Pest Control Legends

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Christian Ludwig sold Aruza Pest Control to private equity in an eight-figure exit, and he says you should never build a pest control company to sell. He breaks down putting on 33,000 accounts in three years, growing Nativa Pest Control to $1.14M in ARR in eight months, and cutting technician miles 62% with AI routing.

Christian started selling pest control door to door in Atlanta, where he serviced 396 accounts in about 12 weeks, a rookie record at the time. He went on to recruit at Alterra and Aptive, then joined Solomon and Jordan as a co-founder of Aruza Pest Control in Charlotte, North Carolina. Aruza made the Inc. 5000 three times and the PCT 100 three times before selling to private equity in 2022. Today he owns Nativa Pest Control in Upstate South Carolina and founded Milecraft, a whole-month route optimization platform for pest control companies.

In this episode, Christian and Dan get into what makes a great door-to-door rep, how to spot sales talent, and what it took to fund Aruza's growth, from selling his house, car and boat to personally guaranteeing $450,000 in loans. Christian explains why building a company to sell makes it less attractive to buyers, how Nativa earned 275+ five-star reviews and an 85% top impression rate on Google LSA, and why he treats his Google Business Profile like a social media page. Then they dig into Milecraft, the routing app he built with his developer friend Nick, how it averages 62% fewer recurring technician miles than intelligent routing in tools like FieldRoutes, how many stops a day a tech should run, quarterly versus bimonthly service, MCP and Grok Bot setups, and whether software is dead in the age of AI.

Pest Control Legends is where Dan Leibrandt interviews the most successful owners in pest control about how they built their companies. Subscribe for more conversations like this.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

01:31 How Christian got into door-to-door pest control

08:49 What makes a great door-to-door salesperson

19:16 Putting on 33,000 accounts in three years at Aruza

24:41 Why you should never build your company to sell

27:42 Why he started Nativa Pest Control

30:29 Why customer experience beats marketing spend

34:14 Treating your Google Business Profile like social media

40:24 Why he built Milecraft

47:05 How AI routing cut technician miles by 62%

52:09 How many stops a day technicians should run

58:03 Is software dead in the age of AI

1:02:32 How Milecraft pricing works

FOLLOW CHRISTIAN LUDWIG

Milecraft: https://milecraft.ai

Nativa Pest Control: https://nativapest.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianl.u.d.23/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchristianludwig/

FOLLOW DAN

X: https://x.com/danleibrandt

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

#DoorToDoorSales #PestControlBusiness #PestControl #HomeServices #PestControlMarketing

Jason Carpenter built Environmental Pest Management into the largest multifamily pest control company in the Midwest, then sold it to Anticimex. We talk about how one bed bug job got him into multifamily, how he wins property management accounts, and why EBITDA beats revenue when you sell.Jason Carpenter is the founder of Environmental Pest Management (EPM) in Columbus, Ohio. He started as a pest control technician around 1990, launched EPM in 2003 with a second mortgage on his house, and grew it into a PCT Top 100 company with about 90% of its business in multifamily. He recently sold EPM to Anticimex as their platform company for the Midwest.Jason explains how one bed bug job turned into a $300,000 account, how he used the Columbus Apartment Association to win over the top ten people in his local apartment industry, and why he built his own software, Pest Genius, for property managers. We also get into why he spent only 0.5% of revenue on marketing and put the money into customer experience instead, what Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and his mentors taught him about vision and profit, running a family business with his son Brandon, working with Paul Giannamore and The Potomac Company on the sale, why EBITDA and net profit matter more than revenue, closing the Anticimex deal in less than 90 days, and how to tell your team you're selling.Pest Control Legends is where Dan Leibrandt interviews the most successful owners in pest control about how they built their companies. Subscribe for more conversations like this.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro00:43 From pest control technician to starting EPM02:24 How a bed bug job led him into multifamily pest control05:43 The hardest parts of multifamily pest control08:29 How to win property management accounts10:30 Building Pest Genius software for property managers15:33 Running a family pest control business17:21 Joining EO and the mentor lessons that changed EPM25:53 Why customer experience beats marketing spend35:38 Selling EPM to Anticimex40:52 Why EBITDA and net profit matter more than revenue48:45 How to prepare your team when selling your business51:30 Advice for pest control business ownersFOLLOW JASON CARPENTERLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-carpenter-11a6779/FOLLOW DANX: https://x.com/danleibrandtWebsite: https://danleibrandt.comMUSICMusic licensed through Soundstripe.Code: IVIGXS3Z6R6IJDEH#PestControl #PestControlBusiness #PestControlMarketing #Acquisitions #HomeServices

