I'm a DJ on Thumbtack in Minneapolis and I was rising up quickly in the rankings and was never less than 15th for the past 6 months. I was responding to leads every day of my life within 4 hours and was all the way down to 3:58 of my 30 day response time...not easy with a side profession as a licensed crisis childrens mental health social worker. It took a lot of adjustments and careful thought to ensure I could show up and be present for the kiddos on my caseload, as well as my potential clients on Thumbtack. Also, people who have to work multiple jobs, especially in the service industry, only get a break every 4 hours....so this one is for them too. I was on track to get top pro status. After the most recent changes to how we pay for leads, I don't even show up PERIOD on search results unless I'm actively targeting. To me, that's completely ridiculous. I was bringing in money by taking bids that fit well and booking gigs, while doing everything Thumbtack asked, and I earned my place at the top 20 AT LEAST based on experience, merit, number of hires, and the fact that people still were picking me at #8, #12, #15 in my areas because they liked me...now, my response rate has somehow gone down despite receiving ZERO direct leads since the change (how????.....I can't respond to a lead I never got, so.....) and my entire business is halted...direct leads are dead. Not all of us can afford to constantly actively target all the time when we have loans to pay off and life expenses....with the direct leads at least I was getting picked based on people liking me, and I was able to be responsible with my finances AND pick my client. These DJs with 1 review and 3.7 stars are seriously what Thumbtack thinks will demonstrate professionalism? I went independent to avoid exactly this kind of bureaucracy. Things were fair and measurable before, now I'm stuck without the ability to raise my Pro status unless I pay, and I lose the ability to be selective.
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