OA Community Meeting Recording, May 18 – The Age of the Freelancer

Thank you to all who joined this Open Assembly Community Call to learn what successful freelancers want from platforms! Special thank you to Emma Siemasko, Content Production Manager and Podcast Host, Rob Perry, Conversion Copywriter and Consultant, and Ben Ross, Product Strategist, for hosting this lively and informative panel and providing our community with deep and meaningful insights into navigating the everchanging landscape of freelancing.

Welcome to the age of the freelancer. We’re seeing massive shifts in hiring as more and more companies elect to enlist freelancers to join their workforce. In order to stay competitive freelancers must continue growing into their own by developing their skill sets, expanding their career portfolios, and helping to build more businesses founded on purpose, connection, and self-awareness.

Watch/listen below to learn how talent marketplaces must continue to evolve and support this highly-skilled, in-demand, and growing segment of the workforce.

Chat Transcript:
00:05:23 Angela Heath: Sorry a client is needing me — darn it.
00:06:22 San Rahi: @William Ingham welcome to the community!
00:07:12 William Ingham: Thanks San!
00:08:11 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Hello everyone!
00:08:45 Ashley, UntapSocial: Ooo Elina is here!
Great to see you, Elina, we’re glad you’re here!
00:15:57 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Whoo love these breakouts!!
00:16:05 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Whoo love these brea…” with ❤️
00:16:05 Link: Great conversation!!
00:16:10 Link: Reacted to “Whoo love these brea…” with ❤️
00:16:17 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Great conversation!!” with ❤️
00:16:25 Rawshanara: Reacted to “Whoo love these br…” with ❤️
00:16:32 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: https://open-assembly.com/transform-work
00:17:06 Matt Neal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjneal/
00:17:09 Frankie Wong: linkedin.com/in/frankie-wong-546156a9
00:17:25 katiehalfhead: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-halfhead-comms/
00:17:26 Roland Ding: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheng-xiong-ding/
00:17:30 Baran Atmanoglu, Lunafi: https://linkedin.com/in/baranatmanoglu
00:17:31 Barb Hansen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/productexecutive/
00:17:39 Bob Pulver: https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver
00:17:42 Eric Utzinger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-utzinger-0a57a51a/
00:17:43 Cory Hymel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-hymel/
00:17:43 Craig Short – Gigged: Hey I’m Craig from Gigged Ai. First time joining https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-short-74ab6652/
00:17:45 Ben Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkross/
00:17:49 William Ingham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/binghamkm/
00:17:49 Thea from G2i: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theasilayro/ – Community Manager at G2i, freelancer platform that puts developer health first 🙂
00:17:57 Melisa Liberman: LI – https://www.linkedin.com/in/melisa-liberman/ My podcast – Grow Your Independent Consulting Business (https://www.melisaliberman.com/podcast)
00:17:59 davidehrenthal: Hi, David Ehrenthal, Leadership and Career Change Coach, interested in the “future of work.” More about me, if you’re interested. https://www.linkedin.com/in/careerleadershipcoach/
00:18:12 Jay Jamrog: Jay Jamrog, futurist and co-founder of i4cp. i4cp is a research organization. My email in jay.jamrog@i4cp.com
00:18:15 Joel Topcik: Hey all! Thanks to Ben Ross for the invite! https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeltopcik/
00:18:39 Maxine Cunningham: CEO & Founder of Pick My Brain.
Open invite to book a 1:1 meet me here if you want to talk about: 1) future of work, 2) future of education 3) creating new revenue streams.
00:18:47 Marty Kaufman: Marty Kaufman – marty@infinipoint.us
Consultant/advisor to B2B SaaS and talent marketplace founders.
00:18:58 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Emma Siemasko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmasiemasko/
00:19:16 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Ben Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkross/
00:19:24 Emma Siemasko: Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn– happy to have discussions and make connections with y’all!
00:19:39 Linda Mann: Linda Mann — FlexC — Global AI talent marketplace — look forward to meeting everyone!