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Brent Agee, CEO of AXN Growth Partners. Brent is a second-generation pest control operator who started out digging termite trenches for his dad, got kicked out of high school, and spent two years working for competitors before coming back to the family business. He launched his own company, Master Tech Pest Solutions, grew it past $1 million in about three years, and then merged it with his parents' company to form ACTION Termite and Pest Control. Today ACTION is the foundation of AXN, a Shore Capital-backed platform that has completed 14 acquisitions in just over two years.

Brent and Dan dig into how private equity actually works and what separates the good firms from the bad ones. Brent explains why AXN keeps founders involved after the deal, how rolling equity can multiply a seller's payout, and why he will pay a higher multiple for a company growing 20% than for one that cut its marketing to inflate EBITDA. He also shares why termite work is the best way to fund your marketing, how much of revenue AXN puts into marketing, and how to find exactly where your lead process breaks before you scale spend.

On the growth side, Brent breaks down the first lever AXN pulls in almost every new brand: a dedicated inside sales rep. He explains why your CSRs shouldn't be selling, what personality type to hire for sales, why A players always want to see the scoreboard, and how AXN has inside reps closing over $170,000 a month on the phone. If you're thinking about selling your company someday, or you just want to grow faster without door knocking, this episode is for you.

Brent Agee, Owner of AXN Growth Partners:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-agee-24ab371b8/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brent_agee_/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brent.agee.7

Website: https://axngrowthpartners.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:43 From high school dropout to CEO

06:02 How he grew to $1M in three years

09:18 Why termite work pays the bills

13:13 Starting AXN Growth Partners

14:51 What private equity actually is

19:36 How AXN keeps founders on after the deal

27:56 What buyers pay more for when you sell

31:26 How much to spend on marketing

33:42 The fastest way to grow: dedicated salespeople

42:14 Brent's day to day and KPIs

49:01 Where the industry is headed

51:59 How rolling equity multiplies your payout

58:02 Brent's vision and final advice

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Brian Lunsford, owner and CEO of Kingfish Pest Control in Jacksonville, Florida. Brian is a second generation operator who, in 2005, bought his dad's Atlanta pest control company with his brother Brandon when it had only a couple of employees. They grew it into a 100-person PCT Top 100 business and sold it to Terminix in 2019. Brian then started over with Kingfish, alongside a home inspection company and a holiday lighting company called Joy Lights.

Brian shares how the Atlanta company got its name out there by running loss-leader deals on Groupon and Angie's List, responding to every review with class, and answering the phones themselves until the chaos forced them to figure out hiring. He explains the spending rule he and his brother used to settle disagreements, why Google Ads is the engine behind Kingfish's growth today, and what five years as an official partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars actually did for the brand, from the "Swat That Kick" chant at the stadium to the bucket list moments on the team plane. He also makes the case that radio and other branding do work, and that owners who judge them by the source codes in their CRM are measuring the wrong thing, since most of that traffic shows up as "Google."

The conversation then turns to hiring and culture. Brian explains why a red flag in an interview is almost always right, how every email, text, and meeting builds your culture whether you mean it to or not, and why he puts faith and family ahead of the company. He tells the story of a technician who offered to give up half of his commission to support a coworker going through a serious health situation, and how simplifying his portfolio this year, including shutting down a handyman business and turning a 12-month lighting company into a six-week one, reenergized his whole team. He closes with his message to pest control owners: there is no magic bullet, big results come from small actions repeated over a long period of time, and you are in the right industry.

