Adalo, whose easy-to-use interface lets app creators drag and drop simple blocks to create their dream application without a single line of code, recently got USD 8 million worth of funding, an initiative which was led by renowned Venture Capital company Tiger Global.

What does Adalo do?

‘Build custom responsive apps & publish anywhere — no coding required’, states Adalo on its website. The venture allows freelancers and business founders to build and publish custom responsive apps for the web and mobile devices.

Custom fonts, colour palettes, icons, logos, name any feature which enhances the website quality and helps the venture’s brand value to stand head and shoulder above its competitors, Adalo has all the answers.

For start-ups, freelancing and personal apps, Adalo has tailor-made solutions for everyone. The clients can get their digital presence further strengthened by adding features like marketplace payments, multi-sided apps, and profiles, all through Adalo.

Adalo clients can even build their online communities with features like chat, picture-sharing, and the ability to follow and like community posts. While developing their official websites through Adalo, businesses can enhance the customer experiences by adding facilities like appointment settings, reminders and easy payment options. These ventures can even develop internal operational tools.

In short, Adalo is the one-stop solution, when it comes to developing a website which will give a business the desired brand value and edge over its competitors.

And yes, you can get your app featured on Adalo, by filling out an online form. Adalo even rewards apps with the ‘App of the Month’ crown, thus helping the clients to get the much-needed business reach and networking on the online domain.

For customizing the apps with branding and designing suitable for business/personal purposes, Adalo has a scalable and powerful no-code backend in the form of Xano.

Xano can store and signup users, perform actions on a schedule, make API calls, and perform code functions, apart from allowing databases to be scaled based on need, location, and compliance.

Xano allows the Adalo users to periodically update records in a collection, sign-up and log-in users to the apps, save on action usage by stacking API calls into a single response, send scheduled or recurring notifications, perform complex math or transform text directly in the database, and last but not the least, create, update, or delete records in bulk.

Adalo also provides flexible monthly and annual billing models for publishing and running apps. It ranges from free to Starter (USD 45 per month for founders and first-time entrepreneurs), Professional (Monthly USD 65 for small and medium businesses), Team (Monthly USD 200 for freelancers and agencies) and Business (Monthly USD 250 for big businesses).

Adalo also has a team of designers & builders, who can pitch in, in terms of app building. All the client needs to do is to fill out Adalo’s ‘Experts Form’, with his/her project details, deadline, budget, and requested features. Adalo will review the project details and match the client with an expert who will fit the customer’s needs, in terms of building the app from scratch.

Customised Products, Components & Solutions

Creating apps on Adalo is very easy. First, you need to drag and drop reusable building blocks to create your app’s interface. Then you need to link the pages of your app together to bring the product to life. Then the project can be moved from the prototype phase to the live online one with simple database spreadsheets.

Adalo also has its own ‘Component Marketplace’ and ‘App Templates’, using which one can browse the community-created templates to begin his/her app-making journey. Also, the client’s demo templates can be reviewed by Adalo’s experts, before the projects go online.

For large businesses, Adalo provides an environment, where these ventures can create their websites as per the operational requirements. All they need to do is connect their apps to their existing workflows and expand functionality with thousands of integrations with a few clicks. Adalo will also provide its expertise to help the concerned client throughout the process.

Adalo’s ‘No-Code’ tools help big businesses to design, build, and publish apps on quick notice. Be it reaching out to new customers, improving customer engagement, building a website with payment gateways and initiating customer loyalty programmes, name any crucial function for making a company’s business lucrative, Adalo has answers for it.

Also, through Adalo’s help, these businesses can build and manage their own backend data source to house the information, a function that’s important for these businesses.

Adalo Experts Program For Freelancers, Agencies & Start-ups

To avail of the above service, the client needs to submit an Adalo Experts program application form highlighting his/her no-code experience. After the review of the application, the individual will receive an email with next steps. Adalo will then pair the client with individuals/entities, as the latter will collaborate on the website development process.

The start-ups can enjoy Adalo’s drag-and-drop editor or work with an Adalo Expert to build their customised website. From self-guided tutorials in the Adalo App Academy to end-to-end design, development, and maintenance with an Adalo Expert, the start-up is there to help its peers to register quick business growth.

