Gen Zers want to work, but on their own terms. That irritates many companies and employers a lot! So much so that about 1 out of every 7, or almost 15% of employers who have hired Gen Z have either already fired their new hires, or have said that they will never hire another fresh college graduate as long as they live. That raises an important question “How will Gen Zers pay their bills if fewer companies and employers want to hire them?” The answer may surprise you–Gen Z may be a generation of entrepreneurs. Let’s explore that in more detail.

Why Do Gen Zers Want to Work For Themselves?

Part of the reason why Gen Zers want to own their own businesses is because they are so different from other generations. Gen Z is literally rewriting the office rules with its own values and work ethic. As I mentioned before, a lot of companies and employers aren’t comfortable with that. Then there is AI. The latest AI technologies and tools are advanced and can easily perform the repetitive and simple (sometimes menial) tasks that new hires used to do, but at a fraction of the cost.

So, many employers are taking advantage of that and using AI instead of college and university graduates to do entry-level work. But Gen Z still has to pay its bills. So, they are getting creative at making money by starting their own businesses. New research suggests that half of Gen Z members are eager to start their own enterprises.

About 48% of Gen Zers have a side hustle because new jobs don’t pay as much, and things are super expensive now. So, they have to have an extra income source to pay all of their bills LinkedIn’s most recent research appears to confirm that fact. The professional social networking platform discovered that 18% of those who started businesses were Gen Z members in a survey last year.

Many of them are successful since  Wakefield Research found that 39% of Gen Z business owners employed at least 5 people.

You Could Say That Gen Zers Are A Bunch of Independent Thinkers

And being an independent thinker myself, I can confidently say that they hate being told what to do. That’s probably why they hate the modern corporate office. Bosses, managers, and even co-workers tell them what to do all day in the workplace. Gen Zers also want to work wherever and whenever they want. They are used to freedom. The trouble is that most workplaces expect employees to show up at a certain time daily and stay there for a specific number of fixed hours.

Gen Zers don’t like the idea of being a slave to the office. That may have been a value that previous generations stuck to, but Gen Z wants a healthy work-life balance. They want to be able to clock out at 5 PM and concentrate on their family or personal life until the next work day. Unfortunately, many companies and employers don’t work that way.

Gen Z Doesn’t Work for Money

So, this statement may confuse you. After all, doesn’t Generation Z think that a salary of $40,000 is so low it’s insulting? Well, Deloitte did a survey this year. According to the survey, almost 90% of Gen Zers stated that they would rather work at a job that offered meaningful tasks allowing them to learn while they worked and climb the ‘career ladder.’

About 2 out of every five of them want to work at companies that do great things for the local community. That’s why Gen Z prefers to work at eco-conscious enterprises. And they know that job security, something that the silent generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, and even Millennials lived by, is gone forever. Gen Zers who work for companies are notorious for job-hopping the instant they find a better opportunity.

All of these factors are the perfect ingredients for an ideal entrepreneurial recipe.

Gen Zers Have Many Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Gen Zers love being social influencers. They find that social media and social platforms offer many opportunities for starting a business. Young adults are cashing in on (literally) the following money-making ideas:

• Social influencer–Eco-friendly subscription boxes: Young people are very conscious about the environment. They want to buy exclusively from companies that respect Mother Earth. However, many consumers are finding that it can be difficult to find genuinely eco-friendly enterprises. So, Gen Zers are helping them out. Some of them are starting businesses where they send eco-friendly subscription boxes out to customers.Customers get little samples of environmentally friendly products every month in subscription boxes. They pay a monthly fee for the boxes. If they like certain products, they can order more of them. Subscription boxes are popular mainly because Gen Zers love to open them and explain what the products and their benefits are on various social platforms. It’s called influencer marketing, and it works with younger generations.

• Creating digital content: Millennials, Gen Z, and younger generations are very well-educated. They are also digitally savvy and far from naive. They want to understand exactly what they are buying and which companies sell the products before they make a purchase. That’s part of the reason why digital marketing became popular.Digital content is also customized, relevant, and designed for a particular section or sub-section of the general market. It’s a lot easier to start a digital content marketing agency than it is to start other enterprises. That’s why Gen Zers are eager to go into social media marketing, content marketing, and other aspects of digital marketing. They already use social media platforms, sometimes 24/7, so they innately understand how social media marketing works and how it can be used to sell brands.

