Inside CreativeNative || Our Exclusive Interview With Nisreen Pharoun
Nisreen Pharoun’s CreativeNative is transforming the connection between freelancers and forward-thinking entrepreneurs. This innovative site is not just a meeting place but a platform where creative concepts turn into business realities. With an emphasis on quality, CreativeNative offers a spectrum of top-tier services, from photography to web development. It’s designed for ease, allowing clients to effortlessly link up with freelancers, nurturing a community geared towards collaboration. Freelancers distinguish themselves with precise, detailed profiles, emphasizing professionalism to attract potential clients. CIIN managed to get a glimpse into CreativeNative with a candid conversation with its founder Nisreen Pharoun.
What inspired the creation of Creative Native, and what is the primary mission of your platform?
The talented freelancers that we have in Jordan and the region, as well as the highly creative entrepreneurs who are emerging with their beautiful creations, are what inspired the development of CreativeNative!
Entrepreneurs, whether they sell a product or offer a service, need professional material to showcase their work and they are always searching for the best talent to help them achieve their goals. In the current landscape, entrepreneurs often turn to each other for recommendations, filling social media platforms with requests for freelancers in diverse fields. It’s a dynamic quest for the perfect creative match!
As the owner of a small business, my constant search for freelancers is akin to a treasure hunt! Whether in need of a photographer and model, for a captivating photo shoot or a copywriter and graphic designer to breathe life into promotional material, the search for the ideal collaborators is constant. The challenge lies in finding those capable of turning creative visions into tangible business achievements.
These two factors are what prompted the creation of CreativeNative. We wanted to bridge the gap between clients and freelancers in a seamless, easy-to-use platform. Our mission is to allow creative entrepreneurs to find and book the services of the best freelancers to help them accomplish their business objectives. It is also a platform for freelancers to showcase their work and expertise as well as build lasting connections with like-minded individuals.
With a wide range of services offered, from photography to web development, how do you ensure quality and expertise in each category?
We are an inclusive and diverse platform, and we strive to be the home of the best talent. To join CreativeNative, freelancers create a profile and then post a listing with their service offerings. Setting up a profile is straightforward, yet comprehensive. It includes a brief bio, the services offered, years of experience, languages spoken, and whether they can work on location, remotely, or both. A notable feature of the platform is that a ‘Creative Native’ (freelancer) can post more than one service listing. So, for example, a graphic designer can post about their design services, and they might also have experience as a creative stylist directing a photoshoot so they can post another listing in another category.
There is a section for freelancers to upload images from their portfolios so that customers can view their work and validate the quality of a freelancer’s work for themselves. As a second layer of authenticating freelancers, we ourselves, before publishing a new freelance profile, go through and make sure all the information shared is consistent with our standards and may ask the more inexperienced or new freelancers to provide more supporting material. We also allow freelancers to display relevant certifications and qualifications. This adds an additional layer of credibility and helps clients identify professionals with the necessary skills for their projects.
As a platform, we review each profile and ensure all the required information is available and clear before publishing it on the platform. We also implement a robust rating and review system, where freelancers earn different expert badges.
Can you walk us through the process a client would typically go through from finding a service provider to completing a project on your platform?
The mission of CreativeNative is to allow creative entrepreneurs to find and book the services of the best freelancers to help them accomplish their business objectives. A customer visits www.CreativeNative.io and browses either by freelancer or by service category. Once they find the person for the job they are looking for, they create an account to access the platform to be able to book their Creative Native. Once a booking is made, the freelancer receives a notification about the booking and can then accept or reject it. The customer and freelancer can communicate via messages on the CreativeNative platform if they need to discuss any details of the job. Payment is then made once the job is completed.
How does Creative Native vet and select the freelancers listed on your site?
Before publishing any freelancer profile and their listings, we go through them and make sure we have all the profile information required as well as their portfolio and past work images. For new and inexperienced freelancers who have little work experience, we may ask for more supporting material. We aim to select the best people as we want to ensure our customers that whoever is a Creative Native will deliver to their expectations.
How do you encourage a sense of community and collaboration among freelancers and clients?
We aim to be the biggest tribe of qualified and professional freelancers in the MENA region and to be a hub of collaboration and shared success. Recognition features, such as highlighting exceptional work and acknowledging positive collaborations contribute to a sense of community appreciation.
Workshops, webinars, and skill-sharing initiatives make CreativeNative a dynamic ecosystem where freelancers and clients forge connections that extend beyond individual projects, enriching the entire freelancing experience. We aim to unite creative natives that comprise both clients and freelancers in our dynamic freelancing tribe!
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in building and growing the Creative Native platform?
Many freelancers have never been listed on such a freelance marketplace platform. Some view it as a directory and are not reaping the full potential of the site and their skills. We are learning that we must speak individually to these freelancers to help them create their listings and help them price appropriately. We will also be conducting webinars and workshops to go through the process with them.
Sometimes, freelancers also view their services as one item; we are encouraging them to split their services into multiple listings to make it easier for clients to book them. For example, a makeup artist can create a listing for a marketing campaign studio photoshoot and another listing for a special launch event that requires more elaborate makeup. Another example would be an event planner who can create a basic event planning listing for up to 50 guests and another more intricate event for over 100 guests.
Developing the CreativeNative platform also required a developer who understood that the platform needed to be easy to navigate and book. Entrepreneurs are busy people and want to find what they are looking for fast! We are very fortunate to have great developers working with us! Other platforms require the customer to input a lot of detail about the job and many might ultimately abandon the request.
Could you share a standout success story or project that was facilitated through Creative Native?
As we are in the soft launch of our platform, we are now celebrating the freelancers that are coming on board CreativeNative and the success we are having in clients reaching out to them and starting the conversation.
Are there any new features or services Creative Native is planning to introduce in the near future?
We are looking to introduce more categories as we have had interest from customers looking for other services that we hadn’t included. We are also starting to sign on freelancers from the region.
What advice would you give to freelancers who are new to Creative Native and looking to stand out?
At CreativeNative, we’re all about having the most creative and the best freelancers out there. Though their work will speak for itself, we recommend that freelancers make sure their service listings are clear and specific. This will make it easier for clients to understand and know what to expect when they choose to work with them. Posting clear and the best photo of their work is also a very important plus! Of course, professionalism and prompt replies to requests and messages will always guarantee a comfortable experience with clients.
How does Creative Native incorporate feedback from both freelancers and clients to improve the platform?
We are all about fostering a positive and collaborative environment at CreativeNative. We have a feedback mechanism within the platform that includes surveys, ratings, and reviews to gather input from freelancers and clients. It’s very important to ensure that it’s easy for users to provide feedback. We also have a continuous feedback loop where users can provide ongoing feedback that we can take into consideration and work upon.
