Week 21 – Freedom? Yes. Free Time? Not Quite.

This week I had to get real about how I was spending my time:

I didn’t start this business to be chained to a desk. I wanted freedom—flexibility, control, the ability to take a Thursday off if I wanted to. And technically, I *have* that now. But this week was a wake-up call: just because I can do whatever I want doesn’t mean I *should*—at least not yet.

After a few too many personal errands stacked up—doctor visits, grocery runs, a random midweek hardware store trip—I realized something was off. My goals weren’t getting hit. The pipeline was thinning out. I called Curt, and as usual, he nailed it in one sentence: “The business doesn’t build itself.”

The discipline I needed (and finally faced):

We talked numbers. Forty-two Realtor meetings a month. That’s the bar. Not a suggestion—a requirement if I want the referrals, reviews, and recurring flow that build a real inspection business. And those meetings can’t come *after* errands. They have to come first.

I looked at my calendar and saw what I already knew: I’d been treating personal life like the job, and the business like the filler. Time to flip that.

The difference between owning a business and being “free”:

Here’s the truth nobody puts on the billboard: In Year One, if you feel like you have too much free time, you’re doing it wrong. A successful business *should* feel like a never-ending to-do list at the start. That’s how it grows. That’s how it survives.

Curt reminded me: there's a big difference between being a business owner and being a person with free time who occasionally does inspections. The first one builds wealth. The second one... just burns runway.

But here's the flip side—and it matters too:

If you’re hitting your numbers, staying organized, and following the systems? Then yes—cut out early for your daughter’s recital. Take your dad golfing on a Tuesday morning. That’s the *reward* for doing it right. But not the excuse to coast when the work isn’t done.

This week I started scheduling my Realtor meetings like appointments that couldn’t be moved. Because they can’t. They’re the lifeline of this business. Everything else—laundry, emails, even some inspections—comes *after* the marketing engine is fed.

How the franchise mindset helps frame this right:

The Inspections Over Coffee model gives me the systems, the scripts, the numbers. But it doesn’t give me the willpower. That’s on me. I have the tools. But like Curt said—“No one can do your push-ups for you.” That one stuck.

What I’m changing next week:

I’m blocking every morning from 8:00 to 11:00 for marketing and follow-up. No errands. No distractions. Forty-two meetings a month means about 10–12 a week. That means I need 2–3 *every single weekday*. If I’m not booking those, I’m not really building.

What I’ll repeat forever, not just this week:

Freedom is earned. It comes after consistency. When the pipeline is full, and the reviews are flowing, and the systems are humming—you can unplug. Until then? Eyes on the prize. Calls before Costco.

→ Coming up next: Week 22: Hiring Help: Admin, Marketing, or Another Inspector?

← Don’t miss how I handled a lawyer call like a pro: Week 20: First Call from a Lawyer — What Happened, What I Did

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