Hello....and help (obviously)

[Cthulhu]

Hi all,

Thanks Chris, and everyone.
I'm new at this, so please everyone forgive my questions, and my language and spelling, not being English my mother tongue.
A friend of mine has recently come up with the idea of starting a SEO business. He's a IT nerd, and a good friend, and I am, funny enough, a doctor of Philosophy.
I would like to know what you think are the necessary basics I need to know. I just got my hands on a few books regarding HTML and PHP, and I'm studying them.
Could you suggest any introductory readings?
I am now downloading chris' SEO guide, and I'm looking forward to reading it, but what next?

And how much tech knowledge do I have to have, to be useful to my friend (who says he'll handle the most complicated issues, and teach me over time)?

Thank you all again,

Cthulhu.

[Chris]

I really don't have any recommendations for someone to start a consulting business in an industry with which they have no familiarity, other than to say, do not do it.

Instead, make a site yourself, and then practice your SEO on your own site, and do that until you find success before trying to sell it to other people.

[Todd W]

IMHO while Chris's PDF is awesome for advice to do to your site it is not enough to read and make you know how to fix everyones site in terms of running your own SEO business. You can't be an expert and charge people for your service if you don't even know the basics let alone 'advanced' techniques or the industry.

Starting a SEO business if you know your stuff is hard enough starting with no background in the industry just wont work IMHO.

-Todd

[Cthulhu]

Thank you both for your honest and straight-forward replies.
I would never have people pay me to do things I know nothing about.
I should make one thing clear: my friend has been working in this area for a few years, and he DOES know what he's doing. He's just tired of working for someone else, and wanted to start his own business.
My involvement would only be due to my having a decent knowledge of English, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish (he says this could be useful in finding customers). And being a friend looking for some little investment.

I was just wondering how much specific know-how I should gather, and by what means, with the only aim of not getting in my would-be business partner's way.

Thanks again,

Cthulhu.