Tag: motivation

Win at Business by Investing in Yourself

June 7, 2022

The month of June is Professional Wellness Month. In honor of this occasion, your family here at the NPI headquarters want to make sure that you have everything you need to succeed, professionally and personally. With the spotlight on professional wellness, it’s important to check in with yourself and your employees to identify any areas of improvement for your business. Likewise, it’s also valuable to take an honest personal inventory of yourself to see what areas of development you may be lacking in. Although a self-assessment can feel daunting, it’s critical to avoid being stagnant in any area of your life. Life is to be lived in a manner of constant evolution, as dormancy breeds bad personal habits and business practices. Implementing changes that need to be made as a result of your self-reflection and business assessments can at first seem overwhelming. While it’s hard to make a lot of improvements at once, it’s good to have a strategy for implementation in place for future enhancements to your business and for yourself. These changes don’t have to be drastic in nature to make a huge difference to your lifestyle and brand. Lifestyle changes that you can implement can be as

5 Ways to Know It’s Time to Hire

May 10, 2022

Short of starting your inspection company, hiring your first employee is the biggest step you’ll take as a small business owner. It can be tough to know who to hire, but surprisingly, it can be even tougher to know when to hire. Here are a few telltale signs it’s time to make a plan and make the move to grow your team. 1. You’re turning down work.You’ve poured your energy into building relationships and expanding your network, and now all that hard work is paying off in spades: you’re booked out for a couple of weeks! If this scenario sounds familiar, remember that this is only the start of the busiest season for us inspectors. You’re going to want a team member who can help you book more inspections and share the workload. 2. You have an exciting opportunity to expand your services.The perfect opportunity for a new add-on service has presented itself, and anytime you mention it to others working in your local real estate market, they get just as excited as you. That rare untapped need has been identified, and it’s time to spring into action. But as bookkeeper/marketer/inspector/report-writer, (I could go on!), you’re already feeling pulled in

National Property Inspections Franchisee Spotlight: Cory Anderson

April 19, 2022

National Property Inspections’ Franchisee Spotlight recognizes our most innovative and successful NPI and GPI franchises. By sharing their stories, helpful tips and lessons learned, every franchisee can learn what it takes to grow their business. We’re proud to feature our reigning 2021 Franchise of the Year, Cory Anderson of NPI East Tennessee. After purchasing an existing franchise in 2017 in Knoxville, TN, Cory and his team have been on an upward trajectory that’s landed him in the top four percent of our organization. He’s also recently expanded to cover both Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities area. Tell us about yourself! What was your previous career, and how did you come to NPI?Cory Anderson: I have an agricultural technology degree from the University of Tennessee and worked in the agricultural field for about 7 years prior to coming to NPI. During my agricultural career, my wife and I purchased multiple rental homes and loved learning about and investing in real estate. Our home inspector was Steve Hancock, who started the original NPI Knoxville franchise in 1995. During our last inspection with Steve, he announced that he would be retiring and told us that we would need to find another inspector. After many

7 Tips to Lower Your Stress

March 22, 2022

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Coach Dealing with the everyday challenges of running your own business can result in high stress levels. In order to keep yourself and your business healthy, you should always be actively trying to reduce your stress. Here are some ways you can keep your cool as you operate your business. Figure out what’s stressing you. The first step in treating your stress is identifying what’s making you feel overwhelmed. Take a step back and look at everything you have to deal with in a day. Make a note of everything that makes you feel like you’re stretched thin. Knowing what’s causing your stress will help you develop better techniques to deal with it. You might even start to feel more relaxed just by pinpointing your stressors. Build a more solid schedule. It may be easier said than done to create a concrete schedule as an entrepreneur. You could have a client schedule a meeting last minute or maybe that “quick” project ends up taking longer than you thought. While you can’t predict the unexpected, developing a schedule around your typical day will help manage your stress. If you find it hard to nail down

Properly Incentivizing Your Employees for Growth

March 1, 2022

By David Stamper, NPI, Inc.’s President & CFO Your employees are the most valuable asset you have for your business. And the more motivated they are, the more productive they’ll be to help grow your business. Here are some ways you can incentivize your employees. Why Incentivizing is Important Properly rewarding your employees for their hard work is important for a number of reasons. First, it makes them feel like they are a valued member of the company. Employees that feel they are needed are more likely to contribute. That willingness to contribute also leads to better teamwork and collaboration. Overall, there’s sure to be a boost in morale when your employees feel as if they’re valued members of the team. Pay Benefits Money is a common incentive most business owners use. It can motivate both newer and longer tenured employees. You of course want to give adequate bonuses based on how long an employee has worked for you, quality of work, and likelihood they’ll stay with you. You can use either a one-time bonus or bump their salary permanently. If you can afford it, doing these annually will further motivate employees. Vacation Time As much as we may love

