We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephen Edwards and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephen, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I started my business I had recently been laid off. I work in IT and several large company’s in that field had done thousands of layoffs. When a job posting would go live it would have 500 applicants in the first hour or more. I seemed impossible to make it through that many people applying for every job. I decided i could go broke applying for jobs of I could go broke betting on myself. Looking for ideas on what kind of business to start I came across the Pillar To Post Home Inspectors franchise. This is something I was familiar with previously working 6 years in the property preservation industry. It also checked the number one requirement I had. The business had to add value to peoples life. I had a meeting with them to discuss details and I was all in from there.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve worked in several different industries. I joined the US Army at 17 right our of High School and served 4 years as an Infantryman. After my contract was done I bartended for a couple years before joining Capital One Auto. At Capital one i would start as a collections agent calling on late auto payments, eventually working my way to skip tracking and then in to manage. From there I moved to Citi Bank managing teams doing mortgage collections, Would eventually move up to a department manager. I left there to work for a Company called Dimont and Associates. There I managed a team reviewing property preservation inspection and filling hazard insurance claims for any damage identified during the inspections. I move to a company called AIM Your Way where I reported directly to the owner running the entire business. We had a network off 2000 companies that preformed inspections all over the United States. From there I move to Marquis which is a software company that builds marketing software for bank and credit unions. I managed the IT department and the implementation team. This is when I was laid off after the company was purchased and decide to buy my Pillar to Post Home Inspectors franchise. This has turned out to be the best decision I made career wise. There is additional stress owning your own business but actually a lot less than all the corporate drama and the hours of meetings every day.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live on a small ranch so there would definitely be a lot of time spent with the horses and other livestock such as the goats , chickens, pony letting them enjoy all of that since its a totally different world to them. Spend some time fishing our stocked pond and sharing a few beers. For food we would definitely hit up Barrocos Latin Cuisine in Rowlett, Sideways BBQ in Rockwall. There would be a lot of grilling and hanging out in the pool just catching up. We would probably hit up the Dallas World Aquarium for the kids. Also catch a concert depending on who’s playing at the time. Always a great venue at the Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas. Catch some local up and coming artist here in town one night at Silver Saloon.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would say my friends and family deserve credit. When I was thinking about starting my business I talked to everyone I could almost looking for someone to tell me no. Everyone told me the exact opposite. The common theme was if anyone can do it you can. Then once I started several other Franchise Business Owners were awesome support helping me along the way and still help when I have a question about something

Website: https://stephenedwards.pillartopost.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pillar_to_post_theedwardsteam/?next=%2F

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pillar-to-post-home-inspectors-the-edwards-team-48b536285/

Twitter: https://x.com/PTPEdwardsTeam

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094741938923

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