Trust: The Most Crucial Value in the Freelance Economy
As an independent contractor, solopreneur, or freelancer, trust really is a must as you move from client to client. Forbes said it: you must build trust to thrive. Creating trust without the calling card of an established brand depends completely on your own track record, which contributes to your value in the marketplace.
To build trust, you might set up a website, share client testimonials, improve your LinkedIn profile, or make an online portfolio. Honestly, trustworthiness should be the top marketing strategy for anyone starting a new business. But chasing after reviews and making sure you’re google-able across the entire internet is exhausting, and often hard to verify anyway.
What if there were a better way to show your true value; a way to help you to connect with clients, partners, and financial opportunities? Now your CQ validates your value.
Know Thyself: See Your Inner Solopreneur
Think of your CQ like your profile in full Technicolor, replacing a scratchy black and white transmission. It’s a lot easier to trust an independent worker that you can see clearly - even from a remote work location a thousand miles away (Bali, anyone?)
After completing the steps to calculate your CQ, you have real, hard data that you can share with others, or just use for your own planning purposes. Where you are strongest? In what areas you could use some support or improvement to reach your peak potential. Our team reviews all the data in real-time so it could take a couple days for you to get your updated Capital Quotient.
Steps 1 + 2: Who You Are and How You Make Decisions
The first two steps of your Capital Quotient are quite simple. We ask you to tell us about your experience, your networks, and what sets you apart in Step 1, and you get to brag a bit about your accomplishments. Then in Step 2 you play a fast-paced logic game, the results of which measure your decision-making style and your instinctive ability to sustain risk in a way that is conducive to entrepreneurship. Each of these steps takes just a few minutes to complete.
Step 3: Financial Information for a Full View
Step 3 is very important if you want a complete 360 degree view of your investability. Why? Because we get a snapshot of your bank’s transaction history (to get a sense of your cash flow) and a “soft pull” of your credit score (meaning your credit score is unaffected). You can skip this step if you want, but you won’t be eligible for the points awarded for that section (don’t worry, you can always add that information later if you change your mind).
Your transaction history (not individual purchases) is confirmed via [Plaid] to validate you are in receipt of income and any trends. This is done quickly and securely using industry leaders Plaid (https://plaid.com/) & Experian (https://www.experian.com/). It is a very necessary step when you don’t have a W2. it helps to give financial legitimacy to your business operations.
As CQ is still in beta testing, we welcome any feedback you may have about the technical process, any glitches or error messages, and how you feel about securely sharing this financial snapshot with us. This will help us make improvements so we can better help you understand your freelance business potential!
Step 4: The All-Important Business Plan
Step 4 is just as important as Step 3 but again, if you aren’t ready to fill it out, you can always go back and complete it whenever you have time to enhance your CQ. Why do you need a little time with Step 4? Because this step covers your business plan and financial projections! You may ask “Why do I need a business plan”? Because all financiers, from a traditional bank to an angel investor, even the US Small Business Administration, will want to understand how their money be used to create value; more importantly, a business plan and related financial projections are YOUR roadmap to success. If you don’t already have one or a framework to create these, you’re welcome to use one of our templates. You will thank yourself later for taking the time to consider these elements now.
Your Data, Your Privacy, Your Trust
This brings us back to our initial theme: trust. If you’ve been in the Noumena community for a while, you probably already know that we have a particular stance on data use and privacy. Many social platforms and popular apps collect and use your data in ways that you may not be aware of or expressly consent to (even if you skimmed their Terms and Conditions) and often that information is used to market to or track you in ways that may not be best for your lifestyle or business.
At Noumena, we’re flipping the script on data and treating it like the incredibly valuable resource it is. When you share the information that we need to calculate your CQ, it is given restricted access for financial & technical processing and used in an anonymized way to strengthen our hypothesis that freelance business owners are a powerful and investable asset class that capital providers should take seriously. We never share or sell your data to any other parties, and you always get to decide who sees what you share on our platform. Think of us as trusted stewards of your business information to help you grow - and change the landscape for thousands of other independent workers like you.
All of this sound interesting?
Once completed, your CQ allows you to understand how Noumena, and eventually other financial institutions, could evaluate you and potentially invest in you as an independent contractor, solopreneur, or freelancer.
References:
Wharton: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/data-shared-sold-whats-done/
SBA.GOV: https://www.sba.gov/blog/5-reasons-you-need-business-plan
