Commonly Asked Questions

September 8, 2009

Commonly Asked Question for Helpers on HireAHelper.com:

How do I become a Helper?

All you have to do is sign up for your Helper Account! Provide us with your contact and payment information. Then, select the services you’d like to offer, set your own rates and availability, and check your e-mail daily for job notifications.


How old do I have to be to become a Helper?
All Helpers must be at least 18 years of age.


I do not have a company; can I still become a Helper?

If you do not represent a company, you can still sign up to be a Helper. You will be asked to create a “Company Name.” This is the name that customers will see and know you as. Your company name can be anything from your name, to a clever description of your services.


Is it free to sign up as a Helper?

Signing up is free. However, if you receive a job through HireAHelper, we will subtract a mandatory 15% advertising and processing fee from your final payment.

For example, if your rates are set at $25.00 per hour, and you are hired for a 4 hour job, the total for your services would be $100.00. If you complete the job you will receive a payment of $100.00 – 15%, or $85.00. This fee covers the costs of credit card processing, and the advertising necessary for your customer to locate you on HireAHelper.

Do I have to be bonded, licensed, and/or insured?

No. However, if you are, please specify so in your Helper Profile. Customers are more likely to hire your services if they know whether or not this information can be supplied.


How do I get paid?

You can choose to receive your payments either electronically through direct deposit, or in the form of a mailed check. Direct deposit transfers are much quicker, and just require the name of the person on the account, the routing and account number.

What do I do once I’m signed up as a Helper?

First you’ll want to perfect your Helper Profile. Be sure all the information entered is correct, especially your phone number, payment information, availability, and rates.

Keep a detailed profile- state whether you are licensed, insured, and/or bonded, if you can offer any tools or supplies, what qualifications you have, and a little bit about yourself. Remember this is the only communication you will have with your Customers before an order is placed.

Check your e-mail often. When you receive a job request, be sure to respond as soon as possible. Offers neglected for more than 24 hours may be auto-declined. Once you’ve checked out an offer, call the customer for more information. Be sure to discuss what time they’d like to get started, and any special instructions they may have. Let your customer know by phone or e-mail whether you’ll be available or not.

If you’ve accepted an offer, be sure you keep close contact with your customer. When the job is completed, the customer will hand you an Authorization Code. Once you have the code, log into your Helper Profile to accept your payment. Enter the code, and get paid!


How do I get more jobs?

On your hireahelper profile is coupons that you can hand out in your area. Once you start getting job and customer reviews you will move up in the ranking.


How do I login to my HireAHelper.com profile?

Go to the hireahelper.com home page and in the right hand corner is a my profile link. Enter your email address and password.

What are your office hours?

M-F 7am-5pm and Saturdays 8am-2pm (PST)


Reusing Packing Materials

August 28, 2009

cardboard boxes for movingGood, sturdy boxes have a variety of uses, so don’t just throw them away after one use. There are many ways to reuse packing materials or recycle them. With our world becoming more environmentally aware, it is important to conserve and reuse. When preparing for a move, pack efficiently, using the least amount of packing materials as necessary. Use left over newspaper to wrap the breakables in.

After the move,boxes can be saved for future purposes. Having empty boxes stored in the garage could come in handy. Or build a house reusing the newspaper you wrapped your dishes in. Check this out.
http://www.greenecoservices.com/reuse-newspaper-build-a-house/.

The boxes can be kept for things that have to be put into storage. Give them to someone who is moving. Donate to shipping companies to ship cans and such. Reuse boxes to ship for UPS. If you use removable labels instead of writing directly on the box, it will be able to be used many reuse_reduce_recyclemore additional times. Reuse old boxes for fun activities in crafts. Those big boxes make a great play houses for kids. Let them color and decorate it. If you want to make a profit, you can re-sell them for a cheaper price to someone else. That make take a little bit more work, but if you are willing to do it then go for it. Just make sure if you are not going to reuse them, that you recycle them.

So just remember, one use does not send them straight to the dumpster.

Need help from Chicago Movers or Los Angeles Movers.


