People stay where they grow. Seth Godin As I was driving home from an inspection the other day, I heard this quote in a podcast featuring marketing guru Seth Godin. During the conversation, the host asked Seth his opinion on the current situation in employment, where it seems almost impossible for businesses to retain employees. While managing employees is a …
Self-Inflicted Wounds
Self-inflicted wounds. I recently wrote a post about this very topic. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realized that there was still much to be said about a problem that many of us, no matter our industry, suffer from. Regardless of where we inspect or how long we’ve been at it, the more we think about …
Our Own Worst Critic
One of the key ingredients to running a successful business is having a marketable product, something ready for public consumption. It’s impossible to have business success without one. To have the best shot at running a productive business, our product must meet a few basic requirements: it must be something that is not only profitable enough for the business to …
The Other Side of Fear
Fear. The word itself strikes (ahem) fear in our hearts. Fear is often defined as an important psychological response to a physical or emotional danger. For our ancestors, fear was incredibly important. It’s what kept them safe and allowed them to survive. They would be afraid of an erupting volcano, and head to safety. Hungry predators would strike fear in …
A Face in the Crowd
Since I operate a school that trains students to become home inspectors, I often get the chance to talk with people who are considering making a career change. Most of them are excited for the opportunities that the inspection industry provides, but as with any life-changing decision, they’re often filled with apprehension. They typically come armed with a long list …
(What) Was I Thinking?
We’ve already gotten through (what we thought was) the hard part: we’ve made the leap into the home inspection business. Whether we’re in a state that has certain requirements for licensing, or we’ve simply struck out on our own and learned what we think we need to know, we are sure we’re past the really rough part. We’re firmly in …
What Did We Expect?
We all go into business with certain expectations. We imagine that we’ll make a lot of money. We expect to work with the best people in our industry. We anticipate that we’ll have scores of frenzied clients, posting to social media, raving about how great we are. And we’re certain that the number of problems that we’ll encounter will be …
Streamlining Your Business
Customer acquisition. It’s a phrase that most of us had never even heard of, much less thought of, before we became business owners. Now, whether we call it that or not, it’s something that we can’t get out of our mind. Trying to figure out how to get more people to hire us ranks right up there with food and …
Peace of Mind
Small talk is a part of everyone’s’ lives. It’s defined by Wikipedia as ”polite conversation about unimportant things.” On most days, we all engage in some form of small talk, whether in public or in our jobs, and most of us have our go-to questions at the ready, just in case some small talk breaks out. One of the most …
Guidelines
Guidelines. They exist to help us know what to do in public, in our relationships, as well as in our business. If you’re a professional home inspector, like me, those guidelines will typically include your standards of practice. They may be directives coming down from your state or local government or may be established by the home inspection organization that …