PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Ian Robertson
Welcome back IT crowd. Today we have on again, Kevin Maxwell. I’m excited to have you here, Kevin. How are you?

Kevin Maxwell
I’m good, man. How are you?

Ian Robertson
Hey, not bad. Boy, we could have talked pre episode forever. I love having you on, good back and forth, local competitor and friend. Good to see you here, have you on the show. And we have a theme today of protect your most valuable asset. But before we get into that, and what it means, how have things been going for your business-wise since the last time we had you on?

Kevin Maxwell
Things have been good man, things have been good. You know, right now we’re just kind of like, doing a lot of behind the scenes work and just really just focused on operations. And we’re pushing to get license in a couple of different states that are kind of like neighboring to us. So just kind of like really trying to clean house and make sure the operations nice and tight before we kind of expand.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, and I like your plans for expansion. They are both broad and concise at the same time, you are trying to take over a big swath of the Northeast, you’ve hired new people, and you have a really solid game plan. And I’m super stoked to see how you work that out. We’re gonna see the Kevin Maxwell Empire here grow a little bit more.

Kevin Maxwell
I appreciate it, man. It’s it’s one of those things to where it’s like, you know, I get bored very easily. And I think that, you know, we’ve been, it’s about seven years in now, like by six or seven years in. And you know, I think that we have a pretty good market share right now in the capital district in the Hudson Valley area. But I think that, like we’ve had a lot of calls in Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and even in Vermont. So for me, it’s kind of like, it’s almost like, why wouldn’t we, you know, get licensed over there. And we’re going to kind of do like a little bit like, so still to our radius is two hours anyway. So we’re gonna do a two hour radius, and kind of almost do like, like Northern, you know, northern Vermont or Western Mass, like we have the different maps and stuff like that. So kind of like really like, building it out slowly over there. And just continue to kind of like, you know, build our agents, because a lot of our agents are licensed in other states too. So it just kind of makes sense for us to do it. And it’s not gonna cost us that much to make that move. It’s just really a lot more marketing and a lot more ingenuity and I get bored. So might as well kind of keep things interesting.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, I think the personality type of I get bored, if I’m not expanding or doing something is that what drives a lot of the inspection business.

Kevin Maxwell
Exactly.

Ian Robertson
Guys like you, that’s awesome. But going back to our theme today, it’s protect your most valuable asset. So this is going to be a podcast about basically our health as home inspectors. And before you turn down the dial, if you’re listening to this saying, Well, I only want to hear, you know, business stuff, or I only want to hear about hydrostatic pressure and how to evaluate it, stop for a moment and listen into this because it affects our business very directly, interestingly enough.

Kevin Maxwell
Oh 100%.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, that’s what you brought out when you brought up the subject matter. I know for me, it affected my business very directly. Because we have a very unhealthy industry. As I was saying before the podcast when I was working construction, I’m working out I’m going to work and I’m getting 20, 30,000 steps a day, and I’m just a machine, then I inspect and I’m basically a trucker that gets out every once awhile looks at an attic, you know, a lot of road time, eating a burger on your way through to try to get to the next inspection. Pizza. Yeah, we have Stewart’s around here in the Northeast.

Kevin Maxwell
Pizza. Alot of Stewart’s, man, a lot of Stewart’s.

Ian Robertson
A lot of Stewart’s. Yeah, exactly. We don’t always have the luxury, so to speak of making healthy choices. But listen in because this is an important podcast for us as an industry. So Kevin, tell us about what brought up the subject in your mind here for us today.

Kevin Maxwell
Sure. So I think that this subject is almost, it hits everybody in the inspection field. Because, you know, for me, you know, when I first kind of came in the inspection field, I felt like, you know, I was fit in some ways. So my past experience, I was a building inspector, so I worked for a local municipality around here. So I did that, but like I moved around a lot more, you know, I would expect a lot of big high rise buildings I was moving around, and then kind of like contrast that to the inspection field, to where you know, you’re at home doing a report. And then after a while, I guess before you’re in the field, you might walk a couple 100 steps in a building. But it’s a lot of drive time, you know, you’re driving around a lot to get to the inspection. At the same time, you know, you’re in the car, you’re rushing a little bit you’re gonna go to Stewart’s or Cumberland Farms, or wherever, you know, is a local convenience store. And a lot of its grab and go food, so you’re not eating the best food, but a lot of times you’re not really drinking that much water. And you know, you come back home to the house, and you know, you’re sitting in front of the laptop, you’re doing a report, and you’re eating bad food again, and the cycle kind of continues. So I think for me, you know what happened was is that I got to the point where I was, so right now I’m 220 pounds, but contrast that to before I was close to be 300 pounds. I was basically you know 80 pounds overweight, and it just got to the point where I wasn’t really, I wasn’t moving the way I wanted to. But at the same time you go to the doctor and the doctor is like hey like listen like You know, you have high blood pressure, a fatty liver, high cholesterol, low testosterone, the list kind of the list goes on, you know what I mean. And the problem is like, we have to be efficient in our when we’re in the field. But if you’re not really healthy, then you have a lot more brain fog. And you don’t have that energy, right? So you’re trying to drink more energy drinks to kind of keep up to like, the demand, and then it’s busy season. So now you’re, you’re flying all over the place, you’re grabbing more food, than it’s wintertime. So you know, it just it becomes a very kind of unhealthy kind of like atmosphere. And then before you know it, you know, you’re just like, man, like, you know, the, my, it’s hard to put this toolbelt around my waist, you know what I mean? Because I’m gaining so much weight, you know? So I think for me, I was forced to almost make a choice, like, you know, do I actually choose a healthy lifestyle? Or do I basically kind of continue to go down that path? And the problem is, is that, you know, how can you grow your business? Or have that motivation when you’re not motivated because you don’t have any energy, you know, so that’s a little bit of a pause there. But that’s kind of like the little bit of a crossroads I was in, you know, yeah.

