Globalization brought about by the advancements in transportation, communication and technology has created a fiercely competitive marketplace, where only the most innovative, flexible and lean businesses can survive and subsequently prosper.
In such a world with no borders, where economies are volatile and budgets tight, outsourcing in one form or the other has started to take the center stage as many startups, SMBs and individuals world over are increasingly embracing it for their business and everyday needs.
Such a demand for outsourcing has kickstarted new freelancing platforms revolution which aims to fulfill myriad needs of the international clients from across the world in seamless fashion. While freelancing platforms range in their business models, look and feel, user experience, quality of freelancers, cost associated with it etc. all of them are in essence creating part-time jobs for freelancers across the world and helping clients get their jobs done.
By design, freelancing platforms work on principle of a part-time job broker wherein registered freelancers are matched with adequate clients on a regular basis in hope that two sides come to an agreement and conduct business through a respective platform in a secure manner. In essence, freelancers who offer professional services need to register and complete their profiles on any one of the freelancing platforms in order to become eligible to partake in a business transactions with clients of various needs, wants and desires.
While there are myriad of freelancing platforms to choose from i.e., Upwork, Parttimerz, Freelancer, Toptal etc. there’s a clear distinction between them. On the one hand there’s Upwork and Freelancer which boast millions of registered members and focus on quantity over quality and on the other hand there’s Parttimerz and Toptal freelancing platforms which believe that less is more and focus on quality over quantity.
This is not to say that any one of the aforementioned freelancing platforms is less valuable than the other but rather to demonstrate their distinct differences which in essence are the main drivers for each platform and determine what kind of freelancers and clients it ultimately attracts.
So, for example if you are a freelancer who values her time and charge above the average hourly rates for your professional services, you’ll probably want to consider signing up with Parttimerz or Toptal, for they are all about delivering quality to their clients hence, unlike Upwork and Freelancer don’t employ the competitive job bidding where the lowest hourly rate freelancers usually get the job awards.
Likewise, if you are a client who wants to get something done for cheap and aren’t too concerned about the quality of the final product or a service, you would probably be better off signing up with Upwork or Freelancer freelancing platform as they have a bigger pool of freelancers who could do the work fairly quickly. In the end the good news is there’s a plenty of options to choose from.
What’s your favorite freelancing platform and why? Would you consider trying alternatives? Connect with me via Twitter or Parttimerz