Why Solopreneurs Thrive While Companies Quietly Cut Staff

Plus: Our upcoming tax webinar for those considering becoming American expats, Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula, and saving big in Uruguay.

Welcome to this week’s issue of Further, a newsletter for people in their late 40s, 50s and early 60s looking for a more satisfying alternative to the mythical “golden years” retirement.

If you’re here and haven’t yet subscribed, join 19,000+ Gen Xers looking to live their best life at midlife by grabbing our free resource: The Further Guide to Unretirement Planning.

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Back in 2013, it was predicted that artificial intelligence would lead to about half of all jobs being eliminated. And it was white-collar “knowledge worker” jobs that were under direct threat.

Later, the party line shifted to yes, AI will kill jobs, but it will create more than are lost. According to the 2022 The Future of Jobs Report by the World Economic Forum, automation would displace 85 million jobs worldwide while creating 97 million new ones.

The reality? Companies are eliminating people in favor of AI, not shifting them to new roles.

They’re just doing it quietly because they know the optics are terrible.

According to analysis from The Information, "quiet AI layoffs" have been accelerating over the past 6-12 months, often disguised under other policies like return-to-office mandates:

"I expect, and our customers expect, a slowdown in their hiring or reduction in net new demand for labor across the vast majority of their business functions, if not an actual reduction in head count," says EY principal Sameer Gupta, who leads the firm's AI consulting for financial services firms.

This isn't speculation. It's happening across industries right now, according to AI expert Paul Roetzer:

• Citigroup is leveraging AI as part of a plan to cut 20,000 jobs — about 8% of its workforce — by 2026.

• Cybersecurity firm Sysdig uses AI to handle potential customer emails, automating work previously done by entry-level sales staff.

• United Wholesale Mortgage developed an AI tool that reduced mortgage document processing time from 45 minutes to under 5 minutes, eliminating the need for as many underwriters.

• Dutch bank ABN Amro uses Microsoft's Copilot Studio to handle more than half of its annual customer support tickets and has paused hiring to reduce operating expenses.

Perhaps most telling is what ServiceNow is pitching to its customers — software that could potentially replace entire IT teams. As its chief customer officer Chris Bedi bluntly puts it, "The concept is a zero head count support operations team."

Since the pandemic and the tightening of the labor market, more businesses than ever are motivated to adopt new technology that lessens their reliance on humans. As a rule, when companies can substitute machines for people, they will.

Think back to the massive tech company layoffs that began in 2023. These were the firms best positioned to implement AI in place of headcount. Now the “regular” companies are catching up.

But when big companies can do more with fewer people, so can tiny ones. That's where the solopreneur advantage emerges.

Instead of being replaced by AI, you can be the one implementing it as an owner. This means positioning yourself at the intersection of human expertise and AI capabilities.

Rather than waiting for your employer to decide your fate, you can proactively build a business model that integrates AI from the ground up to augment and amplify yourself.

Then you can focus your energy on the uniquely human elements that create real value:

• Strategy,

• Creativity,

• Relationship building, and

• Specialized knowledge application.

Big companies are quietly eliminating employees, but you don’t need employees in the first place.

The dramatic rise in seven-figure solo firms is proof. And it’s not a coincidence that an increase in bootstrapped solo companies that succeed without outside investment has happened at the same time.

The choice for 50-somethings is clear: risk being replaced by AI in a corporate setting, or use AI and the personal enterprise strategy to build something uniquely yours that no algorithm can replicate.

Keep going-

Brian

P.S. New to Further? Join us for free here, or check out the benefits of a Premium membership.

further: destinations

I’d been all over Costa Rica, but the Nicoya Peninsula had remained under my radar. That changed when I heeded some frequently heard advice from fellow travelers:

You’ve got to check out Nosara.

+ Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula: A Blue-Zone Paradise

There's a reason savvy location-independent business people are increasingly eyeing Uruguay. And it's not just for the beautiful beaches, stable economy, and exceptional quality of life.

What if instead of a mere tax-deferred retirement account fueled by a stock market that may go nowhere for the next decade, you keep what you would pay in tax in your pocket?

+ Uruguay's Compelling Invitation: A 10-Year Tax Holiday

further: premium

Our first Premium Webinar is coming next Wednesday, April 30:

How to Pay Zero Taxes on a Six-Figure Income as an American Expat.

You'll discover the perfectly legal (but frustratingly confusing... at least at first) strategies that can reduce or eliminate your tax burden when you move abroad.

Coming May 14, Denver Nowicz kicks off his 4-part "Becoming Financially Unbreakable" workshop series, also exclusively for Further Premium members.

And don't forget about our Personal Enterprise Accelerator instruction currently in progress. You get instant access to these initial lessons:

1. The Rise of 7-Figure Small

2. The Mentor Mindset That Builds a Successful Location-Independent Business

3. Media, Not Marketing: The Brand Strategy that Attracts Your Ideal Audience

4. The “3P” Framework for Strategic Thought Leadership that Builds Your Business

5. Attract Your Perfect Prospects by Developing an Audience Archetype (coming Thursday)

further: flashback

🎶 Prince - Little Red Corvette, 1999, 1982 🎶

Little Red Corvette — dripping with metaphorical innuendo — became Prince's highest charting single at the time and his first to reach the top 10 in the United States. Following Prince's death (9 years ago yesterday), the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 29, rising to number 20 the following week. (YouTube)

further: sharing

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