The Hidden Benefits of Starting Your Own Business

February 22, 2022

By Sammi Marcellus, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator There are many clear incentives to starting your own business. More free time, no pressure from a boss, and being able to make more money are just a few of the benefits that attract people the most. But there are other pros to venturing out on your own as well. Here are some of the added benefits to running your own business. Build your own self confidence. You may find that as you start to grow your business, you’ll also start growing as a person. You’ll have to break out of your comfort zone a bit and strengthen your belief in your own abilities. It’s easy to doubt if you’ll be successful, but the more you improve, the bigger boost you’ll give yourself. Soon you might notice that speaking to new people or trying new strategies isn’t as scary as before. Your clients will also notice how confident you are, and they’ll be impressed by it! Make new connections. Going on your own sometimes means leaving your old social circles. But that’s not always a bad thing. Soon, you’ll start meeting new people, whether they be clients or fellow business owners. Building a

Stop Yourself from Getting Distracted in Business

June 29, 2021

By Adam Kiesel, NPI, Inc.’s Digital Marketing Assistant One main benefit of becoming a small business owner is breaking free of the typical corporate structure. You set your own hours, make the important decisions, and continuously choose which direction you’ll head in next. However, these benefits can also quickly become challenges. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to get sidetracked and feel as though you’re stagnating. Focus on what really matters with these tips: Begin by recognizing the distractions. First, you have to recognize what’s taking up your time. While you’re going about your day, try to be more aware of what you’re doing and where your thoughts tend to take you. You might be surprised about the things that tend to steal your energy and attention. From scrolling through your phone to speculating about the reason for an unreturned email, there’s always something readily available to distract us from a goal. If you need to, write these down, along with how long or how often you tend to do them. Then be sure to note which of these is something you personally have control over. For example, you can limit mindless scrolling, but you can’t control whether someone gets back

Making Your Business Stand Out Against a Large Competitor

June 1, 2021

By Bill Erickson, NPI, Inc.’s Executive Vice President As a small business owner, you’ll be going up against competition of all sizes as you work to grow and achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. While you might have the confidence that you can take on companies closer to your size, it can be intimidating to try and tackle a larger, more established firm. But that doesn’t mean you should shy away from the challenge completely. Here’s what you can do to take on the “giants” in your industry. Get Your Name Out An easy way that you can get started with growing your business is getting your name out to as many potential clients as you can. Attend open houses, stop by real estate offices, work your social media profiles, and give out fliers or business cards advertising your name and company. For instance, a great way to spread the word about your new franchise is to attend community events. You’ll make lots of new connections and people will get to know you on a more personable level. Putting a face to your name helps break the ice with clients so that they’ll be more likely to remember you.

Building Self-Confidence to Better Your Business

April 20, 2021

“Confidence is key.” This is a phrase often quoted by the best in their field, from star athletes to business leaders. Reaching your goals often starts by forming a strong mental fortitude and believing you can accomplish anything. Yet if you tend to be more reserved and always second-guess yourself, it’s hard to develop that confidence. Recognize what makes you worried. To instill confidence in yourself, you have to start by recognizing what makes you nervous. It could be trying out a new marketing approach, performing an inspection for a new client that could lead to future referrals, or simply getting your feet wet as a rookie business owner. Situations like these are definitely stressful and can cause you to freeze up, debating with yourself what direction to go. If this happens to you frequently, then it’s time to work on bettering your mentality to charge ahead. Identify the situations that make you feel uneasy and what worries you the most. Control what you can control. The fear of the unknown is something that everyone will experience at least once in their lifetime. Intimidation about making the wrong move can cause you to not make a move at all. The

