Starting a Pest Control Business: From Technician to Business Owner | Peter Stewart

0:01 Hello and welcome to Pest Perspectives episode 30. Pest Perspective is all about the pest management industry. If you're not listening to before, it's aimed at education and entertaining. It's CPD scheme approved so you can get your CPD points for next year on the British Pest Register. You'll be able to get this episode and all previous episodes if you do listen to, if you do use basis prompt, I have got any codes, but not for the current episode. So if you have missed certain shows, I can give you the codes for them.

0:36 But you're only allowed 66 podcasts per year. With basis Prompt, I've got 10 codes. It's very different to how the British Press Register do it because basically you can actually apply for every every podcast I've ever done on there. It's very different, but as long as you learn, it's the main thing you you pick up bits and pieces. This week we have on Peter Stewart from Abigail. There we go pest control. How are you doing? I'm. Fine, yeah, just getting through the busy summer.

1:18 Yeah, it's a good one. Did you have you had a, did you get a lot of what? Did you get a lot of Wasps up there? Absolutely. You do. I would say we've quadrupled the amount of calls. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Hard on that. Well last year was terrible but no I've I've got 4 vans in the road up here. Yeah. Doing Wasps all day. Oh. That's good then, because it's we've had a all right summer. I wouldn't, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't go saying it's record, record a record year compared to previous. Anything big last year though?

1:56 160 nesting entire year. Yeah, well, I. We have done hundreds obviously this year, but I don't think we're going to get a record breaker compared to. Previous I I actually went out a few days and done a a couple of 12 hour shifts doing Wasps. I think I've seen that. Did you post something on Facebook one day? When you, when you when when, when you, when you did a wasp nest? Was it you? Oh, you did on. Facebook. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's so let's reel it right back. Do you want, Well, let's let's just tell people who you are and what you do before if people don't know who you are on the podcast.

2:43 So tell people who you are and what you what you do at the minute. Right, so I'm Peter I I'm the proprietor of Aberkil up in Aberdeen, the north into Scotland. I'm not a limited company, I'm a sole trader. Oh. Really. Yeah, sole trader and I have been in the industry a long time since 1984. Started off with rent to kill and then start up my own later and actually sold it at one point and then I come back. I liked it so much that I came back and I thought I would just come back and work off a van and be happy with my lot.

3:31 But unfortunately I've got to see I've got too good at marketing and the business grew again. So, so that's basic basically me. I've also been a director of the British Pest Control Association at one time. Nice, nice. And I'm very proud to see that I've got first training course in Scotland residential in 60 years. That's good, but it's they've always complaining about there's not enough courses in Scotland in general because I know I don't know if you know Andrew MacDonald, he runs UK for Tanks hard and Pest Response.

4:16 He's from Scotland. He's beyond the podcast and he's always saying. UK for what? UK for tanks they sell mould traps. All right, OK, Right. OK. He's. Always saying there's not enough, there's not enough going on in Scotland. He's right. Like courses? Yeah. But to be fair, to be fair, we're not a big industry. And. One of the reasons the regional meetings came about again because it's something I done because it would take me 3 days to go for a A4 hour meeting somewhere in England. So I proposed to the committee that why don't we get a regional meetings and that's where the regional meetings come from.

4:58 So we've even gotten in Scotland that's. Good stuff. And then I want to give a talk at a meeting where I proposed that we do online training, but that was years ago. You'll see that in the BBCS magazine from years ago. And I remember Richard Strand at a time saying to me, Peter, some of these guys don't even have an e-mail yet. So far back we're going, yeah, they didn't have emails. They. Didn't tell you what it shows though. It shows. It shows your forward finger. Oh well, I've. Always. I've always classed myself as a bit of a visionary.

5:37 Yeah, yeah. And another thing that happened was when Sorex was in the go, I was invited out to the think tank and I said a lodger at a time. I said, see when we want a farm I'm going to take out a bucket and redend the side. And it says at the time Sorex won't it? The farmer would say I can buy that myself. So with that, they took out the Sorex Pro range and later on he told me, he says Peter, that was one of our best sellers. So that's. I've never heard of. I've never heard that before. Yeah, yeah, that was Sorex as well before your home.

6:24 And. I'm glad to see we've got online training as well so we've really got everything covered now, but it's nothing like a face to face meeting so I'm glad they've got them in Scotland as well. No, it is right because I'll be honest, there's a difference between online training is good. But I would say that if you were doing something like, Oh no, you RSPH level 2 in pest management awards, but I'd say the award bit because it causes a lot of trouble online or your Level 3. You need in person training really to get it all to sink into your brain.

7:02 There's certain things you can do online, but in my opinion when you do big courses like that, you need to be in person really. Yeah, but yeah, not even, not even that standing in a classroom, you in the early days, you've got to go out with another technician really to collect the job. That's what I do or anybody knew it came to me, it was on the job training with that other technician. Sometimes I would go out with them in the early days and then I remember because because courses were hard to get, I was done on the job training and I think 2 guys I bought the the the best manual and I said read it.

7:49 Read it because you're going to be doing an examiner and the two of them passed just by reading the the one that you get the RSPH book. So everything's in there you need plus the the online goner goner doing the actual work as well, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's just whether it sticks in your brain something like what may I? I passed second time round, I passed the rodents first and then second time round I passed past the invertebrates and the health and safety legislation. But annoyingly, apparently the the actual modules I I like missed it by a few points each.

8:36 But I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to say that happened because it does. I'm not going to lie, didn't pass the first time. But it doesn't really matter. I don't know in the end. I know someone else that happened in the early days and phoned me up and help them and they've got a very big business now, right? Obviously I won't mention who it is, so that's what can happen. But theory that's when I when I interview people for jobs, I don't really look at the qualifications that their ologies and their university degrees.

9:11 In fact, from all my people over 55, OK. Lot of experience then basically. Well, no, absolutely no experience in the command. I train them because there's a lot of reasons, because they're a lot of a job at that age, right? And they're willing to work and make it interesting for them, OK. And. The guy joined me at age 68. He's got what you do know. Yeah. And so he still works for me. And all the guys recently have been over 55. But I got, I got some, I actually got some publicity through it from my paper.

9:59 But then I mean, I got, I got dogs abuse because I didn't employ young people, but I did. And normally it lasted a week. Yeah. The thing is though, it's like last, it's, it's what you want to do, but it's whether they also arrive for the job and want the job. That's the thing. If they want it or they just try it and they don't last long. You know, the other thing with me is I, I started off life as a soldier and everybody that's came to my business, practically everybody has had some form of military training, even in the Army Cadet Force.

10:42 I even got a chap who works for me. He's a Malaysian Indian and he's as more Aberdonian as you can get. He's brought up Aberdonian. After that he was in the Malaysian Army. So everybody you know of the people from the Navy, I've never heard them from the RAF, but. Your next goal? We need an RAF person. Yeah, so and yeah, yeah. No, that's that's good, though. It's it's but like it. I've heard a lot about interviewing people and people, I've heard it on various bits of podcasts Where? Because So what?

11:28 So what I heard interviewing in, you know, 2025 isn't like it used to be, is it? You can't what? You're not supposed to say certain things like ask what's it called? Let's say you're employing, I don't know, a lady. Yeah, you're not supposed to say. Are you planning on having any kids in the future and stuff like that. Absolutely not. Absolutely, yeah. Things like that. But but it's like, well, it's just me and my dad surprised. So I never actually experienced interviewing people, but I have heard a lot of people like I think Hugh Radford, I think he was interviewing a load of people and he said on he's telling his podcast that he asked the guy actually what is a pest control technician?

12:17 He said I don't know mate, I just applied.

12:22 But he said a lot of them were like that. They did. They didn't really know what they were they were signing. Up for I was over in Portugal and I put a note on advert and I got my phone up and he said to me, what's the wages? I says I thought you might be killing that because it was in the advert. There you go. So that and I says So what you doing? And now I'd ask my couple. I said, what you doing? Now he says. I'm I'm sitting in McDonald's a burger. So that's fine. And when I told them away, he says that's why you're not getting on B, he says, and that's why you can keep on eating your burger.

13:03 I said, put the phone down. OK. And it's it's I'm used to old formal interviews and, and I'll tell you, I've actually stopped a couple of interviews not to I got there from my cousin, went for a job. He was a university graduate many, many, many years ago. I all remembered he went, he went for a job with a local television station and he was called back and he thought, wow, I'm getting a second interview on 10 in the chart system. I won't say his name. He says, just to say to you, that was probably the worst interview I've ever done.

13:43 And I've brought you back to try and help you. Now. I've done exactly the same. A young soldier come in, He was absolutely shaken and he just, he was getting nowhere. And I said, listen, I'm stopping the interview now. But what I'm going to do now is I'm going to help you for your next interview. Nice, nice, right. And I said there's no way at this point in time I could take you on, you know, you're not confident of. And because I'm actually a public speaking trainer as well, you know, and I just try and help people, you know.

14:25 And so always there's a couple of interviews. I've did some funny interviews like a guy commander. A lot of the guys that will be in the Army will laugh at this. This guy was 22 years in the Army and reached the lank of Lance Corporal, which means he didn't go anywhere. A system are you scared of heights and he looked at me and he said have you read my CVI goes yes. I said I was a soldier too and I'm scared of heights and he's facing fight blew him and so that was the end that interview as well.

15:07 So so I said did you expect it to be like a Sergeant major if he'd done 22 years in the army. It was a Lance, Jack and squaddies don't know that you know. And what's that like? You don't you sit in offices and stuff. It's that kind of. Well, this guy, I found out he actually, he was a Stormer. Oh, OK. OK. And I won't see him anymore that I do that. That's fair enough. But now it's the the there is a lot of veterans getting into industry. There is a lot of veterans coming into pest control. There is a lot.

15:42 Of. There's a lot of London firms that take on a lot of veterans, like Mark Mosley who was on The Apprentice. He takes on a lot, most, I think all of his veterans. I've got to say, but I've, I've got to say I've been let down by a couple recently, you know? OK, but I I've just seen something. I'm sorry I've never seen this before, but someone's posted on LinkedIn a very nice gesture to help someone struggling with interview Very true. I didn't know you could, I didn't know you could hide your your name but.

16:26 If you're watching no some some people put their name or or or when they post you just the system. But anyway, thank you very much interviewer. But I mean, I've, I've employed a few people over the years and one one of the things is if you've got a business, right, you've got to look after the people that work for you, right? I get up in the morning, I look at an app and I just let the guys get on with it.

17:00 And then if they need me, the phone in, you know, we've got trackers that we don't even use. But there if it was an accident, then we had someone complain saying we hit the car, but we didn't because it was in a different area.

17:18 So one thing I found is look after the people that work for you. I've had a couple of people, it didn't work out, but I've always, in all the years, I've only sacked some, sacked somebody once in my life, despite many, many epochs to change a lot of ways. Yeah. Well, not a thing. I like AI like a happy workforce. Well, that's how that's how you keep the best, the best people, apparently you've got to keep the workforce happy. And if you don't, they'll find they'll find somewhere else eventually.

17:57 I. Mean. It got so bad one day, right? Yeah, the guys turned up at my door, the house. OK. Because I haven't been in touch with them, the thought was ill. They come, they come looking for me. I see, I can see the app. I just let you go on and I never phoned them or anything. I often say why am I here? But they phone in for advice and I go, oh, I thought you might have known that. But anyway, this is what it is and this is what you do. It's. Nice. That is though, because it's you don't know everything and there's always a learning, there's always a learning curve or something new or something you've not done or a different angle.

18:42 Yeah, well, what I do when you people, Andy, my supervisor knows this to them, yeah, this is what he says to them. If Peter asks you around for a cup of tea, this house, he says you'll get a cup of tea, he says, but you better start thinking. And they go, Why? Because when you come in, you get a verbal examination. I had One Cup of tea, 2 sugars, milk. There. You will sit down. Look, tell me, I'll say how many droppings does our most have? How much water do they drink? What's the moisture content?

19:21 Bang, bang, bang. And I say every question that I ask you, the customer will be asking you as well, you know, and I'll never forget I took a brand new guy. Our first job. I says, follow this is I'll come with you. And we went to a house and it's going to have to be spraying. And we've got in And the woman kept asking questions about the chemical ingredient. And I clicked on right away. And I sister, what do you do for a living? She goes, I'm an industrial chemist. And these people want to know, right?

20:00 So when I got a new technician, I says, no. Did you see that in your first day? He goes, yeah, I says, you need to learn all that. Never. Has a no one question me to that degree? Yeah, I haven't. So I said to the lady, thanks for all that question because this is his first day and I said I'm glad I was able to answer them. So so that's what I do on the on the job, leave the guys to get on with it. And if someone's struggling, I have a meeting now, we'll have a bacon roll and I'll ask them questions and then I will ask if they're anything they're unsure of.

20:37 And I mean. That's, that's nice. Thanks Kurt for watching over on LinkedIn. I appreciate it mate. OK. So when did you see you hinted before the podcast and the other day, when did you first meet rats then Steve rats? It's. Funnily enough, for when I joined the army, I was I was sent over to Berlin and it was an Arnold Squadronair with Chieftain tanks. We were out the back one day beside the rubbish bins, beside the quartermaster store and someone moved it home right And all of a sudden there was rats squealing and they were jumping in the air.

21:21 Now we were British soldiers ready to fight the Russians at the other side of the wall. We turn and we ran screaming now.

21:35 And that was my first introduction to rats. And then when I got introduced to cockroaches, I was down a place called Sinalaga and you know, sometimes are called the steam fly as well. Sorry, I didn't know. I've not heard that one, but I didn't. Know cockroaches so basically steam fly. So I made coffee and they had the steam that heated up the coffee. And then when I stubbed my coffee, I was with six cockroaches swirling around it. And they'd come out of the steam as well out of the pipe. And so was that.

22:10 That was my introductions to, to, to pests. And so I was quite fun. So when I pulled out the army, I've done a couple of things and I then seen I heard there was a job going with Rantacal and I went down and knocked at the door and I said, here's a job going here. And this says how do you know it's not even advertised? I said, ah, I was, I was ways. I know what they didn't know. I knew somebody had worked around the car. I didn't know. And, and the guy that owns well, Jimmy, he passed away. He owned Graham Pest Control.

