(L)earning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. Peter Drucker In this life, the only thing that anyone can really promise us is that things are going to change. For home inspectors, this fact means that our client’s HVAC system is eventually going to change from functional to non-functional. Good maintenance (and good luck) may be able to …
Do I Want Fewer Agents?
We all want to be the most successful inspector out there. We all want to be on the short list of inspectors for all the agents. We all want to be everything to everyone. But that’s not really possible, is it? We couldn’t work for every real estate agent. It’s physically impossible. There are simply not enough hours in the …
The Most Important Thing
It’s not too difficult to start a business. Most people are able to get a basic business off the ground in short order. Growing that “basic” business into something that makes us happy, well, that’s a whole different story. In most states, in order to call ourselves a home inspector, we need to do some basic schooling and pass a …
Remarkably Average
We all want to be as successful as we can be. We don’t have to be too smart to figure that out. We do, however, need to have some common sense to be able to realize that level of success: the most successful that we can be. It takes a certain level of commitment on our part, an ability and …
Crazy People
Working in an industry like real estate, it’s inevitable that we are going to run across problem clients. There’s no way around it; it’s just part of the deal. But it doesn’t need to be. We’re going to run across all kinds of different personalities while we’re working, and it’s imperative that we learn that some clients’ money is worth …
Answer Before They Ask the Question
We will start out today with a quote from author Shawn L. Anderson’s book “A Better Life.” He says that “Preparation is what allows the teacher to truly inspire. Preparation is knowing exactly how the lesson plan will flow. It’s in knowing what questions to ask and what answers to give.” The author is speaking about teachers, but this sentiment …
Developing Trust (Part 2)
Note: This post is the second of a two-part article. Click here to read part one. It is impossible to go down to your local bank, open a savings account with $100 and then turn around and attempt to withdraw $500. The teller would look at us like we were crazy! This is exactly what inspectors do when their only marketing …
Developing Trust (Part 1)
Trust. It is one of those words that evokes a certain, unique mental imagery for most people. Some people will immediately think about a parent or favorite family member, some will think of lifelong friends and others may think of a pet or a favorite place. Trust can be hard to define and even harder to explain. One of the …
Similarities
It never ceases to amaze me, how many of life’s experiences seem to overlap with our job as a home inspector. Just recently, I was speaking with someone about the way that I try to operate when training new inspectors, and once I had a chance to reflect our conversation, I was struck by the similarity between my approaches to …
6 Steps to Growth
Starting and running a small business can be both extremely rewarding and extremely frustrating. While we can find business success, the stark reality is that almost 75% of new small business ventures won’t survive past the 2-year mark. Today we will discuss six of the most important things to remember to give us the best chance of getting into that …