On January 28th, 9:00pm I landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a first stop of many cities across the world in which I will be living for the next year. Kuala Lumpur’s potential for innovation, on the scale of many first world cities, was immediately apparent as I called a GrabCar (Asia’s Uber equivalent) to reach my apartment for the next month. A similar feeling of awe resonated with me as I walked into my new coworking space for the first time and used my fingerprint to gain access into the office. By 2020, Kuala Lumpur has an economic and political goal of becoming an undisputed and globally recognized first world country. In my opinion, they are well on their way.
In partnership with Remote Year, Rokk3r Labs has sent me on a mission to prove and shed light on the fact that innovation is no longer concentrated in Silicon Valley. Exponential companies can be built from anywhere within the world. With that being said, I want to share some thoughts around a concept called Staff on Demand, something I feel resonates strongly with what I have already seen around me.
What is an Exponential Organization
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of exponential organizations (ExOs), it refers to a company that produces at least 10x impact (may that be revenue, number of users, influence, etc.) in comparison to its industry competitors because of the use of new organizational techniques that leverage accelerating technologies. In layman terms, it’s the Ubers, Facebooks, and Airbnbs of the world. ExOs typically are described to have some combination of 10 key characteristics. But before talking big picture, let’s focus on the smaller details — one characteristic in particular, Staff on Demand.
Now I am not the only individual traveling and working through Remote Year, and Rokk3r Labs is not the only progressive company collaborating with their staff and team to embark on such an experience. There are 74 other people, all coordinated through the startup company Remote Year, that are taking this journey as well. Some of these remoters, as we refer to ourselves, are full-time employees, while others are entrepreneurs. But a good amount of my cohort are freelancers and independent contractors. These are people who take advantage of Staff on Demand, essentially working only when a company needs them to work and never as a full-time employee. From a company perspective, this is key as it boosts production speed, functionality, and flexibility while simultaneously reducing cost. No hiring. No firing. No recruiting. But what does this mean for you as an individual who may or may not be interested in working as a Staff on Demand resource?
The Good and the Bad
As a Staff on Demand worker, there are many pros and cons. Let’s start with the one con because good news is always better when it follows the bad. For starters, job security may not be a pillow you want to hold tight at night. People who work as freelancers and independent contractors often move from job to job in short spurts. Often times, to balance this caveat out, these individuals either diversify their portfolio i.e. take on multiple gigs at once, or charge higher hourly rates in order to offset the periods without work. I guess the bad isn’t that terrible from that perspective, if you’re someone that handles uncertainty well.
So as a Staff on Demand resource, it seems you have these flexible time windows when you are working full-time hours on a particular project and other times when you are coasting in between gigs. So how can you optimize those times in between gigs? Glad you asked. Some people choose to work more but smaller gigs, others work on side projects, and some people take mini vacations in between. For example, one of the remoters here works as an independent contractor in the IT industry, focusing on UX/UI and Front End Engineering. For most of his career he has never worked a full year. He usually works six months at a time and takes off anywhere between 3 to 6 months to do whatever he pleases. It all depends on your preferences, interests, and the lifestyle that you wish to lead.
Shifting Company/Employee Paradigm
As an individual, the concept of Staff on Demand is a conversation changer. It empowers people to be autonomous, set their own schedules, and dictate what is important to you in life. Why is this the case? Again, another great question. Staff on Demand flips the traditional relationship between employer and employee on its head.
Since the time of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nation, economies have operated under a very specific guise. The value of a company is primarily delivered only through the culmination of many workers contributing to the delivery of one essential product. This suggests that a single worker on his or her own does not necessarily have intrinsic value. While this notion is still going strong today, it is no longer the primary principle on which to build a company. Now, the value is within the individual. You, as a person with a laptop, phone, and internet connection can now provide individual value to not only one company but several. Furthermore, the rate and capacity at which you do so, is completely up to you.
And for you execs out there shaking your head, refusing to morph your companies to survive this new world, don’t fret, I have a piece of advice for you as well. As I stated earlier, Staff on Demand is one of the 10 characteristics of an ExO. It’s something that companies who want to remain competitive in the digital age need to consider evolving to, so that you can intersect with the shifting paradigm of work/life balance and continue to attract talented team members.
The days of one worker contributing to one company in an abyss of production lines are numbered and the countdown swift. We at Rokk3r Labs face economic and innovative truths like this and more on a daily basis. It’s our vision to empower entrepreneurs, companies, and individuals to not break under these shifts in paradigms but thrive instead. It’s a fascinating world in which we live today and the picture is just starting to be painted.
Just to Live this Here Lifestyle…
I’ve written Strawberry Jelly, No More Grape, a post that speaks to the personal side of my first days in Kuala Lumpur. I thought I’d share a quick section from there.
I will be working the graveyard shift for at least the next 4 months. I start my day at 9:00pm. Work until 6am. Go to the gym. Eat.Talk to my pops and my momma (shoutout to Google pixel and Project Fi for the worldwide data plan). Go back into the office around 10:00am to work on personal stuff like this blog post. Then go to sleep at around 3:00pm just to rinse and repeat the next day.
I still have reservations about finding a black barber in South East Asia. I mean, I’ve had a fro and makeshift dreads before, but I am not trying to go back to that situation. I will keep y’all posted on how those efforts develop.
Honestly, I can’t complain. It’s an amazing experience with amazing people and the first point that I made in regards to the graveyard shift really isn’t that big of a deal. Other awesome people are working the shift as well. To you other remoters, I def recommend trying it out at least a few times.
For the Global Entrepreneurship Series, Rokk3r Labs’ Jide Adebayo is on a journey across the world digging deeper into entrepreneurs’ stories, understanding the universal investor mindset, and connecting the global collective genius.
We are excited for you to follow the journey, engage with the stories and share your experiences from the region. You can also read Jide’s personal anecdotes and connect with him over at jideadebayo.com.
More from the Rokk3r Labs Global Entrepreneurship Series:
- Prague: Cultivating a Promising Market
- Lisbon: Punching Above Its Weight
- Serbia: From Outsourcing to Entrepreneurship
- Thailand: Carving out a Space on the Entrepreneurial Map
- Cambodia: Kingdom of Mystery
- Vietnam: Resisting and Reinventing
- Kuala Lumpur: A Melting Pot of Culture, A Recipe for Ideas
Rokk3r Labs is a venture builder and the world’s first ‘cobuilding’ platform for entrepreneurs, corporations and investors to create exponential startups. In 2017, Rokk3r Labs launched Rokk3r Fuel EXO, its first global venture capital fund. As a partner, Rokk3r Labs increases value, mitigates risk and helps to remain at the edge of innovation. With a focus on leveraging exponential technologies (e.g., the blockchain, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things) and implementing new-age methods of raising capital, Rokk3r Labs is harnessing the global collective genius to cobuild companies that change the world. Currently, the Rokk3r Labs portfolio includes over 40 ventures. Visit www.rokk3rlabs.com.