00:19:40 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Rob Perry
00:19:44 Dan Curran: Dan Curran here. Nice to meet everyone. PowerPublish.io is an expert marketplace for brand marketers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/currandan/
00:19:48 Bob Pulver: First time here, joining from Westchester County, NY. Lots of early crowdsourcing projects as an intrapreneur in IBM and NBCU, now strategic advisor in talent transformation, future of work, workforce ecosystems, etc.
00:20:19 Link: Link here- Global Advocacy expert in the Future of Work space. “inspiring the world to be more inclusive of everyone.” https://www.linkedin.com/in/linkdreams/
00:20:33 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Marty Kaufman – mart…” with 👍
00:20:42 Cory Hymel: Howdy! VP of Product & Research at Gigster. Love to talk anything bleeding edge future of work related. cory.hymel@gigster.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-hymel/
00:20:58 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Howdy! VP of Product…” with 👍
00:21:00 Rob Perry: Hi! Rob here….https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-perry-copy/
00:21:03 Baran Atmanoglu, Lunafi: First time here. From Palo Alto. Co-founder of Lunafi. A new finance management app for sole proprietors in the us. https://linkedin.com/in/baranatmanoglu www.lunafi.co
00:21:05 Maebellyne Ventura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maebellyneventura/ – Director of Growth Marketing at G2i, a freelance platform improving developer health
00:21:30 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Link here- Global Ad…” with 👍
00:21:43 Link: Welcome newcomers! This is a great community of people. Happy to have you here!
00:22:07 Baran Atmanoglu, Lunafi: Reacted to “Howdy! VP of Product…” with 👍
00:22:20 Bondili, Balaji: Do you even have a profile at any freelancer marketplaces? Have you considered it when you were between jobs?
00:22:56 Ashley, UntapSocial: If you have any questions for our freelancers, raise your hand with the emoji and we’ll do our best to get to you!
00:23:19 Robert Reich: Hi all, I’m based in Boulder Co., entrepreneur and have started a AI boot camp for executives. https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertreich or https://robertreich.co
00:23:31 Fay Goldstein: Hi! I’m Fay, Co-Founder and CEO of Folio- an AI-Powered platform for portfolio curation.
00:24:14 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Hi all, I’m based i…” with 👌
00:24:19 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Do you even have a p…” with 👍
00:24:47 Vanessa Miller: Rob, have you tried other marketplaces other than Upwork? If yes, any feedback on those?
00:24:55 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Hi all, I’m base…” with 👍
00:25:00 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Hi! I’m Fay, Co-F…” with 👍
00:25:07 Uzochukwu Okafor: Hello everyone, Uzo here!
I’m Freelance Creative Web Developer. I help businesses and brands build a digital presence. I do this by building them user friendly and performant websites which helps their business reach a wider audience and get them the opportunity they need to get to the next level.
Please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn
00:25:20 Jay Jamrog: when you stated, how hard is it to build your profile
00:25:50 Link: Rob did you say 40 to 1 or 4 to 1
00:27:07 Rob Perry: Replying to “Rob did you say 40 t…” sorry, I don’t remember…what was it in reference to?
00:27:10 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “CEO & Founder of Pic…” with 👍
00:28:26 Link: I think their are generations within the freelance community that span in 3 year waves. The new freelancer only knows the platform way but those of us that are early generation consultants and freelancers have never needed the platforms. This is fascinating to me
00:28:38 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Welcome newcomers!…” with 👍
00:28:57 Emma Siemasko: Replying to “I think their are ge…” Super interesting. I’ve never “needed” platforms or gone to them as my first place either.
00:29:02 Abeer Qumsieh khibraty: Abeer Qumsieh from Khibraty.com
00:29:07 Abeer Qumsieh khibraty: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abeer-qumsieh/
00:29:11 Ben Ross: Reacted to “I think their are ge…” with 👍🏽
00:29:24 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “Abeer Qumsieh from K…” with ❤️
00:29:27 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Abeer Qumsieh from…” with 👍
00:29:47 Abeer Qumsieh khibraty: Serving the Middle East and GCC area. Excited to meet you all.