22:51 I was the father. OK, Yeah. He was a rental service manager and he took one, and the other reason for the job is that the branch manager was actually had been a major in the Army as well. Oh, OK. So that's how I got in and then eventually started up in my own. So that was my introduction to rats so. Yeah, it's a good spout. I'll tell you it's a funny story. You might have to go to war. But no, let's run away from these rats instead. Yeah, but I'll tell you, we were terrified. No and. Are they big?

23:35 Are they big? Oh, the. Biggest catches, they would say. I have, I have, I have heard that I have. So we've obviously there's a lot of people that started out around to kill. Did you do you like their travel? Because the parent? The one thing people say about working for Rent to Kill is you get great experience in learning how to sell and the training is excellent. Well, I had a chap who's passed away. I went out with him, Bill Holiday and he, he was a long, steady guy and and I went, I went out with him and learned from him new job.

24:18 And then I got my own patch. I had to go for training. No, they kept you up to date when used, bulletins and everything. Then Cynthia House and then I'd put a Dundee once a week to do my course, but they never, ever give me a certificate. So when I left and started up my own, I'd actually do it all over again myself. I passed the flying colours, I'll have you know Part 1 and Part 2 which doesn't exist anymore. Good the I would agree on the training banks tuned in. LinkedIn user. I've never seen this before.

25:02 I haven't. Well, don't worry, just keep going. The show goes on. Oh. Yeah, but yes, it's weird how to never give you a certificate though that is. Well, you mastered it anyway when you. When you do your RPH as well, usually the firm pays for it and they keep they retain it.

25:24 Oh, I will know because it's our firm so. Yeah, well, I will. And if people want it and some people hand it over, others says no, that's ours, they have to buy. They have to buy it for RSPH, get another one from themselves. Oh, we just, it's all in the price. But then again, I am a director with my dad so it's not like. I work for a company. When you start, when you start employing people, it's different, you know, and. I will because a lot of people, you could put them through, you could put them through, then they could leave.

25:55 Oh, you put me through all this can do. Now, by law, they can actually put you in the course and sign agreement that if you leave within a certain period of time. But I was a bus driver as well. Even a bus driver, I'd say that would be there for a certain time or I'd have to pay them back. It's fair enough because it's not. I'll be honest, back then the I would say the level 2 course is a lot cheaper now, but I've heard that these courses used to be two or three grand to do the the the level the the level 2 award.

26:29 Yeah. Is that right? It used to be really expensive. Well. I've got to say that the BPC have got an online one. Have they? Yeah, cost you £500. I think around about that and I bought it from one of my guys before because the travel await England and stuff like that. It's more than a week out the business etcetera. I says here's the book, here's the course, learn it and I had one shop. I says have you been looking at it? Oh well, when I can, when I can, I says your and then I says your examinations next week.

27:07 Oh no, you need to eat more time than that, I says. Well, we better get torn into it, be passed good and that was what I put in. So it can be done. But I think you're better to go on a residential course and I did. I did do an honouring course with, I put a new guy on right away, but that was a mistake. He wasn't in the business long enough. I don't he just didn't have enough experience right, So I put him on too early. That was that was done online during COVID and he eventually hired earlier than he should have kind.

27:52 So, so that was, So what, what I would do now was my advice to people is keeping them with you for a while. You make sure you're ready for them, then put them on the course. Or you could get them to do the basic principles in rodent control and instant control. Well, you've got to do that anyway, because you have. Yeah, I'm not. So I did, I started in, I started in 2020 in the, you know, the pandemic. I did my courses online with Killjerm, both of them, and then eventually roll round to 2024. No, yes, yeah, 25 right now.

28:35 So I did it in 2023 October. I had to retake it in April of 2024. In the past, the Level 2, I'm on about the real Level 2 people and that of course there's a lot of controversy the way you word it. It does. It wasn't the day course. But I I work the equivalent to Level 3. Nice. Yeah, good. But. But how's the thing when they came out with the CRL or you and you must have there with a rodent handling course, I said where's the courses in Scotland then? Oh yeah, where's the, where's the courses in Scotland now?

29:20 In the early days I actually had to put a Lantern for training for new people, but again, only with neighbourhood courses on. So I said how could you? How could you say you you need this and you can't provide What Did you know that a government has something a lot of people won't know? You know you have to get an annual MOT for your vehicle. Yeah, yeah. Did you know you can go to the local fire station etcetera and who who do their own ones, All right. So I heard this completes do too. Yeah, so if the government, government makes you do something, they've got to provide the service.

30:03 So I went down to a place called Stone Haven, booked it in and he done, he done all the mots for the fire brigade and people like that. And I says, have you have you noticed there's a lot of people coming on with cars and things. He went, yeah, he says, why is that? And I thought he says, I never knew that. So what happened is he got flooded with cars and they couldn't get the fire engines in and things like that in time because they got flooded with. The government has to set it up right now. Another entrepreneur's book.

30:40 What do you call that guy? It was in the Dragons and Duncan Banner. Time, yeah. Yeah, so I read his book and he says he says anything that government demands you do, go to the government website and you'll find where you can get it done by them. Interesting. They can't force you to go to a sub party you see. Because I'm sure I say online once something about something, but you know how people Google like police cars registered stuff. I'm sure it said it wasn't MOTD or taxed or something. And the police replied with it's not a legal requirement, but police, police speak something like that.

31:19 I don't know which one it was. And they replaced Pride with It's not a legal requirement for a police vehicle. Or something. We do it ourselves. I don't know that one. So that. Who knows, I can't remember what it was. Life I found out all these little things let's go back to pest control we. Will So what made you start up your own pest firm then? What made you want to do it? Was there a pinnacle moment when when you left Rentico and thought I've had I'm going to set up myself? I'm going to take you back to when I was 14 years old, I left school with no education, but a teacher said to me, we were in a we were in a class where we just didn't want to learn, to be honest.

32:05 But he, I, I done a motivational talk on this one day at 500 people and he said I want you to write everything that you're going to do with your life. All right. And mines was easy. I was going to join the army, I was going to have a lorry driver's licence. And I said one day I will have my own business. I've done everything by age 27, right? So it's like having a business plan. If somebody hears listening now, I forgot to write a business plan later on in life, but I have now, boy does it work.

32:44 Write down what you're going to do with the next five years with your your business. OK, and and then look at it. I had a bad time a couple of years ago. OK, I'll be honest and I got a chap and just say have a look at my business. He says you've got a good business PR. He says you actually run it better than some people that have got £3,000,000 tonne of our business I deal with. He says OK, it's a week at bookkeeping and so I says you're right because we're too busy doing the work now. The bookkeeper wasn't getting things right.

33:22 So we changed it to the second bookkeeper who made it once and now I found a sub bookkeeper. He's got everything done within a month, sorted everything out, cost, cost them a lot of money. So each step for any new people that are listening, don't get your wife to do the books, don't try and do them when you come home at night. Get a professional bookkeeper to do it for you and they'll be on tip top, right? And. That, that's, that's what I would say to people. And it's one of the I think it's one of the weakest areas you can do.

34:01 And people say to me, why don't you do it yourself? I says, you have no chance. I couldn't even do school homework. I says everybody in that place, OK, it costs you money, but I know they're getting done right now. Well. Yeah, we've got an, we've got an accountant that we send all our books to. We just and they do it. It's worth the money because if you ever, you know, make a mistake. Well. They they will find it very well. There's two different people as accountants who do end the year, and then you've got the bookkeepers who do the bookkeeping week to week and then they pass that to the accountant.

34:42 Yeah. To finish off. So far they we've got everything right so the accountants doing a good job so far so. But I know of some. I was one of them. But we've got it all fixed now. Everything is like basically clockwork touch what you get the odd mistake, but it's really good. And now we came through a bit of networking. I used to go a lot of networks and I was sitting, I was sitting in a Costa Coffee one day with my hands and my head And this, this jolly lady comes along, First aid instructor. Hello, Peter.

35:17 She says English. She says, how are you getting on? I looked up and I says I'm not. That says bookkeepers are driving me around the bend. Yeah. And she said why don't you speak to a bookkeeper? And that was history and that wasn't fixed. Brilliant. Thing is, if people don't realise though, you need to do your books. It's a serious thing. If you make a mistake or you're doing something wrong or you're not paying the right that or that or something, you're in serious deep, deep. Trouble. That's. Worth the money and coal.

35:48 Let me let me tell you the best person that I've employed in the last year or two. Who do you think it might be?

36:01 Oh, the bookkeeper. No, no, no.

36:05 Some kind of business coach. A debt collector. Oh, debt collector. Yeah, OK. Yeah, I keep bringing us saying do you need some help? Today. Yeah, well, I can't recommend somebody. This guy. No. Yes. I said no, I don't want you to offend my customers. He says. I want Yeah, hold up my mom. He got over £20,000 in. That's good. You COVID and everything, people hiding from me and stuff like that. He got that money in. That's pretty incredible. You know, and he was really, really good and he stole, maintained a good.

36:44 He he's working for my business in my business name. Hi. Just need to sort the books out a bit. I noticed you aroused some money. Or could you send us a copy of the invoice? Yeah, I'll get that done for you. And that's how much we brought in. That was bad debt. Well. I'll tell you what, that's a nice number to bring back in. So our forward pest controllers, no, we're not big like the Ecolabs and that no, the other big names and that they've all got people for. But when you had a lot of business, a micro business, I've got 4 vans in the road, I'm a micro business, right?

37:19 I thought I find it hard to believe that you're just your class is a sole trader yet you've got 4 vans on the road. Yeah. Interesting, that's a lot. Most sole trader is just one person. Yeah, your clusters are sole trader. Because we're limited. You just name my dad. We are. And you and you, you went limited, right? Gives you a limited. Liability, we were told, well, not, no, not limited, but I mean, but registered, we had to go. But if you're a limited company, they'll say you might be limited in liability, but we want a personal guarantee from you should anything go wrong, we want you to pay up personally.

38:02 So there you. So there you go. Right. So hopefully people have learned from that. Let me tell you another thing that I would feel grateful for. OK, Gordon, who was my supervisor at the time, who now passed away, passed away at 49. God bless her. I actually ended up ill and I got a heart bypass. Gordon run the business for me. Well, I was. I was out with the game for six months. That's a serious operation, that. Is yeah, yeah, I nearly died. I've nearly died 2 times in my life and I think it's when I got a VAT bill once, you know, I'd so yeah, so God, so, so gather people.

38:50 I often say. I've mentored a couple of people in the industry. I say, what's going to happen if you become ill and you are the only person here? What are you going to do to combat that? So what I say to people when they start off right, Oh no, I'm never going to employ anybody. No, I couldn't have the warrior that. I'll say, what if you've got the warrior lying in your bed with a broken leg for months? Who's going to, How's your business going to do with that? So even if you get insurance for it, who's going to service the customers?

39:23 We've got lots in the hotel. So I always say to them, go out and get somebody part time, maybe retired, freeing them up professionally. A lot of good old people out there and praying them to go out and do some work with you. And I know a couple of people have done that, that actually thanked Malaya. It's. Good idea. I mean, to be fair, I mean, did you know I've broken my leg twice? Is that why you brought it up? No, no, no, no, I didn't. How long were you out of action for? 2020 I couldn't walk for three months, I had to learn to walk again.

40:02 Started going back into my mum and dad when after I think the 4th month and then 2024 April, February broke it again. And then but yeah, obviously working with my dad, there's another person, isn't there? So but what? Would you have done if you were working on your own? Knackered. Wasn't it? Knackered. I would have been knackered. Anyway, so. He's a great example though. He ended the lesson for that one then. Yeah, so and then Elsheba asked me. So obviously I I can't. So what made you have after you left Rent to Kill?

40:47 What was it that actually made you set your own business up? Well, during that story from school, I found that in that I really enjoyed pest control. I really, really enjoyed pest control. And now I was under a restrictive covenant and I saw it through. I didn't want any court action or any hassle. I went and became a milkman and after a year I started my business. After delivering milk at 3:00 in the morning, I would go round and knocking in doors and building the business up. I even deliver papers on a Saturday morning in Aberdeen.

41:24 No, a Sunday morning and I worked Saturday with the milk. I was as thin as I rake, I was fit, I was fatter than I thought. You know all The Walking? What? What the covenant means Sorry you went to be a milk. You said to me about you were under a covered woods. Were you under it like a non compete something? Yeah, yeah. When you when you were for them, you were under a restrictive covenant, which you. Couldn't work. In your area for one year and you couldn't approach the customers for two year? Right.

41:57 So you mean like a non compete agreement different? Wording, yeah. You had no option to sign it to get the job? Really. Oh, OK, yeah. But I actually saw people going to court and there was a big one when Dana Rod came into pest control. I don't know if you know about that. Yeah, it was a big problem back then. But I know another guy that was taken to court. He's retired now. So I just seen it through. Done with time. And that's what, and that's what I'm a fair man. I said, OK, that's your agreement.

42:32 Then I come back and then I went hell for leather. And people would say to me, where have you been? When I went in? And I told them, this is all, we'll give you the business then. And I just built it up and built it up and built it up and built it up. And it became so much because remember I was still a milkman as well, up at 3:00 in the morning. And I kid you not, I was working till 10 at night, then back up at 3:00 in the morning and it had to go. One of them had to go and it was the milk. I I I have bad dreams at 3:00 in the morning of an alarm clock ringing because I couldn't do it again.

43:14 I had to, Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a serious work day. Fatal 10 at night. Yeah. Serious hard work, that is. I remember when I was absolutely shocked I was working more next time and my woman 4 nurses please can you help me? No, what was the days of honey bees? We can really go on in.

43:41 Please can you help me? They've come in down the chimney, they're all over my house and I said I'm tired but come out in the morning, just shut. No please. And I said OK right. I think she said to me I thought it was going to be in Aberdeen. She was. I'm in Fraser butter. That is a fair journey from Aberdeen. I said it's quite a few miles, quite a few miles and I can't make it. But all I remember saying that, look, I haven't had anything to eat. She says I'll be a meal waiting for you, She said.

