IAM217- Founder of a Leading Freelance Marketplace Passionate About Building Companies

Connor Gillivan is a founder and the Chief Marketing Officer of FreeeUp.com, a leading freelance marketplace for eCommerce and digital marketing professionals. Connor served as CEO of his first eCommerce company which sold over $25 million on Amazon. He regularly writes for his own site, ConnorGillivan.com, and is passionate about building companies from the ground up.

• CEO Hack: App- Skype
• CEO Nugget: (1) Make sure your business solves a real problem (2) Focus on growth than doing repetitive tasks
• CEO Defined: Creative leader who is a great communicator, works harder and smarter

Website: https://freeeup.com/

http://connorgillivan.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connorgillivan
                        https://facebook.com/freeeupcom

Twiter: https://twitter.com/connorgillivan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorgillivan/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/freeeup

Blog: https://freeeup.com/blog/freeeup-updates/free-up-your-business/

Coupon Code for listeners: “HireUp”

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello. this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Connor Gillivan. It's awesome to have you on the show.

Connor Gillivan 0:26

Hey man, how's it going? Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:31

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Connor, so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Connor Gillivan is the founder and the Chief Marketing Officer of freeup.com the leading freelance marketplace for e-commerce and digital marketing professionals, Connor served as CEO of his first e-commerce company, which sold over 25 million on Amazon. He regularly writes on his own side connorgillivan.com, and is passionate about building companies from the ground up. Connor, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Connor Gillivan 0:31

Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:07

Let's do it. So the first question I had was the hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And well, they just start your business.

Connor Gillivan 1:14

Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, in my bio, my first business was selling products on Amazon, I did that for about six years, from 2009 to 2016. And towards the end of running that business, a big part of building it and scaling it was hiring people to help us with different aspects of the company. And we hired some people in-house, we have an office, we had some full-time and part-time people.

But then we also discovered this whole world of outsourcing and hiring people remotely and building out a team in that way. And we were using websites like Upwork, and what used to be oDesk, and Elance, and Fiverr and Freelancer, you really name any of the bigger players in the space. And we were using them to try to find good talent. And we just kept running into frustrations. It was taking a really long time to find good people for Amazon.

And then we also felt like there was too much turnover. We were running into situations where we hired someone we invested in, and then we're back at stage one trying to find another person. So after a couple of years of going through that process, my business partner and I started free up. And that's the business that I run today, it really came out of a need that we personally had as business owners, and we wanted to see if others were having those same issues. And if we could solve it for them.

Gresham Harkless 2:37

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And especially, when we talked offline about changes in the economy and the way that people are doing business, people are using all the sites that she mentioned, to find people to help them do the work. But sometimes you don't hear about some of the frustrations that come along with doing that. And I love the fact that you guys were building something that helped to alleviate some of those stresses and problems.

Connor Gillivan 2:57

Yeah, absolutely. It's been a really fun process. So far, we've learned a tremendous amount just about this entire industry that we had no clue about before. So it's been a lot of fun to be part of it.

Gresham Harkless 3:07

Yeah, absolutely. And I want us to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about free up and what you guys are doing and how you're supporting the clients that you're working with.

Connor Gillivan 3:14

Yeah, of course. So we are a marketplace that connects freelancers, with business owners. And as a company, we very much specialize in Amazon skills, e-commerce skills, and digital marketing skills. So as a business owner, you can come to the free app, you can create an account for free, submit a project or a person that you're looking to hire comes into our team. And we actually put it out there to the freelancers in our network, we find one that matches up to all your requirements, and we introduce them directly to you. And then you can go ahead and interview them and ask questions, and we'll keep introducing you to people until you find someone that you're interested in hiring.

And the thing that makes us really unique is that we actually interview and vet 1000s of freelancers every single week that are applying to join the free marketplace, we put them through the application, we do a one-on-one interview. And then we also test them for their skills. And we only let the top 1% of people into our marketplace. So you get access to a very curated selection of freelancers from all over the world. And we try to make it a very hands-on experience. So it's simple to hire, and simple to manage. And billing isn't an issue for you either.

Gresham Harkless 4:28

Yeah, that makes perfect sense that and I love that aspect because like you mentioned that curation part because a lot of times you know, when you do put a job that you need help with or project that you need help with you get hundreds and 1000s of applications and you don't know who to pick you don't know if the person that applied actually can do what they said that they can do. So it's great to hear that you guys have done a lot of that curation on the back end because for any business owner, entrepreneur, anybody trying to get anything done times the most valuable resources so it kind of seems like you guys are taking that into account and providing the solution.

Connor Gillivan 4:56

Yeah, of course. I'm sure you know as well and a lot of people listening but, time is your most valuable resource as an entrepreneur and as a CEO, the more you can put towards high-value growth activities, the more you can grow your business. Whereas if you're stuck in the weeds of your company, then it's going to show in the growth of everything around you.

Gresham Harkless 5:16

Absolutely, absolutely. And you probably already touched on this. And I know you talked about the secret sauce, I would call for like, free up, do you have anything additional, you wanted to kind of touch on or for yourself or anything you feel kind of sets you apart?

Connor Gillivan 5:28

Yeah, absolutely. So it's that 1% that we prevent. And then the second thing is that, like I was explaining a little earlier when you post a project, we only introduce you to one person at a time. And we do that on purpose so that you don't become overwhelmed by 5-10-15 options that you then have to go through and kind of vet yourself. So we try to make that as simple as possible and less overwhelming. And then the final thing is, we're just very hands-on, my business partner and I, we still work closely with clients and freelancers through the marketplace to keep in touch with them and build relationships. So I think you get a little bit more of a personal touch with us than some of the other places as well.

