Full-time is very 2020. But so are your tools... time to upgrade, yesterday.
We’re going to hit you with some pretty wild statistics — 59 million people freelanced in 2020 and contributed a combined $1.2 trillion to the U.S. economy.
Those impressive numbers are just the beginning.
With so many people getting into the groove of remote work during the pandemic, the draw of hiring freelancers is growing in a big way.
The workforce is changing, and it’s changing fast. So, what does this all mean for you?
Benefits of hiring freelancers
This growing wave of independent contractors promises big savings (time and money) 💸 . You can hire freelancers at the top of their fields while cutting costs on office space, supplies and payroll benefits.
Plus, let’s talk *flexibility.* Work with freelancers on an as-needed, project-to-project basis and tap into global talent around the world. We’re already seeing a spike in highly skilled freelancers who work in specialty fields like influencer marketing, art direction and photography.
The best part? 73% of people surveyed by Upwork said working remotely actually made them more productive. That means you can expect a higher output of work from freelancers and slam dunks on project deadlines.
The problem with hiring freelancers
Here come those pesky cons. Demand for freelancers keeps growing but systems/tools remain outdated and inefficient. This leads to major roadblocks like:
- Frustrating back and forth emails between managers, freelancers and accounts payable teams
- Drowning in (missing and incorrect) 1099s during tax season
- Manual paperwork
- Internal communication issues with things like approvals and deliverables
- Late payouts and unhappy freelancers
THE freelance onboarding and payment tool for businesses
Archie closes the gap between you and freelancers, giving businesses the right tools to make speedier payments, develop more transparent relationships with contractors and encourage better output of work. And here’s some news that will make your freelancers really, really happy: we help you offer flexible terms at no cost to you—we’re talking Net1!
How do we do that? Archie streamlines onboarding, paying and managing freelancers all in one platform, cutting out wasted time and resources so you can go back to being the creative, hard working wizard that you are 🧙. If your freelancer chooses early pay, we will front the money and wait for you to pay us back according to the original terms. If they choose original terms, then it's business as usual and you pay them through Archie.
Here’s how it works.
- Invite freelancers to join a specific project or campaign in one click
- Request invoices
- Approve, decline and make payments through a user-friendly dashboard
- Easily download reports for your records
Freelancers benefit from Archie in a big way, too. They’ll get access to the platform for a quick sign up, one-time digital W9 and invoice builder, and a dashboard to track payments. They can also connect their bank account (manually or using Plaid) for efficient, seamless and safe payments.
And happy freelancers = happy businesses. Why? Because freelancers — especially creative types! — are a tight knit community, who swap information on which companies treat them well and which companies have burned them.
Make timely, transparent payments and you’ll have access to some of the top talent in the industry. Be negligent and freelancers can (and probably will!) put you on blast to their massive followings. Or you’ll wind up with a bad review on Fuck You Pay Me, an app where influencers share their experiences with brands they’ve worked with.
Here’s where we toot our own horn: Archie’s business users note that their independent contractors are super happy with our streamlined payment process. Plus, our users reported a 40% decrease in time spent doing manual paperwork and closed mission critical roles 20% faster thanks to Archie’s flexible terms.
“Switching to Archie to onboard and pay our freelancers has allowed us to drive efficiencies and adapt to the future of work in ways that don’t disrupt our day-to-day as a startup,” Vinay Menda, president of Blank Street, said.
Echoed by Jacques Bastien, founder of Shade, a leading influencer marketing agency, called us his company’s “most important partnership to date.” ☺️
Archie = more transparency, better working relationships and so. many. less. emails sent.