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Important points
- Job losses due to AI are fueling a new wave of entrepreneurship, with 67% more business ventures after layoffs.
- Experts leverage skills in digital services, coaching, virtual assistance, and AI-specific roles to create successful businesses.
- New career paths have low start-up costs and high demand, allowing laid-off workers to turn challenges into opportunities.
The replacement of workers by artificial intelligence is accelerating, but it is also driving other trends. More and more entrepreneurs are starting their own businesses after being laid off. In 2024, there will be a 67% increase in entrepreneurs launching ventures after a layoff, and that number is likely to continue to grow as AI becomes more established.
As someone who has experienced unemployment during my career, whether it was a job as a radio reporter in the early 2000s or a marketing job at a startup later on, I know that I don’t necessarily have to start a new job search to move forward. Like thousands of other professionals, I decided it was time to go out on my own and turn evictions into my own business. you can do it too. Here we present a business model that is proven, in demand, and offers low startup costs.
1. Digital services
Companies implementing AI won’t be able to do it right away. They are often implemented in stages and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done by humans. Digital services can be performed by contract on behalf of W2 employees.
Digital services are a broad umbrella that covers many different types of work. These range from digital products such as e-books and online courses to specialized services such as content moderation. This is where people review user-generated content for the platform to see if it meets community standards. This requires human judgment regarding nuance and context, which AI currently still struggles with.
Another example is custom workflow automation. We help small businesses connect their software tools to work together more effectively. Niche market services such as healthcare compliance consulting for digital platforms are also areas where human expertise is essential to navigate complex regulations. Providing customer-centric service and superior support acts as a differentiator and enables success in a competitive market.
2. Coaching
This category does not have to be digital in nature, but it is very necessary when large-scale turnover occurs. Many laid-off workers feel adrift enough when they are laid off, but that feeling can be amplified when it seems like there is no longer a place for them in the industry they have spent time gaining experience with.
Mentoring displaced workers to a new career path can be both beneficial and fulfilling. After many years in journalism, in 2009 I started a coaching business teaching people how to use growing social media platforms like Facebook. The people I taught ended up working with publications to help them use those channels to increase page views to their sites. These days, teaching people how to navigate career shifts or develop new abilities creates immediate market demand and provides a noble service to employees.
Coaching can range from career coaching (who is better suited to guide laid-off workers into new careers than successful ones) to coaching in both digital and non-digital skills such as coding, sales, and public speaking. One of the biggest advantages a coach has over AI-generated advice is the ability to provide personal accountability and emotional support. Even as automation becomes more widespread, these factors keep this business more in the human realm.
3. Virtual assistant
If you are someone with strong organizational skills and the ability to multitask, being a virtual assistant can be a great career. A good virtual assistant will have a number of skills, both technical and non-technical, but what unites them all is the reliability of a person who can keep things organized and solve problems quickly. The primary service that virtual assistants provide to their clients is to allow them to focus on their core goals while handling important day-to-day tasks.
Virtual assistants do a variety of tasks and master them all. Administrative tasks are usually the first thing that comes to mind. Scheduling appointments, managing your calendar, answering emails, booking travel, and preparing documents are all tools in a good assistant’s arsenal.
However, assistants may also be asked to perform more digital functions, such as social media management, newsletter writing, website updates, and marketing functions such as social media curation. It may also include market research functions and basic bookkeeping duties.
4. Micro-level and medium-scale AI implementation
When you think of AI, the first thing that comes to mind is the big artificial intelligences like ChatGPT and Claude. While OpenAI and Anthropic (along with Nvidia) form some of the main pillars of the AI market, there are smaller players that are focused on more specific implementations, some small enough that they can run on a single machine given the computing power.
These companies provide AI power to entrepreneurs, but they are small. It also provides the ability to tailor the data used by AI to business needs at a very low cost. People who know how to install, configure, deploy, and manage such systems are nearly indispensable for small and medium-sized businesses that want to harness the power of AI.
For example, if you have skills in leveraging medium-sized AI services like Salesforce’s Einstein or Adobe Firefly, you could be a valuable asset to companies that use those platforms but don’t have actual staff experience with AI. Not only does it deliver value, but it also allows businesses to get the most value out of the expensive platforms they are paying for.
5. Other AI-specific services
Much has been said about the skills that AI will replace, but the fact that AI is still a new and largely unregulated technology will also open up new skill sets. Two of these services are Prompt Engineer and AI Ethicist.
Rapid engineering sounds easy, but because AI is a computer, it is still a system that takes garbage in and throws it away. If your prompts are poorly written, your AI system will not produce the desired results, no matter how powerful it is. Prompt engineering involves designing AI requests to quickly achieve results. You need not only good language skills, but also conceptual knowledge of how AI systems think.
AI ethicists provide an important service to companies that want to implement AI, especially when the AI is customer-facing. AI ethicists ensure that artificial intelligence is developed and deployed in a responsible and ethical manner. We often partner with legal experts to ensure that data is obtained ethically and used responsibly. Create ethical guidelines for employees to follow and reduce risks such as privacy and copyright infringement.
AI ethics operates at the intersection of corporate policy, transparency, accountability, and law. Many trusted institutions, including Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT, are offering AI ethics education and certifications to meet this new and growing need.
New technology can lead to new careers
Job losses due to technology have occurred ever since the automobile made the buggy whip obsolete. But as a result, new opportunities have opened up, and sometimes entirely new markets have been created.
All of these carrier options have relatively low barriers to entry, are likely to be in high demand in the coming months, and have the potential to scale up without the need for significant investment.
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Important points
- Job losses due to AI are fueling a new wave of entrepreneurship, with 67% more business ventures after layoffs.
- Experts leverage skills in digital services, coaching, virtual assistance, and AI-specific roles to create successful businesses.
- New career paths have low start-up costs and high demand, allowing laid-off workers to turn challenges into opportunities.
The replacement of workers by artificial intelligence is accelerating, but it is also driving other trends. More and more entrepreneurs are starting their own businesses after being laid off. In 2024, there will be a 67% increase in entrepreneurs launching ventures after a layoff, and that number is likely to continue to grow as AI becomes more established.
As someone who has experienced unemployment during my career, whether it was a job as a radio reporter in the early 2000s or a marketing job at a startup later on, I know that I don’t necessarily have to start a new job search to move forward. Like thousands of other professionals, I decided it was time to go out on my own and turn evictions into my own business. you can do it too. Here we present a business model that has proven demand and offers low startup costs.
