We’ve already gotten through (what we thought was) the hard part: we’ve made the leap into the home inspection business. Whether we’re in a state that has certain requirements for licensing, or we’ve simply struck out on our own and learned what we think we need to know, we are sure we’re past the really rough part. We’re firmly in …
Every Inspection Is an Audition
Think about it: Every home inspection we do is much more than one single job. Every inspection is an opportunity to earn our next one. Every interaction shapes how our clients see us and influences how they will remember us long after we’ve left the property. The people watching us today may become tomorrow’s customers, referral sources, or business partners. …
Investing in Your Business
It’s not our fault. Really, it’s not. We were all trained the same way; all indoctrinated into the same mindset by the same school system. As author Seth Godin is fond of saying, we were all raised to be cogs in the wheel of industry. Put the peg in the hole; eight hours a day; five (or six or seven) …
Your Permanent Record
If you’re of a certain age (in other words, old like me), you probably remember being a kid and getting “corrected” for doing something wrong. Back in those days, correction probably involved some hard object finding its way onto your backside, often in a swift and repeated manner! But regardless of whether or not your correction involved borderline child abuse, …
Stress, Anyone?
Stress. Just reading the word can cause us to tense up. Stress is something that we all must deal with, and most of us would agree that it seems like modern life is getting more stressful every day. Whoever you talk to, it seems as though they would love to return to “days gone by,” as most people believe that …
Incomplete Information
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller It is great to be alive, but this life is not all love and roses. Being a human does come with its own difficulties. How we decide to deal with those difficulties, the …
Guidelines
Guidelines. They exist to help us know what to do in public, in our relationships, as well as in our business. If you’re a professional home inspector, like me, those guidelines will typically include your standards of practice. They may be directives coming down from your state or local government or may be established by the home inspection organization that …
The Best Plan
As I often talk about the role that ethics plays in running a successful home inspection business, as expected, I tend to get pushback from some inspectors. One thing that’s often said is that it’s very easy for me to say that I place ethics and relationships over money, because I’ve been an inspector for so long that I don’t …
A Multi-Pronged Defense
I was listening to a podcast this morning, the Tim Ferris show, and his guess was a military expert who was talking about the potential threat that China may pose to the US and the world. In part of the interview, he was speaking about China’s aggression toward and desire to annex Taiwan. He talked extensively about the way in which …
Closing the Deal
There are literally tens of thousands of home inspectors out there. Maybe not all of them reside in our own backyard (although, sometimes it feels like they do), but there’s enough competition milling about to make it hard for us to be seen. And the reality of this situation is that if we’re not being seen, we’re not being called; …