Bonding with Your Employees: Building Relationships and Making Work Fun

March 30, 2021

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Coach Your employees do so much to help build your business, and it’s a nice gesture to show them that you notice their hard work. Workers that are shown gratitude are reported to be more productive, happier, and motivated. Here are some fun ideas that you can do with your team this week to create a better workplace. Company Field Day/Office Olympics An office-wide competition day is sure to bring out your inner kid. If the weather allows, going to a park or other nearby greenspace lets you soak up some sun and get fresh air. A water balloon toss, obstacle course, or relay race are a few of the many events that you can set up. You can increase involvement and effort by offering a reward for the winning group such as a gift card. A day outing like this is a great time for everyone, and fairly inexpensive and easy to put together as well. Escape Room Another way to get out of the office is by going to an escape room. They’re an amusing challenge that also improves employee relationships. They teach cooperation and problem-solving, which translate back to working together

Family-Owned Business: How to Work With and Manage Family Employees

April 23, 2024

When entrepreneurs start a new business, they’re looking for ways to really hit the ground running and hasten their growth. In the inspection industry, that early grind can be difficult to navigate alone, which is why we constantly see family members step up to offer a helping hand. Whether it’s as a marketer, a bookkeeper, or another pair of hands on an inspection, it can be a great benefit to partner with a spouse, sibling, in-law, or child early on who can offer a bit more flexibility than a typical employee. Family members can be an asset to businesses after seeing some growth as well, once extra help is needed to handle increased demand. Whatever the situation, the opportunity to hire family will likely come up at some point as a business owner, but some might not be prepared for the complex factors that go into this unique dynamic. From the vantage point of home inspection franchisors, we’ve seen family members work extremely well as employees, and we’ve also seen situations where it hasn’t gone so well. If you’re thinking about starting or expanding your business with a family member, here are some things to consider so that you can

Do Women Make Good Home Inspectors? Insights From Females in the Industry

April 9, 2024

March is International Women’s Month, and we’re taking a moment to celebrate a few of our amazing female inspectors who are helping transform the industry. We had a chance to ask them all about their experience, from what it’s like to work in a male-dominated field to what they love most about completing inspections and helping clients. Get to know Savannah Guenther, Ashley Brown, and Susan D’Andrea, and be sure to give them a shoutout if you see them around. Thank you for sharing, ladies – keep up the brilliant work! Q: As a female inspector, what are some unique benefits or challenges that you face in our industry? How do you overcome them?Savannah: I would say that one unique benefit is being able to help female REALTORs who may be working an open house or event by themselves feel more comfortable. Women feel a bit more at ease with another woman one-on-one than they might with a man they may not know very well. I’ve found that we can have an easy conversation; they’re inclined to share more about their work and background, and they’re more open to listening to what I have to say. The challenges of working

How to Overcome Being Told “No” as an Entrepreneur

March 12, 2024

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing & Business Coach The most successful entrepreneurs are self-motivated, innovative, and ambitious. Their minds are focused on expanding their services, broadening their territories, and putting a stamp on their industry that will effect positive change. New business owners rarely imagine hearing the word, “No.” But the hard truth is, rejection in any sales endeavor is inevitable, and it will happen more often than many expect. Every small business owner needs to develop sales skills if they want to achieve their aspirations, and the first (and maybe most important) sales skill to learn is how to handle the word, “No.” To get started on becoming a salesperson extraordinaire, here are a few truths to keep in mind! Understand What “No” Really Means in SalesOften, when people face rejection after giving a “sales pitch,” it can be natural to take that rejection personally. But in reality, rejection is almost never personal. In sales, a “no” can mean many different things, and this is only rarely related to your delivery. Here are a few common translations for the word, “no,” in sales: “I don’t understand.”The first common translation for an unsuccessful pitch is that the concept of

Print Marketing 101: 6 Types of Marketing Collateral and When to Use Them

March 5, 2024

By Melisa Rana, NPI, Inc.’s Graphic Designer Across industries, experienced marketers know how important it is to practice omni-channel marketing to find success and grow consistently. This means finding your audience wherever they are and delivering your message to them in many different ways. Businesses that rely only on digital marketing will begin to feel impersonal and distant, while marketers who focus solely on in-person interactions spread themselves too thin and miss out on opportunities to stay top of mind. The most effective marketing plans employ multiple campaigns and various diverse strategies to foster business, ongoing referrals, and loyalty with their key customers. Because of this, no business should expect to reach their long-term goals consistently without a selection of well-designed, attention-grabbing marketing collateral. From posters to brochures, flyers, and door hangers, it can sometimes feel like there is an endless list of potential physical marketing materials to invest in. But to achieve the best possible return on investment, it’s important to understand how each material differs and in which situations they excel. With all that said, let’s discuss some of the most popular and effective print marketing materials, and when to use them! Brochures Pack a Big Punch in

