Optionality, AI and You
Happy New Year. It’s been a doozy these past few weeks, huh? Lots of movement and a lot of chaos. But it seems to me that our goals remain the same: find the best ways to stack remote jobs, multiply our revenue streams, and stay ahead of a very unfair market.
Let’s talk about optionality.
A new year always comes with the same promises: new tools, new trends, and new fears.
Right now, one fear dominates the conversation: AI. It’s been dubbed a job killer, a plague on the environment, a security hazard waiting to happen. In short, it’s seen as a ticking bomb. However, my focus remains on how it affects our current objective.
Does it have the ability to leave people without a job?
Some people say it will replace everyone. Others say it will only affect “certain roles.” Then there are the optimists who say it will make our lives easier and let us pursue our true goals of lounging on the beach and sipping dry martinis (those people are fools; they should know job stacking already empowers you to do exactly that).
Jokes aside, there is a kernel of truth in all three cases. AI has made cutting corners easier for employers. Whenever they see a chance to fire people and downsize, they have taken it. Some companies have tried to change their image completely in pursuit of this trend—a move that is highly chaotic, but not atypical. Technology, be it a new engine, a wheel, or a piece of software, has an allure that makes it highly desirable and exploitable, often with massive consequences.
Of course, AI has also simplified a lot of jobs. Not everyone has been fired, and many new roles now exist thanks to AI. Some people have managed to learn more about a position simply by asking ChatGPT to give them a full, in-depth review of the role and which tools to research before applying.
In short? The truth, as usual, sits somewhere in the middle. AI is changing the job market; it just so happens to be in a very uneven manner. I’m not one for being an alarmist. But I do believe that employers will use every tool at their disposal to benefit themselves first and foremost. If it also leaves a lot of people unemployed? Boo hoo, cry me a river, they’ll say.
But that doesn’t mean you cannot use this to your advantage as well. There are ways to work around it. AI is a tool, and being knowledgeable or well-versed in handling that tool might give you an edge. It has a lot of limits, but it can also help you design images more quickly, give you a simplified overview of a set of tasks while you’re already handling multiple jobs, etc.
But this is not what you came here to read, right? You want to know what to do about AI taking your job.
Times like these are the exact reason why relying on a single job, a single employer, or a single skill set has never been riskier.
When one role disappears, or suddenly changes beyond recognition, the problem isn’t AI itself.
The problem is dependence.
This is where optionality matters—or, as some businesspeople will refer to it in a roundabout way, redundancy.
Redundancy in this case means having more than one job, even though every part of the market and the system might tell you there’s no urgent need. Sure, you’re not earning as much. Sure, you hate your boss, and you live in fear that he might fire you at any point in time. And yeah, there’s no way you’ll be able to buy a house in the next decade if this is your income for the foreseeable future and… why were you happy in your current role again?
Optionality means having more than one income stream, more than one employer, more than one professional identity. It means that if one role becomes unstable, automated, or restructured, you’re not starting from zero.
Job Stacking isn’t about fighting AI, or fighting “the man,” or what have you. We look at something deeper, something that has been lost to time because forces like AI, employers, recruiters, and every element of the job market have stamped it out.
It’s about not letting any single force control your livelihood. You don’t need to slave away working until late hours. You don’t need to be loyal to a company that won’t return the favor. You don’t need to live in anxiety about the future. You need to live free of control from outside forces. I don’t care if it’s AI, your boss, or HR. Don’t let them dictate whether you get to eat this month or not.
Multiple remote roles.
Compatible schedules.
Skills that transfer across companies instead of being locked into one.
That’s how you stay resilient in a market that’s changing faster than any one job description.
If you want to start this year by building real leverage, and not just “hoping your role survives”… we can help you map that out.
That’s it for now.
Start the year with options.
Until the next time,
Rolf.
