Freelancing is an alluring choice of income for many; the freedom and flexibility it offers can rarely be found in a regular job. Despite the benefits, as freelancers, we face certain problems. The development of blockchain technology could alleviate some of these problems and create new sources of income for us.
Advertise other freelancers
When working for a company, an employee has a steady influx of work. As a freelancer, you have to dedicate a considerable amount of time to carry out your own marketing and find clients. In addition, you are not paid for the time spent on these tasks.
Blue Whale Foundation is a blockchain freelancing platform, currently in development, which seeks to solve these problems. They have proposed a blockchain network that will create ads for other freelancers on your profile, based on the connection between you. When the other freelancer is awarded a project from an ad on your profile, 5% of the project worth will be paid to you. Blue Whale Foundation is giving us the possibility of earning money for advertising other freelancers. In addition, we will enjoy a steadier influx of work as other freelancers will be advertising us on their profiles.
The Foundation has explained how this will work in their white paper: “For instance, if a meaningful connection exists between a cleaning service and a home-sharing service like Airbnb, the Blue Whale’s Big Data and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms will discover the relationship through its analysis and suggest targeted advertisements accordingly.”
Become a mediator in disputes
Disputes between freelancers and clients is another problem for freelancers. If you are freelancing on a centralized platform you might have worked for a client who refused to pay. More often than not, the platform will offer better protection to the client because they bring money into the platform.
Blockchain freelancing platforms have taken various steps to solve this problem by giving us an opportunity to earn money by solving disputes between freelancers and their clients. CryptoTask delegates dispute cases to a number of randomly selected members of the network, who then vote in favor of one of the parties. The outcome is revealed once everyone has voted. Both the client and freelancers have to put aside 10% of the value of the project in question. After the outcome is revealed, reviewers are awarded money based on who lost the dispute, thus incentivizing reviewers into taking an interest in each disputed case.
Generate new leads
Many blockchain freelancing platforms offer rewards for lead generation. They usually reward freelancers based on the service revenue a new member has generated. This way, the network is protected from the introduction of fake freelancers and you are awarded money based on the quality of the person you recommend.
Cut the platform fees
Centralized platforms usually take huge cuts from freelancers’ work. For example, if a freelancer finds his client on Upwork, the platform will take 20% of the project value. Blockchain platforms are decentralized and usually have minimal fees required to keep the platform running. For example, CanWork, a decentralized application that is part of the CanYa ecosystem, takes a cut of just 1%.
New job openings
With the continuous emergence of new blockchains, there is an increased need for workers in specific fields such as programming, digital marketing, and community management. For example, when a new blockchain is in development it will go through a phase of fundraising. During this phase, marketing is crucial to the success of the project.
We, freelancers, are already used to working remotely for a limited duration. Blockchain developers are aware of that and they will usually hire freelancers to work for them. So, blockchains create the opportunity for freelancers to find work and connect to new clients from the early stages of development.
Other issues blockchain can solve
A few other revolutionary concepts, which would greatly benefit freelancers, have been proposed. If you are a freelancer, you have probably been in a situation when you were too sick to work. The aforementioned Blue Whale Foundation has plans to introduce paid sick leave for freelancers. Part of the money that the Foundation earns through fees will be used to cover the costs of keeping the platform running. Funds will also be allocated to their Reward Bank, which will be used for paid leave in situations where we are prevented from working due to sickness or other reasons.
Finally, although it is not directly connected with earnings, there is another money-related problem blockchain can help freelancers with. In my own experience, waiting for the transaction time after a completed job can be grueling, especially if I need the payment quickly. The clients are not to blame here, it is just that freelancing services and banks are slow. If, for example, you are freelancing on Upwork, several days can pass before Upwork processes the transaction after a client has paid for finished work. After that, you have to wire the money from your Upwork wallet to your bank account, which can also take several days. Transactions on blockchain are much faster and can be processed in a matter of seconds. Such a speed of transaction would make any freelancer happy. Even if you don’t need the funds right away, it is quite irritating to watch your money sitting where you can’t use it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, blockchain technology won’t solve all problems faced by freelancers. However, it can greatly improve working conditions and there is the potential to increase the amount of money we earn. This is made possible by introducing lower fees and paid leave, opening new jobs and creating sources of income that are not available for us on traditional platforms.
Bio
Tempson True is COO and PM at ICOHolder.com and has an extensive background in internet marketing and product management, managing over 50 web products. He holds a Masters in Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication.
https://medium.com/swlh/what-could-blockchains-offer-to-freelancers-61019a084f80
https://s3.ap-northeast-2.amazonaws.com/bluewhalefdn-020602/wp/Bluewhale_White_Paper-ENG-V0.3.6.pdf
https://ipfs.infura.io/ipfs/QmeM7qkGSRUpa8WNmehHWv54bUYeBsGThkP4Zxnb7vVRhv
https://www.cryptotask.org/Whitepaper_CryptoTask.pdf
https://blockchain.wtf/what-the-faq/freelancing-blockchain-guide/
Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash