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"Context Collapse".......perfect new world definition included in this article, a must read for everyone.

By RICHARD GREENWALD

Welcome to the age of going solo.

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Today, with unemployment rates hovering at 10%, and all our worries about the job market rooted in the moment, we are in danger of failing to see an important longer-term trend: More Americans are working as consultants or freelancers, either having given up or been forced out of the salaried world of 9 to 5.

It's a trend that began after the economic downturn of the late 1980s, as many laid-off professionals became consultants. Then it seemed temporary, though, tied to bad times. Evidence now suggests that this is our new economic condition. Today, in fact, 20% to 23% of U.S. workers are operating as consultants, freelancers, free agents, contractors or micropreneurs. Current projections see the number only rising in coming years.

The implications for the American workplace are profound. Imagine one in four workers, of all collars, working on a contingent basis. Whole career paths and professions have shifted from stable full-time jobs with definable career ladders and benefits to almost completely contingent work forces that shift from project to project.

We can rightly bemoan the loss of security, the shifting of economic risk from institutions to individuals. But crying foul will not change the circumstances that many Americans find themselves facing. Righteous indignation will not turn back time. We can, however, better prepare ourselves for the future.

The image of the freelancer is too often that of the struggling journalist or writer, who needs to wait tables to pay the rent. No doubt there are many such examples still out there. But there also are plenty of consultants and freelancers who are earning real income and enjoying real success in their careers (as well as redefining what it means to be a success).

So, what do these thriving solo artists have in common? What is the recipe for their good fortune? My research points to five ingredients to keep in mind.

Think Long Term

Too many freelancers see their condition as only temporary—one that will go away as soon as economic conditions improve. It's just a stage between jobs, they figure.

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Jean-Francois Martin

Some of them may be right. But the odds are that most are wrong. They're going to be on their own for a long time. So freelancers need to think in terms of the long haul, preparing for a marathon, not a sprint.

Understand: This isn't easy. Many of these people have known only 9-to-5 jobs, and it can be scary to think of freelancing as all there will be.

Scary, but necessary. Because if a freelancer views the condition as temporary, it's almost a guarantee that however long it lasts, it won't go well. Unless you think about it as a job itself—requiring time, investment, thought—you won't get much of a return. Waiting for business to find you is not something successful consultants do. Clients know a halfhearted attempt when they see one.

One recent consultant in the financial-services industry told me that the day he was fired, he got a new set of business cards, launched a basic Web site and got a new cellphone for business. He already had a home office and had started making lists of contacts. He knew that he might be consulting for many months, and he decided to prepare for it as a profession—not something he would do on the side to get by.

The preparation has paid off: His consulting income has already reached 80% of his old salary.

The consultants and freelancers who are most successful offer a technical skill or expertise that is too expensive or infrequently used for companies to keep in-house. Perhaps it's a short-term technical project, such as implementing new accounting software, or a temporary graphic-design project. Such consultants demand greater salaries, and since the demand is only temporary, it is more efficient for the firm to hire this talent short term.

Most important, finding the next assignment cannot be done at the expense of retaining and enhancing these skills. Cutting-edge expertise is vital to long-term professional health. Successful consultants don't let their skills coast, even for a short period. There are simply too many consultants waiting to take their work.

Typically, consultants keep their edge by attending workshops or training courses. But the most successful often add another key element to their training: They teach—whether at a regional business college, through university continuing-education programs or through workshops given by professional associations.

At first, it sounds counterintuitive to train others to do what you do. After all, you're creating more competition for yourself in the very community in which you work. But teaching offers four big positives for consultants.

First, it provides some income, though admittedly not much. Second, it's a way to network, because sometimes students can become clients or lead to clients. Third, the teaching looks good on a résumé, giving consultants credibility in the marketplace and a way to stand out from the crowd. And fourth, if you're going to teach somebody the latest skills, you better have those skills yourself. So teaching forces consultants to stay current and sharp themselves.

I talked to one consultant who is an expert in change management. He teaches in a continuing-education program for a local university, and says it is time-consuming and pays poorly. But he says that when companies are looking for a consultant, they often take the fastest route: They search for someone who is teaching at an area college or university, figuring that person must be reputable.

So, he looks at his time teaching as the equivalent of advertising. In addition, he says, sometimes his students go back to their companies and are in a position to hire a consultant. And he gets the call.

