Inc Magazine: Covid-19 and the Future of the Passion Economy

Inc Magazine has just published my article, Covid-19 and the Future of the Passion Economy -- with this teaser:  An emerging new infrastructure allows people to make a living doing things they love. The big question: How to properly value what you do.

From the opening...

The “Passion Economy”--the emerging sector of individuals using technology to make a living by direct support from the people they serve--is an emerging force. According to one study, 17 million Americans earned nearly $7 billion in this way in 2017. Who participates in this? Many are creators frustrated with modern modes of livelihood who seek a return to the traditional values of work.  They want to “follow their passion” in their economic life in ways that embrace their individuality -- to restore the self-actualizing joy of creation, and of earning sustenance and support from direct human bonds with those they serve.  They typically do this as an artisan or service-provider in a small business, doing what they love with a customer focus (but even some larger businesses now seek to enable a similar passion).  And now, the Covid-19 pandemic has given this new urgency, highlighting how these strong, direct relationships enable resilience though unstable times.  

This passion economy, described in a recent article and a book, is a way for “passion entrepreneurs” to escape from the rat race of conventional companies – and of the newer Gig Economy that has turned out to be little better. 

But many passion entrepreneurs face a revenue dilemma...[read more...]

(While the focus of the Passion Economy -- and this article -- centers on profiting from the kind of customer-centered co-creation of value that drives passion entrepreneurs in small businesses, the same principles can transform large businesses as well, as explained in my other writings -- see below.)

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Update notes [4/29/20] 

In addition to the links about the Passion Economy included in my Inc article, this very recent posting from a European VC adds insights:  A primer on the Passion Economy.

Also, the term Passion Economy has been in use for a while. It dates back at least to this 1/13/16 article by another VC that also provides good background: The Passion Economy: How to Actually Do What You Love

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If you got here from Inc Magazine... 

Learn more here about FairPay and how it empowers the Relationship Economy and the Passion Economy.  See the tabs at the top, especially the Overview and Selected Items. Some especially relevant items:

• A big-picture overview post, The Relationship Economy -- It's All About Valuing Customer Experiences
• A more structured guide, The Elements of Next-Gen Relationships and Pricing -- A Unifying Framework
• A detailed use case, Patron-izing Journalism -- Beyond Paywalls, Meters, and Membership.
• A simpler and more conventional "80/20" step toward customizing digital subscriptions, "Risk-Free" Subscriptions to The Celestial Jukebox?
• The game theory algorithm enabling this, FairPay Changes the "Game" of Commerce.
• A though experiment to keep in mind, The Ghost of Pricing Future -- A Thought Experiment

Important scholarly coverage of FairPay is in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, A novel architecture to monetize digital offerings, and in the Australasian Marketing Journal, Pricing in Consumer Digital Markets: A Dynamic Framework, as well as an earlier introduction in Harvard Business Review.

LinkedIn Group for FairPay and related innovations

Please join the LinkedIn Group, FairPay: Adaptively Win-Win Customer Relationships, to connect with others who share interest in applying FairPay and related strategies.

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