The Ides of November & National Pearl Day

America Recycles Day, Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, and Scorpios — What do all of these designations have in common with Pearl Certification?

November 15th!

And I’m going to take you on a journey and explain why today is a pearly, magical day.

Four years ago today, November 15, 2015, Pearl certified its very first home. At the request of the homeowner and their real estate agent, Pearl Certification’s VP of Quality Systems, Casey Murphy, visited a home in Virginia and performed a Home Energy Asset Inventory – a detailed, technical survey of all the home’s features that affect its comfort, energy usage, and indoor air quality.

Now, over 10,000 certifications later, I couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate National Pearl Day. We’ve grown a lot these past four years and have added a number of exciting new Pearl products to help showcase the features of a home that matter most to buyers — like energy efficient heating and cooling, rooftop solar panels, smart home devices, and much more.

Over the years, independent studies have shown that Pearl Certified homes can sell for 5% or more when marketed properly. I think that’s pretty remarkable work in four years!

But enough business talk, let me give you the inside scoop on how and why Pearl is so successful. Or in other words, let me explain the #PowerofPearl.

It’s all about November 15th and the pearly, magic of this date — the day Pearl first certified a home — but also the day we celebrate:

• America Recycles Day® – A program of Keep America Beautiful®, America Recycles Day is a nationally recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States.
  
  Each year on November 15, millions of people across the country take part in a variety of initiatives and campaigns to raise awareness about recycling and the purchasing of recycled products.
  
  Likewise, Pearl Certification’s social and business goals are based on our commitment to make the planet a better place. We believe that humans have the right and responsibility to be better stewards of the earth, and we daily demonstrate how that is possible. Join Pearl and take the America Recycles Day pledge.
  
  
• Clean Out the Refrigerator Day – In my home, and in several other of my colleagues’ homes, this is also known as the day we make soup. During the colder months especially, I like to make a giant pot of something warm and filling, chock full of veggies and protein and the proverbial kitchen sink — also known as — whatever leftovers are found in my fridge. There’s rarely a recipe: there’s always a little of this and a little of that based on a ton of tasting. I’ve never made the same soup twice but in the end, my kids and I are happy, nourished, and satisfied. 
  
  This sort of inventiveness is practiced at Pearl. We use what we have internally; we don’t waste skill sets. Staff wear a variety of hats based on their diverse expertise. When we have a good idea, we run with it. We trust ourselves and our team to iterate us into a worthy product. We test, and we change — always learning and creating until the end product brings the level of #certifaction our customers need and deserve.
  
  And Scorpios – Scorpios are courageous, persistent, and determined. They are emotional, but those strong emotions are often tied toward reaching specific goals. Not surprising, Scorpios tend to be persistent and focused.
  
  That’s the Pearl way! We have an eclectic, distributed team who live in nine states across the country. 

We come from different backgrounds but our commonality resides in our deep, passionately held conviction that Pearl can change the world — that the work we do will have lasting impact for generations to come. With sheer will and determination, sacrifice and stress be damned, the Scorpio nature in all of us won’t take no for an answer. We are #PearlPeoples! We will succeed.