00:30:31 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: A question please: How important is human interaction from the platform for you, and how does it contribute to the success of the project?
00:30:38 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “A question please: H…” with 👌
00:30:48 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “A question please: H…”
Exactly my question!
00:30:59 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Exactly my questio…” with 👍
00:31:02 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Replying to “A question please: H…” Very important 😉
00:31:06 Ben Ross: Replying to “A question please: H…” Combination of human and tech is always the best, onboard and capture some data, but may that onboarding easier – eg now using Generative Ai to help me complete my profile
00:31:15 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “Exactly my question!” with ❤️
00:31:15 Shuting Xia: Reacted to “Exactly my question!” with 👍
00:31:17 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “Very important ;)” with ❤️
00:31:18 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Combination of human…” with ❤️
00:31:20 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “Combination of human…” with ❤️
00:31:20 Shuting Xia: Reacted to “A question please: H…” with 👍
00:31:27 Link: Reacted to “A question please: H…” with 👍
00:31:43 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “I think their are ge…” with 👍🏽
00:32:43 Vanessa Miller: Replying to “I think their are ge…” Emma, I think Link is calling you old… I mean early generation 😉 It is amazing that you haven’t needed a platform – Kudos to your quality of work and networking skills.
00:32:59 Emma Siemasko: Replying to “I think their are ge…” Lol. I am old. Touche!
00:33:00 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Combination of human…” with ❤️
00:33:01 Rochelle HAYNES: Great point!
00:33:06 Link: Reacted to “Super interesting. I…” with 👍
00:33:10 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Lol. I am old. Touch…” with 😆
00:33:19 Melisa Liberman: Replying to “I think their are ge…” For the freelancers I work with, their initial way of landing clients is through their network and former employer and clients. Platforms are typically seen as too noisy and shot in the dark
00:33:27 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “A question please: H…”
AI to help make your profile. Love that. Would you want it to help you with writing? Building a portfolio? All of the above?
00:33:37 Emma Siemasko: Replying to “I think their are ge…”
That’s generally what I’ve found, Melisa.
00:33:43 Link: Replying to “I think their are ge…”
Haha I am old too. I rarely find a platform that can handle “all of me”
00:33:50 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Haha I am old too. …” with 😆
00:33:56 Melisa Liberman: Reacted to “Haha I am old too. …” with ❤️
00:34:00 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Haha I am old too. …” with ❤️
00:34:43 Vanessa Miller: Replying to “I think their are ge…”
The noisy part is unfortunate to hear. As a platform rep here (Graphite), I am eager to hear more to ensure we can all get better in that area!
00:35:00 Rochelle HAYNES: Reacted to “Combination of human…” with ❤️
00:35:03 Emma Siemasko: Replying to “I think their are ge…”
There are definitely things platforms can do to make it less noisy!
00:35:21 Link: I launched a small study in Feb and we found that the average freelancer is making $218 for a 7-hour work day- this is the “freelancer minimum wage” in my opinion.
00:35:48 Link: And you have to figure that was the average…there are people making less
00:36:05 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “There are definitely…” with 👍
00:36:28 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “There are definitely…” with ❤️
00:36:29 Melisa Liberman: When I was working as a freelance consultant, I always saw platforms as “gravy”. I never relied on them for clients. I did land a very lucrative, ongoing client through a marketplace. I liked having the marketplace channel as one of many
00:36:39 Craig Short – Gigged: Great point. We are trying hard to help both the clients and freelancers
00:36:49 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “AI to help make your…” with 👍
00:36:55 Rochelle HAYNES: I find this also. Some freelancers worry about being perceived as low skilled or casual if they go on the platforms
00:36:56 Craig Short – Gigged: We have people helping build your profile to be found for your key skills
00:37:05 Melisa Liberman: Reacted to “There are definitely…” with 👍
00:37:09 Bob Pulver: Are all freelancers relying on 1-2 platforms, assuming they use them? Is there a freelancer-focused tool that can scour multiple platforms for potential projects? Else this is quite time-consuming to go in/out of multiple all the time.
