Want to blend an online and offline business? Here are a few ideas.

Want to blend an online and offline business? Here are a few ideas.

A newer trend for online businesses is to create something that gets booked online, but the service is offline.  Think about it, how many apps are popping up where you go online, or on a mobile device, and request a service?  There are tons of them!  A big one right now is Uber, and they're dominating the cab industry because they took an online booking method to the masses and made it super easy for people to acquire a ride to wherever they want to go.

In this discussion, I'll be talking about a few business models you can start in your area and expand to make even more money


Mobile dog grooming service
This is a newer option for people in the grooming industry, and it's still pretty small, so you could likely profit from it.  What you can do is get people to go to your website, set up an appointment, and you can meet them at their house to perform the grooming service.  You'll need your scissors, clippers, drop cloths, and maybe a table to harness the dog if you want to get serious about this.

Mobile car detailing service
This type of service is getting bigger each year, and you can cash in on it if you have some experience in this field.  What you'll be doing is getting registrations through your website or your app and going to the person's home to perform the car detailing service.  Some detail jobs cost $200-$300 for a full clean with all the add-ons, which means you could profit $100-$150 if you know what you're doing!

Just like the mobile groomer, you'll need your equipement, and that means you'll need all the cleaning supplies, wax, a high powered portable vacuum, a mobile car wash system, and anything else that comes along with this type of service.

Mobile Mechanic for small tasks
There aren't many mechanics doing this type of service because most of them work for a company or own their shops.  This type of online to offline service would be best for someone that has the skills, is not currently employed, and can go to a client's house to do basic tasks.

Ideally, you would need a truck to transport all the tools and equipment you would need to perform the jobs, but I would think most mechanics have a pickup, so that might not be a problem. 

You'll want to focus on smaller tasks like oil changes, tire fixes, fluid top-offs, and maybe even a tire rotation option if you have a system to jack up the entire car at once.

Lawn care service through an App
I had an idea to do a lawn care service via app requests when I noticed Uber starting to get big, but someone beat me to the market, and that dream was crushed instantly lol.  What you can do, if you already offer lawn care services, is to set up your website in a way that you can take month subscriptions and send your teams out to mow the client's lawn every two weeks.

There aren't many lawn care services doing this right now because most of them advertise through the Yellowpages and older methods, which means this is an idea ripe for the picking!  You can do the standard flyer advertising if you go door to door and hang them or you can target locally with Adwords and Facebook

Scheduled dog walker for working people
A big thing for people is getting their dog walked while they're at work or on vacation.  I know from experience that it's difficult to get someone to walk your dog when you're away for a few days on a business trip, so I know this could be a great service for anyone looking for some extra cash.

There are plenty of dog walking services out there right now, some are even app-based, but you can set up your website and bring in local clients who will trust you more if they work directly with you.

How to market these online to offline methods
I touched on this briefly above, but I'll go more in-depth here, and I hope it helps you a little better if you want to do one of the online to offline methods I mentioned. 

What you can do is get very targeted when you're running Adwords or Facebook ads for your new business.  You can target down to the exact radius in which you're willing to drive to perform your mobile services, which is pretty awesome, and that means you won't get clients from 500 miles away when you're only willing to drive 25 at most.

This isn't difficult to set up, you can even target people who work during the day and are fans of dog-related pages on facebook, and you should get some decent feedback and signups this way



Final Thoughts,


Thanks for reading

Tommy Carey
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey