We will start today with a slight distortion of a quote from author Nick Hornby’s 2005 Novel A Long Way Down: ‘A business is hard to build yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.’ Hornby’s original line was about the difficulty of rebuilding yourself, but …
Experience. It’s as Easy as 1-2-3.
Experience. It’s one of the most important words a small business owner will ever hear. Without it, it’s harder to market your business. Given a choice between two service providers, most people would prefer to hire the person with the most experience. If they won’t hire me because I don’t have experience, how the hell am I supposed to get experience …
The One Rule for New Businesses that Nobody Wants to Know
I hope that today’s post finds everyone doing well. Today, I wanted to touch on one item that typically eludes us when we start planning our businesses. Whether we are home inspectors, Realtors, plumbers or CPA’s, this rule holds true for everyone starting a small business. What is this all-encompassing rule? It’s really simple but understanding it can mean the …
Empathy vs. Sympathy. How Compassion Helps Everyone Involved
I hope that today’s post finds everyone in good spirits. I would like to touch on a topic that on the surface may not seem to have a lot to do with the home inspection business. Its importance will (hopefully) become clear by the end of the post. We often hear the words empathy and sympathy, and most people are …
Learning, Applying and Paying for Knowledge. What’s Your Responsibility?
Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis will already know that I am a big advocate for increasing your knowledge in your chosen industry. I cannot overstate the importance of belonging to different groups, organizations and message boards, so that you are able to keep up with the happenings in your field. Generally, the more knowledge …
You Like Me, You Really Like Me!
I hope that today’s post finds everyone happy and healthy. Today’s title is a misquote of a line from Sally Field’s Oscar acceptance speech for Best Actress in her role in the 1985 movie “Places in the Heart.” Obviously this reference is way too old for the majority of readers to be familiar with, but the phrase touches on …
The One Simple Thing That Can Help You Achieve Your Goals
Hope that this post finds everyone happy and healthy. I wanted to start out today with a quote from an unknown author, which is “Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants; can’t into cans; dreams into plans; and plans into reality. Don’t just think it – ink it!” I want to underscore the importance …
Cheat (Sheet) Your Way to Success. Simple Steps to Make Your Job Easier
Every entrepreneur knows that the startup phase of a new business can be the most difficult one to survive. A lot of different things must come together simultaneously for your business to prosper. Often, this proves to be too much for the burgeoning new business, and it ends up going under. One of the more difficult things to deal with …
Becoming a Master. Can Other People Help Get You There?
One of the benefits of living in the digital age is relatively easy access to any audience in the world. We can contact almost anyone, any place in the developed world, easily accessing them through our smartphones. This can be beneficial in our business, as it allows up to easily acquire knowledge through the mistakes and successes of other people. …
Conserving Your Most Valuable Resource
I would like to start off today’s post with a quote from Will Rogers, American cowboy, performer and humorist, who said “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” In other words, don’t waste your valuable time by dwelling unnecessarily on the past. We have all been guilty of wasting time. When we are young, we believe that we …