Connecting the start-up’s app with third-party tools and services, getting it launched on a custom web domain, and helping the app to grow its engagement through targeted push notifications, and in-app messaging, Adalo guides its client to overcome all these business barriers.

Apart from providing guidance throughout the design and development stage and periodic coaching on product maintenance, Adalo also provides over 70 courses on various aspects of app building.

Conclusion

Developing a website or mobile app is no child’s play. Companies take months and years, when it comes to firming up their ‘dream’ presence on the digital space. The process is both time and cost-consuming (add the developer fees as well), something which the big businesses can afford, but not the small ventures, start-ups and freelance professionals.

Adalo has emerged as a viable and cost-effective option on this front. The prospective clients will get their tailor-made mobile app and business websites on very short notice of time, without compromising on the quality front. Expect Adalo to gain more from the uncertain business environment of 2023, where companies are in the mood of acquiring cost-effective solutions for their business challenges.

Image Credits: Adalo

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California-based FlyFin, established in 2020, is a fintech start-up, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, that is helping its users prepare and file taxes.

The AI-powered tax preparation and filing service has combined the expertise of CPAs and AI to provide an expedited, automated tax solution for freelancers/self-employed individuals.

How Flyfin aces the tax filing job?

FlyFin’s AI analyzes the expenses of the freelancers, identifying every tax write-off based on over 200 deduction categories in the process.

All a self-employed individual needs to do is upload his/her tax documents, so that the CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) associated with the Flyfin can customize the papers for creating the client’s tax profile.

“With a combined 250 years of experience in all aspects of US taxes, our tax team ensures 100% accurate tax review, preparation and filing,” stated the fintech venture.

“With a unique combination of A.I. and a CPA team that understands the complexities of how to file 1099 for self-employed individuals, freelancers and independent contractors, FlyFin changes the game for self-employed individuals, freelancers and independent contractors. Together, A.I. and CPAs take the work and the stress of how to file a 1099 taxes away from taxpayers and save them more on taxes than in previous years,” it commented further.

After a self-employed individual enters their business expenses on the FlyFin portal, the latter’s AI searches for every deductible business expense to that extent, where it can even catch the smallest account write-offs. The more deductions the FlyFin AI finds, it lessens the concerned person’s taxable income further, ultimately resulting in the individual paying less taxes.

In short, the AI becomes a freelancer’s bookkeeper in the FlyFin, thus assigning each deduction it finds to an IRS (US Internal Revenue Service) category based on over one million tax rules the federal tax agency has.

“You can accept or recategorize to ensure accuracy and help A.I. learn over time, so when it comes time to file a 1099 online and submit your annual return, you’re as ready as humanly (and A.I.-ly) possible,” the fintech platform said.

FlyFin’s AI even looks at digital records of purchases freelancers made for their businesses. All the information needed for tax filing is accessed digitally by AI, and those digital records are the things required by the US Internal Revenue Service for verification.

After a thorough review of freelancers’ tax profiles and deductions, FlyFin’s CPA team sends those individuals a list of the documents to securely upload so that the accountants can e-file every 1099 NEC on the freelancers’ behalf and prepare their clients’ tax returns.

In the next step, FlyFin’s CPA team begins the process of preparing and submitting their clients’ 1099 electronic filing. The freelancers need to answer a few questions about their tax profile, so that the CPAs can tailor their approach to individual tax situations.

“The CPA team reviews all your business expenses and deductions to ensure 100% accuracy in your tax return. The most accurate possible tax return makes your taxable income as low as possible, so you save as much on your taxes as possible and avoid anything on your return that would attract the attention of the IRS. Pro tip: a red flag now can have implications for several tax returns in the future, which means being careful now helps you maximize your tax savings in the long run,” FlyFin commented.

The CPA team takes a maximum turnaround time of 48 hours, when it comes to sending the customers their return reviews and completes the tax filing process.

And yes, Flyfin has a section called ‘Calculate Taxes’ on its website, where all the important tax terms and calculation metrics, which the freelancers need to know, have been explained in detail.

