GEORGE BUSINESS NEWS - Fighting talk from Dean Furman and Rudie Shepherd, co-founders of an innovative new internet start-up company set on changing how we earn an income.
It is predicted that by 2020, 40% of the American workforce will no longer work a 9-to-5 office job and instead will earn the majority of their income from multiple smaller jobs known as “gigs”. People are already earning a good living with nothing more than a computer, broadband internet and a skill people will pay for. South Africans must not be caught sleeping on the job and miss out on this opportunity.
Freelance computer programmers were some of the first to figure out that you can sit on the Island in Sedgefield and work for a client in Australia and be paid in US dollars… The kind of dollar that is worth R15 at the moment.
Not to be outdone by the geeks, writing is a big industry in the so-called “on-demand economy”. Lauren, a local stay at home mom from George earned R7000 last month by writing reviews of wedding venues for a magazine – without leaving her living room. People are earning money answering questions online, teaching foreign students a language via video, assisting customers over the phone – even guarding properties by watching remote security cameras from home. Apparently being a nosey neighbour is now a career!
The disruptive duo’s website BetterWage.com has already brought together over 450 such income generating opportunities in more than 30 categories and it is free to use.
“South Africans need to know about this opportunity to create jobs for themselves” Shepherd says. “A medium-skilled wage in SA is R5500 per month or R35 per hour. The US equivalent is over R100 per hour or R16,000 per month. Our people’s time and skills should be an export product!”
Is this the answer to our country’s job crisis? Not yet – but when we have affordable broadband internet in every home and a will to try something new, there will be a better wage for all.
Show your support for this idea with a Like on Facebook and sign up at BetterWage.com.
Export yourself for Dollar$ at BetterWage.com
With the Rand plummeting to all-time lows and the jobs crisis seeing fewer and fewer people being able to make ends meet, two South African innovators think they have a solution.
With the Rand plummeting to all-time lows and the jobs crisis seeing fewer and fewer people being able to make ends meet, two South African innovators think they have a solution.
Dean Furman and Rudie Shepherd launched BetterWage.com earlier this month with a mission to show people how to earn money in a new way – and all that is required is a computer, broadband internet (for example free Wifi) and the willingness to try something different.
Rob Percival, a former math teacher from the UK earned over $1 million after discovering his knowledge was in demand at Udemy.com – a marketplace for online courses. Closer to home, Lauren Bird, a local stay at home mom, earned R7000 on Freelancer.com by writing reviews of wedding venues all over the world – without leaving her living room in George.
Did you know that you can earn money as a virtual security guard by watching remote CCTV cameras on your smartphone – for real American dollars! People in South Africa are making a better wage with their art, writing, music, houses, cars, knowledge and over 30 other categories the website offers.
It is called the “gig economy” and it will change the way people earn a living. Management company Intuit estimates that 40% of workers in the US will be part of the “contingent workforce” by 2020… in other words people with no traditional permanent job who makes a living “on standby” to do many jobs for many bosses throughout the day.
People have realised that the internet is making it possible to have many employers and sources of income at the same time and it can actually be safer than trying to land that one job of a lifetime – or worse – jumping from employment agency to employment agency in search of a “permanent position” every other month.
“Instead of sitting at home waiting for a job to be created by someone else, let us help you create your own by trying one of the 450 income providers on BetterWage.com today” is Furman’s advice.
Shepherd adds “We have an opportunity to turn our local time and talent into an export product. At R15 to the dollar, teaching people how to earn a living online is our top priority right now.”
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