I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this article, the odds are pretty good that you’re running your own business, quite likely as a professional home inspector. It’s also likely that you’ve held down at least one “real” job before becoming a small business owner, spending your valuable time working for someone else. You’ve probably felt the frustration of …
Lessons Learned
We all know that exercise is good for us. It helps to keep our bodies (and our minds) healthy as we age. Unfortunately, for many of us, making a conscious decision to exercise is difficult. It’s easy to reason that, instead of exercising, we could be working and making money, or relaxing from all the work we’ve already done (and …
Don’t Be Scared
We’ve all experienced it. We’ve all gone through it. That customer or vendor that’s causing us all that grief. That person that we would do anything to have never met. It’s an inevitable part of being in business; it’s something that cannot be avoided. Or can it? Not all customers are created equal. Tim Ferriss It seems like all of …
Getting That Certified Letter…
As business owners, we all certainly get more than our fair share of mail. From credit card offers to catalogs, business opportunities to bills, it never ends. Regardless of how much mail you get, there’s always one piece of correspondence that gets your heart beating a little bit faster: a certified letter. It’s amazing that something as simple as an …
Guidelines for Dating Your Clients
Before we begin, let me explain that, no, this post is not about how to get dates with your clients. Unless you are running some sort of escort agency, for the vast majority of business owners, dating your clients is always a bad idea. In this post we will examine the similarities between how we learned the ropes when we …
Turning Them Around. Making Sure Your Clients Sing Your Praises
One of the most difficult things about running a business is dealing with clients. An often-heard complaint is that “this would be a great job if it wasn’t for all of these damn clients!” And yes, I know that our customers are the whole reason that we are in business, but (sometimes) dealing with them can cause a business owner …
Power On
We all fall into the same trap. We start something new: a new diet, a new relationship, a new job, or a new business venture, thinking that it’s going to be easy. Yes, we know that everyone else struggles with these same challenges; we hear about the failures from our friends, coworkers, and random associates on our social media channels. …
A Birthday Impostor. How to Defeat Your Own Thoughts
I hope that this post finds everyone happy and healthy. I am writing this post on the evening of my birthday, so I have spent the day reminiscing about my past and looking forward to my future. I have been fortunate enough to find some level of success in my life and I appreciate all of the opportunities that this …
Easy Steps to Make Your (Business) Life Less Stressful
Recently, I was writing some information for a website, creating some FAQ’s about the home inspection process. The article was intended to explain to potential home buyers the importance of getting a copy of the Standards that their home inspector adheres to during their inspection process. I explained that this document outlines exactly what the home inspector was and was not going …
Setting yourself up for success, and Avoiding Client Zero
I am going to start today’s post talking about the one subject that you don’t want to hear about: problem clients. Yes, I know: you already deal with problem clients enough in your business; you don’t want to read about them too! Let’s just pretend they don’t exist, and maybe they’ll magically go away… The reality is that we all deal …