Solos Develops Services E-commerce Platform for Freelancers

Freelancing practice or freelancing is not new, especially in the midst of the difficult post-pandemic period in this country. Many people are looking for other job channels to survive or increase their income. In fact, not a few who make this freelance work as their main source of livelihood.

The idea to create a platform marketplace freelancers have been born since Ricky Willianto first built Ravenry which focuses on targeting writers and researchers. He sees that there are still many unresolved issues when a freelancer wants to offer his services, both in terms of inefficient processes to complicated payments.

Starting from here, he developed "Solos" with a vision to empower everyone to do the work they love in a financially sustainable way. In addition, to help freelancer or solopreneur shortens the time it takes to conclude transactions, which in turn leads to more revenue.

Solutions offered

Solos presents three main solutions, namely as portfolio builder, online shop for service, and payment solutions for service sellers. This platform is equipped with technology that makes it easy freelancer to build websites and shops online with an attractive front-end and enable them to credibly showcase their work and services.

In addition, this platform is also supported by behind-the-scenes technology that helps with project management . more easily and regularly, from project management, chat, bills, to payment systems. Solos gives freedom and flexibility for freelancer to determine how to work, communicate, and how to pay with clients.

“Unlike the service search platform . others that limit the means of communication and payment schemes between the client and the freelancer, Solos gives freedom to freelancer and solopreneur to offer their services directly to clients with a communication platform and payment scheme that they can define themselves,” added Ricky.

The big challenges that still often arise in this industry are cross-border transactions. One solution from Solos has enabled a simple, fast and secure process of receiving payments. Currently Solos has also collaborated with several channel global and local payments so that it can make payments easier cross-border. One of them is also with a digital wallet application, freelancers on the Solos platform will soon be able to receive salaries via Gopay.

The importance of building community

Solos positioned himself as facilitator for sales and payments. In terms of services offered, his party admitted that they were not directly involved. However, that doesn't mean the team is hands off with every deal that happens on its platform. The company ensures that everything that happens in its ecosystem is in line with applicable regulations and laws.

Currently Solos is focused on providing helpful content freelancer navigate financial requirements and related legal requirements freelancing. Recently his team brought in HR practitioners and labor law experts to help our freelancers manage their business properly to comply with local laws in Indonesia.

For the current team there are 8 people, consisting of technicians, products, marketing and the one that was recently recruited was the team community & customer success. Ricky judged that being freelancer and solo entrepreneur it can sometimes be "a lonely journey", therefore the team focuses on educating and building networks with people who have the same vision and mission.

Currently the Solos community is formed through several social media, such as Discord, Telegram and Facebook. In total there are currently more than 300 people. Ricky admitted that he is quite selective in selecting members, his team believes that a good community must start with people who are serious and have clear and precise objectives.

Regarding the target market, the biggest focus is on content creator, like designer, videographerand writer, but many also offer professional services such as PR consultants and market researcher. In addition, more personalized services such as make-up artist, private tutor, or personal trainer can also be offered through this platform.

According to Solos' observations, five cities with a total of freelancers most in Indonesia including Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya, Bekasi, and Bali. Solos himself set their headquarters on the Island of the Gods aka Bali because his team believes Bali is the right business center with many tourists freelancers, solopreneur and digital nomads.

Ricky also actively builds communication with the freelancer and solopreneur in Bali, this platform was firstlaunch to ensure that its products can actually help scale up the business.

"We want to be close to users and that's why we moved to Canggu, Bali. In addition, we hold various events for the solopreneur community here to help them learn from each other, collaborate better, and hopefully win more business and clients together, " he said.

The future of the industry . in Indonesia

Nowadays, trend freelancing is increasing globally. According to Solos' observations, there are currently around 70 million freelancers and solo entrepreneur who are ready to offer their services or business in Southeast Asia. Annual income value freelancers in Southeast Asia it accounts for $730 billion.

The same trend occurs in Indonesia. The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded 33,34 million people working as freelancer and small business owners until August 2020. This figure is up 4,32 million people or 26 percent from the previous year. The World Bank also noted the growth of players freelancing reaching 30% every year with the dominance of the 18-44 year age segmentation. This is supported by the fact that 97 percent of freelancers are happier than office workers, according to research from the University of Brighton School of Business.

The series of facts above further strengthen Solos' ambition to be able to empower freelancers in Indonesia. His team also believes that a major transition is taking place in today's workforce. The new generation prefers freedom, flexibility, and impactful, passion-driven work. As a result, people who used to depend on office work are now starting their own businesses enabled by technology and remote work.

Moreover, it turns out that Indonesia already has a legal umbrella that protects the rights of its citizens freelancers namely Law No. 13 of 2003. The rights of workers every casual day as well as the period or period of work are regulated in the Decree of the Minister and Manpower No. 104 of 2004 regarding work agreements for a certain time (PKWT) or an indefinite period of time (PKWTT).

The company is said to have experienced exponential growth in the number of users since it first started operating. In addition, this platform also has global appeal and has attracted the interest of freelancers and solopreneurs from Philippines, Australia, India, USA and other markets globally. Solos is currently collecting seed round from investors in Southeast Asia and Europe. So far, several angel investors from companies such as Microsoft, HSBC, JP Morgan, and Blackberry have been involved.

With business growth expected as the industry matures, Solos has plans to build new features that help freelancers in terms of automating compliance requirements to ensure they can focus on the business instead of wasting time with inefficient administrative processes.

Apart from Solos, there are already several other players in Indonesia who provide similar solutions. One of them is Sribu who just acquired a Japanese HR company, Mynavi Corporation Japan. Besides that, there are Fastwork and Briefer, a strategic unit of IGICO Advisory that specifically accommodates workers in the communication sector.