You are the New Economy

We are entering a new economic age. This is the You Economy.

With as many as half of American tax payers venturing into the entrepreneurial economy, it’s time to tell a new story. We’re not returning to “the way it was.” There’s an economic alternative to what was. Micromanufacturing, sustainable agriculture, personal development services – people are creating opportunities instead of finding jobs. While politicians want to reignite old industries, the public is creating new ones. While industrialists squeeze more productivity out of workers & machines, creative professionals are savoring true innovation.

The desire for purpose & meaning in work isn’t the burden of a naive generation; it’s the foundation for a new age of commerce. The truth is that you & I have more control over our shared economic future than any politician, industrialist, venture capitalist, or banker. But you won’t hear that on the evening news, you won’t read it in the newspaper, and you certainly won’t catch a policy maker stumping on that truth.

Life in the old economy has been all about shimmying our skills & strengths into too-tight job descriptions, ingesting a diet of pure conspicuous consumption, and exercising the need for more and more productivity. Life in the New Economy is about the balance of value & values. It’s about satiating our collective desire to create, to collaborate, to do better, to be better. Goodbye compromise, hello consciousness. The New Economy puts individuals at the center, the chief engine of economic growth.

You have the permission to make your own set of choices, to see each choice as an opportunity, and to use each opportunity as a means of maintaining the integrity of your purpose.

In that purpose, you will find the productivity to create a more prosperous world.

“What if the great challenge for enterprise in the twenty-first century is no longer merely manufacturing the alluring, spotlit glamour of mass-produced opulence, but cultivating a more authentic plenitude that matters in human terms?”

— Umair Haque, Betterness

These are the operating principles of the You Economy:

  1. The new economy is open source. You are the developer.
  2. Individualism coexists with collectivism.
  3. Competition is an opportunity for collaboration.
  4. Court controversy. Challenge established norms.
  5. Operate on the leading edge of your value & your values.
  6. True profit is more expansive than monetary return.
  7. Global is the new local. Community is connected through values, purpose, and affinity.
  8. Meaning, experience, and intimacy are the most valuable objects of any product or service.
  9. Entrepreneurship is citizenship.

Learn more about the You Economy (below) or click to get strategy & insight for growing a business in the You Economy.

Towards a You-Centered Economics — “We are attracted to business not because it is business but because of what business allows us to accomplish, how it allows us to express ourselves.”

Redefining “Better Off” — “But what if being “better off” financially is just not as important to this generation? What if the McMansions, shiny cars, and high-end shopping malls mean less to the average 18-32 year old than they did for their parents and their grandparents before that?”

Inventing a New Game: Interview with Philip Auerswald — “But what is happening now, economically speaking, is that the real game is happening off the chess board: What happens when you start playing with all the spare pieces? Make up your own rules?”

Stop Trying to Make Money From Your Passion — “Your passion is an opportunity to serve others with clarity & inspiration. To teach. To advocate. To support. To comfort. To motivate.”

In Search of Transcendent Commerce & Immanent Value — “Who needs the old system of business, commerce, and consumption when we can strip that all away and create more meaningful transactions (connections) between each other as human beings?”

Strategy & Insight for You Economy Businesses

Bake a Bigger Pie — “Radiant self-promotion doesn’t bother me. Scrambling for a just-slightly-bigger piece of the pie does.”

It’s Not as Dirty as It Sounds… — “Know your own magnetism. Feel into your allure. Become keenly aware about what makes your irresistible.”

Why Burning Bridges Might Be a Better Strategy Than Building Them — “The best salespeople are still empathic, clued into needs, and sensitive to individual perspectives but, instead of following the customer’s lead, they take the reins and deliver an insight that moves the customer to action.”

Why Launching Your Next Big Thing Takes Less Than You Think — “Just like a jazz musician has a set of chords and rhythm section to create a melody over, I have a message, a set of skills to teach, and a process for making an impact.”

You’ve Got to Give to Get. But Are You Ready to Receive? — “Too often, I see eager, but insecure, entrepreneurs put all their time into producing free content, doing free consultations, and offering free gifts then wonder about how to find the time to do work that pays.”

88.2% of Business Owners Should Double Their Prices — “This is a lesson for all business owners. It’s an opportunity to challenge your assumptions about what you create, who you sell it to, and how you exchange value within the system.”

Business Models Demystified — “Your business model isn’t your product, your price, your people, or your value propositions. It’s all of it, working together.”