FlyFin has even curated a list of common tax deductions that a freelancer can apply for, apart from drawing up specialised deduction guidance for artists, personal fitness trainers, uber drivers, Airbnb hosts, massage therapists, real estate agents and other self-employed categories.

Welcome to ‘FlyFin TaxGPT’

Using the best of the generative AI, FlyFin has introduced ‘FlyFin TaxGPT’, a chatbot which will answer all the tax-related queries for freelancers/self-employed individuals.

‘FlyFin TaxGPT’ is a new generative service, which is based on OpenAI’s GPT-4 large multi-modal model.

While ‘FlyFin TaxGPT’ can be used without hurting your purses, the tool doesn’t require its clients to create user accounts. An individual just needs to type in their tax-related questions on the chatbot. ‘FlyFin TaxGPT’ will then ask a few questions to the respondents before generating a tailored response to the tax queries in seconds.

‘FlyFin TaxGPT’ and its data model also keep its users constantly updated with the new tax laws and amendments. The service will be integrated into FlyFin’s AI-based tax engine and app in the coming days.

The road ahead

FlyFin has eliminated the biggest headache of self-employed individuals, i.e., preparing their tax records, apart from staying updated with the latest tax reforms.

Jaideep Singh, the FlyFin CEO, has established himself as an accomplished entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Singh is also a noted personality in the field of AI. He has been assisted by Sachin Rajendra, FlyFin’s co-founder and CTO, who brings a wealth of expertise in AI/Machine Learning (ML).

As strategic use of AI becomes the new normal for the fintech sector, expect FlyFin to introduce more disruptive services like ‘FlyFin TaxGPT’ in the coming days.

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Understanding a Gig Economy

Many people work part-time/temporary jobs, or as independent contractors in a gig economy. For those willing to use them, a gig economy produces less expensive, more effective services like Uber or Airbnb. The advantages of the gig economy may be lost on those who don’t use modern services like the Internet. Cities typically have the most advanced services and the deepest roots in the gig economy.

A gig can be any job with a wide range of positions. The labour can be everything from delivering food or driving for Uber to programming code or doing freelance writing. For instance, contract employees as opposed to tenure-track/tenured professors, including adjunct and part-time professors. By appointing more adjunct/part-time professors, colleges and universities can save expenditures while better-matching teachers to their course requirements.

Factors behind Gig Economy

Experts predicted as of 2021, up to one-third of the working population would have already been engaged in some form of gig work in America, and the gig economy is very much on its way to becoming a dominant market force in the coming years. Since these professions permit independent contract work and the companies don’t require freelancers to report to offices, experts are now anticipating a rise in the employment figures in this sector. Part-time/remote works are far more common among gig workers.

Additionally, since they are not required to recruit someone based on proximity, employers get the luxury of having a greater selection of suitable candidates. Also, computers have advanced to the point that they can either replace human jobs or enable people to work from home just as productively as they could in person.

Market factors are contributing to the rise of the gig economy as well. Businesses which cannot afford to recruit full-time workers to complete all the necessary work frequently use temporary/part-time workers to handle time-specific projects.

On the employee side of the equation, individuals frequently discover that they must relocate or hold numerous jobs in order to support the lifestyle they desire. The gig economy might be seen as a large-scale reflection of the fact that changing occupations frequently throughout a lifetime is also prevalent.

In 2020, the gig economy saw tremendous growth due to the COVID pandemic, as gig workers supplied goods to customers, and locked down at their own homes. People whose occupations got terminated in those pandemic times turned to these part-time works for money.

Criticisms of the Gig Economy

The gig economy has significant drawbacks despite its advantages. While not all firms favour hiring contract workers, the gig economy trend can make it more difficult for full-time employees to advance in their careers because these temporary workers are frequently less expensive to hire and have greater availability and flexibility. In some industries, workers who prefer a traditional career path and financial stability, are seeing those jobs getting crowded.

For some workers, the flexibility of gig work might actually disrupt the work-life balance, sleep patterns, and everyday activities. In a gig economy, frequent flexibility implies that the employees must be accessible for duties, regardless of their other priorities, and must always be on the hunt for the next gig. The competition for gigs has grown too, and the workers who are unemployed are not often covered by insurance or any other financial assistance, which comes under the USA’s CARES Act of 2020.