00:38:30 Marty Kaufman: I wouldn’t be surprised if the type of work (copywriting vs. strategy consulting vs. market research, etc.) also informs how relevant a marketplace is for the talent (and the clients/demand). It’s harder for a generalist marketplace to provide meaningful value beyond bookings to freelancers IMO.
00:39:00 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: To Maxine’s point – I once got a message from a platform informing me that they will amend my fee, cause it is too expensive and not in line with their benchmark
00:39:12 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Are all freelancers …” with ❤️
00:39:21 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “I wouldn’t be surpri…” with 👍
00:39:25 Link: Focusing on the freelancer experience is more important than finding more companies that hire freelancers. This has been the work…attracting business enterprise- now there needs to be a pivot- focus on quality in offerings to freelancers and quality of experience
00:39:50 Vanessa Miller: Replying to “Are all freelancers …” Love this. An Open Assembly ‘marketplace aggregator’ but for the talent side.
00:40:19 Link: Replying to “Are all freelancers …” This….❤️
00:40:27 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Focusing on the free…” with 👍
00:40:31 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Replying to “Are all freelancers …” We will be launching the Freelance Platform Guide soon at Freelance Business Community.
00:40:40 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “We will be launching…” with 👍
00:40:43 Maxine Cunningham: Example of a knowledge marketplace we built for a executive community.
00:40:48 Link: Reacted to “We will be launching…” with ❤️
00:40:50 Marty Kaufman: Reacted to “To Maxine’s point – …” with 😱
00:40:56 John Healy: Reacted to “We will be launching…” with 👍
00:41:03 Melisa Liberman: Replying to “Are all freelancers …”
Yes, this is needed. Consultants have a hard time finding the best platforms for their skillset and ideal client type
00:41:07 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Replying to “Are all freelancers …”
Focusing specifically on freelancers and explaining how platforms work and how to find the one that fits them
00:41:12 Melisa Liberman: Reacted to “We will be launching…” with 👍
00:41:13 Maxine Cunningham: Offers we unlocked for 300 executives in this community: Meet Me (free)
Pick My Brain – 30 minutes ($200)
Pick My Brain – 60 minutes ($350)
Pick My Brain – 90 minutes ($500)
Executive Mentorship – 3 months ($3000)
Executive Mentorship – 6 months ($5000)
Executive Mentorship – 12 months ($10,000)
Fractional Support – 10 hours ($2500)
Fractional Support – 50 hours ($10,000)
Fractional Support – 100 hours ($15,000)
00:41:13 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “Focusing on the free…” with 👍
00:41:21 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “We have peope helpin…” with 👍
00:41:38 Maxine Cunningham: Would love to build one of OA, and hire specifically from OA.
00:41:48 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “Yes, this is needed….” with 👍
00:41:53 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Yes, this is needed….” with 👍
00:42:15 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Offers we unlocked f…” with ❤️
00:42:25 San Rahi: Reacted to “Offers we unlocked f…” with 👍
00:42:30 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Offers we unlocked…” with 👍
00:42:37 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “Offers we unlocked f…”
All came form a desire to hire people I hang out with monthly.
00:42:39 San Rahi: Reacted to “Would love to build …” with ❤️
00:42:45 Jay Jamrog: Maxine – interesting business model. would love to learn more off line
00:43:11 Rob Perry: Reacted to “Maxine – interesting…” with 👍
00:43:22 San Rahi: @Maxine, great vision. How can I help?
00:43:22 Melisa Liberman: Reacted to “Focusing specificall…” with 👍
00:43:27 Maxine Cunningham: Anytime: https://www.pickmybrain.world/profiles/maxine-cunningham?service_id=3269
00:43:28 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Balaji Bondili: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balajibondili/
00:43:38 Maxine Cunningham: Let’s have a convo!