44:19 And I would top done the job and had a meal with her. And so it's been, it's, it's been some good stories that I actually give talks local lottery clubs and everything about being a pest controller. You know that's. Interesting. Now you see, that's another way of getting your business name out because I, I know I've had business since I give these talks. You know, I'm in a cycling club and also people phone me from the cycling club. I don't push my business. They know what I do, right. So it's all part of your marketing.

44:56 And so I just went out and I used to tell them funny stories like I once got called in at 10:00 at night again, I says I'll come tomorrow. And it was a Birmingham accent in Aberdeen. And I said come out tomorrow, please, please come now. We've got a rat that mugs. I said OK, I said just let me get dressed. And I went out and it was a flat and I knocked at the door and a rather lovely looking lady and her friend behind a lovely looking two said, hello, Medea, I says, and I clicked on right away and I says, oh, what's the number?

45:34 Pest control, man? Oh, you better come in all right. And I had a look around and I says I need to check all the rooms, OK. And they looked at each other and they said they're working girls. I says we've all got to make money and I opened the door. It was a torture chamber with movies on the wall. So anyway I'd done that and then when I'd done the job the Thunder and they looked at each other and they said how do you want paid? So you're looking at the only man from Aberdeen to go a brothel and come out with money.

46:19 So that's just, that's just one of the stories, you know, we've all got them. Oh, you've got some good stories. Though to be fair, you've got some wild stories you have. Yeah. So it's. Been a laugh. What what's your what's your favourite pest to deal with? Then you've got a favourite. Bed bugs. Bed bugs you don't get many people don't get many people say bed bugs. Bedbugs, I'll tell you a story and, and for the 1st 10 years in Aberdeen I had never seen a bedbug for real. And an oil company phoned and they said we are, we've got a house and it's a shared house with all the oil workers.

47:08 So I went down and I went in and I saw bedbugs in a room. I said so what's happened? And this guy had come out and he said, here's the problem. This guy had a small room. So when someone left another room, he come out of that room. He was from another continent, OK. And he went into that room and the new guy went into the new room and he got bitten that night. And he come out and he said to the guy, did you know, up with these bedbugs? He goes, yes. He says, why? He says. I thought it was normal.

47:46 It can to be fair. I mean I have heard stories like it where they don't they they think it's normal and cockroaches too as well. But the other one I'll never forget. I went to the house in Aberdeen and the woman was absolutely white and shaken and it was should just look shattered. I've never seen anyone like it in the bed bugs room. Every room that we're meeting you during the day. Oh no. And I'd said to her, how long have you known about this, my dear? She goes three years. I says, how do you know three years?

48:27 And she looked at her husband and she says we went a caravan holiday, right. A true story with us. We went a caravan holiday and I was bed bugs in it. And my husband said him said don't worry about it in holidays like these, you can expect it. So they took them all the way back to Aberdeen for three years, then a sister. Is this a serious question? Can you tell me the name of the campsite? That's caravans. She told me. I said, well, thank God for that ongoing dog next week. And it's it's another one next to it.

49:02 Yeah. Wow, there you go. Three years she had it. It was her. Husband getting bit. It was mainly hard for the matter. So, so long ago. No, you know. Because because I I was it's interesting things had Richard Naylor on the podcast who's. A. Bit of a guru in the in the bed book department and I mentioned this to him. As I said, I heard that women particularly get picked and he said you are right, you can have like husband and wife and it's just a wife. They do. I can't remember what you said. They do go for women though.

49:40 Quite a body hate or something. There is something like that. No, he's the man to find out Like but. Oh yeah, he's a proper expert in that department. Yeah, and you hate. Treatments and you do hate treatments or? What? Kind of treatments to do. We do steam fast and conventional spray and then we go back with another chemical that we use, You know, we change. We've got a very, very good track record with him. No. Very thorough and when we we give people a list of what they've got to do before we go right.

50:19 And. We're absolutely shocked, but with to do all that, Mister, you're wanting a good job, you know, and so, so that that's the way it is. And if I'm not the cheapest to say, listen, if you're wanting a good job, this is the price. You know you'll pay for a good job, aren't you? Yeah, what we think are fear, you know, and so we'll get, we'll get my fear share, put it that way. And so we'll always survey them now because we're not given a price on the phone just to say, yeah, yeah, no, we go in deep, deep.

50:55 Yeah, because a lot of them are just after a price and you get there and it could be, it could be like 20 times worse than they said on the phone. So yeah. That's the problem with. It, well, we've, we've, we've got HMO housing up here and there's about 20 people living for maybe for three people, stuff like that, you see and it's so unhygienic and we so you need to clear this out etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, Yeah. Yeah. So what's your all right And have you got a a a pest you don't like doing then?

51:29 Or least favourite least? Favourite the thing thing? I don't like snakes, right? Where we have an agreement there. Well, a guy phoned me up one day. He says, do you do crickets? I says I can do crickets. Yes. He says, well, they'll hug my pets. That's what pets you got like, because you need to put them out. He said, problem is I've got a cobra and a rattlesnake. And I said, well, I told you what my friend, I won't be coming near your house. There's no chance cobra, for I put a Facebook post up the next thing my local paper had written and then found out about how many people actually keep venomous snakes and ever on licence in their homes.

52:19 I was shocked, you know? I think that snake. Stories because I wouldn't I went to him right, I right. I went right underneath a building once a tenement block and I, I passed I, I was working at that and I went under the block and I climbed underneath and then when I got home my face went white. It said Boa constrictor lost an Aberdeen block of flats. It was the block that I was in. Oh. No. I would have died on the spot. I don't. Well, it's not bringing it. To be fair, I don't even know if if I don't even know if we're allowed to deal.

53:03 It's not deemed the pest is it? With us, the pest controllers, it's not deemed. Is it? Well, the other, for instance, is protective species. You're. Not allowed. I've never touched. As I say, I went to a job a couple of years ago and they did lovely chap, but did a rodent job in his garden, little garden, he says to me. I just want to tell you something just so you can be careful. What is it then? Little bait, That bait box you've got near the door. I said yeah, well, I was stood here the other day and he says where your I says where you all stood a big snake come out says you're joking, you know, he said massive and he slithered off.

53:44 So I'm so glad you told me it I was so careful with something real. I says I think it they might, I said this to him, it might have eaten the rouse. And he, he, he says I think it was an adder. And I says I was so careful. I was like I said, it's because I I said I know I'm a pest controller, but I'm not trained in snakes. No, I said I. But I I didn't see it. It's I've never seen it. I've lived there X amount 60 odd years. I know I've never seen a snake in my garden. I, I went over to Florida for a holiday and no, when you go over you look at pest controllers.

54:21 What about now? And I was speaking to one guy, he was outside at Walmart or something and he said, I said, do you ever come across snakes? He says all the time. He says when I go, I beat outside beatbox, I kick it first. He kicks. For rats, not for snakes. No, for snakes. Snakes go in them. And when you open up, you could. When you open it up, I could be a rattler in it, you know, I said, well, I'm afraid I wouldn't do your job, you know? I I couldn't imagine because they do, they do snakes. They do.

