In today’s economy, technology is enabling a new wave of independent workers called “the gig economy players”.

Since the industrial revolution and the introduction of the 9 to 5 workday, we got used to working for a large employer. This came with the hopes of a good pension when you retire, while having financial certainty most of the time.

However, this was not the case for most of humanity’s history. If you research it, you will find out that most people were independent workers for most of our existence. In fact, the human economy was based on your local geographical location. As we started cooperating more and more, we started specializing in providing value based on a single trade, like farmers, butchers, etc. As technology started to expand, it allowed humanity to play on a larger scale; for example, when we developed bigger and stronger ships, we were able to make trades with other continents. Did you know that the stock market was invented in the Netherlands as a way to hedge risk from sail ships failing to bring and send goods over the oceans?

According to Sofi.com here is the stock exchange timeline: 

• the Late 1400s: Antwerp, or modern-day Belgium, becomes the center of international trade. Merchants buy goods anticipating that prices will rise in order to net them a profit. Some bond trading also occurs.

•  1611: The first modern stock trading is created in Amsterdam. The Dutch East India Company is the first publicly traded company, and for many years, it is the only company with trading activity on the exchange.

• the Late 1700s: A small group of merchants made the Buttonwood Tree Agreement. The men meet daily to buy and sell stocks and bonds, a practice that eventually comes to form the New York Stock Exchange.

•  1790: The Philadelphia Stock Exchange is formed, helping spur the development of the U.S.’s financial sectors and the country’s expansion west.

•  1896: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is created. It initially has 12 components that were mainly industrial companies.

•  1923: The early version of the S&P 500 is created by Henry Barnum Poor’s company, Poor’s Publishing. It begins by tracking 90 stocks in 1926.

•  1929: The U.S. stock market crashes after the decade-long “Roaring 20s,” when speculators made leveraged bets on the stock market, inflating prices.

•  1941: Standard & Poor’s is founded when Poor’s Publishing merges with Standard Statistics.

•  1971: Trading begins on another U.S. stock exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, otherwise known as the NASDAQ.

•  1987: Corporate buyouts and portfolio insurance helped prices in the market run-up until Oct. 19, what becomes known as “Black Monday.”

•  2008: The stock market crashes after the boom and bust of the housing market, along with the proliferation of mortgage-backed securities in the financial sector.

And now with the emerging new technologies like personal computers and the Internet, it seems that we are now embracing a new era of independent work pretty similar to preindustrial times, but this time with much more comfort and abundance.

Here are the top freelance gigs that are dominating the market today:

• Software Developer

• Graphic Designer

• Ghostwriter

• Copywriter

• Digital Marketing

• Photographer

• Videographer

• Translation services

• Public Relations

• Drop-Shipping reseller

• Information Products developer

• E-Commerce retailers

What types of technologies are enabling these new ways of doing business?

As we previously stated, it is thanks to the technology that we are now able to break free from the status quo and be independent when it comes to generating an income. In today’s economy, the Internet revolution is enabling a new set of human experience transformation technologies that I believe will be responsible for our growth in all areas of our lives. According to one of the people I admire the most on this topic, Peter Diamandis, we can see these trends in technologies that will revolutionize humanity:

• Biotech

• Hyper-Connectivity (5G and beyond)

• Nanotech

• 3D printing

• AI

• Renewable energy

• Genomics

• Blockchain and Distributed technologies

And this is just the beginning. However, the bigger question is why are people choosing to become independent over having a stable, secure job? It’s funny because this question is the entire reason why I became an entrepreneur. The simple answer is FREEDOM! We will give anything for freedom, even certainty, and economic stability. You see, I actually grew up in the corporate world, jumping from big corporations to even bigger ones, making huge salary increases along the way. But I always felt trapped in the rat race. When it got so unbearable, I decided to roll the dice and go out on my own. Bear in mind I had a wife, 3 kids, and a mortgage to pay, and… it did not matter. I still jumped into the black void of uncertainty. Now, after 15 years, I must say it has been one of the best decisions of my life. Don’t get me wrong, the first 10 years were so hard I actually almost died from a heart attack. But now, looking back, I am living life on my own terms, using technology to the max, and making incredible abundance along the way. So, what was it? Again, for me and most independent people out there, it was the freedom of controlling my own time! 

I wrote a book about it last year called “Breaking out of Corporate Jail” and it quickly became a number one Amazon bestseller, and you know why? Not because I am a great author – far from it! I actually had to hire a ghostwriter to get it done. It actually became a best seller because most of us are looking for freedom among all else, and now in today’s economy, we have the technologies that allow us not only to survive on our own but to thrive. As I am writing this note, I have over 45 software engineers working with me, soon to be 50 and I consider them the best in the world. I have developers that have been with me since the beginning (2005) and you know why they stay? Because I give them the freedom I was looking for when I was a corporate employee. We have people on our team representing over 8 countries, and we are getting stronger every day. Why? Because we are using technology and freedom to our advantage.

My good friend Olavo asked me to write this article as he is teaching a Masters class at a University and now you know too, how I would not be surprised if by 2040 most of the workforce consists of independent individuals doing what they want, when they want, with whom they want, while creating incredible abundance for them and others.