In recent years, there has been a notable change in the way people work. Many individuals now prefer remote jobs offered on freelance platforms. This shift is motivated by various factors, such as the convenience and flexibility remote work provides. Additionally, advancements in technology have made it simpler to connect with clients and collaborate with colleagues regardless of geographical location.
One such technology that has further pushed the limits of remote work is web3 technology.
Fiverr’s latest survey on freelancers in Web3 shows that about 54% of freelancers earn an additional $2,600 to $5,200 per month by selling their Web3 skills and they find it more convenient to work for web3 startups and platforms.
Freelancers are optimistic about Web3 opportunities as it allows them to have a fully immersive work experience centered around their convenience and giving them all the credit they deserve.
This article discusses how Web3 is impacting the freelancing business.
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OptriSpace Team
Web3 Payment Solutions: Cryptocurrencies
You may have heard of freelancers preferring to be paid in cryptocurrency and wondered why.
When you talk about a fast, low cost and borderless payment solution, Paypal isn’t the first thing that comes to the mind of about 50% of freelancers, not even Venmo or the biggest traditional banks. What comes to the minds of these freelancers as a payment method that meets their everyday needs is Cryptocurrency.
For traditional banks or online payment services like PayPal, payments take roughly three days to complete. And if you’re unlucky because of your location on the planet, it can take up to two weeks and don’t forget you still have to pay that 2-10% fee for your transactions, depending on your location.
Web3 offers freelancers and clients a better payment solution by using cryptocurrencies. Due to crypto’s decentralized nature, it is an excellent payment method for clients and freelancers who are always on the move or situated in some remote or restricted country that doesn’t have access to some payment services.
The lack of a central transaction processing authority allows clients to pay freelancers for their services at far cheaper rates and fees compared to other payment methods like PayPal, Venmo, or payment service providers freelance platforms are accustomed to, but there’s more; your payments won’t only cost less but can be sent instantly to anywhere in the world.
In addition, using crypto as a payment method has inspired freelancers to adopt the Digital nomad lifestyle as they don’t have to worry about how they’ll get paid or the rate they have to pay for fees because of their current location.
Decentralized freelancing Marketplace
What are the benefits of a decentralized system? The community controls what happens and is fully rewarded for its services.
Decentralization is the primary tool Web3 brings into freelancing. It a decentralized network of clients and freelancers who can interact, communicate, and transact on a peer-to-peer level without relying on intermediaries.
Freelancers enjoy autonomy in their work, allowing them to dictate their rates and collaborate with clients based on their preferred terms. Additionally, one of the most appealing aspects is that they typically avoid the high fees, usually around 10-20%, charged by popular freelancing platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr.
The drawback to this would have been the absence of an escrow system to ensure clients receive their desired work and the freelancers get paid. This is where DAOs come in.
Web3 technologies function within Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) where members include both freelancers and clients. It is worth mentioning that membership is open to anyone, regardless of their status. This emphasizes the community’s control over the operations.
You can think of DAOs as the companies of web3 but essentially, they’re not companies because you are not an employee of a DAO, and you can basically join a DAO to complete missions or tasks and get paid for them. They bring transparency to the relationship between clients and freelancers. When a job is posted, it can come with an attached payment through a smart contract. As long as the freelancer completes the task specified in the smart contract, they will automatically receive their reward.
Since the DAO is governed by the entire community, this model revolutionizes the freelance economy in such a way that freelancers gain the freedom to select and work on various jobs from multiple DAOs.
Once the terms of each job are fulfilled, the smart contract triggers automatic payment to the freelancer making the process almost hands-off.
Global accessibility
Freelancing is gaining popularity worldwide as a solution to the lack of job opportunities in certain regions. This trend plays a key role in fueling the expansion of the global freelancing economy, expected to reach a staggering $455 billion by 2023.
The hindrance to the growth of the freelancing economy is our current centralized freelancing technology which faces the serious problem of global accessibility. Some countries do not have access to the global network of freelancers and clients and for some centralized platforms, there are marginalized jobs that only a select group of countries can apply to. This can significantly affect the freelancing economy.
Web3, through decentralization, gives power to clients and freelancers. This means that no centralized authority is responsible for placing certain restrictions or regulations on the generalized population of freelancers globally; the global network of freelancers and clients is made available and accessible to the global populace.
Instead of servers, Web3 systems use nodes which are any computer from any part of the world accessing the services to validate transactions on the blockchain. This means that web3 is available to you provided you have internet service.
With Web3 freelance platforms, these restrictions are lifted, and jobs are available to freelancers worldwide as long as they have an internet connection. Freelancers can tap into a global client base, expanding their opportunities and breaking down traditional barriers associated with location-dependent work.
More job opportunities for freelancers
In a short period of time, freelancers are showing how much opportunity there is to sell Web3-related services. There are also unique opportunities related to design and development in the Metaverse, which most Web2 companies are trying to achieve, hence the increase in the search for Web3 skilled experts.
A survey from Fiverr showed that 94% of freelancers have already profited from the sale of Web3-related services and there are currently more than 18,000 active Web3 jobs on the internet.
The inception of Web3 brought numerous job opportunities for Web3 talents and freelancers as more companies are working on transitioning from Web2 to Web3.
Web3 jobs are available in software development, content creation, marketing, Blockchain, Finance, Sales, Data analysis, Operations skills, and cyber Security. Web3 jobs in these fields have been said to pay more than their Web2 counterparts.
Another unspoken use of Web3 technology in freelancing is that freelancers can tokenize their work just like you would create a gig on Fiverr. Freelancers can easily create a gig using smart contracts to automate their workflow and payment processes. Clients can purchase the tokenized services, and the freelancer gets paid in crypto. One such Web3 freelance platform offering this is OrtJob.
Conclusion
The world of remote work has drastically changed over the years; freelancing is no longer a hobby, side hustle, or a means to pursue a passion while maintaining an on-site job. People are now taking remote freelancing as their primary source of livelihood.
According to a recent survey conducted by Upwork, the world’s leading freelancing platform, it was found that approximately 60% of freelancers who transitioned from traditional employment are currently earning higher incomes than their previous jobs. This suggests that the global freelancing market possesses significant growth opportunities. Moreover, with the emergence of web3 technology, these freelancers have even greater potential to expand their capabilities and achieve more in their respective fields.
Author: Fleming Airunugba
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