00:43:51 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Elina Jutelyte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elina-jutelyte/
00:44:22 Link: On my list of platforms, there are over 1000 platforms where their purpose is connecting freelancers to work. The noise out there on the freelancer side is chaotic.
00:44:22 Bob Pulver: Replying to “Are all freelancers …”
@Melisa Liberman yeah I see a bunch of tools to manage back-end (billing, contracts, etc.) but need a cross-marketplace aggregator and decision-support tool. Who wants to build this with me?
00:44:49 Melisa Liberman: Reacted to “Offers we unlocked f…” with ❤️
00:44:55 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Replying to “Are all freelancers …” @bob lets discuss?
00:45:15 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “@bob lets discuss?” with 👍
00:45:27 Link: Replying to “Are all freelancers …”
I find that the average # of platforms used by newer freelancers is 3-7 but usually they have a primary source of income coming from somewhere else
00:45:28 Ben Ross: @balaji made a fantastic point about ROI and working for the large part of the Bell Curve
00:45:34 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: San Rahi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanrahi/
00:45:58 Jay Jamrog: the movie industry is also unionized which drives a consistent pricing structure
00:46:40 Link: I think the newness of the industry though still has freelancers trying out new things and seeing where they fit- there’s no coordinated entry like there is with other workforce arenas
00:47:09 Ben Ross: Tasks to be Done is very Similar to Jobs to be Done, which is ultimately the foundation for great product management
00:48:21 Linda Mann: Replying to “Tasks to be Done is …”
People will want to buy results….not skills.
00:48:29 Ben Ross: Reacted to “People will want to …” with 👍🏽
00:48:29 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “People will want to …” with 👌
00:48:37 Rochelle HAYNES: Reacted to “People will want to …” with 👍🏽
00:48:43 Craig Short – Gigged: Gigged Ai is getting lots of great feedback from both clients and talent about our customer success. However as we grow that means team growth. Is there a middle ground that technology could help with?
00:48:59 Link: The challenge for freelancers is their is no direct guidance on how to manage tasks versus projects. They are left on their own to learn on their own time. Where is the investment from platforms or business enterprise to invest in these types of support?
00:49:03 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “Maxine – interesting…”
Let’s jam it out: https://www.pickmybrain.world/profiles/maxine-cunningham?service_id=3269
00:49:12 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “@Maxine, great visio…”
Let’s jam it out: https://www.pickmybrain.world/profiles/maxine-cunningham?service_id=3269
00:49:25 Marty Kaufman: Replying to “Tasks to be Done is …” Yep! Performance > “Personality”. Yet not many platforms/marketplaces do a great job soliciting and leveraging our performance content.
00:49:38 Jay Jamrog: many companies are move fast into work without jobs which is project based and groups are formed who have the skills to complete the project. I think the future of work will be more project based.
00:49:57 John Healy: Reacted to “many companies are m…” with 👍
00:50:05 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “Tasks to be Done is …”
I find I hire for personality and values and energy first then skills now a days.
00:50:21 Link: Ha! Ashley remember when we tried to create a vocabulary list!!?
00:50:40 John Healy: Reacted to “Ha! Ashley remember …” with 👍
00:50:44 Bob Pulver: Will the extended workforce platforms (next-gen VMSs) effectively enable the connection between internal and external talent, including freelance marketplaces?
00:51:06 Rochelle HAYNES: Exactly. We have to come to agreement on freelance industry terms to make it clearer for both clients and those attempting regulation. AFW is creating an aggregate taxonomy to help address this
00:51:43 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “Will the extended wo…”
We are starting to build internal knowledge marketplaces for companies with more than 1,000 people. And external knowledge marketplace for them too with chosen professionals.
