Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Fernandez.
Melanie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hello, my name is Melanie, I’ve really thought of sharing everything on here since it’s something I wish I would have read at a younger age. I moved to Miami when I was four years old, my family left everything to come to the states and follow the ”American Dream” as they say in our country.
We came here with only a few thousand in the bank and I watched how hard that was for them. My childhood was filled with anxiety, overcoming abuse, from family friends, etc. from not having the ”home” we wanted to bring friends too and also not affording school so I ended up going to the worst one in our city.
I told myself when I was young that this is not going to be my future, something inside me just knew that I would become better and I had no idea how, but it’s the cut feeling of hope that leads your way for you.
As I grew up, I started watching how my mother would work with her clients that she door knocked to get and it was amazing, I started understanding the difference in becoming your own boss and working under somebody and honestly, I couldn’t keep a job for over a few months.
Then, my father left. He went back to our country leaving us to handle all bills, and I couldn’t just go on with my mother breaking down every day, even had to ask people for help (which I felt so low and out of my control), I told her I would work two jobs from then.
I dropped out of school to work these jobs which I only had about an hour to get to the other one and it was all day, every day even went in on Saturdays for overtime. It worked well for some time until I found out I was pregnant. Everyone usually using celebrates when they find out they’re bringing life but not me.
I guess I was too concerned about how can I afford to bring a child right now especially knowing that my mother needs my help. I broke down so much. I had my son and became more aware that this is no longer my life, Everything I do is for Him and family from here, I could barely spend time with him because I worked so many hours, I quit a job and started using that time to be with him and study SALES.
I told a friend that I would like to join his team if only he can pay me on commission for what I bring in. I was scared, could imagine just taking on no salary or hourly just getting paid on what I produce but I started and eventually, I got a few clients and quit my other job to just push myself to put 100% into what I was doing that led to me obtaining enough clients and knowing that it was my time to open up my company to bring in people to help me and give opportunities to families. I studied business all day even stayed up all night completing training online but I did it. Now, I have a system in place where everything is running smoothly, we’re growing and it’s teaching me so much… this is only the beginning.
What I want someone to know whoever it may be that reads this is you are here for a purpose, if you feel lost, just do what your heart tells you and go from there, you may not know right now, but everything unfolds once you allow yourself to take risks and that doesn’t mean do one thing one time and give up. That means every day do ONE thing that you feel is pushing yourself outside of your comfort. I’m telling you, it will pay off.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The Main Obstacles that I’ve had:
1. Obtaining clients – It’s never easy which you have to understand you are starting something fresh and if nobody knows you or your service they won’t use you. So, you have to let the passion shine and offer them value.
2. Keeping business and family separate – a lot of the time, I get overwhelmed with business and then my son wants to spend time with me. So, when I do, you’ll get those calls in the middle and you’ll get the emails for ‘urgent’ replies but you have to understand your ground rules of when and where and accept that you can’t be a superwomen/superman and handle everything at one time. Just go with the moment and have a time set for everything important.
3. Losing employees – I have learned so much from bringing in the wrong people. Sometimes, some of them may seem to be the BEST fit for the position but I’d suggest doing two to three interviews before hiring because one of my new hires was actually setting up his own business same one like mine, which was very bad at the end when I had to let him go due to clients informing me with some things… so just be careful.
4. Unhappy clients- This is something everyone will go through, somethings I took away from unhappy clients just listen and see how you can help or fix the situation and sometimes it’s out of your control and all you can do is explain procedures and give them more knowledge. I’ve had clients that threatened to sue but it was dealt with in a situation where we helped as far as we could on our end.
5. Personal develop – What I mean is working on yourself, I overcame an eating disorder about a year ago.
When I started my business, the anxiety would push me not to eat and when I did eat, it was not the best choices, so now my body cannot take processed foods and that’s a big step for me now knowing that’s all I had back then, I don’t think people imagine how horrible it is to wake up and feel down because your health is messed up but I promise you, it takes getting away from what you used too and talking to someone to becomes better in that aspect.
Tell us more about the business.
We are a Home Inspection Company.
Serving Realtors/Homeowners/Insurance agents or Mortgage.
We handle the Home Inspection before purchase and complete full property inspections breaking down the major aspects of the home and any defects we may find so that the buyer is aware of what they are purchasing.
We also complete Insurance Inspections for buyers to have that document to obtain insurance on their home.
What sets us apart is:
1. Service, I take it upon myself to reach out to the buyer before and after to get feedback on what they are concerned about and how the inspection went I even have buyers that email or text me late night when they get home from work and I always respond quickly.
2. Pricing, our price is often under other home inspection companies, we understand that buyers spend a lot and not everyone has the money to just put into everything before purchase so I go as far as possible for them and my team.
3. Tools, we work with drones and a great online system to make reports very comprehensive for anyone that will pull it up to read it.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
The role of luck, oh my, I used to think rich people were just lucky when I was a small boy, I was wrong, luck is not something that just happens if you are laying home and not doing anything, don’t expect someone to knock on your door and hand you a million dollars, luck comes when the time is right. What I mean is, I was on the fence one week and working so hard putting in all my time and even money into campaigns to get my team a few homes to do for that week, then I felt a little bit of hopeless once I saw half the week gone but I kept pushing, I stayed up all night finding out new ways to market. The next day, I did the same not checking the time until it was around 4 pm and nothing came in yet.
My team asking me what’s going on, why don’t they have any jobs for the week and BAM, a call came in from one of my agents that referred over a company who was purchasing 20 plus units and needed our help asap, just like that, we completed 20 properties in three days. Luck just comes with hard work, you start getting more things to fall together and think WOW, I can never lose hope because good only comes when you do the work.
Pricing:
- Pre Purchase Inspections (Including Insurance reports) $350
- For homes over 2,200 SQ FT $375+Including Insurance reports
Contact Info:
- Website: www.primequalityinspections.com
- Phone: 7542150750
- Email: mel@primequalityinspections.com
- Instagram: __mel.v
- Other: @primequalityinspections
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