Bob Elliott
10-01-2012, 08:47 AM
Detailed Review
To start off let me immediately state that I have no vested interest in Nathans services nor have I ever tried them.
I have met Nathan and he is a younger guy than most Home Inspectors but very bright and driven however other than that there's nothing more to tell.
Since this book is such a big subject let me begin.
"The Hungry Home Inspector"
Merit ?...read on
First question you may have is should you read it so to keep it simple
YES ...if you are aggressive and open to new ideas
Does it have any earth shaking news
NO
Will it help you?
Depends...and I will explain further because if you are using this gig as a retirement supplement,plan on staying single inspector,wish to stay pure basic General Home Inspection minded and do not care anything for business or not staying in the industry much longer skip it and do not waste your time.
The first thing you should know is make no mistake the book is a giant marketing piece and argument for aux services which may turn some Inspectors off but at 201 pages has enough information that forces you to think about your business plan or if you even have one.
Content
First the good
The book tells us quite accurately that most Inspectors do not have a real business plan and do not have a business owners mindset...bravo and very true.
(side bar)Lets face the facts here that many of us come from middle class contractor backgrounds and the values of business and business marketing are simply not instilled into our DNA.
Furthermore go to most association meetings and you feel like you are in a nursing home so does this not mean more opportunity for someone with a little life energy to become successful with new ideas?
Back to the book ..
The main message apart from multi-inspector firms rule (hmmm $$$$ they do) is that to separate yourself from the local comp you need something called (USP) a unique selling proposition meaning simply telling the potential client you do a good detailed inspection and produce a grand report is not enough because that is what we all say....OK good point.
(nobody claims to do a bad job)
Yes his message is that the services he offers do exactly that but read between the lines and he is correct that the more you offer a customer the more your chances to sell them on you.
This is not the place to review Nathans services however they seem legit and helpful to those using them.
Wait a minute as he also explains that the actual customer is a Agent...WHAT! yep and he is right as he goes on to explain the your customer provides the clients in a persuasive argument worth reading.
The book has me rising from my stupor and small mindset of being happy with less and may begin to start putting into practice everything on the back burner as life is short.
My perspective was to read this as a motivational manual.
Now the bad
The book is not really 201 pages as everything after page 131 is about other vendors and their services which you may or may not be interested in but does make you think about possible future offerings.
The first Chapter (17 pages) has a autobiography with a story about a light bulb socket of which I am still not sure what the point was.
Nathan says he understands Inspectors wishing to be a one person shop but spend lots of time talking up the advantages of multi-inspector firms and downplaying those who have no desire to become big business. For me this was the negative area and weakness of the book as many Inspectors are making over $100,000 all on their own and happy with what they are doing (granted a small percentage)
I have an on going poll which indicates at early results that 24 have no plans to ever become multi inspector-2 want to be -and 4 already are.
This may limit interest if the message in the book is multi-inspector firms are better and the message is sprinkled throughout.
Right in the middle of the book Nathan states that a "one man operation will never be a professional in the clients mind" (Page 66).
Reading the first chapter turned out to be a good thing as he explains that his parents looked at H.I from a pure business standpoint and of course he grew up thinking everything he heard about Sole Proprietors was correct as he was raised in a home that was a big multi-inspector company so the mindset may have been to see a guy making less as not as good or as organized thus inferior.
The book promises a chapter on Sole Proprietors that I never seemed to find.
Conclusion
The book is written for those who wish to succeed in a big way and these are the inspectors who will be glad they read it.
You may wish there was more detail such as how he actually got going with his own business (details)
The rest of you do not bother to spend the energy it takes to pick up the book.
(Nathan sees our industry from his perspective and it is up to you to cherry pick any ideas you can which makes it worth reading.)
(reprint from NACHI forum)
To start off let me immediately state that I have no vested interest in Nathans services nor have I ever tried them.
I have met Nathan and he is a younger guy than most Home Inspectors but very bright and driven however other than that there's nothing more to tell.
Since this book is such a big subject let me begin.
"The Hungry Home Inspector"
Merit ?...read on
First question you may have is should you read it so to keep it simple
YES ...if you are aggressive and open to new ideas
Does it have any earth shaking news
NO
Will it help you?
Depends...and I will explain further because if you are using this gig as a retirement supplement,plan on staying single inspector,wish to stay pure basic General Home Inspection minded and do not care anything for business or not staying in the industry much longer skip it and do not waste your time.
The first thing you should know is make no mistake the book is a giant marketing piece and argument for aux services which may turn some Inspectors off but at 201 pages has enough information that forces you to think about your business plan or if you even have one.
Content
First the good
The book tells us quite accurately that most Inspectors do not have a real business plan and do not have a business owners mindset...bravo and very true.
(side bar)Lets face the facts here that many of us come from middle class contractor backgrounds and the values of business and business marketing are simply not instilled into our DNA.
Furthermore go to most association meetings and you feel like you are in a nursing home so does this not mean more opportunity for someone with a little life energy to become successful with new ideas?
Back to the book ..
The main message apart from multi-inspector firms rule (hmmm $$$$ they do) is that to separate yourself from the local comp you need something called (USP) a unique selling proposition meaning simply telling the potential client you do a good detailed inspection and produce a grand report is not enough because that is what we all say....OK good point.
(nobody claims to do a bad job)
Yes his message is that the services he offers do exactly that but read between the lines and he is correct that the more you offer a customer the more your chances to sell them on you.
This is not the place to review Nathans services however they seem legit and helpful to those using them.
Wait a minute as he also explains that the actual customer is a Agent...WHAT! yep and he is right as he goes on to explain the your customer provides the clients in a persuasive argument worth reading.
The book has me rising from my stupor and small mindset of being happy with less and may begin to start putting into practice everything on the back burner as life is short.
My perspective was to read this as a motivational manual.
Now the bad
The book is not really 201 pages as everything after page 131 is about other vendors and their services which you may or may not be interested in but does make you think about possible future offerings.
The first Chapter (17 pages) has a autobiography with a story about a light bulb socket of which I am still not sure what the point was.
Nathan says he understands Inspectors wishing to be a one person shop but spend lots of time talking up the advantages of multi-inspector firms and downplaying those who have no desire to become big business. For me this was the negative area and weakness of the book as many Inspectors are making over $100,000 all on their own and happy with what they are doing (granted a small percentage)
I have an on going poll which indicates at early results that 24 have no plans to ever become multi inspector-2 want to be -and 4 already are.
This may limit interest if the message in the book is multi-inspector firms are better and the message is sprinkled throughout.
Right in the middle of the book Nathan states that a "one man operation will never be a professional in the clients mind" (Page 66).
Reading the first chapter turned out to be a good thing as he explains that his parents looked at H.I from a pure business standpoint and of course he grew up thinking everything he heard about Sole Proprietors was correct as he was raised in a home that was a big multi-inspector company so the mindset may have been to see a guy making less as not as good or as organized thus inferior.
The book promises a chapter on Sole Proprietors that I never seemed to find.
Conclusion
The book is written for those who wish to succeed in a big way and these are the inspectors who will be glad they read it.
You may wish there was more detail such as how he actually got going with his own business (details)
The rest of you do not bother to spend the energy it takes to pick up the book.
(Nathan sees our industry from his perspective and it is up to you to cherry pick any ideas you can which makes it worth reading.)
(reprint from NACHI forum)