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#37: How to Earn More as a Freelancer (and Build a Community That Doesn’t Suck) with the Working Not Working Team

About the Episode:

In today’s episode, we’re talking to the founders of Working Not WorkingJustin Gignac and Adam Tompkins.

We’re also hearing from their kick-ass Head of Growth and a good friend of mine, Emily Slade in this episode. Now, we’ve had a few recent episodes of the show talking with freelancers and consultants who’ve had experience working on the marketplace sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

Today’s guests run a company that’s pretty much the opposite of these other freelance marketplace sites. Working Not Working is a self-described community of more than 30,000 highly curated freelancers from around the world – people who’ve won awards for their work – and companies like Google, Apple, Facebook actively source talent from their community.

The way it works is not based on collecting commissions from every project that’s booked—and the Working Not Working team doesn’t even put themselves in the middle of the transactions.

They’ve built a community of the best, most experienced, talented, motivated freelancers and because that community is so high quality, they’re able to charge the over 2,000 brands on their platform—a flat subscription fee to get access to their pool of creatives. On top of that, it’s free for creatives to be on the platform and you can apply to join right here.

 

In Today’s Episode, We Talk About:

[02:41] What books my guests are reading at the moment.
[06:05] How the business model differs from their competitors.
[08:27] How Working Not Working operates.
[10:12] What they were doing before Working Not Working.
[13:04] If Working Not Working was a side project.
[16:22] When they decided to focus full time on Working Not Working.
[17:55] What Emily’s early days at the company were like.
25:20 The first major client that they brought on.
[27:58] Their advice to new freelancers.
[34:47] What’s next for Working Not Working in 2018.

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Resources Mentioned:

A Column of Fire (The Kingsbridge Novels) by Ken Follett

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie

Letting Go: The Pathway Of Surrender by David R. Hawkins M.D.

 

Connect with My Guests:

Working Not Working

Working Not Working Magazine

Freelancer’s Fund, financial tools and services for creative freelancers

Justin on LinkedIn and Twitter

Adam on LinkedIn and Twitter

Emily on LinkedIn and Twitter

 

Subscribe, Review, & Share:

If you enjoyed this episode of The Side Hustle Project, I would love your support. Head over to the show on iTunes or in the Apple podcast app and give us a rating please! And as always you can catch every episode on the Apple podcast app, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for tuning in.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about how to earn more freelancing, what it takes to build a community (that doesn't suck), how to grow a subscription business with enterprise clients like Apple & Google, and so much more with the founders of Working Not Working, Justin Gignac, Adam Tompkins and their Head of Growth, Emily Slade.

 

Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

Blogger, podcaster and recovering side project addict. Head of Content at Close. Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog, make money blogging and grow a profitable side business. Be sure to try my popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer tool, as well. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Next Web, Business Insider, and more. Let’s chat on Twitter and YouTube about our feelings (and blogging, of course).

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3 replies to “#37: How to Earn More as a Freelancer (and Build a Community That Doesn’t Suck) with the Working Not Working Team”

  1. Great article! Never had much luck freelancing, might have to give it another shot!

    Keep up the great content! 🙂

    Reply
  2. That sounds quite interesting if you personally asked me, Ryan. One thing many people fail to acknowledge is that there’s no get-rich-quick strategy for earning instant Millions online. Just like a traditional day job, people have to put in the work if they want to see their online side hustle work for them. I’m all for entrepreneurship over the traditional nine-to-five day job. Even with a master’s degree or Ph.D today, one is still not guaranteed job security. They can still be booted out of the door simply off of the strength of someone’s mouth or someone not liking the other for whatever reason. That’s a pretty sad truth, isn’t it?

    Reply