In my position as an educator, I often find myself speaking with people about the home inspection business. Whether its inspectors who are brand new to the industry or individuals interested in becoming an inspector, the questions they ask are usually quite similar. Surprisingly enough, everyone is trying to figure out whether or not they’ll make it as a professional home inspector.
Is it hard to become an inspector?
Is the field already too crowded?
Will I be able to make a living doing this?
My answer to these three questions is always the same: yes, yes and yes. And before you say it, I know that the first two ‘yes’ answers should lead to the third answer being a ‘no.’ That’s common sense. If starting is hard and the field of potential competitors is too crowded, then it should follow that starting a new business in this field is a bad idea.
However, as we’ve all learned (numerous times) throughout our lives, things aren’t always as they seem. There are new business owners that break into overcrowded fields every day, so they must be doing something right! Having a little more knowledge that our competitors is always a recipe for success. In that vein, let’s look at seven things that can influence our level of success when starting a new business.
1) Reality
The reality is that starting any new business is a difficult proposition. The majority of new business start-ups result in failure within the first few years. This is a well-reported fact of life in the business world. Going into a new business with rose-colored glasses is often the first step on the road to failure. Realizing what it is that we’re up against, and understanding the things we need to do to overcome those inevitable hurdles is half the battle.
2) Procrastination
Starting a new business is certainly a stressful situation. Many potential business owners fail before they even start, worried that they simply don’t have all the necessary tools needed to become successful. They become paralyzed by their fears, failing to take even a single step towards success. In spite of this, many people are still able to overcome their fears and become successful. Without forcing ourselves to take that first step, we’ll never know if we could be one of them.
3) Unrealistic Expectations
It’s ironic that the thing that causes the most problems for successful home inspectors (their clients’ unrealistic expectations) is the same thing that leads to many new inspector’s downfall. It’s a fact that starting a new venture is very difficult, and the chance of failure is high. The smart new business owner has thought this through and made contingency plans for the difficult start-up phase. It’s imperative to plan ahead in order to survive those lean start-up years. Doing so can help new inspectors from falling victim to our next demon:
4) Disappointment
Starting any new business venture is difficult, but dealing with the initial rejection can be even harder. This overwhelming feeling of rejection often proves fatal for a new business and can be the most difficult hurdle to overcome on the road to success. In order to get past this roadblock, we must remember this one rule of business: It’s going to take longer than you think. While there may be an occasional (seemingly) over-night success story, the vast majority of small businesses succeed because of the determination of their owners: they refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer.
5) Marketing
Marketing is often considered a dirty word by new business owners, almost as if it’s some underhanded way to get someone to buy our product. The reality is that most of us are scared to put ourselves out there, too timid to stand in front of someone else and pitch our wares. We are afraid of failure and intimidated by rejection. The truth is that marketing isn’t simply running around wearing a crazy mascot costume and twirling a sign around on the side of the road. Marketing is an attitude; it’s the way we conduct ourselves and run our businesses. While there are many ways to go about it, the biggest failure we can have is succumbing to our own fears and not putting ourselves out there.
6) Liability
Owning a business is risky; lawsuits happen. It’s an unfortunate part of being an inspectors, and we must be prepared for this reality. It’s imperative that we take the steps necessary to minimize our exposure and maximize our (eventual) ability to defend ourselves in court. It’s not all that hard to do. We need to provide a quality product to our clients. We must attempt to align our clients’ expectations with reality. We should protect ourselves with a legitimate service contract. It is necessary that we educate ourselves on common problems and current litigation. And it’s imperative that we take advantage of one of the most important methods of protecting our business: having a comprehensive insurance policy.
7) Business Management
Often, we go into a new venture, business or otherwise, unprepared for the reality of the situation. Many new inspectors go into business with blinders on, not realizing that they are now the inspector, marketer, bookkeeper, accountant, secretary, human resources director, complaint department, legal adviser, and on and on. Many people who are otherwise good at doing an inspection end up failing because they aren’t good at all the other aspects of running a business. We must put as much energy into learning how to successfully complete a P&L statement as we do in doing a good inspection. Utilize every educational opportunity available, taking advantage of every tip and trick we can find to muddle through these other aspects of running a business.
Starting a new business is certainly no cake-walk. It involves a lot of hard work and many sleepless nights. However, with a little determination and desire, we can become one of the success stories. We need to take the necessary steps to go into our new venture with our eyes wide open. Learn as much as we can about the industry, so that we know what we’ll be up against and we’ll have some ideas on how to deal with the inevitable problems.
Nothing eases stress and improves our odds of success quite like being well prepared.
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Thanks, Joe
