JobBliss: Creating stability and security in the gig economy

People need ongoing employment, as well as career-building work, no matter where they live. Companies are continually challenged to find flexible, skilled talent. Using recruiters to fulfill this need is expensive and time-consuming. JobBliss is the solution: a cloud-based platform where freelancers can find jobs, share their portfolio, and where companies can easily connect with a database of freelance talent.

Consolidating and controlling all activity within organizations, JobBliss gives contractors visibility, which increases their chances of finding more work and the opportunity to get “booked up”, which affords regular payment, and job security. It empowers everyone to enjoy an improved work-life balance, and ultimately, prosperity. 

A win-win solution, freelancers gain work experience which helps build confidence, particularly among people who face barriers to employment.  Working remotely helps lower stress, reduces costs, and offers a bonus positive environmental impact by cutting down on travel pollution. 

The scale is huge: By 2020, 50% of the North American workforce will be freelance[1].  That means between 60 and 80 million people will be affected by lack of job security, and moving between jobs. It also means companies need the flexibility to hire the talent when they need it, and manage it as they grow. Current systems for temporary labor create inefficiencies in recruitment, onboarding, and retention that can cost companies between 450K-3.6M in losses per year.4]

84% of companies lack a secure solution to manage their growing teams of contract talent[2]. This poses legal, security, and privacy risks. JobBliss enables companies to build, manage, and track their freelance talent, consolidate and share staffing resources, ensure compliance, and regulate payment and invoicing. 

Freelancing requires an ongoing search for work, and offers no real job security. 77% of freelancers report that they are less financially stable after leaving a full-time job.[5] This is in part due to a reduction in billable hours due to administrative inefficiencies, and 71% of freelancers reported struggling to collect payment from a client or not being paid at all in 2015.[7] 

The population JobBliss serves is anyone who wants or needs to take on contract or  freelance work, as a flexible option for people who aren’t able to work fulltime, or who need to work around other constraints, including: 

• Pregnant women who may not be offered a permanent position

• Women returning to work after maternity leave

• Persons with disabilities

• Rural residents in remote areas where local work opportunities are scarce

• Freelancers with niche skill sets 

• People who require a flexible work/life balance to manage family needs

• Refugees/internally displaced persons or minorities/previously excluded populations

who haven’t had the opportunity to work with enough people to make new connections.

JobBliss offers exposure to companies, allowing candidates to try out new jobs and upskill as they learn and grow. It enables visibility across organizations, for further opportunities, as well as a direct connection to HR to get hired and onboarded faster. Freelancers can get booked up, schedule work in advance, and ultimately find more quality jobs.

JobBliss is a cloud-based SaaS platform that can be used by any company, anywhere in the world. Our platform is scalable, and can grow to fit the needs of the user. One admin can have hundreds of managers in their team, and each manager can connect, manage, and work with thousands of freelancers, with a top down view of all internal management and external contractor activity. It’s also a connection and collaboration tool for both the contractor and the hiring manager. It’s easy to access, and free for contractors to use.

JobBliss helps employers find talent quickly, and share those resources across companies for more visibility. It has a central marketplace for job postings, companies can access a database of all contractors. 

The technology we’re using includes: Vue.js, AWS / serverless, Graph QL, and MongoDB

The workforce is rapidly changing and organizations face unprecedented workforce planning, upskilling, and freelance management challenges. JobBliss is innovative  because it enables a direct connection between employers and workers, and allows remote/international talent access to a broader range of jobs without the need for expensive third party recruiters. 

It creates job security and visibility for freelancers, and helps companies stay organized with a database of reliable, easy-to-manage freelance talent. It also gives employers increased control over management, costs, and enables transparency and increased communication within organizations. 

As freelancers join companies in every-increasing numbers, organizations will scramble to effectively manage this growing segment of workers, causing confusion, and cost inefficiencies, unless they’re prepared to scale with an innovative in-house talent management system like JobBliss that can reduce data loss, ensure data security and compliance, regulate payments, and invoicing all from one place.

As a solution to the problem of a growing contract workforce, JobBliss connects workers with work, and helps employers manage their freelance resources more efficiently. 

Activities

Refine our product roadmap with feedback of employers and freelancers to focus on the lowest cost, highest payback features.

Outputs 

Target key cities headquartering large, global companies, we employ local experts who can integrate into the community and build brand awareness. 

Create content (including webinars, seminars, white papers) to educate C-suite and hiring managers about the process and benefits of JobBliss. 

