Home and Commercial Inspection
Tips for Success
March 30, 2009

Serious Stuff

It is saddening to see people suffer.  These are tough times and many people are suffering.  Home inspectors have been hard hit by the economic down-turn.  We probably do as much research as anyone on the home inspection industry, possibly more than anyone.  We don't have what could be considered to be statistically reliable numbers but my best guess is that more than half of the inspectors who were in business three years ago have gone on to other things.

There were approximately 40 inspectors listed in my local phone book in 2001.  The 2009 edition of the same book lists 14 inspectors.  That is very bad news if you are one of the inspectors now on the outside looking in. 

One of the harsh realities of life is that in any dire situation, there are losers.  There are also winners.  The precipitous reduction in the number of inspectors has out paced the reduction in home sales.  Also, the number of vacant houses has risen dramatically.  All this means more work for the inspectors who are in still in business.  New inspectors now also have an above average chance for success.  In fact, the field may well be as fertile now for home inspectors as it has ever been.

Businesses rarely fail because of a lack of technical expertise.  If you are reading this and you have been in business for more than two or three years, then you are doing at least some things right.  Perseverance is the single most important trait of a successful business person.  If nothing else, you have at least persevered.  Now is the time to focus on your business skills.  The differences between the winners and losers in the inspection field will be measured in terms of business acumen, not technical skills.  Do all that you can to sharpen your business skills.

Moving "Tips" from GetResponse to Aweber

I mentioned in the last newsletter that my goal is to move the Tips for Success newsletter to a new system, AWeber.  GetResponse and AWeber are the top two services in the World for legitimate, and 100% legal, mailing list administration.  Both companies do an excellent job but GetResponse is not as well suited as AWeber for larger lists such as the Tips for Success subscriber list. 

We plan to continue with GetResponse at least until September 2011 but in order to be assured of being able to reliably serve the Tips for success subscribers, we will be migrating the Tips for Success newsletter to AWeber. 

It would be a great help to me if you would re-subscribe to Tips for Success again using one of the forms on the main page at www.BestInspectors.Net.  You will receive duplicate e-mails for a while but I will try to make the inconvenience worth while by bringing many good things to the newsletter in the coming months.  Some of the best Tips and other benefits will only be available to the subscribers who are on the AWeber list.

In case you are wondering why I don't simply copy the subscriber list from GetResponse to AWeber, the reason is that in order to be 100% in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all mailing lists have to be 100% opt-in.  Many e-mail services so not monitor activities closely enough to know whether a mailing list host complies with the law.  Both GetResponse and AWeber are very vigilant and do not tolerate any violations of the CAN-SPAM act.  Ultimately, you are benefitting from their vigilance and their diligence.  Being protected from the bad guys, however, also means some small inconveniences on your end.  One such inconvenience is the need to either subscribe again on the new service or confirm your desire to remain a subscriber when asked.  We have not yet sent e-mails asking each of you to confirm. Instead, I asking that you re-subscribe using the new forms on our website.

Why Didn't I Think of This Earlier

As we all know, there has been a big turn-over of inspectors during the past few years.  The Tips for Success e-mails are delivered according to the date when a person subscribes.  In other words, they go out at programmed intervals.  On the day an inspector subscribes, the system e-mails tip number one.  Each successive tip goes out to the subscriber according to the schedule.

The Newsletter (which is what this is) goes out to all subscribers at the same time.  These are called "Broadcast" e-mails.  An inspector who subscribes the day after a broadcast misses out on the broadcast Newsletter.

I had a V-8  moment (You know, "Wow - I could have had a V-8!").  DUH... Why not put the newsletters on the website for all to see ay any time.  I've been doing these newsletters for what - Four years?  And I just now thought to put them on the website.  Hey, better late than never.  So this is it, the very first of the Tips for Success newsletters to be put on the website.  All future newsletters will be posted here in the education section.
 

Are you Still With Me?

I have always tried to keep the e-mail newsletters as brief as possible for two good reasons.  First, the longer and e-mail is, the less likely a person is to read the entire e-mail.  We all have busy lives.  We are all bombarded with with more stuff each day that we can possibly absorb. 

Second, spam filters with the major e-mail services have become very aggressive.  I don't blame them.  Spam is a major problem.  In fact it is the single biggest problem with the Internet today.  Between 40% and 70% of legitimate e-mails are filtered out BEFORE they reach your mailbox.  The e-mail providers are not giving you the opportunity to determine whether or not an e-mail is spam.  They are making that determination for you.

This newsletter, so far, is around 1,500 words.  WHAT!!  Who is going to read a 1,500 word e-mail?!?!  In a word - NOBODY.  In the past, I have always put the longer Tips on the website but I never thought to put the newsletter on the website.