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Home / Elevator Pitch  / Elevator Pitch: Joblist

Elevator Pitch: Joblist

Top image: Joblist founders (from left) Brittany Earl, Gerard Molloy and Taylor Abernethy.

It’s Saturday. You’ve just spent a lonngggggggggggg week busting your butt at the office, saving the company – and the universe as we know it – for the umpteenth millionth time.

But guess what? Your house needs vacuuming. Your gutters need cleaning. That giant Jenga set needs to be built. The dry cleaning has to be picked up. The lawn must be mowed. The leaves should be raked. And on. And on. And on. And on. Ad infinitum. Is the secret of “life admin,” that it never, ever ends?

Now let’s examine the proverbial other side of the coin. It’s the weekend. You’re in need of something to do – or, to be more precise, are hoping to make a bit of extra cash. But Uber’s not for you, and you’d rather not turn your flat into an Airbnb. No-one wants to wake up to find four strangers doing… well, what four strangers sometimes do when on holiday. Enough said.

The folks behind Joblist are keenly aware of these issues. And surprise, surprise: they’ve come up with a tech solution that’s a win for everyone.

In brief, Joblist is a new website and app that allows someone to get someone to help with anything at all. Think somebody to clean the gutters, mow the lawns, bake a cake, assemble furniture… and yes, even assemble a giant Jenga set.

In fact, the giant Jenga set assembly position was “filled” in just three minutes, according to Joblist founder Brittany Earl. “It’s basically any life admin you need help with,” she says. “Someone even listed going for a ride in a Tesla. There’s been a large number of cakes made.”

In beta testing for the past month-and-a-half, more than 100 jobs have been posted so far. According to Earl, the way Joblist works is pretty easy to follow: someone posts something they would like done, list a price, and people “apply” to do it (and those people applying can be anyone). The person who posted the advert then picks someone to “hire.” Joblist then gets 15 percent of the listed price.

“People are busier than they’ve ever been,” explains Earl. “You spend all week working, then you spend all weekend on life admin.”

Such a platform helps “self-regulate” the market, according to Earl. In the US, TaskRabbit has achieved success with a similar model, though here in AotearoaPocketjobs (which Idealog covered back in 2012) no longer appears to be active.

Earl believes there’s a need for Joblist – and has been encouraged by the positive response thus far. She says radio and print advertisements will be rolled out soon, and the full version of the website and app will also soon be unveiled. “The power of positive thinking goes a long way,” she says.

Not to mention the power of being able to finally get on top of life – or get paid to get on top of it for someone else.

  • If you think you’ve got an interesting business and you’re keen to talk about it awkwardly in an elevator, get in touch with us here.??

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