The workforce is coming loose from its moorings. A Fortune commentary from the American Staffing Association’s chief economist reports that temporary help was among the fastest-growing job categories in 2026, up every month, with roughly one in ten new jobs this year being temporary — and the deeper point is that as employment becomes less permanent, the old assumptions linking company, career, and identity come apart with it. Matt reads that and sees confirmation of something he’s been feeling in the marketplace, right down to a tension in his own positioning: is he B2B or B2C? His answer is that the question is dissolving, because the people move. The professional you win as a client today, embedded in Company A, is increasingly likely to be fractional, contract, or gone tomorrow — which means even a B2B relationship is really a relationship with a person who’s about to change boats.
So the strategic conclusion lands where the whole run has been pointing: build loyalty with people, not logos. When a client is a company, rising temporariness inside it shortens how long that company stays your client (unless you’re an Oracle or Microsoft with tentacles so deep that switching is too costly to risk). But when you build a genuine community — people who feel personally invested in you and you in them — they follow you wherever they go, even when they strike out on their own. Matt frames his own blended identity as the case in point: licensed attorney, consultant, media figure, someone who’s built businesses multiple times and can serve as concierge, counselor, advisor, and coach to people leaving corporate for the lonely, frustrating work of building their own thing. In stormy seas where people are constantly jumping from ship to ship, you want to be the mast with the flag they can point to and follow all the way through. His question: what does your community look like — and what could it be that would serve people even more?
