Hi there! Welcome to the Freelancing Marketplace Podcast. My name is Grace Locsin and I am the CEO and Owner of Surge Marketplace. This show is dedicated to freelancers, marketers, and business owners who desire to leverage their online presence through freelancing.

As you can probably notice, I introduce the company differently this time after the 10th episode. For the past 10 episodes, we have been sharing lots of getting started with freelancing tips maybe how I started the benefits of freelancing, how to start freelancing, transitioning to work from home set up whether we’re going to go for free or paid courses in freelancing understanding freelancing niches and categories, freelancing skills for beginners and nailing your online interview and last episode we talked about freelancing application tips.

And in all of these 10 episodes, I introduced the company as FVA Business Consultancy corporation or surge digital agency. And after the 10th episode, I would like to share a surge update and share with you this happy news that we are becoming a freelancing marketplace. We have been in this business actually, for the past three years, we have been existing as a training agency for the past five years. But in 2019, we ventured also into services. That means offering freelancing services to clients. So that time, we’re not only targeting people who would like to learn freelancers, but also business owners who would like to leverage their business and their enterprise through remote working. Because through remote working, however, we have not been really defined as to what do we want to do and position ourselves in serving you guys.

And after the 10th episode, we would like to really clearly bring some directions to you guys who have been following us in social media, maybe in our courses, maybe in the services that we’re providing, or through this podcast. This is why for this episode, I’m going to be sharing with you guys a surge update on us becoming a freelancing marketplace. Later in the show. I’m going to also be sharing some Freelancing Tips of the Week and some key takeaways. Just like what I mentioned earlier, we started the FVA Business Consultancy company that’s our registered name here in the Philippines in 2017. That’s after one year of operating because we started this company actually just a missions help to really empower mothers and students and those that are needing freelancing and train them by providing our online courses. But after a year, we noticed that we can serve more if we’re going to register and become a business. This is why in 2017 were registered under sole proprietorship. And because of the demand and maybe because of social proof as well as many students were hired after the training, the FE Corp became a corporation early in 2021.

And we now offer more than 30 courses and serve not just clients by providing freelancing services and training and also providing corporate training to staff but also freelancing solutions, such as this podcast in helping everybody maneuver this jungle of freelancing which is very new in the industries in the world and also an e-store where everybody can just purchase freelancing needs through our merchandise and many others. These are the solutions that we are providing everybody in the freelancing marketplace. This is why for Surge we are positioning ourselves to become the One-Stop freelancing marketplace. Nonetheless, we did not really focus on becoming a freelancing marketplace, we know that there are a lot of benefits when it comes to freelancing. But when we ventured into a global brand, which is Surge, we did not really think that we’re going to be focusing on the freelancing spirit or the freelancing search. This is because back then we’re not really clear as to who we are, yes, we understood that. We loved freelancing, but we kind of also tried venturing into becoming a remote working agency and digital marketing agency or maybe even an independent contracting agency. However, in the last few months, I’ve been in school, I am actually taking master of intrapreneurship at the Asia Institute of Management, and because of the developments of the learnings that I’m getting from the school, and the experiences as an enterprise and as an entrepreneur, I am actually guided to really embracing the freelancing spirit in search. This is why we’re going to be embracing this search spirit. Okay, hashtag search spirit, and this is only really flourishing in the freelancing marketplace. 

Yes, we know that there is a thin line between remote working between hybrid working within independent contracting with when being an independent talent, but we are going forward with the freelancing search with the searching spirit because there are a lot of benefits and there are a lot of wise, there are a lot of if you’re a Filipino who got in the freelancing spirit are in the freelancing marketplace. So from here on maybe if you’re following our social media sites, or our website, if you’re enrolled in our courses, you’re one of our clients where we are providing services through freelancing, you will probably notice that there will be some branding changes, there will be some redefining and differentiation when it comes to who we are, because moving forward, we will be embracing into the freelancing spirit or the freelancing marketplace. This move is not a good buy. But thank you, we are actually becoming more mature as a brand and becoming more defined as a brand because we are understanding who we are now on who do we want to serve, how can we help the customers that have been following us or have been loving us through this year. So this is not something that we’re letting go of the FVA, we are just maybe transforming or metamorphosis into becoming more specific, and really enjoying more into becoming more specific, and really understanding our why and moving forward to this vision.

