Case Study: Paying Project-Based Freelancers Without the Paperwork. How TechChill Uses Abillio
Project-based work means a team that grows and shrinks with the calendar. TechChill, which organizes events and programs for founders, relies on freelancers to flex with that rhythm. Paying them used to mean contracts, signatures, and accountant hours. With Abillio, paying freelancers for project work has become a quick routine that stays out of the way.
If your team runs on projects, events, or campaigns and works with a flexible pool of freelancers, this is what that change looked like in practice.
TechChill: events and programs for founders
TechChill creates events and programs for founders, including a startup and investor conference. The workload is cyclical: a big project needs every resource, followed by a quieter stretch.
That is where freelancers come in. Instead of keeping a full team all year, Annija Mežgaile, Managing Director at TechChill, brings in people with different skills as projects require. At peak times, when the team organizes the startup and investor conference, more than ten freelancers are involved. She works with freelancers throughout the year, not only in peak season.
The Challenge of Paying Freelancers for Project Work
Before Abillio, freelancers were usually paid on the basis of author’s remuneration agreements, a contract type common in Latvia’s creative industries. It worked, but each agreement took about 30 minutes and a chain of steps:
- an email to the accountant
- the agreement itself
- Annija’s signature
- the freelancer’s signature
- booking it in the accounts
With a freelancer pool that grows past ten people at peak times, those half hours add up. The agreements were prepared by the accountant, so the work and its cost sat with accounting too.
Chasing signatures
For the document to be compliant, both sides had to sign. Annija had to remember every single agreement and make sure it was completed.
Misunderstandings about fees
Agreeing on an amount often led to confusion about what the number actually meant.
How Paying Freelancers Works Now
TechChill started using Abillio about two years ago. The nudge came from freelancers themselves, who suggested it, and Annija realised it was the more convenient way to work.
Freelancers are paid through Abillio, apart from exceptions where someone has already set up their own company. Instead of an agreement, each payment is based on an invoice created in Abillio, which then goes to accounting.
Annija agrees a fee with the freelancer as the amount they receive, for example 500 euros. The invoice is higher, because the mandatory taxes are added on top. Both sides know what the number means, and TechChill knows the full cost of a freelancer up front.
Why TechChill Uses Abillio for Paying Freelancers
1. Documentation that no longer needs chasing
The paperwork that used to need an accountant and two signatures is no longer something Annija has to keep track of. For her, the documentation side is what makes everyday work easier.
2. Fee conversations without misunderstandings
The fewer the misunderstandings, the faster a fee is agreed and the smoother the work flows. It also helps with planning: when Annija builds a project budget, she can work out in advance what a freelancer’s fee will cost once taxes are added.
3. Freelancers already know it
Freelancers themselves suggested Abillio, so there is no convincing to do. In Annija’s circles, mostly people who work in tech, it is increasingly well known, and she has to explain it less and less.
4. Quick for the person doing the work
Annija is the one who uses the platform day to day. With a business account set up and the details of her regular freelancers already saved, creating a payment takes a couple of clicks. Recently she has also started sending the invoices from her side.
Results
Less admin, less mental load
One agreement used to take about 30 minutes and five separate steps. Now creating a payment takes a couple of clicks. Annija doesn’t put a number on the total time saved.
“It’s hard to say in hours and minutes. It’s more that it takes the tension off your mind.”
– Annija Mežgaile, Managing Director at TechChill
Budgets built on real costs
When planning a project, Annija can see what each freelancer’s fee will cost the company once taxes are added, before any work starts.
A routine that stays out of the way
When she describes Abillio to others, she calls it a way to simplify payments for project work. For a team whose workload swings between quiet months and conference season, paying freelancers is now one less thing to think about.
“It takes very little time. The invoice arrives, you pass it to accounting, and you forget about it.”
– Annija Mežgaile, Managing Director at TechChill
Experience with Abillio
NPS score: 10/10. In Annija’s words, “I’d say 100 points.”
