When globalization became real, people gained the chance to explore more and create a niche for themselves. Then digitization happened.
On the premise that globalization brought people closer, what emerged was a marketplace where people received a chance to exhibit their craft and earn a living from it.
This marketplace ensured both buyers and sellers would be on the same plane, thereby easing the process of doing business. But there was a visible gap as well. The platform was scattered, and a lot of browsing was required to reach the right contact. The need for a video platform with a marketplace for people to organize and offer their skills more efficiently emerged as a necessity and Symposium, an all-in-one live video marketplace, addressed that need.
Since then, Symposium has been fast evolving as a must for professionals, consultants, and creatives who want a platform for their talents and to share their expertise and services to users worldwide using efficient integrated calendaring and easy-to-use monetization tools.
Symposium has its focus set on performance that is futuristic in nature, which is based on a process of anticipating the needs of tomorrow’s real-life workers. This enables them to set a backdrop through which they can sell their “services online in a peer-to-peer economy based on sharing of knowledge.” The platform is also gaining much from this approach as it opens up areas for innovation.
What Got the Ball Rolling For The Company?
Many businesses collapsed because of middlemen, gatekeepers, and various other obstacles that stop people from reaching the next level. Continuous struggles and lack of streamlining often bog down people and as a result, dreams fall flat even before a proper takeoff.
Joseph Baumgartel, the CEO of Symposium, had a first-hand experience with crises. As a musician and forward-thinker, he, along with his partners and creative team, had to cross several barriers before they could get their businesses online. And just like many others, they had to stop after rigorous pursuits as the obstacles on their ways became unsurmountable.
But that failure led to eye-opening realizations. They realized that the so-called gatekeepers in these online platforms prefer to hold on to the keys to doors.
This prompted Joseph and his partner to create a platform that allowed people to package their live services and reach their clients without interference. The forum also helps these participants with proper marketing services. On a macro scale, the idea was to provide pride and stability to business owners and, subsequently, to their families.
Both experts and newbies can put up their services and it is up to the clients to decide which one to take as per their need. About the expansion of the platform, Joseph opines, “whether it’s one-on-one, one-to many, or streaming on a pay-per-view basis, we’ve up-leveled the video conferencing and streaming game with calendaring, monetization, and security.”
The venture has its seeds hidden in the ancient Greek word ‘Symposium,’ which stands for “an event where free-flowing ideas and free-flowing wine brought good times while uplifting human thought.” That is the vision behind the name as well.
How It Caters to The Connector and Creator
A peek into the mission of the Symposium clears the air about how the company operates. Its mission “is to help anyone entertain, educate and inspire worldwide by automating the hassle of organizing offerings, calendars and cash.” For business tool experts and influencers, the platform has emerged as the holy grail as it allows students to earn from teaching, scheduling, and entertaining people.
The platform has made third-party scheduling redundant as on it, experts and influencers from various industries are easily approachable. In fact, it scraps the need for payment apps as well. Symposium sessions are also flexible, thereby allowing seamless integration with other social media platforms, email signatures, and websites. This widens the reach and increases the chances of benefits both entrepreneurs and users.
In addition, the platform provides the necessary tools for customers to boost their interests. The process also includes methods to make sure “their customers feel safe and protected, as well as satisfied with their live experiences.” It increases the credibility of the company and bolsters its market prospects.
What About the Road Ahead?
The journey, so far, is of evolution. Symposium has a dedicated team that cares for the users and provides them with “the best tools to package, market, and sell their time in a global marketplace.” It also ensures that the company stays updated about the changing nature of the market needs so that it can create a space for a better user transformation.
However, the owners also think that the road would have been easier if they had opted for a targeted approach instead of setting a wide net for more users. In its early days, the company focused on things that they realized later as unnecessary, whereas they left out options that should have been a part of their plan.
The thing they miss now is a well-chalked “minimum viable product (MVP) at the outset to keep development and deployment moving quickly.” As an addition, as Joseph believes, the company would have thrived more if they had taken “more of a build and upgrade approach” to stay in sync with their customers’ needs.
No matter what, the stakeholders are proud of their product but a slight change in the operational process could have made the scaling much easier.
Among its obstacles, the biggest challenge was to explain the need for an online marketplace. But now things are different. With the COVID-19 crisis, a rapid change in the work process has bolstered the company’s growth. Online conferencing and video calling are the new norm and it sufficiently backs the rising integration of the company in many workspaces.
The impact of the pandemic was so unexpected it destabilized traditional structures for offering services and doing business. For Symposium, this paradigmatic shift in approach was perfect for helping people to see its value.
The outbreak triggered certain changes in strategies for people and they came flocking to the platform. Now Symposium is even teaming up with charities like Big Brother Big Sisters of America to host events and help families participate. They are showing more people how the opportunity to make money and sell services online is easy-to-do and maintainable.
In its road ahead, the company will continue to invest more time in understanding changes in order to offer meaningful services to its key audience. In its endeavors, the company will continue its tie-up with experts to develop new capabilities to assist in “billing, scheduling, searching, sharing and the overall user experience.”
Joseph’s Role
Joseph has played a pivotal role in the growth of the company. In fact, he has educated himself about data-driven solutions to work in tandem with developers and enrich the customer experience. He had this experience on the client-side as he wanted to use the online platform to give lessons, which helped him in charting a course for the company. His opinions add values as he can easily bridge the gaps between the two sides.
As an entrepreneur, it was not easy to “plug a social commerce element into a business offering that didn’t require outside help and third-party apps.” But Joe and his partners efficiently did that, and it now delivers in multifold ways. The prospects are getting richer and the company is ready to reap its benefits.
