ONE to ONECelibre

November marked 9 full months of freelancing, a feat I didn’t know I would accomplish since this was supposed to be a three-month experiment, at best.

By July 2020, I was comfortable. I was comfortable with freelancing, clients, work, and more. It was all in full-swing and everything was going better than planned.

In July, I started looking for opportunities for freelancers/gig workers to learn/explore/talk to like-minded folks, and I searched for a solid 10 days. In those 10 days, I found plenty of summits with words such as remote work, gig work and so on... with corporates and heads of HR/Marketing/etc etc. That was great, but I couldn't find what I was 'looking for'.

An event for freelancers/gig workers, where we were exposed to experienced freelancers, people who've done this and succeeded, and people with stories to share about their journey.

The search led me down a path of nothingness.

So, I turned to Whatsapp.

July 18th, I sent a WhatsApp message in a group.

I waited with my breath held to see if anyone responded (I tried my best to be click-baitey) 

And it worked. I got 5 messages. Not bad to begin with. 

So, I began typing the message......

From this message, on the group, I got over 20 responses, and some of them were so excited - they were already throwing in ideas into the bag about the event.

It was exhilarating to see so so much positivity, and moreover to realise I wasn't the only one feeling what I was - it was a community feeling.

And to make it all official, we got a Whatsapp group in place for this 'Unnamed Freelancer Event' on July 31st.

I believe ~10 people joined the group initially

In the group,

And, on August 1st, I posted this video with my thoughts, typing it out for convenience:

1. I believe in the future of gig working/remote working/freelancing/consulting
2. There wasn't an event in India for freelancers/gig workers
3. We deserve a space, and stage, where we can come together
4. We need to change that status quo
5. I need a team to make this dream a reality, at the scale I was dreaming this event to be at
6. With a team, I and the team, will make this event happen - that's my promise to you.

That video had a link to the form, for people that wanted to join in to make this event a reality, and cause a dent in the industry.

91 FREAKING PEOPLE WANTED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

Below, is the call we had right after this form closed, and we were all equally baffled, surprised, happy and confused.

How many people do we 'really' need in every team?

During the call we had the 'magic number; and now was the toughest part, recruiting after doing a thorough check.

I have always believed in being fair, and I wanted people to choose their teammates unanimously. This was not 'my event' - this was 'our event'.

So, I released the survey link, and we split the group into segments, and everyone voted for the people for the department they were in. After all, you were going to spend months with these people.

Once the votes closed, we had our FINAL team... (finally!)

As expected as it was, our group started bantering about everything, literally everything.

1. Food
2. Linkedin
3. Freelancer dilemmas

... and so much more. Here are just 'some' screenshots to show you we are actually quite a fun group

Fast forward: We voted on teammates and Project Manager's who would be responsible for their teams.

I even did a sneak-peek of the team on our regular Thursday call, and the ONECelibre Whatsapp group blew up, but that's a story for another day.

Watch it here.

While all of that was going on, we had to come up with an event name and tagline. #branding101

We know that clearly none of these won, we came up with a combo on ONE + Ce + Libre in the end.

The tagline was an almost tie between 'Celebrating freedom' and 'Celebrating victories' and so we took a final call and landed up with the tag line of 'Celebrating Victories'.

The reason the term victory was SO important to us, was because we agreed on three fundamental things that happen in a freelancer's life

1. We take a huge risk by quitting the corporate rat race
2. We have to explain and re-explain to everyone that we are not unemployed
3. Through the journey of being a freelancer, every win for us is larger-than-life, more than every defeat

We win.

Freelancers win.

ONECelibre was a space to celebrate the victories each of us has attained through the journey and will continue to do so.

We thought a lot about what we stand for, and believe in during the process of just naming the event, it became clear to us what we wanted in the logo.

It all fit together, like magic; seamless and mystical.

And, it was FINALLY time for the BIG reveal. This was going to be the biggest bang on Linkedin from our entire 20+ people team.

What use is the bang without a video, right? - Here's the video I released explaining the event, the idea, and what we were working up towards.

.....and this post received such a warm response. I can't copy-paste all of them here, but here's one of them. This was really amazing to see - so many supporters flocked, asked us questions, took interest in what we were doing.

I can confidently say that the entire team's Linkedin inbox and wall was FILLED with messages from friends, strangers and well-wishers.

