Lawn Mowing Marketplace

[sanfordhess]

The idea is to create a marketplace tool (Airbnb, Lyft, etc.) for lawn mowing. The key target audience are teenagers who want to work, but don't have clients.

Many aspects to this project: 1) Can we use open source models for a solution? https://www.sharetribe.com/ looks promising. Others are discussed here: https://opensource.com/article/16/11/4-open-source-solutions-peer-marketplace

2) Tie this in to a local organization like Boys & Girls clubs?

3) Extend this to leaves, snow removal, etc?

4) How will kids go to the work, if they don't have a car? (Discussed having another component for people to drive them around...)

[shrnirish]

Further discussion of the details of lawn care app and models. Various challenges: can adults use the app? How about lawn care businesses? If entrepreneurs were limited to youth the "service" would be also to develop skills in youth. Those adults who haul mowers on trailers have bad branding. Mowing and weed wacking? Start them with the four-block radius of jobs--app helps them make connections. Then why would need technology? Some would prefer tech to hire and rate people. Do we have the tech capacity to build this app? Also issue of size of lawns. Aerial maps would be too hard. How to handle money? Jason noted the problem of kid getting paid and "company" getting paid.

[shrnirish]

Could the tool include a way for kids to put in their schedule and provide information for customers to know who is available at a particular time? With advance scheduling, a youth could survey the property and propose a rate.

[shrnirish]

May 23, We are meeting at the Club with a group of teens, from 7th grade to 9th grade. Also in the room are 3 staff members (Adrian Perez, Charles Burton, Willie Tate), from the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, Melissa Wells, Sharon Irish, Will Patterson (Dr P), Mark Scifres, and Gordon Spiegel. We did intros and Dr P gave some background about user experience. Then he described about crowd-sourcing jobs for teens through the Club (cleaning out garage, lawn-cutting) where there could be some good support, including investment (financial and social). Cool Points gained through helping someone in need, and some sponsors to help youth work toward goals (shoes, or whatever.) Apps used by youth: Facebook Messenger, Snapchat. Some talk about reverse engineering Snapchat--don't click away so quickly, messages held longer, longer for music.... Mr. Charles suggested: lapel pins with downloadable images and messages; all connects to Snapchat, music, etc. Could be wristlet, armband, clock, or pin--"swag out." Questions for teens: how distracting are phones at school? Very distracting! You can keep it in your pocket, and some teachers let you use phone. Teens use YouTube, Pandora, Trelly (?), Spotify. On Youtube, youth will interact with comments, comments on Snapchat. Text message or Facetime; HouseParty or Fam. App idea: Students and teachers connect for study help. 24-hour-tutoring nationwide. What tasks? cut grass, clean gutters, take out dog, clean up; Don't like jobs: clean bathroom, dishes. Dr. P's daughter cleaned up dog poop at Fairgrounds: you don't get too big and too proud to do a job!

[shrnirish]

Club discussion cont'd: Angela Slates and Lisa Bievenue arrived see a job through--cultural capital building; hook up between work ethic and jobs now and later. Use the Club network to connect to other talent elsewhere. Apps not used any more: MySpace. Kick, Instagram Another project: Playstation-like driving module to drive an RC car. Build a brand, with an idea--one idea would be fundraiser app: do work and get money for field trips different categories: like Grub Hub but different categories; use gmail, google-plus, hangouts Who could use this app? Anybody? only Club? want to support youth, serious youth brand Food or services (food delivery on bikes) Youth of the nation trying to make a living, volunteer service, help people who are struggling (soup kitchen) for Cool Points and cultural capital Community service hours (app for service hours for school)--need to have something that others want Need to "rock the brand right"--serious about what you represent; Neighbor might pay $20-30 for yard; can't charge too much? Mark Scifres pays $65 per mow! What if there are 30 houses at that price? Types of lawn mowers, transportation of mowers, 37,000 households in Champaign; budget for mowing in Champaign parks; sales of services and labor and gas: 4 mows a month; also rake leaves, clean windows, shovel snow think about ad, brand, record of service, testimonials Apps would help make some of these projects easier: revenue; schedule; costs; goals Local businesses among us: candy store, hair stylist, paper delivery Gordon talks about open source peer-to-peer marketplace: suggesting split into groups about services--lawn care, gutters, car wash, odd jobs; ShareTribe (handles financial transactions); underage issues Slack channel? Can youth participate on their own? two to five used Excel and Google Sheets; some interested in coding

[shrnirish]

We are going to reconvene at the Club in two weeks; next week tech-talk at Parkland. Will Patterson has the list of emails for the youth who attended the first meeting that Sharon typed up. (Sharon will be out of town for the rest of June.)

[shrnirish]

June 6: discussion about re-naming the group Youth Investment Network or Youth Entrepreneurship Network (YIN or YEN). The photos are from discussion on May 30.

[shrnirish]

First String, Inc., a sports youth development nonprofit based at Douglass Park, is linked to Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club historically and needs support connecting to youth now. Things are tense at Douglass Park, and this YIN/YEN proposition could help direct youth into positive roles. Peer marketplace site (ShareTribe, ie) may be able to provide platform (Gordon working on this.) Gordon also working on parameters for website; price quotes for lawn mowing and lot size, are also tasks. In the breakout, June 6--Gordon, Melinda, Will Patterson (took off for Douglass Park), Jim Campbell and Marco Aguilar, and Tahj McDaniel. Discussed that Boys and Girls Club would serve as "fiscal agent" with the "earnings" as escrow account for underage workers--perhaps a third party payer, like Stripe (2.5%) would take a cut, PayPal also would take a cut. Issues related to damaged property and injuries: liability insurance and training, for example. Workforce development. Mike is Skyping in. Ideas for quote system (square footage of yards, zip codes); make sure that work load is representative. Matt Cho is interested in helping. There would be no door-to-door solicitations, but rather the kids would get work through Club contacts and the apps.

[shrnirish]

On June 13, this group will meet at Enterprise works, not at the Club: Will Patterson will try and arrange next week at the Club (6/20).

[shrnirish]

These are Will Patterson's notes from June 20th meeting at Boys & Girls Club