Archive for the ‘Task Inspiration’ Category
Task of the Week: Sew Me This
April 17th, 2012Task of the Week: Walk the Dog
April 10th, 2012We’ve had dogs on the brain lately. We blame this mostly on Kobe and the army of TaskRabbit office dogs he commands, but the TaskRabbit community is also furthering our puppy obsession by posting so many canine-related Tasks. Last week, we shared the story of TaskRabbit’s role in helping a family find the dog of their dreams, but for this week’s Task of the Week we wanted to bring it down to the everyday level: TaskRabbits can walk your dogs.
How simple and brilliant and easy is that? New York City TaskPoster Joe D. found out when he enlisted TaskRabbit Nyna N. to take care of his pup, Anthony, while he was away on a last-minute business trip. Busy Boston TaskPoster Jessica W. needed her greyhound walked and fed regularly, so she posted a Recurring Task. Dog-loving TaskRabbit Lyndsey S. is happily helping her out. Los Angeles art student and TaskPoster Laura L. had the same idea, so now her local TaskRabbit Denise K. helps walk and feed her little pugs every week. Using TaskRabbits to help with your pets isn’t a new idea (hey, we were founded because Kobe needed dog food), but we’re thrilled that so many TaskPosters now rely on their TaskRabbit neighbors as part of their puppy routines.
How Many Packages of Ramen Does it Take to Settle a Bet?
April 9th, 2012We love hearing about creative uses of TaskRabbit, so when April Autrey of ChooseWhat reached out to tell us about what she called a “hilarious office prank,” we were intrigued. But when we found out this prank involved 365 packages of ramen noodles? Well then we were just plain delighted. Here’s Audrey’s report:
Koby and Jason, who both work at ChooseWhat, made a bet over something that neither can remember anymore. The winner was to receive a year’s worth of dinners from the loser, Koby ended up losing. It was a bet made in full jest, but after a few weeks of licking his wounds, Koby decided to settle up in style. He came up with a super funny way to make good on what he owed Jason: he posted a Task to buy 365 packages of the cheapest ramen available.
After awesome TaskRabbit Lindsey K. was selected, she procured the ramen at lightning speed. To make sure Jason didn’t suspect a thing, Koby offered to buy him lunch instead of springing for a year’s worth of dinner. Jason politely declined, but told Koby he didn’t really expect a year’s worth of dinner for a bet neither of them could remember. Little did Jason know…
Later that day Lindsey showed up at the ChooseWhat offices with a dolly full of ramen. Then she went back to her car for another dolly full of ramen. Koby and Lindsey enlisted the help of co-worker Nick to lug all the ramen into the office of Jason, who was, understandably, shocked by all the noodles. Thanks TaskRabbit, the entire office is still laughing!
Hide ‘em, Cook ‘em, and Paint ‘em: We Love Egg Tasks
April 3rd, 2012While we expected a surge in holiday-related Tasks this week, we were sorta surprised that there weren’t more of the “dress up like the Easter Bunny” variety. Instead, we were surprised to see so many creative egg-based Tasks pop up — here are a few of our favorites:
Hide ‘em
TaskPoster Joy A. is putting on an Easter Egg hunt, so she posted a Task to find some extra hands for the event. TaskRabbit Tricia T. will help her assemble 200+ plastic eggs.
Cook ‘em
TaskPoster Tom C. needs an entirely different kind of eggs-pertise (sorry, we couldn’t resist). He wants a chef to come to his home and whip up Easter brunch for 12 of his friends. TaskRabbit Paige B. is helping him out.
Blow ‘em
In her very first Task, TaskPoster Julie S. decided to test the boundaries of quirky responses — she needed help blowing two eggs to help her daughter with a craft project. Creative TaskRabbit Kate S. swooped in to blow the eggs and save the day.