• Mental health apps: A lot of companies and employers gripe about Gen Z’s seemingly endless mental health issues and problems. They blame social media platforms and various apps for these, and they may not be incorrect. Yes, Gen Z does seem to have more mental health issues than previous generations.But it’s this need for constant counseling that’s creating many opportunities for Gen Zers who are psychologically oriented. Many younger people are ditching traditional counselors for mental health apps. Some even rely on AI tools for advice. Sometimes, that has disasterous consequences.

  Gen Zers who know how to build apps that help people find peace through various forms of meditation, counseling, tips for finding counselors, counselor and psychologist/psychiatrist lists, mental health community forums, and self-care tips may build successful businesses.

• Marketplaces for gently used items: Gen Zers love thrifting and vintage items because they know that they can find relatively good brands at throwaway prices. Some Gen Zers are capitalizing on that and younger people’s love of the net to create marketplace apps that sell high-quality, gently used brands.Those apps that sell second-hand, eco-friendly, and sustainably made clothes and goods could thrive in the future. Online and physical thrifting has actually made clothing cheaper by reducing waste, respecting the environment, and cutting down on the need for making (expensive) new clothes.

• Healthy cafes: if Gen Z cares about mental health, it cares about what it puts in its bodies as well. Young adults who can start cafes and restaurants that sell healthy and plant-based foods and dishes will prosper. Gen Z cares about the ways in which food is presented and what the main ingredients and cooking methods are. They find that healthy foods and dishes are easier to promote on social platforms because they go viral faster.If you are thinking about starting a healthy cafe or restaurant, I am going to let you in on a couple of useful tips:

• • • Purchase your raw ingredients from reputable and ethical companies. Gen Zers do care if you buy from enterprises that treat their workers well and respect the environment.
    • Treat your own employees well and use environmentally sustainable methods when cooking and preparing your dishes.

• Remote work: Do you remember the digital nomad? They still exist even though more companies want their employees to come into the office for at least a few days a week. But don’t worry, remote work is here to stay, even if there aren’t as many 100% WFH positions available anymore. Gen Z is notorious for wanting the WFH option as much as possible.Many Gen Z members have even (not surprisingly) quit organizations that made them come into the office for even 1 day a week. So, companies and employers that still want to hire young people are (begrudgingly) embracing tools that make remote work possible. So, you could make lots of money if you start a business that makes and/or sells these tools.

• Eco-friendly and sustainable travel agencies: I did write blog posts that said that more Gen Zers are willing to travel instead of embracing parenthood. Yes, Gen Z loves traveling. But if you think you will prosper by starting a traditional travel agency, you are making a big (and perhaps fatal) mistake.Sure, Gen Z loves to travel, but they want to do so on their own terms. That means your travel agency must concentrate on places that aren’t as touched by human development. Consider providing eco-friendly lodging options, points of interest, and restaurants as well, since Gen Z cares about these things.

• Social impact consulting: Gen Z is very eco and socially conscious. They want to leave the world in a better place than it was when they were born. However, many Gen Zers crave guidance on doing that. That’s why many will turn to social impact consulting firms. It’s a firm that didn’t exist when I was a 20-something over two decades ago. Here are some niches that successful consulting firms will focus on:

• • • Work-life balance
    • Purpose-driven initiatives
    • Social justice
    • Environmentally-friendly issues
    • Diversity and inclusion
    • Sustainability and community engagement programsOf course, this is not a comprehensive niche list.

• Affiliate marketing: Only Gen Alpha is more tech-savvy than Gen Zers. Many in Gen Z are taking advantage of that by doing affiliate marketing. What you do is associate yourself strongly with numerous websites or buy email marketing lists. You’ll need a network or a website to sell different companies’ products or services.It helps if you already have or can create a large and loyal following on social media platforms. But if you can’t, you can always create optimized content and sell through organic SEO. Your websites, marketing, and content must always conform to various rules and regulations.

• Virtual assistant: Many companies have done surveys on Gen Z’s work preferences. Whatsthebigdata is one of them. It discovered that 75% of Gen Zers want to work either completely remotely or in hybrid positions. They love virtual assistant roles because they can help clients with vital admin, technical, or creative support tasks remotely.Virtual assistant roles are very technically intensive. They are also very flexible and offer plenty of career advancement opportunities.

• Online Y2K Stores: Gen Zers and the youth are crazy about clothes that were popular during the turn of the 21st century. Many Gen Zers are starting online stores that sell these types of ‘vintage’ items. They network or sell on social media platforms.

Gen Z May Be Truly Independent

Gen Z is the first generation to completely rewrite the global corporate codes and rules. They aren’t content with what they perceive to be ‘menial and repetitive work’ in the traditional office. That’s why they are taking real risks and thinking independently to start their own enterprises.