Gig Mindset: Reclaim Your Time, Reinvent Your Career, and Ride the Next Wave of Disruption

by Paul Estes

Overview

Tim Ferriss had it right: you can work with virtual assistants to escape the grind of eighty-hour workweeks. Ferriss was ahead of his time in predicting how entrepreneurs would work today and we have discovered that the benefits of the gig economy now extend to employees and business owners. You don't have to quit your job to live a balanced life, reskill, unlock new opportunities, or start that side hustle you can't stop thinking about.

You just need Gig Mindset, and Paul Estes is here to help you adopt it. For years, Paul struggled to balance his home life with fast-moving jobs at Dell, Amazon, and Microsoft. Hiring his first virtual assistant transformed his life--and it can do the same for you. Paul will help you get started with freelancers by utilizing the TIDE Framework: Taskify, Identify, Delegate, and Evolve. He also shares stories from interviews with leaders at NASA, GE, and Topcoder on how they're transforming their organizations using gig economy strategies.

If you're ready to re-energize your work, Gig Mindset is what you need.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544506326
Publisher:	Lioncrest Publishing
Publication date:	01/14/2020
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

Editorial Reviews

2020-02-03
A veteran of big tech extols the virtues of the gig economy.

Estes, who held a senior position at Microsoft, uses this lively debut as a soapbox for a kind of career–personal life equilibrium he says can be achieved through adopting a “Gig Mindset.” If the gig economy is “fundamentally changing the world of work,” then the Gig Mindset “changes the way we work forever,” writes the author, who advocates employing “on-demand experts to reclaim our time.” Estes discovered the value of relying on talented freelance professionals to get things done, and it revolutionized his life. He cleverly developed a process to take full advantage of the gig economy that he calls “The T.I.D.E. Model: Taskify, Identify, Delegate, and Evolve.” Using engaging, motivational text supplemented by examples primarily from his own experience, the author walks readers through these four elements in detail. Of great interest are the excerpts of interviews he conducted with a panel of five senior executives, each of whom provides commentary that enriches and shapes the Gig Mindset conversation. T.I.D.E. itself is an intriguing concept; still, each of the four elements has intrinsic value that applies to business management in general. For example, Estes discusses a concept he calls “radical delegation,” which involves setting expectations, developing timelines, and trusting others to execute tasks. He offers seven specific steps he recommends for practicing effective delegation. Regarding the need to think differently, GE executive Dyan Finkhousen tells Estes: “The truth is that engaging with gig resources required an evolution of our own mindsets and behaviors.” The author wraps up the book with some key observations by his panelists and himself about negative perceptions surrounding the gig economy. Tucker Max, bestselling author and co-founder of a publishing service called Scribe Media, says about the myth implying freelancers are subpar: “That people are freelance because they can’t get a full-time job. It’s nonsense….In fact, we find overall the freelance pool to be far higher talent than the people applying” for full-time jobs. Two appendices—gig-related tasks for business and home—are useful additions.

Illuminating and forward-thinking; demonstrates how to leverage gig workers for time-saving life tasks.

Kirkus Reviews