The Yelp Blackmailers

My friend hired a cleaning crew that she found on Yelp. After describing her apartment and the job, they quoted her $200 for three hours. She hired them.

Fast forward to the morning of the cleaning. The crew shows up and raises the fee by $100 to $300 total. They argue for a while and the cleaning crew isn’t budging. They’ve raised the price and that’s final. My friend tells them “no deal” and is now without a cleaning crew. She’s wasted 2 hours of her morning, so she decides to tell them that she’s writing a horrible review of their company on Yelp. And then this amazing thing happened. They offered my friend $100 to NOT post a negative review on YELP about them. So although she didn’t get her place cleaned, they paid her $100 for her time (aka silence).

Aside from the clear moral bribery issue here, there’s a brilliant new business idea: The Yelp Blackmailers.

Approach 1,000 businesses on Yelp. Tell them to pay you $500 or your team of Yelp Commandos will destroy their Yelp profile with negative reviews. You don’t even need a team of Yelp Commandos – the threat alone will suffice. Collect the cash in a nondescript blue Chevy Caprice (or similar) in an underground parking garage. Repeat.

Good luck.

Are you reading these 3 blogs?

Before you go too far, the answer is probably “yes”. You’ve probably been reading them forever and ever. You’re likely cursing me for wasting your time with that enticing headline. But if you’re a nerd like me, and really dig the industry side of music, technology and marketing, then I just want to be safe and make sure that you’re not missing out on any of these amazing blogs.

If you’re into technology, your first stop is TechCrunch. They break most of the tech stories, so their readership is loyal and huge, which in turn encourages companies to give TechCrunch the exclusive on their story, and the cycle continues. Brilliant.

If you’re into marketing, you must read Seth Godin. He somehow manages to offer truly remarkable insights on a daily basis. If you’re a student of marketing, toss out your textbooks and read Seth (or check out one my favorite videos at TED).

And if you’re into the music industry, the best insider blog hands down is written by Bob Lefsetz. He’s quintessentially what blogging is all about. He’s on top of current news, he picks a point of view, and he articulates his argument. He’s polarizing in that he often takes a side and pisses off several people in the process. Half of the fun is reading the comments and responses.

Hopefully there’s a new nugget in there for my four or five readers. Peace.

Where to live

If tourists walk by your front door, then you’ve found a great place to live.