Cringe is the new job security.

It’s funny how things are.

On one hand, we all want:

• Freedom

• Success

• Recognition

We all want to decide when and how to work. We all want to work less and spend more time doing things that we care about. With people that we care about. And we all know that these benefits are much easier to get when you are “Your own boss". It’s nothing new.

But on the other hand, we are all so desperate to feel safe. We want to know that in the chaos of life and the market, we are protected. We want our contracts to state "unlimited”. We all want a free transport ticket, free fruits that we will swap for a cola and a sweet snack, working hours that do not make you go crazy, and work that fulfills meaning in your life.

We all want to find that place that will:

• give us the space to grow

• surrounded by amazing colleagues

• and give annual raises

And while being so focused on what we want, most of us are completely ignorant of what is going on around us.

Want to believe it or not, but there is a microeconomic crisis and an avalanche of layoffs. I mean, there is literally no one who doesn’t know someone who has been laid off. People are collecting the emails about tough management decisions like candies for holidays.

And it didn’t start just yesterday. I know because I’m a recruiter. I’ve seen the hyper-growth of companies in 2018 and 2019. I’ve seen the hiring freeze in 2020. I’ve seen another insane growth of many businesses in 2021. And I’ve seen how the layoff started first silently and then quite publicly, cutting people off in 2022.

So, between you and me, I must tell you I am still quite surprised that people don’t anticipate being laid off in 2026. I am still quite surprised that many would spend a month applying for full-time jobs "because it is more secure” right after their email access was removed within minutes after getting THE EMAIL.

What I’m most surprised about is that people don’t understand and see the evidence that self-employment and project-based work are the way to secure the most cash in 2025-2026, and beyond.

As a person who’s used to making their own luck happen, I don’t believe in coincidences. To me, it is not a secret that people do not want to pursue what seems to be a MUCH better and safer version right now (freelance, solopreneurship, etc.) for one and one reason only - CRINGE.

And the funny thing about it - they will never admit it to anyone or themselves.

“Oh, Lena, I wish I could work for myself like you, but I have children to feed.”

Sure, I do not have children. But if I did, I would think twice if I want to put all my eggs in the fulltime job basket, knowing that an average designer spends around 6 months on the job search (based on the data from 100+ clients I have worked with last year). For researchers, it is even worse, since the UXR roles are a very rare find nowadays.

So by telling me you do not want to entertain the thought of self-employment, you basically say:

I want to be a candidate in a 400-applicant pile that may never be reviewed, and do it all over again for months and months, hoping that it will stick.

While there are many examples on the market, people like myself, Kate, or Ioanna, whatever they want in this complicated market, and feel amazing about the impact, pay, and people surrounding them.

(and by the way, both of these women have humans who rely on them)

So what separates those who say, “I can’t, even though I want to,” and those who say, “Fuck it, I’m gonna do it” is a real phenomenon that you and I should talk about.

It might sound like an inspirational post from Instagram, but I do not really care. The reality is that whatever you start doing, you will always suck at it first. The faster you accept it, the better.

Do you think Michael Jackson was incredible when he danced his first dance? Britney Spears sounded the same way as she sounded in the early 2000s, when she was practicing for only two months. Do you think Justin Welsh became highly viral on LinkedIn after three months of posting?

And if you’re not sure, I will give you the answer, and it is a hard no. Yes, all these people are extremely talented. But even the best talent needs time to shape. And if you don’t give that time to your talent because of a cringe… because you think it’s embarrassing that you are a human who needs to go through a regular human process of building the skill up… then you need to do two things:

1. talk to a therapist

2. and start posting

Because the reality is that in 2026 and beyond, there are only two legitimate and proven ways to stay employable, relevant, and payable ( take it from a person who’s been in active hiring for the last eight years)

1. Option 1:

   to be in the top 10% of the market (whatever discipline you are in). Even that does not guarantee that your successful process will not be cut off by the change of the budgets of the company, reprioritization of the role, someone internally moving into the role that you are applying for, or any of that. You can also not protect yourself from being laid off from the role that you started just two months ago because the company became irrelevant over time, as something Anthropic launched another incredible tool.

