The Weekly Independent: March 14, 2016

Being a successful independent contractor or a client of choice isn’t just about doing the best work or having the best perks. It also means staying one step ahead of the curve. That’s why each week we bring you The Weekly Independent, a quick-hit digest of news of note from around the web.

• • This week on the blog, we talk taxes. Specifically, how to make filing as an independent less taxing.
  • How do you attact and engage on-demand talent? CEO Gene Zaino lent his insights in an article from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
  • PwC has been in the media this week for its new Talent Exchange, an online marketplace matching freelancers with internal projects. We’re not only excited to provide worker classification compliance support for the system, but for what this means for the gig economy as a whole. The exchange is proof-in-the-pudding that major corporations, including a “big four” consulting firm like PwC, have interest in utilizing contract and independent workers to staff major projects, and that firms like ours have a finite place, not just in offering solutions for independendent workers to better do business, but also to help enterprises engage these workers compliantly.

• A bill introduced in California this past Wednesday would allow gig economy workers to organize, gaining collective bargaining rights for wages and benefits.
• From barista to blogger, Millennials have embraced the ‘side job’ more than most any other generation.
• Mashable also goes in-depth this week about why we are in the “age of the freelancer.”
• Want to go freelance full time? Quartz has some interesting life hacks.
• TechCrunch features an interesting op-ed in which the author asserts that the future of work is people, not task, centered. To fix the future of work, we need to address not just work itself, but how we think about jobs and job creation.

Should you have any questions, we’re always here for you.

Of course, we’d love to talk virtually as well. Share your thoughts with us at MBO Partners on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and we’ll see you again next week!