00:51:47 Jay Jamrog: the other problem with skill profiles beyond verification is the half life of skills
00:51:50 John Healy: Replying to “Exactly. We have to …” fully believe this is a spot where AI can help….looking across different platforms/systems to identify the best options
00:52:06 Bondili, Balaji: There is no movement from the marketplaces. They are just islands and dont really collaborate.
00:52:09 Rawshanara: I have spent the last 11 years designing contingent workforce solutions for enterprise clients. Their mission is to integrate freelance platforms into their contingent workforce strategy – they are looking for the Amazon/Uber marketplace experience for all talent – rather than going to a VMS, ATS and Freelance platform
00:52:10 Vanessa Miller: Reacted to “Will the extended wo…” with ❤️
00:52:12 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “fully believe this i…” with 👌
00:52:15 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “There is no movement…” with ❤️
00:52:18 Rochelle HAYNES: Reacted to “fully believe this i…” with 👌
00:52:21 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “There is no movement…” Agree
00:52:27 John Healy: Reacted to “I have spent the las…” with 👍
00:52:33 Ben Ross: That is one of the problems I’m most excited to partner with the platforms on
00:52:41 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “I have spent the las…”
Oh boy can I pick your brain?
00:52:41 John Healy: Reacted to “Agree” with 👍
00:52:52 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linkdreams/
00:52:56 Bondili, Balaji: Welcome Elon: https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-acquires-laskie-job-search-1850440556
00:52:57 Ben Ross: Getting us to agree on standards and making it easier to transact across all the different hops and buying journeys
00:53:15 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Getting us to agree …” with 👌
00:53:39 Rochelle HAYNES: Reacted to “Getting us to agree …” with 👌
00:53:51 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: I will be sharing my platform experience on my LinkedIn profile. (I have selected 4 for this experiment). If you are interested, please connect or follow this hashtag  #EJ_eventproplatformwork. https://www.linkedin.com/in/elina-jutelyte/
00:54:03 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Welcome Elon: https:…” with 😮
00:54:04 Rochelle HAYNES: Replying to “Getting us to agree …”
It would also give those worrying about compliance more peace of mind
00:54:08 Bob Pulver: Replying to “I have spent the las…”
This is what I was suggesting above. Need to simplify this talent supply chain. Something like FlexTrack
00:54:14 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “I will be sharing my…” with ❤️
00:54:22 Cory Hymel: enterprise hiring managers and procurement is where we spend a ton of pre-sale $$ to educate them on how to buy…taxonomy being a good portion of it
00:54:43 Ben Ross: Reacted to “enterprise hiring ma…” with 🧠
00:54:46 Vanessa Miller: Replying to “Will the extended wo…”
@Bob, I am discussing that very connection with several leading and up and coming VMSs – sorting how we can provide seamless access to Graphite talent via VMS.
00:54:52 JC iPhone : Jonnie from Workfree.io (driving as we speak). Question for the freelancers > if you were to set-up your own freelance platform, what would it do differently (and why)?
00:54:54 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Emma, Ben – and any other freelancers not on a platform – assuming your client flow was still strong – what would it take for you to take to run your work through a platform?
00:55:03 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “enterprise hiring ma…” with 🧠
00:55:04 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “@Bob, I am discussin…” with 👍
00:55:47 Rawshanara: Replying to “I have spent the l…” of course – I sent you a LI request.
00:55:58 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Jonnie from Workfree…” with 👌
00:56:00 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “Emma, Ben – and any …” with 👌
00:56:20 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “of course – I sent y…” with 👍
00:56:28 Bondili, Balaji: Replying to “I have spent the las…”
Freelancer marketplaces do not want to work with VMS’. Upwork refuses to integrate with any VMS.
00:56:48 Vanessa Miller – Graphite: Reacted to “That is one of the p…” with 👍
00:56:53 Link: If anyone wants to connect on the freelancer experience side please connect with me https://www.linkedin.com/in/linkdreams/
00:56:54 Barry Matthews: Reacted to “of course – I sent y…” with 👍
00:56:54 Maxine Cunningham: Fractional generalist : $5k/month starting (can this be a new job?)