Ian Robertson
And the spillover of good health into our business. It’s real. You know, for me, funny story, the day I decided to lose weight, you know, however, many 10, 15 years ago, when I first started inspecting, you know, same thing and it sneaks up on you, you feel good. Like I take a lot of steps, I must be walking 10,000 steps, wear a pedometer, you’d be surprised. On an inspection, you crawl in the crawlspace, you’re standing at the heating unit, you don’t, don’t really take as many steps as we might think we do want an inspection. But two years in, my belt broke. Like I’m on the field, my belt goes, ping. I’m like oh, this is embarrassing. So I had to go to Walmart and get new belt and I couldn’t wear the same size belt and like, oh, man, this is not where I want to be. So it sneaks up on us. But the brain fog is real. And we don’t realize it. It’s not just a matter of weight, but it’s a matter of, I know a home inspector that had a heart attack because he let himself go, I have a friend in the real estate industry. Sadly, years ago, he passed away from an aneurysm. Because he had a hard time with stress, he had a hard time with his health. Some people unfortunately, self medicate a little bit with alcohol. And that can lead to, it’s a central nervous system depressant. And that’s not good for us or our thought process.

Kevin Maxwell
Well, to jump in on there real quick, too. I was gonna say like, not to cut you off. But I think that’s that’s kind of what happened to me. So I think at the height of it all, our progression is actually pretty stressful. It’s very mental, you know what I mean? Yeah, so at the height of it, you know, I was like, close to 300 pounds. And for me, like, so very unhealthy. And I didn’t have healthy coping mechanisms, right. So, you know, I was kind of like, you know, I started, you know, kind of drinking a little bit to kind of try to, like, you know, balance it out, you’re gonna a lot of mixtures and stuff. And then it’s like, you know, you kind of self medicate in other different ways. And, excuse me, the problem with that is, I think, is, like you said, it’s like, it gets to a point where it’s like, almost like, you’re gonna be forced to kind of make a decision, like, you know, are you going to? Are you going to continue to stay on that path? Or are you going to make a change, and I think that’s the issue, right is our industry, you know, a lot of events and stuff like that. So now you want to have a couple of drinks. And then at the same time, you want to, you know, maybe hang out a little bit, and it gets very hard, and like you said, then you start having these health problems. And over time, it’s your almost like, if you’re not healthy, or you know, you don’t feel good, then maybe you can’t do the amount of inspections that you think you could do or at the same time where it’s busy season. So now you’re trying to do, you know, two inspections, or three inspections, or four inspections, and it gets to a point where you’re super stressed. And like you said that at that point, it gets to a point where it pushes yourself to then you know, maybe you have the aneurysm or like the high blood pressure or the heart attack. And these are all real things. You know, I think people don’t really think about in the midst of the busy season, you know. You make a great point. And that’s why it sneaks up on us because when we’re in the busy season, we’re not thinking about what her stress level is, we’ll say, Oh yeah, I feel good. I feel fine. I gotta get to the next inspection. It’s usually when we hit a wall, like, we did a podcast on inspector burnout. It’s real, you hit a wall. And then we’re like, oh, man, where’d this come from? It came from the past six months of eating junk food. Exactly. And, you know, having all this stress that we don’t think about, because, you know, people project too, like our clients, they’re all very stressed or buying a house. they’ve searched and they want this one to go well, the agents are stressed because their commission is based on this. And.. I had a rough one today, to be honest, like this one was more I did. And it was tough because the buyers were so nervous. They came with their notepads. And they’re super nervous, and they’re like, what’s this crack? What’s this? What’s that? And you know, for me personally, like I’m in a really good mental state right now. Like, I feel like I’m very sharp. I’m very on point, you know, my eating is good. I’m very, I’m sleeping eight hours a night. So I’m good. But like, if I wasn’t as sharp as I was, I don’t know how I would have got through that to be honest, or maybe after the inspection. I would have started stress eating or something like that, or I would have probably started out you know, maybe grabbed a drink early or something. And you know, now it’s like, you know, what I’m going to do, after this I’m probably gonna go on a walk or something. So I think that’s the other side of it. And I think that it’s over time. And the problem too is a lot of times we don’t have the healthy coping mechanisms, because at times as inspectors, maybe we don’t, we don’t want to maybe talk to anybody bought it, because maybe people don’t want to hear it. So now you’re kind of bottling that up. And then over time, it starts to kind of wear you down, you know, bad health, bad eating decisions, not working out, or being fit and a lot of stress. It’s kind of almost like a perfect concoction for bad things to happen. You know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, and you know, it’s funny, and maybe you could help us with some suggestions here on things we can do. Because everybody likes to say, oh, yeah, eat healthy and exercise. I remember working, there’s another home inspector in our area that’s actually, he hates being called a health coach. But he was a power lifter, and then a bodybuilder and he teaches people how to eat healthy and stuff. I thought I knew, like, oh, yeah, just eat less and exercise more. And what I was eating wasn’t as healthy as I thought it was.

