The Digital Worker, Episode 1: Overview


For years and years, and since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, workers had only had one work scenario: Report to work at 9:00 AM, do the tasks assigned by your direct manager, and leave at 5:00 PM.

The advent of the Internet, and especially the recent proliferation of mobile data, have brought about another revolution, which we wouldn’t call the Information Revolution. That has taken its course since the invention of the first computer. It is handing over the keys to something new and disturbing. A combination of multimedia communication anytime, anywhere, social media, broadband network coverage, and devices that can handle unthinkable amounts of data in real-time, have made it possible for a new phenomenon to emerge: The Digital Worker.

The dynamics of ‘work’ have dramatically changed for a large sector of the workforce.

The ‘Digital Worker’ no longer needs to report to work at 9:00 AM and leave at 5:00 PM. He/she does not even need a traditional workspace: An office, a cubicale, or even a desk. All they need is a ‘machine’ and an Internet connection. Hence the new terminology: Anywhere, Anytime.

Teams can meet virtually. Projects may have members in Iceland, South Africa, India, Canada, or South Korea. And those are just examples to convey what ‘anywhere, anytime’ looks like.

How about products and services? Physical products that consumers request. How can that be achieved digitally?

A new e-Commerce model has emerged, which is called drop-shipping. The Digital Worker runs an online ‘store,’ which show products’ images, specs, videos, prices, and of course, digital cart and checkout facilities.

Customers place orders right at the digital store. In the background, suppliers receive those orders automatically, once placed, process and fulfill them on behalf of the Digital Worker, right to the customer’s doorstep. Read more about this model in a previous TWM post: How to Choose the Right Product.

To offer a service, Digital Workers must be highly innovative. Let’s take medicine as an extreme example, which has always required the physical co-presence of the patient and the heathcare provider.

Well, that is no longer a rigid requirement. Telemedicine has soften that need by allowing doctors and patients to communicate virtually, in realtime. Physicians can diagnose and prescribe remotely. On the farside of the spectrum, a surgeon would perform an operation via telemedicine, using virtual reality and robotics technologies. You can read more about telemedicine in a previous WTM article: Reaching Out to Patients: Telemedicine.

It is hard to comprehensively cover all aspects of The Digital Worker’s attributes, work environment, rewards and challenges, in one article.

In the next post, we will explore with you the last two aspecs mentioned above: Rewards and challenges.

Stay tuned.

TWM™

© Image Credit: Photo by Jesus Kiteque on Unsplash

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A new Venture


The world of e-commerce is an exciting, and potentially rewarding one.

Recently I decided to delve in, and went through the process of building an online store.

The result was a decent place for visitors to Be, Love, Create and Live. That is the theme, with products that promote a vibrant, balanced lifestyle; pertaining to the soul, the heart, the mind and the body.

My objective is to grow StoreFour to at least 20K Canadian dollars of net profit every month; ambitious yet achievable.

Here is something you can view and get from StoreFour right now:

 So far, I’ve found that bringing interested customers to the storefront and convincing them to actually buy something is the real challenge of succeeding at e-commerce. Building the store, finding the right products, designing, putting and tweaking the processes, all of that was in my turf, and did enjoy it a lot.

That said, as I’m gaining more understanding of e-commerce marketing and sales secrets through learning and doing, I’m getting the hang of it, and gradually enjoying it as well 🙂

A key element of “customer conversion,” which refers to convincing a visitor to buy, is first to drive the right traffic to your website, then offer something that interests the visitors in terms of quality, usability, and price.

It takes consistent monitoring of analytics and learning how to spot the insights and apply their wisdom in action. It also requires getting busy with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), advertisement, and building a good customer list.

Will keep my readers posted on the progress and would appreciate your feedback on any aspect of this new venture…

Keep learning and growing!

Yaman, The Wealth Maker