Written by Otaku Apologist
My business is weird. Instead of a traditional company, I run a freelance network. That means nobody is under any fucking contracts. I often wonder whether I’m breaking some laws, but the years keep ticking by and no lawsuits occur. I pay my taxes and we roll on to the next year!
The reason why people start companies is to enforce order, to have legal repercussions that reduce shit behavior from your workers, who’ll otherwise be coming and ragequitting as they feel fit.
I can assure you, when nobody is under legal obligations to behave themselves like sensible human beings, they don’t.
There is a reason why slavery was the norm before capitalism became a thing. When people can be their chaotic selves without suffering consequences, you get regular temper tantrums, trolling behavior, tears and rage, you’ll find yourself in mindboggling philosophical debates at random times of the day.
To run a freelance network, you either develop the social skills to douse the daily fires, or you burn.
Now, that description perhaps sounds overwhelming, ridiculous, and demoralizing. Add to that consistent technical issues with your websites and softwares, any health or sleep issues, a turbulent economy, customers and randos who think they know better how to run your business, it’s quite the emotional cocktail.
But, let’s talk about the positives. Why does any sane person run a freelance network?
Freelance networks are interesting. You meet lots of interesting people, who you constantly bribe and brainwash, so they run with you, instead of away from you. Some of them even want to have sex with you. Some are content just sending you lewds, or giving lipservice to a future relationship involving hard BDSM sex, after they’re done using your operation as a stepping stone in their transition from a hobbyist into a professional. I’m getting side-tracked here…
Anyway, to reduce the unfathomable chaos from people doing whatever the fuck they want, we’ve developed various methods and ethical principles.
For example, the freelancers work under new names. They build up these names from scratch, so that during the 2-5 years you work together, they grow with your operation instead of outgrowing the operation.
And that’s it. Would’ve been a very short article without the meandering. Have fun!
