There’s a lot of conversations happening right now about crypto -- but what does it all mean for a freelancer? Why does it matter? Currently, the most talented freelancers have three options: either get promoted within their current organization, get a new position at a different organization, or start an agency of their own. Each option has its own set of pros and cons.
Getting promoted within or outside your organization will get you paid more, might get you equity into the company you work for, but you won’t have much flexibility on what you work on because you don’t govern your workplace. On the other hand, starting your own agency will give you the flexibility to work on exciting projects, but requires an immense amount of effort to start your own company and operate it day in and day out.
Earn more with crypto payouts & outpace inflation
According to a recent survey by the Department of Labor (Nov 2021), 53% of the people surveyed wanted to see higher pay in their next job. While a job seeker may see a salary increase, they actually may not feel it. According to the Employment Cost Index in the same study, wages and salaries haven’t kept pace with the rising inflation rate.
Cryptocurrency, by comparison, is a rapidly ascending asset class. If you were paid in Bitcoin on January 1st, you would have seen a 104% increase in value of that payout this year alone. Financial experts believe that Bitcoin will reach as high as $100,000 by 2022, giving you even more upside for getting paid in crypto. Ethereum continues to make new all time highs (ATHs), recently breaking past $4,600 with a price target of up to $14,000.
Work on projects that excite you
Talent cannot earn beyond certain salary bands —> earn crypto & only work on what you want
- As talent moves up the ranks, they are asked to sell vs operate
- There are specialist roles within Agencies, but they typically have a different promotion schedule
Skilled workers don’t need to be beholden to one agency, one client or one platform. With the pace of innovation quickening across decentralized finance (DeFi), social media 3.0 by way of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse, there are new roles that need to be filled for projects that don’t even exist yet.
Working on web3 projects at the dawn of a new internet will not only excite the most talented freelance workers, but also position you to build your network in this rapidly growing market.
Have a say in how the team operates
Anyone who has freelanced for an agency or brand has witnessed this: the stakeholders are misaligned, there's too many cooks in the kitchen, or there are just way to many meetings. Working in a DAO that has governance tokens means that you have a say in how the DAO operates. Changes to the operating structure usually require votes on proposals. Each DAO has different rules who can propose a project, as well as different ways that a project passes. But the core principal is this: that as a governance token holder, you have a say in how your team runs. Quite refreshing to think about considering all of the dysfunctional corporations that are out there.
In summary, DAOs gives talented freelancers like you the ability to receive crypto payment in exchange for work (rather than that dirty fiat money), give you flexibility to focus on projects and roles that excite you, and give you a seat at the table to change or propose better ways of working within an organization.
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