Building Your Business Ep. 34: Shawn Mizell, Rebrand and Level Up

CCPIA (00:00)
take it a couple of minutes and be in with us.

Inspector Shawn (00:04)
No problem, man. I’m happy to be here. Thanks for the invite.

CCPIA (00:08)
Yeah, it’s, ⁓ we really probably never met until a few weeks ago when we got to spend some time in California.

Inspector Shawn (00:19)
Yeah,

because Dallas we met in Dallas, but it was like just a short like, hey you, hey you.

CCPIA (00:26)
Yeah, yeah, not really. Yeah. Oh, I guess, I guess we did. I think we were at a, we were at a sports bar, uh, you know, for, a couple of minutes before I got, I got pulled away. Um, I always like to start. mean, this is building your business, uh, for gosh sakes. Uh, what drew you into being a home inspector?

Inspector Shawn (00:50)
So I actually was in mortgages. And I did mortgages for, I think, four years. And that was my first real estate job. Before that, I was in cable installs and I was a master installer where I hung entertainment centers, TVs. I did installs for like New York Yankee players and stuff. And I really enjoyed that type of work. But I was chasing more money and I got into mortgages.

And realized I absolutely hated sitting at a computer like with with an absolute passion and through mortgages I met a home inspector and he was like, well, I need another guy. You want to come ride with me and see what it’s like. And that was six and a half years ago. I wrote with him for one week, put my two weeks notice in the week after that. And I was a home inspector maybe three weeks after that.

CCPIA (01:44)
And you’ve been doing or performing, I say doing, you’ve always performed commercial inspections, know, in tangent with doing home inspections, correct?

Inspector Shawn (01:56)
Pretty

much. got my commercial certification through InterNACHI when they were offering it, I think four and a half years ago. I had a memory pop up on my Facebook and it was like, hey guys, I’m doing my first commercial inspection and I think it about four and a half years ago.

CCPIA (02:12)
So did you do it just like you did home inspections or did you do it like it was something different?

Inspector Shawn (02:20)
In full transparency, it was just like a home inspection and it was very much a fake it till I make it kind of When I went through the InterNACHI training, which I’m a huge fan of InterNACHI, I’m a member, their commercial training, when I finished it I was like, I kind of feel like I’m right where I was before I started.

CCPIA (02:28)
Excellent.

Yeah, yeah. You just, you just sat through our three day introduction to commercial property inspections in Los Angeles. And what I got a tremendous kick out of Sean is the very next week after you were there, you did a true commercial building. How was your mindset different after taking the class than it was?

before you took the

Inspector Shawn (03:14)
It was a complete 180. Like there couldn’t have been anything like me doing my commercials. I’ve done two commercial buildings since since that class and I have another one on Monday.

CCPIA (03:27)
All right.

Inspector Shawn (03:28)
going

into all of these with a completely different mindset now. Even my reports are different, how I communicate with my clients are as different. The inspection part I wouldn’t say is completely different other than the fact that I have way more confidence now.

CCPIA (03:45)
How so is your communication different?

Inspector Shawn (03:47)
Okay, so I was communicating with these investors ⁓ the same way I talk to people who are buying homes, who are sometimes first time home buyers or, you know, people who just aren’t connected to real estate. And in your class, you really hammer the point that you’re talking to educated people. And when I upped, I upped my price based on what I learned and I quoted more accurately.

my client didn’t even blink an eye. And when I communicated with him on what his needs were and what I’m willing, you know what I’m doing through the com stop, he was, he was, I was talking to an equal rather than educating someone who doesn’t know anything about anything. So it just, yeah.

CCPIA (04:34)
That’s neat to hear.

Inspector Shawn (04:36)
Yeah, ⁓ it felt great. It was completely different from every conversation I had before the class.

CCPIA (04:44)
It’s, it’s, it’s, know, I, and this is going to sound terrible, but it’s like putting big boy pants on, right? It’s, it’s like everything has changed in my demeanor, my conversation and my, and my presentation.

