November Freelance Insights
89% growth in freelancers, why every enterprise needs a freelance strategy, LATAM showing potential, 10 marketplaces you need to know, and more!
Matthew MottolaGet this in your inbox every week. Join 26,000+ subscribers.
Subscribe to Human Cloud Insights
Happy November Everyone,
We hope you’re on the tail end of a good budget season.
It’s not just you. We’re all dealing with a frothy market. I say frothy because the wind is blowing in multiple directions at once. Some are seeing record interest. Some are struggling to convert interest to customers. And the economy as a whole is seeing conflicting news. Shipping giant Maersk laid off 10,000 workers. We’re still hearing about tech layoffs. Freelance leader Mickey Pelletier recently wrote about his layoff journey.
So what can you do as freelance leaders? Our recent Freelance Trend Tracker gave some insight. It showed two key insights for how leaders are navigating this uncertainty.
First, it showed the importance of client relationships. I talked about this in a recent keynote. When asked how can freelancers and platforms navigate budget freezes and consulting/external-talent freezes, my answer was simple, “those with strategic level relationships are okay, those with transactional relationships are first to go”. UK freelancer Ebony Storm Halladay said it best this month, “Freelancing feels different in 2023. Transactional contracts have been replaced by strategic partnerships”.
.png?width=900&upscale=true&name=Human%20Cloud%2c%20Q4%2c%20%E2%80%9823%20Marketplace%20Trend%20Tracker%20(5).png){kind=tracking}
Second, it showed the importance of Enterprise. We have two data samples, one polling the general public, and one polling marketplaces we know are doing well. The key difference was that those doing well had a clear Enterprise strategy and planned to increase their priority on Enterprises for 2024.
.png?width=900&upscale=true&name=Human%20Cloud%2c%20Q4%2c%20%E2%80%9823%20Marketplace%20Trend%20Tracker%20(4).png){kind=tracking}
So for you, how can you build strategic, Enterprise relationships? We’ll cover that in this newsletter, along with your typical view of the freelance world.
Also we hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Access the views of enterprise executives, marketplace leaders, and ecosystem partners.
Access Trend TrackerIn Today's Email
🤔 Think: Why Every Enterprise Needs a Freelance Program
🌎 Travel: LATAM freelance economy has promising potential
🦻 Listen: How Credilinq Is Unlocking Access To Capital
🙌 Shoutout: Congratulations To Our Friends
👀 Check Out: New Freelance Solutions
Why Every Enterprise Needs a Freelance Program
Matthew recently broke down why every Enterprise needs a digital workforce strategy. He showed us how the freelance economy has three key benefits, (1) access to a large, diverse, and sustainable workforce, (2) better unit economics than traditional staffing or contingent talent, (3) access to cutting edge skills and better upskilling capabilities than traditional employees.
Read More🌎
Travel
Freelancing In Latam: CEOs Expect Continued Growth In 2024
LATAM has fascinating potential in the freelance revolution. According to Jon, “progress in Latam is evident”. He cited that the percentage of self-employed or solopreneurs exceeds 25% in major countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, and more still in smaller countries like Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Bolivia.
Jon caught up with 11 LATAM Platform CEO’s to get their perspective on the short term growth potential of LATAM. Thank you to Rodrigo Silva of Lithium, Jonathan Siddharth of Turing, Michael Morris of Torc, Ramiro González Forcada of The Flock, Juan Francisco Mejía Betancourt of Wokiconsulting, Karina Rehavia of Ollo, Jacqueline Samira of Howdy, Tomas Uribe of Mavity, Calvin Smith of Awana, Sandra Arévalo of Wisar, Pedro Arnt of dLocal.
Read More🙌
Congratulations To Our Friends
(if you have an exciting update, send it our way!)
Mavity recognized as one of the 100 best startups in Colombia by Forbes Colombia.
Adeva ranked 48th on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 North America list published this month.
Talmix partners with Safetywing to bring global health insurance packages to their freelancers.
Wethos launches Wethos AI, enabling generate a branded proposal in any niche in any language in seconds, right from within Wethos.
Uplink released their Freelance Radar, covering their outlook, current project situation, hourly rates, and skills of their 4,000 German freelancers.
G2i hits one-year mark for their dev mentoring program. They now have 4 cohorts, changing the lives of 16 mentor-mentee pairs.
Gigged.AI partnered with OpenAI to launch the “30 Days of AI” campaign, fully funding projects that look to integrate OpenAI’s features into their technology.
Soundings, an events and hospitality marketplace, hires Kerry Lambert as their Chief Operating Officer.
France based data science platform Zoulloo is now available in English.
🎧
Listen
Deep and Vikram: Credit, Tech, And How Technologies Like Credilinq Can Transform The Future Of Work
Access to capital is a leading barrier for the freelance economy to become the ‘future of work’. While startups have VC’s, brick and mortar have banks, and large companies have armies of credit options, freelancers as an asset class lack the same traditional banking opportunities. Deep and Vikram show us how Credilinq is an exciting technology that can unlock access to capital in the future of work.
Listen📊
Chart of the Week
Credit: MBO Partners
MBO released their 2023 State of Independence Report. This growth is one of the many phenomenal charts showing the rapid growth (89%) in the number of independents in America.
🚀
New Players On The Block
Send us your new platforms
- Dynamic Freelancer – UAE freelance specialized in providing Visa services
- Native Teams – London Based EOR, Payroll, and all in one financial management
- Teamera – Freelance Management with a focus on team building and business intelligence
- Superson – Finland based Marketing FaS (freelance as a service)
- dLocal – Global Payment Processing
*With the ambiguity of these solutions, it is critical to understand to understand market segmentation. These aren’t traditional marketplaces, they are disruptions to existing industry models.
Want To See The Entire Freelance Industry Landscape?
There are over 1,000 solutions related to our $5.4 trillion dollar industry. We’ve segmented 150+ players you need to be aware of.
Download Industry Landscape🗞
Around The Block
News and Updates impacting the industry
- Ecommerce Marketplace The Starters Launches free consulting calls with 100 of their Ecommerce freelance experts. Read More >>
- According to Forbes, 25 million project managers are needed across various industries globally. Read More >>
- A 2024 recession seems likely, Mohamed El-Erian talks with the Wall Street Journal. Read More >>
- WeWork files for Bankruptcy. Read More >>
☁️
Cloud Challenge
Send us your favorite cloud photo!
👐
Closing Words
That’s it folks, see you next week!
– Jon and Matthew, President and CEO of Human Cloud
Linkedin Twitter Spotify RssGet insights like this every week
Join 26,000+ leaders staying ahead of the flexible talent market.
