Start a New American Holiday Tradition - Give the Gift of Local Services

If you walk into any store at this moment, the abundance of holiday items just might overwhelm you. The brightly colored decorations, the cinnamon pine cones, and the urgency to buy is apparent. It’s already time to start thinking about the holidays; in fact, it if you are just starting to think about it, you’re already late!

Before you panic and stop at a store to purchase the entire aisle of holiday items, think about them first. Where are they coming from and do they have true meaning? As the holidays approach, overseas factories are producing monstrous piles of cheaply made goods. Not only is it just “stuff,” but its merchandise that has been produced at the expense of good ol’ fashion American labor. Now what?

Give a genuine gift of local services. Think outside of that Chinese product wrapping and start thinking about what your gift recipients’ need. What about a gift certificate to a local hair salon or barber? Everyone needs a haircut and a little pampering.

What about that person who keeps making New Year’s plans to get in shape, and never does? A Personal Trainer would be a wonderful gift.

Does mom always stress out about cleaning her house before company comes over? Give the gift of a local cleaning service for the day.

What about those nieces and nephews? Wouldn’t they love a guitar lesson, horse riding lesson, or a karate class?

Is your favorite college student dreaming of a trip to Germany? Give a gift of a German lesson, or three!

Many Americans are out there, right now, ready to start a new holiday tradition. 

 Join us here at TryMyWork.com by supporting local small businesses by giving the gifts of local services this holiday season.

Inspired by an article from the Jefferson Review.

Announcing Enhanced Features on TryMyWork.com

Dear Customers,

Thank you for helping make TryMyWork’s first months successful!  

To show our appreciation we’re bringing you even more value.  TryMyWork now offers both great $5 work samples and Bonus Deals if you choose to hire the Service Provider.  

Finding what you want on TryMyWork just got easier.  We have enhanced our Service Provider profiles and have provided you with improved ways to search our thousands of listings.  

Help us get the word out.  If you refer a friend to TryMyWork you’ll get a free sample when they sign up. 

Finally, if you have a free sample request use it soon, they expire on September 30th.

Thank you for your continued support solving unemployment one neighbor at a time.

Sincerely,

The TryMyWork Team

Enhance Your Profile with New Features from TryMyWork.com

Dear Service Providers,

Thank you for helping make TryMyWork’s first months successful!  We’ve recently unveiled a number of new features to help connect you with the thousands of customers using the site.  

Take full advantage of your new enhanced profile.  Make sure that you have uploaded your photo and clearly defined your sample and its value to the customer.  These two elements have proven to be crucial in bringing work sample requests.

To help you convert sample requests into long-term paying customers we’ve also given you the ability to offer Bonus Deals to customers who hire you.  If you haven’t yet, login and describe yours today!  

Finally, use our improved search to find a service you’d like.  If you have a free sample request use it soon, they expire on September 30th.  

Thanks again,

The TryMyWork Team

Announcing New Features on TryMyWork.com

We’ve been listening to your feedback and are giving you the new features you need.

Enhanced Profiles
Each Service Provider profile has been redesigned to highlight the value of the work sample.

Bonus Deals
Service Providers can now offer Customers even more value by offering a Bonus Deal to Customers who hire them.

Unique Profile Web Pages
To make it easier to share and link to Service Provider profiles, every profile page now has its own unique web address.

A Better Dashboard
We’ve improved the dashboard making it easier for both Customers and Service Providers to manage connection requests.

Refer a Friend
As a reward for helping us grow, members who refer a friend to join TryMyWork will receive a free sample when the friend signs up.

New Promotion Channels
In addition to our email offers, we are promoting Service Providers through: Internet search ads, banner ads in local news media, TV, social media, and safe Craigslist listings.

Service Provider Success Story

Recently TryMyWork sat down with one of our most successful Service Providers to see what we could learn from her experience.  Jamie was featured in one of the first promotional emails we sent out and her results confirmed our faith in TryMyWork’s vision of neighbors coming together, hiring one another, and building their businesses.  Jamie’s success shows that a great profile with a clearly described, valuable sample will bring in new customers.  Listening to Service Providers like Jamie, who offer customers upgrades on their samples, has also helped us come up with new promotions like our new bonus deals.

Jamie's Experience

My profile was so easy to set up.  TMW helped me get started and I just added my strengths, how long I’ve been in practice, etc. Then I had 5 responses in 2 days and another 3 in about a week. Out of all the samples I’ve given, more than half, (5 out of 8) are going to be consistent clients. And that’s a pretty damn good number!

Things Jamie Loves about TMW

I love the social networking part of it. I wanted to meet people outside of my norm and this allows me to meet people from our community that I might not otherwise come in contact with.  I’m on this website to promote health and wellness by providing corrective care and treatment.  I’m also here to promote a local lifestyle by supporting local business people.

Safety is a plus! Business cards don’t offer that. My profile does, they can check me out and feel safe and confident trying my sample. I don’t have my own website and I don’t think I have to get one.  Thanks to TMW, anyone can view my profile.

How to Further Promote Yourself

I put my TMW profile on my business cards. Business cards can be thrown away and don’t ensure someone will remember you. When my profile is on there too people can check me out and see more about what I do.

I also put TMW on my Facebook page. This has led my friends to create their own TMW profiles, which is great!

I am encouraging customers to upgrade their 30 minute sample to a full hour. That’s good for both me and the client!

Check out Jamie’s profile on TryMyWork.com.

Work Sample Hints

The work sample is the key element of TryMyWork and giving a good sample will bring you more customers.  Instead of sitting through another interview or making another sales call you spend the same amount of time showing an interested Customer what you do best.  Giving a good sample is the best way for you to convince the Customer that you are the right person for them there on the spot.

When thinking about your sample put yourself in the Customer’s place and ask yourself the following questions.  What kind of sample would help you make an informed decision?  What kind of sample would make you want to click the request button right away?  The average reader of a web site has an attention span of 8-10 seconds, how can you hook them quickly?

Finally, remember that the Customer always has a choice and that you need to encourage them to choose your sample.  You can do this both by making sure that your sample is clearly defined and that it offers a clear and attractive value to the Customer.  A consultation or estimate is not effective.  If there is a single service that you know your existing customers always need or want, that is a good place to start.

The work sample is your chance to shine in front of a customer, but it doesn’t end there.  Reviews of your samples will show up on the site and tell other Customers why they should seek you out.  Nothing speaks for your abilities like a job well done. 

5 QUESTIONS for J.P. Bauman, spokesman for TryMyWork - Boulder Daily Camera

5 QUESTIONS for J.P. Bauman, spokesman for TryMyWork - Boulder Daily Camera