Task of the Week: Make Happy Hour a Door-to-Door Affair
April 3rd, 2012Why should a silly thing like geography keep coworkers from celebrating a great week? TaskPoster Jenn D. doesn’t think it should. Her company is based in San Francisco, but they have three employees working virtually from Austin. These Texas-based brethren don’t get to attend coworker happy hours, participate in office beer pong tournaments, or toast company accomplishments in the office with their coworkers. So Jenn created a Task detailing their favorite beers and Austin TaskRabbit Judy H. delivered happy hour right to their doors.
We love this Task for so many reasons. First, as a mission-oriented startup we know how important it is that people working hard for the same purpose get the opportunity to celebrate, commiserate, and chill out together. We also love this Task because it reminds us that we can buy any awesome person in any TaskRabbit market a drink whenever it occurs to us. And of course, it’s pretty cool that TaskRabbit makes the concept of happy hour transcend space and time. Stephen Hawking would be proud of us.
Trending Task: Spring Cleaning
April 3rd, 2012The first day of spring, what people who hang around observatories call “the vernal equinox,” occurred two weeks ago on March 20th. Did you notice? Yeah, we really didn’t either. People who know about things like this are chalking this missed milestone up to an overly warm winter (this last one was the 4th warmest in at least 117 years), but we suspect a reluctance to embrace spring cleaning may also be a factor.
Spring cleaning is simply really intimidating. Scrubbing your home from top to bottom, bestowing order upon a cluttered garage, and weeding a garden overgrown after months of frost — that’s a whole lot to take on, even if it is just once a year. The spring cleaning tradition is rooted in multiple cultures around the world — one of our favorites is its role in ushering in the Persian New Year, when it’s called “shaking the house.” Well sometimes you just can’t shake it alone. Maybe that’s why TaskPosters around the country are outsourcing their spring cleaning to-do lists to TaskRabbits. We took a cue from our TaskPoster community to whip up this handy dandy checklist of TaskRabbit-ready spring cleaning Tasks:
Tackle My Closet
New York TaskPoster Amanda S. had a simple request: Organize my closet in a way that I can maintain. TaskRabbit Elizabeth R. rocked it with a five star review. Elizabeth also received a glowing review for taking on the closet of EJ K. — a TaskPoster who lost more than 100 pounds this year. Yay EJ! Task On: Try posting other organization Tasks like cleaning out your garage, attic, storage shed, or filing cabinets.
Create a Solution
When Boston TaskPoster Kristen G. needed more storage space in her kitchen to prepare for the spring, she posted a Task to build a pantry. Very handy TaskRabbit Jeremiah H. measured the space, found the materials, and converted a seldom used front closet into a foodie’s dream pantry. Task On: Try posting other home improvement Tasks like building bookshelves, painting walls, replacing grout, earthquake proofing heavy items, refinishing furniture, or stripping your hardwood floors.
Find My Yard
Once upon a time Carol Ruth‘s garden was a Japanese oasis in the middle of San Francisco — but now she can barely see it. To ring in spring time, she’s working with TaskRabbit Spencer M. to tackle the weeds. Task On: Try posting other outside Tasks like planting a vegetable bed, mulching flowers and shrubs, creating a container garden, cleaning your grill, or setting up your warm weather patio furniture.
Scrub It All Down
When the sun started shining in New York City, Carrie C. didn’t waste any time — she called for a top to bottom scrub down of her 500 sq. foot studio apartment. She put the nooks and crannies in the crosshairs, bought some cleaning supplies, and decided to invite TaskRabbit Simone S. over to save the day. Task On: Try posting other deep cleaning tasks like wall scrubbing, window washing, floor waxing, and fireplace detailing.
Manage My Media
TaskPoster Canem A. was ready to finish converting his music collection to iTunes, there was only one problem — he didn’t have time to burn 100 CDs to his external hard drive. So TaskRabbit Darone R. swooped in to help usher him all the way into the digital age. Task On: Try posting other data clean-up Tasks like photo and email archiving, social network makeovers, contact list updating, and scanning hard copies of records into digital files.
