226 | The Rise of the Freelancer with Zach Fragapane

Zach Fragapane is the founder and head of product at Jolly, an online network for professional workers and freelancers. His 13-year freelancing career has been both a side hustle and his main career, so he has wide-ranging experiences we can learn from.

For Zach (who has worked as a freelancer for most of his life) it was easy to pinpoint where help and support were needed in the freelance industry, which is how Jolly was born. Though now it’s much more than a freelance management system, Zach was able to refine and update his product based on his many years of first-hand freelance experience. 

This year, the freelance industry, like most industries, took a hard hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. But when you get knocked down, the only thing to do is get back up — so we talk about the rise of freelancers in this era of technology and what you can do to get back on track.

 

“If your customer is able to see your price and the results you’re going to drive and just a little about the deliverables, which is usually upfront anyway, then maybe more time can be spent actually focusing on driving those results.” ~ @ZachFragapane

  Main Takeaways The most valuable feedback you can get is the feedback that comes from the actual users of your product or service. Even though there are a lot of people who lost their jobs and livelihood during the pandemic, there are more companies that are starting to consider hiring freelance workers because of the current situation.  Make use of the time you have now to create something of value that you can offer either for free or for a fee. The biggest struggle for freelancers right now is getting their first clients and/or retainers during these times of struggle. The key is to still go above and beyond and get every last bit out of each project. Links Zach Fragapane Jolly RetailMeNot Upwork Uber Stay in Touch Follow Avani on Twitter Follow Avani on Instagram Follow Avani on LinkedIn