When JibberJobber Becomes a Small Business CRM #GigEconomy

A hundred years ago…. well, make that 13 years ago, when I was starting JibberJobber, I had a vision that this would NOT be a tool for your right-now job search, but that you would use it for the rest of your career.

When we launched the tagline said something about job search, but within a week we changed it to reflect that it was a career management tool. I was a firm believer that no one would land a dream job and keep it for the rest of their career… unless, of course, the rest of their career was two years away.

Then, as I got further and further down the entrepreneur (rabbit) hole, and I became enamored with creating multiple income streams, and I saw my users getting frustrated with switching jobs every 2 to 5 years, I realized that JibberJobber could serve them well not just in a job search, but in all of their income stream endeavors.

Of course. Because having multiple income streams is career management.

But when you are working in your dream job you don’t think that anything will happen… until it does. You don’t worry that you will have zero income, until it happens. And then you start thinking “You know, I should monetize my hobby.” Or, “I should start consulting,” or a catering business, or a photography business, or start selling real estate, or walking dogs, or whatever it is that you think of that you would like, and could do, to generate a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on the side.

Because one day “the side” might be “the main income.” That happened to me last year. I was making six figures at a salaried job and because of stuff outside of my control I got the boot. Nothing personal, of course, merely a business decision. The depth of that impersonal business decision would have been devastating if it weren’t for my side gigs.

That was the “job security” I had been writing about since 2006. And as bleak as my job search was in 2006, my 2018 was okay, even after losing a six figure job.

Here’s where JibberJobber kicks in: you might have thought of it as a job search tool… something you ignore after you land your job. But it’s more than that. It truly is your career management tool. It is the tool that can become more important than LinkedIn (good for leads) and Facebook (good for entertainment). For example:

Once you land your job, you continue to use JibberJobber as you network, meet new colleagues, etc.

At any time you use JibberJobber to organize your prospects and clients and past clients for your “side hustle,” whether that is car detailing, photography, art, baking, consulting… or a mix of side hustles.

I don’t want to sound like all I’m focused on is jobs and careers. But it’s like oxygen. We need to figure out how we are going to make a living. And if the employment landscape continues to change, and as the gig economy (aka side hustle) becomes more important to our financial security, we need to be more serious about our career management. No longer can we sit back and think “If I just do a good job, I’ll have a good job.” No. Things don’t work like that anymore. I’ve tried it more than once, both times it stung me.

Use JibberJobber for career management. Be serious about your future. Maintain the power, which lies in your network and networking skills, instead of passively giving control over 100% of your income to your boss. That gamble is too risky.