The Human Cloud Podcast

Dan Curran, without any predetermined master plan, found himself immersed in the freelance economy amid the Covid pandemic. Recognizing the opportunity, he pivoted his publishing company into an expert marketplace, seamlessly connecting niche journalists and consultants with complex/regulated B2B brands. What sets Dan apart is his unique perspective—an outsider's viewpoint driven by a genuine desire to illuminate the untapped potential of a remarkable talent pool: Freelance Business Journalists.

Leaders, Lee's Expert Insight covers both the teaching of where this industry is going and how software can disrupt the current state of the freelance industry. A bit on Lee, he represents the fresh blood of the freelance economy challenging norms yet surrounded by industry vets. He's freelanced himself for over 8 years, and been leading Bubty, a White Label Contractor & Freelance Management software platform for 4 years. In being young, there are a couple legacy standards that Lee accurately calls out. • The ownership dilemma - no one 'owns' freelancers, yet many processes are built to replicate ownership or mitigate a lack of ownership • The needed layers of the freelance economy Yet in being experienced, he'll show us couple ways software can disrupt this space: • Centralization of Freelancers • Bringing simplicity to engaging multiple marketplaces • Turning the freelance economy into a Hiring Desk rather than another marketplace Enjoy!

On this episode we had the opportunity to talk with Rachel Renock and discuss the rapidly changing landscape of the freelance economy. She sheds light on how traditional agency models are becoming outdated and how flexible freelance models are rising to meet the demands of today's fluid and technology-driven world. Discover the ins and outs of Freelance Management Systems and how these platforms are empowering freelancers across industries to scale their businesses while fostering meaningful connections with like-minded professionals. Join us as we explore the future of marketplaces, the benefits of embracing freelance networks, and the lasting impact of these changes on the global workforce.

Leaders, Linda is our industry's superhero in building freelance programs at scale. She built PWC's Talent Exchange, she was MBO's Chief Experience Officer, and now she's the CoFounder and Chief Product Officer at FlexC, a somewhat new yet prominently established marketplace. A couple theme's I want you to listen for: WHY there are so many layers in the freelance economy. Hint...it stems from the meshing of Procurement, HR, Finance, and various working teams. HOW to balance the client-marketplace dynamic. WHERE the industry is heading, hint...from reactive & non-risky to sophisticated, strategic, and core. WHAT org's need to do over the next 30/60/90 days to set themselves up for success. Enjoy!

Leaders, we need to talk about how organizations can scale their freelance usage. The freelance economy V1 & V2 was built for entrepreneurs and small businesses, not large companies. The problem as Barry Matthews, CEO of Open Assembly and 20+ year vet describes it, is that Enterprises don't know which partner to turn to, and don't know how to scale a model that's new, risky, and has no existing best practices. The impact is that while 90% of leaders are prioritizing freelancers according to HBR, seldom few leaders are succeeding at scaling their organization beyond small pilots and small working teams. Barry and Open Assembly is building one of the leading solutions to scale freelance talent across large Enterprises through a single Enterprise entry point, what they call the gateway. If you remember the guest Mina Bastawros of Airbus, he said the future of the freelance economy is enabling enterprises the Amazon experience of engaging talent. One place for multiple marketplaces, multiple skills, yet a seamless and convenient end user experience. In this episode we'll discuss how to do this, along with the key themes below: How outsourcing has become skill sourcing, and the freelance economy is just the digitization of sourcing The Enterprise business case, specifically speed, size, and elasticity of accessing talent The Enterprise challenge...(1) which platform for what need, (2) we're new and risky with no existing processes Why there won't be ONE marketplace Enjoy! http://humancloud.work/barry-matthews

Angie represents one of the sexiest shifts in our industry, the shift in the most talented corporate leaders choosing the freelance economy over the traditional career path. In her case, this looks like choosing to build her own fintech, Ruby Money, over the full time corporate opportunities that came from having experience at Microsoft, Instagram, and Visa to name a top few of her numerous logos. We'll get in the weeds over Angie's own freelancing path, her peers, and what's required to make the freelance economy a sustainable career path and industry. *Also shout out to Ernie Park of Part Time Tech for referring Angie! Enjoy! http://humancloud.work/angie-moody

