The power of story in building your brand: a creative network founder answers your questions.

Hello and welcome to another edition of You’ve Got This, the newsletter that brings you thought-provoking conversations with interesting people you'll want to get to know. This past week we rounded up your questions for Stephanie Nadi Olson. She’s the founder and CEO of We Are Rosie, one of a new wave of companies that connect freelancers with curated opportunities for their talents. In the case of We Are Rosie, that focus is on marketing, media, and strategy: other platforms focus on gathering opportunities for freelancers in fields as varied as translation, software development or customer support.

For freelancing talent and companies alike it's a whole new world, and one in which both parties are working on defining tangible success. Whether you're on either side of this paradigm, or are interested in simply learning more about what these platforms can look like, read on to see Stephanie's answers to questions from you, the LinkedIn community.

From Waseem Satardien, freelance video producer & motion designer: "Building a platform that connects talent to those in need of it is an obvious benefit for all parties; however how long before the "elite" freelancers are also competing in a race to the bottom with companies being able to treat talent and skill as discardable objects and recycle every day? How do you combat this issue and ensure a space where talent and skill are genuinely valued?"

Stephanie: I believe that the future of work and advertising looks like distributed teams, with companies relying on freelance talent for their skills, not just their rates. When we pitch our business model to clients, it’s never about how “cheap” freelancers are, but rather the value added when a freelance expert or team of experts is leveraged to solve project-based needs.

It’s not a race to the bottom, it’s a race to find the best talent!

That’s why we exist. There will inevitably be players in the space focused on taking advantage of independent talent and playing it fast and loose with labor classification laws. These businesses are playing the short game. They will eventually lose out to those of us focused on doing right by freelancers and shifting the power dynamic from employer-focused to talent-focused.

From Holland Lind, marketing coordinator at 1517 Media: "I personally cannot make the jump to being a freelancer as I thrive in a team focused environment. I deliver better results due to the demands of working in a collaborative work space. What tools do you use to accommodate both businesses and marketers who also strive with strong team skills? In what ways can you create an honest connection with clients when you may never meet them face to face? "

Stephanie: Thank you Holland. A lot of people are just like you and thrive in a collaborative environment. I’ve found that there’s no better time than now to make the jump, because of the tools that enable face-to-face work and collaboration. When one of our members is on a remote job, we encourage the client to leverage video chats to foster community and collaboration, especially in creative or strategy work. My 7-person team wakes up every morning for a video call to start the day: we also use Slack to communicate not just about work, but about our pets, astrology and share funnies. We’ve also had fun with a virtual office tool called Sococo. There are loads of ways to build camaraderie for remote teams, but we find that what works best for each team will depend on the unique personalities on that team. It’s generally a combo of video chat, phone, Slack, and PM tools!

From Kudzayi Lorraine Kanyama, MFA in Luxury and Fashion Management: "What are the most optimal tactics for freelance talent to position themselves in the on-demand marketing space, particularly as new entrants looking to gain a client base and build some solid traction?"

Stephanie: For our marketing consultants, it’s always helpful to have a purpose statement in your Linkedin summary, as well as specifics on work you’ve done in your work history. The better you can convey your story and brand yourself, the clearer the message will come across to anyone looking to hire.  We also encourage our consultants to think beyond a traditional resume.

For freelance work, it’s often much more about case studies of your experience than a typical list of your work history.

We like to see accomplishments you are most proud of, a summary of the type of work that lights you up, and your goals as a freelancer (geo flexibility, career development, etc). All of this info helps us match our talent with the perfect project.

From Lauren McNemy, Brand journalist and copywriter: "I'm a member of a few talent-match platforms and have mixed success leaning towards no success. How can we, as freelancers, ensure we're visible, that we're putting our best self forward, and generally make ourselves known on these platforms? And how do you as a platform ensure it's not a race to be cheapest, and instead ensure quality is chosen over rock-bottom prices? How can we buck the trend that freelance = cheap and disposable, rather than a flexible partner to a marketing team?"

Stephanie: Love this question! My mission as a founder is to provide dignity and respect to marketing talent that have chosen the independent path. A lot of the stigma around freelancing is simply because to date, freelancers have only had themselves to advocate for their lifestyle. Our firm belief in flexible work is a drum beat we sound across our marketing channels and with our brand/agency clients. “Cheap” is definitely not our selling point, but rather access to an incredible community of highly talented consultants ready to step in and get the job done. In the end, companies who leverage on-demand talent to bolster their full time teams have found the return on investment and keep coming back for more.

From Lorna McKilray, Experienced marketing and communications professional: "It's clear freelancing is becoming ever more popular in marketing. What type of companies do you usually work with and are they more likely to be start-ups/new businesses? I'm new to freelancing and trying to gain a better understanding of how different industries/company types generally work with outsourced marketers - for example larger, more established companies looking for copywriters, smaller newer companies looking for marketing strategy."

