Today we’d like to introduce you to Idwin Perez.
Hi Idwin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I worked as a field assistant for the owners of a property management/development company, which included doing visual inspections on the 500 or so properties they managed but mostly involved working with them on their passion project, the Hourglass District. I loved my job; I love the Hourglass District and I love who I worked for. Unfortunately last year when the pandemic hit all things pointed to a complete collapse of property development and I was laid off. Laid off two weeks after I had gotten married! Talk about a bummer.
After about two days of feeling bad for myself, and many conversations with my wife on next steps and finances we decided that being laid off was the perfect opportunity and kick in the butt I needed to take the time to start my own business. There was no time to waste, I had a family now. My wife, Melissa, was unimaginably supportive. When I came up with the idea her response was “yeah duh, get to it”. There was no time to waste, I had a family now! She could support us as a middle school teacher and we had savings but I needed to get the ball rolling right away if we were going to pull this off.
Having been in real estate for long, in many different forms, I decided that I would start taking the classes to become a home inspector. Since I had nothing else going on, and the world was basically shut down, I spent all my time blowing through the courses and was able to get licensed fairly quickly.
I was approached by a few inspectors I knew to join their companies, with them guaranteeing that I would make 6 figures to start, but that wasn’t the point of starting a business. The freedom of choice and the correlation between how hard I work and the amount of money I make was the point. I promised myself I would never work for someone else ever again.
I’ve been steadily building the business over the last year by just being me. I work hard, I’m honest and I’m probably the friendliest inspector on the planet. I’m proud to say that just a year in I’ve already supplemented my old salary twice over and have plans to grow into a multi-city, multi-inspector firm over the next two years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think anyone who’s started a business on their own ever has it easy. I don’t think that’s what we are looking for as entrepreneurs. My challenges were mostly around mindset. I’m naturally a very shy person and I thought being an inspector where I’m mostly by myself would fit great. But what you find out when you start a business from nothing, is you are a salesperson first. I’m not an inspector, I’m a salesperson who sells inspections.
Once I started trying to sell my inspection services I quickly realized that the inspections were not what I was selling. Most inspection companies do the same thing. My product is actually ME. Being a shy person who has to sell themselves was a muscle I did not have and I had to quickly figure out how to flex. Honestly, though the company continues to grow month over month, I’m still a bit of a crap salesman trying to figure it out daily. My saving grace is once you use Cosmos I can almost always retain you as a client, because our service is really top notch.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Cosmos Inspections is a full service home inspection company. We off home inspections for the sale or purchase of a property as well as insurance inspections like 4-Point and Wind mitigation.
Most inspection companies offer similar stuff. We all have the same license and took the same licensing exam to get it. We all took courses and have done a ton of inspections. And I’d like to think most of us do a good job. What set’s Cosmos apart is our customer service. We are available, attentive, and friendly. Our products and procedures are seamless and user friendly. I genuinely like people, like to get to know them and care about protecting them and their assets. And that shows in our 5 stars google rating.
What I’m most proud of is how comfortable and confident our customers are after using our service. I had a client call me the other day from an inspection I did 6 months ago to ask me how to use something in her house, and I walked her through it. I didn’t do it for money, we got paid months ago. She didn’t even think twice about calling me, she knew I’d answer and she knew I’d help. That’s the culture I want to bring to all my clients and team members as we grow.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
That’s a hard one, honestly I had a great childhood. We weren’t rich or anything but my parents always gave me a lot of love and support. Something that comes to mind is crab hunting in Panama. I was actually born there because my father was in the army and that’s where we were stationed when I decided to bless the world with my presence. We went to the beach and stayed in this little motel. At night my dad came upstairs where all the kids were and told us we were going on an adventure. That adventure was going out to capture live crabs that roamed the area at night. At first it was terrifying. The crabs were huge and fast and I was young. My dad took the time to teach me how to grab them from behind and avoid the claws and eventually I was the crab catching king of the world. It was so fun, until the next day when I found out we were going to eat all my new friends haha.
That memory stands out because it’s my earliest memory of over coming fear. It was new and scary but I did it. The fear was all in my head and held no weight in reality.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@cosmosinspections.com
- Website: Cosmosinspections.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmosinspections/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosmosinspections
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1h_fS0Fk1qx9UbA35n1yUg
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