00:57:01 Marty Kaufman: Reacted to “Emma, Ben – and any …” with 👍
00:57:02 John Healy: Replying to “I have spent the las…” the VMS work flow does not match the freelancer engagement model…square peg, round hole
00:57:08 San Rahi: Reacted to “Fractional generalis…” with ❤️
00:57:17 Link: Replying to “Fractional generalis…” haha so tru
00:57:19 Adam Alpert – Pangea.app: Reacted to “Fractional generalis…” with ❤️
00:57:21 Ben Ross: Reacted to “Fractional generalis…” with 🧠
00:57:39 Joel Topcik: Reacted to “Fractional generalis…” with 🔥
00:57:40 Link: @Emma +1
00:57:47 Maxine Cunningham: Replying to “I have spent the las…” What is VMS?
00:57:50 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “of course – I sent y…” with ❤️
00:57:51 Bondili, Balaji: It is a platform centric question vs. a freelancer or a client centric question.
00:58:02 Vanessa Miller – Graphite: Reacted to “Jonnie from Workfree…” with 👍
00:58:03 Sheila: Reacted to “the VMS work flow do…” with 👍
00:58:04 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “Fractional general…” with 🔥
00:58:08 Bondili, Balaji: I dont care about platforms as a buyer. It is a tool that kinda works, and mostly doesn’t.
00:58:11 San Rahi: Replying to “Fractional generalis…” Fractional multi-hyphenate expertise? (Reframe)
00:58:18 Bob Pulver: Replying to “I have spent the las…” @Bondili, Balaji would they be open to having an API that allows project details and workflow to be available in another aggregation platform?
00:58:47 Link: Reacted to “@Bondili, Balaji wou…” with 👍
00:58:49 John Healy: Replying to “I have spent the las…” @Maxine Cunningham Fieldglass, Beeline, Vndly…Vendor Management Software
00:58:55 Bob Pulver: Reacted to “If anyone wants to c…” with 👍
00:59:08 Ben Ross: Or give me valuable resources or content
00:59:18 Ben Ross: Teach me something, buy something from me, help me
00:59:55 San Rahi: @Balaji, what’s the ‘no-code’ version of a Platform? Ultimately it’s connecting task and expertise?
01:00:07 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Oh so true., At some point we have analysed platform marketing messages. https://freelancebusiness.eu/blog/101-ways-of-freelance-platform-marketing/ and majority of course focusing on customers
It is a platform centric question vs. a freelancer or a client centric question.
01:00:12 Vanessa Miller – Graphite: Replying to “I have spent the las…”
@Balaji – Graphite IS actively working with VMSs and plans to integrate further.
01:00:22 Bondili, Balaji: @san – its caked a Coffee Shop.
01:00:30 San Rahi: Reacted to “@san – its caked a C…” with ❤️
01:00:30 Ben Ross: Reacted to “@san – its caked a C…” with 😃
01:00:32 Link: Purely starting with engagement-human to human- implement guides. Hire freelancers internally to be guides- open up jobs where people with social work degrees can be coaches and coordinated entry
01:00:45 Craig Short – Gigged: Gigged Elite 😊
01:00:54 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Was great as usual, thanks OA, Emma, Rob, Ben and everyone https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolineayoub/
01:01:20 Bondili, Balaji: Such wonderful feedback from freelancers.
01:01:29 John Healy: Reacted to “Such wonderful feedb…” with 👍
01:01:32 Craig Short – Gigged: Reacted to “Such wonderful feedb…” with 👍
01:01:36 Caroline Ayoub – Khibraty: Reacted to “Such wonderful feedb…” with ❤️
01:01:38 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: Reacted to “Such wonderful feedb…” with 👍
01:01:43 Rochelle HAYNES: Reacted to “Such wonderful feedb…” with 👍
01:01:50 Link: I can see Upwork hiring freelance social workers and psychology graduates to provide peer to peer guidance and support. Increase output and retention
01:01:51 Bondili, Balaji: Intermediaries are important, if they work. If they dont. There is no reason to keep trying to drive them to success.
