PROhq: remote market research (freelance) and new solutions

Today we, the development team of the PROhq remote work exchange, are starting to publish a series of posts about the research of the freelance market conducted by our experts. The basis of this study was our experience on several freelance exchanges.
The first post will be devoted to the description of the Russian-speaking market for freelancing services and its problems, as well as a general acquaintance with the new solutions to these problems that PROhq offers.

The formation and development of each new business is always accompanied by difficulties, mistakes, problems and misunderstandings. The young market of the Russian-speaking freelancing was no exception to this rule. It is well known that among the many problems of an emerging market of services provided remotely, the most relevant and require special attention and speedy resolution are the following:
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1) the choice by the customer of a suitable performer,
2) fair competition freelancers,
3) dumping.

So what rules should be regulated by the market so that it develops, favorable, safe and comfortable for all participants of the environment? We found several answers to these questions and developed the PROhq remote work exchange (Professional's Headquarters or the Headquarters of professionals). Our exchange in a new way builds relationships between freelancers, their customers, provides useful tools for remote work and provides a secure payment system.

We think that acquaintance with the results of research and the new exchange will be interesting both to those who have long and seriously moved to work in freelancing, and to those who are beginning to take the first steps in it, and to those who have only heard of such an opportunity, but have not own experience.

Russian-speaking freelance market and growing diseases

The Russian-language market for freelancing services began about seven years ago and has already been formed for five years. So by human standards, he is at the age of a first grader. But for good reason they say that the 21st century is the time of indigo children. That is why the market grew and developed at a fairly rapid pace. If we continue the analogy with the development of the child, now he has entered puberty - a complex and controversial period of ripening and rapid growth. Yes, he learned the first basic moral principles, he learned "what is good and what is bad," he realized that "learning is light", but all these rules are not enough for a rapidly developing and changing organism.

Over the years, all participants in the process of forming the freelance market have studied and implemented the basic laws that can lead to success. It is no secret to anyone that the number of positive reviews gives a chance to get more orders, a completed profile and portfolio will tell you about the qualifications, having a paid account and the “pro” category will separate the freelancer from the crowd.

But the time came when all this was not enough for the normal functioning of the body - the market for freelance services. The rules that govern today's market do not have time to react to its growth and changes taking place. This leads to serious problems for both freelancers and customers.

PROhq tools - solutions we provide

So, the main problems that we want to eliminate, creating and developing our stock exchange:

- equalization of freelancers on the criteria for assessing business and professional skills;
- lack of objective evaluation criteria,
- lack of market structuring;
- recurring doubts of customers regarding the criteria for evaluating a freelancer;
- Difficulties with the choice of a suitable performer in the project;
- lack of a safe environment;
- lack of guarantees for the implementation of bilateral commitments.

Rating system and rank

PROhq (Professional's Headquarters or Professional Headquarters) offers participants new
solutions. We have no problem of equalizing freelancers, and therefore the problem of choosing a contractor by the customer is much simpler. This is facilitated by a system of reviews, rank and accreditation skills.
The feedback system consists not only of the text description, but also of the following indicators:
- the quality of work,
- sociability,
- deadlines,
- recommendations of cooperation.

These indicators are a scale of assessments (in percent) that customers submit upon completion of the project. They form the main indicator, which consists of a 5-star scale. The scale averages all component indicators and displays the final percentage. You can read more about the feedback system here: startuppoint.ru/blog/startup_prohq_ru_/32898.html

Skill accreditation

The project has a system of accreditation of skills through tests and documents confirming professional status. Thanks to this, the customer is provided with more objective criteria for assessing the business qualities of a freelancer.

Directory structure

The structure of the PROhq catalog is also designed to help select the right artist. When structuring a directory, only the most outstanding freelancer skills are preferred. In this regard, the catalog is divided into 8 grouped areas of activity. They in turn consist of subsections and skills possessed by a specialist.

Freelancer can register only in 2 areas (the second area is available only for a paid account). The customer, having received feedback on the project, can easily filter out those specialists for whom the required specialization is not the main one. This reduces the risk of choosing a random performer.

Payment system

A secure environment in PROhq is provided by an internal payment system. In this case, the customer can pay for the work of the artist without additional commission using Yandex Money, Webmoney and 7 more known electronic payment systems. At the moment, a functional is being developed to pay for the work of performers by bank transfer. Freelancers will have the opportunity to formally cooperate with companies that need to confirm their expenses.

Payments that pass through the PROhq system provide an opportunity to track the amount of money earned, which, in turn, becomes an additional indicator of the professional and professional qualities of a specialist, is one of the components of the executive's rank.

Payment Tools

The internal payment system allows you to make transfers directly, from the personal account of one user to the account of another, as well as using the deposit system of a secure transaction. The earned money can be independently withdrawn from your account by a freelancer, regardless of the electronic currency in which they were credited. Currency exchange during the withdrawal takes place automatically. At the same time, a minimum commission of 3% is charged, which makes it possible to cover the costs of a commission in exchange. Also available is the withdrawal of funds to the account of plastic cards.

Work management and planning

A distinctive feature of PROhq is the ability to manage and monitor the progress of the project. So, in the project’s office, you can fix a technical task and all its changes, save files related to the project, create discussions and comments on the project.

New in the management and planning of remote work was the ability to break the project into stages. If necessary, you can make a phased payment using secure payments, as well as invite several performers to the project.



Breaking up projects into stages, a freelancer can compile reports on the work done and set the percentage of readiness of the stages of the project as a whole.

Career statistics

For freelancers in the project provided new statistical tools. With their help performer
can track your career growth by the following indicators:
- the level of service provided,
- customer relationship,
- The level of marketing of the freelancer.

These indicators are calculated on the basis of averaging the same indicators for other participants.
Statistics also include data on the total income of a freelancer, the number of repeat customers, the average income per client, the number of fines for violation of the terms of service, as well as the number of fines for dumping.

In the following posts we will describe in detail about each of the listed tools, dwell on the features of the exchange of remote work PROhq . We will also continue to talk about the problems of the market, how to overcome them, and the solutions found by our specialists.