Early last year, we also moved into redefining our courses through the Surge marketplace or to the Surge branding, because with FVA, it might limit us catering to non-Filipinos which is really we started this change and shifted our branding, especially in our courses to Surge shows as a global brand. Because we kind of feel that we’re limiting ourselves in serving the people that need our services through FVA. Because FVA alone is defined as Filipino Virtual Assistants, we want to be able to help Asians as well and we really want to help.

We also want to cater to customers or those that are in need of freelancing advice or guidance, who may be located outside the Philippines. As a matter of fact, we’ve been having students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, and other nationalities.

This is on top of the Filipinos living here in the Philippines and in abroad. Surge is going to be a global branding for the global competitiveness of our clients and our customers as well. If people will look at FBA as a Philippine brand and will limit your understanding of what FVA can do because it’s located in the Philippines, we created SURGE, a global branding. So there’s global competitiveness worldwide for our students and also we can serve more clients moving forward the word search app means a sudden powerful movement and upward movement, especially by a crowd. I love this one because the crowd can mean the future of work here, which are freelancers. 

So if there’s a sudden powerful and upward movement by a crowd, I can imagine freelancers or over the world serving clients, surge can also mean the graph or the form or ROI or the success factor of both clients and companies. Surge can also mean the movement of the graph or the return of investment that we all want to see in our monitoring and evaluation is going upward and forward. And this is the vision that we want to see the Surge of success that we want to see in both companies and freelancers that we serve. Moving forward, though, we acknowledged that surge can actually also be taken negatively under the pandemic like a surge of positive cases under COVID-19.

This is why we really want your help.

This is why we want to change this negative mindset into something positive by allowing and bringing opportunities to the household and bringing opportunities to everybody, wherever they’re at whatever they’re sending us to bring a SURGE of positive changes in their lives.

For this reason, we want to be the leader in the freelancing marketplace. I really would like to emphasize the freelancing there. Because freelancing means freedom. Freelancing means financial freedom, time freedom. This is why we are venturing into becoming a leader in the freelancing marketplace. This is why after 10 episodes, we shifted our positioning into the freelancing marketplace. Not anymore a digital agency or a remote working agency, but freelancing and we want to be the leader when it comes to the freelancing marketplace because we are here in order to serve people. We acknowledge that there are different factors affecting the freelancing industry.

There’s the PESTLE analysis telling us that there are political limits.  

A PESTEL analysis can share with us the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors affecting the freelancing industry. However, the limitations in what we don’t have right now, in the freelancing industry, especially in the political environment, the technological environment, the legal environment can be potential aspects where MVA can be whitespaces or potential aspects where Surge can bring leadership and partnerships. When it comes to the economic factor, we actually are in a good position to bring economic opportunities to households those that are familiar with the economic growth development factor, or the GDP of a country takes money, okay, and growth in the government sector in the enterprise sector and the household sector. And most often in different countries. It’s only the government and the enterprise sector bringing growth and really bringing a significant contribution to the country’s GDP.

Usually, the household is very limited and freelancing through US, Surge. Through freelancing, it can change this in one’s country, we can bring economic opportunities as people working from home as freelancers will be able to provide taxes and bring in their contribution economically because they have the money for the enterprise. They have the money for the government support, they have the money right before their household. They have the money right before their households right before where they’re located because they can earn from home so Surge can actually change this we can bring economic opportunities right in the middle of the household, to empower the household and be a significant contributor as well to the country’s GDP. We would also like to observe that environmentally, freelancing in itself is very sustainable. 

So this is where the environmental factor affecting freelancing industry and we can see that when people are staying at home there is the limited carbon dioxide and energy waste in the commute in other factors use of energy and all so it’s very as sustainable as an industry. And when it comes to the social factors affecting the freelancing industry, we would like to celebrate the quality of life, the freedom of time, the financial freedom, the ability to focus on passion in the overall health, especially mental health of freelancers, because this will probably the various social attitudes moving forward, the ones that are coming in, in the workforce, like the millennials, or Generation Z, or even the Alpha generation will probably desire more opportunities for them to focus on the skills that they want, or the life that they want, because they’re noticing maybe that it’s not about the money, but it’s all about mental health, the quality of life, the opportunity to choose the freedom of time and financial freedom. And we can actually start to see this happening right now, there’s the great resignation happening in the U.S right now because people are not satisfied by money and title and fame. But they want to consider farm life or going to remote areas where you can see green because of the mental stress and toxic environment in different workspaces. So we would like to celebrate the social attitudes through freelancing that yes, you can achieve the quality of life that yes, you can achieve freedom of time and financial freedom in that you can focus on your passion in being mentally healthy or achieve overall health when you are a freelancer. So we want to bank on this one. 