In effect, gig economy employees behave more like entrepreneurs than regular employees. The stability of consistent employment with a regular salary, benefits—including a retirement account—and a daily schedule that has defined work for generations is quickly disappearing, which may provide the individual worker more flexibility of choice.

Last but not least, long-term connections between employees, employers, clients, and vendors may deteriorate as a result of the fluidity of gig economy transactions and relationships. As a result, the advantages that come from long-term relationships of trust, established routines, and familiarity with clients and employers may be eliminated. It could also discourage investment in relationship-specific assets that would otherwise be profitable to pursue since no party has the incentive to invest significantly in a relationship that only lasts until the next gig comes along.

Examples of Gig Economy

Occupations that people find and access through online job-listing sites are examples of gig economy jobs. These positions are frequently temporary or contract ones. These include operating a vehicle for a ride-sharing company, painting a person’s home, and working as a freelancer for duties like gym training and private tutoring. There are no additional perks, such as health insurance, and the job is exchanged for money.

Benefits of the Gig Economy

The gig economy had many benefits for both employees and employers. A hiring manager has access to a diverse talent pool. There is no commitment to keep the employee on or concerns with firing them if the skill turns out to be subpar. Additionally, firms can hire from the gig economy at a time when it is getting harder to find full-time employees. Additionally, since employers don’t have to cover benefits like health insurance, using gig workers is a cost-effective option. Benefits of the gig economy for employees include the ability to perform several jobs, the freedom to work from anywhere depending on the employment, and flexibility in their daily schedule.

Is Gig Economy worth it?

Studies show that 79% of individuals who work in the gig economy are more satisfied than when they were doing traditional jobs. In 2021, the value of the global gig economy is predicted to be USD 347 billion. It is predicted that design and computer freelancing employment is the most common with 59% of gig workers working in them globally. It is also noted that the oversupply of expertise in these industries is driving down the compensation. In the US, 60% of gig workers are engaged in freelancing activities at least weekly, with 44% of them considering it to be their main source of income.

The global gig economy is anticipated to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.4%, from USD 204 billion in 2018 to USD 455 billion in 2023. In the Western World, the number of independent contractors is rising steadily. For instance, it is predicted that there will be 86 million freelancers in the US by 2027, while there were 4.7 million more gig workers in the UK between 2016 and 2019.

The average hourly wage for freelancers in the world is USD 21. The number of high-earning freelancers in the US (those who claim to have an annual income of over USD 100,000) has been increasing every year and now totals 3.1 million people (20% of the workforce). The majority of full-time freelancers in the US are unprepared for a financial emergency; 80% of them say it would be challenging to cover a USD 1,000 unforeseen bill.

Overall, gig economy employees are happier with their jobs. Around 79% of full-time independents claimed that working for themselves made them happier than working in a typical formal employment in the US. Gig workers worry about their cash more. It is reported that around 45% of full-time gig workers and 24% of typical full-time employees have high Economic Anxiety Index scores. According to data from 2017, in the US, most freelancers worry about their working circumstances. Among gig workers, 54% don’t have employer-based benefits.

According to analysis and the figures provided by Mastercard, the global gig economy is predicted to be valued at close to $350 billion in 2023. Uber, Airbnb and asset-sharing platforms account for a significant portion of the value added by the gig economy.

If one examines the global gig economy state from 2018, the division of capital in the gig economy is clearly visible. The TRNS (Transportation-Based Services) has $117.8 (57.8%) capital. Whereas the ASSET (Asset-Sharing Services) $68.1 (30.3%), HGHM (Handmade Goods, Household & Misc Services), $16.7 (8.2%), PRFS (Professional Services), $7.7 (3.8%), respectively.