On this episode we talk with Marc Clemens, CEO and Founder of CodeControl and 9am. Companies are recognizing the value of independent professionals, and despite challenges in worker classification and regulations, systems are becoming more streamlined for businesses to engage with freelancers. The convergence of entrepreneurial and freelance mindsets, along with platforms like Code Control, are allowing freelancers to focus on their skills while offloading business aspects to dedicated services, ultimately creating a more flexible, collaborative work environment. 00:09:20: The intersection of freelancing and entrepreneurship 00:15:18: Structuring and building a community 00:26:08: Attracting technical talent in marketplace 00:36:07: Creating optimized profiles for freelancers 00:44:30: Go-to-market strategy in the next 6 to 12 months Learn more: https://humancloud.work/marc-clemens/

Leaders, Ernie is the epitome of the most exciting trend in the freelance economy...future VP's choosing to freelance over the corporate ladder. Ernie runs Part Time Tech, a newsletter highlighting the benefits of freelance models for tech talent like him. Prior, he majored in computer science at MIT, and was a software engineer at Hubspot for over 7 years. It is crucial to understand how this new freelancer demographic thinks. A couple core differences: The best people were great in corporate, better fit their lifestyle and ability to make an impact (they don't need to follow the corporate 'Kingdoming') The best people aren't looking for a job, they're prioritizing opportunities The best people find work through peer connections 3:51, Why Ernie made the switch 5:11, Why working this way makes sense for top talent 11:18, Impact of the pandemic 14:31, The corporate disconnect 20:43, The future of fractional leaders 40:51, The real tradeoffs between 1099 & W2 41:49, What do marketplaces have to do Learn More: http://humancloud.work/ernie-park

Leaders, Andela is a leading marketplace for developers, engineers, product designers, and technology experts. Beyond the platform, Jeremy has spent over 15 years unlocking the power of global, digital networks to drive business change. Jeremy hit on a couple themes that every single one of us needs to be aware of. 1: The blurring of freelance and full time 2: The science of managing remote freelancers at scale 3: The macroeconomic climate, specifically how our space has never been more attractive to Enterprises He also gives us the inside scoop on how their recent acquisition of Qualified.io and Codewars enables them to assess and deliver human potential more effectively. Learn More: http://humancloud.work/jeremy-johnson

Leaders, the freelance economy is shifting from being dominated by large, horizontal marketplaces to small, niche, hyper relevant communities of freelancers. We call this freelance first, and Matt's 8+ year old community of 60,000 freelancers is the epitome of this. Built with education, mentoring, and opportunities as the three pillars, it is the epitome of how winning freelance networks will look in the next few years. There are a couple themes we want you to listen out for: Myths of the freelance economy, what's changed in the last 10 years, and what will change in the next 5 years How finding freelancers and freelancers finding work is going from push to pull thanks to the increasingly advanced search capabilities that can find the exact match of skillset/industry/levels of experience needed. What branding means for freelancers, why it's integral, and why blitzing social media is a damning strategy Only 1 in 5 individuals is succeeding in their first year of freelancing (this number is definitely higher) If you can master above, you can lead hyper-engaged, high quality, successful freelancer networks. Learn More: https://humancloud.work/matt-dowling

Leaders, are we really grown up enough to be a venture backable space? According to Gale, absolutely, as her fund is focused on the future of work, and invests in a number of freelance economy startups each year. We'll talk about what the venture space looks like for the freelance economy, how she sees the freelance economy in the future (hint...2 to 3x growth), and how freelance models can be well positioned for venture capital (hint...not ALL companies should be venture backed, and that's a good thing). A couple themes that we think you need to know asap... The freelance economy will never be one large marketplace because it's an industry of people, nuance, and intricate user experiences The freelance economy is a natural societal evolution of what people want out of work and what technology now allows for Consulting can be a lucrative business on it's own without venture capital Learn more: http://humancloud.work/gale-wilkinson

Leaders, your head will be sore from the technical product learnings Ben will teach us. Ben is an entrepreneur that has built freelance related products for over 10 years. From a technology and product lens, we answered two key questions, what has changed in the last 10 years that makes now the right time for the freelance economy, and what will change in the next 5 years. Hint 1...what changed was (1) consumer behavior with matching related technologies (think the taboo of E-Harmony vs the acceptance of Hinge, this is what's happened with the gig economy being taboo and now freelancing being preferred), (2) Cloud computing enabling digital sourcing and collaboration, (3) effective data science search algorithms. Hint 2...what will change in the next 5 years is (1) bundling of a singular plumbing infrastructure with partnerships between marketplaces built on top, (2) single pains of glass and identity tokens. We know...very geeky, but very important for being able to plan and build for where the puck is going in the freelance economy. 6:18 - Defining where work is going...project based, open 8:38 - The problem with talent acquisition today and where it's going 13:41 - Why the freelance economy isn't already the default 21:26 - How to balance outcomes and process 23:13 - HR needs to change their metrics 30:38 - Why hasn't LinkedIn built a freelance marketplace 35:33 - What's different today 46:32 - What will change in 5 years Find Ben's Leader Portal: humancloud.work/ben-ross

