As HomeJoy Folds, PocketSuite Cleans Up
Throughout the pristine halls and offices of Silicon Valley, the debate rages on about the shuttering of popular home cleaning service startup, HomeJoy, which over the last 3 years raised $40 Million and created jobs for 1,500+ cleaners.
At the heart of this debate is a fundamental question about what kind of world you want to live in? Do you want to have to go through a handful of homogenous, global corporations for all services with no control over who walks into your home and life and the quality of work they provide?
Or do you want to live in a world where we can choose from and develop personal relationships with diverse, vibrant, and capable local entrepreneurs who have the tools to provide high quality, competitively priced, on demand services for as long as we need?
HomeJoy View of the World
Companies like HomeJoy, Handy, TaskRabbit, and many others are marketplaces that typically focus on acquiring lots of customers with slick advertising and convenient apps, which then enables them to recruit and dictate pricing and terms to service providers. When marketplaces work well, they fulfill the exciting promise of giving everyone the opportunity to live like a millionaire with access to affordable, on demand services, ranging from private car service and food delivery to personal training and home cleaning.
However, when they don’t work, as was the case with HomeJoy, they drive down prices so low that they cannot effectively recruit enough professional service providers to fulfill market demand. And overtime, they are unable to maintain the quality and consistency of service delivery, which leads to the loss of customers.
Is that the kind of world you want to live in? Price clearly matters, but are you willing to squeeze independent professionals so much that they lose their “joy” and can no longer afford to deliver good service?
PocketSuite View of the World
In this post-HomeJoy reality, consumers can get the same convenient “tap and go” services that they have come to expect while working with trusted, reasonably priced professional service providers. Rather than work with HomeJoy marketplaces, there are thousands of service providers across the country who are choosing to use smart, mobile apps like PocketSuite to deliver delightful experiences to their customers.
PocketSuite is a mobile app that enables consumers to schedule appointments and pay everyone from their dog walkers, photographers, hair stylists, and fitness trainers to landscapers, handymen, home cleaners, and more. Unlike HomeJoy, PocketSuite is focused on empowering freelancers and solopreneurs to do their best work for customers while ensuring they can grow their business and serve those same customers and more in the future.
Over 5,000 providers, including 500 home cleaners are using PocketSuite to schedule customers, send invoices, and get paid. Given how easy it is to manage their business using PocketSuite, many business users have expanded their customer base, geographic service areas, and hired more employees. As an example, one of PocketSuite’s users, a San Francisco-based home cleaning business called Adriana’s House Cleaning, has suddenly grown so unexpectedly fast, that the small company raised financing in 2015, and is now in the process of expanding to serve customers outside the Bay Area.
When asked — Why PocketSuite? “It’s so easy and convenient! PocketSuite has completely transformed my business and my relationship with my customers. All my appointments sync with my calendar, my customers receive reminders, and I get paid immediately when the jobs are done,” says Eduardo Neto, owner of Adriana’s House Cleaning. “I don’t have to spend time sending quotes, updating schedules, and chasing down payment. So, I can spend more time making sure my customers are happy.”
A New Norm
It is absolutely clear that the on demand economy is here to stay. And in the wake HomeJoy’s failure, smart business apps like PocketSuite are bridging an important gap for home cleaning entrepreneurs and many others who want to live in a world where they can maintain their independence while affordably, consistently, and scalably delivering quality services to customers.
About PocketSuite
PocketSuite is a mobile business management app designed for the nation’s 53 million independent professionals, solopreneurs, and freelancers. It helps microbusinesses save time, lower costs and increase revenues with an integrated solution for scheduling appointments, quoting prices, messaging customers, and getting paid. PocketSuite was voted the #1 App for soloprenuers by Forbes magazine. The PocketSuite iPhone app is available on the App Store. To learn more, visit www.pocketsuite.io.
