After purchasing our first home ten years ago, my husband and I were faced with the all too familiar challenge of finding reliable home improvement contractors.

At the end of a 60 hour work week we had little time left to search for qualified plumbers, painters, carpenters, etc. and were forced to blindly pick a name from the yellow pages and hope for the best.

After one too many afternoons of waiting for contractors who didn't show, it occurred to me that if we were having difficulty finding reliable contractors in our community then other homeowners must be faced with the same challenge.

My concerns are what sparked the launch of a unique, service-based business—the Homeowner Referral Network (HRN) business—which has since expanded into a profitable cottage industry across the US and internationally.

The HRN business fills an important niche in the home improvement marketplace: First, it's a reliable source for busy homeowners in search of pre-screened contractors to work in their home. Second, an HRN serves as an outsourced sales and marketing force for contractors represented in the network who prefer not to handle this aspect of their business.

After extensive conversations with lawyers, business consultants, contractors and insurance agents, my HRN, Home Remedies of NY, Inc.™, was launched from my home in February of 1997 with a $5000 loan, a home computer and fax. As a full-time mom, I was only able to operate my business on a part-time basis. The initial response from homeowners was tremendous and after just 3 months in business I not only repaid my loan in full but in its first year of operation, Home Remedies™ grossed almost $30,000.

I quickly realized that there was a universal need for HRN services nationwide and decided to document the HRN business system so that others could benefit from my experience. The Complete Guide To Owning And Operating A Successful Homeowner Referral Network© outlines step-by-step procedures on how to launch and operate a successful HRN. The manual, along with consultation time, forms and promotional items and web support is now available so that other entrepreneurs interested in launching a profitable HRN business of their own can benefit from my experience.

To date there are more than 400 HRN's operating in the US, Canada and abroad. Each HRN benefits from leads generated by the HRN website as well as from pre-negotiated prices on promotional items and national publicity. As word about the HRN business grows, so does the demand for our services which means that soon you may find an HRN operating in your neighborhood...or maybe you'll be running one yourself!

Best regards,

P.S. If you have any questions about the HRN home-based business, please feel free to read through our questions and answers or contact us for more detailed information.