What about a different approach?

I’m three months into the plunge. The safety net is down to its last fifth, but somehow I’m no longer flailing. I’ve stopped looking for a single answer — one job, one income, one direction — and started seeing the potential in many. It feels like a quiet, personal revolution. Not in the “burn it all down” way, but in the “what if we tried something else?” kind of way. What if a life wasn’t built from one full-time job, but from a hundred tiny transactions?

That’s the gig economy. Or at least, that’s one version of it. For years, it’s been marketed as scrappy and youthful — rideshare drivers, food deliverers, creatives with side hustles and no superannuation. Not a place for the middle-aged or mid-career. But maybe that’s the wrong lens. Maybe the gig economy isn’t the problem — maybe our assumptions about how a “respectable” life should be earned are the real issue.

We still cling to the idea that steady work equals stability, and stability equals morality. A 9-to-5 with sick leave and super is seen as the gold standard. But who decided it should be this way? Two world wars and a housing boom baked this model into our collective psyche — work hard, buy a house, retire. Except that model no longer fits. House prices outstrip wages. Superannuation lags behind life expectancy. And “full-time” is often just full-time stress.

Meanwhile, platforms like Uber, Airbnb, Etsy and TaskRabbit don’t offer jobs — they offer access. They don’t make or own the things we use; they just connect people. The brand isn’t the product, it’s the trust. And while they’re not exactly paragons of equity (Uber sets the fare, not the driver), they’ve made it easier for almost anyone to become a provider. You don’t need a business degree to rent your spare room, sell your handmade mugs, or drive someone to the airport.

This model is not without risk. The line between personal and professional blurs. The safety net, still tied to salaried jobs, vanishes. It’s harder to plan your life when income depends on algorithms, customer reviews, or whether your car passes rego.

But the trade-off? Freedom. Flexibility. A chance to try things — many things — without betting the house.

Universal Basic Income trials show that when people aren’t desperate, they make better decisions. They get better jobs. They feel better. They even work more. But they don’t necessarily accumulate assets — and that’s what makes the system nervous. If people are cash-comfortable but asset-poor, who’s going to prop up the housing market? Who’s going to buy the idea of the Great Australian Dream?

Maybe it’s time for a new dream.

Back in the ‘90s, I bought a house with $5,000. Renovated it. Lived in it. Sold it. That was the reward for playing the game. My kids? They’re working full-time and renting life by the hour — holidays, cars, the illusion of freedom. They’ll never have the ending I had. So why should they play by the same rules?

Right now, I’m writing this in my camper trailer, 50 metres from Clarke’s Beach. I’ve got hot water, kitchens, and ocean air. No council rates, no power bills, no insurance. If I wasn’t a springboard for my adult kids, I could rent out the house and live this life — beach to beach, gig to gig, possibly even fine dining on the side.

And my gigs? Well, it’s less LinkedIn, more Hunter S. Thompson meets The Detectorists.

• ADF Reserves (pending placement)

• mystery shopper (past probation, approved for new projects)

• Shopify store in progress (art, op shop finds, curated kitsch)

• Design and communications freelancing (25+ years of it, why stop now?)

• Uber licence pending (once the car gets fixed)

• Writing, properly — with an actual structure and possible income stream

• Maybe even a bar job or carer gig if I grab the basic tickets

It’s patchwork. But it’s mine. And maybe it’s time we stop calling that wild or indulgent. Maybe the real madness is clinging to a system that no longer serves us, simply because it’s familiar.

So yes, the gig economy is messy, uncertain, and lacks the warm glow of a regular payslip. But it’s also human. Alive. And adaptable. If we decouple dignity from full-time employment, perhaps we can finally build lives that work — even if we do it 100 gigs at a time.

And if the system can’t keep up?

Well then — thank fuck. Let’s stick it up bureaucracy.