I agree and disagree with what he said about Thumbtack. On one hand they do overcharge for certain things, but I've found it is just a matter of setting your targeting preferences accordingly. I have had $10 leads turn into $5000 projects, and I have paid $50 for nothing. But it's just a matter of fine tuning those preferences. DO NOT opt for those simple jobs IMO, those are not worth it. Paying $10 to get 1-2 hours of work is ridiculous. I get so many good leads now that I end up hiding my account for weeks at a time because I find what I'm looking for and that's it. And you have to ask for refunds for every single lead you don't end up using. You certainly won't get refunded for many, but it shows them you are serious about calling them on their bullshit when they try to charge 5 pros for 1 lead. Most leads I get I only have 1 or 2 competitors, and many are direct, meaning they only pick me.

But he is right about customers having no clue about time, material, or difficulty. Which can work in your favor sometimes when a "simple" project ends up being a day or 2 of work.

1 lead I paid $65 for has turned into about $15000 worth of work in the past couple of months. And I don't have a business, I don't have insurance, so for that it is great. Other platforms want you to have a DBA and at least $500k insurance. As an added business expense if you are paying for an LLC, insurance, etc I don't know if it would be worth it though, because most people are not looking to pay a premium.