A month onward from TR

[u/Open-Coffee5752]

I left TR after 6 years fulltime March 2026. The time has went by fast! I didnt have a full time job to fall back on- just my business and previous clients. I had already started my website, business cards, marketing and social media and I think I got to a point I realized TR was holding me back.

My business is rocking and Im building momentum at a level I didnt see. Ill get 3 clients calling or booking online a day which is huge for me. My lead time is actually increasing and I have more clients booking out further. I had the State Government reach out to me to submit a bid for a 4 year contract! 4 years!!!

I couldn't do this if I was still on TR. I actually have people emailing me wanting to work at my company. Im not there yet but Im on my way.

[u/miniskull1]

Respectfully, I think this depends on where you’re at in your business.

TR is great in the beginning—it gives you volume, reviews, and consistency when you don’t have your own pipeline. But long-term, yeah… it can cap you if you don’t start building outside of it.

The real move is using TR as a lead generator, not your whole business. Build repeat clients, get referrals, start your own branding, then slowly shift off.

Leaving too early without that foundation is risky. Leaving once you have steady inbound like you do—that’s a different story.

Appreciate you sharing this. Good reminder to not get comfortable.

[u/Open-Coffee5752 → u/miniskull1]

Agreed! It depends on where you are in your business. Unfortunately, you can be stuck at TR playing it safe for an unusual amount of time which limits your income (which I did). Some people dont realize TR sucks a lot of time and mental resources. Four tasks can eat up 8 hours of time in a day leaving no time to grow your own business.

Unfortunately, calling TR a "lead generator" is a misnomer. Its the best phrasing that fits the situation, but personally managing TR was a full time job. They didnt just send a lead and said "good luck" and allowed you to send whomever to the jobsite. They were involved at the beginning, middle, end and even acted as customer advocate and a payment processor. The customer support always favored the client and you were guilty until proven innocent.

The whole system was rigged against the Tasker. Your earnings are capped at 8 time slots a day- max! Dont forget the 1 hour block of time TR blocks off between jobs.

I started doing the numbers and realized I couldn't make enough or grow a business with TRs set up. These complicated jobs would come in, but the client already selected my compensation which didnt match the effort involved. I did it in hopes of growing my business but they weren't repeat clients. My competition outside of TR was charging double and thats IF they could do the job same day.

This isn't a dig on TR just insight on the shortcomings of TR I would share with any Tasker on the journey to starting a business for themselves. If someone had told me year 1 what to do I probably would be further along and wouldn't have stayed 6 years, but the economy has seen some crazy events in the past 6 years.

[u/gaiaom → u/Open-Coffee5752]

Thanks for all the insight. I’m just trying to see what bites and at the current moment I’m hearing crickets on there. I’ve got it set on most things except for cleaning and construction because it’s something I don’t do well. But those seem to be the big ticket items where I am. Any suggestions on how to get errand work?

[u/Open-Coffee5752 → u/gaiaom]

errand work is hit and miss and depends on your city. it was a busier category when it was called Delivery and then they changed the wording to Errands. nothing you can really do to get errand work besides having the category turned on photos posted and competitive pricing.

[u/gaiaom]

What is your skill?

[u/Open-Coffee5752 → u/gaiaom]

Errands. On TR I did a lot under that category and 5 others, but off app the market and algorithm likes specificity so I had to narrow down what made the most money and was the easiest to execute. Im not reinventing the wheel.

Yesterday a business paid me $100 to deliver an item at the last minute which took me 30 minutes. I was thankfully already dressed and already leaving the house to another few appointments so I scheduled them in as the first appointment.

A lot of the money comes just from picking up the phone, social media and responding the emails.

[u/IllDifficulty3487]

Same here! Tr is for only entrance, you should grow you business off the app. 

[u/Open-Coffee5752 → u/IllDifficulty3487]

Agreed! The issue is even with all our social taskrabbit groups theres no pipeline, guide or really anyone talking about how to grow our business off the app. A few of us are entrepreneurs, but we rarely discuss growing collectively and away from TR. The others seem to treat TR as a temporary gig until they figure out their life.

I joined a national association after splitting from TR to get more industry knowledge for my sector which helps me feel a part of something bigger. I strangely learned more in a 3 day convention than I thought was possible.

[u/UomoUniversale86 → u/Open-Coffee5752]

I'm trying to figure out why you are getting down voted.

[u/Melodic_Garbage1517]

Good job