Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

work.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 85 posts

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#41

Post by brunooo »

lucahammer wrote: post #34
shawabawa3 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still found it every confusing, the main thing is: Why is it a document editor? It's just asking a question yet I can edit a whole bunch of stuff for no reason. Also, I don't think having the main navigation buttons in a small box in the top right works.

With the editor you define how the results should look like. The providers will input the results there.

Also a conscious decision: A nice marketplace needs a definition of the goods are, otherwise it's better to come up with a listing type business (here are some contractors, here are some job, match and do whatever you want).

By trying the editor route (which came out of the "i want spreadsheets/ no, i want text documents/ no i want slides" customer development) we hope that people over time will grasp the value of "tangible / trade-able" goods. Even if this means excluding a good chunk of business that can't be standardized.

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#42

Post by brunooo »

natrius wrote: post #21

There are many grammar errors throughout the site. Pay someone to copy edit it.

Yup, embarrassing indeed in some places, wip, but not yet easy to simply extract all current data to easily hand it to someone.

Thanks for pushing it up the "damn,we gotta take more care of that" list.

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#43

Post by lucahammer »

jaggs wrote: post #35
lucahammer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask you to try the 5 seconds test with my profile? https://www.workio.com/u/MjA3ZD/luca-hammer Does that work for you?

It would work better if it was something like... Welcome to work|i|o the one stop shop for...blah. Or some form of one line and clear explanation of what the site is/does. You're trying to get across 3 things very quickly here: 1. What the site is for. 2. How does it work (how can I use it?) 3. Why should I use it (what's the benefit for me?) If there are alternatives, why should I use you instead of the alternatives…

I am not sure I get what you want to say. We should do these three things or we are doing them?

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#44

Post by grey-area »

hnriot wrote: post #7
hucker wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't really help that 'please' is categorically misspelled as 'pls' either...

That isn't a misspelling, but a very common shortcut. I fail to see how this in any way detracts from the readability of the text. Other shortcomings notwithstanding, "pls" is fine for the vast majority of internet users.

Love the idea for the site, and though it may be ahead of its time, it is an ambitious project and deserves to do well - one day a lot of work will be distributed this way.

However using txtspk like pls for talking to potential customers is not quicker or cool - it shows a lack of respect. Also, this error from zephyr has been on your home page for the last few hours:

Obvisously you want to keep your site and app secure, but who is really good at this? Zephyr comes from MIT and is the perfect interface to the Noisebridge community.

Simple spelling and grammatical errors on your site home like this will cost you credibility and customers; best just to fix them and move on. Your initial text, by you and your users, will set the tone for everything that follows.

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#45

Post by lucahammer »

jaggs wrote: post #37
lucahammer wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We want to streamline work processes. If you need something done you have to find someone who is able to do it and has time. work.io takes care of this. You define what you need, say how much you want to pay and get the results. You don't need to interact with the providers. Less overhead and better results are your benefits.

You see that there is a bit of your problem. No-one really understands what 'streamline work processes' actually means. Does that mean you can help me serve my Big Macs better in my day job? Jargon kills (and I mean KILLS) marketing effectiveness.

I wrote an article about this a month ago http://lucahammer.com/post/31269937454/startup-wording

I know that we have that problem and we try to solve it. I believe that discussions like this one help with it. We try to describe what we offer and others tell us what they don't understand.

We remove overhead from outsourcing. You define what results you need and the people on the platform deliver. No management needed. (Sounds like more bullshit? work.io takes care about who fulfills your tasks so you don't need to.)

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#46

Post by krapp »

Interesting, and nice design.

I'd like to be able to add my github and behance.net profiles as well if I can. Those would reflect my skills a lot better than would my facebook.

Also I don't really like that my username seems linked to whatever my email address was -- I should be able to display my real name, and if I can change that I haven't found where yet.

What is the user ID for and why is it listed in my profile?

I would like to know a bit more about how you're handling payment, and dealing with conflict and arbitration. Can I connect my paypal account? Is there some kind of escrow thing like elance uses?

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#47

Post by mengine »

lucahammer wrote: post #29
mengine wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. What problem are you trying to solve and what are the benefits to me? This is a much better splash page but the copy is still pretty bad - https://www.workio.com/about/

We want to streamline work processes. If you need something done you have to find someone who is able to do it and has time. work.io takes care of this. You define what you need, say how much you want to pay and get the results. You don't need to interact with the providers. Less overhead and better results are your benefits.

Great. Now take that and explain it like i'm 5. Then put that on your website.

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#48

Post by aurora72 »

just 3 spontaneous impressions:

1- The site (front page) is not bad. Anyway it addresses the one big problem of buying and selling the desired jobs. 2- The name and position of "Watercooler" is interesting and invokes curiosity about the site. 3- The presence of Linked-in as a login option is bad, because the Linked-in is bad. I've deleted my Li account after a crazy frustration upon their wanting me to become a paid member just for me to send a message to a member! No need to link to a doomed site such as that.

That's all.

Re: Show HN: A place to buy and sell services directly from each other

#49

Post by sushimako »

krapp wrote: post #46

Interesting, and nice design. I'd like to be able to add my github and behance.net profiles as well if I can. Those would reflect my skills a lot better than would my facebook. Also I don't really like that my username seems linked to whatever my email address was -- I should be able to display my real name, and if I can change that I haven't found where yet. What is the user ID for and why is it listed in my profile…

Thx for the feedback!

Your should already be able to connect your LinkedIn account on your profile page. Github, behance and other identity providers of specific industries will be added in the future.

Right now we fetch your name from the identity providers that you connect (e.g. linkedin) and fall back to the user part of your e-mail address if none connected. Being a little experiment, this is the only way to set your name for now (i.e. no manual input). Of course we will change this, if that's what the users want.

Re: payment: Upon ordering a job the buyer transfers money to work.io (via creditcard, paypal or purchase order) and after the job is completed and accepted, all participating users will receive their share in their account-wallet. This earned money can then be payed-out via paypal, check or ACH.

Right now, we're handling disputes/conflicts ourselves and will rely on human support in the future as well.

Post reply on HN