I recently moved into an older home that needs a lot of repair work.  As luck would have it, I had a new Twitter follower this week, @knoxhandyman. Sounded like just the trick.  Called him up.  Met him. Hired him.

And he did a great job so I thought I would provide this interview with this hard-working social media entrepreneur:

Mark: How long have you been a repairman, Lance?

Lance:  Well I’m 49 and I’ve been doing this about all my life, so let’s just say a long time.

Mark:  And how long have you been on Twitter?

Lance:  About 5-6 months.

Mark:  How much time do you spend on Twitter?

Lance:  None. My wife handles all that.  She asks me what I’m doing and where I’m going and what customers are saying and then she puts it out there.  I don’t have time for it.  I’m out here working.

Mark:  And do you use anything else beside Twitter?

Lance: Yeah, I get a tremendous amount of work from Craig’s List and she also puts it on Facebook.

Mark: So is Twitter working for you?

Lance: Seems to be. I’ve had a whole let better success there than newspaper advertising, I know that much. Took out a couple of newspaper ads. Zip.

Mark:  And how much of your business is coming from the social media channels?

Lance: I don’t really know.  I don’t keep track of it very well, which drives my wife crazy.  To me, it’s all pretty much word of mouth. It’s a call to my cell phone, that’s all that matters! 

And so I let Lance get back to re-wiring my new outdoor lights, another successful Twitter job completed!

I wanted to share this with you because it represents the REAL world of social media and working people. It’s not necessarily about the corporate world of “Trust Agents” or community managers or sponsored posts.  It’s about hard-working families and small businesses trying to figure out how to make a buck.  Go Lance.

9 Comments

• 

  By Joseph Fiore, December 18, 2009 @ 8:04 am

  This post is filled with awesomeness – I especially like the cheery photo of Lance. Dare I say, the poster-boy for social media’s layman and a model for the commoners approach to making the social Web work without it getting to our heads!

  Great stuff Mark!

  Joseph
  @RepuTrack
• 

  By Mark W Schaefer, December 18, 2009 @ 9:04 am

  Ha! Thanks Joseph. Lance is an awesome guy and I am going to keep him busy! All through Twitter : )
• 

  By Steve Dodd, December 18, 2009 @ 9:30 am

  Mark, this is a terrific example of a “real world” example of social media use in small business. There are millions more; just nobody really talks about them in the Social Media industry because they are not big hits! But, just like there are many thousands of times more “small businesses” than there are “big businesses” there are many thousands of more examples like this one. Unfortunately, they just fall beneath the collective radar.

  But, it is important to note that it is a well known fact that a significant part of the North American economy is based on the efforts of people just like Lance. I’d also like to suggest that a significant volume of social media activity also rests in the collective use of social media by these small but crucial entrepreneurs.

  What is really interesting is that not only is he (well his wife, and we’re not going there!) is using multiple social media channels and gaining results. The resent Business.com small business survey seemed to validate this as well.

  Maybe it would be an interesting business venture to build a site that highlighted these kinds of case studies through the small business associations etc, and really dug deeply into this “hidden” but collectively huge market. The consulting, advertising and general sale of goods and services might provide an interesting monetization opportunity. Since this potential audience is not well serviced by our industry as a whole, it’s a wide open market!
• 

  By Jayme Soulati, December 18, 2009 @ 11:04 am

  Is he related to Joe the Plumber? Maybe Joe needs a few lessons after his claim to fame fizzled!
• 

  By CK, December 20, 2009 @ 10:41 am

  Love the intention behind this post and the insights shared through it. Thank you (and thanks Lance!)
• 

  By Edin, December 20, 2009 @ 12:06 pm

  Fantastic post! Thank you Mark for sharing
• 

  By Mark, December 20, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

  Thanks to all for your comments. Hope this just brings a little of the real world into the social media discussion!
• 

  By Dave, July 14, 2010 @ 8:52 am

  I would love his contact info. Can you post his cell?
• 

  By Mark, July 14, 2010 @ 8:59 am

  I will send you an email. Thanks!

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