Assignmint: Freelance Work Available | Founder Interview, The Future of Journalism & The LA Startup Scene
Freelancing is a tough gig for many writers. Pitching stories and getting your name out to various companies and editors requires a lot of work. It is also a problem for editors who are looking for the right writer. This is where Assignmint comes in. Assignmint is a web-based platform to list freelancing work for employers and help writers find the right freelance job for them and standardizes the paperwork between the two parties. TechZulu catches up with the founder of Assignmint, Jeff Koyen, as he talks about Assignmint, freelance, and LA startups.
TechZulu: Let’s get the easy question out of the way first. Where did Assignmint come from?
Jeff Koyen: Assignmint comes from my own experience. I was a journalist for about 20 years. I was a travel writer, freelance journalist, and also an editor. I have been on every end of the business in terms of journalism and publishing. I have run newspapers, magazines, and websites and I have written for them all. No matter where I worked, I never found any sort of product that managed the workflow between editors and writers and it is the number one problem in the publishing world.
For all those who want to talk about the fragmentation of media and the models for journalism is in trouble; it’s actually not. Journalism is stronger than ever, but the outlets are fragmented. People are freelancing more than ever, and there is a lot of tension in that process. I realized that a couple of years ago and I’m convinced that if you solve a lot of the logistical problems in that relationships, the relationships will get better. I built the product I wanted, as a writer, editor, and as a publisher. Assignmint is the product that sits in-between a lot of cranky individuals and hopefully makes them a little less cranky.
So why don’t you tell everyone about Assignmint?
JK: Assignmint sits in between the writer and the editor by solving the relationship. Rather than writers pitching, doing paperwork and deliverables, clogging up inboxes, getting lost, having undefined or ill-defined expectations about when payments are expected, and about what kind of invoice your editor wants. We are providing a standardized toolkit to make all that simpler. If you are a writer and you are pitching to a new editor, you can pitch through us and manage those pitches. You can see if those pitches have been accepted or haven’t been accepted and keep a whole record of your relationship with the editor. If you do land that job, you can convert the pitch to an assignment. Then you can deliver the assignment, record your expenses, create an invoice and get paid, all through us. Whereas that used to take maybe hours of hours of your time to organize and with us you can just spend a few minutes and you’re done.
On the flip-side, Assignmint is a tool for editors, which we are in the process of developing right now. The writer’s side is in public beta and editor’s side is in private beta. So, the editors have the exact same tools. Pitches, assignments, and invoices come to them. They, their accountants, or publish crews can issue the payment through us. The entire logistics and workflow is centralized in one place. It’s standardized. There are no surprises on how and when you are going to get paid and everything leading up to that point.
Is Assignmint national or a global web-system?
JK: We are open to everyone. We have a lot of writers signing up from all over the place. Writers from South America, India, and small parts of South East Asia are all signing up for Assignmint. We currently do not have a language translation system as of yet, but we are working on it and plan to go multi-language next year. If you are a writer and want to manage your workflow, you can use us. If you are a writer in need of assistance managing the logistics, we are there for you. In terms of connecting everyone and the payment gateway all hooked up, it’s only going to be U.S. only for the foreseeable future and that is due to banking laws. We are enabling payments through bank transfers and PayPal. We are not a marketplace. We are not matchmakers. We are an agnostic tool provider.
What other problems have you seen as a freelancer or a writer in general?
JK: When I started Assignmint, there were a couple paths we could have taken. One path could have been creating something just for the writers. Therefore, we could have published a directory of the editor’s names and addresses for over 20,000 outlets. We can publish and say, “Hey writers! Your ship has come in and here is the road map to freelancing!” But that wouldn’t have won us any fans on the editor’s side. The last thing an editor needs is poorly thought out pitches coming into them. We then thought about what editors need. The editors really need a place where they can tell writers what kind of work they want and filter out expectations, skill levels, and expertise before writers even pitch to them.
We like to think we are standardizing and making things more civilized. If you come through us as a writer, hopefully you’re not going to bombard a thousand editors with pitches. On the other hand, if you are an editor you can create expectations and what kinds of pitches you want. Editors can reduce the awful flow of poor pitches coming into them. We are acting like a filter. We aren’t trying to get involved. We are not vouching for people. If you are a writer, here’s your portfolio and your interest. If you are an editor, you are putting up what kind of material you want. But we think that leaving this filter, the whole process can be more civilized.
The paperwork is the last problem. When I was a travel writer I had to run and find a fax machine to fax in my W-9 forms when I was in Bangkok. There was another time when I had to fax in my invoice in Pakistan. That is ridiculous. I spent more time organizing my tax forms, keeping them safe, getting invoices together, getting invoice templates, then getting them out there and tracking down my payment for writing the article. The article can take 10 hours to write a good article and the paperwork can take five hours. We are trying to solve the paperwork dilemma. We will have writers store their W-9 forms. Publisher can publish an invoice template and say this is the information we want. Assignmint already populates the invoice and the writer sends it in with one click. Standardizing the paperwork is our goal to help free up everybody to work on what matters.
