The Age of the Lone Eagle is Upon Us

You may or may not have realized it, but the U.S. labor market has been undergoing a substantial shift toward small-scale entrepreneurship. The number of proprietors (owners of businesses who are not wage and salary employees) has skyrocketed, especially in the last decade.

In 1970, proprietors comprised of 11% of the U.S. employment, a figure that rose to roughly 16% by 2000.  By 2011, proprietors represented 21% of U.S. employment, nearly double their proportion in 1970.

According to Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce, 99% of the total increase in employment from 2000 to 2011 was in the self-employed.

The future will see even stronger self employment gains. Some predict that by 2020, as much as 50% of the private workforce, will be independent.  The factors are many, including lessons learned during and since the Great Recession.  Some of these figures may be overly ambitious, but without a doubt, we are entering the age of the Lone Eagle.

This shift will also bring with it short term challenges to many of the larger organizations that will have to deal with how to recruit and retain proven talent.  Lone Eagles will also have to come to the realization that though they are in effect their own bosses, that they will also have to often be their own admins, accountants, sales & marketers and even IT specialist.

I see a great opportunity to serve all parties impacted by this shift.   My company, PMOrchestrator (www.pmorchestrator.com) has just introduced a new division called Conduuit for this very purpose; to transform what may seem like a challenge to an opportunity for both the Lone Eagle and their client.  The focus of Conduuit (www.conduuit.com) is to connect the self-employed to their clients and provide essential operations support services that have traditionally been cost prohibitive to the Lone Eagle.