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, I’ve been there.

Ian Robertson
Yeah. Right? And then the exercises I was doing, and when I was doing them weren’t as healthy as I thought they were. Because, you know, he’s like, Well, you’re doing aerobics exercises late in the evening. And that’s when your adrenal glands are supposed to be calming down. And then you’re reactivating them. And it was actually making me retain weight. And I’m like, Well, how do I know this stuff? You know? So sometimes it comes from a lack of knowledge. And I followed your journey on Facebook, you hired a personal trainer, and not that we have to go the extent that you’ve gone but personal trainer, dietitian, from what I understand, somebody helped you with your nutrition, a nutritionist, and other people to help you. Without going to the extent that you went to what are some things that you think home inspectors we can do, on even just a smaller scale to improve our health?

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, so I think here’s the thing, right? So I’m an extremist in everything I do to be honest, like, very extreme, but what I will say this, right, so LeBron James, like, this has been documented, he spends a million dollars a year on his body. And obviously, we’re not NBA players here. But like, you know, home inspectors like James Conte, who says we should eat well, you know what I mean? Or do well, and that’s in the context of making money. So if you’re making money, as a home inspector, you should be able to reinvest a certain amount of money into yourself. So I think for me, like, like, a lot of times people will say, Well, you know, I don’t need to do this or do that. But in my mind, you know, I personally wouldn’t be working out if I didn’t have a trainer, to be honest, like, so for me, like, you know, I am a very excessive. So beforehand, I did do a lot of workouts myself, but when it gets to be busy, a lot of time, a lot of things go to the wayside, you know, so working out, that gets thrown out the window, eating healthy gets thrown out the window. So I think we need to have people to hold us accountable, you know, what I mean, for our fitness and for our health. So for me, you know, I kind of challenge anybody. And I would say, if you’re, if you’re making good money, you should have a trainer, to be honest, you know what I mean? Because, for me, even if you work out two times a week, or three times a week with a trainer, you’d be surprised if you have someone to hold you accountable, and that actually kind of looks at your food and stuff, what results you can have. And you’d be surprised how just more on dial than you are, you know, so for me, you know, I would suggest or recommend any, every inspector should have a trainer, if they don’t want to do that. That’s okay. But it’s a higher chance of falling off the bandwagon. And then just saying, Oh, I’ll work out tomorrow. Oh, I’ll eat good tomorrow. But, you know, if you don’t have a trainer, you know, I would say, at least workout at least two to three times a week minimum. And if you don’t want to work out, honestly, a lot of times when I don’t work out, I’ll just walk 10,000 steps a day. And to be honest with you, that’s gonna be a 30 minute walk in the morning and a 30 minute walk at night. You know what I mean, an hour or so you know what I mean? Like, give or take, you can do 10,000 steps. You know what I mean? Just walking. So because if you walk 10,000 steps, that’s 500 calories right there, you know what I mean? So you’re still going to be healthy. But I think the easiest thing for inspectors to do is basically is packing your own food. You know what I mean, packing your own food. And at least downloading like a fitness app, you know what I mean? So they have a lot of apps, like Lose It, or like My Fitness Pal. And a lot of this stuff sounds like it’s hard to do, but it’s very easy. It is tracking some of your food. So just kind of managing your calories, and basically tracking your food and in the morning, you know, just kind of like putting lunch together, you know, so for me, it’s like, I put like some fruit in the bag. I have, you know, two bottles of water, three bottles of water. I have some jerky, and I have basically a healthy meal in the bag, you know, so basically, you know, my food is