So there are a ton of freelance job boards out there, with Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer topping the list. However, there are a few issues with each of them:
Fiverr - it's a race to the bottom, and you get what you pay for. There are so many $5 services being offered, especially in web development and design, that the product you get is something that is not even worth spending $5. This is an issue for both consumers and producers, as it encourages a race to the bottom, and discourages quality product.
Upwork - I love this platform, but their fees are quite unattractive. Not only do you have to pay to get more than 100 connects per month, which you will need if you rely on freelancing as your primary income, but each job takes an additional 20% fee off of what you are owed, and marginally decreases based on how much work you do with the client again.
Freelancer - this is the definition of the race to the bottom, as the whole model is based around an auction for the lowest price.
The main problems I see here are two fold:
My idea is to create a job board that is based on a subscription model:
You pay X amount to get access to the board, and can submit proposals to any jobs. Unlimited. You get 100% the full compensation for the work.
It's free to post a job to the board, however after 5 postings, it will start to cost %2 of the overall project fee to post a job.
I believe this model would encourage higher quality freelancers, and more complicated projects being posted.
I like it. I’d join as long as the user base was there to justify the monthly fee. You might have to offer a bunch of top freelancers from other sites a free year just to get the ball rolling.
That's a great way to get some freelancers on board early on, thanks!
I like your suggestion