2. Option 2:

   to have a strong brand. Being top of mind for any roles, projects, talking events, and collaborations. Earning money for your craft. Earning money for your brand. Earning money for just visiting different places and sharing your stuff. Earning money from your brand, not from the hours you exchanged for assigned to you tasks.

Some say it’s cringe. Others admit they don’t know how to do it. The third group of people admires those who create but don’t know what to write about, and I don’t blame them.

For decades, we’ve been told that working for companies is the way to build a career. When you work for an employer, you’re very used to being told what to do. You build your goals together with your manager. They approve them. They attach your goals to company goals, which by default are not your initiative, and then off you go in execution mode.

Every week, you would have a person who comes and checks how much you’ve done, your progress, and whether you are still tracking towards your goals. They would give you directions, they would give you feedback, and they would support you through hard times.

NONE of this exists when you work for yourself and put yourself out there for strangers to judge while you’re trying to actually figure out what the fuck you are doing with your life, your career, and your direction.

But that lack of clarity makes content such a complicated pillar of solopreneurship. It’s the fact that you become so very much exposed to anyone’s judgment, and I don’t talk only about the quality of your content. I also talk about the quality of your engagement. because that’s what you’re afraid of, no? You aren’t afraid to create bad content. You’re afraid that no one is going to like it. No one is going to share it. No one is going to comment on this, and you feel like an idiot after sending something into the world that doesn’t get any reaction.

And that’s what feels so cringe. Because let’s face it, we all consume content. And we’ve all seen those awkward attempts of our friends or colleagues to build a personal brand on whatever platform. We may have judged, and we may have felt cringe for them. Secondhand embarrassment is such a thing.

But here’s what I want you to think about as well. When you watch that viral TikTok video and learn something from it, when you read an awesome article from Substack that got re-shared 10,000 times, or see someone who went absolutely viral on LinkedIn and started earning “fuck you” money in months, do you still feel cringe? I bet you don’t think, “Oh, that’s so stupid,” but you think, “Oh, I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

If you’re still here, you must be searching for solutions.

And if you agree with the whole idea of the article but still don’t feel comfortable enough going online and posting your thoughts on LinkedIn, I want you to think about another option. Because while I think that building a visible personal brand on different platforms like Substack, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, or anything like that could bring the results much bigger and much faster, I also think there is a much more settled way how you can build your authority.

Authority will not bring you brand deals. It’s possibly not going to bring you thousands of followers on all the mentioned platforms. But your name will be known. The events will want to hear your thoughts. People will talk about the outputs that you shared. And teams will know that there is a person out there who has a solid point of view.

So, for building your authority, I would recommend considering some of those options:

1. Starting a blog post on your website. No likes, no comments, no re-shares, just pure reads and the opportunity for a reader to reach out to an author and share their opinion. This is how you network as a fucking pro.

2. Starting your own Slack or Discord community with two or three people that you truly respect and enjoy collaborating with, and then running this community by invite only. It will grow very slowly, but it will also expose you directly to people. The quality of this network is very easy to control because everyone has been invited by a similar peer. Remember that it’s never about having a massive following, but it is about having high-quality connections and conversations.

3. Applying for 10 to 20 talking opportunities every year. It’s great to visit conferences, but it’s much better to speak at them. Once you put yourself in front of an audience, who are your peers, and talk about the topic that you’re truly passionate about, that’s where your expertise will shine. This is one of the top ways to build a very strong community of speakers, influencers, and authorities.

So, regardless of whether you want to work full-time or you want to start betting on yourself, building your personal brand or your authority amongst peers is a must-have requirement.

You don’t want to be chasing employers or projects. You want your pipeline to organically grow on top because of your brand and authority.

Even if you start tomorrow, it will take some time to become good at it. because no one starts at the master level. We all suck at new things.

And if you feel like you’re brave enough to challenge yourself and bet on yourself, regardless of whatever reason (building your own business or having more full-time opportunities), remember that you have more settled and comfortable ways for building your name up rather than just posting on LinkedIn.

I know this article might have hurt some feelings.

But you needed to hear it. Now you know, so you can act.

Like it or leave it, but being good at your job is not enough. In fact, it’s never been enough. Back in 2017, I heard from my head of recruitment that “visibility is power.” I hated it. I took it fucking seriously. Look where I am now.

Good luck!