Leaders, our industry is in the midst of a massive transformation away from broad horizontal marketplaces and towards skill specific platforms. Take Paro for finance/accounting, or Catalant & Graphite for management consulting, the future of our industry belongs to marketplaces that can use technology and freelancer first practices to ensure a consistent, low friction, high quality experience. NerdApp is the IT ecosystem that best personifies where the freelance economy is headed. NerdApp stemmed from Kelvin's personal experience in the IT services industry for 15+ years, where he saw the inefficiencies and poor experiences that the legacy IT industry routinely delivers. Warning: We're going to get real geeky on the software and user experience driving NerdApp. If you're a nerd or an entrepreneur, you'll love it. 11:12 - Why the freelance economy, the combo of Kevon's corporate experience and the problems in IT Services 17:31 - Secret sauce behind the meteoric 15 month growth of NerdApp 20:59 - What's wrong with the IT Services Industry 22:24 - Why doesn't Nerdapp already exist 27:38 - The importance of user experience 29:42 - Biggest barrier of the freelance economy is company education 30:52 - Biggest barrier of growing marketplaces is the first experience 44:27 - What will change in the next 5 years Find Kelvin's Leader Portal: https://humancloud.work/kelvin-wetherill

Leaders, what if freelancers are both your future Directors and your future employee role models? That's the future for leading brands as leaders like Adrian Tan drive the best ROI. Enjoy! 3:43 - Defining a freelancer, "was a freelancer prior, now fractional" 7:20 - Why Adrian freelances 10:45 - Entrepreneur vs solopreneur 11:29 - How he got his first 3 clients 14:34 - Perception of freelancing in Singapore 21:00 - His view on marketplaces 25:15 - How Covid made people comfortable with remote, re-set their relationship with work, and accelerated freelancing 31:38 - His portfolio (3 retainers) and how he manages his time 38:47 - How fractional is the most efficient way to work

Cory Hymel is our innovator of the month, teaching us how we need to think about and act on ChatGPT and Generative AI. Cory and I go way back in building custom software using freelance networks. Everything from building the mobile app for North America's leading manufacturing company, to helping Enterprises identify how they can best use AI by plugging in expert AI freelancers. 3:47 - the shift from marketing budgets to IT budgets 5:47 - the shift from this is to cool to "we know this will happen, how do we do this securely" 7:25 - how ChatGPT unlocks the power of synthesis 12:51 - the evolution from IBM Watson to ChatGPT 18:49 - how to start embracing ChatGPT 24:01 - the move to an A-sync future 36:31 - best way to adopt ChatGPT, small working teams Check out Cory's Leader Portal: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders

Hoxby is a creative freelancer collective that's fundamentally transformed how clients work with freelancers. Instead of one-off gigs, Hoxby has ushered in scaling project based work within their clients. On this episode we'll talk tactical about how they did this and preview their new book Workstyle!

Matteo is our innovator of the month. A Chief Marketing Officer and prior Director at Expedia, Matteo came into the Human Cloud from a frustration with merit and geographical limitations in traditional hiring. In this episode we'll talk: 4:30 - Geeking out over Rome, where he resides 17:28 - The culture problem of the freelance economy 26:04 - Evolution of careers 28:01 - Proof of work and credentialing 43:30 - Navigating data abundance