Deploy social, local, and mass marketing initiatives in targeted publications and regular social channels.

Outcomes

Short-term Reduce recruitment costs for companies, increase speed to market; offer freelancers a marketplace to promote their skillsets.

Long-term Allow employers to attract, retain, and manage their freelancers, promote a more positive view of a skilled contract workforce, and stimulate growth through efficiency. Make it easy for freelancers to find and schedule work, showcase portfolios, and better manage their income sources.

• 12,000 + freelancers joined JobBliss to date 

• 400+ freelance or contract jobs offered

• 432 companies in the SMB category

• 5 enterprise level clients with an average of 60 departments each 

Impact

• Our freelancers have access to jobs posted by other companies, opening up more job opportunities

• Income equality - freelancers on the platform are able to achieve their preferred rate (without being undercut by recruiter fees)

• Companies have better control and visibility into the activity between their managers and freelancers.

Currently serving:

JobBliss currently operates in Canada and the US. It serves 14,000 freelancers and 50 companies

In one year, JobBliss will serve 40,000 freelancers and 300 companies.

In five years, our aim is to grow to 500,000+ and serve 2,000 companies.

Five years from now JobBliss will enable freelancers to:

• Make advance job bookings

• Enjoy benefits associated with full-time work e.g. regular sources income, and being paid on time

• Provide proof of income stability required for bank loans or mortgages

JobBliss company goals:

• Expand our territory into the US and UK markets, as well as Mexico, and globally.

• Further develop the platform to integrate features that will offer a full suite of tools for freelancers, e.g. partnerships with companies that offer accounting software, or co-working spaces.

• Provide all elements required to help non-traditional workers/freelancers access benefits currently associated with full-time employees (e.g. health coverage).

• Expand across sectors - currently in marketing and STEM, expand to include education, government, and power 

Grow freelancer base by 400%. 2020

Grow customer base (SMB's and Enterprise companies with viable jobs) by 500%. 2020

Ensure ongoing work for freelancers by establishing monitoring system within JobBliss. 2021

Build out benefits and insurance offering for Freelancers. 2022

Expand in to more remote areas with a recruiting initiative to drive awareness. This growth should be no less than 50% of the freelance user base. 2020

Education and learning materials to help freelancers advance their knowledge. 2020

Partnerships with learning and networking groups. 2021

Sharing of talent within the system to ensure Gig and freelance workers gain more exposure. 2021

Expand sales team in to the US and UK markets. 2020

Barriers to accomplishing our goals:

Financial - As we grow, funding is required to meet current needs as well as expansion costs (e.g. hiring sales people and developers). Expanding the team with experts across the industries we are currently targeting, as well as developing an understanding of how to reach under-serviced populations. 

Technical - It takes time to refine and/or develop product features. Technical limiations will depend on what we want to build out, and what we are currently working with.

Legal - As we continue to develop our product and add data use cases (e.g. mortgages or loan assistance), there may be strict rules around how and what we offer.

Cultural - Companies who traditionally use recruitment agenices to find contract workers, or people who have only held full-time or permanent roles will require education about JobBliss to understand our benefits. 

Market - With the increase in contract workers and jobs, there will be an increase in competitors offering a similar solution.

Solutions to overcome the following barriers:

Financial - Begin charging companies for the use of the platform to earn revenue.

Raise funds and / or acquire alternate funding to begin marketing and business development initiatives to raise awareness and expand across North America. 

Technical - Plan ahead with the developers to future-proof product and platform capabilities where possible. Partnering with AWS for engineer support. 

Legal - Get legal advice from local experts, depending on region and unique needs.

Cultural - Encourage current JobBliss customers and freelancers to share their positive experiences viaword of mouth/social media/email campaigns. 

Market - Hire a team of business development staff (part time). Find experts who live and know in cities we want to expand to. 

JobBliss launched in Ontario, Canada within marketing and STEM-related companies including: advertising agencies (freelance opportunities include: copywriting, art direction, development, account management) and power companies (freelance opportunities include: nuclear science, and power plant maintenance) 

As we continue to grow, we’ve expanded across Ontario and along the East coast, with business development initiatives in New York and California. 

As we expand, we are looking to include education, healthcare and government jobs.

US expansion is already underway, including discussions with Microsoft and ViacomCBS. Both companies are based out of the US and require a large number of remote workers.

In winning the Village Capital Future of Work and learning program, we were able to meet a business development team out of NYC that have strong connections with companies like Marriott hotels and Verizon.

One of our team members is located in London, UK, and is actively preparing meetings with international companies, primarily based in London. These companies will require several types of talent that are located all over the world, such as engineers, education experts, social and STEM. 

We will look to partner with local freelancing organizations to begin awareness, as well as banks and financial institutions located in the US, who are interested in expanding their reach and offering to the freelance and gig worker networks. 

N/A

N/A

2 Full-time

8 Part-time

Up to 10 contractors depending on skills needed

All employees, both full-time and contract work remotely. 

We are in conversation with a company called Spiria for additional future development needs as we expand. 

Industry experts in technology, marketing, data and workforce management, our team has worked together in high-demand management and growth positions for many years.

We believe deeply that the future of work will require companies to find new ways to embrace and support those that cannot live where they work, and of course supporting a more viable work/life balance. 

Team members work remotely and range from having disabilities that make transportation difficult, to requiring to be close to family as caregivers. 

Team members include:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/an...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo...

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ac...

OPG - Ontario Power Generation. 

JobBliss won the OPG and IRI (reactor innovation) workforce challenge, to help OPG and the power sector properly manage a large reactor refurbishment initiative. 

B2B 2-tiered SaaS business model

JobBliss revenue model:

1. Freelancers join for free

2. Employers choose from tiered annual SaaS subscriptions: 

Database only, or Database plus access to the Freelance Marketplace:

Small/Medium (SMB) business: 1 admin, up to 5 managers.

 2 payment options

 •Database only: $9,000 annual subscription

or

 • Database + Marketplace $12,000 annual subscription with unlimited connections to freelancers (no markup).

- Each additional manager is $4,000 per seat.

OR

Enterprise companies: 1 admin, 10 managers.

 2 payment options

 • Database only: $60,000 annual subscription

 or

 • Database + Marketplace: $75,000 annual subscription with unlimited connections to freelancers (no markup).

- Each additional manager is $3,000 per seat.

JobBliss aims to offer employers freelancer payment plans with subscription cost, and upcoming features to freelancers will include: invoicing integration, benefits, and insurance.

As we continue to grow, we are funding our work through a combination of grants, sales, and raising investment capital. 

Revenue comes from companies paying a yearly subscription which is driven by the number of managers they have using the system. Companies can choose from tiered annual Saas Subscriptions: 

Database only, or Database plus access to the Freelance Marketplace:

• Small/Medium (SMB) business: 1 admin, up to 5 managers. 2 payment options - Database only: $9,000 annual subscription or - Database + Marketplace $12,000 annual subscription with unlimited connections to freelancers (no markup). - Each additional manager is $4,000 per seat.

OR

• Enterprise companies: 1 admin, 10 managers. 2 payment options - Database only: $60,000 annual subscription or - Database + Marketplace: $75,000 annual subscription with unlimited connections to freelancers (no markup). - Each additional manager is $3,000 per seat.

Recent wins with Village Capital: Future of Work program $100k seed 

OPG Workforce challenge win - $25k seed

We will be raising capital in the near future, but apart from the seed funds raised through the above client wins, we are currently self-funded. 

The JobBliss team is excited to be applying to the Digital Workforce Challenge because we believe that providing individuals with the platform they need to access employment opportunities and gain visibility to potential employers, no matter their location or background, is a powerful tool that will enable positive change, and it’s one that currently does not exist.

Being selected will help JobBliss build out new features (such as finding shared office space for remote workers), target marketing to create awareness in remote areas, and improve data sets.

Funding will be used for the advancement of technology needed to create more visibility, specifically to underserved demographics including rural talent, women returning to the workforce, or for those who need a flexible workday. This will include a features section, as well as supplementing costs of the platform to provide discounts to employers who employ these individuals.

N/A

Upskilling and education companies such as GreenFig.

Video interviewing companies for integration in to the current and future platform offering.

Banks and financial institutions for mortgage and loan assistance for remote and freelance / gig workers.

Childcare and home health care assistance to support parents going back to work as well as taking care of family members.

Refugee organizations to help bridge the gap in their networking needs, to help provide introductions and support 'getting their foot in the door'

Education and learning institutions. Students trying to get their first job will find ample work with great companies. Visibility for new students through partnership would be ideal.

Remote and co-working spaces, for those that have to live far away from employers but would like to meet and collaborate with others. 

Insurance and benefits companies for gig / freelance workers.