Two local entrepreneurs, Gene Gizzarelli and Mike Fisher, have launched a website, NeedHelpers.com, to connect local small businesses to potential clients. Gizzarelli explains their motivation: "We wanted to develop a site to address the economy, and what's happening in this state. With big business going under and causing a lot unemployment, more and more people are starting up their own operations as entrepreneurs and they need an avenue to help to expand their businesses."
The pair, who also own an IT company, hit upon the idea after asking themselves, "How do we expand our business in a cost-effective way?" Noting that many small businesses don't have the resources to hire sales staff or run print, radio or television ads, they launched NeedHelpers.com to help service-providers such as lawyers, doctors, electricians, landscapers and plumbers establish a web presence.
NeedHelpers.com charges an annual fee to list service providers, but is free for anyone on the hunt for one. Gizzarelli points out that other similar sites charge users an annual fee to find service providers or are industry-specific such as Lawyers.com. The site also allows users to rate services they receive in order to help guide future browsers.
NeedHelpers.com went live the last week in March and Gizzarelli says, "It is growing on a day-to-day basis. We've gotten a really good response." The site is being advertised on billboards and buses. "We're spending money to advertise so our service providers don't need to."
Source: Gene Gizzarelli, NeedHelpers.com
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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