Tag: sharing economy

My 30 day challenges, day 29 – by Philip Dodson

Posted on by philipdodson

Day 29, the finish line is always within grasp, just one more day to go. Although, I must say, habits do form and much quicker than I initially thought they would.

It’s likely that I will continue with most of the 8 challenges beyond tomorrow and I already have some new challenges in the pipeline.

So today’s picture is of one of the chalk boards that we have at the hub to advertise events coming up, this particular one is a comedy & networking evening on 22nd October (shameless plug!).

pic 29

My thoughts today turn again to co-working, which in itself is not a new thing, nor is collaboration. The whole concept of co-working, however, is evolving and it’s rapid rise globally is a reaction to a desire to have a real alternative to corporate world, to the isolation of working solo at home and to the cost of an office.

However, co-working is perhaps the wrong term, as really just working in the same physical space with other unrelated people, is not what it is about for me.

The fact is, humans are social animals and in order to thrive, be happy and in a good physical and mental state, we need to be around and interact with others.

So just working together is not it, it is interacting and building a community together, an eco-system, where the exchange is not simply chit-chat. The exchange must be social capital in order for co-working to be what it really should be.

It’s about using the physical space to create a social capital exchange, where both parties benefit from sharing and helping each other for no initial financial gain. The money will come, as the community becomes stronger and when the need arises. The needs will arise though as you will get to meet, like, know and trust others.

The corporate world is failing and is in decline, co-working is rising, but has yet to evolve as the solution. The solution lies in the meshing together of the evolving sharing economy and the old corporate world. They both need each other. Co-working is the catalyst for change.

The revolution will fail

Posted on by philipdodson

The revolution will fail – by Philip Dodson

The big buzz among authors, governments, mentors, ‘experts’, talked about on social media, and in many blogs is the ‘entrepreneurial revolution’.

It is seen by many as the answer to the developed world’s problems. Seen as our salvation from the frightening prospect of a never ending vicious circle of economic stagnation.

Vast and ever increasing numbers of us are chosing, or in some cases out of pure necessity, the path of self-employment, entreprenuership, freelance, solo-preneur or whatever other tags. It’s predicted by many that by as early as 2020, it will be the norm in the developed world.

There is a whole new industry of support for this cropping up with incubators, start-up loans, training, mentoring, websites, courses, and the list goes on.

The digital revolution, that will/is impacting massively on our business and personal lives, is the catlyst for real changes to the world and we stand at a real fork in the road for our collective futures.

Self-employment, embracing the digital world and using the real power of social media, & the shared experiences they create, is the solution to making things happen. To build economic recovery, to sharing knowledge, to changing ‘old school’ politics/education, to moving away from all the failing ‘isms’ that have dominated our world. People can connect and solve previously unsolvable issues through amazing technology.

However, this great revolution, this amazing chance we have, will fail if we don’t add one thing to the the mix.

That is community, people connecting face-to-face, people helping others, sharing, collaborating in real life – not on a device in the palm of our hands. Shared experiences can only happen if people physically connect.

What we need, is a locally focussed community leadership, involving all aspects of the community and embracing business leaders.

We need small community education which is creative & interactive, tuned in to the world we live in, not giant state run education factories.

We need co-working hubs providing a focal work place for all the self-employed, that enables them to share, collabotrate, better their ideas & themeselves, that removes the isolation of working at home or as a faceless nomad in a coffee shop.

Many start-ups will fail in this revolution if they are cut off and isolated. Starved of motivation and ideas, by being at home away from where their peers are.

The focus on putting leadership, decision making, workplace, education and people together in small locally focussed communities, will be the vital ingredient to the success of this revolution and so much more.

It is time for everyone to take part in truly fixing the ‘me, me, me’ world and changing it to a community that shares and helps each other. One not driven by material greed, but one driven by the desire to help others.

That doesn’t mean businesses can’t make money or success & that achievements in different fields aren’t recognised and rewarded. It simply means, the focus is on people & community first and not material wealth beyond what is sufficient.

With the power of digital technology and social media, the local communities can be connected globally and experiences can be shared. Then we can move away from the ‘old school’ self-interest based & short-term leaderhsip, which has failed and that the ‘democratised’ world has to suffer.

I’m in – who else is up for making the change our world needs?