This is why we’re very excited to really shift our focus into the freelancing search. Because yes, you can still work remotely, but you’re still hired under a really toxic environment, or you’re still a part of a hybrid program, which those are a good start. But we really want to go ahead and really promote the freelancing lifestyle for the companies as well, we want to go ahead and promote sustainability, T in this role that we have when you are considering freelancing or considering hiring a remote team. You’re also more socially responsible because you’re considering the overall quality of life and the mental health of your employees. If you’re considering efficiency and profitability and productivity, there are hundreds, if not 1000s, of studies, sharing information that there’s actually more efficiency, productivity, and profitability when you go remotely when you’re hiring a remote. Because this time, you don’t have to pay for electric bills, you don’t have to pay for other insurances or other benefits, because you are just managing a team. And yes, you can still give them assistance for their taxes, you know, for your internet, but it’s not as expensive when it comes to your costs. 

Go for freelancing, and this is what we highly promote. When it comes to companies out there who need to consider the freelancing surge. Of course, safety is one of the biggest factors as well. And this is achieved, especially during the pandemic through freelancing. As a company, we’re going to be focusing on being a social tech enterprise social means we’re going to be focusing on helping people and helping companies and freelancers. 

Ecologically, in the sustainability framework. The industry itself is already environment friendly, so it’s ecological. However, in comparison to being economic or social, we’re chosen to be social. So we might really be offering low prices and low services because we want to help people who are going to be dedicated to becoming the freelancing leaders that will show you how it’s done. May you be a company or you are a freelancer, we are creating a platform that will be the community that will give you community assistance in the freelancing world that will provide all the training maybe online courses for freelancing or for life skills, or any type of training that you need, when certification and assistance of course, and services. 

So when it comes to all of these factors, our new description as a company will be Surge is the world’s one-stop freelancing marketplace where companies and independent contractors or freelancers can meet and find trading services and solutions. 

Surge is a tech social enterprise dedicated to improving the quality of life, commerce, and sustainability. 

Our MVP MVV or mission, vision, and value will be a better world for better people through freelancing. That’s our mission. The vision will be global freelancing leadership and values that we’re going to embrace our family relevance, equality, excellence, delight, optimism, and meaning. And if you’re going to really get all of the first letters of the values that I shared, it means freedom. F for the family – R for relevance – E for equality, E for excellence, D for delight over-optimism, and  M for meaning. So we are going to be achieving the freedom that we need through freelancing. These are the various things that I’m sharing with you. So moving forward, you will be noticing some branding changes that may be in the different documents that we have our email signature logo, our documents or certificates or invoices, or social media sites, or social media content, or websites. And we will be ensuring that we are guided by the searching spirit in serving you guys.

Here is your freelancing Tip of the Week.

The freelancing tip of the week that I can share with you all is going to be start small and grow a seagull. I couldn’t imagine myself five years or probably just even two years ago that we’re going to be here we’re going to be embracing the surging spirit or the freelancing marketplace as a brand. And this is because we really went through this very cold or this very freelancing tip we started small, and then we grew as we go. So if you’re a freelancer also, we want to be a sole proprietor who wants to be a corporation later on who wants to embrace something that you’re going to lead people to inspire people to go and start small and then just grow a seagull. 

When you’re seeing opportunities when you’re seeing some whitespaces where you can serve your customers grow a seagull. Don’t be having the mindset of just growing big and you’re not able to sustain it, choose for sustainable growth and become the person or the brand that your customers need. It is a journey into becoming the entrepreneur and the enterprise that you want to spell your impact in this world. 

For our key takeaway from this episode, I’m going to share a very good quote that I actually got from TED Talks. And this is by Adam Grant. He is an organizational psychologist and he mentioned that the most meaningful way to succeed is to help other people succeed. 

This is why I’m really happy being in the surge marketplace as a brand because we find meaning in helping people find our wins when we’re seeing other people succeed. So we are here to be serving you guys moving forward. May you be a company or a freelancer, let us know how we can serve you best because we are here finding meaningful ways to succeed by ensuring that we’ll help you succeed as well. That would be all for this episode. I hope that you enjoyed and got something out of these transformations. 

You can connect with us on our new social media sites. Just go find us at surge marketplace may be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, Pinterest, or YouTube. I will see you again next time. God bless you and enjoy your day.

 

The freelancing marketplace Podcast is a production of Surge Digital Agency.