The Importance of Customer Reviews

August 26, 2009

“They did a great job and finished the work faster than I expected.”

OR

“They arrived late and worked a little slow, but eventually got the job done.”

Which of these two companies are you going to choose? Mostly likely the first one.

check out movers with five star reviewsMore than three quarters of American Shoppers feel that it is important to read customer reviews before making a purchase. Online shoppers who are having no contact prior to purchasing a service or product will rely on customer reviews for a referral.

Customer reviews are guaranteed to show invaluable results and alert a company upon their strengths and weaknesses. From there, the review your helpercompany has the opportunity to make adjustments accordingly. This is a cheap and easy process with fast results. It increases the relationship between customer and provider.

One way to increase your companies rating on HireAHelper is through customer reviews. Future customers look at those and are greatly influenced by the past experience of others. If the customer knows nothing about your company, these real life experience of past costumers gives them confidence in your company.

To get customer reviews, after the job is completed, HireAHelper sends out an email to the customer with a link that allows them to review their helper. After a job is completed, let the customer know about the review and ask them to please take a few minutes to fill it out. This will help increase your number of customer reviews and increase your ranking on the website. Be polite, courteous and do a good job, and I’m sure the customer will have not problem leaving a review.

The importance of a satisfied customers should be valuable to your business because that increases future business. Clientele increases business which increases profit.


Time Management

August 21, 2009

Sometimes twenty four hours in a day doesn’t seem like enough time to get everything done. We need to make productive use of the time that we do have at work by prioritizing our tasks and creating realistic deadlines.

clockSTART with your most important tasks first. Return phone calls and answer emails. Take a look at everything that needs to be done, and start with the ones that need to be completed first. Prioritize your time and make lists if need be. Sometimes you may have to deviate from the list and be flexible, depending on what comes up throughout the day.

to-do-list-padCREATE a daily task sheet and a weekly task sheet. Your “To Do” list should not be so long that it is impossible to finish, and you are constantly discouraged with the feeling that you never get anything done. Don’t get too overwhelmed or else you won’t be able to concentrate on the task at hand.
create task sheet
SET realistic deadlines for yourself. Don’t multitask too much. Sometimes it is better to finish one task, then move onto the next one. You don’t want to start five projects and not have the time to finish anything.

REWARD is good. Just completing a job is a reward in itself, but once in a while do something more. Take a break after you coffeebreakhave completed several assignments or a big project.

In the end, if is it needed, ask for help. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Assign tasks to others as well by delegating if you are in a position that allows that.

These tips can apply to both work and personal life.


Books vs. Experience

July 15, 2009

Sometimes the best way to learn is to teach yourself. Sitting in a classroom is educational, but real life experience is different than writing a paper about it. Trial and error, previous experiences, and learning from the mistakes are things that make an impact on us obtaining knowledge.

Trial and error is a way to find out what works and doesn’t work. Try one phone system; it drops calls often. Try a different phone system, this one works better so stick with it. It may take a lot of time and money, but you will remember what you have learned, with proof from your own experience. You become better at something with experience and over time. The type of experiences we have also makes an impact. A bad experience will resolve in negative feelings, leading us to not chose that path again. Positive interactions will build our trust in those certain decisions or companies. It is these positive experience that cause us to come back again, looking for the same results.

Research through books can definitely help in the beginning stages and act as a guideline, but the experience you gain on your own accord is what is going to make a huge difference. Especially, if you are one of those people that doesn’t follow the rule book. This can apply to a lot of circumstances: if a parent tells a child not to touch the hot pan, that child is most likely going to still touch the pan. They know what the book says (in this case, mom represents the book), but they had to test it for themselves. After burning their finger, they will never again touch the pan. It wasn’t enough to just be told, they had to try it on there own and learned from their action. It was a beneficial lesson because they will never do it again. The books may be right, but the experience is living proof.

I’m not saying that books don’t work. I follow the books, but sometimes experiencing it on our own sticks with us a little more than the words on a page. Putting the two together, will give great results. The books are a foundation that can be built upon by gaining experience. Books give an idea of where to start and an overview of the knowledge other people have gained from experience.