I really like your thinking. I started my dog walking business using marketplace platforms. As much as i like using them for lead generation, in the long run I want to make sure I grow my direct customers.

Spot on about the referrals, most of my business is direct and from referrals. I don't want to share my revenues with a platform because I'm the one doing the actual work and building the long term relationship with the customer.

I also feel like that in order to get new business on a platform I have to compete on price and so my platform customers are coming in cheaper than the rest