Want to take on more clients or projects to grow your freelance business, but think you can’t afford to hire seasoned staff to delegate the workload? Are you an entrepreneurial graduate looking to get experience in a small business or startup? A recently launched freelancer site might be the answer to both of those scenarios. The Freelance Informer reports.
If you ever kicked yourself for having to forego new business and send it elsewhere because you didn’t have the capacity, you may want to consider looking to young freelance talent breaking into the working world.
This scenario is why Karl Swanepoel, a 22-year-old Artificial Intelligence and Robotics graduate of Aberystwyth University, has launched a business called Topwork. The beta platform will allow small businesses, including solopreneurs looking to grow their client base, to buy digital services from remote-working freelancers and students, in areas such as graphic design and programming, writing, programming, marketing and business assistance.
Swanepoel funded the business by securing a £13,000 investment through the University’s InvEnterPrize competition.
“When I was 14, I taught myself the basics of graphic design and website creation in the hopes of freelancing to make some money, but it was hard to get noticed and most of the platforms I looked into took a high percentage of commission which left me with virtually nothing,” he told Business News Wales.
“I recognised that small start-ups were also disadvantaged. It’s impossible for budding entrepreneurs to kick-start their business if they can’t afford to spend on essentials like marketing or creating a website,” said Swanepoel.
The goal of the platform is to pull down the barriers of entry to starting and growing a business online and earning a remote income, according to Swanepoel, who has also recently linked up with another entrepreneur, Kevin Mansell-Abell of That Media Group.
The Two entrepreneurs said that they are helping young people ‘Leap into’ their dream career, hence the name of their new venture, Leapinto a careers service that connects young people with professionals in industry directly.
- 88% of young brits agree that with the right guidance, they can achieve their career dream (Pitman & Cencuswide)
- However, 53% believe their career prospects are worsening (UCL)
Mansell-Abell of That Media Group has been actively involved in supporting young people to develop their careers for many years, but always felt something was missing.
“It’s more important than ever that young people are able to connect with those in industry, ask questions and build a richer picture of the world to work – pushing through the smoke and mirrors, getting the information directly from the horse’s mouth,” said Mansell-Abell.
Swanepoel, a budding entrepreneur and recent graduate also believed that more could be done to help young people.
“Throughout school, I never received support for the career I wanted to pursue. I wanted to start a business and be my own boss, however, I always felt entrepreneurship never had enough exposure in schools,” said Swanepoel.
After many conversations sharing their frustrations, Kevin and Karl created Leapinto – an online careers service, connecting young people with those in industry through virtual workshops.
Leapinto will be hosting weekly workshops via Zoom throughout August, completely free of charge. Bookings are subject to availability and can be made at: https://leapinto.co.uk/
Based in Monmouthshire but serving the whole UK online, Leapinto is taking bookings for weekly Zoom meet-ups throughout August. Their first event is 4th August 2021.
Some really useful pointers above, for what is out there and how to use it for expanding my small business with others, thank you. Makes me glad to be on your mailing list.
As a related comment, communications is a vital part of making any change effective. The steps above are just part of a bigger picture that needs to be articulated clearly to customers and stakeholders, to be most effective. As a result, I will consider approaching your communications expert, in Q1 in 2022. Hope this advance booking gives me a place in the queue, as others who act on your suggestions will undoubtedly realise the same requirement!