It’s not often that we’re lucky enough to feature a bonafide Tasker team in our spotlight, but this month, we’re highlighting two women who work together in Milan, Italy—Silvia S. and Sarah W. Bound together by twenty years of friendship, they discovered TaskRabbit at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and have since added tasking to their business repertoire.
During the pandemic, Silvia faced unforeseen financial challenges when her Milan restaurant, Dicocibo, had to shut down temporarily. Sarah, who worked in the restaurant with Silvia, consequently faced the same challenge: How would they earn money when every major business was closed?
We spoke with Silvia and Sarah and were immediately struck by their bright DIY energy and enthusiasm. Read on to learn more about their newly discovered tasking journey!
How did you find TaskRabbit?
Silvia: I’m both a designer and a restaurant owner, so I’ve always been a DIY lover. With the spread of Covid-19, however, I had to shut down my restaurant for a while, which put a sudden stop to my income stream. Then, on my birthday, I saw a commercial about TaskRabbit. I took it as a sign!
Sarah: As Silvia mentioned, we love DIY, and we’ve always assembled our own furniture. After she told me about TaskRabbit, I suggested she give it a try! In the beginning, Silvia brought me to her tasks as a safety measure. It wasn’t long before I started my own account and we began tasking together.
What’s your approach to team tasking? Do you have any special strategies?
Silvia: We work together so we can get things done faster—and because we enjoy it! We even have a joint Instagram account where we post about TaskRabbit.
Sarah: Generally, we can easily assemble two IKEA Pax closets per day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This lets us take care of the restaurant in the meantime. Also, I’m from London, which comes in handy whenever English-speaking foreigners book us.
Silvia: In a city like Milan, you always encounter a diverse range of situations and people. Each task is a lesson, and we always discuss the experience once it’s complete—the surprises, the stumbling blocks, and how we overcame them. Sometimes, we even have to solve problems in a psychological way. Clients may think they want a task done a certain way until we share our expertise, which we’ve built from experience. We’re often then able to convince them to trust our judgment. In the end, any job consists of working with people—tasking is no different!
Do you have any personality differences that help you finish tasks more efficiently?
Silvia: I’m more physical, so I like to unplug my thoughts while tasking and just do the work.
Sarah: I live in my head more, so I enjoy reading the instructions and assembling furniture as if it were a 3D puzzle. It makes the job fun!
What’s your favorite tasking story?
Silvia: Once, a client asked us to assemble a white piece of furniture without touching it—he feared it might get dirty! But it’s not just the silly tasks that stick out in my memory. I get the most personal satisfaction from tasks where we assemble furniture for children’s bedrooms. Their parents usually call us in the morning, when the little ones are at school. Then the kids return home to find a big surprise waiting, and they’re overjoyed. We actually receive photographs of clients’ happy children quite often!
Sarah: And then there are the times when we get to subvert clients’ expectations. I once called a client to check if their IKEA furniture had arrived and if we could start the assembly. They answered me with: “Yes, you can send over a man to do the job” without knowing Silvia and I would be doing the task.
And there you have it: two women who are using TaskRabbit to change what it means to be working independently—and together—in the twenty-first century. That they’re best friends makes it even better, because they’re proving just how versatile our platform can be. It’s stories like theirs that make TaskRabbit shine!
