BubbleSkill, taking craftspeople and professionals far

BubbleSkill, a simple and flexible platform, is a space on the web that provides craftspeople and professionals with an opportunity to promote themselves. The project, of Michele Parisi, 38, from Caronno Pertusella, and Alberto Barbiero, 33, from Busto Arsizio, was planned carefully for a year, and put online at the end of September.

Michele and Alberto describe themselves as “designers, friends and colleagues,” who enthusiastically developed their idea, without wanting to make it a business immediately, but to create a free platform for craftspeople and professionals.

“It is a project that lets people promote and advertise themselves, without spending, free of charge, unlike other web spaces that already exist,” Michele explained. It all revolves around the homepage, where the various “bubbles” are displayed, in alphabetical order. There are also filters, according to region, and, in the future, according to province and municipality, each corresponding to a profession or a service. It is both intuitive and simple.

However, it is clearly not only just an alphabetical list. “Anyone who already has his own website can link it to the platform,” Alberto continued. “However, as an alternative, we also provide a page with web and Facebook contacts and the opportunity to create a website, using a ‘subdomain’ (for example: www.companyname.bbsk.it).” Anyone who wants a complete website can produce one, also thanks to a “tool that enables him to create it piece by piece, initially with a guide who helps in the creation.” This way, BubbleSkill also acts as a service tool that encourages businesses to make basic use of the Internet; it also allows craftspeople and professionals, “who, today, might only have a telephone number and an email address”, to create a web space.

But what is the main advantage over the platforms that already exist? In addition to the detailed interface and to the opportunity to create independent pages at will, BubbleSkill, above all, provides “direct contact, so, not through an interface”, which, for the craftsperson or professional, means no intermediaries (and no percentage added to the cost estimate), which are required by the other platforms; and for the client, it means dealing more directly.

BubbleSkill is intended primarily for craftspeople and service providers. “For the moment, we’ve excluded catering and pure commerce, and focused on more specific skills,” (hence the name BubbleSkill). Today, there are already a large number of categories listed; not just a classic plumber or construction company, but more unusual professions, such as a wedding planner, or interpreter. The network, which has just started up, is growing thanks to email invitations, but also by word of mouth, and applications are being received from many different parts of Italy.