How to start a marketplace

Newspaper cutting Could you launch Slivers-of-Time Working in a particular area? We can set you up with your marketplace after a couple of checks. Our manuals provide you with check-lists of how to get everything ready. But you'll have to find the local work to go through the marketplace and kick-start activity.

There’s a problem with getting this kind of facility off the ground that we’ve seen in the past. An organisation sees hundreds of local people desperate to work in this new way. So, they set up a market. But local employers hang back, waiting for the untried people and unfamiliar facility to prove itself.

That’s paralysis. The employers all wait for someone else to start buying first. Sellers find no-one purchasing the time they list so they drift away. The-bad mouthing about a useless service starts.

To avoid this you need an anchor employer who will commit to put at least £100,000 of work through your marketplace in its first 12 months. That could be a Local Authority, a group of businesses or one very public spirited corporate. But find that cornerstone and the rest of your market will fall into place.

Practicalities of launch

Sellers in the Kirklees market clean up a local Community Centre

There’s negligible cost to launching a Slivers-of-Time marketplace beyond staff time. All it takes is an aptitude for new solutions. Once launched, it can cut costs and create a revenue stream.

This section is your guide to a successful launch in your area. Once you’ve read it, if you want to seriously begin investigating a possible launch then contact us.

Read about the launch of the first Slivers-of-Time marketplace.

Is a launch right for us?

Starting a market