What other problems and issues are you looking forward to fixing?
JK: We would like to see employers and other people hiring freelancers to be more responsible and professional in their payment process. I would like to see people, publishers and writers, come on board to Assignmint and use our payment gateway. Use us to pay and standardize their invoices. It’s not only the publishers; writers need to be educated too.
I have been helping many people, because we are getting a lot of inquiries from struggling freelancers on helping them get paid. I can’t personally help anyone get paid from their editors, but I gave one person really good advice. He was hounding his editor and I said to him that it’s probably not your editor’s fault. He was so angry at the editor and it’s not the editor’s fault. Your editor has your invoice and that is probably the extent of your editor’s involvement with your money. I told him to go to the AP person to look for his payment. He went to the AP person and got an answer and got paid within 30 days. He repaired the relationship with his editor, which he was on the verge of burning the bridge. We are hoping to educate new writers. New writers need to understand how you get paid. You don’t get paid with a paycheck in this business. You put out an invoice and you get paid usually between 30-60 days. We have to educate everyone to make sure the terms are known and you can plan accordingly. I believe we can help do that.
What is the future like for freelancers?
JK: Freelancing is the future. There are estimates of 45 million freelancers in the U.S. and the projected numbers in five years will rise to 70 million. It’s growing. Right or wrong, businesses are hiring less full-timer, especially in the creative fields. It’s horrible. I was a freelancer for years and I found myself writing, struggling, and hustling twice as much to earn the same money. That’s the new reality. Assignmint is there to make it easier for the hustling freelancer. If you have to do twice the number of paperwork to earn the same paycheck, it’s a real shame if your bookkeeping is going to take twice as long every month. With us, it will only take a quarter of that time. We expect to be a huge growth market. There are more freelancers than ever. We plan to branch off of writing and publishing and go to any creative field. Design, photography, tech, any sort of media broadcast, any kind of contracted workforce, we expect to be there and help.
Where do you think printed media is heading? Digital media?
JK: Doesn’t matter to me what you are publishing. We are content agnostic. We are handling writing and the relationship between writers and publishers. It doesn’t matter who you are; you can be writing long-form journalism for Rolling Stone, doing advertorials for BuzzFeed, or you can be writing the menu for the restaurant down the street. Any sort of contracted work, you can put through us.
Along those lines, I don’t think there is much of a divide between print and digital anymore in general. If you were writing something for Rolling Stone and it happens to appear in the magazine first, but you are also going to appear online. If you are writing something digital for a website, it’s theoretically the same process. You’re still writing and turning in your copy to the editor. Print, digital, and broadcast; doesn’t matter to me. It’s still the same process.
What is going to happen to print media? There are lots of signs that print is slowly turning into the pages of history.
JK: I don’t think it will go away. Print serves an important function. As you can see, I have the Sunday New York Times on my desk. We get it every Sunday and my wife and I spend every morning reading it. Some of the stories I have already read on Thursday online, but not all of them. I still do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. I am not going to do a crossword puzzle on my computer. I never hope to do a crossword on my computer…
Print has its functions. It will be more niche. It will become more specialized. It will become more fetishized; actually it’s already been fetishized. You will find more people doing limited edition magazines that are brand enforcers. The magazine is a bit of prestige. It’s a bit of respect to the journalists. It’s saying journalism does matter and we are going to go through the trouble and expense to put the magazine in physical form. I love it. Maybe I’m an old dog, but I love getting magazines every month.
A lot of print media are dying out. Daily newspapers and some markets are going only two or three times weekly now. That is heartbreaking. I think magazines and newspapers are important in physical form. The form is dying. But there is more journalism than ever. If a magazine folds, all that content isn’t going away. There is probably more content per word being put out than ever before. For example, Time Magazine may cease to exist, physical form-wise, in a couple of years. But there is going to be more content than ever put out under the Time banner.
Since almost everyone has a mobile device nowadays and an app is available for almost every news media agency. Where do you see mobile going?
JK: That’s tricky. It’s very difficult to read 5,000 words on your phone. There is a big trend on long-form journalism right now. I don’t want to read 5,000 words on my phone. I mean it doesn’t mean I’ll only read it in a magazine, I read news all the time on my computer. I think mobile is proving to be a good companion to journalism. It is a great way to pique your interest and a good way to read headlines. I am informed on all the basics that are going on in the world, but if I need to dig deeper, I’ll just turn on the computer, radio, or TV. The mobile keeps me widely informed.
Why start Assignmint in LA?
JK: I spent 17 years in New York. I am deeply, deeply burnt out. I have tried to escape a number of times. I lived in Prague and South East Asia for a while, but somehow I get pulled back for whatever reason. The thought of undertaking the launch of Assignmint didn’t seem right. We needed a change of pace. Like many other New Yorkers, LA was the only other stop. We came out here and we are really glad we did. Coming out to LA was the best decision my wife and I made.