gonna be healthy. So I don’t eat on the road. I pre pack all my food every single day. It saves me time. You know when I’m on the road, but at the same time, my food is going to be clean. And what that does is it kind of puts everything for me in terms of business has to be auto pilot, if I have to think too much about it, it’s not gonna happen. You know what I mean? So whether that’s booking an inspection, autopilot, you know what I mean, I have, you know, booking, like back end staff. But when it comes to like your health, has been autopilot. And I think the problem is, a lot of times on the inspection side, we put our health last. And it’s so easy to do that. But now when it’s first you know what I mean, you don’t have to think about it, you know. So that’s kind of why I say, as an inspector, like, if you’re making good money, it’s almost to your best benefit to basically, to have a trainer or to eat good or do these different things. And I’ll kind of segue to my next point, because here’s my thing, you know, my success has exponentially increased, once I got my health, right, because beforehand, I felt lethargic, I started to feel like I didn’t want to do inspections anymore, I started feeling like I didn’t want to get out of the house, I started getting anxiety, because I’m like, when you’re not healthy, I just think it really messes with your head, you know, you start getting anxiety, you get anxious. But the minute when you actually start getting more in shape, you get more fit. It’s not only a physical thing, but it’s also a psychological boost, you have more energy. And then for me, you know, what that’s allowed me do is it actually pushed me to want to expand the business, or get back into working in the business. And then I was able to, like, you know, do different things with, you know, being featured in the news and stuff. So I just feel like for me, it’s almost like your personal growth is also subject to your professional growth. If your personal growth is going to be low, and you’re not doing anything in your personal life, you can’t expect your business to grow. You know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, and just to add some science behind what you’re saying, I follow this neuroscientist. He’s kind of famous on YouTube now, but his name’s Andrew Huberman. And he talks about basal dopamine levels. So dopamine and serotonin and all that that basically makes us happy. The average person’s dopamine levels go below below basal levels, and then extremely high. So for instance, we wake up and we feel okay. But then we go and we eat a sugary breakfast, and then caffeine. And then our dopamine levels go really high. But for every high, you have the low afterwards. So a sugar crash, essentially, it’s the same thing with eating junk food, we feel good in the moment, and then we feel like garbage later. And then what we actually do, according to him, is we lower our basal dopamine level as time goes on. So that’s why neuroscientists and you know, there’s lots of stuff involved in depression and anxiety and not saying that all of its included in that, but he does bring out that a lot of patients see marked improvement, and some even completely overcome their depression and anxiety by their dietary and lifestyle change.

Kevin Maxwell
Exactly.

Ian Robertson
So there’s a lot of science behind it. So now, if we have a basal dopamine level that’s steady, and we don’t have to give up everything, it’s not like we can never have an ice cream cone ever again, or never drink coffee.

Kevin Maxwell
Ice cream’s my favorite, man.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, right? But some simple changes can help us kind of tune that in a little bit. One thing I’ll throw out there is you packing your lunches, and Andrew Huberman always talks about the 80/20 rule. He’s like, you don’t have to do it perfectly. But make he’s like just one simple change. There’s lots of changes you can make. But if you start off with making 80% of what you eat, whole, unprocessed foods, and then 20%, okay, you want a slice of bread or whatever, fine. Make the rest of it whole, unprocessed food. He goes start from there. Are you feeling better? Cool. Now, let’s maybe add on the next step. I think that was a great way to say, this is where you can start, start with your food.

