An Interview with the Founders of Rimuut

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It’s been a while since we’ve had an interview on HomeWorkingClub, so I’m delighted to bring you this new one with Esen and Mert Bulut, the co-founders of Rimuut.

Rimuut is a fintech company that helps freelancers to simplify invoice payments, multi-currency transactions and invoice admin.

Here’s what they had to say.

What exactly does Rimuut do?

Right now,  Rimuut transforms freelancers into virtual companies by equipping them with commercial and managerial tools to handle invoicing, settlement, and payment.

Rimuut website screenshot

We enable freelancers to easily invoice their clients, get paid, and protect their work by contracts without the financial and mental burden of starting and running their own companies. Thanks to our Company-as-a-Service model, freelancers can invoice their clients in more than 150 countries without the burden of creating a traditional company. 

Rimuut also bridges the gap between businesses and freelancers. Companies that want the benefits of working with a global talent pool can easily make payments to their freelancers on Rimuut. 

Can you give an example of a typical client of yours?

Put simply, every freelancer who wants to avoid the burden of starting a company, and every company that wants the flexibility of working with freelancers.

Starting a company only to comply with financial regulations is not very practical, and there are many hidden costs for independent professionals. Rimuut offers a new way for freelancers. Freelancers don’t have to start companies to invoice their clients. They can just start their virtual companies on Rimuut in seconds and invoice their clients. 

Our target segment consists of remote workers, independent professionals, digital nomads, entrepreneurs, and adhoc agencies. Also, all types of companies want to benefit from the flexibility of working with freelancers and independent professionals.

Currently, we have a wide range of clients, from agencies to gaming companies, from international holdings structures to startups. We provide solutions for more than 3000+ businesses and 30,000+ freelancers. 

How does Rimuut differ from using accounting software like QuickBooks for invoices?

These are entirely different products, to begin with. The only resemblance is that they are both fintech products.

Rimuut provides every freelancer a virtual company; therefore, these professionals don’t have to start one in their countries. Our purpose is to be the digital replacement of small companies or Sole Proprietorship companies. We’ll soon handle every step of our users’ financial journey—contract, invoicing and payment, and, most importantly, taxes.

We aim to be able to take care of all financial burdens for freelancers. Also, we offer more flexibility, applicability, and broader coverage compared to other platforms.  

How would you summarise the state of the freelance industry right now?

In times of adversity or uncertainty, the freelance industry prospers. After COVID-19, we are experiencing a fast-forward to a new era of employment. Without a doubt, the freelancing industry will grow exponentially in the upcoming years. 

For everyone in the freelancing ecosystem, there are many opportunities, and there are some problems to tackle. Globalization of work has just started, and many things will change for both companies and freelancers. Still, we are optimistic about the future of self-employment since we see different services and products popping up every day to solve various problems of freelancers. To summarize, the future is very fluid and very exciting.

You set out to provide a solution to a financial challenge for freelancers, what other big challenges do you think new freelancers face?

With the 4th industrial revolution, we live in a period in which the importance of borders gradually decreases. The globalization of work will create new challenges and new opportunities. While flexibility gives freedom to independent professionals, there will be disadvantages like not having social benefits, insurance, etc. Hopefully, we’ll cover all the pain points in time.

What significant changes do you predict in the world of freelancing in the coming years?

Without a doubt, self-employment or freelancing will be a significant employment model for skilled and high-skilled people worldwide.

AI is rapidly becoming part of our professional world. Therefore we’re expecting to see changes in some professions that require the ability to work with artificial intelligence. We don’t worry about AI taking the jobs, but freelancers will have to adapt to work with AI more creatively like in any other workforce.

Creativity, adaptability, and flexibility are the critical components of future employment. We are expecting that rigid organizational structures will struggle while need-oriented, flexible organizational structures will grow. That’s why the flexibility we are offering is a massive deal in the future as well. Whatever the needs of our community, we’ll provide for them. 

What apps are absolutely indispensable for YOU?

Trello, Slack, Figma, and Rimuut. 🙂 We are paying our freelancers via Rimuut too.

What impact has Covid had on your business?

After the COVID-19 lockdowns, we saw a significant shift to the freelance economy due to rising unemployment rates. This led people to pursue new freelancing jobs and launch on their own. We are now focused on scaling up our projects to provide more benefits to freelancers around the world. 

We have witnessed the barriers to remote working being eliminated in this period. In the first six months of 2020, we increased our total transaction volume by 10 times compared to the first six months of 2019. Rising unemployment and economic uncertainty worldwide after COVID-19 have pushed the workforce towards alternative income sources like freelancing.

Likewise, we see that businesses are also trying to be more flexible and agile because of the uncertainty. They prefer to employ freelancers too. 

Do all of your teamwork remotely?

As we believe that remote work is the future of employment, we teamed up with great independent professionals from different parts of the world. From day one, we have been working remotely.

What one piece of advice would you give to somebody considering making the jump into freelancing?

If they are already working in a 9-5 job, they should test the waters first by experiencing freelancing as a side gig. After ensuring a regular income with trusted clients, they can make the full transition to freelancing.

I thank Esen and Mert for taking the time to share their insights.

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