What It's About
Freelance contractor builds a gig platform for other contractors.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
In this day in age, technology has a tendency to take over in areas where blue-collar workers are falling behind, but people like Teris are building something that ensures that they still have an important place in our economy. This is also a great method of finding a side hustle idea if you're technologically inclined!
Do you know of a market that could use some streamlining?
Fun Fact
The stories that come from users are a big motivation for Teris at this point. He shared a story about a father who uprooted his decades-long construction career to move to Baltimore to be closer to his daughter and brand new granddaughter. This construction worker was not only able to find enough work through EFynch to keep him going but plans to keep using the app so that he can keep his hours flexible to help with his new granddaughter.
Notes from Chris
Episode 307
Like many of us, Teris Pantazes’ career path has been a bit circuitous. While he originally earned his Master’s in Real Estate, for over 10 years he owned and operated his own construction company in Baltimore, Maryland. Between jobs, he would try to find any kind of work for his guys so he could still pay them something. But still some days he would have to send them home once the trucks were clean and the warehouse was spotless. Sometimes he would even try posting an ad on Craigslist to try and get his workers some gigs, but it rarely panned out. In 2015, Teris decided he wanted to get back into real estate, and while he was working his way back into that industry he turned to the platform Upwork.com to earn some money. Around that time he was hanging a TV in his house and couldn’t lift it the final 6” by himself. He lived less than two miles away from a major university and knew that if he could somehow contact them, he’d have a line of helpers looking for some extra cash. It was then that something clicked—why not create a platform similar to Upwork for contractors and handymen? This wasn’t a simple idea, but he thought it had real potential, so he decided to explore it further. Within the first six months of launching, over 1,000 homeowners and contractors downloaded the app and created accounts. EFynch continues to grow each month—anywhere from 15% on a slow month to 30% on a good month. Teris explained that the home improvement industry is pretty cyclical, so those variances are to be expected. But at their 1 year anniversary, they had over 3,000 users. While this side hustle is still in its infancy, it’s well on track and (like YourGreenPal in Ep. 123) has the potential to completely revolutionize the way that people hire contractors.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- EFynch: Check out Teris' website to learn more about his contractor and handyman gig platform
- Upwork: The online gig platform that inspired Teris to start EFynch
- Braintree & PayPal: Two platforms that Teris used to accept payments on his gig platform
- "Uber for Lawn Care" Mows Down the Competition: Four friends take a whack at the lawn care industry’s weeds and find ways to better connect vendors and customers
- "Airbnb for Beer": Digital Nomad Brews Up Frosty Profits: A brewing innovator bridges the gap between local breweries eager to make money off of their idle equipment and event planners who want to create their own customized beer
- Lost & Found: How Lost Property Helps a UK Woman Find Her Side Hustle: Tanya-Jane Park wasn’t looking for a side hustle when she went to a popular music festival, but when her friend lost her handbag, she managed to find one anyway
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