Author: Ethan Theo

I advised preparing to be able to work from home. This is not because I think you are going to be thrown out of a job immediately. But one day you may be. Or you may decide that your future will be better secured and more under your control if you take the plunge and go solo. If your home routine has already been modified to allow you to have time and space to work, that will be one shock less for the family to have to cope with. It will also have given you some experience of doing so and of what the problems are.
But there’s another reason why being prepared to undertake work at home is valuable. Full-time regular jobs will continue, of course, but there will be many more ‘portfolio’ workers, people who have several jobs at the same time. Every consultant has been doing it for years. Many more of us are ‘consultants’ now; even more will be in the future.
A portfolio of jobs may seem strange to those used to working for a large company that demands more than full-time attention. In fact, until the arrival of the MNC and the big international conglomerate, it was quite common. In parts of the world over 90% of the workforce have portfolios of jobs even if they don’t always describe them that way.
Will portfolios consist of a number of identical jobs? Probably not. There will be common characteristics, of course, especially the required qualifications and training, but too much similarity can lead to a conflict of interests. So there will be experts who span several aspects of the subject on which they advise. For example, builders will do more of their own design and, for simpler and smaller jobs, rely less on architects. Financial Advisers will become more ‘hands on’ managers of their clients’ portfolios. General Practitioners are already conducting minor operations in their clinics. Chemists will, in addition to having a Pharmacist on duty, employ a part-time GP for ‘instant’ consultations. Trainers will be prepared to train in a number of areas, not just the one for which they are well known.
The portfolio life will consist of much more project work – you will take on the job of getting something up and running, after which you will go on to another project. Many will combine academic work with actual operations, achieving a better balance between the theoretical and the practical.
To get a flavour of how dramatic the changes may be, think of the old grocery shop fifty years ago; only a limited range of products, counter service, delivery, specialist butchers, greengrocers, fishmongers. That today is the supermarket, selling everything from carrots to cars.
It is very important that you prepare yourself to take on portfolio work. To do so you should undertake a thorough personal SWOT analysis. I prefer the PASDAQ analysis*. It seeks to establish your interests as well as your abilities and when planning a career change or job move is much more successful at getting the right fit.
Equipped with a clear idea of not only what you can do but what you want to do – and what you need to do financially – you are already half way to a happier, more varied and more financially rewarding life.

The clash between Global Village and Balanced Life Style will create many changes for, and require unprecedented adaptability by, those now working or soon to enter the work force. My earlier articles on the subject defined the problem and began to show some of the impact it would have.
Home life will be affected. Keeping your information and fears bottled up is counter-productive. You need support. Your family must know that they have to be prudent with money. Don’t frighten your spouse unnecessarily but do discuss, calmly and rationally, the implications of what is happening. Start with the global picture and gradually show how this might affect your industry, your company, you and them. You need rational, supportive contributions, not hysteria.
Think together about the longer-term effects of Global Village. Your spouse may be bent on a more Balanced Life Style, especially if it involves helping with the children. Point out that Balanced Life Style comes at a price, which you are not, or may soon not be, in a position to pay.
We devote much training time to Managing Change in Business. We devote none at all to Managing Change in the Home. Yet this is the base from which we go out to work. Without a solid home base we cannot do our jobs. If you are the de facto head of the family you now have to manage change at home. Do it as seriously as you would manage reorganisation in your own company. It will pay you handsomely when the occasion arises.
Make sure that there is a place and time where and when you can work undisturbed at home. This may not be easy but insist on it. You may have to share space with your spouse or the children. If you do, see that it is available exclusively to you for some of the time. Quite apart from the need for this space now, you may need it as your office in the near future.
Even if you are still in a full-time job you will need a minimum resource from which to study the changes taking place and where you can devote yourself to getting a new job or alternative work. A breadwinner, man or woman, who has no private space at home may seek it elsewhere with potentially disastrous consequences.
Equip yourself with the sources of information you need to gauge how quickly the changes are taking place. This may require newspapers and magazines; access to the Internet is a vital component of it. Stockbrokers’ reports can be very helpful if they relate to your industry. Your industry or trade association is a mine of information. If they have a library, get to know the librarian. Librarians are wonderful people, full of information and nearly always willing to help those seeking it.
Talk to your friends in the business, they will be better informed than you think. They have the same worries as you. Most importantly, talk to your boss. Remember, he has anxieties for the same reason that you do. If he values your observations and comments on the industry you may keep your job when others lose theirs. Don’t be shy about doing this. Any reasonable boss likes to see his subordinates taking an interest in the progress of the company and the business.
Keep a small computer file on the things you learn about the business – nothing lengthy, just short notes every few days. You will find them invaluable later on.
It’s the information age. Make use of it.