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Client case study:
Stereo Couture

Stereo Couture is an audio and television production company. They work with international companies but are based in the US. Their clients are usually based in Singapore and Australia and their team is based all over the world from Europe, North and South America, to the Asia Pacific region as well. They mainly work in children's television.

  • Freelancers:

    100+

  • Region:

    United States

  • Client since:

    2022

  • Most used feature:

    Automated Payments

Stephen Frost, Founder & Creative Director
As founder, my key responsibilities are never-ending. From ensuring people are getting paid on time to fulfilling my tasks as creative director.
"I definitely recommend TalentDesk to other companies that work with international contractors. Everyone I know is paying people in messy ways: through PayPal or banks and money tends to get lost. I think it is nice to have a platform like TalentDesk focused on those details."

Stats

  • 50% less admin time

    from payment processing

  • 80+ freelancers

    working on a monthly basis

Questions & Answers

  1. In your own words, can you describe the nature of your business for the benefit of our subscribers.

    We are an audio and television production company. We work with international companies. We are based in the US, our clients are usually based in Singapore and Australia and our team is based all over the world from Europe, North and South America, to the Asia Pacific region as well. We mainly work in children's television. Generally, our team takes care of the day-to-day tasks and we hire actors to work on each project (dozens of actors are hired on each project and they are located all over the world).  

  2. What is your role in the company?

    I am the founder and current creative director at Stereo Couture.

  3. How many freelancers do you use, where are they located and what sort of work do they do for your company?

    We have 60 to 80 freelancers working with us yearly who are located mainly in North America (Canada & the US) but also in South and Central America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay…). Our freelancers work on audio production, music composition and acting. Actors usually make up the bulk of our contractors. We tend to scale up and down as needed.

  4. What specific problems were you looking to solve when you decided to look for a management system for your contractors?

    Paying people is always difficult. Every contractor has their own requirements and different rules under their governments. Some governments make it really difficult to let money into the country. We always encounter inconsistency with bank fees when they operate in different countries.
     
    It took me so much time to take care of payments previously. When I was dealing with invoicing myself,  there were often lots of  inconsistencies. I created a Google Sheet to keep track of payments but even that was difficult to manage. I started losing track of the numbers.
     
    This is when I decided to create a wishlist for the ideal platform for us: a platform that gathers data, facilitates data analysis, provides consistent invoicing, frees my time, facilitates inputting data into the system, and generally just help us ditch the spreadsheets. I was looking for a one-stop platform to solve all of my problems because I did not want to use multiple platforms to complete different tasks since that felt like more of a waste of time.

  5. What would you say was the biggest pain-point or challenge you were facing?

    • Paying people globally and on-time
    • Gathering information in a centralized way

  6. What systems or processes were you using to manage, pay and organize your talent before you switched to a Freelancer Management System?

    Spreadsheets mainly. I have a background in programming and created spreadsheets with tons of formulas. That was great on one hand but when something stopped functioning properly, no one else knew how to fix it because of how advanced it was. It creates a mess and takes so much time for me to fix the spreadsheet. I was still looking for a platform that made sense for me and that was similar to the system I had created, without all the fuss. I needed it to be customizable and efficient.

  7. What is the biggest benefit that you have seen since using TalentDesk.io?

    Definitely time and cost saving!

  8. How would you approximately quantify the benefits below from our platform:

    We're spending approximately 50% less admin time on payment processing (processing and invoicing a contractor). 

  9. Have you realized an ROI from using our platform yet? If so, could you give us a ballpark figure?

    I cannot provide you with a  number yet since we only started using TalentDesk about 3 months ago. It is a hypothetical but I assume that the more people I onboard, the more we will be benefiting from the platform and the more we realize returns on this investment in terms of time saving too.

  10. How would you describe TalentDesk in 3 words?

    Easy to use. 

  11. Who would you recommend TalentDesk.io to?

    I definitely recommend it to other companies that work with international contractors. Especially in my field (animation, TV, film), almost everyone works with contractors internationally. Everyone I know is paying people in messy ways: through PayPal or banks and money tends to get lost. I think it is nice to have a platform like TalentDesk focused on those details.

  12. Are your freelancers happy using TalentDesk.io?

    Most of them are unhappy with having to learn a new platform, but this resistance was expected. They do not like change and I don't always have the answers to their questions. Using the TalentDesk knowledge base and live chatbot has helped them get accustomed to the platform.