In November 2017, our company started in an apartment with just one client, a few computers, and a dream. We now have over +25 business clients, three offices in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and 1 in Medellin, Colombia, and +100 freelancers in Maracaibo, Medellin, and Buenos Aires.
Evolving and growing as a company has been quite a journey, and today, as we celebrate our fourth anniversary, we want to share with you the most significant rewards that our effort has brought: the improvements we have had as a company. And our journey is only beginning!
How It Started
Freelance Latin America began on November 23, 2017, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. At that time, the company had only one worker besides our CEO, Randy Rosales, and only one client.
Our first freelancer, José Guilarte, was on-call for a Home Care Agency in New York City. This was the beginning of our company: just José and Randy at a desk.
Later, another freelancer joined the team to cover the morning shift with the same client. For our traditional Christmas dinner, FLATAM had three people, not knowing but hoping that the company would grow significantly over the next year.
In 2018, the company’s talent began to increase, and more people were hired to work for the Home Care Agency, not only as on-call but also as staffing coordinators and HR assistants. By the end of 2018, 8 freelancers were working for our first client.
2019 brought improvements for the company, and the first step towards internationality that FLATAM has sought from the beginning was taken. An office was opened in Colombia, and three freelancers were sent to work from the new office.
In addition, the company’s social networks were created, and a community around the brand began to be managed, thus reaching a greater audience and customers.
By 2020, the company had more than twice the number of clients and freelancers working for them, expanding the positions from Data Coordinators to IT Help Desk and Customer Service personnel.
Along with the increase in our team, our first office was remodeled to accommodate more people and increase the quality of work.
In addition, during this year, the company’s scope in the continent reached other dimensions, managing to hire a freelancer in Argentina and have a representative of Freelance Latin America in Buenos Aires.
At the end of 2020, new offices were inaugurated, and the team, which grew exponentially during the preventive quarantine for COVID-19, reached more than 60 people. Some work remotely, and others from the offices, but all deliver quality work to each of our clients.
How It’s Going
By 2021, Freelance Latin America has over 100 freelancers and 25+ clients. Offices in Venezuela and Colombia and a freelancer working from Argentina.
But in addition to having considerable growth in terms of infrastructure and team members, countless improvements were made to guarantee the company’s evolution in terms of work and the personal development of our team members.
Here we’ll tell you everything!
Work-related Improvements
New Office
This year, we inaugurated a new office in a much more commercial area of the city with a better infrastructure to favor our team’s productivity and comfort.
Thus, performance increased, which also benefited our customers. This led us to reach three offices in Maracaibo, increasingly expanding the extension of our company in the city and giving space to receive more freelancers and clients.
Reaching 100 Freelancers
Getting to have a work team that exceeded 100 freelancers was one of the first goals of our company, and this year, thanks to all the hard and intelligent work of our team and all our wonderful clients, we achieved it.
Our company excelled during the difficulties of the COVID-19 preventive quarantine since, in the face of the challenges faced by the business world, we were prepared thanks to the tools that remote work provided.
Growing Our Team in Buenos Aires and Medellin
Reaching a team of more than one hundred people and having the requests of more clients made it easier for us to expand our company to international scales. We started with two freelancers in Medellín, and we currently have six working from our offices in the city. In addition, we have a freelancer working from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
We are looking to recruit freelancers around our continent and are getting closer to fulfilling this objective: to be the most prominent outsourcing company in Latin America.
Non-work-related Improvements
In addition to work-related improvements, such as an increase in our team and better salaries and infrastructures, we have also made improvements related to our freelancers’ cultural and personal development since, as we always say, we have a win-win philosophy. This means that the more our company grows, the more benefits our members get.
Some of these improvements are:
Clubs
At Freelance Latin America, we enjoy supporting our team’s personal and cultural growth, so we have created different clubs throughout our trajectory where our members can meet, talk, and interact depending on the activity that interests them.
This not only helps to strengthen better links between our workers but also enriches their soft skills, which in the long run is beneficial for the entire company. The clubs we have so far are:
- Reading Club
- Music Club
- Film Club
- Fitness Club
- Chess Club
Giving-Back Projects
Another improvement we have integrated into our work is the projects that contribute to our community. This consists of monthly support from a social organization that needs it, such as associations for rescuing stray animals or foundations for caring for the elderly or children in difficult health conditions.
We make financial donations or material, medicinal, or food resources depending on the organization’s needs and seek to support the vulnerable sectors of our communities in the way we can.
It has been quite a journey since our company consisted of a desk with only two people working to keep it standing. Now, with an international extension and a team that exceeds 100 freelancers delivering quality work to each of our clients.
And our story is just beginning! We are all working to ensure that there are more and more improvements and that they accumulate along with the years of success for our company and our team.
If you would like to be part of the team, don’t hesitate to contact us. You can find the steps to follow on our Instagram or join our database from our website.
See more articles by Andrea Corona.