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, I think it’s all about starting small. You know, I think you got to start small. And then I think like, you gotta kind of build your way up from there. I think the thing about it is, is that most people, like especially for me, like I’m not gonna lie to you. Like our job is kind of like, if you’re really, really overweight, it’s hard to be able to walk on the roof. Yeah, you know what I mean, it’s hard if we have to climb the attic. And I remember I had that moment where I got in my attic. And I think my ladder was like, weight capacities like 250, or something, you know what I mean? And then I get on the ladder, man. And I’m like, Man, I’m pushing like, 293 man, and I’m like, bro, something has to change, the ladder’s starting to kind of move and shake and make popping sounds. And I’m like, Man, I’m kind of like on borrowed time here. You know? And I think that it’s all about competence, too. Because I think here’s the thing, when you’re confident, or how do you get competence? I think when you know, you know, you’re doing the right things, or you’re eating good food, and you’re in shape as an inspector. Like, I think like there’s one inspector out here in our industry like Joe Fasolino. You know, he was one of my teachers and stuff, and you know, he’s in shape and everything like that, too. And I just think that like I respect about Joe is, is like, you know, when you’re in shape as an inspector, I think like, here’s the thing, let’s be honest, there’s something called the halo effect. When you’re in shape or you know, your you feel good about yourself. You’re going to convey a certain aura to the agents and stuff. And I think that when you’re confident, you know, what that’s going to do is it’s going to attract more business right, because people do business with people who they know, like and trust, so they’re gonna see you, that you look, you know, appealing, you know, you’re clean, you’re, you know, everything looks good, you feel confident in yourself, that now you’re going to be bringing in more business because of that too. So I think that that’s the other thing we can’t disconnect from is that when you’re in shape, or when you’re, you know, you feel good, and you’re fit, you know, that’s another side of it, too, you know, you’re gonna feel good. And then at the same time, other people are gonna want to do business with you as well, you know, so I think that’s a whole other side of the gambit, too, to where I know, when I walk in the house, you know, I feel good about myself. And I just feel like I can convey a certain level of kind of like confidence. And I feel, I feel like I can even do my job better. Because I feel like now I’m doing my job. And I feel confident. And since I feel confident, I’m controlling the room better, you know what I mean? So now, I’m that much more sharp on inspections, you know, which then increases my level of kind of like, you know, customer satisfaction, which increases money. You know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, you know, I hesitated to bring that up before but it goes back to an episode of The Office where Dwight said, you know, you put the best looking beets out front. But it was, it’s a true statement, you know, I just had a guy come to my house to do, he was looking at it doing some epoxy flooring for me, they send a young guy in shape, you know, nice shoes, they’re not sending the guy that’s, you know, 120 pounds overweight and not taking care of himself and feels bad. You know? It, that’s just natural sales. So we don’t have to be a beautiful person to have good sales. But are we projecting the best version of ourselves? And that’s very directly related to our health. And let me ask you, you know, sometimes we’ll have people on the show you kind of remind me of Mike Ortiz. Mike Ortiz is like, yeah, I post on TikTok, like five times a day, and then I do this and I’m like, Whoa, okay, let’s level it back to something that most people can do. So let me hear your extreme version of what’s your daily or weekly routine? How many times do you work out? Tell me about it. Just lay it out there. Yeah.

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, yeah. So, it’s been an evolution to be honest, you know, so like, for me, I thought we’re gonna have like, every day of the week, like seven days, and you know, right now, it’s busy season for us, you know, kind of sorta-ish. So like, right now, I work out with my trainer three days a week. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but basically, like, during a day like this, you know, I kind of also box too, so I’ll kind of go to the boxing gym two more days of the week. So I tried to get five days a week in, but like, at minimum, I do three days a week of working out, or I’ll walk like at least 10,000 steps, or 15,000 steps on my off days. So I kind of do basically like five days a week minimum, and then I’ll kind of like switch it up a little bit. So I would say about three to five days a week. You know, three days a week is minimum. But at least for me, I have to move. So as long as I do 10,000 steps in a day. I’m still very comfortable with that, you know. And how old are you, Kevin? You mind me asking? I’m 30.

Ian Robertson
You’re 30? Okay, yeah. Okay, I thought you were a little bit older. Yeah.

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, 30 right on the nose, man.

Ian Robertson
You carry yourself a little bit older.

Kevin Maxwell
Sure, I appreciate that.

Ian Robertson
Not that you look older, you carry yourself older. For me, I’m in my 40s. So for me with a busy schedule, I don’t have a personal trainer. I’m one of those weirdos that if you give me a routine, I will stick to it. And just never, my brain will not let me skip something. Call it OCD or whatever you want. For me, I needed to find ways to give into my anti-socialness and still get a workout in. So I got I got programs, they have online programs, and you know, you do them online, and then you can just kind of do it in your own basement. For me, early morning was best, you know? Yeah. Right. So as a home inspector, coming home, and then working out as that other home inspector mentioned, the health coach said he doesn’t like to be called, he goes you workout at night. That’s okay. But you gotta keep your workout less intense. And I’m like, I want an intense workout. I want to, I want to be vomiting on the floor when I’m done. I’m like, if I don’t vomit, how do I know when I’m done with my workout? So early mornings worked out best for me, then I get things going. And a lot of guys worry well, what if I’m doing leg day and you know, I’m trying to walk around the house.

Kevin Maxwell
It’s tough, though, man. Sometimes you do leg day, man. It’s it’s kind of hard man to kind of move around. But..

Ian Robertson
It’s a real thing.

