230. Anonymous online contracting

In the movie Assassins, scripted by the Wachowski Brothers, an anonymous employer communicates via instant messaging with two world-famous assassins (played deliciously by Antonio Banderas and stoically by Sylvester Stallone).

The employer simply emails photo files of the target to "retire" (i.e. assassinate) and deposits a partial amount of money into the Swiss bank account of the hired assassin.

I think that way of working and contracting is the way of the future. Of course, I'm not referring to the "killing people" part, only the method of communicating with "contractors."

The Internet makes it easy to work anonymously. In fact, as work becomes more and more knowledge-oriented, employers will care less about WHO is doing the job and more about the fact that the job is being DONE.

In the old economy, you had to show up at the office to do work.

In the new economy, you don't necessarily have to show up; just show results. It's not that employers no longer want to see your lovely face, only that they care more about getting the job done.

In fact, you can have as many avatars of yourself as you wish (an avatar is a cyber identity).

The Harvard Business Review magazine talked about the rising popularity of avatars in the last issue. However, they were more focused on helping companies market products and services to avatars.

In other words, they consider avatars to be consumers.

Here, I'm rather talking about avatars being cyber professionals performing work anonymously for clients who could be located on a different continent.

In the next posting, I'll talk about why professionals who have a regular day job would create cyber identities in order to serve more clients.