I was blessed with the team I have, will have and the team that is to keep growing as ONECelibre grows.

Each post from me, my teammates, and ONECelibre was meant from the bottom of my/our hearts.

It would be a lie if I didn't accept we poured heart and soul into this project. Heck! Our Thursday meetings went from 90 minutes to 3 hours. No jokes!

Moving on, the event needed three critical things to be a success.

1. Speakers
2. Community Partners
3. Attendees

We decided to go for the kill on speakers first. Speakers, would lead to attendees. There was a direct correlation.

So, the speaker team created a sheet for each session we had decided. The sheet then was open for all of us to put our suggestions in for that topic. Once that was done, the speaker team, decided on who we should approach, and in what order.

It was quite a daunting task, waiting on speakers to respond, getting looped around multiple people/departments.

On the other hand, the event team was debating between Zoom and Airmeet.

I (personally) love Airmeet, and knew it would be perfect for our event. So, I pestered them to make a decision in favor of Airmeet. And, lo and behold, my wishes were granted :D

The next couple weeks were go-time,

• The speaker team was going through a spreadsheet of speaker choices. We had 4 speakers picked out for each session title
• The community team was on their toes finding out who we can partner with, and grow ONECelibre
• The event team was learning all about Airmeet and its functionalities
• The social media team was ensuring our pages were active and we were getting registrations

The Whatsapp group was never quiet. Never, I mean even at 3am, it was buzzing. And back at it, at 9am.

We were really excited about what we were putting up, and we knew it would be a blast, as we worked up to the 'ticket date release'

An internal campaign we ran really touched my heart; we all shared our journey into freelancing/working independently on video/text.

Here's mine

I would be lying that through the prep process, I did not feel tensed.

When you're building something so large-scale and realistic with a stellar team - it's bound to happen.

The heart dreams with eyes closed, does it not?

Overall, through it all, we had fun. Lots of fun.

We had some jokes while prepping the event.

We had speakers in place, and community partners in place:

Once the tickets were out in the market, and they sold like hot cakes!

It was time for the event, and I have never felt so nervous about opening an event ever. It was a ton of pressure since I was speaking for the ONECelibre team, the freelancers, the opportunity and more.

I was speaking for the dream we were building; a future where freelancing is a respected, go-to choice for everyone.

Here's a quick photo:

Here's what I said for the opening speech:

ONECelibre an event we have been planning for 3+ months has finally come to life.

It's been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride putting this together, for you, today.

This event is the first event in India for freelancers and gig workers. It's an event to empower more youth to take up freelancing, freelancers to get better at freelancing, and experts to share how they got from zero to a hundred.

With that in mind, we've curated some of India's best freelancers and domain experts to speak with you all today, in hopes that their knowledge and experience shapes your future. 

Thank you to all our speakers who have taken time out of their busy Saturday to address us all. Share with us, the joys and struggles of the journey, along with the realities of freelancing.

We don't know what the future holds for all of us

But, what we do know, is that it is going to be an empowering one for us

One where this community uplifts. One filled with positivity.

We are shaping the future of not just our generation, but the next one too. One who's empowered to take up the risks and bask in the boons of freelancing.

I am proof of an experiment that was supposed to last 3 months, and here I am today, 10 months later, a proud solopreneur and freelancer

If I can do it, so can you.

Thank you to TapChief, our supporting partner, who's joined hands with us on this mission.

All our community partners - BrewHouse, Dramantram, Draper Startup House, Factor Notes, InstaMojo, Airmeet, Mitti Ke Rang, Gigzoe, Global Nomad Summit, GrowthMart, WittyPen and InstaTaskers

Thank you for believing in us and making this event a huge success today.

This is just the beginning of ONECelibre.

There is plenty more to come in the following months.

Stay tuned, 

and lots of love.

Signing off from ONECelibre's event at nearly 9pm was so heartbreaking, bittersweet and awesome, all at the same time.

Whoever insisted on this 'One Last Goodbye' - Thank you <3

This is the last photo we have on October 3, 2020. Tired faces, but overwhelmed with the love and appreciation you've shown us.

Before you go, peek at what our attendees said about the event. Unfiltered, raw, copied.

Signing off,

With love,

With even more hope and excitement for ONECelibre 2.0 in 2021

-Vanshi