High-tech handymen: How family businesses are moving into the 21st Century

tools

For many millennials and members of generation Z, the concept of the “handyman” is a foreign concept—between YouTube tutorials and DIY guides provided by the internet, younger adults are ever-increasingly relying on the convenience of the internet to solve their problems.

In fact, some economists predict that one-fifth of the global workforce could lose their jobs by 2030due to robot automation.

However, this doesn’t mean that the centuries-old position of the handyman is obsolete; utilizing the digital boom to their advantage will actually bring in more business, capitalizing on a younger client base that thrives on technology.

App developments geared towards the modern small business owner

Phones continue in their success of taking over all parts of our lives, giving increasing validity and popularity to the sharing economy. LOCQUS taps into this Uber-style type of service, but instead of a taxi-service its geared towards small to medium business in fields like plumbing, carpentry, and landscaping, the Locqus app strives to take over virtually all parts of the client relationship.

The app allows clients to call or text in to ask for a service, see real-time who is assigned to them, and at the end of the visit pay for services rendered, all without having to go offline.

The goal is ultimately to help both ends of the transaction, making local business more reachable for a tech-savvy audience and facilitating and streamlining the administrative tasks for business owners.

Online “tools” designed specifically for Home Repair

While the encyclopedic sites Wikipedia and Google have an undisputed monopoly for general information, websites and resources geared towards particular professional fields are becoming increasingly common. Toolswizard is an all-encompassing online guide book designed to provide information on all kinds of tools a handyman might need.

The site goes into extreme detail on the uses and needs for different models of products such as hammers, drills, and glue guns; entries include important use information, differences in brands, and needed hardware for use.

The handyman’s go-to guide since the 1950s, The Family Handyman, has also gone digital, offering a wide array of advice tailored towards home upkeep, maintenance, and repair. 

Digital transactions taking over payment methods

Modern customers often carry little to no paper money on them, and checks are virtually a thing of the past (with the exception of senior clients).

New technologies and services such as Venmo, Alipay and Paypal are making online transactions easier than ever before, eliminating the need for paper receipts and creating automatic records.

And despite the controversial nature of its law-free status, cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular among digital platforms. Some countries are standing up against the currency, but others, such as Canada, are encouraging the development of blockchain technologies as a leader in future currency; both its immediacy and its freedom from exchange rate make it highly desirable in an online world.

While cryptocurrency might not be a standard yet for your mom-and-pop store, upcoming decades will likely see its complete integration into payment technologies, and with more and more local business transitioning to digital payment it’s likely paper money could completely disappear.

Ultimately, as the world becomes more and more entrenched in the digital landscape, local service workers will continue to revamp their business models to stay relevant and continue to attract new customers.

Image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay