@TaskRabbit and Service Networking just might change the game

So I’m a stickler for delegation and outsourcing.  It’s something that I’ve always wanted to delve more deeper into while I was in the classroom, and of course had the chance to experience it first hand when I started the Mission Driven Brand company last year.

My interest in outsourcing and delegation took me even further into interviewing some top experts in the field (the video interviews will be posted shortly and will be a part of an actual “resource page” to help you get the info on one sitting) and probing their brains on why they do it, how they do it really really well, and what they can suggest to novices like me.

As I wasn’t doing any further research on the topic LOL, I actually just stumbled upon this new and unfamiliar service called TaskRabbit that’s cut from the same cloth as a Ask Sunday or Get Friday, just with a slightly different twist.  AskSunday and GetFriday are quite popular virtual assistant/concierge type of service providers that allow us regular joe shmo’s the luxury of having an “assistant”.

I went on combing through TaskRabbit and reading some of its reviews online and was quite impressed.  Not only is the interface super duper legit, but the actual business is on the up and up as Leah Busque and her company have received some major venture capital funding from VC superstars like Sean Flynn of Shasta Venture and many others.

I decided to jump in full steam ahead and try this thing.  Mind you, I have an assistant and 2 other team members who are very very good at what they do, so for me to add to the “payroll” and take away from our team wouldn’t make the most sense, especially when I’m paying our peeps for the work they do, and the work I’ll be tasking out to a TR runner is essentially potential chaching cashola for either of our team members.  At any event, I wanted to check it out to see the type of feedback and quality I’d get back from posting a task…things DO get quite busy at the MDBrand headquarters and sometimes there’s waaay too much to do between myself and Anika, while the other 2 are busy working on fulfillment as well, so this is a great back up plan in case the chaos catches up.

I put up a task for a presentation I’m giving later in the week.  This is normally stuff I’d have Anika do but because she’s got a lot on the Workflowy list for Tuesday, I figured I’d give the TaskRabbit a chance at contributing.

The sign in was easy.  Adding a task was just as simple.  There are some really cool features when you get in that help make suggestions and deadline for the task easy to add.  Because I had already crafted what I wanted to send to Anika, I merely cut and pasted the task into the TR task description and was off and running.

As soon as my task was officially posted, I get an email confirmation making sure I have all the necessary info posted for the TaskRabbit to check out and if accepted, be able to perform the task immediately.

About 10 minutes later I get my first question/clarification from a Rabbit, in which I responded.  I was thoroughly impressed at the question and the clarity the Rabbit was asking for.

Already, I’m super sold.  The mere fact that Elizabeth was concerned about the time and quality of the work, tells me that this isn’t just a service for folks who want to simply get some Google searches cut and pasted together then submitted as “research” to fulfill the task.  No!  Elizabeth was geared up and ready to do an incredible job!!!

Here’s what I know about TaskRabbit so far:

1)  It’s super EASY

2)  Its REAL people performing the tasks (either virtually or locally in person)

3)  Its real people who CARE about quality!

Fast forward to the next day…

I actually had to reassign my task because my deadline for acceptance was a little too early on the West Coast.  I had it scheduled to be assigned by 6am Tuesday lol, which was super early…BUT, I figured its a good time for an East Coast rabbit.  I went in and changed my deadline time for noon that same day, and that’s when things got going.

I received a text message telling me that my task was accepted by an East Coast rabbit Kaela K

It was awesome!!!!!

It seriously felt like Anika was working on the task because Kaela was super efficient and quick too.

She got me the preliminary research info on Google Docs in about 2 hours.

I sent her additional info to dig further and she responded back saying that she won’t be able to get to it until later.  I told her I was ok with that, and sure enough, she sent in the info I asked for.

In short…

From start to finish, I think Task Rabbit is on to something really major!

The idea of “Service Networking” is a genius concept and will certainly help a lot of people.

I know I’m jumping on the bandwagon to start using their service and possibly “Service Network” myself.

Kudos to @labusque and her team for creating a solid service