The Situation

Finli’s growth is supported by a mix of talented full-time and liquid workers, bringing together experience in payments, compliance, education, marketing, and technology. Shao notes that engaging Finli’s liquid workforce has been critical to the company’s growth. “As we focus on driving our core initiatives, we will not be nearly as effective if not for our contractors and vendors.”

Shao advises other startups considering engaging a liquid workforce to “view the liquid workforce as an opportunity to have probational relationships with skilled workers and experts. You might be able to afford them full time or have the workload capacity to bring one on board even if the cost is not an issue. Tapping into the liquid workforce allows you to have the best of both worlds.”

Before starting to engage 1099 workers, Shao’s only hesitation was concern about the administrative burden involved. To ensure that she could easily manage contracts, projects, and payments, she decided to start using Liquid to manage her flexible workforce.

Growth Powered by Liquid

Liquid streamlined and automated the administrative tasks of managing Finli’s liquid talent, enabling Shao to quickly assemble contracts, W-9s, and other critical documentation to onboard new workers. Invoices and payments are easily reviewed and authorized. Now, Finli saves money and hours every month. Shao says, “I honestly can’t imagine having a freelancer management experience better than the one we’ve been having with Liquid.”

The Results

Tapping into the flexible workforce and using solutions like Liquid has helped Shao drive Finli’s growth while also achieving work/life balance – including the occasional karaoke session. For business advice, Shao enjoys binge reading Medium posts and surfing Pymnts.com to stay up-to-date on industry news. The most important lesson that she’s learned is that “a great idea is less significant compared to the courage to persevere.”