Introducing Modern Independent
tl/dr: The traditional workplace is no longer the norm as more people adopt entrepreneurial approaches to making a living. To celebrate these renegades, we’re publishing deep-dives into the lives of individuals, their business, and the modern independent lifestyles they’re creating.
Get inspired, join the movement, or suggest someone we should feature.
Despite what the internet might tell you, the most important actors in our economy aren’t social media rockstars, thought leaders, or even CEOs. The modern economy is built day-in, day-out by hundreds of thousands of self-employed individuals.
In Canada, much like the U.S., 98% of all employer businesses are small businesses, and 41% of employed Canadians work for businesses with fewer than 20 employees.(1)
Yet our news feeds, magazine covers, and TV channels regularly ignore this growing group of small and micro-enterprises. Instead, they’re filled with the latest Silicon Valley startup funding announcements, the opinion of an industrial era CEO, and the latest tea cleanse promoted by the Kardashians.
While this might not seem like a big deal, we disagree.
The stories we internalize shape the decisions we make and actions we take.
The focus on the sexy, flashy, and already-famous-in-business, subtly alters how we view the economic options available to us.
Instead of focusing on creating value, we aim for the big swings of fame. Instead of leading, we wait to be chosen. And instead of building independent businesses, we hold on to the the belief that a career at a big company is the only way to economic security. Worse still, we believe we’re not the type of people who start businesses or “do our own thing”.
“They do that, not us”, we think.
Now is not the time to embrace disempowerment.
Buried beneath the pop-business stories, a profound shift in our economy has taken place. We’ve moved from an industrial economy to a connected one, forever changing how we work and create value in the world.
Software is eating the world, artificial intelligence is coming from white collar jobs, and outsourcing will continue to erode blue collar ones. This change has led to what many smart people have referred to as “an era of economic uncertainty”.
Uncertainty leads to inaction, or wrong action.
Individuals uncertain of how to provide for their families are much less likely to invest in their communities, support their fellow humans, and help progress much needed changes in our world.
So when the people on the front lines of this change — the modern independent workers building the future — are underrepresented in our media, we are all negatively impacted.
Succeeding in this new economy
Behind the news headlines touting the end of the middle class and general economic stagnation are thousands of individuals succeeding in this new economy.
From the rise of freelancing and consulting, to the spark of craft businesses, empowerment of the coach, and explosion of the designer, it’s these self-employed individuals that are pioneering the new way we work and create value in the world.
The world is better when more of us feel secure in our ability to do (and be paid for) meaningful work.
Modern Independent is built to highlight the people taking responsibility for their professional futures. We create stories to inspire and make real the opportunity in front of us all; to start something, find a problem to solve, and to take a chance on a vision.
Each month, we’ll bring you stories of individuals, their businesses, and the lives they are creating. Mixing professional imagery with practiced storytelling, we showcase Modern Independent workers with the same attention to production value that a feature story of a magazine might once have done.
We aim to do our small part in highlighting the true heroes of our modern economy so we can all be inspired to take action.
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About Modern Independent
The traditional workplace is no longer the norm as more people adopt entrepreneurial approaches to making a living. To celebrate these renegades, we’re publishing a deep-dive into the lives of individuals, their business, and the modern independent lifestyles they’re creating.
Get inspired, join the movement, or suggest someone we should feature.
