I started listening to The Obstacle is the Way for the second time last week. That book was written for times like these, and I recommend this book to anyone who has had their business negatively impacted by COVID-19. On second thought, I recommend the book to anyone. This book starts by saying we can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. I’ve been doing my best to respond positively to all that is happening, and to look for ways to open new doors and reach more people.
Free education for real estate agents
Tessa and I normally teach a bunch of continuing education to real estate agents all over the Twin Cities, but those have naturally been put on hold. We had a few agents ask us about offering our classes online instead, so we’re making it happen. We’re teaching these classes every Thursday morning at 9:00 am for the next 8 weeks, with classes ranges from 1 – 4 hours in length.
While a large live audience for us usually consists of around 50 people, these online classes give us the ability to teach up to 250 people at a time. We made the announcement on Friday, and our first class for this week has already filled to capacity. We had no idea these would be so popular. It’s going to take us a long time to record all of the attendees. I’m looking at the list of registered attendees right now and wondering what kind of monster I’ve created.
If you know of any Minnesota real estate agents who need more CE, they’re welcome to sign up for classes at our real estate CE page.
Free education for home inspectors
The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) is planning to offer a bunch of live webinar-style classes to home inspectors, and I’ll be teaching two of those classes. Residential Water Intrusion will be on Tuesday, 4/14 at 10:00 am, and Inspecting Old Houses on Tuesday, 4/28 at 10:00 am. These are brand new offerings from ASHI, so I don’t know where to tell you to find them just yet. I’ll update this blog post once I know.
Update: Here’s where to find these seminars: https://www.homeinspector.org/Resources-News/Upcoming-Webinars
New Minnesota Residential Code
Minnesota adopted a new state building code last week, the 2018 International Residential Code. We make a bunch of amendments to that national code and it becomes the 2020 Minnesota Residential Code. I don’t have a blog post to write about it because I didn’t see any big changes. We’re also adopting new versions of the Mechanical and Fuel Gas codes today, and I don’t yet know what changes will come with those new codes.
For a list of Minnesota building codes with a handful of links to free online versions of the codes, click here: https://www.dli.mn.gov/business/codes-and-laws/2020-minnesota-state-building-codes
Zoom meetings galore
I spend my days doing Zoom meetings. It’s good. I feel connected to people, and I have a strong support system of people all over the place. None of this “distancing” has to be social distancing. Here’s a list of tribes that I have scheduled meetings with, often several times per week:
- Family – my parents and siblings have started meeting online every Saturday night. We all share our weekly updates with each other, and we do a better job of listening to each other with this format than ever before. It’s kind of funny.
- Company – I’ve been holding impromptu company meetings every week, and I’m been jumping on team meetings within my company as well.
- Passion Church – small groups through my church have switched to online-only meetings. I currently meet with a group of men on Saturday mornings to do Every Man a Warrior, and I’ll likely start another small for people to simply get together for fellowship.
- Inspector Empire Builder – This is a business growth, leadership, and training group for home inspectors that’s focused on building your team. They could really be teaching any industry, they just happen to be focused on home inspectors. I have meetings almost every day with this group.
- Experience Leadership – I normally meet with an amazing business coach, Dr. Stephen Crawford, every week. Besides our one-on-one meetings, he has started hosting weekly “huddles” for all of his clients.
- Entrepreneurs Organization – this is a global organization with local chapters and smaller forums, consisting of small groups of tightly-knit business owners. I have a small group of five other guys that I regularly meet with.
What about home inspections?
I’ll get back to blogging about home inspections someday, but I’m trying to stay ultra-current with what’s going on in business and the world today. In the meantime, my everyday goals are to make people feel appreciated, make people smile, avoid the news, and be present with my kids.
Author: Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections
