(This post is actually an email I have sent to our contractors, but I think it has some powerful thoughs, so I’m posting it here) One of our core values, which we almost forgot about in the past couple of weeks, and on which I’d like to share a few words with you is trust. You see, trust is the base of every interaction and relationship. If the the three founders of Codeable wouldn’t trust each other, there would be no Codeable in the first place. If you wouldn’t trust us and fellow contractors, you wouldn’t join us to share our passion. If our clients wouldn’t trust us, they wouldn’t come to Codeable for help. So I’d like to declare what has been long overdue: Trust is the very fundamental value of Codeable. I realise some of our recent actions (and features) didn’t convey this message as much as we’d like – so from now on, it’s our number one priority in communication with you, our contractors and our clients. There are several rules we will ask you to follow (and we will follow them as well) in order to build trust throughout Codeable:
- Use project comments for project related questions only. Use your profile page for self promotion (each client is able to click your name to check it out once you apply). Our goal is (or rather was) that clients shouldn’t need to review contractors because all of you are competent enough. But being new on the scene, they asked us for the feature to establish trust.
- You can use Skype, email or other means of communication with the clients you get on Codeable, the only thing we ask is that you keep working on them through Codeable. It’s the only way we can stay successful at bringing in more clients and thus more work for you. (and we’ll do everything in our power do develop a system, more suited for work than Skype and email, so you’ll prefer working through Codeable)
- Put your real image in your profile. We are proud of who we are and we don’t have to hide behind nicknames and logos. This will also establish trust with prospective clients.
- Stick around. We see some of the our contractors being absent for weeks and on the other hand, clients waiting for suggestions with no response.
Some of the short-term plans for Codeable
First, we will improve your profile page even further and also make it public, so you’ll be able to show off your Codeable portfolio. We will also make your name in the comments section a link to your profile, so contractors will be able to check it. If you have any more ideas about your profile page, let us know, it is your page and we want you to be satisfied with it. We also need to improve suggestion system. Our cut for each project is 10% (including PayPal transaction fees so it’s actually less than that). Currently we have an algorithm in place that offers a unified price to the client, but the problem is some projects (the one I posted actually) get very different suggestions, like $15 and $300, lowest and highest, respectively. We need some kind of improvement on both, transparency and best price so we’re brainstorming on what would be the optimal way for that – feel free to help us out if you have a good idea. A few suggestions came in that you guys would like a lounge (chatroom) within Codeable, where you’d be able to hang out and talk about the projects that come up, so that too is our plan for the third major release of Codeable, which is expected to see the light of day in late march. Thank you for your trust.
