Week 16 – Systems, Sanity, and a Coach Who Doesn’t Sugarcoat

The week I stopped winging it and started working the system:

I hit a wall this week. Not for lack of hustle—I was working hard. But I wasn’t working smart. I was running out of creative ideas. Staring at my task list. Winging my way through every day. And honestly? It was exhausting.

So I booked a call with my franchise coach. Not with a specific issue, just with a vibe: “I feel like I’m all over the place.” What I got back wasn’t a pep talk. It was a blueprint. And it changed everything.

The moment that shifted my thinking:

Midway through the call, I said something like, “I just feel like I’m guessing all the time.” And my coach replied, “You’re not here to guess. You’re here to implement. The system *is* the idea.”

That line hit me like a brick. I realized I’d been treating every week like a new puzzle to solve—when I already have the pieces. The checklist. The CRM. The outreach rhythm. The marketing assets. The scripts. The onboarding map. The systems were there. I just wasn’t fully using them.

What changed after that conversation:

I stopped trying to reinvent everything. I started with the onboarding checklist. Then the inspection prep checklist. Then my Realtor outreach tracker. I realized I had tools to track follow-ups, monitor conversion, and even template my client communication. But they don’t work if they live in a binder or a folder—they only work if I work them.

Within a day, I felt more organized. More in control. More focused. Not because I had a breakthrough idea, but because I stopped chasing one.

The deeper lesson underneath it all:

Systems aren’t just about efficiency. They’re about *emotional stability*. When you follow a process, you’re not reacting to the day—you’re leading it. That reduces stress, improves consistency, and keeps you from spiraling during slow weeks or stressful ones.

My coach also reminded me: “No system is perfect. But any system is better than no system—especially when you’re growing.”

The franchise support that made this possible:

I’m grateful I’m not out here trying to build all this from scratch. The systems I’m tapping into weren’t created in a vacuum—they were built through years of trial, error, and iteration. And now I get to use them as guardrails while I find my own rhythm. That’s the power of a good franchise system—it doesn’t just give you a product. It gives you a way to think.

What’s next: deepen the process, don’t deviate from it

I’m revisiting every part of my workflow with fresh eyes: outreach, scheduling, inspection prep, report delivery, follow-up. Where am I freelancing? Where am I skipping steps? I’m not adding new steps—I’m just committing to the ones that work.

What I’ll repeat every single week from here on out:

Work the system. Track the results. Reflect. Tweak. Repeat. I don’t need more inspiration—I need more implementation. And that’s how this thing will scale without burning me out in the process.

→ Next up: Week 17: My Favorite Types of Homes to Inspect (and Which Ones Scare Me)

← Catch my near-miss with marketing madness here: Week 15: I Almost Said Yes to the Wrong Marketing Vendor

Curious what it’s like to build your own home inspection franchise from the ground up?