Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, while laying out her economic agenda on Monday, focused quite a lot on how new tech companies are creating “exciting” opportunities in the job market. However, Clinton also warned that these opportunities do raise “hard questions about workplace protection and what a good job will look like in the future”. From a parent’s point, what will you and your kid need to know about the gig economy in which they will be building their careers?

For those of you that didn’t catch them right away, Clinton’s examples mentioned a number of high-growth tech startups such as Airbnb, oDesk, Etsy and Uber:

Meanwhile, many Americans are making extra money renting out a small room, designing websites, selling products they design themselves at home, or even driving their own car. This on-demand, or so-called gig economy is creating exciting economies and unleashing innovation. But it is also raising hard questions about work-place protections and what a good job will look like in the future.

The gig economy is also called the on-demand and sharing economy. The companies that are part of the gig economy, such as Uber, connect supply and demand through a digital interface that most of us see in the form of an app! These companies platforms take “real world” products and services and offer them to customers around the world, creating a marketplace in which anything can be easily attainable. It can be a ride, through platforms such as Uber or Lyft, or an apartment to spend the holidays which isn’t owned by a corporation, but another user – of Airbnb, for example.

As Twitter co-founder Ev Williams noted about the convenience of the internet:

The internet makes human desires more easily attainable. In other words, it offers convenience. Convenience on the internet is basically achieved by two things: speed, and cognitive ease. If you study what the really big things on the internet are, you realise they are masters at making things fast and not making people think.

The gig economy is, in fact, giving people what they have always gotten from the internet – instant gratification. While web shops have made thousands of goods available around the world, the gig economy is making thousands of services available not just to companies that usually hire freelancers, but also individual customers that need a ride, a bed or a decorative necklace! What do you need to know TODAY in order to follow how the gig economy is going to influence your kids’ future?

1. Your Kid Will Be Part of the Gig Economy – No Question About It

Lets get this out of the way first. While a 2014 report by Edelman Berland shows that 53 million Americans, more than 1 in every 3 workers, are already freelancers, the gig economy is going to push it even further, offering a platform for thousands of different services to be available through – an app.

Don’t think that if you’re not planning for your kid to be a driver on Lyft or Uber, that they are going to be somehow avoid the gig economy. Another startup, Handy, helps you find housecleaners and other services, while Instacart will get your groceries bought and delivered on time.

Don’t think it’s limited to smaller jobs and activities. Designer services are already available through 99designs, as are development services on TopTal – and other higher paying jobs are sure to follow. You want your kid to be a lawyer? Hello UpCounsel, the “Uber of the legal world.”

2. Flexibility Is Something You Might Not Have, But Your Kid Will

The company I mentioned, Handy, currently has over 5000 workers. Most of them, according to Business Insider, choose to work between 5 and 35 hours a week. They can, like Uber drivers, choose when they want to work and are paid accordingly.

A lot of developers working for TopTal, also cite that having the flexibility to focus on a well paid job and then take a break, is one of the real perks of being a freelance developer. So while you might have always thought about having a 9-to-5 job, your kids will be able to choose when exactly they want to work.

2. Your Kid Will Lose Traditional Benefits (That You Had)

Gig economy workers work as freelancers – independent contractors. While they do gain flexibility, they don’t have 401(k)s and they have to keep employment taxes and healthcare in mind – and those aren’t cheap.

When talking to your kids about their future, you will have to keep in mind that they might not insist on benefits that you took for granted, just because the job – or gig – market, won’t offer them at all. Instead, they will have to demand a great wage, but take care of more expenses.

3. Your Kid Will Want to Do a Better Job

While up until this point a good resume and experience could impress your potential employer enough to land you a good job, your kid won’t be selling themselves to bosses at companies – or even HR departments.

They’ll apply to a service over an app or web site. The next step won’t be convincing one or two people, but hundreds of potential customers. Having the right score on Uber or the right comments on 99designs will land them new jobs – which means that they will have to work hard on being really good at their jobs. They won’t be able to hide behind a company brand and hope to just “be” at a company. They will do a good job – or not get their next gig!

4. Personal Branding Will Be Your Kid’s New CV

So your kid will do a better job, but besides having scores and comments they will have to learn how to present them, as well as other benefits that they could offer their customers in the gig economy.

From branding themselves, or their car, or even having a unique domain name (.Me sounds good, right? ;), your kids will learn how to stand out in the new market. Thankfully, you can give them a head start today by helping them learn about how to present themselves, how to learn to sell – or even make a website.

We’re still a long way away from the gig economy changing the face of the work place, but changes will come soon, and as Clinton pointed out, they will have a huge impact on US as well as the world economy. That’s why you need to keep the gig economy in mind when thinking of your kids’ future career. Either you’ll get them ready for its challenges – or Uber, Airbnb and Handy will!