01:02:01 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “I can see Upwork hir…” with 👌
01:02:53 Link: @UBER sucks!!!
01:03:08 Vanessa Miller – Graphite: Reacted to “This is what I was s…” with 💯
01:03:16 Maxine Cunningham: Maybe the business model needs to change?
Would freelancers pay a monthly fee for someone to advocate on their behalf and fund clients for them? Personal 1:1 on-board?
01:03:22 Joel Topcik: Reacted to “@UBER sucks!!!” with 🤣
01:03:39 San Rahi: But Uber does the customer acquisition, CAC is worth at least 20%
01:03:42 Bondili, Balaji: @Max – I like,
01:03:45 Link: @Uber treats their internal workforce oversees like garbage
01:03:53 Maxine Cunningham: Reacted to “@Max – I like,” with ❤️
01:03:55 Link: *overseas
01:04:00 Rochelle HAYNES: Lingoda the language was also really good at taking some responsibility for freelancer performance management rather than leaving them to the mercy of ratings. They provided a coaching and query service for those whose rating dropped
01:04:07 Barb Hansen: Reacted to “@Uber treats their…” with 🔥
01:04:31 Emma Siemasko: Replying to “Maybe the business m…” I would consider something like that but I would have to have a guarantee. Like if I’m paying $100 per month for that I better be getting more and better clients out of it
01:04:49 San Rahi: Reacted to “Maybe the business m…” with 👍
01:05:03 Ben Ross: Reacted to “Lingoda the language…” with 👍🏽
01:05:16 Matt Neal: thanks all!
01:05:23 Bondili, Balaji: WE NEED MORE TIME WITH FREELANCERS!!!!
01:05:26 Vanessa Miller – Graphite: Replying to “Maybe the business m…”
We advocate for our experts at no cost.
01:05:27 Maxine Cunningham: Pick My Brain is working on that. Product led on-board to tag and help you build a profile. Then a human to help you decide which offers you want to unlock. Then a team and community to advocate on your behalf.
01:05:28 Rawshanara: I think enterprise clients and MSPs are so far away from the need of freelancers
01:05:28 Rochelle HAYNES: Replying to “Maybe the business m…” yes it has to be a value based partnership. But they will get better results and value from freelancers when they invest more in them
01:05:30 Link: Guilty for being on fire today lol
01:05:33 Jay Jamrog: freelancers should unionize to determine the terms and conditions of employment
01:05:33 Maxine Cunningham: Such a good convo!
01:05:33 davidehrenthal: Thank you!
01:05:38 San Rahi: Good to see you all!
01:05:40 Elina Jutelyte, Freelance Business: Great meeting, thanks a lot!
01:05:45 Linda Mann: Replying to “Good to see you all!” Thank you!
01:05:46 Brandon Dwight – Open Assembly: This recording and chat will be on our blog in the next 24 hours!
01:05:47 Emma Siemasko: So nice to participate today! Let’s connect– I’d love to!!! https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmasiemasko/
01:05:47 Liliana Pop: Thank you very much for discussion today!
01:05:48 Bob Pulver: Replying to “Maybe the business m…” Depends on how much time/effort you’re spending on lead gen. A ‘FreelanceGPT’ powered aggregation platform would handle this, intelligently
01:05:48 Joel Topcik: Thanks all for a great first OA community call!
01:05:49 Craig Short – Gigged: Thank you everyone. What a community
01:05:50 John Healy: Standards!!
01:05:50 Rochelle HAYNES: Great covo. Thanks guys!
01:05:52 Meryl Hunter: this was great!
01:05:58 fortune: Thanks a lot!
01:05:59 Eric Utzinger: Replying to “Rob did you say 40 t…” Hey Rob…just looking at the platform and how it looks/feels as a freelancer. Good conversation. no worries, good listening to you guys.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO JOINED!!!