Brian Lunsford, Owner of Kingfish Pest Control:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianlunsford21/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-lunsford/

Website: https://www.kingfishpest.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:50 Leaving TV to take over his dad's pest control company

3:47 The first year: Groupon, Angie's List, and loss leader deals

7:26 Biggest mistakes: hiring anyone and overspending on radio

10:10 Partnering with his brother and the 2019 Terminix exit

13:06 Do those growth strategies still work today?

16:12 Becoming an official partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars

19:57 How important is branding?

21:26 Does radio actually work?

23:00 "Swat That Kick" and why branding shows up as "Google"

25:00 Trusting your gut in hiring

27:11 Red flags to look for in interviews

29:20 How to build culture

37:24 Faith and leadership

42:25 Simplification: cutting companies to focus on pest control

48:24 Using the realtor channel to drive pest leads

49:54 Lessons from building and selling the first company

54:16 Brian's message to pest control owners

56:36 Where to find Brian

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Kyle Turner, founder and CEO of Pro Active Pest Control in Roseville, California. Kyle grew up doing landscaping for his dad and always assumed his own business would be a landscaping company, but after watching a cousin and a friend succeed in pest control, he took a pay cut to become a technician, got his California license before anyone would hire him, and spent two years in the field before launching Proactive in 2014. Twelve years later the company runs multiple locations in California and Arizona with more than 140 employees serving over 30,000 customers.

Kyle is honest about how rough the start was. The first six months brought lawsuits, self-doubt, and a plan to sell his handful of accounts back to his old employer and ask for his job back, until one day on one street he sold and serviced ten accounts and the momentum never stopped. He explains why Yelp was the engine of his early growth when there were no ads on the platform, why it is still his second biggest lead source behind Google even though most owners in the industry hate it, and what it actually takes to win Yelp leads when you are competing against four other companies on every message.

The second half is about people and culture. Kyle hires on attitude rather than resumes, promotes only from within, and runs the company on one simple question: what would I want if I were the employee? That thinking produced the annual top performers trip to an all-inclusive resort, the spring kickoff, summer picnic, and Christmas party, and a team that hangs out on weekends. He walks through how he stepped out of the day-to-day with just three weekly direct reports, why he still calls his own office most days posing as a customer and as a new lead, why every manager should do a ride-along when they run out of things to train on, and where he lands on profit margins and the Profit First model.

Kyle Turner, Founder of Pro Active Pest Control:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-turner-260208b0/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turnerkyle12/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turner.kyle.7

Website: https://www.beproactivepestcontrol.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:50 From Landscaping to Getting Licensed Before He Had a Job

03:11 The Brutal First Six Months and the One Street That Changed Everything

05:06 How Yelp Built Proactive Before There Were Ads

06:28 Why Yelp Is Still His Second Biggest Lead Source

10:03 Google LSA and GMB, and Why Door Knocking Stopped

11:23 Why Most Owners Get Stuck at One Technician and Kyle Never Did

14:39 A Players, Hiring on Attitude, and Promoting From Within

20:34 The Top Performers Trip and Building Culture Every Quarter

27:48 Residential vs. Commercial and the Accounts to Avoid

31:07 Scaling Past $1M With Territory, Specialty Services, and Arizona

36:21 Stepping Out of the Day-to-Day With Three Direct Reports

38:41 Secret-Shopping His Own Office and Doing Ride-Alongs

43:45 What a Good Profit Margin Looks Like

44:43 Setting Your Pride Aside

47:42 Kyle's Message to Pest Control Owners

49:02 Where to Find Kyle

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Paul Giannamore, managing director of The Potomac Company. Paul is recognized by institutional investors, Wall Street analysts, and the largest companies in the industry as the top global authority on pest control valuation and M&A. He started his career as a tech banker at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse before moving to the buy side at American Capital, then founded Potomac at 25 years old. He fell into pest control almost by accident when a friend asked him to sit in on due diligence for a deal near his home, and two decades later his firm has advised on hundreds of transactions and more than $10 billion in volume, handling more sell side pest control deals than every other advisor in the world combined.

