TL;DL: In this engaging conversation, Greg Cooke of Rafiki and freelance designer Paul Loots unpack the evolving freelance economy. They reveal how 70% of UK businesses plan to expand their use of contingent workers and discuss Africa's growing share of global freelancers. The conversation touches on the rise of 'solopreneurship', the impact of AI on productivity, and the shift towards low-code solutions. Both Greg and Paul stress the importance of clear communication and boundary-setting when working with passionate founders.
They also highlight the opportunities for Africa's youth in this new landscape, where traditional education is being "unbundled" by online upskilling. This insightful discussion offers a glimpse into the future of work, where flexibility, adaptability, and specialised skills are becoming increasingly valuable.
Video Q&A Snippets:
As a small agency owner and independent freelance designer, what are the key benefits of working with founders?
Greg Cooke emphasises the stakes of working directly with founders:
"I love working with founders. That's sort of my number one person to work with and it's because of that passion. They have this dream and a lot of the times they've put up their life savings, they've quit their jobs, they're starting this new thing, and it's high stakes, it's make or break."
Paul Loots adds:
"Some of the biggest advantages that I've seen is being able to have a much larger impact on whatever project you're working on. You're not in a massive company, working on this small little subset of something. You are working directly with founders and the people who are making the decisions, and that drives faster change and allows the project to progresses faster."
Can you share some recent statistics or trends about the freelance economy?
Greg notes significant trends in the UK and globally:
"In the UK, around 70% of businesses plan to expand their use of contingent workers over the next five years. And we've seen similar stats in the US."
He explains the reasons behind this trend:
"Ultimately, I think businesses are being forced to become a lot leaner. And we're seeing full-time startup team sizes shrinking while the use of contingent workforces in the form of freelancers, or fractional specialists are increasing."
Paul adds a global perspective:
"I recently saw a statistic that Africa holds over 10% of the world's freelancers, that's a big number considering the population of Africa and the skill potential of the region."
What are some of the main pain points freelancers face when working with startups, and how can these be addressed?
Paul identifies several key issues:
"Some of the biggest issues that I've come across is making sure that the client has a clear project scope because scope creep happens. Inconsistent communication or struggling to get payments out of clients can also be challenging."
Greg echoes these concerns and adds:
"I think it's exactly those, Paul. It's miscommunication a lot of the time... founders are quite passionate people and they can come across as potentially micromanaging."
To address these issues, Paul suggests:
"It's pretty similar to any human relationship and that's really establishing the set of values and also the communication style, cadence and expectations upfront. So it's better to over communicate rather than under communicate, and also make boundaries very clear."
What should founders be aware of when working with freelancers or small agencies?
Greg emphasises the importance of proper preparation:
"I think in terms of potential pain points or things to be aware of from a client standpoint, founder or team lead looking to hire freelancers really taking a step back and objectively trying to drill down and validate your assumptions in terms of your hypothesised needs for hiring x, y or z freelancer."
Paul adds:
"You need to have a proper project plan from the beginning. You need to have the clause that states, how do we deal with scope changes? Because with founders the scope always increases. And that's not a bad thing. You want them to dream and explore, but when that happens, they need to know how it will be dealt with."
Can you explain what 'fractional talent' means and why it's becoming popular among startups?
Greg explains:
"Traditionally the term fractional talent was more focused on C-suite positions. So things like a fractional CFO or CMO were evident in the startup scene, and that's ultimately a form of freelancing, but usually a highly skilled freelancer, mid to very senior, with very specific domain expertise..."
He adds:
"From a business standpoint, it means that you can often get access to really solid, skill specific, domain specific expertise for a fraction of the cost while still being able to kind of scale up and down your team as and when the business needs..."
How do you see the future of work evolving, particularly in terms of team structures and contingent workforces?
Greg sees a trend towards more flexible, entrepreneurial work structures:
"We're seeing this rise in what you'd call solopreneurship. Solo founders, which traditionally has been marked as a bit of a red flag, especially from a venture capital standpoint... But I think due to economic downturns, people have started to really want to create their own opportunities."
Paul adds a note of caution:
"But word of advice to those people, as someone who's gone through it and burned out, I'm pretty sure you might have experienced a similar thing, Greg. You need to learn to understand yourself, understand your body, know how much you can take and know where your boundaries for rest are and really establish those when taking on opportunities."
What opportunities and threats does this evolving work landscape present for Africa?
Greg sees significant opportunities:
"Africa's got one of the fastest growing youth populations in the world. The freelancer economy and freelancer platforms for tech startups is fairly nascent in nature in Africa, but it's changing very quickly."
He notes:
"What's encouraging to see is that with the releases of various softwares and online boot camps and “DIY upskilling” that people have access to, provided they've got internet, has meant that there's this unbundling of traditional colleges and tertiary educations. Increasingly traditional education isn't required in order for someone to land a really solid job at a great startup the UK or in the states coming out of Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa."
Check out the full Q&A here:
Original LinkedIn Article here.
Read more from Paul as he delves into conversations with the trailblazers of the tech industry: https://www.paulloots.com/magazine