Matthew Mottola Thu, Dec 29, 2022, 5:03 PM (13 days ago) to brooks, me Brooks, hope you've had an incredible holiday and are ready for a great year. We plan to release this mid Jan. Feel free to edit anything below! Title: Brooks Lockett, SaaS & B2B freelancer Description:  Leaders, we seldom bring on individual freelancers for an entire episode. The reason is absolutely NOT that we don't leave freelancers (they are the hero's of our industry). The real reason is that the best freelancers aren't usually talking, they're building, and a podcast for them is typically a distraction. BUT. Their voices need to be heard. And you need to understand their problems and their motivation in order to attract and retain the best one's. Which is where Brooks comes in. Brooks' would be your VP of marketing. Instead he'll still do what a VP of marketing can do, but as an independent contractor, he'll be your go to for every piece of SaaS & B2B content. We're going to hit on everything. Why he freelances. Why freelancing is better than a full time job for him. Why hiring him leads to better results than full time employees. What sucks about freelancing. Make sure to check out Brooks' leader portal: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders

Leaders, Jon Younger and Steve King are the brains behind many of our industries leading stats. What's unique about Steve is that he's the perfect example of freelancing becoming the natural evolution of work. Steve wasn't a pissed off employee that wanted to ‘ditch the 9-5 to sit on a beach'. He was a VP & GM at leading companies like Lotus Development and Macromedia. In terms of the corporate ladder, he made it, yet he chose to blaze the solopreneur path instead through his firm Emergent Research, There are 7 massive themes that Steve and I discuss. There's now a middle class to the freelance economy 55% of individuals have been independent at some point in their life 60% of Americans don't have the risk profile of a freelancer There was 20%+ growth from 2021 to 2022, with full time freelancers as the leading segment Freelancing is overwhelmingly chosen, and freelancers have the highest levels of fulfillment Misclassification is protecting 25% of the population at the expense of the entire freelancer population We'll also break down MBO Partners recent State of Independence in America 2022 Report. Make sure to check out Steve's leader portal: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders

The Matts review an explosive and exciting year for freelancers around the world. With lots of acceleration and changes in the industry in the past year, it has become essential to adjust and strategize. With AI on the horizon, many workers fear for their jobs - but the smart ones are utilizing it. Subscribe to the newsletter: Humancloud.Substack.com

It's been one hell of a year for the $5.4 trillion dollar freelance economy. From seeing budgets expand to the number of freelancers increase, the freelance economy is now top of mind within every leadership team. This week we'll meet with the most important researcher and reporter on the freelance economy - Jon Younger.  We'll discuss: - What changed in the past year - How layoffs, tightening, and a looming recession necessitate the change in business strategy from growth to profitability - 9 predictions of what needs to change to 2x our industry Find the transcript and stats at our newsletter: https://humancloud.substack.com/

We consider Albert the Creative Leader of the Future. 10 years ago he'd be your fastest rising Creative VP. Today he's better off being independent where he can rise quicker without your corporate bullsh**. Albert will breakdown the seismic shifts in work, the decline of freelance talent marketplaces, and how individuals can be ready for a freelance first economy.  Make sure to check out his leader portal to find exact quotes: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders 3:50 - Albert's Background 10:47 - The ‘freelance' economy is just a term to describe how we get work done 17:24 - Difference between top freelancers and everyone else…clearly communicating commercial value 23:30 - How to create the best commercial differentiation 28:12 - How Albert built his freelance career 31:34 - The ‘fumble' years of freelancing…years 3-5 43:01 - Marketplaces…do we need them? 45:34 - Why will marketplaces die…by being in the way of how a freelancer grows 53:35 - What systems will drive the future of work  Albert's Leader Portal: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders

Leaders, the freelance economy is quickly transforming from a client first industry to a freelancer first industry. This means that rather than marketplaces having massive networks with little engagement, marketplaces of the future will create thriving freelancer communities that consistently exceed client expectations. No one better understands this than Maari, a freelancer herself and the founder of the freelancer first marketplace Uncompany.  3:28 - Maari's journey of burnout, freelancing after college, and freelancing to take control of her life 6:35 - The difficulties of transitioning from full time to freelance and how that can challenge one's identity 15:18 - How Maari separated herself as a freelancer by packaging services and being insanely easy to work with  19:30 - What freelancers really want...good work, good pay, retirement 30:18 - Why Uncompany is focused on a small, engaged freelancer network 38:12 - What's changed in the freelance economy and how Covid catalyzed acceptance 41:12 - Why freelancing won't save you, it can only make things worse 49:02 - How leaders can build their hybrid teams like sports teams

