Terms of use

Hustle is a platform that connects small local businesses with high-school and university students who do digital work: design and logos, social media, video, photography and web.

Hustle is a project of Verteks Konsalting (Vertex Consulting), a company in Strumica, North Macedonia.

The demo profiles on the site are fictional examples. They are labeled “Demo” and have no photos.

Anyone aged 14 or older can use Hustle. Sign-up asks for your date of birth, and no one under 14 can sign up. Under North Macedonia’s Law on Personal Data Protection, 14 is the age of digital consent.

You do not need a parent’s or guardian’s consent to sign up.

You enter your date of birth yourself. If you enter a false date, you break these terms. Later, you cannot change your date of birth or account type yourself. If you made a mistake, write to us and the team will correct it.

Users aged 14 to 17 use Hustle like everyone else, with one difference: a moderator from the Hustle team reviews their services and listings before they are published.

You can sign up with an email address and a password, or with Google. There are two kinds of accounts: for businesses, and for high-school and university students (freelancers).

• An account is for one person only.
• The details you give about yourself must be true.
• Keep your password secret.
• You are responsible for everything that happens in your account.

If you think someone else has gotten into your account, write to us at kontakt@hustle.mk right away.

Hustle is in beta: a test version. The site and its features can change, and some may stop working. We are building Hustle in steps, so some things described here may change during the beta.

No money moves through Hustle in the beta. Hustle takes no payments and makes no payouts. Protected payment and the commission come later, after the beta. Until then the site only shows them in a demo order that is clearly labeled as a simulation.

While the beta lasts, we provide Hustle as it is. We do not promise that it will always work, or that any job will be agreed through it.

Everything you post on Hustle must be yours, or you must have the right to post it. That goes for texts, images, files and examples of your work.

What you post stays yours. By posting it, you let us show it on Hustle and translate it.

You write in Macedonian or English. The texts you save in your profile, services, needs or applications, such as your bio, descriptions and the message in an application, are translated into the other language with AI (Anthropic) when you save them, and so are reviews. Names, the school, certificates, messages in conversations, and the briefs and notes in orders are not translated. We keep both versions. A machine makes the translation, so it can contain mistakes.

Hustle connects people. An agreement about a job is between the business and the student. Hustle is not a party to it.

In the beta Hustle does not handle payment. If you agree on a payment, that is between you and the other person.

If something goes wrong, write to us in the “Hustle team” conversation.

Businesses can post a need: work they need done, with a budget and a deadline. Students with a public profile can apply to it with an offer: a message, a price, a delivery time and up to three examples of their work.

Each student can send at most 10 applications in any 7 days, and one application to each need. A sent application can’t be changed, but it can be withdrawn until the business decides.

Only the person who sent an application, the business that posted the need and the Hustle team see it. The business can shortlist it, decline it or accept it. It accepts one offer per need: an order then opens and the need is filled.

The keyword filter checks needs and applications too. The team reviews needs from users under 18 before they go public.

Budgets and prices are only shown: in the beta Hustle charges nothing.

An order opens in one of two ways. When a business accepts an offer on its need, the order is in progress at once, and the need’s description is the brief. When a business orders a service, it sends a request with its answer to what the student asks for and up to three files. The student has 3 days to accept or decline the request; without an answer it expires. A business can have at most 5 requests waiting for an answer, one per service.

The deadline counts from the day the order is accepted. The student delivers the work with a note and files (up to 5, at most 50 MB each; for bigger ones, a link in the note). The business approves the work or asks for revisions: as many rounds as the service offers, or up to 2 on an order from a need. If the business doesn’t answer within 7 days after a delivery, the order is approved automatically.

Before approval, either side can cancel the order, with a reason. The Hustle team can cancel an order with a note. An approved order can’t be canceled.

Only the two sides and the Hustle team see an order and the notes and files in it. The keyword filter checks the brief and the notes; the other side doesn’t see a held note until the team approves it.

For each step of an order we email the other side, unless they turned it off in their settings. During the beta we send at most 40 such emails a day across the site; other notifications are on the site, under “Notifications”.

The price is only shown: in the beta nothing is paid through Hustle.

After approval, each side can write one review of the other within 14 days: a rating from 1 to 5 and a text. The business reviews the student, and the student reviews the business.

A review is public at once, on the profile of the person it is about, unless the keyword filter holds it for review. A sent review can’t be changed. The Hustle team can hide a review that breaks the rules. Reviews are translated into the other language like other public texts.

Anyone can message anyone on Hustle: business to freelancer, freelancer to freelancer and business to business.

Whoever starts a conversation sends a request: they can send up to 3 messages, text only, until the other person answers. Once the request is accepted, the chat is open, and you can send photos, PDF files up to 10 MB and voice messages up to 2 minutes in it. If it is declined, no new messages can be sent unless the other person accepts it later. If you already work together through an application or an order, the conversation is open from the start.

Anyone can start at most 10 new conversations in 24 hours.

Anyone can block anyone. While a block stands, neither of you can send messages, and the blocked person cannot start a new conversation. You can report messages and profiles to the team.

Messages are not translated: they show as they were written. A sent message cannot be edited or deleted.

Every user has a pinned conversation with “Hustle team” for support.

Conversations on Hustle are not hidden from the team: team members can read them and moderate them. Every time a team member opens a conversation they are not part of, it is recorded: who, when, which conversation and from where.

The Hustle team can:

• review services and listings from users under 18 before they are published
• read and moderate conversations
• hide content that breaks the rules
• warn you
• suspend accounts
• cancel an order
• edit any profile

The team has three levels. Moderators review content and reports, answer as “Hustle team”, send warnings and help with profiles. Admins do the same, and can also suspend accounts, open a user’s conversations from that user’s page, cancel orders and give the moderator level. Owners can do all of that, and also run the site’s settings and give the other levels.

A warning has a reason and a note from the team. You get it as a message from “Hustle team”, in your “Hustle team” conversation.

Every action the team takes is recorded: who took it, when and with which note. The team cannot change or delete those records.

A keyword filter checks every listing, profile text and chat message. If it finds something, such as a phone number or an offensive word, the text stays hidden until the Hustle team reviews it. The team can approve it or send it back to you with a note.

During the beta the team helps users in person to set up their accounts, bios, past projects, photos and certificates. That is why team members can edit any profile.

Members of the Hustle team have accounts with a team level. They work like freelancer accounts, with extra tools for running the site. The team’s own listings show first.

You can delete your account whenever you want, in your profile’s settings. Deleting is immediate and complete: we delete the account and its data. Only what the privacy policy lists stays, such as orders with the other side, a report’s copy of a reported message and the records of the team’s actions.

If you break these terms or the community rules, an admin or owner on the Hustle team can suspend your account. The suspension lasts until the team lifts it.

While an account is suspended:

• you cannot sign in, with a password or with Google, and every session you have is signed out
• your profile, projects, certificates, services and needs, and the reviews you wrote, are hidden
• the team cancels your unfinished orders, including requests waiting for an answer
• your open needs are closed, and applications waiting for a decision are withdrawn
• the other person in each of your conversations keeps it, read-only

We email you about the suspension, with the reason and a note from the team. If you think it is a mistake, write to us at kontakt@hustle.mk.

When the team lifts the suspension, you can sign in again, and your profile, services and reviews show again. Cancelled orders, closed needs and withdrawn applications stay as they are. We email you about this too.

We may change these terms. Before an important change takes effect, we will tell you by email or on the site. The version and date are at the top of this page.

For questions about these terms, write to us at kontakt@hustle.mk or in the “Hustle team” conversation.