Stephanie: Welcome to the freelance revolution! We work with the big six ad agency holding companies, as well as several Fortune100 brand marketing teams. We typically do not work with startups as our mission is to provide bigger and better opportunities to our community of marketing consultants. The projects we take on run the gamut of marketing– from design to creative direction, from media strategy to media buying, from analytics to brand strategy. We find that larger organizations often have more robust programs for accessing flexible talent and integrating it into their full-time approach to talent. Late stage start ups often come to us when they’ve outgrown the bootstrapping tactics that have allowed their business to be successful to date- they often need specialized resources to get their business growth to the next level.

From Wendy van Eyck, nonprofit communications expert: "What is the best way to build your network as a freelancer to find better clients?"

Stephanie: Don’t do it alone! Join a community who can advocate for you and curate roles that best suit your skills and lifestyle.

Leverage your Linkedin to tell your story, what your mission is, your passion, your goals and the brands you’ve worked on.

And lastly, ask for referrals. If you do a great job for one client, it’s quite possible they might know other clients who can use your services. About 90% of our business comes from referrals.

From Michelle Yeadon, Chief Strategy Officer @ Byte: "What have you found are the most successful ways to convince company leaders who are doubtful that flexible/remote/freelance workers are right for their business? Those who think “we’re only sure to get the desired outcome if permanent staff do the work”?"

Stephanie: Our mission and pitch is always focused on our goal: to treat independent workers with dignity and respect they deserve. In my experience, no one hears a human-first approach and balks at it; they (as humans themselves) become curious to hear more about how this model improves the lives of workers and ultimately garners great work.  And from a very tactical standpoint, we understand it can be difficult to get people to reconsider their talent approach to one that is inclusive of flexible talent. We often recommend a crawl-walk-run approach, where we place one Rosie in first, get the team comfortable with the process in a low stakes way, before scaling our programs with clients. Change is hard, but choosing a flex talent partner dedicated to helping your company through the organizational transformation required to successfully leverage freelance at scale is essential.

From Maria Sa Carvalho, freelance creative: "As more and more people go freelance to (also) benefit from more agency in their own careers, how can these talent platforms act in a way that brings true value to freelancers and not take a role that is simply being a cool version of "the middlemen"?"

Stephanie: Great question, Maria. The thing that sets our company apart from “middleman” (or “middlewomen”)  is that we care deeply about the consultants in our community, and we work tirelessly to make sure we hand-pick roles that suit their lifestyle and passion versus dumping a pile of “relevant” roles that may fit their background. There is no automation in our services, and every communication with our consultants and brand clients has a human touch. This past year, we began to offer healthcare and weekly pay for our consultants as a response to the fact that freelancers are often not given such human dignity in the past.

From Jim Dorio, freelance writer and creative director: "In my experience the biggest challenge so far as a freelancer registered on several platforms is making prospective clients aware of the talent platforms. I would say that maybe 1% to 5% of all clients know such platforms exist. Agencies and major brands know, Tide and BBDO know, but what about the millions of small businesses, associations, charities, non-profits etc. out there. Do you have a perspective on this and how platforms can widen their awareness?"

Stephanie: Thank you Jim. There’s absolutely a ton of opportunity to create more visibility for small businesses seeking marketing consultants.  We Are Rosie’s client base is primarily big brands and agencies like you mentioned. Until a new innovation arises, small businesses will have to do their due diligence to do market research. Sounds like a business opportunity for anyone looking to solve this problem! 

From Tiphereth Gloria: "I went freelance nearly 6 years ago as a direct response to being pregnant and wanting more control over my time. I’m interested in Stephanie Nadi Olson’s perspective on how much the platform is intended to support women working in more flexible ways. My other question relates to the use of community in the platform - if projects can be showcased by both clients and freelancers in an interactive way? Reason I ask is that many smaller businesses don’t have the knowledge or understanding to know who to hire directly, versus hiring an entire agency. A community driven platform such as yours may facilitate teaching other small business owners about the types of solutions that are available to them."

Stephanie: My own maternity leave inspired me to launch my company.  Now that I’m two years in, I believe that reinforcing a flexible work life at scale will not just help women, but it will create a new paradigm of work in totality. We have placed dozens of working mothers on projects to date! To answer your second question, stay tuned! We are building something like that which we’re excited to launch in 2020 :)

Follow Stephanie here on LinkedIn.

Thank you all for your wonderful questions. We'll be taking a break from the newsletter next week for the holiday season, but we'll be back first thing in the new year. Don't miss our exciting first guest that we'll be announcing on January 2. Until then, happy holidays!