When we sat down with Scott to get to know him better, we were also lucky enough to be granted an interview with his beautiful beard. Here's what that ginger masterpiece had to say:
THE
FANCY HANDS BLOG
Meet Briana: Assistant
Briana's been working as a Fancy Hands assistant for a few months now, and we're happy to have her on the team.
Here are some recent requests from clients that she's handled:
- I need to get a social security card the fastest way possible. Can you call the office closest to me and find out what that entails, and if there’s an application to fill out, please send it to me?
- Can you find a professional organizer to come into my home, downsize some items, and pack me up for a move?
- Please call my doctor’s office and give them my new insurance information below. Make sure that they accept that plan and if they do, schedule a check-up appointment for me next week.
- Please send me quotes for reputable swimming pool cleaners to come clean the algae from my saltwater pool.
This Is How I Work.
Check out Tessa Miller's full profile of Ted on Lifehacker here.
Current gig: Founder/CEO, Fancy Hands
Location: New York, NY
Current mobile device: iPhone 4S
Current computer: 11" MacBook Air, occasionally plugged into the 27" Apple monitor
One word that best describes how you work: Slouching
Meet Mandie: Assistant
If you're a Fancy Hands client, you've probably had Mandie as an assistant before.
She's completed over twleve hundred requests for our members.
She came to visit us for lunch at the Fancy Hands HQ office last month, and being from a small town, she was pretty excited to eat "actual Chinese food from Chinatown!"
Meet Orry: Front End Developer
Orry not only makes things work on our website, he combines his technical knowledge with a flair for design, creativity, and a sense of humor.
Find the “USA” at the bottom of our homepage and click on it a few different times for a variety of patriotic video entertainment, thanks to Orry.
He also created a genius Chrome extension that he named “Netflix Rottenizer”, which lays Rotten Tomatoes' ratings over your Netflix page so that you can see movie ratings as you make your selections. Get it for free here.
Meet Lena Service: Assistant
It must be fate that Lena’s last name is Service. She’s one of our most beloved assistants, well known for her attention to detail and her desire to go above and beyond for our clients. She consistently receives a “thumbs up” feedback. Here are some tasks she’s recently received high praise for:
“Find a specific pair of jeans for my girlfriend that I’ve not been able to locate.“
Lena tracked down this highly desired denim for a customer by calling multiple stores across the country. When they were located, she worked with the client to get the jeans ordered and shipped in time for them to be wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree for one lucky lady.
“Set a lunch with Mr. Williams somewhere that works for both of our locations and schedules.”
Did you know that your Fancy Hands assistant can set appointments and put them in your calendar for you? This is one of those requests that sounds simple but can actually take a lot of work and time to complete.
The above request, for example, ended up with Lena sending 27 emails. She found openings in our client’s calendar, worked with Mr. Williams to find a coordinating opening in his calendar, found a restaurant that was well reviewed and convenient for both men, confirmed the appointment with Mr. Williams, and put it in our client’s calendar.
…then our client had a conflict come up and asked her to reschedule the lunch. Lena started the whole process over, happily.
“I want some juices from the organic juice place in my town delivered to me. Here are the flavors I want, can you figure that out for tomorrow?”
Turns out the eco-friendly folks at the organic juice place deliver by bicycle only, and the client lived out of their delivery range. Lena arranged for overnight shipping, so the juices were on the client’s doorstep the next morning, just in time for a blueberry flax-seed, hemp-oil, tofu-infused breakfast treat.
“My credit card keeps getting charged a monthly fee for something that I don’t think I ever signed up for – can you sort this out and have it stopped?”
When our clients need things handled with their private accounts, our assistants can patch them in briefly so that customer service can verify their identity and confirm that the assistant is authorized to speak on their behalf.
Lena was successful in getting this client ‘s recurring charges canceled, and she scored them a $330 refund for 8 months of inaccurate fees. Lena made 5 phone calls for this task, and spent a total of 54 minutes on the phone.
A little background info about Lena:
WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
Yacolt, WA ... Really the middle of nowhere!
WHAT ARE YOUR INTERESTS?
Reading, writing, art, computers, languages, law, accounting and FASHION!
WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?
Hunting someone down on the internet. My skills are lethal!
WHAT'S THE MOST MEMORABLE REQUEST YOU'VE SEEN FROM A CUSTOMER?
We get fashion related requests from a client, asking for inspiration. I love that!
WHO IS YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL?
A cat...Taco, the wonder cat...
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
My two children - how smart and amazing they both are! Followed by my ability to retain and recite information.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THE 16 YEAR OLD VERSION OF YOURSELF?
Enjoy school - you'll miss the socializing during lunch times. The real world is harder than you think. And take the lapidary course that you were offered!
Take note: don’t pass out around Lena. She will…play poker on you!?!
Meet Dave: Art Director
Dave makes everything pretty at Fancy Hands. He not only designed the website, but he played a major role in making our offices feel inviting and fun.
He rarely arrives at work empty handed. He loves to bring art and cheap beer in to share with the team. He's on a mission to find the worst, cheapest beer in all the land.
WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY?
The Request Hall of Fame
Your Fancy Hands assistants are an amazing group of people. Based all over the United States, they’re a wide variety of moms, dads, students, artists, and geeks.
(We're big geek fans here at FH!)
We asked some of our assistants to share the most memorable request they’ve ever completed for a Fancy Hands customer and, together, we took a trip down memory lane.
