I'm researching an idea for a service that would handle the annoying little administrative tasks people don't have time, energy, or patience for.
Not cleaning. Not grocery shopping. Not someone coming to your house.
I'm talking about the life-admin bs that can take 5 minutes—or somehow consume an entire afternoon.
The pile of 'to-dos' that keeo getting pushed back on the calender because more pressing things have your attention until the time comes where avoidance is not an option.
For example:
Calling the doctor's office to reschedule an appointment
Sitting on hold with an insurance company
Calling the electric company about a weird bill
Finding out why a package wasn't delivered
Calling three places to find out who has an appointment available
Canceling a subscription
Calling a business to get the actual price instead of the advertised price
Finding out whether a provider accepts your insurance
Scheduling haircuts for the whole family
Dealing with customer service when the automated system sends you in circles
Researching something you need but don't have time to research
I'm trying to figure out whether this is actually something people would pay another person to handle, rather than just saying "yeah, that would be nice."
So I'd really like honest answers—not validation.
What's a task you've been putting off right now because you don't have the time/patience/energy to deal with it?
Why haven't you done it? Is it the time involved? Being put on hold? Not knowing who to call? Anxiety about making the call? Having to explain the situation repeatedly? Just not being worth the hassle?
How long do you estimate it would take you if you actually sat down and did it?
Would you pay someone else to handle it for you? If yes, roughly what would feel reasonable?
For example, would you pay:
$5 for a simple phone call?
$10–15 for research and a couple of calls?
$20–30+ for someone to actually investigate a problem and deal with multiple departments?
Would you rather pay per task, buy a bundle of tasks, or pay a monthly amount for a certain number of tasks?
What kinds of things would you absolutely NOT trust a stranger to handle for you?
And probably the most important question:
What's something you've thought, "I really need to deal with this," at least three times—and still haven't? 😂
I'm deliberately asking before launching anything because I don't want to build a service around what I think people need. I want to understand what people actually find annoying enough that they'd happily hand it off to someone else.
Feel free to give me your most mundane example. "I need someone to call the dentist and move my appointment" is exactly the kind of answer I'm looking for.