We all start off the same way: literally begging for business. We go into real estate offices and ask the agents to recommend our inspection company to their homebuying clients. It can’t hurt to ask, we reason. Actually, it can hurt. Especially if we ask the wrong way. Asking without proper preparation. Asking with getting permission first. Asking without setting …

We all have big ideas. We all have goals. We’ve all got something amazing in our sights. We all want to initiate that change in our lives. But we’re all, in one way or another, scared. It may not work. We might fall flat on our face. We might lose everything we’ve built. We might fail. Of course we might …

Doing home inspections is not safe. Something bad might happen. In fact, sooner or later, it probably will. Driving to an inspection is not safe. We could get in a wreck, or worse. One of my coworkers died driving to work one morning. We all know dozens or hundreds or thousands of ways that an angry person can wreak havoc. …

The internet is both a great and terrible place, especially for small business owners. It allows us to easily reach potential customers and flog our wares, while at the same time making it easy for those same potential customers to pit us against each other in a pricing race to the bottom. It’s a destructive environment, and causes us to …

There is a big difference between repeat business and loyalty. Repeat business is when people do business with you multiple times. Loyalty is when people are willing to turn down a better product or a better price to continue doing business with you. Loyal customers often don’t even bother to research the competition or entertain other options. Loyalty is not …

Haters gonna hate. Taylor Swift It’s bound to happen. If you’re good at what you do, someone’s going to get their panties in a bunch. They’re going to talk bad about you. They’re going to put you down. They’re going to try to drag you down to their level. They’re going to resent your success. It’s inevitable, and it’s all …

The only thing that is ever sure in our lives, the only thing we know to be true, the only thing we can be 100% certain of is that there will always be change. Everything and everyone changes. It’s inevitable. And it was bound to happen, but I think I’ve had enough of being a home inspector. I’ve seen everything, …

Are you a member? Maybe our home inspection software is subscription based, where we pay each month (or each year) to use it. Maybe we subscribe to a membership-based newsletter, where we pay each month to receive emails that educate us on a specific topic. Or maybe we pay Netflix each month for the right to consume their digital content. …

The world is right in the palm of your hand. A phone. We’ve all got one, and we’re not afraid to use it. And that goes for our customers too. Reviews are the lifeblood of almost any modern business. Good reviews help; bad ones hurt. Factor in the unfortunate reality that dissatisfied customers are much more likely to leave a …

When we start our business, we all make the same mistake. We try to get as many customers through the door as possible. No matter what we do for a living, we think we need to sell our product to everyone. The more clients I get, the better off I’ll be! This often proves to be our undoing. We don’t …