5 Future Proof Careers and Business Ideas

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“These business areas will be safe from automation and, to some extent, from really low-cost outsourcing.”

I received an email from someone the other day offering me transcription services.

It sounded like it was their own business, they were freelancing.

And I gotta say my heart went out to them.

Because – transcription?

Probably not a great long-term business. I give that about a year.

I give translation work maybe three to five years unless you’re on the really high end.

Automation and artificial intelligence are coming!

What I want to share in this post is five areas that I think will be safe from automation and, to some extent, from really low-cost outsourcing.

The areas that I think, if you’re starting out or you’re going to build a business now, would be good to focus on.

The areas that, if you’re starting a business now, you don’t have to worry too much about being obsolete in the next couple of years.

Future Proof Business Idea #1: Experiences and Events

The first area is experiences and events.

I think the more we move online, the more people want to have real life experiences.

I’m doing this more and more in my own business.

Actually, I’m hosting at least a couple events this year.

I have found it so satisfying to meet with you guys in real life and do things together.

And I don’t think I’m alone.

So anything related to creating in-person experiences for people I think is pretty safe from automation for at least 20-30 years.

There may be some robots who start hosting events at some point, but I’m pretty sure you’re safe for the time being.

I think it’s also going to be a booming industry as more and more people want to spend their extra money going offline and interacting with other people.

Future Proof Business Idea #2: The Trades

The next future proof business idea is the trades – anything from carpentry to plumbing.

That is not going to be very easily done by robots for probably 30-40 years.

I mean, I’m not a tech expert, but it’s a long way out.

Now, manufacturing and factory work is being automated because it’s worth it to set up the machines to do the same thing over and over.

This doesn’t apply to the trades, especially if you’re working on the higher end, but I would say pretty much on any level.

Most of the trades are going to be great areas to get into. You don’t really have to worry about the robots taking over.

It’s also in many ways, I think, a very healthy type of work in terms of your mental health and stress and also physical health for that matter, as well.

Future Proof Business Idea #3: Copywriting

Next up is copywriting. If you don’t know, copywriting is writing in a marketing or sales capacity.

Not all of you know, but I was a freelance copywriter for many years, and it’s the business I had that allowed me to travel around the world and live in seven different countries.

Compared to all the other freelance professions, or a lot of the other professions I should say, I like copywriting because it’s not something that can be really cheaply outsourced or automated or done with AI because to do it well, you really need to connect with your audience and you have to pay attention to every little word.

Now, if you are on Gmail, you’ll get an email and it’s already creating responses.

And sometimes they’re pretty good.

It started to complete my sentences, which I’m a little worried about – not because of the creepy factor, but I’m worried about because it’s going to dumb down our use of language even more. We’re all just going to talk in Google language and say the same things all the time.

So that is happening with language, and there is more and more AI involved there.

But for really high-end writing, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for probably decades.

I should mention if you do want to become a copywriter or you’re a freelance copywriter a link to a free training I have on that around how you get started, how you get clients, and all that sort of thing as well.

Future Proof Business Idea #4: Creative Professions

Next up, I would say creative professions, in general, should be safe.

There are already companies taking shots at this profession.

For example, I went to a friend’s house last year and they’d ordered these big paintings that were made in a factory in China.

And you could tell, to be honest, but to me it would really bug me to put art on the wall that’s made in a factory very much trying to look unique.

Like each piece was apparently unique, but it’s just like an assembly line of painters.

I don’t like the concept of that.

Some of you guys have seen the art on my walls in some of my older videos. That’s all the stuff I bought when I was traveling. so I really like that.

I do think that more and more creative work – I’m using painting as an example – will be done by robots or really low paid workers.

But on the higher end, people who actually want to invest some money are never going to want to buy a painting done in a factory by someone who’s pumping out 10 a day, right?

So I think creative fields, in general – this could be making movies, this could be in the design fields, this could be writing novels or anything in that capacity – I think those are pretty safe for quite a while, at least on the middle to high end.

There are already programs that can create a really simple song, put together some writing, or that sort of stuff. But it’s very much on the low end and not something that really makes sense. I think it’s more used for spammy or low-quality content.

So I think, overall, if you aim for the higher end, any kind of creative profession is going to be safe.

Future Proof Business Idea #5: Personal Service

The last, number five: Fields involving people and personal service, like coaching, therapy, counseling.

Now, I say that knowing that the US military is already experimenting with basically robot therapists where it asks certain questions and reads your tone of voice and then responds and, apparently, it’s actually quite effective, partially because I think soldiers feel more open talking to a robot than they would another person.

So believe it or not, this profession is not totally safe from artificial intelligence and I do think you’ll have more and more tools and utilities using AI for self-coaching, self-counseling, this sort of thing, and I actually think they could be quite effective.

But overall, I think most people are still going to prefer to work with another person, especially if you’re looking more at business coaching or consulting work that’s based on a lot of experience. It’s not just taking you through the routine of asking you a couple of questions.

So coaching, consulting, therapy, psychologist, all these fields I think are going to be pretty safe for the time being.

Now, let me know below in the comments:

Are there any professions that you think are going to disappear in the next few years because of artificial intelligence?

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