Do customers travel to you, or do you go to them? Either way, you know what jobs are best for your business. Before, you could only set preferences for how far you travel to customers. Now, you can also set how far customers travel to you. So how does this help you? That depends on the jobs you’re targeting (and where your customers are). For example, let’s say you’re a personal trainer with your own gym. You’ve found plenty of clientele in surrounding neighborhoods, but you know most customers won’t commute more than 25 miles for a workout (no matter how many before and after photos you show them). With this update, you can control that. Just set your travel preferences so you only pay automatically for customers who are within 25 miles (or whatever distance you choose). Customers who are outside of that range may still find and contact you if they think you’re the right fit, but you’ll have the option to accept the lead or decline and pay nothing.  But no matter how far a customer is from you, it can be worthwhile to talk about the job in case you’re the perfect fit. After all, the customer picked you from search results. Remember, when you set targeting preferences you’re telling us what jobs you want. You only pay automatically for leads that exactly match those preferences. And you get a discount off the regular lead price. And whether customers travel to you or not, it’s always a good idea to revisit your travel preferences to make sure you’re getting the jobs you want most. Let us know what you think in the comments below. ... View more

We know you work hard. So when you need a break from new jobs, leave the hard work to us. Whether you’re taking a well-earned vacation, or you’re too busy for new customers, now you can hide your business from search results. When you hide your business, you’re temporarily removed from customers’ search results. You decide when you’re ready to take on jobs again, and new customers can’t contact you until then. Even better, when you’re away you don’t have to decline leads or update your availability (things that affect your rank in search results). Hiding your business also sets expectations with customers. They won’t reach out and wait for a response when you’re unavailable because they won’t find you in their search. And if they come across your profile another way (like if another customer shares a link to your profile), they’ll see that you’re not taking new customers. Follow these steps to hide your business:  Go to your Services . Click the three-dot menu next to “Add a service”. Click Hide my business temporarily . Choose what day you want to show up in search results again. Click Hide my business now . Your business will reappear in search results at 8am PT on the day you set. If you’re ready to get new leads sooner than that, just follow steps 1-2 above then click Take business live . And don’t forget to log in when your business is live again so you can respond to customers and keep up your rank. We’ll send a notification to remind you the day before your business is set to go live. Learn more about managing your work schedule in our help article My availability. If you’ve already hidden your business, let us know how it worked for you in the comments. ... View more

Looking for more work? The Jobs tab is where you can find customers who’ve already reached out to other pros. We show you opportunities up to 150 miles away to give you as many chances as possible to be hired. But pros wanted more control over the distance of jobs in the Jobs tab. We heard you: now you can filter the Jobs tab by distance. Thanks to your feedback, we learned that showing jobs up to 150 miles away in the Jobs tab made it difficult for some pros to sort through and find the right customers. To keep seeing jobs up to 150 miles out, you can continue using that filter when you browse your Jobs tab. But now you can also narrow your view down to customers within five miles, or somewhere in between. Here’s how: Go to the Jobs tab . Click the drop-down menu that shows “Within 150 miles.” Select the distance filter you want. Watch the list update with nearby jobs. Note: If you use the Thumbtack for Professionals app, make sure you download the latest version for access to the new Jobs tab filter. Remember: Jobs tab opportunities aren’t as valuable as the leads in your inbox. That’s because those leads come from customers who’ve picked you first from a list of pros in their search results. Learn more about using the Jobs tab in Thumbtack Help. And let us know how you’re using the new Jobs tab filter in the comments below. ... View more

When customers search for a pro to hire, they want samples of work and experience. That’s one thing a strong profile does: gives customers a taste of what working with you will be like. Your profile also does something else important. The information you put in your profile affects how customers find your business. That way, when a customer searches for a music teacher, they won’t see your general contracting business in the results. So if your profile isn’t updated, you might not be showing up in the right search results. The good news is you can update your profile anytime to make sure your business shows up for the right customers. Ready to make some updates? Read this first! Your business shows up in search results based on three main sections of your profile: Service details Location Business hours For more of the jobs you always want, get even more specific than your profile. Learn how you can set preferences to target specific job types, travel areas and availability. Got a powerful profile? Share your profile-perfecting secrets in the comments below. ... View more

Our support team is amazing, but you have better things to do than contact us over and over for help with charges. Pros like you asked us to update our refund process, so now you can dispute a charge right from your account. Just go to your Payments and click the Help with a charge link. No more waiting on hold while we research your case, or searching through our help center for the right link. The Help with a charge link is the best way to dispute a charge. While our team looks into your case, you can focus on running your business. We take our time to review each case fairly (and quickly!) so you can feel confident we’re not cutting any corners. Remember, you must dispute a charge within 30 days of paying for the lead to qualify for a refund. Here’s what falls under our refund policy: The customer’s first contact is a “no thanks.” The job details changed significantly. You got the same lead twice. A lead violates our Terms of Use. Have you tried the new way to dispute a charge? Let us know how it went in the comments. ... View more