Agents can be your best friend, but only if they believe in the value of your service.

As a home inspector, you depend on referrals to drive more customers to your business. More customers mean more income, but that all hinges on who hands out your business cards and sings your praises. In many cases, real estate agents.

Agents are your friends, or they should be. While you can drive business with traditional and word-of-mouth advertising, few things are as influential and effective as the good word of an agent. Here’s how you can make friends with some of the most important people in the real estate industry and encourage them to recommend you to the buyers they work with.

Identify an Opening

Real estate agents are busy folks. You could walk into an office, as some inspectors do, and drop off a stack of cards. And they’ll sit alongside the stacks dropped off by other home inspectors in the area who hope for the same bit of good luck. But if you want to get an agent’s attention, you need to find the right opportunity. Real estate office sales meetings might be your “in,” but you can probably find another.

You can’t, or at least you shouldn’t expect to cut into an agent’s already hectic workday. But if you can find an opportunity when agents are together and the phone isn’t ringing, you’ll stand a better chance of having an impact. Meetings might be your very best chance at a somewhat captive audience. If that doesn’t work, think about offering up a lunch meeting where you foot the bill. Food can sometimes break down barriers when nothing else will.

Make Your Sales Pitch Meaningful

Once you have the attention of agents, you’ve got to use it wisely. It doesn’t matter how delicious those sandwiches from the local deli happen to be. If you don’t offer them an interesting discussion to support your request for handing out business cards, you’ll lose them halfway between the roast beef and potato chips.

Develop a presentation that the agents can use and share with buyers. Maybe you’ll talk about the most common home defects found in your area, complete with dramatic images that show duct tape around a drain line or chimney that’s clogged with creosote. Or maybe you’ll focus on one important element of a home inspection and offer talking points for the agents to use with their clients. It doesn’t matter what you present. What matters is that you make it useful and memorable for the agent.

There’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn once in a while.

Don’t Fear Self-Promotion

While you’ve got the attention of agents, that’s the time to explain why your home inspecting business helps them protect their clients. Show the benefit for everyone involved. Explain how you are experienced in spotting defects that many other inspectors miss. And demonstrate the risk that buyers take on if they’re uninformed.

Give out small-size cards or brochures with talking points on one side and your business contact information on the other. Make it easy for agents to help you. Self-promotion can feel uncomfortable, but no one else will do it for you. At least not unless you take the first step. The important part is giving agents a reason to listen, and another reason to pass on the word to clients.

Some agents have home inspectors that they’ve worked with for years. Those are relationships that develop over time, but they all started somewhere. Chances are it wasn’t from the inspector meekly darting into an office and dropping off a stack of business cards on an etagere. Create a great pitch, give them something to think about, and watch the referrals start rolling in.

Maybe it’s time to earn your living doing something that makes you happy.

Is a Career Change Right for You?

Sometimes the path that you’re on just feels wrong. Maybe the pay is okay, but the work leaves you feeling hollow. Or maybe you like what you do, but you’d also like more control over what you earn. Forbes offers up a few earmarks of a career path that’s in need of revamping:

Each of these indicators boils down to one thing: your job no longer fits the life that you want to lead. That feeling of restlessness and the lack of fulfillment might not be a plateau or a temporary stage. Maybe it means that your path is due for a sharp right turn.

A year from now, you could be wrestling with the same decisions, or you could be a year into your new career.

If Not Now, When?

There’s an old saying that goes, “Better the devil you know than the one that you don’t.” Even if you know that it’s time to do something important for yourself and your career, it’s not always easy to make that leap. In fact, leaving what’s known, even if it’s not exactly pleasant, can be downright scary. But every day that you wait is a day that you haven’t moved ahead.

Steve explains that home inspectors who have committed to making a change from an unfulfilling career email him regularly to tell their stories. Overwhelmingly, those stories are positive.

A new office space away from room gives you room to spread out and grow your business ever bigger.

If you’re like most home inspectors, you began your career working from a home office. But there might come a point where you need a little more space. A home office is a great setup that saves you money in those important early years. But if you’ve outgrown the kitchen table or just want a more professional location, here’s how to find and set up a great home inspection office for the first time.

Finding Office Space

An easy way to find an office rental is with the help of a real estate agent. Agents have access to commercial properties, and can pinpoint vacant offices near your home or an area where you prefer. If you don’t want to involve an agent, you’ll need to scout the area on your own. Check online classifieds for office space, and take a drive around to see if you can spot any rental signs.

Because your office isn’t a retail store the needs drive-by traffic, the location isn’t as important. That can save some money on your lease. If possible, choose a 6-month least at first. Entrepreneur says that a shorter lease gives you an out in case you find that you’d rather go back to working from home.

Furnishing Your New Office

Most offices need some similar equipment. Of course, you’ll need a computer, and you’ll also want a printer, scanner and copier or one machine that does all three. A shredder is also a good idea. And although you probably use your cell for work calls, think about investing in an office phone.

As for furniture, you’ll need a sturdy desk, chair, at least one filing cabinet and a storage cabinet. A table and chairs are great for when visitors come in. If you’ll hire a receptionist or secretary right away, that space will also need much of the same equipment and furniture. And don’t forget about a refrigerator, even if it’s a micro-size model. You can find equipment and furniture new at retail office supply stores, but great bargains are found through eBay, Craigslist ads, and classifieds.

Moving into a new office is tangible evidence that your hard work as a home inspector is paying off.

Gathering Office Supplies

If you haven’t shopped for office supplies before, you might be surprised to learn how many different varieties are available. For your first-time shopping list, you might need:

Getting Business Insurance

You already have some insurance coverage, such as your E&O policy. But when you move into new office, you’ll probably need more. Some of it protects your office furniture, equipment, and supplies. And some protects anyone who might get injured on site. You never know who might trip walking in the door.

Here’s a list of possible insurance coverage that The Hartford recommends for small business owners. Your insurance agent will explain which ones apply to your situation:

Be sure to call your city and county to learn about any special business licensing requirements for office spaces. And check with your local cable, Internet and phone providers, as commercial lines are usually billed at different rates.

Once you have all of this in order, you’ll be ready to have the utilities turned on, change your business address, move in and start this exciting new phase of your professional life.

Home inspectors often begin small, and then grow over time. It’s a perfect business to start from home because you don’t really need an office until you want to expand.

Attend school at your kitchen table? People do it every day.

Here are 5 habits that can help you be among the ones who don’t just complete an online course, but really thrive.

#1: Learn Your Technical Requirements Early

You’re all set and ready to begin class, but then you learn too soon that you need software updates or you lack a skill that the course requires. That’s a recipe for major frustration, and you can avoid it by learning those things in advance. Check your computer to ensure system compatibility with the education program’s requirements. And if your computer skills are rusty hone them before you dive into a course.

#2: Set a Study Schedule

#3: Create a Learning Area

You’ve probably seen commercials where online students work during a commute and on their lunch breaks. That’s possible, of course, but carving out a solitary, quiet place to study can help with concentration and retention. It should be comfortable, and as free from distractions as possible.

#4: Keep Your Materials Organized

There’s no need to stay confused when help is within reach.

#5: Ask for Help When You Need It

Online learning requires discipline, organization and a commitment to succeed. There’s no one looking over your shoulder. And because it’s self-paced, you won’t have the same types of deadlines that a different school might. That freedom helps people from practically all walks of life get an education in home inspecting. But it can also encourage bad habits. Stop them before they have a chance to start. That’s your greatest chance at success.

If you’ve heard about the Internet of Things or IOT, you might have more questions than answers. In short, the concept is all about living in a wirelessly connected home where electronic objects such as thermostats, televisions and even kitchen appliances are accessible and controllable through a device, such as a smartphone or a hub.

Smart technology appears to be the way of the future. Little by little, technology that was unheard of just a decade ago is becoming commonplace. Here’s what a smart house is capable of now and where tech advances might take us in the years to come.

Home automation is casually known as the “smart home.” And much of the technology is readily available. Some concepts that were once the stuff of the billionaire superhero, Bruce Wayne / Batman, residence are popping up in ordinary suburban houses. Things like heating and cooling that can learn the resident’s preferences and habits are available now at retail. And futuristic ideas like separate water pressure and temperature settings for everyone in the house are something that any plumber can install.

Homes are getting smarter, and technology is growing more sophisticated. Manual operation of devices and appliances in the home is gradually becoming something like a corded telephone. It still works, but it’s only a matter of time before it’s more quaint than desirable.

Technology advances happen for one reason: to make something better. In the case of the IOT, it’s to help conserve natural resources, make life more comfortable and improve safety and convenience. That’s a tall order, but many of the products on the market work as advertised.

One of the most famous devices is the Nest learning thermostat. The online tech magazine, CNET, ranks it at four and a half stars out of five. After installation, Nest sensors in the home understand which rooms are occupied, when the family sleeps and wakes and other occupancy habits. Using that data, it gradually creates a heating and cooling schedule that cuts back on use when it’s not needed. And when a manual adjustment is needed, it’s as close as a smartphone.

In addition to smart thermostats, and there are others besides Nest, homeowners have several smart home gadgets to consider. Amazon Echo is a smart home hub that can play music, adjust lighting, control HVAC, play an audiobook and much more. And as far back as 2014, Consumer Reports explained that the IOT had expanded to include smoke detectors, kitchen appliances, washers and dryers, alarm systems and exterior door locks. Now you can turn off the coffee pot from work if you forgot about it, and unlock the front door hands-free.

Life isn’t all grand, though. Some consumers are skeptical about a fully connected home, said Inc. magazine. Some have expressed concern about hackers gaining access to the home’s devices. But more are worried about what a smart home knows about its residents and who can access that private information. Every pro has at least one con.

With Nest, particularly, energy savings is a measurable benefit. The company claims that users can save 10-15 percent on heating and cooling. With other smart home devices, the perceived benefits depend on the appeal of automation in any form. Some homeowners might love the idea of using smart lighting that can be adjusted or turned off from anywhere. But some might view the installation and equipment expense as unnecessary.

As technology gets better, integration is expected to grow, says CNBC. How fast and how thoroughly communities across America become smart home communities remains in the hands of the technology, itself. It wasn’t long ago that a home computer was nothing but an extravagance that no one really needed. Imagine life with one now.