Kevin Maxwell
You kind of make it work. I would say like for most people because some guys say I work out seven days a week. For me it’s like three days a week minimum. And then if I hit five I’m happy in terms of like really lifting and stuff but like, like I’ve done research and stuff like that, like, if you’re trying to put on muscle and stuff, three days a week is like perfect for like muscle and then after that, as long as you’re kind of moving and stuff you’re in a good shape there. Some people will tell you, you gotta work out six days, seven days a week. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s like for me, it’s nice right now. So like, like Saturday, I’m gonna go on a long hike with some buddies, and we’re gonna go on a hike. So I think for me, it’s just about like staying active. The morning stuff is good. You know, it’s all depends on your schedule, but I would say just as long as you kind of like can like, this is a non negotiable, we’re gonna make it happen. You treat it like an inspection, you know what I mean? You treat like an inspection, I’m gonna get this inspection, same thing to do for yourself and you’re putting yourself first. You know, I think the biggest thing about the inspection realm is, and I think a long time ago, you said something on a podcast. And you said, basically, our life is almost like following around a current, if we’re basically in that current. And if you don’t basically kind of like know where you’re going, you’re going to pull downstream. But basically, if you’re, if you know, okay, I’m gonna go against the current, you’re gonna make it happen. So it’s so easy as inspectors to get swept into our day. So you wake up, you go, I gotta, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. And then I got two inspections, or three inspections to do, I got reports to do for me and my calendar, like I’m very, like, super like plugged in. So it’s hard dates. It’s like every week recurring calendar workouts Monday through Wednesday, I pick up the kids at this time I do this at this time. So everything is super dialed in with the calendar. So there’s no excuses, it just happens.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, you know, it’s kind of like brushing your teeth, you know, you don’t leave the house. We don’t leave the house without brushing our teeth. It’s like, Oh, I gotta brush my teeth. You don’t think oh, well, let me just leave, I’m not going to brush my teeth today. Make exercise and meal prep, like brushing your teeth. You just don’t leave the house without doing it. You sleep a lot better. Like you saying you’re sleeping eight hours a night. I always sleep better when I’m exercising. And it’s interesting. You brought out three days a week, a lot of people are like, oh, I need to work out like this. And I need to sweat it all out. It’s like, okay, let’s step back, Jenny Craig. And let’s, let’s think about this, they talk about hypertrophy, which is basically the enlarging of your muscles. It’s a hormonal reaction more than it is a mechanical reaction. It’s not just the breaking down of muscles and rebuilding. It’s the building of the muscles through human growth hormone. And the larger our muscles are and men and women both, you know, larger and more dense they are, the better our circulatory system works, the better our heart works, the more our basal dopamine levels end up being better, all of that stuff. And that happens. Bodybuilders workout, typically, three days a week. Interestingly enough, look up. If you get a chance. Maybe you’re familiar with the Geek to Freak workout. Yeah, it’s by Tim Ferriss. I don’t like him as a human being. But it’s really interesting because he breaks down what it takes to be a bodybuilder. And the bodybuilders all look at the program and they go, yeah, that’s, that’s what I do.

Kevin Maxwell
I remember back in the day, I used to drink two Red Bulls man in the morning, man, I buy two Red Bulls, breakfast sandwich, sometimes two breakfast sandwiches. And it just was like, I would feel just so sluggish man. And it’s like, now I just I have so much energy. And now I’m taking that energy and putting it back into the business. You know what I mean? And I think that’s what it has to come down to. Because it’s like, you know, for me, it’s like, if you’re not healthy or fit or, you’re not eating right or if you’re just off, How are you going to be able to really give your clients the best service? And how are we going to really be able to like to do everything we do, because our job is not for the weak, you know, we have to continue to market ourselves, do these reports in you know, a fast and everybody wants reports fast now, but back in the day, I’m sure you’ve been in the industry for so long. Before you probably could tell them I’ll get the report done in three to five days or something. Now, it’s like people want reports on site or they want reports within the day. It doesn’t stop. You know.

Ian Robertson
It’s true, the pressure is a lot higher than it used to be. I remember when I started offering reports, 24 hours, and other home inspectors laughed at me. They’re like, that’s stupid. And agents are like, really? Now it’s like you’re leaving the inspection. They’re like, Is my report there yet? I’m like, no, just like, Give me a minute. But you know, there’s some little things that we can do as inspectors. You know, if we have software, like if you’re using an Inspector Toolbelt or another software, finish your report on your phone, and walk while you’re doing it, walk around your backyard, look like a weirdo doesn’t matter.