54:55 They do a lot more than we do a lot more. They don't, they don't kill the snakes. They just pick them up and put them in the back and move them. I don't think they killed. Them, that's right. I want people in Canada. You'll not kill them. And I watch a guy there going and picking them up. Just do it in Australia, they just pick them up and they move them. Take them away. I get paid for it, I do, but it's still doing it. Not for me. How? How long was the time, Sean? How long do you want? How long can you do?

55:26 Listen, I'm up till 4:00 in the morning. Well, now it's going about 55 minutes at the minute. Any any other subject you'd like to to? Talk about yeah, yeah. So how did you obviously you've obviously I believe you've got the gift of the gap. How did you build up the business as in terms of getting new service contracts and customers? Was it you were knocking on people's doors? And how did you get new work or how did you grow let? Me. Tell you how I started, I employed a lady here in Aberdeen who's really good at marketing.

56:05 So what we've done is we've put out 50 letters, OK? We've done 50 phone calls.

56:13 Guess how many appointments we got out of that?

56:22 And. And then when I went, when I went to visit them, I sold the contract 15 on the day I went to see them. That's.

56:40 Good, Very good. Sold to them. You know, it's not that way nowadays. And I've actually done that three times and we've got the same results. So, and if I was only listen, it's new in the early days. You've got to go and fight for the business and, and, and use everything. Go to network and go to different things. I, I, I one of the other things is I managed to go on the television about once a year, once or twice a year as well. I went on to Radio Scotland and I give a descriptive job of dealing with rats on my farm and then the television programme in Aberdeen.

57:23 At a time they contacted me and they come up for a week and I couldn't walk about Aberdeen. People were coming up to me and having a laugh and stuff like that, you know? And. So it was good for me and the lady it was with my Polly and beautiful lady, well I took her off that blonde job and a blonde hair was covered in pigeon muck and everything and she said lay off camera. She says you can stick your job up your butt side and and I stayed friendly with her over the years. And another guy, his name was Donald John McDonald.

57:56 He was the same age as me and anytime any different TV things, he got me on and local papers as well. So I found that they're always they're always looking for a story. Now the problem I've got now, right, I'm nearly 66, all the journalists are young. They're young dudes and dudesses now, so I don't have the same no with them. I'm an old man compared to them. So you have to send an e-mail to them from my Easter and I would say things be careful. Big wasp nest this year, one in a Wendy house child nearly got stung and they would say can you stay there?

58:40 We'll get a photographer around all these sorts of things. And I knew how they would, I knew they would take the bait. And that's how I go onto television and onto the, the press, etcetera. Always, always pushing your name in different ways by giving a helpful angle rather than, hey, let me tell you about my business on Tally and get me on because they know it's advertising. It's changed now. They're quite, they're, they're quite restrictive now. This is why I'm doing something like this. You because I phoned you.

59:11 You didn't phone me. Yeah, everyone. Peter phoned my dad, obviously open pest control and asking for me and my dad passed your number on and I rang you and I was very impressed. I was like someone's rang me up to come on. I thought that. I thought that was cool. No one's done that yet and you're the 1st. Yeah, well, I know. I know running a podcast because I don't know myself years ago, probably 8 years. I know how hard it is to get guests on because I'll tell you, people are terrified of the camera.

59:44 Yeah, I've had a lot of people that I want on, but they won't. They are afraid of the camera. You just can't get them on. But I'm lucky. I've been on television a lot. I've even been on The X Factor. I love, you know, really, but I wasn't. So clip on the I wasn't saying it's the clip on YouTube. Yeah. Did you see that singing? No. Right. No, I didn't. I've got a clip on me and TikTok singing for a busker. I give him my brain. He's my part time singer and it was all the young dudes asking for another song.

1:00:19 But no, I actually, if you look at my I actually I'm a stand in for somebody that used to be an X Factor as he's 00 Louis Louis Walsh. Oh. Louis Walsh. So I became a singer at age 46. So that's another when people say, So what do you do? I say, well, I'm a rat catcher during the week and I'm a Rat Pack singer at the weekends. That usually goes very well. And I even people phone the business and say, is that a guy that looks like Louis Walsh that owns a business and they go, yeah, you've got the right business.

1:00:59 And it's all that next that get people to come to you, you know? Yeah, it's good. Like you were you when you were talking about newspapers. I've managed to do that. I I've been in, I've been in the local papers twice this year, one for WASP. Good. For you and the other one was because I told them that I they thought I went viral on TikTok. I told them I had right. What was it? It was 100 and what was it 70,000 views and they basically seen it and thought, oh, it went viral. Viral means millions.

1:01:37 But it wasn't. And they interviewed me about it, about the business and everything they did. I'll have to tell you this one. So unfortunately the guy's not working anymore, but we done one on Facebook and I just picked up the camera one day and the guy was working with me and I pulled the camera and I just put the camera on the system. How long have you been working with me now? And he said, oh a couple of years or something. I says what's the biggest thing it surprised you? And he and he was a country lad and he went oh, he says I was a major amazed I was cockroaches in Aberdeen.

1:02:19 I says, OK, I says and tell the audience what's the difference between a German cockroach and an Oriental cockroach? Now we've done a good job of explaining. I says well done. Then I looked at a car and I says but the main difference is when you stand in a German it shout out to me. Well he was drafted and he but that got 11,000 views. And. People would stop us both in the street and so when I went from a heart bypass, the thing didn't go too well and I'm lying there and the surgeons had to come back and they were all rung my bed and they were just open at a right hand side and and drain my lungs because I had a bunch of lungs.

1:03:06 What do you watch at the end? Just a young guy. He says, excuse me, have you got a guy that works for you called XI, won't say his name and he went I says yeah, he says it's him, it's him. He went viral and all these young students knew who I was and even the surgeon put down everything and and they started speaking about me and they weren't meant to be operating on me. Don't remember the video. Wow, that's good. That is it just shows you. It just shows you it does. I'm just trying to find my TikTok that that that that went viral.

1:03:46 Right. Hey, Viral, but I think that's a lot of views. I do what you said that. I I should go on TikTok more but. Well, see what? See, see I've got I've got one here on the Open Pest Control 1 and it's literally just an information graph about varied carpet beetle with a song on it. 84,000 views there. You go. Not all my posts do that. I'm sure I've got I can't bloody fire. I've got one at 25,000 views that says don't block the bloody owl. But don't put it like that. Tell people you know we're. What's that?

1:04:26 I made one a couple of years ago. I haven't got anything and I've got a dreary tune like Death and I give, I give bed bug facts. Yeah, no, that's it. I found it. The new one that you could say was more viable than the first 15,000 on TikTok? That one. Yeah. Don't block the hole again of a wasp nest. And you know how the public are half of them telling me he's an idiot. You can't block the hole. It will kill the wasp nest and load them going. I tried that and the EFM were plasterboard no? That's the only thing I don't like about these sort of things.

