Globalisation and IT have produced more work but fewer jobs of the regular kind. The new industrial relations laws will give employers more flexibility to determine the kind of workforce wanyed . Firms will look more like the spider at the centre of a web, with work outsource to a network of self-employed contractors.
Many Australians are not prepared for this change. They lack the skills to run a small business. They should not be put off by the urban myth that says 80% of small businesses fail in the first year. In reality only 8% fail by the end of the first year.
When you sign an AWA (Australian Workplace Agreement) you arre contracting yourself to the company. Everyone is becoming their own business.
Skill set of brand "You":

• Think like an entrepreneur. Imagine yourself in charge of the firm Me Inc. Update your annual report once a year (your resume).
• Always be a closer. Life is sales; the rest is details. Get acquainted with the ins and outs of making money.
• Embrace marketing. You will be going from workplace to workplace, so you are selling yourself anew each time.
• Pursue mastery. Be very good at something of specific economic value.
• Thrive on ambiguity. Master the ability of doing a dozen things at once and learn to change course at a moment's notice.
• Laugh off various screw-ups.
• Relish technology. Appreciate how technology will turn things upside down.

Grovel before the young. Those over 38 need tyo surround themselves with technologically-savvy youngsters.
Nuture your networks.
Cultivate a passion for renewal. Take an active approach to revolutionising your skills every few years.

From an article in BRW, July 28-August 2005 pgs.44-51