The most exciting part of starting your own business is that you have room to flex your creative muscles when it comes to business models. Starting from scratch, and owning your own business, gives you the power to tap into your entrepreneurial spirit and make decisions to form your business, just as you like it.
That’s one of my favorite parts of entrepreneurship… it’s your own creation!
Even the most successful credit repair companies, who follow blueprints from credit heroes before them, take on their own flair and approach their business uniquely.
In this article, I want to describe the three most successful business models I’ve seen in the credit repair industry, and some extra sauce you can add on top to help get your business in motion when you’re just getting started.
Explore 3 Different Business Models
The first step to a successful credit repair business is learning how you can make money! There are three tried-and-true business models that most credit heroes follow to bill clients effectively, and turn a profit.
Subscription-Based
One of the more popular business models adopted by credit repair companies is the subscriptions based model, because that brings you predictable, recurring revenue that is easier to scale than pay-per-delete (which I'll get to soon).
An amazing example of a credit hero using a solid subscription-based strategy is Millionaire Kevin Carroll.
Kevin’s business Reddibuy offers customers the ability to subscribe monthly to his credit services, which means Kevin receives recurring revenue from his clients every month. His service package includes credit report analysis, credit disputing, dispute escalation, and credit score analysis and mentoring.
This business model helped Kevin grow his business like crazy. When Kevin was getting started during his first year, he earned more than $10,000 a month. In his second year, he made over $1 million and now he’s on track to make $2 million this year. Very impressive!
Pay-Per-Delete
Millionaire Jose Rodriguez is one of the kings of credit, and he’s also the king of the pay-per-delete business model. In fact, that’s all he uses!
The pay-per-delete model basically means you don’t ask your customer to pay unless you’re able to delete something from their credit report. Think of it like renting a movie on-demand instead of paying a monthly fee for a streaming service.
Jose’s business Clean Slate Credit Solutions charges a one-time enrollment fee and then charges a deletion fee per item and per credit bureau. If Jose is unable to delete any negative items, he offers a full refund including the enrollment fee.
While this model works well for Jose, it's not a fit for everyone. Especially for those just starting out, because it's not a guarantee that you'll make money. And, some factors in the credit repair industry are beyond our control! It’s a good choice if you know what you’re doing and you want to create a model to bring more potential customers in the door.
Value-Added Services
Malik Greene, the owner of Greene’s Credit Repair, has a value-added services model and it works incredibly well for him.
The value-added services business model is an option for credit heroes that have a core service (like a tax preparer, mortgage broker, real estate agent or financial services job), then add value with a credit repair. In Malik’s case, he offers both credit repair and tax preparation services, which are related.
Malik told me during our recent video interview that he has been able to attract clients who use him for credit repair and tax prep.
In less than a year, Malik earned more than $200,000 in revenue from more than 200 clients, in part to offering multiple services. Malik’s story is even more impressive because he’s just 23 years old!
But, not all value add has to come as a profit. Some heroes use it as a niche offering and give it for free to enhance their current business model.
Legal Disclaimer: There are many ways to bill for credit repair. We do not recommend any specific billing method.
How to Start a Credit Repair Business
If you’re looking to get started in credit repair, the first things you need to do are get educated on the topic, start learning about the industry, and understand the power of credit repair business software. This will help set you down the path Derrick, Ashley, and Pretty all took, in which they learned and experimented to find the business model that worked best for them.
Here’s a check-list of things you can also do to get started:
- Choose a business model that works best for you
- Get credit repair business training, which will help you with learn things such as:
- How to read a credit report
- What boosts a FICO score
- Your clients’ rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
- How to write dispute letters
- Take credit repair certification classes to give you and your business instant credibility
- Order the free book The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Credit Repair Business, which includes everything you need to know to become a credit hero
Additionally, affordable and powerful credit repair software from Credit Repair Cloud can help you get your credit repair business up and running in no time at all.
Let’s do this!
Are you ready to start working on something more fulfilling and helping others in your community? Join our Credit Hero Challenge today!