Gresham Harkless 6:09

Yeah. And I know, a lot of times when you're using a lot of those sites, sometimes you feel as if it's kind of a site, but the way that you guys are building the organization, the company kind of sounds like you guys are an extension to a lot of the business owners and the people that are applying and looking for things like for project look for help with projects, let's just say so it kind of seems like it's not just so you take care of it, or you do it, but you kind of feel like you're one of the team so to speak.

Connor Gillivan 6:33

Yeah, exactly. And I mean that's a really fun point for us and something we're passionate about. We've got to meet so many amazing entrepreneurs and other CEOs and business owners, just by helping them with our solutions. So it's been awesome for both of us too.

Gresham Harkless 6:48

Nice, nice, nice. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Connor Gillivan 7:00

Yeah, absolutely. So my hack is an app actually. And this can be translated to a bunch of different other apps. But my biggest thing is Skype. So we run the company completely remotely my business partner and I. He lives in Orlando, Florida, and I live in Denver, Colorado, we have maybe 10 to 15 people scattered around the US, and then 20 other people in the Philippines and India. So the ability to communicate with someone from my phone, from my computer. 24/7 is huge for me, because of the way that I communicate and run the business. So Skype has just been an amazing hack for me in terms of keeping up that communication.

Gresham Harkless 7:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I imagine with people in different time zones, and being able to kind of have a face to face meetings, or even just pure audio meetings with no matter what time zone you're in, or what phone number you have definitely probably helps out an incredible amount.

Connor Gillivan 7:51

Yeah, exactly. And no matter which communication channel you choose, if you're running a business remotely, it's smart to just have one so that you and your team are all on the same page. And it's always somewhere you can go to get in touch with people while they're working. And you're working on different projects together.

Gresham Harkless 8:08
Absolutely, absolutely. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Connor Gillivan 8:18

Oh, yeah, that's a good one. I like that question. Two things kind of pop into my mind. My first would be mainly around when you're actually starting the business. And maybe that first year, I think one of the biggest things that I overlooked when I was younger is making sure that your business actually solves a real problem that a lot of people are having, I think you need to focus on that when you first get started. And if you don't, it could lead to issues. But if you really have something that sticks and people are relating to that problem you're addressing, it makes a huge difference in your business at first. And then the second thing is more on a kind of CEO level or leadership level is just don't get stuck in the day-to-day, I did that a ton when I was younger, I was just focused on keeping work on my plate and adding more and working more hours. But over the years, I've learned that if you go out there and you create the right processes, and you try to hire the right people, you can stay focused on growth, and you can do a lot more for the business on a day to day basis than if you're just in doing the repetitive tasks.

Gresham Harkless 9:20

Yeah, that makes sense. And I feel like I mean, you could definitely let me know if you feel the exact same way. Sometimes when you clear the deck so to speak, you have things that you're not working on. Sometimes that allows opportunities for bigger ideas, bigger things that maybe wouldn't have seen if you had been, a little bit deeper into the business.

Connor Gillivan 9:36

Yes, completely agree. I mean, just when you're out of those pretty deep tasks or processes on a day-to-day basis. It even makes it harder to think of bigger ideas or look at your business from a 20,000-foot view. So definitely makes a difference.

Gresham Harkless 9:52

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners on this show. So kinda want to ask you what being a CEO means to you.

Connor Gillivan 10:04

Yeah, a CEO is just the position as a lot of people think of it, and I think this podcast does a great job of bringing that to light. For me being a CEO is really someone that's an extremely creative leader, right? So any problem that comes to them, they find a way to solve it, no matter what the situation, they're always the one that wants to work harder, work more hours to get their business up to the next level, they're someone that can bring people around them and inspire those people to see the same visions as what they do for the business.

And then they're also someone that's just really great at communicating. So they have that vision, they communicate it, they have high-priority tasks that need to get done in the next week, and they let their team know about that. They always communicate and keep everyone on the same page so that the business continues to grow.

Gresham Harkless 10:56

Absolutely. And often as a CEO or business owner, whatever role you have, you have to kind of walk across the balance beam and make sure that you're balancing the day-to-day and directing your team the same time while having that vision for the future so that you're charging the team towards that. So I think that's an incredible perspective and great definition.

Connor Gillivan 11:14

Yeah, man. Thanks. it was something I thought about a little bit coming onto the show. I figured we'd talk about that at some point.

Gresham Harkless 11:19

Yeah, absolutely. And you have two sides to the coin, being the co-founder, and also having that in the company as well, I really was looking forward to your perspective.

Connor Gillivan 11:28

Yeah, for sure.

Gresham Harkless 11:29

Nice, nice, nice. Well, Connor, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know. And then of course, how they can sign up for free and learn about all the awesome things that you're doing.

Connor Gillivan 11:42

Yeah, absolutely. So I did want to offer a special coupon code to anyone listening to the show, they'll get $25 on to their Free Up account if they decide to create one and the coupon codes are just higher than 25. And you can use it when you're creating an account, all you have to do is visit Free Up. And that's freeup.com. And then if anyone has any specific questions for me, I'm happy to chat with them as well. You can just reach me by email at Connor@freeup.com

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate the coupon code and we'll make sure to have the link in the show notes as far as that information as well too. But again, you're doing something awesome. And I truly appreciate your time today and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Connor Gillivan 12:21

Thanks, Gresh you too.

Outro 12:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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