Join a Network

The image many of us have of the lonely consultant toiling on his or her own is touching. And dated.

Most successful consultants are in a network or community of consultants. These networks are important sources of new clients; most consultants, in fact, say they get as many clients from these networks as they do from client referrals. What's more, an increasing number of consultants share work, taking on bigger projects that require more hands. In this way, teams of consultants can function like a small boutique firm.

One former public-relations vice president, now a crisis-management consultant, shares an office with three other consultants. They all operate on their own, but she says in many ways they also function as a traditional office. She even refers to them as a "federation."

Recently, one of her office mates was consulting for a company that was concerned about the possibility of a minor scandal. So her office mate recommended her as a crisis-management consultant. She was hired. And while the scandal blew over, the company now will come to her in the future if they need crisis public relations.

Beware, though: You don't want to cross a network. These communities of freelancers often have their own unwritten rules, and too often consultants find out about these rules only when they break them.

One network, for instance, had an informal rule about using only those in the network for all referrals. One software consultant ran afoul of that rule when he referred work to someone outside of his network, because he felt it required expertise that none in his circle had. Suddenly, his own referrals within the network dried up.

The lesson: With social networking and the constant contact of email and texting, word of a perceived violation spreads rapidly. While we assume there will be office politics in the traditional workplace, we should not be surprised that it exists in these networks. Freelancers are free from much of the 9-to-5 world, but apparently not the personalities of colleagues.

Have Your Own Space

We have long been told that one of the joys of working on your own is being able to putter around in your pajamas and bunny slippers. And such flexibility is, no doubt, an attraction of consulting.

But there's a limit, and successful consultants say that having a work space separate from your living space is crucial. Clients do not want to have an important phone conference interrupted by a nagging two-year-old, a TV in the background or the sounds of street traffic. Most freelancers I spoke to have a space in their home that is solely for work—a bunker, as it were.

Others have started using shared spaces that provide a quiet space and a cubicle or desk to call your own. These spaces, called co-offices, often have other incentives. They give freelancers a place to go, which helps them keep schedules. They usually also provide a receptionist service, so someone always answers calls. And they provide a sense of workplace that is something many consultants complain about missing.

One financial adviser who lost his job about three years ago became a financial consultant. He worked from home. But, because he had a small apartment and young children, he found himself increasingly working in the Starbucks around the corner. He quickly discovered that clients wanted a level of professionalism that did not include the buzz of an espresso machine.

He subsequently began to share a suite of offices with a lawyer and mortgage broker. They share a receptionist and a conference room, and split expenses for a fax and copier machine, as well as broadband Internet access. He has his name on the door, and a place to meet clients. What's more, the lawyer has recommended his services, so he has new clients.

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Here's probably the most important ingredient that distinguishes the most successful consultants: They think like entrepreneurs.

Too often, freelancers drift from project to project. That's a mistake. They need to have a business plan or mission statement. If all they do is take everything that passes over the transom, they will be viewed as a nonspecialist in a world of specialists.

Consultants are known for the work that they do, and this often means the work they don't do. With a mission statement and business plan, they can decide if a certain job is worth it. Sometimes the short-term gain in income becomes a long-term loss in reputation.

This doesn't mean you should starve: Sometimes, any work is good. But too many consultants say yes to anything that comes along, so when the perfect project arises, they might be too busy to take it. What's more, in this competitive world, prospective clients want to know what projects you're working on. If they aren't impressed, they may not hire you. So being able to say no to certain work, referring it to someone else, is a sure measure of a certain level of success.

In interview after interview, I was also shocked by how unprepared so many new freelancers were in organizing their businesses. Few used even simple invoicing software to track their billing, while many mingled their personal and business finances, and didn't keep good records for taxes or expenses. They did not think of cash flows, future investments or downtime. They lived in the moment, which for a business is a recipe for disaster. Developing a mission statement and code of values, something businesses do regularly, will help consultants develop a better sense of what they value, and then they can steer their business toward their goals.

— Dr. Greenwald is a professor and dean of the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University in Madison, N.J. He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.

Nice work by a phan....

I witnessed this live....words can't describe what happened in the Garden....

Steve Rubel has been my favourite online productivity Geek for a long time now. He is the senior vice president for Edelman Digital (PR agency) and has often been considered a thought leader on PR, Social media and productivity.