1:05:10 People come up and say stupid things. That I ignore it. I, I see it as great engagement. Now I, I, I, I've feed into it. I just say, well, I can't neck. I got a next door app and I post stuff about what's this every summer this guy comes on, he's polite and I now he hates it because I thank him. Thank you for, because what happens is he tells us like, you know, we're losing insects and so on. And I just put thank you, he boosts the engagement goes up, that the views go right up. I thanked him. One of the problems I've got is one of them, and in Facebook I've actually got three channels right because my memory and because I keep losing my passwords.

1:05:52 So I've ended up with three Facebook pages and they will not help me and it's the same way they won't. They will. Not help me and I'm trying to get through to them but that's one of one of the things I find hard and but I follow I'll I'll give you his name later viewing. I follow a guy Google business profile. Do you use it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, I use it. I use it extensively because I follow a guru, right? I, I follow it and I, and I look at my stats every day to see how many. And it usually works if it's, for example, if I had 100 people view it, 50 of them all and 50 of them go to the website.

1:06:42 Yeah, sometimes a couple don't. That's maybe me looking at it. And I love Google Business Profile. It's free. I do Google guaranteed as well. We do. That's paid for, but it gets his work. It gets his work. It does. Yeah, I'm on Google guaranteed and then? But with that, you've got to be careful because if you say, oh, I'm in a rural area, if you're in a city, you could be up against dozens of pest control companies. See where I am, there's not many on it, you see. So we're like the top of the list broken obviously, because our names Oakham Pest Control.

1:07:19 So I'd imagine if you're in a city, be a bit more. You're basic, you've basically got to have two minimum before they'll give you the leads because I was in a course for that. Yeah, we've got, I've just got up to 60. Sorry 76 I've been trying this summer by actually asking people. It's working. No, no, no. What I mean is on Google, guaranteed there's got to be two or more of you. If you're the only one, they won't give you the leads. They won't hand it over to you. Oh, no, no, there's no there is this like it's 3 or 4?

1:07:53 They're not local to me, if you get what I mean, Just within the area they. Are, I mean, I'll give you some tips later on about all that. I won't give everything away, but I've found a couple of things just recently that have really helped me. Yeah, really, really helped me. And I'm not giving it all away. You have to come in a paid course for it.

1:08:23 It's helpful with good use and it's also helped me with the boost of what I do, you know. It's good that Google's good. Is there any other way you you get business? Like is it just website or? You do a website, you got another. So when I do my Google ads, they all, they all go to a hidden, they go to a hidden landing page. And the only way that we'll get to that landing page is just through the advert that I put out. So we know that our ad that was working. And I use a piece of software called clicky.com and it can tell you where the command and where they went out.

1:09:07 If it was a paid ad, they can tell me all that. So, so am IA pest controller now. Not really.

1:09:16 I'm the marketing bit of my business now you're the. Marketing guru you are. Yeah, I but I feel guilty. I feel guilty because I don't go and do much work. I have this year I've done 12 hour shifts. The guys were shocked. I could still work and then just to show them I could still do that. So basically I do the the marketing in order for them to get leads to go and sell the leads and actually do the work as well, you know? You do a lot of bird work as well. No, not we don't. We don't do a lot of bird work in the early days.

1:09:54 I, I subcontracted it because we've got a lot, a lot of businesses that we do right. I I couldn't afford to have a bug. Team so I just wondered if we. Did any we do, we do some but big net and jobs now. I used to subcontract it out, you know, because I'm getting far and few between now. We do a lot of hoses, you know, we do things for hoses and where what, what my supervisor loves doing is clear outgoing in and cleaning up pigeon muck and stuff like that. He loves it, you know. What money you think and?

1:10:28 I don't know and because of my age he'd said one day we're going to have to get somebody to help us with this was 4 storeys up and it was just pigeons had got into a room and it was and he's probably going to do. I said you're getting me and he was shocked. I could climb up stairs and carry bugs bags a fogble up and down and he says Peter you're fatter than you think. I said never underestimate me. I'm not. I'm just not the marketing man, you know? Yeah, well, you just proved that you can still do it and and more you.

1:11:06 Have, I mean, I'll tell you what, one of the biggest problems we've got in the industry is time, OK, Likewise, they are doing 8-9 and 1/2 hour days, 10 hour days. It's getting them sat down to do training. It's it's a really, really difficult at this time of year and you can't expect them to go home and then do a course on their own. They tell you to go see the waves of the fact I met a new chap that started up here and I says, how's that the advice I'm going to give you What's up? I says, think of your family work Monday or Friday.

1:11:46 Take your weekends off. Don't drop everything to go for one wasp nest. He was done for Monday and I met him recently. What a great bit of advice that was competitor, you know. And I had one guy that started up and he he worked for me and he decided to go and I said to him, bump down the street and make sure I don't see names. And I said, listen, I don't mind if you get the work off me, but for God's sake, look at your pricing. You could get more money.

1:12:25 He's not in the industry anymore. Oh, OK. Yeah, because he did not last long. That's one of the problems we've got in the industry. People come in and they're far too cheap. Yeah, it's a lot of them try and get the work and they haven't worked out whether they're actually making any money out of the actual job then they they're not so. Yeah, it's, it's a hard job. I mean, I'm 97.50 for a VAT plus VAT for a wasp messed up here, right? It's hard to break that £100 barrier. So, and I want it broken.

1:13:03 I'm wanting it to be 110. Oh, we're on 100 plus fat. Are you in 100 plus VAT? Yeah, yeah. So. It's just, it's just that this is, we can get it and we'll get it. It's just a case of asking for it, you know? You say guaranteed, you say guaranteed. We guaranteed, however not by bloody Vulcan. That's a nightmare. Never had so many callbacks this, but we've done a lot of washrooms, but that is I've, I've been crying over Flicam. No, the other product we've got, I call it C, is it CPW 40 that's got 40% active ingredient.

1:13:51 It's one of our strongest now. I just wish they could get that powder for them. Yeah, I suppose. Well, the problem is that, I mean it takes even even to get a product for them to read it. I'm hearing from what obviously people in the industry that a lot of the products now when they register them or even do testing, you're talking 8 to 10 years, six years, six years to get through if you're lucky. Yeah, it's taken that long to get them through. If something brought back ficom in a different way or something, I'd be paying 25% more for it, even 50% more for it.

1:14:32 You would though, because Vicam Vicam, even Vicam D1 time can. Make you listen. It could make you thousands, but I will say one thing. I was I was speaking to a supplier and they they were speaking about VOC, Viscam D and they said that the actual companies that make it don't make what you think they do in terms of the bottom line. They don't actually. Viscam D wasn't a big earner for them but they made it. Seasonal as well. Yeah, you. Know they said the best controllers are the ones that make the most money out of each tub.

1:15:08 Yeah. Which was true, you could get make thousands of pounds out of one tub, but you need a little bit. Yeah, but. You did. A great product but I remember Lindy and it was 50% active ingredient. Not heard of that one. Was that was that was that good too? Yes. Well, it was fantastic, but it was carcinogenic. That means you can get cancer. So it. Was. 50% then it would don't have 1% and now it's dumped to .5%. So I mean that perm your chalk if you get a chance, just use it. It's it's it's marvellous.