The startup system here is great. The ecosystem is great. I have 20 years of industry knowledge, but that doesn’t translate to starting up a new company. That’s not startup experience. Whereas you have a lot of people who are creating startups in industries they are unfamiliar with. There are kids who get out of college and say, “What industry are we going to fix next?” They know everything about startups and know every VC contact in the world. But they don’t understand the industry.
I’m the opposite. I know everything about the industry, but I don’t know a thing about the startup world. So I came out to LA and I learned, and I’m really glad I did. I think the LA ecosystem is more open and friendlier. You have a lot more diversity of companies and I’m really glad we jumped into it.
Since you have been in LA for a bit…what is your take on LA’s future in the startup world?
JK: I think LA’s startup scene will have a number of rock star exits. LA’s startup scene isn’t as young as the hype suggests. You have Demand Media here. You even got Yahoo!. There are old guards here that have influenced and created a whole generation of innovators here in the startup scene. LA is an editorial-heavy market for startups. The entertainment money cannot be overlooked either. You have a lot of Hollywood money getting pumped into startups and that helps.
In terms of where it’s going to go…I have no idea. I don’t know if LA is going to gain a reputation for entertainment startups. I have a friend who believes that, but I don’t necessarily believe that. Because LA also has a long history of tech and hardware; you got JPL, Aerospace, and Elon Musk with Tesla and Space X. I think a lot of people underestimate the hardware aspects of LA. I think it’s going to be a great diverse run. You will see a couple rock star exits and then you are going to see the usual burnout failures in every ecosystem.
What have been your worst moments?
JK: Every six months when it is time to fundraise. I feel like you are living through your worst moments all the time. But I also think your best moments are sitting right next to it. The startup game is not easy. Like I said, I have 20 years of industry knowledge. I know I’m solving a known problem. I know I am serving as an important function in my industry. This all comes at the expense of access to capital, investors, and social circles that make it easier to fundraise. When I am having great victories of serving clients and users, then I know that’s a great day. Then the very next minute, I look at my bank account and realize I have to get off my butt and fundraise. Again, I am living through all my worst and best moments all at once. It’s like a roller coaster.
Then describe your best moments?
JK: I have this one story I love. A woman in India wrote looking for help, chasing down money from one of the Indian franchises of a major American title. She didn’t know where else to turn, there was no one else to ask. This isn’t something we usually do. We aren’t bill collectors, but she found us. I try to answer all my emails as quickly as possible and maintain a positive connection and help anyone I can, since I have been a freelancer myself. I gave her advice to relax, because she was barking up the wrong tree. I gave her the email address to the AP department and let them sort it all out. She soon got paid and kept a good relationship with the editor. It was great. I can’t monetize that. It was a great day. It proved to me that fixing relationships with writer and editors is what I’m good at, which is the goal Assignmint is ultimately trying to achieve.
What is the next goal for you?
JK: We are fundraising, getting more money in the bank, get a new developer to redesign my site, and get our clients on board. I just want to reduce my burn rate. Our burn rate now is very modest; it’s just the two of us. But, every burn rate hurts when nothing is coming in. I want to see the break-even point in the immediate horizon. That’s all I want. We are focused on revenue and that’s it.
Are you planning a mobile version of Assignmint?
JK: We will end up doing a mobile version. But nothing fancy, probably just an app that is wrapped in HTML 5. The short answer is no, not in the immediate future. I feel that people manage their careers all the time. But we already have built-in notifications and SMS alerts whenever say a pitch is accepted or your invoice has been paid. We don’t want to necessarily encourage that you have your career in your pocket all the time. That being said we will ultimately have some sort of mobile functionality. But we aren’t looking to recreate an entire new platform for mobile devices.
How about some advice on startups?
JK: This is coming from a prejudice perspective, I am not a serial start-upper, because I’m a journalist and I would love to go back into journalism. My advice is, get to your users as soon as possible. Get your product to them as soon as possible. This isn’t something new; this is the lean startup approach. You will not know if you are producing a useful product until it’s in front of people. Another pointer is, get your revenue model established. As soon as you get that first dollar, the conversation changes with your investors, because they can start forecasting money and see a little bit of what you are worth. Get to your users and figure out your business model. Don’t flounder with that. That is my advice.
Since you have been in the industry for 20 years, what advice would you give to writers like me?
JK: Hustle! Hustle and write as much as possible. Whether or not you choose to writer for free is a personal decision. Some people are very passionate about it. I know what is right for me and not for them. You have to write as much as possible. Do as many jobs as much as possible. Work for as diverse a field as possible. If your lifelong dream is to work for the New York Times, that’s great. Go full force for the New York Times. If you don’t care where you work, then diversify. You will learn more from your editors than anyone else. Find your editors, meet as many editors as you can, and write for as many people as possible. Keep hustling and you will climb up. Good quality work does rise up. You got to hustle for it.
