During her presentation Jan. 30 about a significant trend in career options, Candace Moody announced her own.
After nearly 23 years, Moody will leave her position as vice president of communications at CareerSource Northeast Florida.
Moody said she will leave her full-time job at CareerSource in May, on her 62nd birthday, to become a freelance consultant, speaker and writer specializing in career development.
“I'm going free-range,” Moody said.
“I said, 'You won't own me, but you can rent me,' ” she said.
Moody's timing was appropriate because her presentation, titled “Reshaping Career Options: The Rise of the Gig Economy,” was about why so many people are using their passion, talents and skills in the entrepreneurial setting instead of having a traditional job.
She spoke as part of Florida State College at Jacksonville's Business Speaker Series.
Moody said the “Information Age” ended in 1999 and has been replaced by the “Entrepreneurial Age.”
“The entrepreneurial mindset is to try what hasn't been done before. Just go out and do your thing,” Moody said.
Whether it's driving your car for a ride-sharing service, creating art, delivering newspapers or providing something else that someone will pay for, having a “gig” can provide security that dependence on a traditional job cannot.
Moody said the Great Recession proved that depending on a traditional job is like being a turkey raised on a farm.
For about 1,000 days, a turkey is provided shelter and food. Then, a few days before Thanksgiving, the farmer makes a business decision that forever changes the turkey's situation.
“My theory is that most American workers are turkeys without a calendar,” Moody said.
“You don't know what may happen to your business or industry or job. You don't know what you don't know,” she said.
The longer you've been at your job, the greater the risk for change.
“The risk accumulates. The longer a business goes without a correction, the bigger the correction will be,” Moody said.
That's why so many people are taking side jobs for income security more under their control.
It is difficult to quantify the gig economy population.
Depending on who conducts the survey, Moody said, the number of Americans who have side gigs ranges from about 42 million to about 68 million.
Even the federal Department of Labor can't gather accurate data.
Since so many people have a side endeavor in addition to their traditional W2 form job, “the government can't count the gig economy, and they're not sure they can tax it,” Moody said.
Ideally, she said, to keep up with the side-job trend, you need to weave together three jobs and incomes:
One that pays the bills; one that builds your skills to take you where you want to go, centered on a hobby or talent; and a job that “gives you chills” – something that you'd do even if you didn't get paid, like volunteering with an organization that's your passion.
“And then do something every day to advance that,” Moody said.
The next FSCJ Business Speaker Series sponsored by First Florida Credit Union is at 8:30 a.m. March 26 at the college's Advanced Technology Center at the Downtown campus.
The topic will be “Cybersecurity is everyone's business: Why it matters to you.”
Visit fscj.edu/business-speakers to register.