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Taking Stock in One's Future


Ok, well maybe one's future isn't completely the message here, but I do want to address a trend in the market, the workforce, and even the affect that this national crisis has caused. What I want to focus on his how the freelance sites are going to define how we work moving forward.

Now, Its no news that there are multitudes of people now out of work. Obviously we are seeing that on the news. Its a crisis that so many working Americans are now stay at home OR are being forced to look for other sources of income. Again, I'm not stating anything new here. However, it should be obvious that those now seeking to stay afloat or even in some ways be in a better state than they were previously, need to reinvent themselves. Here's what I am bringing to the table here. Most of you reading this might be freelancers and thus might say "Well, that is what I am doing already." Sure. You are. If there are any of you that need a little direction on what to do during these trying time, let me give you two sites that are busting at the seams with potential and to prove it, I'm going to use stock prices to illustrate. FIVERR (FVRR)

My dad and I bought fiverr stock back when it was $23.50. At this date and time (10/01/2020, 11:28AM ET) the stock is $149.94. Quite a jump eh? I certainly am happy. So why did this occur? No, not me getting in on a great opportunity like fiverr stock. Rather, why did it rise so much? Answer: Freelance and covid has changed the work landscape. Fiverr and another one I will mention next are two freelance industry leaders. Both allow talent to post a gig, a page that the talent offers their services such as writing, editing, coding, design, advice, marketing, and in my case voice over. Sellers as they are called there create that gig, post some sort of display of their talent along with a descriptive of the deliverable. On that page, Buyers will search for, select, and purchase services based on that talent's service offering.


As Anders Bylund states in his Motley Fool article:

Unsurprisingly, Fiverr is making money hand over fist in this era of COVID-19 lockdowns and work-from-home policies. In the second quarter, its sales rose 82% year over year, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) landed on the positive side of breakeven -- three years ahead of management's long-term profitability plans.

Upwork (UPWK)

My next favorite and one that I have done quite well on as a freelancer is Upwork. Again to use the stock ticker, $18.18 (10/01/2020 11:41AM ET), I bought this stock at $16.50. It really dipped for months after that and I was discouraged, but I knew to stick with it. I will explain in a minute, but first...


So Upwork does the same thing in essence as fiverr. They both offer a platform which sellers can post their profiles and samples along with creative specials and buyers search for and select the seller based on the need and the talent's deliverable. The difference are mainly how the seller and buyer interact. Both platforms are very specific that all ordering and communication are to be done on the platform, but Upwork is much better in terms of flexibility.


David Brown of Hawk Ridge Partners:

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Quincy Lee's Ancient Art (Teton Capital) has the largest position in Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK), worth close to $63.3 million, corresponding to 11.6% of its total 13F portfolio.

So what's your point using stock prices? You might ask "So how are you correlating stock price to the stay at home or freelance worker?" Well, If you ever tried to do any freelance services previously, you probably found out that marketing yourself is extremely difficult at best. So much marketing you need to do just to be glanced at. And do you ever get anything in return? Perhaps. Maybe. Maybe not.


Both platforms use their valuation in stocks as leverage to market the talent. Much more marketing than any individual can do by themselves. Anyone who simply does not have the marketing acumen to do what needs to be done cannot compete with these two giants. Marketing takes money and when a company needs that capitol, it gets its value from what its stock prices reflect. So when companies such as fiverr or Upwork increase their market value, not only do the investors benefit, but the sellers on those platforms benefit by utilizing that market leverage.



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