If you’re a fan of the television show “The Big Bang Theory”, then it’s quite likely that you’ve heard Dr. Sheldon Cooper utter the phrase “Ockham’s razor” before. If you’re like most people, that phrase simply joins the rest of the scientific jargon that theoretical physicist Sheldon spouts on the show. Most of it goes right over our heads, but it’s not necessary for us to understand everything he says to be able to enjoy the show. It’s one of the main premises of the program: Sheldon’s dialogue is often funny, even when he’s not trying to be.
You may be wondering exactly what Ockham’s razor has to do with the home inspection business. Have I gone off the deep end and, like Dr. Cooper, started spitting out technical terms simply for my own amusement?
Well, no. Unless you found that funny, then yes.
Ockham’s razor is a principle that, roughly translated, means that the simplest answer is usually the best. It tells us that it’s best not to overthink most things, racking our brains to figure out a problem, because the answer is often right there in front of us.
No matter how hard we try to deny, it’s a rule that’s been proven to us time and time again. And yet, we still keep trying to invent something else. There’s got to be another reason, we tell ourselves, when the answer to our question is usually staring us right in the face.
Take new inspectors, for example. (Old, used inspectors fall into this category as well.) All too often, things fall short of our expectations. We start off thinking that we’re going to set the home inspection world on fire. We’ll be scheduling so many jobs, we’re going to have to turn some people away, disappointing legions of adoring fans in the process.
Then reality steps in, and we realize that the phone simply isn’t ringing. No one’s calling to schedule inspections, and we can’t, for the life of us, figure out why.
That’s when it starts. Our brains shift into overdrive, and we start to come up with all the different reasons why we’re not getting business.
The agents are colluding against me.
Other inspectors are paying agents to get their clients.
My name is on a list somewhere.
Other inspectors are giving away their inspections for next to nothing.
My name’s not on that list somewhere.
It’s pay-to-play, and I have yet to figure out who it is I need to pay.
They’re a bunch of a**holes. They wouldn’t know a good inspector if it bit them in the a**
Whatever excuse we can think of to deflect blame, that’s the one we’re going with.
There’s got to be something that I haven’t yet figured out.
There must be a reason why I’m not having any success.
It’s got to be something else; it can’t be me.
All too often, though, the answer is right in front of us, looking back at us from the mirror.
Usually, the answer is right in front of us, staring us right in the face.
We just don’t want to admit it.
We know we should be doing more marketing, but we’re intimidated by the prospect of standing in front of an office full of real estate agents. We realize that we need to get our name out there, but we don’t know enough about social media to do it. We understand the importance of networking, but we’d rather enjoy the comfort of our couch and TV remote than the stress of meeting new people at that open house or charity fundraiser.
We appreciate the fact that we’ve got to do things that help build trust between us and the real estate industry, but we’re too scared to try to write something, record something, or post something.
So, if course, we invent all kinds of outlandish reasons to explain why we’re not getting business.
It’s got to be something else; it can’t be me.
In The Big Bang Theory episode “The Fuzzy Boots Corollary,” Sheldon points out to his roommate Leonard that “I do feel obligated to point out to you that she did not reject you, you did not ask her out.”
All too often we spend our valuable time and mental resources trying to invent another reason why we’re not having the success we’d hope for. We search, endlessly, for “the real reason” why we’re not getting business, when all we really need to do is look in the mirror.
We’re responsible for the success of our own business. We can’t sit around bemoaning the fact that we’ve been rejected, when we really haven’t even tried to create the level of trust necessary to earn someone’s business.
It’s got to be something else; it can’t be me.
Follow the razor’s edge.
The simplest answer is usually the best one.
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Thanks, Joe