Leaders, it's rare to see entrepreneurs and business leaders in our space that have real freelance experience, not the ‘I freelanced for 6 months then started coaching'. Brooke is one of those rare leaders. She not only built a successful freelance business, she's seen all sides of our space as a corporate leader at Postmates, successful web development Freelancer, and entrepreneur helping small business owners hire freelancers. It's a path Matthew can personally relate to, and her learnings are crucial to every leader and entrepreneur building in our space. In this pod we hit on a central theme that is controversial yet unavoidable - the disruption of freelance talent marketplaces.  Currently our industry has two public company freelance talent marketplaces, Upwork (UPWK) and Fiverr (FVRR). Both were one of the first, both have clear strengths, yet both were built for an industry that is quickly and fundamentally changing. Specifically, freelancers the past 10 years look very different than freelancers entering today. Enjoy this episode and make sure to subscribe to the Human Cloud Newsletter to be updated when Brooke's Leader Portal goes live. 2:01 - her parents had the flexibility that she expected but her career initially didn't have 4:50 - How she knew how to jump into freelancing 5:45 - Why teachers make phenomenal freelance project managers 7:55 - Why platforms introduced the freelance economy in a transactional way 8:54 - How prioritizing support of the freelancers gets rid of the transactional nature of marketplaces 13:45 - How Postmates shaped her understanding and vision of the freelance economy? 16:51 - What is the future of freelance talent marketplaces? When will they end? What forces will disrupt it? 17:32 - The more freelancers have power, the more the current talent marketplace will not be needed 21:30 - Why companies need full time talent dedicated to just managing freelancers 24:12 - Learnings from small business owners that corporations will need to adopt 24:53 - What companies need...REPORTING!!!!!!! Consistency, simplicity, and one resource to turn too. 25:47 - How can companies support freelancers? Onboarding!!! And empathy. 30:35 - How can government support the freelance economy? Brooke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookemarkevicius/

How can an enterprise like Airbus innovate from within for an initiative as ambitious as an aircraft of the future that's built 'for the people, by the people'? Let's learn from Mina how freelancers have been an integral part of Airbus's innovation strategy, along with: - Why Airbus Cares: Hint...Accessing 70m+ diverse experts - How Airbus Started: Hint...Finding changemakers within each function - Tips For Leaders: Hint...Align passion, build a solid foundation of minimum requirements - Seeing the Future: Hint...an Amazon for talent (not in a way that commoditizes us freelancers though!!!!!) Connect with Mina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minabastawros/ Check out Mina's Leader Portal: https://humancloud.substack.com/s/leaders

EMERGENCY POD - We've recently seen the repeal (then un-repeal) of IR35 and the US's labor department classification proposal. Some call these laws the 'freelance killer' while others say this reaction is overblown. Unfortunately both are right, since the reality is that the freelance economy isn't going anywhere, yet the direction of current legislation does force companies to prioritize pro-active legal classification controls and partnerships, which in turn takes power and control away from freelancers and their choice to work how they want. In this episode we'll cut through the noise and get to the core of where legislation is heading by talking with Glen, the EU's foremost legal and policy practitioner. Our prior article on the US's legislation: https://humancloud.substack.com/p/emergency-update-new-worker-classification

It's a scary time as the Biden Administration proposes a freelancer killing bill that can rocket ship inflation and put the US 50 years behind. The freelance economy is going nowhere. (find these statistics in our newsletter >> humancloud.substack.com) 40% of full-time employees in the US have a side-gig 90% plus of corporate leaders in a recent global survey said they utilize freelancers and say they will increase their reliance. 80% of employers say they are increasing their use of freelancers as they suspend full-time hires. Instead the US classification direction will force companies to prioritize other countries like the UK who repealed it's equivalent law IR35 and put their freelancers in front of their US equivalent freelancers. Learn about this and more with the Matthew's monthly update. Also don't forget to subscribe to the Human Cloud newsletter for charts and more! humancloud.substack.com

The Matthew's are back breaking down the state of the economy, inflation, quiet quitting, and how these 3 forces hurt millennial full time employees most. To see the diagrams and stats mentioned in this episode, check out the Human Cloud Newsletter at https://humancloud.substack.com/

Leaders, Kamran is the exact person we talk about when we say freelancers expand the scope of what you can build by tapping into specialized expertise you can't have, or it will take too long to learn internally. Kam started in the semiconductor industry. Then went into manufacturing automation. He now enables manufacturing companies convert leads by optimizing their copy...think email outreach, email follow ups, everything reps are moderate at but do anyways. 2:35 - Kam's background in the semiconductor industry and how he embraced remote before the internet 6:00 - Overview of the semiconductor industry and quantum computing 12:36 - Overview of automation and how the cloud accelerated automation 21:25 - How he changed from consulting to freelancing 21:47 - Why we hate the term freelancing 22:21 - Benefits of freelancing 28:41 - How Covid changed everything 37:20 - Big wins of Kam's freelance business 52:47 - Freelancing as a race to the bottom and how we can solve this

