Creatives often prefer ‘projects’ over ‘jobs

Some pretty heady words, I know, but for many creatives, the last thing they want is a job – a paid position of regular employment. Why? Because they’re entrepreneurs, free agents, independents… and they’re looking for projects and transactions, not jobs.

Now, combine that with this research from the Creative Class Group concluding that the greater the % of the creative class in the workplace, the greater the city’s economy, and you have to begin to wonder…

Should economic development focus on job creation, or project creation?

Of course the answer is both, and it is, but maybe it should invest a little more into helping creatives find the kinds of projects that can not only help them grow, but the project’s client as well. The same for transactions, which are essentially completed by customers. The solution, as is often the case in the internet-based knowledge economy, is in the Long Tail, and is presently carried out by Craigslist under ‘gigs’, and Guru.com. This site has already presented the model for a locally-based one here, and for building a customer base if you’re not a national chain? Crowdsourcing.

Not to get political, but the federal stimulus bill is project-based. It’s just a matter of taking that down to the local level, to the individual level, ideally without government subsidy, to involve the creatives and their clients and customers.

Image: Examples of projects involving creatives.

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neilkt