Our friend Emil creates and tends beautiful gardens all over the Bay Area. He took some of his rare time indoors (time normally reserved for garden design and planning…) to answer our questions. Thanks, Emil! 

Tell us about yourself and your business. 

In 2011, when I was unemployed, I started a gardening business with nothing but a station wagon and a pair of pruning shears. Since then I’ve slowly built my customer base, invested in education and equipment, and focused on always improving the quality of my work. Having grown up gardening and raising vegetables, I had an intuitive advantage, but being a professional service provider is much different than taking care of your back yard. It takes experience, confidence, and knowledge of best practices. You have to be able to look at a landscape and quickly “read” it, see what has happened there recently and decide what needs to be done. I’m a big plant nerd and the variety of plants that thrive in the Bay Area is mind-blowing, which is an awesome opportunity and also means there is always lots more to learn.

I am also a garden designer, an aspect of my career that I’m really excited about because I get to be creative and let my imagination run wild, and end up with something that will be both beautiful and practical. (I’m also concerned with the environmental impact of landscape construction, and luckily there is a lot that can be done to reduce that). When I create a design, I’m inspired by comfortable, human-scale spaces that encourage exploration and utilization. I look to the surrounding environmental and cultural contexts to derive a beautiful, cohesive, low impact solution.

Why do you use Thumbtack?

Sure, I can sell my services by talking to a person one-on-one, but I’m not a marketing firm, and as a tiny sprout of a business, I didn’t have an advertising budget. I started using Thumbtack because it was easy and the rewards were huge compared to the investment.

I discovered Thumbtack early on. Establishing a gardening business can often depend heavily on word of mouth, so breaking in can be tough. Thumbtack gave me a sales platform and visibility, and sent work my way. Building my profile on Thumbtack helped me think through important questions and encouraged me to be more professional. The early reviews from appreciative customers encouraged me to dig my heels in and make my new venture succeed. I’ve found most of my maintenance gardening clients through Thumbtack!

I have used other online marketplaces, but Thumbtack sends more business my way. I like that their website is user-friendly and easy on the eyes without the graphics overwhelming the functionality. You can tell they’ve put a lot of work into making the experience gratifying, yet I have nearly complete control over the content of my profile. In some cases, a Thumbtack representative has actually spoken with the potential client and passes on detailed information about the job. With features like refundable credit for a bid that a client doesn’t read, Thumbtack has convinced me that they’re looking out for me as much as for themselves.

 

Tell us about a great experience you’ve had with a customer you reached through Thumbtack.

My first ever maintenance gardening client was also my first Thumbtack lead. I’m still working for her, two years later.

Make the most of your profile page. My thumbtack profile has all of the important information and photos I want to share with potential clients, so I use it as the homepage for my business, which is a lot easier than trying to make my own snazzy website. (I also have a blog, so maybe the Thumbtack engineers can figure out a way for that to show up on my profile too).

Check out Emil’s Thumbtack profile.

Kyle is one of our most active Service Pros in Albuquerque, NM. He took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some of our questions. 
Tell us a bit about yourself and your business:

The benefits our customers enjoy include a one-stop shop graphic design company providing everything from logo design, to websites, SEO services, print materials and much more. For each project, we always provide fast turnaround times, multiple design iterations, unlimited revisions, all necessary files and all rights transferred to you upon completion. In short, the focus is always on your company. Our highest priority and number one goal is to help our clients’ businesses grow to new heights through clean, quality, creative graphic design solutions!

Why do you use Thumbtack and how has it helped your business?

One challenge that we needed to tackle from the very beginning was the need to bring in clients on a consistent basis. Thumbtack has been one of the biggest tools for generating more business.

We began using Thumbtack on a consistent basis throughout all of 2012. Thumbtack alone has helped propel our company to new heights. Comparing our net income from 2011 to 2012, Courtright Design has grown 500% with Thumbtack being the major contributing factor in that growth!

With the help of Thumbtack, we have had the opportunity to serve small businesses, large organizations and everyone in between. Most of our clients are startups, small companies and non-profit organizations who need logo design and website design. Print collateral packages such as business cards, letterheads, flyers, brochures and signs are also very popular items. Our customers enjoy that we offer printing and shipping of these materials, as we have evolved into a full-service graphic design company.

What makes Thumbtack different from other similar services? 

Thumbtack is different from other similar services because they offer cost-effective, quality leads that actually turn into paying customers. What a quick, simple way to generate more business for my company! If we need a contracted professional, we simply enter what service is required and then just sit back and relax as Thumbtack does all the legwork for us! You can’t beat it! Leads will come in and we can very easily choose the best service professional that fits our specific needs! They do an excellent job of tweaking their business model in order to help their customers. Thumbtack listens to their customer’s needs, and constantly are trying to make the user experience better. The website is very easy to use and their customer support & staff are extremely helpful and genuinely want to help make your life easier.

Tell us about a client you booked through Thumbtack. 

Nearly 8 months ago, Mike Waller of SEO Zones sent a design lead requesting a graphic designer who would work on ongoing web design projects to help with his demand.

I decided to respond to a lead costing $5.99.

After coordinating back and forth, I worked on the first project which went very well. He was kind enough to give a stellar testimonial for summarizing the service he received after the first project: ”Kyle was very responsive and his work was above exceptional. He was also quick to respond to my every email. I will definately[sic] use his services again and again!” And that’s just what Mike did, as we have been working together for nearly 8 months to date.

As I look back, the small investment of responding to the graphic design lead was well worth it as $5.99 has quickly turned into over $3,500.00 to date and counting.

I can’t thank Thumbtack enough for the consistent graphic design work they have given Courtright Design. Thumbtack is so easy to use and I highly recommend their service to anyone who owns a business!

What do you think is the most effective strategy to keep your customers happy and satisfied with your service?

Keeping our customers needs at the forefront is our number one goal. Delivering an aesthetically pleasing solution that is clean, innovative, memorable and marketable encompasses our overall design approach. Our aim is to always provide quality design, in an affordable way. Between our consistent design updates coupled with the rare offering of unlimited revisions included in all of our design services, we have shown our customers that we stand out from other graphic design firms and in turn, they look no further when they need graphic design work done right.

We were commissioned to create the logo design brand for Market 65 Restaurant located in the heart of downtown Columbus, OH. Our goal was to create a branding solution that perfectly aligned with their business model–salads and wraps made with fresh, vibrant, and locally grown ingredients. We wanted to reflect their clean, modern approach to their restaurant. With their new logo in place, they opened in 2011 and Market 65 was voted the best new restaurant in Columbus. We were able to travel from Albuquerque, NM to meet with the owner, Anthony Micheli and eat his incredibly fresh, tasty food! Seeing the logo design up in lights was such a rewarding, rich experience that will always be one of our favorite projects.

Also, we had the privilege to design the Duke University men’s basketball email template that will be sent out for all their recruiting. It was a bit overwhelming to wait for approval from the office of the winningest basketball coach of all time, but they loved it! I wish I could post the design for you, but they have strict guidelines and won’t allow it.

Check out Kyle’s Thumbtack profile.