I’m sure this will come as a revelation to you, while staring down the barrel of yet another Monday, but YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL.
If you’re in the happy predicament of having too much work and not enough time in which to complete it, you’ve reached the big moment. To delegate or not to delegate?
Subcontracting work out to another person’s heart and brain can be scary the first couple of times. As entrepreneurs, we’re ultimately responsible for the deliverable. We coax it with tender loving care into existence, and deliver it like a precious baby to its new parent, the client.
Initially, allowing someone else to get their hands on it feels wrong wrong wrong. But like I said, you can’t do it all. If you have dreams of growing bigger than a one employee show, you’re going to have to get used to it at some point.
By now you all know at least a little about the sharing economy, and (hopefully) realize that coworking is a major part of this collaborative consumption trend that everyone’s been yammering about. Well, collaborative consumption can do a lot more than just give you access to a neat place to stay in San Francisco, or a bike in NYC.
It can also give you access to people. People who are eager to complete those tasks that you can’t or don’t want to. Below are 5 services that specialize in micro-labor: small jobs that pay a small fee. The brilliance is, you can cram lots of them into one day. It’s a win for those who are looking for lots of experience doing diverse tasks and those who have lots of random stuff to be done. (And if you’ve got extra time and are looking to turn it into extra money, these could be excellent communities in which to market your services.)
1. TaskRabbit
An online and mobile marketplace that connects neighbors to get things done. “Fully vetted, entrepreneurial professionals contribute their time and skills to helping people out, and those busy people find a little extra time in their days. Neighbors helping neighbors — it’s an old school concept upgraded for today.”
2. Fancy Hands
A virtual team of assistants ready to work for you now. For a low monthly membership fee, you’ll finally get the help you need. You can place your requests through the website, iPhone app, email, or ye olde telephone.
Agent Anything unlocks the time, talent, and ability of a city’s university students. AA provides a platform where people and companies can post small jobs, tasks, and errands to a skilled and affordable workforce. “Agents can be hired to accomplish any task, errand or job you can think of. For the last two years, we’ve provided errand-runners for working moms, beta testers for startups, temp workers for small businesses, and street teams for major corporations.”
4. Gig Walk
The world’s largest on-demand mobile workforce connecting businesses large and small to their very own on-demand smartphone army. Since its launch in May 2011, over 300,000 Gigwalkers have completed temporary field work such as store audits, mystery shopping, competitive tracking, customer interviews, field photography and much more.
5. Swappin
Create a profile including what you have to give and what you need to get. Include skills and services you have to offer, and ones you’d like to receive. These can include anything from professional services to casual tasks and everything in between. You can even swap with old-fashioned cash if that’s what you have or need. After you’ve created your profile, Swappin will suggest people to swap with in your area. You can also browse other members’ HAVEs and NEEDs on your own and suggest a swap.
BONUS – The Second You
I know we said five services, but a fan of our Facebook page just reminded us that we have a local company providing these services to FoCo as well! The Second You is a personal assistant service that can help you shrink your to-do list…fast! Check ’em out on Facebook.