March 30, 2021 Freelancers are Changemakers: Stories from Inside The Human Cloud with Matthew Mottola

Each week on the Uprisor podcast, we talk with future of work thought leaders about tech innovation and on-demand talent. This week, Topcoder VP Clinton Bonner is joined by Matthew Mottola, Co-Founder and CEO of Venture L and author of The Human Cloud: How Today’s Changemakers Use Artificial Intelligence and the Freelance Economy to Transform Work. Venture L is a an operating system and platform intended to help freelancers organize and scale their work.

Book giveaway— We’re giving away 2 digital copies of Matt’s book! Drop a comment on YouTube sharing your favorite part or biggest takeaway from the conversation, and and you’ll be entered to win.

In the episode, Clinton and Matthew discuss:

• The role freelancing has in maximizing cost efficiency
• Difficulties and opportunities leadership faces in pivoting to a hybrid employment model
• How technology disruptions and automation will change the landscape of employment

Doing More With Less

Though now a well-versed expert, Matthew’s entrance into the freelancing world was a happy accident. Facing employment limitations due to his collegiate athletics scholarship, Matt took the knowledge and skills from his business major and sought out customers of his own, pitching contracts and scoping out projects. He started to see that the desire to do more for less was at the root of most business decisions — and that freelancing could be an essential element in helping companies accelerate results while maximizing cost efficiency. 

“[Freelancing] is not a vacuum… Instead, it’s this hybrid nature where work has become digital, remote, and outcome-based.” – Matthew Mottola

Change is Hard

Next, Clinton and Matthew jump into a discussion about the difficulty leaders face in adopting a hybrid employment model that includes freelance workers. Not only do they have to overcome the traditional processes that exist for hiring, firing, training, etc., but they have to acknowledge that work that’s been so closely-guarded for the life of the company might not need to be completed within the confines of their organization’s four walls after all. The two acknowledge that the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to reevaluate their existing structures while highlighting the long-term efficiency opportunities that exist in transitioning to remote work, on-demand talent, and crowd-sourced solutions. As Matt puts it: “This is not a quick trend or flash in the pan. This is a full transformation.” 

Stories from inside the human cloud

Moving on, Matthew walks Clinton through a few of his favorite case studies of the benefits offered by freelancing from both the client and freelancer perspectives. From breaking into a new market using dozens of individual experts, to those who are paving their own path when the world has said, “No,” these examples highlight the limitless possibilities of on-demand talent.

“The freelance economy democratizes opportunity. It doesn’t care where you went to school. It doesn’t care where you live. It literally just cares, “What is the outcome?” – Matthew Mottola

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