Summary: Growing a team by utilizing a marketplace with highly vetted freelancers in a gig economy...<br> Nathan Hirsch, Founder and CEO of FreeeUp (FreeeUp is a marketplace offering pre-vetted freelance talent) joins Thomas Kutzman for a conversation about growing a business with the right talent. MouthMedia Network studios are powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.<br> In this episode:<br> <br> The gig economy, and accepting the fact that entrepreneurs are not equally good at every part of their business<br> How FreeeUp provides access to great talent all over the world to help build business<br> FreeeUp’s original start in ecommerce, then marketing, then real estate agencies (10-15% of their current client are in Real Estate)<br> An example of a virtual assistant<br> What’s driving the trend of freelancing<br> The way FreeeUp provides a lot of vetting, only takes the top 1%, and when they let them in<br> How FreeeUp started with $2k and grew to millions - only using freelancers from their own marketplace, and running a virtual company<br> How they didn’t look at FreeeUp company as a software business initially – looked at it as people who matched people -- but when they looked at it as software and kept improving it, the company turned a corner<br> Why freelancing is part of the next wave of the business economy<br> How FreeeUp has a good foothold -- pain points tough to fix, and hard to copy when fixed – looking at any competition in the business---and the vetting process is challenging to get right<br> Freelancers have multiple clients each with their own styles, agendas<br> Spending extra time at beginning setting best expectations will help save countless hours of clarification<br> Solid communication, feedback to freelancers is critical when employing them<br> The biggest error: assuming everyone’s expectations are the same<br> Diversifying is important different people for different functions<br> What would you do with extra hours?<br> An important business lesson, and how Hirsch’s entrepreneurial career began with -- selling baby products out his dorm
