
16. What does busy look like?

Second Post: The Flexible Free Agent – what it could look like?
A free agent, mostly known in sports, is someone who has the right talents, passions and experience to make a great difference. And as a result, he or she is in high demand. So could you be a flexible free agent in today’s workplace?

What is it you do well, what are you passionate about and what difference could you make in an organization?

This is the start. Let’s first see a couple of examples:
#1: Your talents: Detailed-focused, organized, efficient and productive.
Your passion: organization, implementation, driving and achieving results.
Opportunities: Work with companies that need:
o External/Internal event planned.
o Coordinate company event or initiative (new policy, new process, new education).
o Office administration, task organization, special project management, staffing coordination.

#2: Your talents: great communicator, listener and relater
Your passion: connecting with others, hearing others stories and experiences
Opportunities: Work with companies that need:
o Information about customer service, employee perspectives, or consumer perspectives – create and manage a survey process to gather information.
o Local radio, TV channel, newspaper opinion sourcing role who want stories about people and their lives.
o Develop and coordinate a social networking (cloud) for small organizations that deal in a product or service that matches your passions.

The starting point is knowing what you do well, then assessing who in your world could use what you do. Then invent the possibilities and your new customized role.

This totally reinvents work – but note that this is the direction the workplace is headed. Why not lead in this change, instead of catch up after others?

More information coming…