Web site marketplace for low-cost services
Repairmen, caterers, small companies, others listed on Jobberz.com, many without paying fee.
Neal Haldane / Special to The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/BIZ04/812040363/1001/BIZ
ROCHESTER HILLS -- When Jim Bartlett started seeking customers for his computer repair business three years ago, he needed help. Help came in the form of a free Web site called Jobberz.com.
"I found it somewhere on the Net and I had just gone into business for myself," said Bartlett, who operates TeK NuTZ I.T. of Oxford. "It was free, local and right what I needed. It was only a matter of putting my information up there."
That first year, about $12,000 of his $15,000 in revenues came from Jobberz.com referrals. Today, Bartlett's residential and commercial computer service business is booming. In fact, with so much business, Bartlett said he doesn't even need his Jobberz.com listing.
Bartlett's firm was one of the first to sign on when Shawn Hanaee started Jobberz.com after finding out how much it cost for professionals to remodel his Oakland County condo. At the same time, a friend of the family had been laid off and was looking for side jobs to bring in some money.
So Hanaee created Jobberz.com to link people who want to earn some cash on the side with those seeking handymen (the most demanded category), electricians, painters and others to do work. He taught himself Web site creation and launched it in 2005.
"The whole goal for me was to help people find people and get connected with each other," said Hanaee, who has his own full-time job with Sprint. "Everyone is looking to make extra money doing side jobs."
ZCD Transportation of Rochester Hills has used Jobberz.com for about a year. Christi Palmer says the firm receives a lot of referrals from the site, which has been a particularly effective way to market its nonemergency transportation service for people who need rides to doctor appointments, therapy sessions and dialysis treatments.
Hanaee said he pays about $130 a month to host the site and spends his spare time keeping Jobberz.com up and running. Hanaee keeps close tabs on the listings, removes telemarketers and get-rich schemers from the site, and relies on Jobberz.com to find people to fix up his own home. For example, he found someone to repair sprinkler heads in his yard for $125 instead of the $400 a company was going to charge.
The first three ads are free but Jobberz.com does charge for additional listings and for those who add photos or want more prominent placement on the site. Most listings are from Michigan, but people from California, New Jersey, Nevada and even Hawaii advertise on the site.
"I want to allow it to grow," he said. "I'm one guy doing this. I want to take this to the next level. My goal is to have it get big -- like MySpace big."
Neal Haldane is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/BIZ04/812040363/1001/BIZ