Some of his fantastic reads are on how to make Gmail your nerve center and organising feeds on Google Reader, a topic I love spending time thinking about, you’ll know that he’s someone who is a firehose of information by himself.

I decided to interview him in a series I call the Tao of Productivity. These are a series of interviews with top bloggers who write, blog, speak at conferences, email and still have time to come home to their kids and kiss them good night. Given that we have so much information these days, how is it possible to do all of this without killing the time for blogging and writing? Here’s Steve’s take. I’d like to thank Steve for not only being the quickest to reply but also the only one who spent a lot of time detailing his answers in.

Questions on Routine
What is a typical day for you like? What are the first things you do? Do you have any rituals you follow?
I am fairly fortunate that no two days are typical for me. I travel about seven to 15 days a month (almost all domestic) and attend lots of meetings with our teams, clients, and emerging and established technology companies who can help us advance the art and science of public relations.

My day starts with my iPhone each day around 4:30 or 5 am – weekends too. The alarm wakes me up in the morning. I go through my email first, then Twitter, Facebook and some feeds – all before I get out of bed. It’s a terrible habit I am trying to shake since a few times it has caused me to miss my train. I am trying now to get dressed first then check the Net!

Once I am ready to go I look at my calendar and my to-do list to see what I need to get done today and – ideally – when I am going to manage to squeeze it in. I am trying to master the art of doing everything on my mobile device (short of PowerPoint). In fact, some trips I leave my computer at home.

I hate carrying more stuff than I need. I would like to get to a point where I can ditch my laptop entirely. I just took a four-day trip without a computer and did fine. I have another coming up that’s seven to nine days. That’s probably pushing it, but I am tempted to go laptopless.

My days are filled with lots of meetings. Sometimes I get blocks where I can write or check in on Twitter – it depends on the day. At night I catch up on email and usually read feeds for at least two hours/day to stay current. I also try to do something new with technology everyday. My life is centered around my extended family and friends, my work and technology and I love it.

How do you compose a blog post of yours? Do you write it all down in one shot. Do you write some thoughts and then re-visit it at a later point? Do you use a notebook or a digital device?
It really varies. Sometimes, I will read something, get a whim and just go. Other times, I look down a list I keep of ideas that’s always long and pluck items off. These days I an trying to get more creative in what I do too – trying things like diagrams for example and videos.

Generally speaking I am almost entirely paperless. The only paper I have is a small Moleskine notebook, which I use only for meetings since it’s not good etiquette (yet) to type on my iPhone in a meeting. All of my other notes and ideas are in Gmail, Evernote or text files which sync across devices. I usually will fire these off as emails to myself or to Evernote.

How much of your blog posts are split between reporting and ideation? Do you have a specific number you target like Jim Collins? Or do you write whatever strikes you at that point of time?

Since I am not really writing a news blog, I don’t do a lot of reporting. Instead, I gather a tremendous amount of information – from both primary and third-parties and not always from people I agree with. I then try to pull together a POV of what I think is happening based on what I am hearing from lots of different divergent views. This leads to lists of content ideas for not only Edelman and Edelman Digital clients, but also my own presence.

I don’t have hard targets. Rather, just a general feel for if I am relevant. I ask myself this same question every morning: am I closer to extinction today than I was yesterday. The answer better be “no.”

You seem to keep great tabs on what’s going on around you, how do you track conversations? What tools do you use?

I am using RSS feeds for blogs and news and Twitter replies (although I track the latter more quickly through Twitter clients)

How important is twitter to you? What tools do you use?

It’s extremely important for us and some of our clients – today. Tomorrow we shall see. I am using Seesmic Web at home and in the office and Tweetie on the go. I like to unify all of my tools across my work PC (a desktop), my home/travel computer (a MacBook Air) and my iPhone. For the most part I am there (e.g. I use Evernote on all three) but once Loic launches Seesmic for the iPhone I will be set.

Do you maintain To-Do lists? What do they have on them?
I am a junkie for to do apps. I have tried them all, several times. My latest approach is to keep it simple. I use TaskPaper on the Mac. I have become a huge fan of Hog Bay Software’s products, especially WriteRoom. I sync this list to the cloud, where I access it from work using TodoPaper (a comparable app) and on my iPhone as a text file. I hope to make this one stick!

