Learn to earn - How is our entrepreneurial potential being unlocked by lifelong learning?
by Tom, Fin, Georgie and Marta
In 2019, 5.6 million of the 5.9 million total UK-headquartered businesses had 0-9 employees.These passion projects and side-hustles, often labelled ‘micro-businesses’, grow in number by 3.5% every year.
There are obvious reasons for this: a host of government grants and funds; support from bodies such as Nesta; entrepreneurial labs; enabling technologies. But what can we see if we look beyond the obvious? Which deeper, more fundamental shifts are taking place that pave the way for the new working landscape of the 2020s?
Changing attitudes to work, life, and learning, especially among millennials, help us understand why micro-businesses are the new normal. Members of this new workforce seek self-improvement, celebrate self-reliance, and monetise self-confidence. Micro-businesses that blur the line between hobby and work are an attractive alternative when the day job just doesn’t cut it.
Self-improvement
The idea of a job for life is long gone. As the idea of one skillset for life disappears too, lifelong learning is becoming a necessity. As AI learns to help us do our jobs, we expect a move towards skills that are harder to automate, like creativity and face-to-face communication.
In 2018, the World Economic Forum found that machines could displace 75 million jobs globally by 2022, but that 133 million new roles could emerge from human-computer relationships. 18-21 qualifications may quickly be out of date, with regular skill top-ups needed. Big businesses are also starting to take note: Amazon recently announced plans to spend $700 million over six years to retrain a third of its US workforce at an in-house ‘Machine Learning University’.
In the UK, Augar’s 2019 review of post-18 education recommended that everyone should receive a lifelong student loan entitlement to be used at any stage of life. Meanwhile, the National University of Singapore announced last year that it will offer alumni continued access to subsidised training courses for 20 years after admission. Education will no longer stop in peoples’ early 20s but be a priority for life.
Self-reliance
New services such as Udacity, which allow people to complete online ‘nano-degrees’, have seen continued growth over the past few years. People can now become ‘super-amateurs’, boosting their credentials without a conventional three-year degree. Issues with self-motivation, course completion and the recognition of qualifications remain, and we’re unlikely to see the death of traditional education any time soon. But Udacity offers a convenient, flexible and tailored alternative to universities. Similarly, Scratch allows students to create their own interactive games, quizzes, and stories, democratising education.
Accessibility, peer learning, and co-creation are the new objectives, giving students the ability to shape their own development. This new culture of self-reliance underpins the willingness of workers to strike out alone and upskill as they go.
Self-confidence
Apps enabling freelancing and co-creating proliferate. Bumble has recently introduced a tool to find co-founders for your next big business idea, and well-known freelancing app Fivver has opened up established networks to everyone. Start-ups supporting the freelance community continue to flourish. For example, insurance service Catch provides income protection and private medical insurance to freelancers and micro-business employees, bridging the gap from large corporations.
It’s not just freelancers and micro-businesses that are set to benefit over the next few years. Big brands, too, are making the most of this growth in consumer self-confidence. Companies as diverse as IKEA, Glossier and IBM have all partnered with their consumers – the ultimate amateur experts – to produce new products. Amateurs can monetize self-confidence to turn their knowledge and ideas into a profession.
The future of work
We’re excited about the future. In 2030, micro-businesses will continue to improve their foothold in the world economy, representing an ever-more upskilled workforce that is constantly adapting to AI and other technologies. Lifelong learning, supported by big businesses and governments alongside start-ups and new online platforms, will be integral to this new normal. How can big businesses profit? Learn from the learners: invest in employee upskilling, seize chances to monetize consumer expertise, and take inspiration from dynamic microbusinesses.