Get Rid of My Stuff
When LA-area TaskPoster Kate M. started cleaning off her porch, she realized there were a lot of items she just didn’t need anymore. That’s why she Tasked Christian G. with delivering two bikes, a few tables, some folding chairs, and even some clothing to the local Goodwill. Task On: Try posting a Task to lug boxes of food to the local food bank, donate old baby gear to the Salvation Army, list unwanted but valuable items on eBay Classifieds, or box up your old books for the Global Literacy Project or another charity.
This Puppy Was Delivered By TaskRabbit … And You Thought We Were Fooling
April 2nd, 2012Okay, so maybe we didn’t pivot our entire business model to pioneer the Puppies as a Service space. Kobe got a little ahead of himself (ie, he didn’t get board approval) and April Fool’s Day was in the air, so we may have stretched the truth a bit in the press release we issued on Friday. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t the tech world’s first on-demand puppy delivery service.
Matt H., a New York TaskPoster and dynamite dad to two young kids, issued a plea via Task for someone in his community to find his family the perfect dog. Sadly, the family’s previous dog passed away about a year ago. Matt knew they were ready to love another pup, and TaskRabbit Jill S. helped him find the perfect adult dog to rescue — a Welsh Springer Spaniel named Pedro.
Task of the Week: Make Tax Day Go Away
March 27th, 2012Albert Einstein famously said, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” Now, this was a guy who definitely knew a thing or two about understanding things. Maybe it’s because we share this sentiment that so many of us habitually put off doing our taxes until the very last minute. But, now that we’re swiftly approaching that “very last minute,” it’s time for a tax day battle plan. Unlike Einstein, we have access to the best possible line of defense against the IRS: the talented and friendly TaskRabbit.
TaskRabbits are already busy sorting through papers, scanning receipts, and mastering Excel spreadsheets for TaskPosters around the country. Take the case of Carrie S., an Austin TaskPoster and college student who was a little lost about how to file her out-of-state Kansas income taxes. Susan K., a TaskRabbit neighbor with accounting experience, swooped in to solve her problem. San Francisco freelancer Adia M. didn’t need to stress about filing her taxes either, she simply posted a Task to Sarah T., a TaskRabbit with a background in finance. Even small businesses are tapping TaskRabbits to whip their Quickbooks accounts into shape. These proactive TaskPosters are onto something — they won’t be spending the final days leading up to April 15th hugging their knees and sobbing over an increasingly soggy pile of receipts. Will you?
Task of the Week: Tie Lots of Little Knots
March 21st, 2012Geoffrey had knots. Chronic knots. Like most of us, his earbuds were constantly tangling up in his pocket, so when he stumbled upon the perfect solution via an Apartment Therapy blog post, he was thrilled. The only problem? The solution involved tying more knots. Lots of them. You see, that Apartment Therapy post told how Ada, a crafty Pinterest Pinner, whipped her own earbuds into shape by tying a Chinese Staircase friendship bracelet around them. The design, made out of embroidery floss, called to mind long afternoon bus rides and gave her buds enough heft to stay unknotted for life. Understandably, Geoffrey bemoaned the time commitment and irony of tying lots of little knots to solve his chronic knot problem. That’s where TaskRabbit Natalie came in. Geoffrey posted a Task, provided the headphones and a link to the Apartment Therapy post, and Natalie took the “Y” out of DIY for him.
Image via Pinterest user Ada
Task of the Week: Conquer the iPad Lines at Apple Stores
March 16th, 2012Long lines snaking around Apple’s brick-and-mortar stores are becoming synonymous with the company’s much-anticipated product launches. In addition to a lengthy wait, San Franciscans hoping to be among the first to boot up Apple’s third-generation iPad this morning also had to contend with some long overdue winter temperatures and a steady downpour. That’s where TaskRabbit came in.
TaskPosters turned to us to get their iPads to avoid the lines and miserable weather. TaskRabbits were out in full-force at Apple’s downtown location (along with other locations around the Bay Area and those in New York City and Los Angeles), holding line spots, handing out doughnuts, and spreading that trademark TaskRabbit cheer.