Paul walks through the full history of pest control valuations, from the duopoly era when Terminix and Orkin were the only buyers and companies changed hands at four to five times EBITDA, to the arrival of Rentokil's North American strategy, Anticimex entering the US in 2016, and the flood of private equity that pushed premium assets past 15 times. He explains why revenue multiples are a resultant number that describes a deal rather than drives it, why cash flow is the only thing that actually matters, and why multiple expansion in pest control has flattened in a way it has not in other industries. He breaks down what separates a premium business from a cheap one, including 80% or higher recurring revenue, top line growth at double the rate of inflation, and gross margins in the high 50s to high 60s, and he is blunt about the fact that the 2021 window where anything would sell is closed.

The conversation then turns to the part of the job Paul says now takes up most of his time, which has less to do with structuring processes and more to do with preparing owners emotionally for what a sale actually does to them. He explains why selling a company you built is closer to a divorce than a transaction, why the team that feels like family stops feeling that way the moment you are no longer signing the checks, and why he has watched sellers leave millions on the table to protect people who were, from their side, doing a job. He also shares what separates the leaders who scale from the ones who stay stuck, why the owner of a $5 million company can genuinely know more than the CEO of Rollins, and closes with his message for 2026, which is to stop letting your organization arise by accident and start designing it on purpose.

Paul Giannamore, Managing Director of The Potomac Company:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgiannamore/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@POTOMACTV

Website: https://potomaccompany.com/

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

02:07 - From Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse to Pest Control

06:57 - Why He Went All In on One Industry

10:25 - Why Owners Were Selling for Far Less Than They Should

15:05 - What EBITDA Actually Means

17:31 - Why Bigger Companies Don't Always Get Better Multiples

20:25 - Scarcity Value and the Platform Acquisition Trap

23:19 - Where the Market Is Right Now

25:32 - The 2021 Peak and What Killed It

28:30 - Why High Valuations Cut Both Ways

33:32 - The Biggest Mistake Owners Make

36:20 - The Recurring Revenue Debate, Settled

40:42 - Why M&A Advisory Became Psychology

44:25 - Your Team Is Not Your Family

48:12 - Preparing Yourself for the Divorce

52:30 - What the Biggest Operators Do Differently

57:18 - Paul's Message to Pest Control Owners

1:01:58 - Where to Find Paul

#pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontrolacquisitions #mergersandacquisitions #acquisitions #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #paulgiannamore #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Brandon Sizemore, owner of Mint Pest Control. Brandon is a licensed CPA who spent 12 years in accounting before walking away to start a pest control business in 2020. He pulled the equity out of his home, took a line of credit, and bet everything on it. Six years later, Mint is a $7 million company with four locations growing through door to door, inside sales, SEO, and one of the most recognizable brands in the industry.

Brandon walks through the journey, starting with the three weeks he spent knocking doors in college and deciding door to door was not for him. He explains why he chased a partnership after being rejected several times, why failed partnerships and cash flow are the two biggest risks to a young business, and what it was like launching in the first weeks of COVID with cops called on his reps daily and a 15 person sales team cut in half. He also makes the case that his growth came far more from focus and effort than from capital.

The back half gets into what the CPA lens actually gives him. Brandon explains why benchmarking your gross margin against another company is usually meaningless, why the real work sits in the leading indicators rather than the KPIs everyone already tracks, and how he thinks about door to door acquisition costs. He breaks down why the branding investment behind the mint truck was worth the risk, closes with the PRIME framework Mint uses to hire, and makes the point that what this industry really sells is trust.

