Cold Calling Handyman Gigs is a Total Time Suck These Days

I'm so pissed off trying to drum up business with cold outreach for my handyman side hustle. I spent the whole afternoon dialing numbers from Craigslist ads, pitching fixes like drywall patches and leaky faucet swaps, and most folks just hang up or say they've got their nephew handling it. Picked up this cheap cordless drill from Harbor Freight last week to demo on calls, but nobody even lets me get to the part about my rates. It's like everyone's gone to those app services now, leaving us independents scraping by. Saw a post in Handyman Nation on Facebook where a guy said the same thing, everyone's ignoring cold calls for quick TaskRabbit bookings. TBH, it's frustrating as hell when you're good at installing shelves or repairing decks but can't even get a foot in the door. Anyone got a better script for cold emailing homeowners about gutter cleaning or fence repairs? Watched a Tommy Mello video on this, but his tips feel too corporate for us solo guys.

Man, I feel that frustration every time I try cold calling for cabinet installs.

Those apps are screwing all of us independents, flooding the market with cheap labor and killing off the real outreach efforts we used to rely on. It's BS how they undercut everyone with their surge pricing games.