We explain getting hired from the owner’s side of the truck.

Protocol publishes stories for people who run service businesses: lawn care, cleaning, tile, HVAC, plumbing, painting, pressure washing, detailing, and the rest. Not for marketers. Every story is about one question: how does a good local business get found, trusted, and hired, now that the way people search has changed.

What does Verified mean?

The Registry is a list of service businesses we vouch for, each with a full profile. Verified means verified by us. A business is Verified when three things are true:

• We interviewed the owner, in person or on the phone.
• We have seen the work: the jobs, the reviews, the customers.
• The business is real, independently owned, and does what it says it does. We would send a friend there, and we say why on the profile.

The stamp Verified by Protocol is not a rating and it is not paid placement. It is earned through the interview, and any service business can apply for one. Being a Protocol customer is not required and does not get anyone on the list. The reasons are written down on every profile, with a date.

Why a third-party stamp matters: every referral gets checked online before the call, and a business saying it is good is noise. A third party that has met the owner, seen the work, and put its name on the line is a signal people can act on. The stamp links back to the profile, so anyone can read the reasons.

See the Registry.

Who writes this?

Protocol, a small company in Lincoln, Nebraska, publishes this site. Eric Yim, a co-founder, reports the stories and talks with the owners in the Registry. Protocol also makes a marketing product for service businesses. We think it helps, and it lives at protocoltext.com if you want to look. The stories and the Registry stand on their own: nobody gets a profile or a story for being a customer, and nobody is kept out for not being one.

Meet Eric Yim and read his personal notebook.

Photos

Photos on stories and profiles come from Unsplash photographers, credited on each image, unless a business supplied its own.

Corrections and tips

If a number is wrong or a story missed something, tell us here. If you run a service business with a story worth telling, same place.