Kevin Maxwell
Well, so that’s what I do, so honestly, to be, after I get out of here, I got two reports to do so you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go on a walk. I’m gonna have music on and probably listen to your podcasts and episodes, try to catch up. I really I listen every single podcast with this guy, man. Thanks, man. But it’s like, I’m gonna catch up on the podcast, and do the report while I’m walking. You know? So for me, it’s like, I’m still like, there’s no excuse, really, if you think about it, like it’s like, you can walk and do a report. You can go to a park, walk around, look around, enjoy the fresh air. And you can still like you don’t I mean it honestly, it makes me get reports done faster. So, you know, I think that we can always have excuses for our health if we want to have excuse. But you know, if we don’t take accountability for it now, later, it’s going to catch up to us. So I think it’s one of those things where, even just walking, you don’t have to run a marathon. You don’t have to, you know, have a trainer. You could just walk, you know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yep, Walking is one of the healthiest things that you can possibly do. And it’s good on your knees. It’s good for your cardiovascular system. It’s steady state cardio. That’s what it is. So it basically just raises things just enough to make things better. You know, it’s awesome. I make it a habit of every time I take a phone call. The first thing I do is I stand up and I start walking by nature now. Yeah, it doesn’t matter if it’s around my office or wherever. And I do it by nature so that if I’m sitting down, it feels weird. So I can turn it into habits. Let me ask you about your what kind of eating habits can you recommend to everybody? Like what? How does your food look?

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, so I’ve kind of like that’s been evolution too. Because before I was I was into like to kind of like the keto diet, and things like that. So I was like, super like no carbs and all like meat and stuff. Now, I’m very big more into macros now. So basically, kind of tracking protein, more heavier protein, carbs, and kind of like fat and stuff. So but for me, to be honest with you, like my meals are the same kind of every day in a way. So like every morning for me, I have like four eggs. Because eggs are good for you. It’s very like whole foods. So I have four eggs organic, have a kind of salad with that. I have a couple of espressos. So I have like some coffee, you know, really no sugar in that. So super light on that. And then for lunch, I meal prep. So basically, on Sundays, I make a lot of food. So basically, I’ll kind of switch it up. So this week, I did kind of like, you know, chicken breast, I think it was like chicken breasts and some ground turkey. So I kind of do basically kind of like, like basically kind of same foods for during like for lunches and stuff. So I have that. And then I have basically kind of like some fruits and stuff, and basically kind of like some jerky, so it’s more heavy on the protein side, because I think it’s pretty satiating. And then for dinner, a lot of times I’ll have, it kind of depends on what I want, I might have a steak for dinner, steak and potatoes, or maybe if I have to workout, I really don’t want that much, I might just have a protein shake. So you know, you’d be surprised, as you kind of start to get more active, and you eat like more protein, you actually crave less food, to be honest. So my calories aren’t super high, to be honest, like a lot of times it might be 2000 calories a day, or 2200 calories a day, I have a food tracker, and it makes it easy. So I track my food. And I track my water intake. And basically, for me, it’s very simple. So I think Monday through Friday, very simple on the food. And on the weekends. I kind of like I’m not saying I splurge but maybe at that point, I might have, you know, a little bit more to eat, I can increase my calories higher on the weekend, I have some ice cream or something like that, or, at that point, you know, I kind of have like, you know, I go out to eat with some friends. So I just try to kind of keep my food very basic during the week. So it kind of mitigates decision fatigue. And then the weekends if I have more time, I’ll eat kind of whatever I want.

Ian Robertson
Yeah, and it’s interesting that you say that, because that’s what a lot of health experts say, you know, during the week, keep things simple, meal prep, and focus on protein. That that’s one thing that we don’t do as a society, we tend to focus on carbohydrates. We’re very carbohydrate dense, but we don’t need to cut out carbohydrates, simple carbs, you know, white bread. I just feel like we shouldn’t be eating white bread.

Kevin Maxwell
More like jasmine rice, and maybe even having like, you know, oatmeal and sweet potatoes. Yeah, like more complex stuff, stuff that because I think for me, it’s about inspectors to, you’re in the field, you want to have stuff that’s gonna keep you full, you know what I mean? So for me, I always have breakfast every day. But I make sure I have stuff that’s going to keep me full, keep me energized because our jobs are very like it requires energy to talk to somebody for two hours. And look around a house and do a report at the same time and move around, climbing an attic, climb on a roof. So you want to you want to have food that’s gonna give you energy, you don’t need to eat because for me my diet before was I will go to Stuart’s to get two slices of pizza, I’d have a Red Bull or Monster, and then I’d have a bag of chips. You know what I mean? And that was just everyday man. And then what like I always felt I had lethargic. So I had to double back. Have another Monster, have another energy drink. So it’s a lot of like ups and downs. You know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, and we don’t want those up and downs. We want ups and downs, very mildly hanging right around that basal dopamine level, not the big spikes and the big drops. You know, so that’s, that’s good advice. And, you know, still living, have an ice cream cone once in a while. If you want a cold beer on a Sunday to watch the game, go for it.

