Why Is Digital Credibility The Future of Freelancing?

We all know what is credibility all about and why it is important for everything we do in our lives, don’t we? Digital credibility. Yeah, it makes sense.

How about digital credibility in freelancing? What does it mean for freelancers and why it is so important?

Freelance Digital Credibility — The Best Remote Work Opportunity

How do you know that you stumble upon a great idea? If you think, how come I haven’t thought of that, then you know that’s the real thing. This is exactly how I felt when I heard about the digital credibility in freelancing for the first time.

That’s not my idea, but I wish it were because it’s good. I dare to say it’s even a revolutionary one. Why?

First things first, the founder of goLance Michael Brooks came up first with this concept.

Now, luckily for you, I’m not a huge fan of theory. So, I’m going to show you how freelance digital credibility works in practice. This is how I got hooked on it, in the first place.

Have look at my goLance profile and try if you can notice something “strange.”

As you can see, I’m absolutely free to link one or all of the following:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• StackOverflow
• Quora
• Dribble
• Behance
• Flickr
• Github
• Bitbucket
• Upwork!
• My own website!

It’s crazy, isn’t it? Any other freelance platform would suspend your account in a blink of an eye if you even think of doing something like that.

What’s the catch? It just doesn’t make any sense or does it?

We, the freelancers, are fearful creatures. We live in fear that something we do can get us suspended and banned from a freelance website we’re working on. You may say, speak for yourself buddy. But, here’s the thing. How many times have you asked yourself if it’s the right thing to use Skype with your client? How many times have you wished you could put a link to your website next to your freelance profile?

I’m an android paranoid and a helpless drama queen. So, I just had to write an email to goLance support. I asked them, are you absolutely sure I’m not going to be banned because of all of these third-party links? Their reply was something like, what are you talking about?

That’s me. It wasn’t enough. So, I wrote an open letter to Michael Brooks. In the most polite way, you can possibly imagine, I actually asked him, what in the world are you doing?

I Want To Do Real Work With — The Real People

Long story short, that was the main point of Michael’s reply. He wants to make sure he’s about to hire a freelancer, who’s a real person, to work with. You know, to check everything you can possibly find about someone online. Don’t we want to do the same when it comes to our clients?

I had to ask just one more question. Aren’t you afraid that both freelancers and clients will just take the work outside of your website? Michael didn’t seem to be concerned at all. Let me try to paraphrase him the best I can. I’m an entrepreneur and I have the freelance business to run. I don’t have the time or the nerve to chase our users around, if they don’t appreciate what our platform provides.

He certainly made his point. I felt relieved and relaxed. Aren’t you tired of that endless cat and mouse game with your freelance website? I don’t know about you, but I just had enough of that “sword” of my account suspension hanging over my freelance head all the time. What if I do this or that? Would it get me suspended?

Digital Credibility vs. Privacy Concerns

To tell you the truth, I worry more about finding a new project than being fully exposed online. I have nothing to hide. For me, a freelancer with the so-called “privacy concerns” is the same as an actor who wants to stay anonymous. That’s just absurd!

Let’s face it my fellow freelancers. You’re already required to use your real name or initials, including your ID photo if you want to work on the major freelance websites. So, why don’t we make a step further and use all the links you like to strengthen your digital credibility? Isn’t this supposed to increase your chances of winning new projects?

The Future Belongs To The Freelancers Who Are Digitally Credible

I believe that digital credibility is the future of freelancing. At least the future I’m willing to participate in. The future in which a freelance platform is more afraid that its users may leave it than the freelancers are afraid they may get banned. The future where you don’t have to ask yourself is the person from the other side of the screen real and sincere?

That’s the freelance future I like. That’s the future I choose.

Why Is Digital Credibility The Future of Freelancing? was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.