Inspector Shawn (04:50)
Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. And in fact, the one I’m doing on Monday, I did more of what you taught in class. I did not give them a quote on the phone. I asked them for what they’re looking for, what their concerns are, what building are they currently in, and what are they hoping to accomplish with their new building? And then I said, I’m going to go do some research, put some quotes together based on what your needs are, and I’m going get back to you tomorrow. I’ve never done that before.

And it felt so professional because I actually did like I looked up the history of the building. I looked at permits. I want on Google Maps. I looked on Google Maps. Like this is the most prepared I’ve ever been for an inspection and I’ll be able to quote. Very accurately based on the work I’m going to be providing.

CCPIA (05:45)
And that process is reproducible now on every inspection, correct?

Inspector Shawn (05:51)
absolutely.

Yep.

CCPIA (05:54)
Now, we’re talking and earlier we talked with our new, my new mutual friend of yours. and Brent have been friends for a while and we’re doing this as a tandem conversation. You’ve been in the creation world for internet content for a little while now.

How do you see being a creator helping you with your commercial world?

Inspector Shawn (06:29)
I think I think it’s going to help bridge the gap between inspectors and realist commercial real estate brokers because they’re in a whole nother way. We’re connecting to residential realtors and the commercial realtors that I’ve been connecting with in the past few weeks. ⁓ One of them directly through my content. And it was because my my content was directly centered around the retail

CCPIA (06:55)
Excellent.

Inspector Shawn (06:59)
inspection I did last week and I’m able to talk more intelligently about the commercial process. I talked about the safety items, the parking lot, like I was able to add more things into my content that I don’t normally do. Must have struck something with this commercial realtor because he reached out to me directly immediately after he saw my video. And then I’ve had I had a guy call me today. He’s a banker for commercial and he saw one of my videos. So he called me and he’s like.

I got all these questions, so he wants to sit down and have a cup of coffee to see how I can help his clients when he’s, ⁓ you know, lending.

CCPIA (07:36)
Yes. Well, what many don’t understand is that commercial loans, while they might be a 30 year note, right? They’re renegotiated every five years. So every five years, you got to go back and sit with your banker. And so boy, what a contact you made. if you can, it’s like doing new home, new realtor seminars.

Inspector Shawn (07:49)
Mm-hmm.

CCPIA (08:05)
If you can grow your referral base from seed, they’re a lot more likely to be with you for the long term.

Inspector Shawn (08:14)
Absolutely, Yep.

CCPIA (08:16)
I love that. ⁓ Are you looking to in your content creation shot? Are you looking to specifically start designing just commercial content now?

Inspector Shawn (08:30)
So one of the most exciting things that happened to me during your class, and it was actually while you were teaching, is I went on a brain dump. Because you kind of unlock some doors in my head that I didn’t, you know, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. And you connected dots in my head. And it was funny because Brent kept elbowing me, because he was sitting next to me, like, pay attention. But I couldn’t help it. I had all these ideas. I think I filled out seven pages in my notebook.

And I’ve already put them into into play. ⁓ And that’s tying into what you’re saying is I’m rebranding. And so I’m going to be running two completely different brands now. I’m going to be running my home inspection content, which can be a lot more entertaining and loose and casual. And I can clown around and be silly. And then I’m going to have a completely different approach to my commercial content where I want to put.

I’m always going to be somewhat silly because it’s my personality, but I’m going to put more like, hey, I’m a boss and I know what I’m talking about. And, you know, this is why you need me. This is why you should not buy, you know, this million dollar building without me. And so it’s going to be more. Yeah, so I’m going to have like different logos, different names. I’ve completely rebranded my entire approach.

CCPIA (09:39)
Yeah, and bosses with all big letters too.

It’s funny when you talk about brain dump, I think of the musician Willie Nelson who, I guess I don’t have enough to say the musician Willie Nelson because I don’t think there’s a soul in the world that doesn’t know who is. He used to talk about whenever he had a block, you know, he couldn’t write or couldn’t do something or something was stuck, he’d go take a drive in his truck. Because as you’re driving, you’re concentrating on

the gas pedal and the steering wheel and the road and your brain detaches. And all of a sudden you get ideas or I’ll call them a shaving moment or I was taking a shower and this popped in my head because when you’re doing this or you’re doing this, you’re not thinking any longer. And so maybe that cathartic opportunity of two and a half.

Inspector Shawn (10:24)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

CCPIA (10:45)
days of sitting in a hotel taking notes was able to divorce your brain.

Inspector Shawn (10:52)
Yeah,

yeah, because what I I learned from your class was I was teaching commercial. I was approaching commercial like another service. So I do mold. I do, you know, foundation certifications. I do commercial. It’s just another service that I offer. Yeah, exactly. And then I realized I need to completely break that. And so like the guy that I’m talking to for my Monday inspection, my emails do not say anything about home inspection.

CCPIA (11:09)
It’s an end.

Inspector Shawn (11:20)
My don’t I change my domain. I change. made new shirts. I got hats on the way and it every yet. It’s a completely different brand. And and so it’s just like, you know, that that idea all came together when I was listening to you and I was like, I I need to not be a home inspector when I’m approaching these big commercial investors like I didn’t think about that. And then you said in your class and I was like, oh, my gosh, like I think my

CCPIA (11:27)
Awesome.

Inspector Shawn (11:48)
My email literally says, my-thel-home inspections. You no one’s going to take me seriously.

CCPIA (11:55)
And I would bet after this conversation, your home inspections will be worn with your hat backwards and your commercial inspections will be worn with your hat forwards.

Inspector Shawn (12:05)
You got

it. Yep.

CCPIA (12:09)
And that will be that I am changing. know, I am now, you know, the hat analogy is my favorite analogy to use. And I’ve used it for, again, I’m a few generations older, but I’ve used it for years of, as soon as you change your hat, you’re a new person. wear, firefighters have a specific hat. Police officers have a specific hat. Bus drivers have a specific hat.

inspectors wear a specific hat. And as soon as you change hats, when you were a little kid in preschool, they had a hat box for that reason. I love it. When you said I bought new hats, I’m going, I see that in my head. When we went through the class and had all that stuff going on,

Inspector Shawn (12:51)
Yeah, I

CCPIA (13:09)
for the three day introduction class. How did you feel like the content was? Was it too high, too low, just right?

Inspector Shawn (13:21)
felt, I’m just being completely honest, when I sit down, if I go sometimes, like today, I had so much, I had three full inspections today. I had no time to eat. So as of right now, I have not had anything to eat. And when I go out to dinner with my wife tonight and they put a ribeye in front of me and I cannot wait to devour that steak, that’s how I felt in the class. Because you were hitting every single, like you don’t, like I think it’s kind of, it’s the transition from

CCPIA (13:25)
Yeah.

Inspector Shawn (13:51)
home inspector to commercial inspector, you know what your questions are. You know what you’re weak on. You know what you’re kind of BSing when you’re on site, you know, your knowledge on things and things that you have to sit there research because you’ve never seen these huge pieces of equipment. You’ve never seen these electrical panels before that has a panel inside of a panel that weighs 300 pounds. don’t know what’s going on. And when you started giving that knowledge of things that I’ve already come across in the field.

And I really wasn’t 100 % sure what I was doing and I had to sit there and research things and Google things. You were talking about all of the things in those three days, you know, because when you start talking about the panels and how certain panels we shouldn’t the comps off, we should not be taking them off because they got 15 screws on them and it weighs 50 pounds. I’ll send her laughing myself because I came across one of those at a line, a laundry mat. And I’m sitting there trying to take the dang thing off and.

I got it off, it took me forever and I finally got it off and it’s so heavy I’m like sitting there holding this thing going, what did I just do? And then I took it off and there’s another panel and I’m like, and I don’t even have the right tools to take it off and I’m looking around to see if anyone’s watching me because I’m fumbling with this thing. And then when you were like, you know, that’s not how we inspect those. This is how we inspect those. I’m like, ⁓ man, I should have, I wish I had known that six months ago. But that’s how I felt with everything you were touching on because I can know so much about home inspections.

Only half of that transitions to commercial buildings. You gotta start over with the other half. And you, you, the class had the other half of that knowledge that I was missing.

CCPIA (15:24)
⁓ A portion of the class involved the mock inspection and I wanted to touch on that. ⁓ we approached this hundred year old house of worship. It was around 9,000 square foot. What was your feeling when we first pulled into the parking lot?

Inspector Shawn (15:49)
I well honest, you know being a seasoned inspector it was anticipation Like it’s hard to sit there. I don’t like most of us are leaders in our in our own world So like I wanted to I’m like, I don’t have tools. I don’t have a ladder I want to like climb on this thing and start pulling it apart, you know, then Sitting back and watching how you methodic methodically move through the building rationalized on how you’re looking on things

CCPIA (16:01)
Yeah.

You

Inspector Shawn (16:14)
how you know not every tiny little crack in the stucco needs to be thrown in a report on a commercial building you know there’s certain things you got to take into consideration that they already know they’re going to already approach they already have guys that take care of this this is what they care about like so paying attention to those things was was the the gravy for me that I really needed to hear because I can work through a building and spend all day there and and turn out a really thorough report and and and my commercial client is going to look at my report and be like

I don’t need half this, you know? And so watching you go through and seeing you be like, this building would take me two and a half hours and another hour writing the report. I’m like, OK. So watching hearing you say that, I’m like, there is no way you can do this in two and a half hours. There’s no way. And so then watching you go through and explain how you would move through it, what you would do, what you would remember and what you would report on. I just I was just kind of sitting there just like waiting, just watching that. So it was kind of nice because

Instead of the blind leading the blind, which is what it’s like out here when me and my other home inspector buddies are doing commercial jobs and we’re kind of, no one really knows what we’re doing. So we’re all just kind of blindly leading each other, watching someone who’s been doing it for, what’d say, 25 years or something. It’s it’s finally, finally you can watch someone who knows what they’re talking about.

CCPIA (17:31)
Something like that.

It’s so you feel like it provided you with a more approachable format or plan.

Inspector Shawn (17:47)
Approachable

is definitely I so I would turn away kitchens and Medium to larger size commercial buildings before because I also don’t want to do a disservice to my clients I’m comfortable with small residential or medium residential without any exhaust ventilation You know I did I really didn’t know how to inspect kitchens And so I even turned a few commercial jobs way because I don’t want that guy to pay me and I’m not ready for the job After the class I’m ready to go tackle

CCPIA (18:00)
Sure.

Inspector Shawn (18:16)
any commercial building with confidence. Like nothing intimidates me now.

CCPIA (18:19)
Excellent. ⁓

not to put you on the spot, what would, what was your, you know, so I hear what you’re saying and I don’t know if this is a rehash because of what we’ve already talked about. What would be your biggest piece of advice that you would give somebody that’s sitting on the fence?

Inspector Shawn (18:45)
Sitting on the fence.

The biggest piece of advice that I can give is for your own life, like for the own quality of life, especially if you have kids and you’re married and you have other ambitions in life, it doesn’t make sense to not implement commercial because you can do three residential inspections a day, stay up all night doing reports and work 80, 90 hours a week until you’re so burned out that you hate inspecting. Or you can take the step to learn commercial.

and start making thousands instead of making hundreds and being able to improve your quality of life. Is one half of it because that’s my struggle. Like I’m just like I get so burned out with home inspections and the thought of being able to do half as many inspections and make more money. It’s a no brainer. And then the other side of it is if you enjoy inspecting there’s only so many residential homes you can look at before you just start getting monotonous.

And when I go to a commercial building, it’s like I get so excited because I haven’t seen this before. I haven’t climbed up in a steeple before. You know, I was doing a commercial building a few weeks ago and it was like a metal cylinder, like half cylinder. And it was like the most craziest building I’ve ever been in before. And I was like, this is so cool, you know? So it kind of refreshes your excitement of inspecting. that’s…

CCPIA (20:09)
What is an old Quonset hut? Like an old Quonset hut where it was like a giant corrugated half building.

Inspector Shawn (20:11)
What’s that?

Yes, yes.

Yep. And I had to sit there and do so much Googling because it before it was before your class. And I was up there like they had eight condensers and seven electrical panels. But even though it was intimidating, it still it keeps you interested in what you’re doing because it’s new and exciting. I don’t see any downside to. And then the other thing is and I don’t want to use negative reasons, the the residents we are every home inspector knows the residential

CCPIA (20:28)
The hook.

Inspector Shawn (20:47)
clients can make this job miserable. Like I have had people who I’ve had panic attacks because of how horrible clients are realtors. Where’s my report? Where’s my report? Where’s my report? I have two days. Where’s my report? Like commercials so much ease this guy, the commercial of billing I just did. He’s like, I got a 30 day inspection when it’s just take your time, get out there and you know, I need to report in a week or two. Mike and then when it’s time to pay paid like right away.

CCPIA (21:17)
⁓ I appreciate that. I don’t get to talk about this very often, but I, to people, but you and I share ⁓ a very common hobby is we both enjoy video games. ⁓ when we were together ⁓ talking one evening, we both shared the exact same observations that

Inspector Shawn (21:33)
yes.

CCPIA (21:47)
I spend more time as I’m playing a video game looking at textures and not the playing of the game going, that is so accurate. I ain’t going to inspect this building and not play this first person shooter game that I was playing because this is way more fun.

Inspector Shawn (21:52)
Mm-hmm.

Oh yeah, especially in Call of Duty is where I really get sucked into it. I don’t know what modelers they hired for their 3D modeling, but I’m looking at the water heater and it’s got a pressure relief valve, it’s got a discharge pipe, it’s got a gas service line with exhaust lines going through the roof. I’m like, who did this much research? I’m sitting there looking at it and all of bop bop bop, and I was dead. I’m like, wait a second, I was looking at the water heater. That is not cool.

CCPIA (22:34)
The other night I was playing, I was playing, ⁓ I think I was playing Battlefield and ⁓ I’m in ⁓ a bunker slash tunnel where, you know, or a hanger and there’s some generators and there was a full ⁓ main service box with transformers and distribution and the conduit running from it. And you’re right.

And I just sat there for a minute, just literally staring at it, going, okay, I look at this and this is what I take a picture of. so, so instead of me being the, the home inspector going to other friends houses that they hate because I’m busy looking at their cracks or their, you know, their, their ductwork that’s, that’s not put in properly. Now I’m looking at video games going, I’m an inspector here now.

Inspector Shawn (23:33)
Yeah, so this actually happened to me last night. I’m going to really show my nerd card now. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for like 15 years. And they just came out with a new thing where you can build your own houses and you can move things around and customize it. And it was funny because my wife was helping me. And on the inside, I put the fireplace on the left. And then when I came outside, you can move the chimney stack around. And she’s like, it looks so much better on the right. I’m like, no, but the fireplace is on the left. It has to be on the left.

It can’t be on the right. She’s like, no one’s going to care. I’m like, I care.

CCPIA (24:02)
You

I do.

I do. Yeah, I get that. I’m in the middle of some projects and yeah, it’s, you know, some people in my household want something over here and I’m like, no, it can’t go over there. No, it needs to go there. No, if it goes over there, then this happens. And it’ll make me insane the rest of my life. So having…

Inspector Shawn (24:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

CCPIA (24:39)
Having gone through this and this beginning of your transformation into truly making a separation and not an and in your business, where do you see the commercial industry heading in the next five, 10 years, especially when we start thinking about technology and the approach?

Inspector Shawn (25:05)
I like the importance is going to catch up when I’m talking to commercial ⁓ agents. Some of them didn’t even know that you could use inspectors. They thought you still had to hire HVAC guys, electricians, and they’re like, guys, inspectors do this too? And I’ve had that response a few times now. So I think just like what happened with home inspections, we’re kind of like, you

It started to get some some momentum in the nineties and two thousand started to get more and more you know now everyone knows thanks to the social media guys out there like everyone’s educated i think the same thing’s gonna happen commercial work kind of on that birth wave. Where we can get the information out there that a commercial inspector has enough competence to protect your investment instead of paying. You know all of these trades guys and gcs and architects you know there’s there’s still there’s still place for those people. ⁓

But a lot of information can be obtained just through a commercial inspector. And I think as that as the word spreads, it’s going to become a common practice, just like residential. You know, it’s just bigger fish. I just, you know, I just see it becoming ⁓ a normal part of the transaction where maybe it wasn’t so much a normal part of the transaction before.

CCPIA (26:18)
I love hearing that. Your mouth to the world’s ears. ⁓ I’m looking forward, Sean, to live it vicariously through you. I don’t have the patience to create social media stuff. I don’t have the discipline. I know that. ⁓ I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re creating. And on top of that, I’m looking forward to seeing what you just said come to fruition.

Inspector Shawn (26:46)
Yeah, that’s and I’m even going to, you know, I know there’s different platforms for different people, too. So it might not be, you know, obviously I’m not going to find commercial ⁓ real estate agents on TikTok. You know, the people that I find on TikTok that are buying homes. ⁓ That’s that’s that’s the place for that. ⁓ Maybe LinkedIn, I think. I just started dipping my toes over there because there’s a bunch of investors over there. All the real estate agents are over there. And I’ve made some I mean, I literally just created my

LinkedIn account like two weeks ago and I’m already making connections so the content will look

CCPIA (27:20)
Well, I will say this, that every one of those TikTok viewers works someplace.

buy something and own something. And so the larger the breadth you have, the better the content is. I think it’s only gonna be ⁓ upward. ⁓

Inspector Shawn (27:35)
Mm-hmm.

CCPIA (27:53)
D-A-I-I-A-E.

Let me ask you one more question. What was your biggest surprise as you as you’ve decided in this change of the word and to the it’s going to be something in my life as a result of everything you have now known or learned. What has been your biggest surprise?

Inspector Shawn (28:21)
The biggest surprise for me is that. And so the way my brain is always working, I have so many irons in the fire all the time, I’m not so who could be a 30 year home inspector. Once I got my company established, I want to hire inspectors, I want to grow my business. And now I’m like, OK, let me get in the mold. Should I get in the mold remediation? I got my mold remediation license. And then I’m like, should I become an agent? know, like my brain’s always going in a million ways. I never considered commercial being one of those.

businesses that I can go after and after the CCPIA course in California my brain understood this isn’t an and that I put on my home inspector website. This is a new domain, new uniforms, like new standards that I follow, new customer base. And now I can go anywhere in the country and do this. Like I have been driving my wife nuts because once I get this excited about something, I could see the path. Now my brain is locked in.

And this has been my brain ever since I left California nonstop. I’ve already made my shirts. I bought one of those presses where can make shirts. I’ve already made my shirts. already got my Preston’s making my website right now. You know, I’m looking at different softwares. I mean, it was like full speed, 100 % because now this is a tangible business. The next day that I got back from California, I filled out a DBA in the state of Florida and locked down my name and ordered my business card.

That was my biggest surprise. I went to your class thinking I might learn some a few things and I’m going to make some videos. And that was it. I didn’t realize it was going to completely change the way that I perceive my own business and get me so excited. I did not expect that.

CCPIA (30:05)
you go. I’m looking forward, like I say, I’m looking forward to watching it. I’m ever so proud to be a small portion of that journey. ⁓ Thank you so much, Sean, for taking some time. I know we had a little bit of stress getting you here. ⁓ And I’m just happy that we got to spend ⁓ the last bit of time together and know that myself and the entire team at the CCPIA is in your corner.

to see you do that next step.

Inspector Shawn (30:37)
Awesome. I appreciate everything that you guys are doing and I love what you guys are building and knowing that you have that resource constantly there, the forums, the other members, you, it just, makes it a lot less scary to jump onto these huge commercial jobs.

CCPIA (30:53)
You betcha, Sean. We’ll talk to you soon.

Inspector Shawn (30:55)
Yes sir, have

a good one.