Advice from professionals for new home inspectors in Oklahoma
On one of the most recent episodes of the Spectora Spotlight Podcast, Forever Home Inspection owners Brit and Lance Coffman joined host and Spectora co-founder Kevin Wagstaff to talk about how they broke into the home inspection industry as outsiders, and what they’ve learned as their company has grown over the past four years. They had plenty of advice and wisdom for other professional home inspectors, especially those just starting out. Here are some of the highlights from the podcast about home inspection career advice.
Wise words: Professional advice for new home inspectors
1. Learn from as many other people as possible
Neither Lance nor Brit had a home inspection background going in. Brit had marketing experience that made her a good fit with the administrative side, but they both knew they needed to be good learners if they wanted to succeed. Lance took the required courses to become certified, they joined InterNACHI and made use of its online courses and resources, and, as they admit, they made plenty of mistakes and learned from them. They looked at the business practices of other home inspection companies and always did their research before making important decisions. All of this has helped them be strategic and thoughtful in each step of the process. Brit recommends recognizing potential growing pains and planning ahead for them.
2. Professional Networking in Real Estate
Relationships are a pillar of real estate. Successful home inspectors must build relationships with agents in order to be connected with more clients and establish a good reputation. But, as Lance points out, you don’t just have to build relationships with real estate agents- lenders, insurance agents, specialists, and other professionals whose services you can later use as referrals- are all just as important. Networking, and especially networking with people who were also new to the business, was a key part of Lance and Brit’s start with Forever Home. Lance joined different professional Facebook groups in order to find out about networking events to attend. Meeting people while having a genuine interest in making relationships, a spirit of learning, and humility, are all important. But that being said….
3. Be confident in your work, and have self-respect and boundaries
When starting out in any field, it can be easy to feel imposter syndrome and feel desperate for any new client. While it’s important to be flexible and work hard, it’s just as important to stand your ground. There’s a line between pleasing your clients and agents and doing a good job, and being a people-pleaser. Don’t give your services away for free, even at the beginning. While making professional relationships is good, necessary, and even fun, don’t let others walk over you just because you’re new. Having boundaries around your time, business, and energy is critical to longevity, not getting burned out, and being respected. If someone is upset with your personal boundaries, that’s a good indicator that they weren’t a good fit with you anyway, and that’s okay. As Lance puts it, “decide what to be, and then go be it.”
