COVERING GIG WORKERS
Moonlighting provides freelancers with access to important resources
Moonlighting provides freelancers with access to important resources
Twelve years ago, many people were left jobless or in constant fear of losing their jobs when the market crashed. Thus, many of them turned to Linkedin including Jeff Tennery.
In 2014, an idea that had been rattling around in his mind for six years came to fruition. Tennery, along with Roy Slater and
Ritesh Johar, created Moonlighting, a platform that connects professionals with freelance jobs while providing tools that simplifies communications and payments for hiring managers. Now, Moonlighting is expanding the playing field for freelance workers with a new solution, Freelance as a Service (Faas).
Moonlighting partnered with leaders from the banking, tax, accounting and financial service industries to provide a one-stop-shop for freelancers. The solution includes access to Freshbooks, a cloud-based accounting platform; H&R Block tax solutions; and
Stash’s mobile banking and investing platform.
In addition, Moonlighting partnered with IPSE.US, a nonprofit association that advocates on behalf of America’s independent workers. Through this partnership, Moonlighting can make group-rated insurance at favorable rates available to independent workers.
Big names in the news industry like Gannett, Mcclatchy and Tribune have also partnered with Moonlighting. According to Tennery, the companies invested in the company early on because they recognized that their classifieds needed a gig platform solution to satisfy the growing needs of their audience. In addition, they see the same need for freelancing and on-demand hiring trends, said Tennery.
“First and foremost, (Moonlighting) was built to be a marketplace and an ability for somebody to hang a shingle and say, ‘Hey, I’m in business, please hire me,’ which we did a really good job of…but what happens once you get the client? What happens once you get the job?” Tennery said. “So, we started drilling down deeper and surveying our audience and asking, ‘What do you need?’”
It became apparent that there wasn’t a lot of places for freelancers to get healthcare, legal life documents or resources to ensure that their accounting and taxes were being handled appropriately, Tennery said. Instead of building these resources from scratch, Moonlighting decided to partner with some of the best companies out there.
To utilize these resources—and others that Moonlighting offers—users can become a member online or through the mobile app for either $9.99 a month or for nearly $120 yearly. Currently, the platform has 800,000 registered freelancers.
Colton P., one of Moonlighting’s users, said, “Moonlighting has made what was formerly complicated such a simpler process. It is as easy as opening the app and finding work that needs to be done—i don’t have to go out and search out jobs or contact people to see if they know anyone that needs something done.”
Tennery said from day one Moonlight’s mission is to help people. “We’re on a mission to help somebody earn income that might change their life (or) change their career path. We really pride ourselves on helping people pursue their passions of how they want to work.”
For more information, visit moonlighting.com.