We had a customer who lost a dog. We worked on a number of requests related to finding him, and guess what…we did! - Allen L.
I found destinations in Europe for an awesome bachelor party that involved guests from all over the world. - Caroline R.
Someone asked me to calculate the circumference of the earth in centimeters. – Reuben P.
I researched a vasectomy for an interested client…there was a video involved…I’ve never forgotten that one! - Mandie S.
I looked for carpet cleaners in New York. It brought me back to the time when I lived there. –Evangelina R.
I once answered a request to call a gentleman's mother (who was a volunteer summer school teacher) and encourage her to continue because her contribution was invaluable. In looking for quotes to use, I found nothing that conveyed his description of her service, so I chose to write her a poem just for her. He later sent me a thank you telling me that she called him crying because she loved it so much, and she wanted to know who the author was. I emailed him a copy to which he replied, “your kindness had no measure today. Thank you for all you did.” I will always remember that task. - Tina C.
We have a designer client who asks us to pull images with different themes for his mood boards. I love that. - Lena S.
I was asked to call a girl's mother at work and deliver a 'singing telegram.' I created an original, pretty wacky rendition of the “Happy Birthday” song and sang my heart out. It was fun! - Tasha S.
I negotiated a press pass for a client to go to the Running of the Bulls in Spain. - Shauna L.
Cool story, bro.
Our founder, Ted Roden, was just named the 51st Coolest Person in Silicon Alley.
When asked to comment, George Clooney said "it's clear that Brad Pitt and I will soon have to share the spotlight with Ted and battle for the title of Sexiest Man Alive. Until then, I'll just be chillin' in my snorkeling gear and bathrobe that Fancy Hands found me at a 20% discount."
Making The Big Move.
Meet Nick Mercer. He’s living the dream.
Well…okay, he’s not living the dream just yet. But he’s working towards it.
Last month, Nick strapped his worldly possessions to the back of his motorcycle
and drove five hours from his hometown of Syracuse to NYC.
Nick is a developer here at Fancy Hands. He began his first day twelve hours after he moved to the city. He was a couch surfer by night and a coder by day.
After his first week, he came into the office with a sad face and said, “People are sick of me crashing at their place. I gotta find an apartment.”
How lucky he is to work at Fancy Hands! We put our assistants on the case, and here’s what they did:
TASK #1: FIND AVAILABLE APARTMENTS IN BROOKLYN.
We gave the assistants Nick’s budget and a few neighborhoods that he was interested in. They sent back a list of 25 available apartments, links to pictures for each one, and the contact information of the leasing companies.
TASK#2: MAKE APPOINTMENTS TO VIEW APARTMENTS.
Nick reviewed his choices, picked 8 that he liked the looks of, and the Fancy Hands assistants set appointments for him to check them out. Once the appointments were set, the assistants entered them into Nick’s Google calendar along with all of the pertinent information. Easy breezy.
TASK #3: FIND A MATTRESS STORE WITH LOW PRICES.
Nick signed his lease. Yay! Next, he needed a bed, because, although his box maze was a lot of fun, it wasn’t very soft.
The assistants sent Nick a list of 5 of the most reputable, affordable mattress companies that would deliver a queen-sized mattress to him on a weekend. Boom.
TASK #4: ORDER MATTRESS AND SET UP DELIVERY FOR SATURDAY.
(NOT TOO EARLY. NICK LIKES TO SLEEP IN.)
Once Nick decided which mattress he wanted, he gave that information to an assistant and they took care of the rest.
TASK #5: ORDER GROCERIES TO BE DELIVERED AROUND THE SAME TIME AS THE MATTRESS.
Nick needed toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, milk, a broom, a sponge, shampoo, conditioner, soap, potato chips, and of course, beer. A Fancy Hands assistant placed the order for him and scheduled a Saturday delivery.
TASK #6: RESEARCH ROUTES TO WORK FROM NEW APARTMENT.
Sometimes, Nick will power into work on his bike like a modern James Dean.
But he also needs to know how to take a bus and a subway to Fancy Hands HQ. The assistants sent him step-by-step instructions for all three modes of transport.
TASK #7: RESEARCH RESTAURANTS IN THE NEW ‘HOOD, SUPA-CHEAP & MEDIUM-PRICED.
The assistants sent Nick a list of ten local dives and ten local date spots.
Which leads us to…
TASK #8: FIND AND BOOK A CHEAP HOUSEKEEPER TO CLEAN THE APARTMENT ONCE A MONTH.
Because every girlfriend likes nice restaurants, and roach-free apartments.
Nick is now happily settled in his new home, thanks to the assistants at Fancy Hands, and we’re glad to have him on our team.
I did try to convince him that the locals say “Bapple” – short for Big Apple, hoping that he’d start saying that a lot, like “Yeah, I’m just chillin’ in the Bapple, what’s up with you?” but he didn’t take the bait.
Already skeptical of what people tell him…he’ll do well in New York.
My New Assistants Rock, and They Can Be Yours, Too.
Am I busy? Duh. These days, we all are.
Don’t let that cute smile on my face fool ya, I’m stressed out.
Almost every night, just before I fall asleep, a nagging thought leaps through my brain. You forgot to make that important appointment. Again. Something has always fallen through the cracks.
Enter: Fancy Hands. Not only a solution for the problem, but my new employer, as well.
Basic
5
Requests a month
-20%
Professional
Recommended!
15
Requests a month
-12%
Premier
50
Requests a month
-4%
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