Welcome to generation sell.

I’ve done a lot of thinking these last few months about this new phenomenon. Many of my peers, myself included, have started our own businesses. We view ourselves as the product and sell it off in pieces as comfortably as the whole. We see no need to join hierarchical organizations where managers spend a career to get to the top when we know that by the time we get to the top we could be irrelevant in our fast-paced, digital technology driven world.We comfortably slide in and out of organizations as needed. We seem to have an entrepreneurial drive unmatched by previous generations. The technology that made it possible for us to create more than ever before was followed by systems to sell our creations. So you have the barista/consultant/Etsy designer. The mobile app entrepreneur/chef/stay-at-home mom. The design freelancer/nonprofit Executive Director.

It’s been interesting to find myself a part of this new movement. I definitely view myself as a product that I sell to organizations. Sometimes as a consultant, sometimes an employee. I am the organization that I need to manage and so I focus on gaining new skills and continuing my education. It’s not that I am opposed to full-time work at all, if an interesting opportunity came along I would jump at it, but I am just as comfortable in an entrepreneurial venture as an established company. That is what I find unique about my peers. Entrepreneurialism is hard-wired into us and we’ll sell everything from our photographs to our time to our careers.

Welcome to generation sell.

*I’m indebted to William Deresiewicz who first used the term generation sell first, as far as I can tell, in his November 13, 2011 op-ed. Also check out Design Your Own Profession on the Harvard Business Review blog for further reading.