From Startups to Industry Veterans: Why You Should Write A Business Plan

February 27, 2024

By Sammi Marcellus, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator When launching a new business, entrepreneurs embark on a demanding journey, defining goals, charting growth plans, and strategizing execution. A business plan condenses these key elements into a streamlined document for investors to assess. While securing funding often necessitates a business plan, even established businesses benefit from revisiting and updating theirs. Let’s delve into what a business plan is, how to write one, and how each section empowers seasoned entrepreneurs to achieve their ambitions. Understanding the Business PlanThe format of a business plan varies depending on its purpose. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), a valuable resource for new business owners seeking funding, outlines two main types: Lean Startup Plan: This concise, one- or two-page document provides a bird’s eye view of a business’s purpose and goals. It might not suffice for securing funding, but serves as a vital tool for entrepreneurs to revisit their goals and adapt their strategies as needed. Traditional Business Plan: This comprehensive document dives deep into each facet of the proposed business. While requiring more effort, the detailed information and commitment to crafting it instill confidence in investors and provides clear direction for the entrepreneur. Notably, the information

National Property Inspections, Inc. is Now Part of the Co-operators Family

February 20, 2024

We at National Property Inspections, Inc. are proud to announce our organization, along with Carson Dunlop, have been acquired by Co-operators Group Limited. With aligned goals of serving homeowners and communities, NPI is excited for this expanded reach throughout North America and the opportunity to further innovate the property inspection industry. “In Co-operators, we have found an ideal partner that brings a wealth of experience, relationships, and resources to drive growth and long-term value for our stakeholders. Our core values are in sync, and Co-operators’ long-term vision uniquely positions us to effectively scale our network and help us live our purpose: to better the lives of homeowners.” – Craig Rowsell, CEO of Carson Dunlop and National Property Inspections, Inc. Co-operators was originally founded to provide coverage for farmers who couldn’t find protection elsewhere. Today, the organization has grown to become one of Canada’s leading financial services cooperatives, with a focus on multi-line insurance, wealth management, and brokerage operations. With Co-operators, National Property Inspections, Inc. and Carson Dunlop are looking forward to continuing our mission in serving homeowners and investors throughout their post-purchase story, with Honesty, Integrity, and Professionalism. Combining our commitment to keeping homeowners informed with Co-operators’ assistance to families

Boosting Conversions and Improving ROI with Call Tracking

February 13, 2024

By Sydney Bailey, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Director As small businesses grow, marketing often becomes a more complex endeavor with leads flowing in from many different campaigns and platforms. To find out whether a marketing campaign is cost effective, it’s crucial to track the cost for each lead and each conversion—but how is this tracking accomplished? For digital marketing, tracking a lead is fairly straightforward. Thanks to cookies and analytics, businesses can know which marketing campaign a lead interacted with to land on their website. But other lead generation avenues aren’t so simple. Many customers still prefer to call service-based businesses to gather more information before making their final decision. Learning how to convert a lead over the phone is an art in itself, but it can be difficult to quantify a lead’s analytics from a phone call. For entrepreneurs that receive a lot of their business through inbound phone calls, capturing valuable information about which marketing campaigns are pulling their weight—and which ones aren’t—can be tough, but it’s essential when it comes to optimizing an advertising budget. Today, let’s discuss the best solution to this issue: call tracking. What is Call Tracking, and How Does It Work?Call tracking helps determine

Franchise Financing: Starting a Small Business with an SBA Loan

February 6, 2024

By Sammi Marcellus, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator Every great journey starts with the right tools, and for most entrepreneurs, that key tool is financing. While self-starting hustle and innovation are essential, even the best business plan can stall without capital. This is where SBA loans come in. Acquiring a loan through the SBA can be a great option for small business owners looking for that initial capital needed to franchise or otherwise start their business venture. To better understand if an SBA loan is right for you, let’s discuss some of the essentials. What is an SBA loan?An SBA loan is a specialized loan provided by partners of the US Small Business Administration. For entrepreneurs that have exhausted other options, an SBA loan can be the answer they’ve been looking for to cover the early costs needed to start a new business or expand their business. SBA loans are a great option for many because of their lower rates and the option of long repayment periods, but not all SBA loans are the same. It’s also not a guarantee that everyone gets approved for their desired loan. SBA loans vary from person to person in part because the SBA doesn’t