Nearly 90% of the overall gig economy is attributed to asset-sharing platforms and services based on transportation. This is not surprising, given the rapid expansion of services from these categories that could be provided on a freelance basis, driven by the phenomenal success of businesses that offer them, such as Uber and Airbnb. It is not shocking that the economy is worth so much if one considers the number of workers currently contributing to this sector. For instance, there are 4.7 million freelancers in the UK compared to 57.3 million in the US. According to Mastercard, the stark difference in numbers between these two countries can probably be explained by more than just the total population difference, Americans account for 44% of global gig gross volume.

Freelancers steadily rising in the West

The total number of gig workers worldwide is expected to continue increasing in the coming years. Experts give reference to the studies conducted by MBO Partners, Upwork, and the University of Hertfordshire when discussing the growth. For instance, the University of Hertfordshire study discovered that between 2016 and 2019, there were 4.7 million gig workers in the UK (defined as persons who had worked for an online platform at least once per week). In just three short years, there has been a considerable increase. Additionally, the present US gig workforce of 57 million is anticipated to increase to 86 million by 2027; this corresponds to a 50% increase in 7 years, which is an astounding number given the US gig labour’s already large size. Finally, the rise of sporadic gig workers in the US is another example of how the gig economy’s workforce is expanding. In the US, the number of occasional independents (those who perform gigs for less than 15 hours per week) increased by 42% over the course of three years and was stable at 15 million workers in 2019.

As per the Payoneer report, freelancers around the world earn $21 per hour on average. The report stated that the younger generations are paid less than the global average, with income progressively increasing as age groups move along. Earnings for the ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 are $16 and $19 per hour, respectively, which are less than the global average. The report also stated that 69% of all gig workers fall into one of these age categories. As a result of age and job experience, the majority of the population earns less than the average, which indicates that there is an unbalanced allocation of capital in the gig economy. Furthermore, according to Upwork, the median rate for freelancers in the US is $20/hour, whereas the median rate for the overall US workforce is $18.80/hour. Additionally, the hourly median wage for freelancers providing skilled services is $28.

According to MBO Partners, a full-time US independent makes $68,000 on average annually, which is more than the $59,000 median household income nationwide. There are a startling 3.1 million high-earning full-time independents in the nation. To be clear, the survey defines a high earner as someone who earns more than $100,000 each year. Over the past ten years, the number of high-earning freelancers in the US has been continuously increasing. That number increased from 1.9 million to 3.1 million people between 2011 and 2019, a 64% increase.

Tech leading the way

Technology has dominated the development of the gig economy by overcoming the complexity of contingent labour. Without technology, gig work would just be limited to project-based work. Using a gig workforce independently has its own set of challenges, regardless of how advantageous it is for any business. Most businesses struggle to handle sizable on-demand staffs that are not on a regular payroll without the right tools and technology. However, the emergence of work tech platforms has enabled businesses to efficiently finish the full cycle as each step of the process becomes effective thanks to automation and built-in smart-assist capabilities. Work tech cloud-based systems give businesses the instruments they need to manage deliverables and hours worked as well as monitor and assess results to increase efficiencies, improve communication, and generate higher income.

For instance, a no-code technology can offer end-to-end workflow management that is tailored to business requirements. It can configure the permutation and combination of potential workflows, calculate payouts automatically, and use algorithms to ascertain the skills and backgrounds of gig partners, among other things. The same technology also provides training interventions, automatic reallocation to meet deadlines and SLAs, project-wide visibility across the world, and local insights into attendance, shifts, and task completion.

Assuming the role of a gig partner nowadays, technology has made it possible for businesses to outsource essential operational recurring work to gig partners rather than just transactional, short-term project labour. Finding employment has become simpler and smoother for gig partners because of the technology infrastructure of work-tech platforms. From applying for a job to finding work based on their abilities and location to in-app training, task fulfilment, and even payment, processes and applications are made to ensure a seamless experience. All of this can be done with only a few touches on the phone.

The tech of endless possibilities

Experts say, technological advances, notably in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and data analytics, have shortened the gap between people and services, particularly in the labour market. For instance, there are platforms available today that process reams of big data from all over the world on a second-by-second basis, use AI & ML powered smart task allocation to ensure the right gig partners are matched for tasks in real-time, and simultaneously validate a different set of big data provided by gig-workforce using image recognition and artificial intelligence-powered audio transcription.

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