Brandon Sizemore, Owner of Mint Pest Control:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-sizemore-cpa-a6a3173a/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.s.sizemore

Website: https://mintpest.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:46 - From CPA to Pest Control

05:30 - Betting the House on the Business

10:33 - Why Focus Beats Funding

15:58 - Why He Chose a Business Partner

22:49 - How a CPA Looks at a Pest Control Business

29:00 - The Numbers Most Owners Get Wrong

35:05 - Getting to the First Million During COVID

40:15 - Why the Mint Truck Works

43:41 - Making the Numbers Work on Door to Door

54:33 - Hiring and the PRIME Framework

59:48 - Brandon's Message to Pest Control Owners

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

On this episode of Pest Control Legends, Dan Leibrandt interviews Jeff Stafford, president of Innovative Pest Solutions. Jeff has been in the industry over 40 years, starting in the field the day after his 18th birthday. In 1994 he launched Bird Solutions International, which has handled some of the largest bird jobs in the country including 1.2 million square feet of netting at SeaTac Airport, the San Onofre nuclear plant, Pearl Harbor, and Petco Park. He ran the same specialist playbook again with Bed Bug Solutions, then rolled everything into Innovative Pest Solutions, a family run company serving Southern California that grows about 30% a year.

Jeff explains why niching down is the single thing that blew his company up, from choosing bird control when almost nobody was doing it to naming a division Bed Bug Solutions so it would stand out next to quotes from Orkin and Terminix. That division outproduced his entire pest control company within three months. He also makes the case for commercial over residential, and gets candid about selling his first company out of panic in 1999 and why debt is the biggest thing he warns new owners about.

The back half goes tactical. Jeff breaks down his ten dog canine program and warns that most companies who buy a detection dog end up with a $15,000 pet. He walks through the $750,000 West LA VA contract and the phorid fly investigation behind more than 90 canceled surgeries. He closes on how his partner wins entire property management portfolios by asking for all of them up front, and why industry consolidation has created more opportunity for small and mid sized companies than ever.

Jeff Stafford, Founder of Innovative Pest Solutions:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-stafford-48b624/

Website: innovativepestsolutions.com 

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:12 Growing Up in the Industry and Learning From Bob Keith

05:31 Starting With $1,500 and Betting on Bird Control

07:07 Why Commercial Is a Necessity and Selling Out of Panic in 1999

10:52 Splitting Bird Solutions Out and What It Did to the Books

15:15 Don't Make Decisions Out of Fear, and the Case Against Debt

18:21 The Numbers Jeff Tracks and Paying to Keep Good People

21:41 How Niching Down Blew Up Innovative Pest Solutions

24:41 Why the Name Bed Bug Solutions Beat Orkin and Terminix

27:49 Rocket Growth, Miguel Garcia, and Pivoting Through COVID

32:16 Ten Detection Dogs and Why Most Companies End Up With a $20,000 Pet

39:28 Inside the $750K West LA VA Contract and the Phorid Fly Mystery

47:29 Winning Big Accounts, Multifamily, and Building Real Relationships

54:07 Jeff's Message to Pest Control Owners

58:03 Where to Find Jeff

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #jeffstafford #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

In this episode, Dan sits down with John Speed, owner and president of Kilauea Pest Control. John founded Kilauea in 2002 with his wife Jennifer and built it from the ground up into one of the largest pest control companies in the country, projected to do $13 million this year with a team of more than 100 across Oahu, Maui, and Molokai. Kilauea is the only local Hawaii based company ever ranked on the PCT Top 100.

John shares what it takes to build a pest control company in Hawaii, from the brutal cost of living to why recruiting operators from the mainland almost never sticks. He walks through his unconventional journey, taking 11 years to hit his first million while optimizing for surfing and lifestyle, then scaling from $1 million to $13 million in the 11 years since. He also breaks down the terror barrier concept, why the scariest bets on people and acquisitions are usually the ones that build the business, and the story of spending his first $20,000 windfall to recruit his termite manager back from the mainland.

