On this inaugural episode of the Future is Freelance podcast, our guest is none other than Xolo CEO Allan Martinson.
Over his 30+ year career, Allan has been many things to many people: a manager, a leader, an investor, and a mentor. He's been involved in everything from building one of the largest and most respected news agencies in the Baltics, to running the show as COO at Starship Technologies to present day — steering the ship as CEO at Xolo.
But as we came to learn over the course of this conversation, Allan has been doing it all as a solopreneur, a sole trader, a fierce independent. Rather than entering a traditional employment contract, Allan has offered everything from consulting to CEO services through his OÜ (The Estonian version of an LLC), which has allowed him to retain his autonomy and independence
During this wide-ranging inaugural episode, Allan sits down with our host —veteran freelance journalist and Xolo Leap user Maya Middlemiss — to discuss:
- Why he adamantly believes the future is freelance
- Why he feared the worst for Xolo businesses during the Covid-19, and how users completely shattered all expectations
- The hardest parts of being a freelancer/independent
- Why Xolo has made it their mission to make solopreneurship as efficient as running a big company
- What governments need to do differently for the future to truly be freelance
- His own thoughts on his native Estonia's e-Residency programme
- Predictions for the future of work in 2044
Clips (coming soon)
Show notes
- The State of Independents (Xolo is 7!)
- Follow @amartinson on Twitter
Full transcript (coming soon)