Why would a global digital transformation firm that provides services and solutions to global 1000 firms care about freelancers in the cloud? Let's learn from Vinod Kartha, VP of Strategic Initiatives. 1:20 - Why Open Talent? Hint...existing talent pools dried up 6:47 - What can we expect in the next 5 years? 7:10 - How globalization has brought us shared learnings and shifted boundaries 8:30 - The start of sharing individuals IP...if CEO's can sit on multiple boards why can't we? 11:00 - Existing archaic talent barriers 16:00 - Elasticity, the crucial resource for leaders 16:40 - Shifting from talent acquisition to workforce ecosystem 17:47 - What is Open Talent? Elastic talent you can access ASAP. 21:44 - Why do large companies care about freelancers? 22:30 - What are the barriers to hiring freelancers and how to cut through the tape. 36:00 - Culture tips to lead virtual teams 40:11 Vinod's biggest role model...his own mother Connect with Vinod: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinodkartha/ Praise for Vinod's work: Forbes, A New Global Star in the Freelance Revolution: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonyounger/2022/08/17/a-new-global-star-in-the-freelance-revolution-ust-shows-the-way/?sh=1d14d79266a2 UST Wins GSA's Prestigious ‘Changemaker of the Year' Award for its Open Talent Strategy

What does the recession mean for the freelance economy? Will more freelancers be hired? Will leaders stop hiring freelancers and stick with full time? Also hear: Why Google CEO Sundar Pachai telling employees their unproductive is a win for the freelance economy How Spotify dropped churn through their RTO strategy (return to office…hint they put autonomy in their employees hands) Which industries are best adopting work from home or returning to the office And our usual banter :)

How do leading companies close the knowledge gap when diving into new technologies, industries, and opportunities? They embed freelance subject matter experts into their teams. Consultants and subject matter experts are nothing new, but engaging experts throughout the lifecycle of important milestones are, which is where Dr. David Kupper comes in, Founder and Managing Director of expertpowerhouse. 5:00 - David's background 8:00 - Why the freelance economy is a win-win for companies and individuals 13:00 - How David went from PhD to Boston Consulting Group to the freelance economy 16:53 - Expert network analysis and how the freelance economy is an innovation to expert networks 23:12 - Detailed of why the freelance economy 26:32 - Full time employment will never be replaced 33:13 - Why isn't LinkedIn enough? Because it's too much to manage the freelance economy 35:41 - Big win, how automotive company embraced freelancers to build their autonomous driving strategy 40:43 - How to navigate the recession 42:00 - What we can expect in the next 5 years, hint...doubling of the freelance economy David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkuepper/

The Matthew's are back to discuss the shifting successes of knowledge workers, gas prices returning to normal-ish, and good practices for hiring staff in tech spaces. Follow along with the newsletter: humancloud.substack.com/

Description: Leaders, Morten has an extremely rare background in driving change at both a global technology leader (Google) and global business management leader (McKinsey). In his leader portal Morten really stressed how technology can solve real business problems, how the enterprise is unique, and how to drive change across these large beasts. 2:35: How Google and Mckinsey taught Morten how technology can solve real business problems 5:39: How to be ready for the recession 9:53: Market landscape and where Worksome fits 15:30: Why we can't have a truly independent world 19:45: How do you balance the entrepreneurial spirit with corporate 24:34: What hasn't changed since Covid when we talk about the ‘future' of work? 38:40: What's different about the enterprise? 43:11: How should leaders drive their freelance program? 46:44: How do you balance long term bets with short term validation? https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenbruun/

While every board is talking about a contradictory great resignation, hiring freezes, and talent shortage, Akhil Seth and UST are leading Enterprises to an abundant talent pool of freelancers. Some crazy learnings: - Shortening proof of concepts from 2 months to 2 days - Fractionalizing Unicorns into multiple freelancers - Hiring and onboarding freelancers in a secure and compliant way without compromising speed and quality 2:00 - Why he's so passionate about Open Talent 12:52 - What he's working on at UST 15:55 - Industry leading solutions in virtual desktopping and change management 18:27 - Big wins for Open Talent 22:13 - Best projects to start hiring freelancers for 27:55 - The biggest challenges of hiring freelancers 37:00 - Why classification is such a big problem in hiring freelancers 41:00 - Akhil's leadership journey 45:49 - How to acquire and keep top young talent like Akhil Connect with Akhil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhilvseth/

