BUSINESS NEWS - "BetterWage wants you to lose your day-job!" Fighting talk from Dean Furman and Rudie Shepherd, co-founders of a new internet start-up company set on changing how we earn an income.
It is predicted that by 2020, about 40% of the American workforce will no longer work a 9-to-5 office job and instead will earn the majority of their income from multiple smaller jobs known as 'gigs'. People are already earning a good living with nothing more than a computer, broadband internet and a skill people will pay for. South Africans must not be caught sleeping on the job and miss out on this opportunity.
Freelance computer programmers were some of the first to figure out that you can sit on the Island in Sedgefield and work for a client in Australia and be paid in US dollars… the kind of dollar that is worth R15 at the moment.
Not to be outdone by the geeks, writing is a big industry in the so-called 'on-demand economy' and a local woman from George earned R7000 in March by writing reviews of online wedding venues for a magazine - without leaving her living room. People are earning money answering questions online, teaching foreign students a language via video, assisting customers over the phone - even guarding properties by watching remote security cameras from home. Apparently being a nosey neighbour is now a career!
The duo's website BetterWage.com has already brought together over 450 such income generating opportunities in more than 30 categories and is free to use.
"South Africans need to know about this opportunity to create jobs for themselves," Shepherd says. "A medium-skilled wage in SA is R5500 per month or R35 per hour. The US equivalent is over R100 per hour or R16 000 per month. Our people's time and skills should be an export product!"
