I recently read an article in the NAWBO e-newsletter (SmartBrief) about ‘tempreneurs’, and found the concept interesting. I’ve included a snippet of the newsletter for you below, and a link to the actual article:
Welcome to the age of the “tempreneur” (Click headline for full article)
Workplace expert Lynn Taylor has coined the term “tempreneur” to describe the increasing number of entrepreneurs that do temporary and project work. “I believe that the year 2010 is a paradigm shift to this entrepreneur/temporary worker, where the person is an entrepreneur in that she seeks her own business, but she also seeks temp project work in conjunction with that,” Taylor said. Tempreneurs fill the gap between freelancers and consultants by allowing workers to maintain flexibility to seize all available opportunities, she explains. WomenEntrepreneur.com 
The above description resontated with me, because it sounded like my sister. 8 years ago, my sister chose to leave the corporate workforce to start a family. Her background had been in event marketing and project management. Now that her daughters are in school full time, she is able to look at some new career options again. Over the past year, she created 7 project based forms of employment for herself, which simultaneously fit within her schedule, while one daughter was in school full time and the other was in preschool 3 days a week from 9-3:30pm. Her assortment of projects included:
-personal assistant to the owner of a printing and promotional products business where she processed orders, and followed up with vendors/suppliers/customers 10-12 hours per week for six months;
-virtual assistant to a business owner handling email correspondence, PR related activities, and organizing the office space on site for a combined 10 hours a week for 1 year;
-Event planner and coordinator for a charity fundraiser 5-10 hours a week for 3 months;
-Executive Assistant to the owner of a technology business 5-15 hours a week for 6 months;
-dog sitting at her own home for a pilot, anywhere from 5 to 20 days a month, over a three year period, when the pilot travelled;
-helping a friend on weekends as a wedding planner/coordinator 20-30 hours/event for 3 months;
–CARE provider, assisting a woman with her groceries 1 hour per week, twice a month.
Surprisingly she never seemed stressed and enjoyed keeping busy while the girls were in school/preschool. This is the mindset of the tempreneur. They can combine work and family responsibilities with ease. They seem to live the elusive ‘balanced life’ we’ve all been hearing about for years. No doubt, the strain on our economy has been extremely difficult for some. Yet, it is good to see that opportunities exist for those who are innovative, and who can carve out project based work they enjoy and are qualified to do.
Points to Ponder and Share:
1) Do you know any tempreneurs or are you one yourself? If so, how is it working out?
2) If you currently work for a company or own your own business, could this new employment model work for you in conjunction with your current career?
3) If you could ‘ala carte’ select all the roles and responsibilities you enjoy, while getting paid for them on a project basis, what would you include in your ‘menu of services’?
