Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Building Trust: Home Inspections, Growth, and the Power of Planning with Will King

Transcript

Building Trust: Home Inspections, Growth, and the Power of Planning with Will King · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:28
  Bill Gilliland: Hi there.
• 0:29
  Bill Gilliland: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:32
  Bill Gilliland: I have got an amazing guest today.
• 0:34
  Bill Gilliland: And but first, I'm Bill Gilliland.
• 0:37
  Bill Gilliland: I am the principal and action coach, Business Growth Partners, and one of the founders and principals at the Asheville Business Summit.
• 0:44
  Bill Gilliland: But at today, we're not talking about me.
• 0:48
  Bill Gilliland: We're talking about Will.
• 0:50
  Bill Gilliland: And so I've got Will from High Side Home Inspections.
• 0:53
  Bill Gilliland: Will King, welcome to the podcast.
• 0:56
  Bill Gilliland: Tell us a little bit about Highside Home Inspections and what you do and how you do it here in our communities.
• 1:02
  Will King: Yeah.
• 1:03
  Will King: Thanks, Bill.
• 1:04
  Will King: High Side Home Inspections, we do residential home inspections for buyers and sellers, um, or even just folks that um own their own home and just want to know the kind of the status of the home, the health of the home.
• 1:19
  Will King: Um, most of what we do is for real estate transactions, but again, we can just if you just own a home and kind of want to know if there's things that need to be repaired or maintained, we we do that too.
• 1:31
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I think that's a very underutilized service.
• 1:34
  Bill Gilliland: I I know that we were at one time in in my life, we were looking at we weren't in a hurry to sell our house, but we knew we were going to move eventually.
• 1:43
  Bill Gilliland: And I mean, that that was super helpful to have a and it was another town, and a home inspector come out, just tell us everything that needed to be done, and we just did it.
• 1:53
  Bill Gilliland: And I I was amazed a lot of it, you know, I thought, man, this is gonna be, you know, tens of thousands of dollars.
• 1:59
  Bill Gilliland: And it just wasn't.
• 2:00
  Bill Gilliland: It was just a lot of little stuff to get fixed, you know, and to to make the house worth more money when we finally did list it.
• 2:08
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah.
• 2:09
  Will King: Yeah, the the best way to um get the most money for your home uh kind of over time is to do continual maintenance on it.
• 2:18
  Will King: You know, there's there's always something to do in a home, and not all of it is is huge, you know.
• 2:23
  Will King: No, no.
• 2:24
  Bill Gilliland: In fact, most of it isn't if you just do it along the way.
• 2:26
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, it's interesting.
• 2:28
  Bill Gilliland: Well, let me ask, let's talk about business a minute.
• 2:30
  Bill Gilliland: So if you had to start from square one in business, what would you do differently?
• 2:36
  Will King: I would uh do a little more research on things like marketing.
• 2:40
  Will King: Um uh you know, I I attended the Asheville Business Summit this year, and I'm doing the 30X challenge, and I would quite frankly do a lot of that stuff.
• 2:50
  Will King: Um uh I would start with the end in mind versus just kind of making my own way through it.
• 2:57
  Will King: Um and I I as I'm going through this program, I'm only on day, I don't know, what are we on, day nine or something right now?
• 3:06
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 3:07
  Will King: Um I would really start with the end in mind and then and build and build build my marketing and my business with that in mind.
• 3:18
  Will King: And it really does make it a clear picture.
• 3:21
  Will King: Yeah, perfect.
• 3:22
  Bill Gilliland: Perfect.
• 3:23
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 3:23
  Bill Gilliland: Well, a little bit selfishly.
• 3:25
  Bill Gilliland: Tell us how the 30X challenge is going and what you're getting out of that.
• 3:29
  Will King: Um, so I I just started in January.
• 3:31
  Will King: So a lot of it or some of it doesn't necessarily apply to me directly, but I can see how it will in the next year or two.
• 3:39
  Will King: Uh, but it's going well.
• 3:40
  Will King: Um, I've already kind of changed the way I do marketing, um, or or I'm making a plan of how I change the way I do marketing.
• 3:48
  Will King: And um I've uh run run some numbers and figured out what I need to what I need to do next year to reach my goals.
• 3:56
  Will King: And so it's it's definitely worthwhile.
• 4:01
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:01
  Bill Gilliland: No, I tell people in the challenge, like, look, just make a list of all the action items.
• 4:05
  Bill Gilliland: It might be a six-year list or a three-year list.
• 4:08
  Bill Gilliland: It's not, you're not it's so much there that you know, don't you know, do the things that are critical now that you need to do to move forward.
• 4:16
  Bill Gilliland: But I think just you know, getting, like you say, begin with the end in mind, figure out the figure out the goals.
• 4:21
  Bill Gilliland: So, um so what have been some of your learnings as an owner since you started?
• 4:31
  Will King: Um wow, that's a that's a good question.
• 4:34
  Will King: Um first it's uh it's more difficult than you think, or if you don't do the planning, it's more difficult to um to market and to to get repeat business than than I initially had thought.
• 4:51
  Will King: Um there's a lot more um things in the background.
• 4:55
  Will King: It's not just home inspections when you own a business, it's uh of course, marketing and budgets and um customer contact, and it's it's it's more on the back end than I had anticipated.
• 5:11
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I think that's what happens a lot of times.
• 5:13
  Bill Gilliland: People say, well, holy cow, you know, I can I can do the tech stuff.
• 5:17
  Bill Gilliland: I, you know, whatever the technical job of the business, your case, home inspections, but I, you know, I didn't count on you know the financial and the and all you know the time that it takes to do the marketing and the sales and the you know the the whole thing.
• 5:30
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, it's great.
• 5:31
  Bill Gilliland: So what are what are this this question always cracks me up?
• 5:35
  Bill Gilliland: So what are some common misconceptions about running a business?
• 5:41
  Will King: Um that um but I guess one of them is that business will just kind of show up.
• 5:50
  Will King: And uh that that that's that's not the case.
• 5:54
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, if you build it, they will come.
• 5:55
  Bill Gilliland: It doesn't work that way, yeah.
• 5:57
  Will King: Right, not necessarily.
• 5:58
  Will King: Um I this year have spent a lot of time doing my my most of my marketing plan was just networking.
• 6:07
  Will King: And um, you know, networking's kind of like fishing.
• 6:11
  Will King: It's uh you you really never know what you're gonna get.
• 6:14
  Will King: Uh if you know, if uh if if you caught fish every time, they'd call it catching, not not fishing.
• 6:22
  Will King: So um this year I plan to put a more targeted marketing force as uh as as I plan for quarter one of next year and even the end of this year.
• 6:35
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, so being more intentional with um with the target.
• 6:39
  Bill Gilliland: But you know, sometimes it's hard to figure out who the target is until you've gone fishing a little bit.
• 6:44
  Bill Gilliland: You know, you you you gotta go to figure out where the fish are, you sometimes you have to go fishing a couple of times to figure that out.
• 6:50
  Bill Gilliland: So good on you for getting out there and seeing what network events work and which ones don't work, and you know, those kind of things.
• 6:56
  Bill Gilliland: So, what do you attribute your growth to?
• 7:00
  Will King: Um I I guess I attribute my growth mostly to my communication strategies with clients that I have currently.
• 7:10
  Will King: Um I um I I like to meet with all of my clients at the end of my inspection so I can give them a kind of a verbal summary before I hand them a report.
• 7:22
  Will King: And they seem to they seem to appreciate that.
• 7:24
  Will King: And that has um led to referrals from both agents and um and other clients just won't that I've that I've met.
• 7:35
  Bill Gilliland: I love it.
• 7:36
  Will King: Um and uh I'm reminders and questions, and I'm I'm I'm just available for for for my clients.
• 7:48
  Bill Gilliland: Love it.
• 7:49
  Bill Gilliland: Love it.
• 7:49
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, anything to get referrals.
• 7:51
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, referrals are obviously easy business or easier business, not easy, but easier.
• 7:56
  Bill Gilliland: So how do you balance like personal life and business life?
• 8:03
  Will King: Um, that's a good question.
• 8:05
  Will King: It hasn't been a great balance so far.
• 8:07
  Will King: Um, and mostly because, you know, I'm just starting.
• 8:10
  Will King: I when the phone rings, I answer it, even if it's 8 30 at night.
• 8:14
  Will King: Um and uh I have started making a so I take Mondays and I I spend that time doing personal stuff and then working directly on the business and not doing anything home inspection-wise.
• 8:30
  Will King: Um, and that has helped kind of the the work-life balance.
• 8:34
  Will King: Before I before I got into home inspections, I was in in the classroom, I was a classroom teacher, and um, I didn't do well with work-life balance at that time either.
• 8:45
  Will King: So I'm it's one of the things I'm still working on.
• 8:47
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I mean, uh balance is a tough word, right?
• 8:51
  Bill Gilliland: Right.
• 8:51
  Bill Gilliland: You know, what what does that really mean?
• 8:53
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, I, you know, and so I think you have to define what it means for you.
• 8:58
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, what's your you know, what's your system or what's your plan?
• 9:03
  Bill Gilliland: You know, the you know, in ancient times the plan was work six days and get a day off, essentially.
• 9:09
  Bill Gilliland: And so that's what the ancient scripts say.
• 9:12
  Bill Gilliland: But it's, you know, what what's your plan?
• 9:15
  Bill Gilliland: So I mean, I I think that's I think that's a good one to to to take Mondays and make it a day of for you know taking care of all the personal stuff.
• 9:22
  Bill Gilliland: Love that stuff.
• 9:24
  Bill Gilliland: So um let me give you a sort of a quick fire round, get your thoughts on it.
• 9:31
  Bill Gilliland: You know, B Epic is our acronym here, and I'll tell you, you know, I'll tell you what the act, you know, what the letters stand for, and then you just tell me a little bit about like you know, one or two sentences at most, what that what that means to you.
• 9:44
  Bill Gilliland: So the first one is B, which is bring the energy.
• 9:48
  Bill Gilliland: So what are your thoughts around bringing the energy?
• 9:51
  Will King: Um, I I mean I think as a as an owner, my energy toward how I communicate with clients and network and market and all that stuff really drives how people view me.
• 10:03
  Will King: And um, if you do if if you don't bring a positive energy, then um I feel like a positive energy is the best way to to reach people and to have them want to do business with you.
• 10:16
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, 100%.
• 10:16
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I mean, energy brings energy.
• 10:19
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, it's it so E stands for education.
• 10:24
  Will King: All right, yeah.
• 10:24
  Will King: Um in fact, I feel like that's how I set myself apart.
• 10:28
  Will King: Uh I'm a former teacher, and you know, most of what I do is bring peace of mind to either buyers or sellers, um, if if if they're you know, if they're buying a home.
• 10:41
  Will King: And part of that is education, and that's part of the reason why I I like to meet with my clients after after for a verbal summary to kind of educate them about my findings.
• 10:51
  Will King: And, you know, there's always something that needs to be fixed in a home, and it doesn't mean it's uh uh a reason not to buy it or to tear it all down or whatever.
• 11:03
  Will King: Right.
• 11:03
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I I yeah, I always think that you know really good sales is really education and allowing other people to buy.
• 11:13
  Bill Gilliland: And so um, yeah, I think that's fantastic.
• 11:16
  Bill Gilliland: So P stands for planning.
• 11:19
  Will King: Um yeah, planning certainly if you own your own business, is uh it's a super important thing as I'm learning right now.
• 11:27
  Will King: Um and if you yeah, for me, planning starts now, currently, with uh the end in mind.
• 11:34
  Will King: And then once you know your goal, you can you can get there.
• 11:37
  Will King: And without a plan, you just kind of flying in the dark.
• 11:41
  Will King: Yeah, 100%.
• 11:42
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I like it.
• 11:43
  Bill Gilliland: So I stands for inspiration.
• 11:47
  Will King: Hmm, inspiration.
• 11:49
  Will King: I guess yeah you gotta find inspiration every day to show up and do the plan.
• 11:55
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, it's not always easy.
• 11:57
  Bill Gilliland: You gotta, yeah.
• 11:58
  Bill Gilliland: So where do you find inspiration?
• 12:01
  Will King: Um I I find I guess I find inspiration in helping people and providing peace of mind.
• 12:09
  Will King: Um and and part of that is in the education of folks about their homes.
• 12:17
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, no, I love that.
• 12:18
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 12:18
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 12:19
  Will King: I feel like I'm getting some light here.
• 12:21
  Will King: Let me see if I can that better.
• 12:24
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, you look, you're looking it.
• 12:25
  Bill Gilliland: It's all right, it's all good.
• 12:27
  Bill Gilliland: It's all good here.
• 12:28
  Bill Gilliland: So the last the last and the last letter in B Epic is is is C, which is commitment.
• 12:35
  Will King: Mm-hmm.
• 12:35
  Will King: Yeah.
• 12:37
  Will King: Um it's easy to lose that commitment if you don't immediately aren't immediately successful in whatever you're doing.
• 12:45
  Will King: And you know, uh commitment is in my mind is the way to to get better at whatever it is.
• 12:52
  Will King: So you you know, just because it's hard doesn't mean you give up.
• 12:55
  Will King: Love that.
• 12:56
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love that.
• 12:57
  Bill Gilliland: Yep.
• 12:58
  Bill Gilliland: So what words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow?
• 13:06
  Will King: Um if if you have if it had if you have it in your mind that of whatever goal you have, commit to it and do it.
• 13:17
  Will King: Um if you're looking to grow, then you know, I guess I've learned it recently in the past couple weeks.
• 13:28
  Will King: Start with the end in mind and think big.
• 13:31
  Will King: And then, you know, you can you can only go as far as as as your goal is.
• 13:37
  Will King: So set your goals, set your goals high and reach them.
• 13:41
  Will King: I love that.
• 13:42
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 13:43
  Bill Gilliland: So you've got an event coming up.
• 13:45
  Bill Gilliland: Tell us about that.
• 13:47
  Will King: Um we are having a second time and first home home buyer's uh event.
• 13:54
  Will King: It's at Gaidon Brewing Company.
• 13:57
  Will King: It is on, hold on, let me make sure I get the date right.
• 14:00
  Will King: It's on November 4th from five to seven.
• 14:03
  Will King: And um we have a team of folks that uh all having to do with buying a home.
• 14:10
  Will King: Um, Trish Lucy from Ingle Volcler's Realty, um, Tapitha Scott from Home Trust Bank, and then Brandon Adams from Farm Bureau Insurance, and then myself um from High Side Home Inspections.
• 14:24
  Will King: And we're just gonna give homeowners an idea of what they can expect uh as they either buy their first home or uh maybe a second home here in Asheville.
• 14:33
  Will King: And uh ultimately we have created this team so that it's a a seamless um trend transition for for all that stuff, and you can get all the information you need for all those things.
• 14:46
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, and and look, if you're in the market, you need to come out because you got to educate yourself before you can make good decisions.
• 14:53
  Bill Gilliland: And this is a great team.
• 14:55
  Bill Gilliland: They're gonna they're just gonna give you the education you need to make an informed decision, and that's that's all you can ask for.
• 15:03
  Will King: You know, that's yeah, the the home buying process itself is and sometimes anxiety driven um and um can be scary, certainly if you're a first-time homebuyer.
• 15:14
  Will King: And having all that information in education is um it's really important.
• 15:20
  Will King: One of the things I'm gonna focus on is things that they that homeowners can or home buyers can look for as they're touring a home that would be a red flag or maybe just something that's that's kind of small.
• 15:33
  Will King: So they'll they'll have some information before they so they can make a like I said, a form decision about the about a home.
• 15:41
  Bill Gilliland: Well, you this whole team is helping people how you know buy houses or or either way, buy it or sell a house all the time.
• 15:50
  Bill Gilliland: And most people that buy houses, they're not they're only doing it a few times in their life, so uh other than investors.
• 15:59
  Bill Gilliland: So um, you know, and obviously this is going to be a great educational event.
• 16:05
  Bill Gilliland: You can come out, enjoy some beverages, and learn some stuff.
• 16:10
  Bill Gilliland: It's a it's a win-win-win for everybody.
• 16:12
  Bill Gilliland: So hey, what's the yeah, what's the next big thing for you and high side home inspections?
• 16:19
  Will King: Uh next big thing.
• 16:20
  Will King: You know, I'm um I'm I'm looking forward to um so you may or may not know, we have about eight months that is kind of the the home buying season, if you will, from March, March to October.
• 16:36
  Will King: And so as I move into kind of my slower season, I'm really focusing on next year and setting goals that are bigger than than I set for this year and uh figuring out ways to to reach them.
• 16:52
  Will King: And so I'm really focusing in on not only finishing inspections for this year or whatever uh clients need, but uh I'm really focusing in on next year.
• 17:03
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I think that's important to get ahead of uh get ahead of it, set some goals, to get some strategies in place for how you're gonna reach those goals and and go for it.
• 17:12
  Bill Gilliland: So well done.
• 17:13
  Bill Gilliland: Well done.
• 17:13
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 17:14
  Bill Gilliland: So what's the best way for someone to get a hold of you?
• 17:18
  Will King: Um, you know, you can I can call, text.
• 17:21
  Will King: Um uh my number is 828-243-3436.
• 17:26
  Will King: Uh you can reach out on our website.
• 17:29
  Will King: We have a contact page there, um, or you can email me at Will King at high sideinspections.com.
• 17:37
  Bill Gilliland: I love it.
• 17:37
  Bill Gilliland: Listen, fantastic.
• 17:38
  Bill Gilliland: Thanks for being part of our community.
• 17:41
  Bill Gilliland: Thanks for uh thanks for coming out to the summit and enjoying that.
• 17:45
  Bill Gilliland: Um uh and uh yeah, it's it's it's great to have you on there.
• 17:50
  Bill Gilliland: Appreciate all you're doing, and uh, we certainly know that you're gonna continue to be successful.
• 17:55
  Bill Gilliland: So thanks for being on the podcast.
• 17:57
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, thanks for having me, Bill.
• 17:58
  Bill Gilliland: Hey, and until next time, all the best.