How do you keep track of your duties and things you need to finish with so much distraction?
My newest technique, which I picked up from Patrick Rhone (http://patrickrhone.com/2009/05/26/my-daily-log/) and Senator Bob Graham (http://thespiralnotebook.wordpress.com/about/), is lifelogging – e.g. logging my day everyday.

I use text expansion software (Textexpander on the Mac and iPhone, Texter on the PC) to speed this up and flag items that need to go on my to-do list. I flow in text and then at the end of each archive the notes with images I shot as well as business card photos for safe keeping in Evernote.

My goal is to make this a daily habit by the time I turn 40 later this year so I have the next 40+ years captured for my recollection and maybe others. If Thomas Edison could do so in long hand and – oh yeah, invent the light bulb and the phonograph – then I am sure I can too.

Even in this questionnaire set you are the first one to respond to, do you have any tips or advice you can give us to stay on stop of everything and manage email?

I pride myself on being one of the most responsive people in the business. This isn’t easy and not without risk since, as my good friend Jeremiah Owyang and I have discussed, you don’t “pay yourself first.” However, given my PR training its how I have always operated.

As a rule of thumb I clear out both my inboxes every day by following Inbox Zero. I have been doing this a few years now. I know what requires a longer response. I need to get better at checking my email at set times of day. I still operate too reactionary. I will get better at dictating my day so that I get more done. I am a work in progress.

Another tip I got from my boss is to everyday do at least one thing I don’t want to do – that’s not so easy!
Finally, I have become a huge fan of mindmapping. I use MindManager on my PC, Mac and iPhone to brainstorm ideas and solutions to problems. I like to mindmap when I am in the air and use the time for ideation and to catch up on correspondence.kpaper list under the heading of “waiting” and check this list at least daily.

You were a prolific blogger, but now you have taken to a new sort of writing – Lifestream. Can you tell us more about this and why?

Back in 2004 to make a name for myself(!) and to engage in conversations with like minded individuals with topics I share a passion for. Today it’s really the latter – though I would like to maintain some level of brand since it helps Edelman.

These days I am breaking less news and instead stringing together insights on trends and new technologies. These come from the meetings I have (clients, staff, technology companies, etc), my reading and occasionally reader input.

How do you cherry pick the stuff you have to write?
Totally random – whatever I am in the mood to do. I am trying to get more creative with it, but some days I get home too exhausted to do what I want to do. I have a great life. I am always “working” and having a blast doing so – so it doesn’t feel like work. This is my life focus (I don’t have a family). Still, even so, sometimes my content falls by the wayside more than I would like it to.

Do you have any tips for newbie writers?
Good writers need to really focus on brevity, especially online. People read 20% of a web page before they move on. You need to show the reader why there’s something in it for them up top.

Quick fire questionsHow did you grow your readership?
Decent content. Social connections. Daily practice.

Your lesson to yourself 5 years back ?
As I look back five years ago, I see how i have changed. I used to be more fast and loose and all about shiny objects. Now I am more measured, thoughtful and a little less geeky and more about the trends. This is my journey as a professional. However, when you’re surrounded by people like our CEO Richard Edelman you become more worldly. He’s someone I look up to immensely and strive to be like. I have a long way to go. I am so grateful to be part of Edelman. It’s like playing for the Yankees.

What streams do you follow? And who are the people you recommend reading up on?
1500 people on Twitter

1500 people on Facebook (some overlap)

1000 RSS feeds

150 iPhone Apps (but I don’t use them all regularly)

Gmail, Edelman email

I’d recommend reading

Tech trendsetters – Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, Mike Arrington, Jeff Jarvis, Gina Trapani, Leo Laporte

Young turks – Amanda Mooney, Daniel Brusilovsky

Leaders and Pioneers – Richard Edelman, Bob Iger, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama

Creatives – Jared Hendler, Rick Murray, Lars Bastholm, David Brain

Workaholics – Jerry Rice, Jay Leno

And finally, if you had 140 characters to describe yourself as. What would it be?
Forever under construction but ahead of the curve.

Welcome to Karthick Gopal.com! To stay in touch with all the posts, subscribe to myRSS feed or follow me on Twitter for more interesting stuff.

If you liked that you might also enjoy

1. MG Siegler of Techcrunch talks productivity and techniques.
2. My folder techniques for Google Feed Reading.
3. The Tao of Productivity explained visually.
4. How to bring some sanity to your Google Feed Reading.
5. I has the iPhone!

How one guru keeps track of it all.......