So how do you start a blog to compete with ProBlogger or John Chow? How do you create a portal to compete with Shopping.com, Amazon, or Buy.com? What about a gaming community that could take on IGN or Gamespot?

Sweat Equity For Skilled Laborers

The harsh reality is that you’re probably not going to be able to compete with companies and corporations that have hundreds or even thousands of employees and years of experience in your niche on your own. That’s where Workload sharing comes in. What if you could login to a website in the morning and see a list of projects that need to be completed in trade for some kind of stake or equity in the property you’re helping to create? The web is saturated with web designers, graphic artists, SEO experts, and developers that are fighting one another over low-paying contests on sites like DigitalPoint and SitePoint. They’re selling themselves short and leaving money on the table by bidding lower on freelance boards to stay competitive. And, then there are those who aren’t even sure where to begin.

A Usable and Practical Application

This idea would expand upon the Web2.0 social bubble that’s been bubbling over the last few years and bring together skilled professionals working towards a common goal all the while. Once logged into the site you could see a list and portfolio of developers working on each project with a percentage of project equity assigned to each member of the team. Equity percentage could be determined by a number of things, including years of experience, work and oversight of the current project, financial support for the project, etc. Members could be sorted by rank and previous ratings. The projects would list a number of professionals still required to finish the job and you could work on one or ten jobs at once if you’d like to. No single person or company would own an application.

Individual equity could even be decided by the community at large. Think a social democracy making decisions in real time. A service such as this would knock out every development and freelance board on the internet. I see a community of professionals dominating competitive markets by working together. I see the web community growing stronger and influential members getting the attention they deserve. This is just a brief detail of my idea. I really wish someone would take this idea and run with it.

There are definitely positives and negatives that could be argued here. So, if you are a developer or even a blogger, would you consider a service such as this or do you prefer working on your own?