The Matthew's are back in action to discuss 9.1% inflation CPI, hiring freezes at Google and layoffs at many other tech companies, the vulnerability of managers in this period, and how leaders can navigate these turbulent times. Follow along with the newsletter: https://humancloud.substack.com/

Rebekah Panepinto is your future leader. She's a technology leader with 10+ years experience driving technology solutions as a full time employee AND embracing side hustles. In the next 5 years over half the workforce will prioritize working with multiple employers rather than just 1 full time job. While most discussions center on the research, our discussion centers on how to do this, how NOT to do this, and what managing a full time job with side hustles means for the future of leadership. 1:30: Her background 2:50: Defining AI 5:30: How has technology changed - the cloud & AWS changed everything 11:10: How do we balance leaving vs staying and how your role effects this 18:30: How do employers react to side hustlers...(hint, they love it IF it's aligned) 24:50: How to make sure you don't get fired 28:00: How to create Rebekah Inc. and how Rebekah Inc is an example of talent acquisition shifting from 'ownership to access' 33:46: Every company needs to align individual autonomy with corporate goals to have long term success 44:10: How to build your team in the Human Cloud and work with them through personal projects, professional projects, and everything in between 48:00: How to find the right people - REFERRALS

This is a recording of a very special event from the Human Cloud titled, "The Future of Freelance Talent Marketplaces". We had an all star roster of participants which included: Tony Buffum (Upwork) Abby Forman (Fiverr) Niklas Lieb (Vicoland) Jon Younger (Forbes) The event included a debrief of the Forrester report as well as a round table discussion on many freelance focused topics. Thank you to everyone who participated and you for listening! Enjoy.

Jim Young (thecenteredcoach.com) is a men's burnout coach and author of the upcoming book Expansive Intimacy: How Tough Guys Defeat Burnout. Jim and Matt C discuss Jim's own path from burned-out executive to someone helping others escape their own dark places. They talk about strategies for building friend networks in middle age (Matt C asks for "a friend"), being vulnerable in a society that can view it as weakness, and how men can redefine what it means to be a "tough guy".

Managers - Effective immediately, hiring freeze, you can no longer hire any full time employees. Did you get pulled into one of these management meetings this week? You're not alone. What also happened? We've heard from 10+ leaders about layoffs and hiring freezes this week alone. One was a top 5 most valuable company in the world. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO said, “That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way. We don't know if it's a minor one or Superstorm Sandy. You better brace yourself.” More than 1 in 3 Americans earning at least $250,000 are living paycheck to paycheck according to Bloomberg Wealth. Dubai-based ride sharing firm Swvl cuts workforce by 32%. TaskRabbit (over 1,000 employees) goes fully remote. Unilever launches their U-Work employment model. In their words: "U-Work gives employees the freedom and flexibility associated with contract roles with the security and benefits typically linked to permanent roles". Legislation - Can we cut the sh** with prioritizing the past and prioritize talent choosing to adapt to today's digital talent economy.

REPEAT GUEST!!! Glen is our legal wizard. We'll discuss what's legally in the way of the freelance economy, and how we can drive policies that help, not hinder the over 100 million freelancers globally. 7:25 Current platform worker proposals 13:45 What's in the way of govt's supporting the independenting workforce 18:30 How does government change happen? 27:00 What is the responsibility of freelance platforms? 31:00 What is the worst case for freelancers 32:50 What is the worst case for companies 37:40 How Covid changed mindsets and created a window of opportunity 41:23 Where will the freelance economy be in 5 years? 46:28 What can leaders do right now to push this industry forward 53:40 What can platforms be doing?

Layoffs, hiring freezes, and increased inflation...what does this mean for you as a leader? It means doubling your usage of contractors, prioritizing outcomes, and leaning into digital. The Matts also discuss Maslow's Hierarchy of Freelancer Needs and how companies and job seekers need to evolve from resume "spray and pray" and antiquated screening mechanisms.

