A day in the life of Carter Howe is anything but ordinary. As a photographer and model, his freelance work with clients takes him all over the country; when we spoke, he was hours away from hopping on a plane from LA to NYC. It’s a constant series of unexpected events for the 23-year-old who’s now been freelancing full-time for five years.
“To be honest with you, I think I started so young that I had no idea what to expect,” he says. “I was really just doing it for fun, rolling up to shows and pretending I was shooting for big name magazines so that I could sneak in -- you know, just trying to get an interview with the band.”
Subhed: Inefficiency is bad for your project -- and for the freelancers you hire
Howe has come a long way from his impromptu roots -- these days, his work is mostly with clients, for modeling, acting, and photography gigs. You know -- clients with official contracts, legal teams, tight deadlines, and lots of last-minute requests. Often, the exchanges between Howe and his clients are woefully inefficient, and get in the way of his creative process.
But that all changed with Archie. When Howe collaborated with DS Projects and used the platform to invoice and get paid, it was night and day.
“People don’t want to pay on time or they want revisions for free or they won’t send over a contract until the day of the shoot. So for me, the experience of using Archie is all about two things: speed and respect. Because respect is really hard to come by sometimes. I’m trans, and when I transitioned last year, my experience as a male-presenting person versus as a female-presenting person...the difference in the way I was treated was just nauseating. You don’t want to be in a space where people’s identities are up for interpretation.”
Subhed: Archie is a safe space for both businesses and freelancers alike
In a world where human bias often gets in the way of decision-making, Howe can use Archie to sidestep the bullshit and protect himself and his business from a safe distance. He hopes that one day, Archie isn’t the exception to the rule, but the norm.
“I have so many different dreams for independent contractors and freelancers,” he says. “Just having Archie as a building block, it sets an important precedent about the value of freelancers. That’s huge. It’s putting power back in the hands of people who work in the gig economy.”