Chapter 9: Signing Up for Fivver
Laura and Tynan settled into an easy routine after a while and just like that, two weeks flew by. The dirt princess was slowly but surely levelling up her housekeeping skills but she was unable to complete the new task the system assigned her. She wasn't able to improve Tynan's financial system and that was becoming a little bit of a nuisance.
"Why wouldn't the system level up already? Surely it wouldn't take much longer to get Internet Consultant to level 2, right? I'm already level 10 with cleaning, level 3 with cooking and level 7 with comforting!"
The system addressed Laura's complaints with patience.
[The ratio of xp to level up purchased skills from shared xp in trainable skills is 5:1. Replying, a total of 30 levels must be achieved in trainable skills to level up purchased skills once. Shared xp function works collectively, purchased skills will be levelled up at the same time.]
Laura read the explanation twice and threw her hands up in frustration. Thirty collective levels? It was getting harder and harder to level up because of how little there was to do at the apartment or at the shop. She could only help out so much when it came to cooking and because Tynan was doing well, she didn't need to comfort him much. Cleaning was just about the only skill she could still level up at a reasonable pace but thinking about needing another ten more levels to level the Internet Consultant skill made her head hurt. How long would that take?
Moreover, she wasn't getting any results about herself. She might be able to find information about Renald Dillon but there was no mention about the accident with her. Perhaps there was also a filter in search results when she used the Internet Consultant skill. The only thing that the system has been encouraging her to do during her free time was to learn new cooking recipes. Seeing as the search of recipes were related to the cooking skill, Laura could bypass the search cooldown time. In the end, she spent a lot of time watching videos of how to cook and the system was generous enough to include Hell's Kitchen into the things that she could watch.
After tossing ideas in her head about what she could do, the e-ghost gave up and sat down to look for a way to improve Tynan's financial situation. She had been sending out revised C.V.s but nobody replied. Laura also didn't want to apply for any job that will only make Tynan overly tired to do any programming at the end of the day.
Hence, she was now looking at alternatives. If he couldn't leave his current job for a better one, what about some income supplement like taking on gigs or freelance assignments? Surely, Tynan wouldn't mind shelving his project for a while to earn a few hundred dollars over the weekend, right?
With that in mind, there was only one problem. Laura didn't know anything about what Tynan could do. She found a website that had many freelance jobs but she didn't know the python from the javascript. All she knew was that Tynan knew how to code and he was decent at it. Most of the freelance jobs paid well but Laura didn't know if Tynan would be up to the task. Hence, she decided to ask him about it later when he got off work.
Over dinner that day, Tynan sat in front of his laptop with Laura to look through the freelance jobs that she discovered. While freelancing didn't sound like a bad idea, Tynan had no confidence in taking any of that assignment.
"If these people are willing to pay very high, I'm sure it's not going to be something a fresh graduate like me can handle. They're looking for pros and there will be a lot of backend debugging to do. I might not be able to handle it," he explained.
Laura nodded. "There's also a time frame issue. You work irregular hours and can get called in at any notice. Some of these jobs allow you two months but some other jobs want two days. I don't know what to apply for. There are a lot of requirements as well and every job requires a different thing. I guess this isn't easy, huh? If only there was a way to put up your skills and advertise it for people to approach you instead."
"Most freelancers have contacts," Tynan explained. "Even if I could create a website, if there is no traffic, there wouldn't be customers."
"You can create websites?" Laura asked in surprise. She thought that Tynan was only a game developer and didn't think that the programmer knew more than that.
Not surprised by Laura's lack of knowledge about the field he worked in, the programmer talked a little more about what he could do and what was out of his scope. Laura's mind started to spin ideas about what she could possibly do to help Tynan. At the same time, she searched the web about a place for freelancers to gather and post their skills for the hirers to choose from. The Internet Consultant didn't fail her and Laura shoved her screen to the front.
"What about this?" she asked. "Do you think you can create an account and set it up? Leave the management to me. I'll inform you when there's a new query of a serious buyer."
Tynan studied the page. Laura found a website to match freelancers to customers. Fivver was actually a rather popular app start-up that was gaining an edge in this industry and he nodded.
"I can do this, it isn't too difficult to create an account," he installed the app and logged in to his new account from his laptop. Laura looked at his work and wondered if this would be the start of Tynan's luck.
"I've created the account," he said. "But what should I put up for my services? As it is now, I'm just a fresh graduate with nothing to brag about."
Laura blinked. She remembered that when she first started her debut as a dirt biker, she had the same anxieties. The race track was small and she was a rookie who didn't have a proper mentor. The only thing she knew how to do was get up when she fell and try not to crash her bike. However, she was glad that her parents supported her and signed her up for it. That experience changed her life forever.
"Let's start with something simple. You said you could do a website. How long would that take? A weekend?"
Tynan nodded. "Sometimes less, depending on what the customer wants me to do. Simple business websites can be created with a drag and drop site builder. All I have to do is hook up their domain name to the site and reroute it and it'll work."
Laura wrote that down. Under the tiers of the jobs, she decided to search for other competitors who were doing the same thing and priced it slightly lower than the market rate.
"I think we will start small and sell the same package that everyone else here does. This way, we can attract clients and ask them to leave us reviews so that you can build your account's reputation. Once you have a reputation, we can increase the fees a little."
Tynan was amazed by Laura's business sense and let her take over with the setting up of pricing and banners. He only helped to input the technical details when Laura asked for it and watched as the e-ghost transformed that new account into something that looked appealing. He no longer sounded or looked like an amateur who was new to the application. Laura knew just how to put him out there.
Satisfied, there was only one more thing to do.
"You need to go for a haircut," she said and Tynan cringed. He wasn't looking forward to it.
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