Kevin Maxwell
Yes, you’re still living because it’s like you enjoy it more. We don’t have it every day. You know what I mean? If like if I don’t have ice cream that often, and I do on a weekend, it makes me enjoy it more. But I think the big thing I want to mention too is just for all inspectors especially like males, but females too, you know, go to the doctor, actually get a checkup because I think a lot of inspectors or men in general or mostly men. We don’t want to go the doctors and when I went to the doctor, man, it was bad because I’m like, the doctor’s like, basically your blood pressure’s high. Your cholesterol is high, your livers fatty, you’re testosterone’s low, your thyroid is hypothyroid. It was just basically like like if you don’t stop doing this man, you’re not going to probably be like, you know, you’re gonna be bad. So I think like, you know, we should go to the doctor to get a checkup, you know, every six months or at least once a year you know and and for me, I think that’s gonna let you know where you’re at. Because for me, the biggest thing that I kind of want to like end on here, which most people don’t think about it, is for men, testosterone, you know, like, when you’re overweight, you’re testosterone tends to be lower. And when you’re not eating good foods, your testosterone is lower, if you have a low testosterone, what happens is, you feel a lot more lethargic, you feel you get more anxiety, more anxious around people, and you basically don’t have that drive and that zeal for life. So for me, a lot of my issues were testosterone related. You know, they tried prescribing a lot of medications. I didn’t take any of them. I’m just, I’m more like, not on the medication bandwagon. I’d rather fix it myself. And I did. And once I fixed my testosterone, I noticed I had more of like that primal drive to compete again and be competitive again. You know what I mean?

Ian Robertson
Yeah, no, I mean, it’s the quote unquote, man hormone. I mean, we need it to do what we do, women need it, too. It’s just at different levels. But you know, it’s funny that you mentioned that I’ve been to a doctor once in the past 12 years. So I should probably schedule a doctor’s visit after this. So thank you for the reminder, Kevin.

Kevin Maxwell
I see mine too much, man. I’m in there are a lot.

Ian Robertson
No, but it is true. We don’t like to face our own mortality. And we don’t like people touching our stuff. You know, in a room with a dude, you’re like, alright, this is odd. We don’t like getting poked with our needles and blood taken. But you know what? It’s part of life. And it is, as we stated at the beginning of this podcast, our most valuable asset. If we don’t take care of our car, it’s not going to drive us to the inspection, we’re gonna lose work. We don’t take care of our body. Same things gonna happen. Yeah. So you’re a good example of that. And if you don’t mind me, just kind of take us out here. How long did it take you to go from 300 pounds to 220? And how tall are you?

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, so I’m 5’11.

Ian Robertson
You seem taller.

Kevin Maxwell
Yeah, well, I look like I’m like six feet tall. But I’m 5’11 and a half, you know, so I round up these days. But..

Ian Robertson
Okay.

Kevin Maxwell
But yeah, so. So I lost 80 pounds. And to be honest with you, I’m pretty crazy. So I’m kind of psycho. So I lost that weight in about like, seven slash eight months. Wow. So it was basically about like, 10 pounds a month. So I was kind of on the higher side, you know, so I was super, like, dialed in. So basically, like, you know, my eating habits were very clean. My workout habits were a lot, I moved a lot, you know, so I did a lot there. So seven, eight months, I lost 80 pounds. And you know, just because for me, I just feel like, you know, as business owners, a lot of us, we’re very focused people like I think like, that’s something about people who own businesses, is like, I think you take that same energy you put in your business, and put it into yourself. And when you do that, you’d be surprised the amount of results you can have, whether it be yourself and your relationship, your marriage, your finances, you know, but a lot of times we’re just focused on the inspection. But you’d be surprised when you have a good body or you have a good relationship or you have good finances, that allows you to have more time to actually redirect it into your business, you know.

Ian Robertson
And you’re a great example of that, Kevin, your growth in your business and your new hires and your expansion into other states. All a testament to, you know, a lot of things but in part, as you mentioned to your health, I appreciate that, man. Thank you. I think this is valuable information for all of our listeners. And thanks for reaching out, and thanks for being on the show. I love that you’re a regular guest now and hopefully we’ll have you on again soon. Be back again soon, man. Thanks, Kevin, talk soon.

Kevin Maxwell
All right.

Beon DeNood
On behalf of myself, Ian, and the entire ITB team, thank you for listening to this episode. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you can catch our future episodes as well. And if you have any feedback, please send us an email at [email protected]. Also, don’t forget to check out our brand new app for home inspectors, scheduling and report writing all in one easy to use App. Check it out now at Inspectortoolbelt.com.

Ian Robertson
The views and opinions of this podcast and its guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Inspector Toolbelt and its associates.

Outro: On behalf of myself, Ian, and the entire ITB team, thank you for listening to this episode of inspector toolbelt talk. We also love hearing your feedback, so please drop us a line at [email protected].

If you’re enjoying the conversation, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button. Our podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. For more information on our services and our brand-new inspection app, please visit our website at Inspectortoolbelt.com.

*The views and opinions expressed in this podcast, and the guests on it, do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Inspector Toolbelt and its associates.