Starting a Contractor Directory Business
Interview with R. Scott Hatfield, Founder and CEO of My Independent Contractor.Com
If you've ever struggled to find a contractor to help with a home improvement project, you'll appreciate R. Scott Hatfield's brainchild, My Independent Contractor.com. It allows contractors to build websites, and homeowners to search for contractors providing the needed services in their area.
Interview with R. Scott Hatfield, Founder and CEO of My Independent Contractor.Com.
Tell me about your current business. What are you doing exactly?
My Independent Contractor.Com (MYIC) provides a simple website template where independent contractors of all types can create their own unique websites and where homeowners and others can easily search and view them by name, ZIP code, phone number and service category. We're headquartered in Chico, CA.
When did you start the business?
The concept was first conceived in May 2008.
What were you doing before this, and is this your first business?
I have now been involved with 3 start-up companies. The first one was NDFC in 1989, a credit and debit card service company that sold and serviced payment systems to merchants. NDFC was sold for approximately $15,000,000 in 2004. I was co-founder of my second start-up, Debitman, which is now known as Tempo. Tempo is a company that issues "decoupled" debit cards, which can be attached to any checking account you want. I am still on the board, however I was no longer needed as of May 2008.
How did you come up with your business idea?
After being let go May of 2008 from Tempo, I decided to use the time to finish our master bath which was long overdue. I was simply trying to offer some free advice to the tile contractor that did the finish work in my bathroom. The work was great and I wanted to help him market his business. His dad was also helping him so I offered some suggestions like getting a cheap website to send potential customers to. Provide a portfolio of pics of your work when you show up in person. Noticing that I was not getting through, I decided to find some place on the internet that offered simple websites and possible contractor directories to help market smaller contractors. After much research, and finding no such service, and still seeing a need, I decided to build the service myself. Thus, My Independent Contractor.com was born.
Did you write a business plan? Was it an effective tool for you?
Yes, this is a very valuable tool. Not mainly to show to others, but to help convince yourself that the business model you are entertaining will actually work. The business plan I wrote included much of the research of running this virtual business to see if it could make money in my mind and on paper. The plan also included competitive scenarios and "what if" scenarios to try and predict the future.
Did you have a partner when you started your business? How did you select a partner?
I had trusted business associates from my other two start-ups that I could always count on to tell me the truth as to any idea that I might have had. After explaining my idea to one such associate, we together did more research in which he thought it was a winner, so we then started working together to build the company.
Have you outsourced any portion of your business? Has that worked for your business?
I have found over the years that one should outsource certain aspects of your business so that you are always playing to your strength. We have outsourced our website and hosting business, and after testing our business model over a year and finding the right message, we have now outsourced our SEO and internet marketing. We will continue to outsource aspects of our business in order to be the best at what we do.
What have you done that has been very effective in helping to grow the business?
A wonderful Proverb says that "Wisdom is found among a multitude of counselors", whereas it is also true that too many cooks in the kitchen spoil a dish. However, the CEO can and should listen intently to business professionals in the know, and sift through any clutter in order to make good and accurate decisions about the business. So I would simply say that listening to the pros has helped grow the business.
What advice would you give to somebody else who wanted to start a similar business?
Do as much research as possible from every angle imaginable to try and figure out what kind of market you will have if you go forward with this business. Basically, you have to virtually run this business in your mind and on paper without it existing.
Thank you for speaking with me today, Scott.
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