As a home inspector, it seems like we’re wired differently than other people. We can’t help it, we were born that way. For as far back as we can remember, we’ve always been inquisitive. We’ve always asked questions. We’ve always wanted to be given a reason why. And if you’re anything like me, your mother probably told you “Because, I …
Right Place, Wrong Customers
Customers. They’re the lifeblood of any successful business. Without them, we’re just standing around, thinking about how great our business ideas are. Without them, we’re soon on the way to the unemployment line. No business can survive without cash flow, and that means customers. Unfortunately, customers can also be the worst part of our business, often causing untold grief and pain. I’m …
Am I Doing My Job or Am I Working?
It can be said that what we do for a living can be described in two different ways: what our job is and the work that we do. While those two words can, and often are, used interchangeably, that doesn’t mean they represent the exact same thing. Being a home inspector may be our job, we identify deficiencies and potential …
Seeing Through the Disguise
Often, when starting out in a new small business, we run into problems. One of our biggest problems happens to be figuring out what type of clientele we want to deal with in our business. There are always two different type of potential clients available to sell our services to: professionals and amateurs. Unfortunately, because we’re just starting out in …
On the spot. How to use uncomfortable situations to your advantage.
I recently received a question from an inspector that got me thinking about the different ways that we can handle an uncomfortable situation. The inspector was marketing in a real estate office, and one of the agents cornered him with a question about another inspector’s report. The question was whether he would have noted a problem with an attic conversion …