Tactical takeaways include lessons from 7 pest control acquisitions over two decades plus 3 pool route acquisitions last year, why timing and relationships matter more than anything in buying companies, including one deal 15 years in the making, what he learned inside Alex Hormozi's workshops and the three plays their team gave him, why Google reviews are still Kilauea's best lead source, how he's expanding into pools and other recurring route based home services, and his message that success is whatever you and your family decide it is.

John Speed, Founder of Kilauea Pest Control:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johnspeed808

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnfspeed/

Website: https://kilaueapest.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:19 From Texas to Hawaii and Into Pest Control

04:24 Starting Kilauea in 2002

08:34 Building a Company in Hawaii vs the Mainland

14:33 The Surfing Years: Lifestyle Over Growth

18:23 The Shift to Going All In on Business

22:26 Expanding Into Pools and Other Home Services

28:48 11 Years to $1M, Then $1M to $13M

30:37 The Terror Barrier and a $20,000 Bet

39:12 Takeaways From the PCT Top 100

47:44 Inside Alex Hormozi's Workshops

52:54 The $35,000 Takeaways for Kilauea

58:18 Family First: The Business Is Not the End

59:49 Lessons From 10 Acquisitions

1:06:16 Google Reviews as the Best Lead Source

1:07:25 Final Message to Pest Control Owners

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast

In this episode, Dan sits down with Ryan Tate, owner of Rogue Pest Solutions out of Huntsville, Alabama. Ryan has spent nearly two decades in pest control, working his way up from technician to branch management before helping build Wayne's into a $28 million regional company ahead of its exit in 2019. Today he runs Rogue alongside his four partners, and since joining in mid 2023 the company has grown from around $1.5 million and 14 employees into a multi-state operation with 34 employees.

Ryan breaks down the culture, strategy, and execution framework he learned from his mentors at Wayne's, why strategy is the biggest gap in the pest control industry, and the builder relationship model that drives 95 percent of Rogue's growth. He explains why people only buy pest control for two reasons: they see bugs or they move. Chasing the movers through new construction termite work puts Rogue in a blue ocean while everyone else fights over the same Google leads.

Tactical takeaways include how Ryan builds partnerships with builders doing 150 to 2,000 homes a year, why bullets stop working past $1 million and how to find a cannonball lead source that actually scales, what he learned consulting for pest control companies stuck between $1 million and $3 million, how his faith shapes the way he leads and why he sees the business as an impact building tool, and how Rogue structures a five-partner team where each partner runs his own market and owns one company-wide role, plus his rule that a ten year partnership requires knowing someone for ten years.

Ryan Tate, Cofounder of Rogue Pest Solutions:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryan.tate.651111/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-tate-a-c-e-80206b258

Website: https://www.roguepest.com/

Dan Leibrandt, Host of Pest Control Legends:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/DanLeibrandtOfficial  

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/danleibrandt/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanLeibrandt   

Website: https://danleibrandt.com

Pest Control Legends Platforms:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PestControlLegends 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/46XRaco5nPWcqHWIoQ2eZ5

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pest-control-legends/id1768175212

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b060991d-e5d5-4683-b83f-8db469714ba7/pest-control-legends 

Podcast Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:36 How Ryan Got Into Pest Control

02:25 Lessons From Wayne's: Culture, Strategy, and Execution

07:10 Leading With Why and Inspiring People

11:45 First Principles and Strategic Thinking

16:25 Thinking Like a Businessman and Getting Out of the Truck

22:16 The Story Behind Rogue Pest Solutions

24:59 People Buy When They See Bugs or When They Move

28:38 Building Relationships With Builders

33:31 What Builder Partnerships Look Like in Practice

38:00 Consulting Lessons: Nobody Is Coming to Save You

41:21 Bullets vs Cannonballs and Scalable Lead Flow

47:44 Navigating a Five-Partner Business

53:24 How the Partners Divide Their Roles

57:20 Final Message to Pest Control Owners

#pestcontrolmarketing #pestcontrolbusiness #pestcontroladvertising #pestcontrolleads #pestcontrolads #pestcontrollegends #danleibrandt #pestcontrolowner #pestcontrolpodcast