Decent "offline" idea methinks, however...

This is something that just came to me even though its been in front of me this entire time.

Starting an offline business and outsourcing the work.

I know what you may be thinking, "but Red, some of us do this already with SEO and web design" and it's true. But maybe it's because of that mentality that I haven't expanded my views beyond just SEO and web design.

We can do the same thing plumbers, electricians, roofers (in my case) do, all we have to do is outsource the actual work. All we'll be doing is handling the marketing, which is what we would have done anyway for these plumbers, electricians and roofers with our SEO and web design services (that we sometimes outsource) to get them more jobs.

But why don't we do it?

I don't know the answer to that question. All I know is that ever since I've arrived to this forum my mind has been set on offering SEO, web design and other online related services... that I overlooked other offline opportunities. I don't regret my stay, in fact, this forum alone has given me more business, management and marketing information and possibilities than I could have imagined. But I allowed myself to be limited.

So why am I babbling about this nonsense? It just occurred to me that a man I admire for his work ethic does the same thing. He has a roofing company, but he has several crews who work for him. They're not his employees, merely subcontractors. All he and the main office does is answer phone calls, get leads, send salesmen/estimators to check the job and negotiate a price while he later negotiates a price with one of his crews and then sends them out there to do the job. He or the estimator inspects the roof and then gets paid.

There is a LOT more to that, especially with the in-between's to each step, however that's how he basically does it. I imagine the steps are similar for plumbing and electric contractors, but I'm just guessing here.

At this point I like where I'm going with this, I just need to start answering some questions I can probably get online like what papers I need to file with the county, state and on the federal level, how to incorporate my business, what kind of insurances to get and so on.

As far as equipment goes, I'll just hire subcontractors who have the tools for the job already and just need work to do.

For me? I have a great arsenal here at the WF. From awesome web designers, logo designers, copywriters, SEO specialists and more. This fact alone puts me way ahead of the current competition.