Forget the Sharing Economy--The 'College Economy' Is Here!
You read it here first: the College Economy is taking over.
Here in Washington and around the country, economists, corporate executives, legislators, and academics have been talking about the sharing economy and its policy and economic implications.
The debate ranges from the pro view that individuals can start their own businesses by monetizing their assets and master their own destinies, to the con view that corporations are exploiting workers by not offering benefits like health care and retirement accounts.
I’ve also spent a substantial amount of time looking at the sharing economy as it impacts my key focus: small business in the United States. I’ve also had clients in the space, so I’ve been taking a close look at shared office space in particular. It finally dawned on me what this phenomenon is all about—a successful attempt to keep life exactly like we had it in college!
I’ll be the first to admit that it took me several years to get over leaving my fantastic college experience at Tufts University. I even wrote a semiautobiographical novel about my year after college called An Animal Cries (click here to download the ebook!).
The problem in 1991, however, was there was no real way to keep college going other than to live in a group house or go to law school—I did both. But, very soon, the old notion of getting a real job, buying a car, renting or buying an apartment, seriously dating someone, and getting married started to win over--the same formula our parents and their parents followed. But not anymore!
This all started, of course, with Facebook--the ultimate symbol of college life. At Tufts we called the freshman directory, the "Pig Book." (I know, not politically correct.) Every year we’d all study the Pig Book to see who the hottest incoming freshmen were--the girls did it too.
Thanks to Mark Zuckerburg, the Pig Book is now a billion dollar juggernaut that primarily is a vehicle to reconnect with, you guessed it, our college friends! And, of course, every person you ever dated going back to middle school.
Doing Business in the College Economy
Uber is usually held out as the poster child of the sharing economy, and the focal point of the pro/con debate I outlined above. Yes, all you need is a car to start earning money, but these guys are driving for hours for low wages and no benefits.
But, isn’t Uber just like how you bummed rides off the guys in college who actually had a car? I was the guy for most of college with a car—I had my mother’s hand-me-down 1980 yellow Toyota Corolla. If we needed to go somewhere, as many folks as possible would pile in my car and off we went. I didn’t charge for rides, but I got other benefits for owning a car.
The latest manifestation of the college economy is the shared office. I recently took a tour of the WeWork office in Dupont Circle and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I instantly had a flashback to our library at Tufts where I spent as much time socializing as studying.
There it was, the same social scene, but with people supposedly trying to earn a living! People were working in these little cubicle offices, just like the cubicles in the library when you really had to study for a test or produce a paper. And everyone else was hanging out and schmoozing in the shared space near the coffee and snacks. Most people were young, hip, and single—just like in college.
Airbnb is the same thing. That’s how we traveled in college—finding a buddy to crash with while traveling. They typically didn’t charge for it, but you’d buy some beer for your stay and make it worthwhile. Now they have couch surfing sites too where you can actually crash with someone you don’t know if you pay them for it.
Borrow your buddy's bike to go across campus? Now it’s Capital Bikeshare and the like.
Order delivery? Now pay someone at eat24.com to pick up food from anywhere you like.
Borrow someone’s notes from your Psych 101 class you never went to? Now if you need logos or business cards for your startup that's in a shared office you can pay someone on FiveRR.com to do your little assignments for 5 bucks!
The list is endless!
But, here is the ultimate example of the college economy: SugarDaddyForMe.com! Remember in college, you had to meet girls and take them out on dates and develop relationships that, hopefully, would turn sexual sooner rather than later? Now on SugarDaddyForMe, college girls are trading in all of that for financial support to pay for rent, clothes, and other expenses. I know you are thinking this sounds like prostitution, but there is no express quid pro quo, just negotiations to monetize assets!
A New Definition of Success
So, what does it all mean? First and foremost, you can now live like a college student for how ever long you like, and everyone will consider it acceptable--actually, not only acceptable, but admired and revered as part of the millennial generation, the gig economy, the new entrepreneurial spirit!
You don’t have to own anything, have a full-time job with a salary and benefits, stop dating college girls, and it’s the new definition of success! On the other side of the coin, you can just start monetizing things you do own, including your body, and start charging for everything you used to do for fun, friends, and for free in college.
Is this sustainable? Will more and more people in our country start living in the College Economy, or will some force, like the parents of my generation—Gen X—come crashing in and ruin the good time?
