In a world where technology is increasingly taking over mundane human tasks like capping toothpaste tubes, completing sentences, managing inventory and even driving, automation has played a huge role in the workplace economy by helping cut down human input on repetitive tasks.

It is estimated that office productivity loss due to employee time spent on administrative tasks (that can be easily automated) costs nearly $5 trillion annually, and roughly 69 workdays are spent doing such tasks. For gig economy workers and independent professionals who earn money based on the time they spend producing results-oriented work, this loss in productivity translates directly into decreased incomes.

This and many other reasons compelled Gaurav Tripathi, a graduate of IIT-Bombay, to set up Superpro.ai – a platform that helps independent professionals save time and earn more money by using artificial intelligence and automation to help perform time-consuming, yet simple tasks such as scheduling consultations, collecting payments, sending email reminders for follow-ups, generating invoices and sorting and collecting data, among others.

Gaurav says Superpro’s value proposition is that it substantially helps independent professionals increase their billable hours. It also gives them access to analytical tools that provide insights on how professionals can maximise their productivity, improve their performance and grow their business faster – stuff that was previously only available to big corporates.

“We combine nearly eight to nine tools that professionals would have required to offer their services, into one, and save them a lot of precious time which they can spend on billable tasks,” says Gaurav, in an interview with YourStory.

The platform, in addition to backend automation and analytics, allows professionals to create their own professional page that highlights their expertise and services – starting with a video message that it asks its users to shoot and upload. It gives businesses wanting to get in touch with professionals listed on Superpro several contact points within the platform, without ever revealing their personal information such as emails or phone numbers.

Most of the ‘solopreneurs’ on the platform use it to offer video-based services such as consultations, webinars, coaching, live courses, and training, among others.

Superpro

An screengrab of Superpro.ai's platform

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COVID-19 accelerating the ‘future of work’

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of people coming online to look for work, and geographical boundaries have blurred between those offering services and those needing them.

Gaurav says he has seen an uptick in the number of professionals on Superpro over the last couple of months too – more than 1,000 people are now offering services ranging from music and dance lessons, to live cooking classes, on the platform.

“Where earlier professionals were able to sell their services only in their neighbourhood or their cities or towns, geographical boundaries have now expanded. We had someone recently sell piano lessons to learners in the US, so no longer do people have to stay confined to their geographical location,” he adds.

Users have to spend not more than two minutes to get set up on the platform, which comes pre-loaded with a host of software and applications that enable video calling, payment collection, email automation, etc.

“Professionals can start delivering without any investment – they don’t need to buy subscriptions, websites. Their only investment is their laptop or their mobile phones,” Gaurav quips.

The sign-up and the services are free for Superpro users – the startup only takes a small cut of the money they make, when they start making it.

“We get paid when you, a Superpro user, gets paid,” he says.

The startup, founded in August 2019 by Gaurav and his co-founders Vijay Goel, Vivek Kumar, and Sagar Ramteke, earns over Rs 5 lakh, annually. Superpro.ai, which has been incubated by SOSV is currently looking to raise $500,000 over the next one month.

Edited by Anju Narayanan

Original Source: yourstory.com

We had a small scare this past week and I thought I was going to have to throw my #NoSpendNovember plan out the window. Tropical Storm Zeta came through Wednesday night and knocked out power out. We expected it and had prepared the house and outdoors. And thankfully other than a few branches and lots of leaves down, our house and property was sparred. We were lucky.

There were many around us that were not. Trees fell on homes. Roofs were blown off businesses and homes. Streets were closed. Flooding…everywhere. (The image below is not my home, it’s from a local news article.)

Damage from Tropical Storm Zeta on a local home.

As we approached the 12 hour mark with no power, I began to get worried that I would lose the food in my refrigerator and deep freezer. The kids were under strict instructions not to open either and I was refreshing the power companies website every couple of days hoping to see an ETA.

Rental Insurance to the Rescue?

I’ve carried renter’s insurance forever. Literally, had it since my first big move after college to Chicago back in the Fall of 1997. And I’ve never, ever filed a claim. Even when our storage unit flooded when we were living in the camper a few years back…I didn’t file. Looking back, I wish I had, but I didn’t even think of it until we had already started purging and moving stuff from the unit.

But this time, I remembered hearing that your renter’s insurance would cover food lost during a power outage from a storm. So I decided to check it out this time.

Our renter’s coverage is through USAA, bundled with our auto policies and my life insurance to get the discount. But I haven’t revisited our coverage in 4ish years, I guess.

It just took a few minutes to realize that with a $1,000 deductible, which I guess is the standard, my food loss wouldn’t even be worth filing. I definitely don’t have a $1,000 worth of food here. So I quickly through that idea out the door and started worrying about my electricity coming back on again.

Is it Worth It?

Now the question, is having renter’s insurance worth it? In reviewing my policy this past week, I noted that my annual premium is $149 (it’s bundled with my auto policy so they are billed together monthly.) I have selected $46,600 worth of property coverage and have no special riders for computers or jewelry or any of that.

And in 23 years, I have never filed a claim. In fact, as I started thinking about this post, I wondered how I first decided to get renter’s insurance. It’s not like I had anything of value or even a lot of stuff back then. I suppose when I called to cancel my car insurance, because I sold my car when I moved to Chicago, they sold it to me. That’s the only think I can think of.

I looked back through old posts to see if anyone else had ever questioned the need for renter’s insurance. Ashley wrote a couple of posts on in back in 2014:

When her friend’s house burned down and they didn’t have insurance
When their rental house flooded and they did have insurance

So what do you think, rental insurance worth it? My answer is yes. It brings a great deal of piece of mind and the cost is nominal.

Did We Lose our Food

Our power came home right at the 12 hour mark. The relief I felt was palpable. (I’m writing this Sunday afternoon and thousands around us still don’t have power. In fact, school was out Thursday and Friday as a result. Please pray for our hardworking linemen and the families who have now lost any food they had in their refrigerators or deep freezers.)

While we are in a much better place financially now, I work really hard to forget I have a savings account and retirement fund so I won’t be tempted to dip into them. This was one of those times, I was truly grateful for the savings I have available in a pinch.

Now to go back to forgetting about that.

The post Renter’s Insurance – Worth It? appeared first on Blogging Away Debt.

Original Source: bloggingawaydebt.com