What exactly is the future of work? It's remote first. It's freelance first. Yet these are just the surface. Below these sexy buzzwords are the industries of staffing, VMS, MSP's, contingent talent, etc., along with extensive procurement, HR and legal departments trying to read through the noise. While the terms seem boring compares to Web 3, creator economy, passion economy...they're the difference between cute thousand dollar projects and $1 billion dollar programs or companies.

Braintrust introduces full time benefits and web 3 partners. In their words, “the freedom of freelancing and stability of benefits”. Inflation CPI increases 8.3%. Starbucks hit with over 200 violations of the National Labor Relations Act according to Regional director of National Relations Board in Buffalo. Google revamps performance reviews after employees cite low pay compared to competitors. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is thriving ever since he made remote the default for every employee. Ollo (creative freelance platform) acquired by Bpool (agency platform).

Description: David is a 30+ year vet in helping companies and leaders embrace external talent. From his early days of running a home based business to his current role helping companies hire freelance teams, David is a wealth of knowledge. 2:00 - David's background experience starting a home business in the late 90's and how entrepreneurs from Richard Branson to freelancers all started with a home business 2:06 - Background on why he joined Fieldglass to adapt to the speed of needing to train people in 2005 7:20 - Why why we need to go beyond hiring individuals and why he's all in on freelance teams 10:00 - history and tools of home based businesses 18:00 - What is Fieldglass, Vendor Management Systems and MSP's 23:45 - The complexity of using external talent. Hint...how do you define the work, find the talent, approve the talent, onboard the talent...AT SCALE 27:57 - Why external talent? 33:20 - What needs to happen for the freelance economy to be the norm? Hint...Atomize by breaking it into smaller chunks, shift from top down to bottom up. 34:15 - Will the world be 100% freelancers? LOL's... 40:00 - Traits of companies that are leading the way? Hint...Collaboration and visibility across the organization, especially between Procurement, HR, and working teams. 45:00 - Regional differences 49:21 - Blue collar vs white collar differences (physical vs knowledge work) 54:00 - What does the future look like? "Atoms will become molecules, freelancers will form into teams, freelancer usage will be formalized (we'll go from B2C to B2B)" Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-obadia/

Do you have a diversified Human Cloud portfolio? With inflation, layoffs, and the inevitable recession, it's never been more important to have opportunities within an arms reach. Learn what this means in this week's episode.

: 5 FREE Office Optional books, instructions at the bottom. Centric Consulting is a leading technology consultancy. Founder Larry English hops on the pod to discuss his journey building Centric, the future of client services, the challenges in the way of remote and hybrid work, and how leadership is evolving from the current generation to millennials and Gen-Z. 4:20 - The early days of Centric (started 1999) 6:00 - His WHY: Center everything around client and employee happiness. 9:00 - How to attract the best and brightest consultants 11:50 - The impact of remote work on local communities 16:00 - The perfect balance of freelancers and full time employees 27:00 - The catalyst for CEO's giving in to remote work 37:00 - Different freelancer personas To get your free book: Email your favorite animal to hello@humancloud.work.

Welcome back to Emily Leach, 30 year freelance veteran and founder of the nation's largest freelance conference. This week we play ping pong with the freelance economy, bouncing back between the freelancers point of view, CTO's point of view, and freelance marketplace point of view. We'll talk: > How inflation disproportionately impacts small businesses > How 'un'realistic the replacement of full time employment with freelancers is > How actually realistic the merging of freelance benefits with full time employment is Enjoy and don't forget to sign up to the Human Cloud Newsletter: https://humancloud.substack.com/

Ep. 51: What a week. The Bank of Israel moves to reduce the dollar and add the Yuan. Netflix plunged 35%. Thank god for the freelance economy

What a week, besides Luka Musk making an appearance, we saw: > Jamie Dimon, CEO JPMorgan Chase & Co. says “It's clear that working from home will become more permanent in American business”. > Freelance Teams are making waves. > ITARMI reaching 144 countries. Shoutout Brett Riley and Team. > Formations raising $8m in their Series A. Shoutout Uri Bar-Joseph and Shahar Plinner. > UnderPinned and Parker Dewey highlighted for helping fix higher education through the freelance economy. Shoutout Albert de Symons Azis-Clauson

While the average American can't afford a home and is increasingly feeling the push of inflation, Miami's Mayor runs 4 miles in the middle of a 50+ runners (the definition of leadership). We'll also break down how the freelance economy can bring back the middle class if implemented correctly.