1:15:46 I would say my guys love it, but I found another one. It's 20 punk, cheaper, does the same job. Well, if you can, you might as well buy it. But I think we've got some we've got, I think we've we've have to have a look. I think we've got some of that. I haven't used it much. There is something we use for window sills when we're doing, When we're doing what? Stuff like. Yeah, it probably not. I can't think if it's perfect job. Yeah, it's probably. It's probably that. So let me tell you, I'm getting I'm 66 in January.

1:16:26 That's me, an old age pitcher. But one of the biggest disappointments for me recently was I was really, I was really high about it, right. You know, I'll tell you what it was. It was electronic trapping. I thought, oh, this is going to be the way forward. I said, what's it going to be, bro? They're sitting in that house and they've got two of my traps upstairs. I know something's went off. They don't. And then give them a phone and say by coming round and set off. And it's a real, but it just, it just isn't right.

1:16:57 Yeah. And I thought, I thought that was going to be great for the industry, but I think we're going to be forced into that later because in certainly in Germany and Denmark, things are changing there. And that's, that's what I think will be the biggest change in the industry long after I'm gone, you know? Yeah, we need to stop the lobbyists first because there's a there is a digital trap company in the EU that is lobbying to ban redempticides and their main agenda is they want to digital trapping.

1:17:29 Yeah. And I think. I'm not saying the name of the company, but they the name of the people were on the beauties and beasties and Sean didn't know that until after but. Send that message after I've told them. But I did I I have looked at a few of them. I thought, wow. I've done I've done digital trial of Sygenta's secure choice 24/7 monitoring and nice for them to give me a go at doing it four months. It was my thoughts will be in the MPTA newsletter because I've I've given my thoughts, but I'm not high on it.

1:18:04 I'm not I'm not high on what I don't think is good though is instead getting the rear rear link cameras up rear link cameras and then you can point them at your traps or you or your or your whatever you've got and then you will know what's in them. And I was saying. One of the biggest problems you've got I would I don't like using customers Wi-Fi because you're getting into their system. The reowning cameras have got SIM cards in where you can use 44G or whatever you've got. Yeah, but. If you put one one of them at every camera, that's still a lot of money.

1:18:37 Oh, now it is, yeah, we've not got massively into it, but Mark Porter in London, he does very well on that. He most of his domestic customers when he, when he's doing a trapping programme or whatever in people's lost spaces, he's got all rear links of and he charges accordingly. He does quite well out of that. London, they're all, they've all got a lot of money down there, you know? In London. But there was a firm in Dublin was that they started up. They don't. They had a good marketing campaign, but I think they got bought over by Terminix or something, I don't know.

1:19:11 They were actually up here in Aberdeen, but it didn't work out so well and that's what they were selling on, you know. But I don't know what's happened to them. Good, good sales pitch. But so that, that's what I think will be the, the biggest change in the industry. I mean, when I come to that, when I come to that, being at OAP, do you know, I found out there's a guy in Scotland, he's still got his pest control business. He's aged 75. Yeah, still doing it. But long term, I don't know what I'll do.

1:19:51 I need to enjoy my life a bit now, but I've enjoyed the industry. You. Know I've enjoyed my industry. You definitely have, all right. It seems that it seems like you have. Anyway, it does. Two years ago, I was in a bad place because of the situation I was in. But I, I've bought, I've nearly been dead three times in my life and I just battled myself. All of it again, you know, went through. I got no, the consultant told me, he says, Pete, are you going to have a bad time till you get fixed? And it was horrible.

1:20:28 It was absolutely horrible. But we got there. We're turning it around. You know, I wouldn't find the buyers knocking on my door. You know, I've already had one knock at my door because I'm going to be a pensioner. Oh. Trying to buy your company? I've hit the I've hit that knock at the door just when I say a phone call, I'm. Trying to. There's a lot of companies trying to buy up everybody, yes. I don't know what it's like in England, but. Well, we get emails daily, but obviously they're not. We're only tiny.

1:21:03 We're not. The. Idea is the business gets passed on to me eventually when my son gets older and if he wants to get into it and take it on eventually it passed down the family line. One of the things that I've got up here, it's quite a niche area. Yeah. It's quite a solid and people say, oh we've got a national contract and then they get one in Aberdeen. What we're going to do I, I, I don't do any subcontracting now so I just look after more customers. Somebody said I'll give you a story. Someone phoned Mountain Dear says could you a couple of years ago, could you go and do a wasp nest on our behalf?

1:21:46 It was a Friday afternoon. I says I could be there in half an hour and I told them the price. Oh, I'm not paying that. I says, OK, I'll give you a a wee bit of a discount since you're in Italy and I could be there in half an hour. And they said the boss says can you do it for £50? What? I says I notice you're near Luton airport. She goes, Oh yeah, that's right. I says use that £50 come up and do it yourself. Oh, they rang you in here. Oh well, you you should charge £400 to go away down there. I actually could have been there in half an hour to please that client for them.

1:22:26 Oh, sorry, their company is based in Luton. They said they were doing Luton. Could you do a job in Aberdeen for my? Oh, sorry, I get you now. And so no, we're not paying us well. Jump the plane from Luton and do it yourself. Yeah. You know, so I stop doing, I stop doing subcontracting, just look after not one customers now. And no, it's the same with these other groups that get other people to do it for them. You know who I mean, right? Yeah, I do, yeah. Yeah, and they, they we. We don't do stuff for that.

1:23:00 We don't. Yeah, so I do. No, I don't. We just, we just refuse point blank, you know? Could you, would you want more leads? We can pass it on and say no, I'm not interested. I've got enough. Yeah, we did. We don't get involved because it's just they they promise the world and they give you nothing. Yeah, so, so that's my, that's my life in the industry, Sean. It's been, it's been a fun one. I've I've never had so many, so many good fun pest control stories to be honest. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you the best story of my pest control career.

1:23:43 OK. Are you ready? Yeah, I'm ready. So I I like World War 2 and things like that, right? I like to study. So in Berlin, Rudolf Hess in Spandau prison was my next door neighbour. OK, what's? The name. OK, so if people know who Rudolf Hess is. But anyway, I went in a house and there was two guys doing putting in double glazing for this really prim and proper lady. She was old, but she was brilliant. And I'd said that I'd said that I looked at a book on the table and it said Life at Bletchley Park.

1:24:22 And I said that you were there, were you? And she looked at me and she says how did you know that this is Chris, I can tell this is was you a maths teacher? And then she said how did you know that? I said can just tell. No, I found out. Yeah, she was actually the last teacher at my school.

1:24:47 I had a different teacher, so I assisted the guys that we're putting in. I says you look after that's all. I didn't say you look after this lady. How much am I owe you? No, it was a wasp mess. It was £60 and I sister, we owe you. I says 60 LB you have on me and you know what she said Shawn, she was like to trust them. I've, I've been telling them before, OK, so for 60 years she couldn't even mention what they've done, but kind of, well, most of them are gone and. So we just missed that. I, I, I just, I just missed that.

1:25:36 You froze for a minute. OK, so she said to me. That's the first time I've been paid back in 60 years, right? OK, right, I'm not. Allowed to tell Andy what they've done, you know? So anyway, I said, you have one on me. So I went out in the van and I'd actually a tear in my eye and I thought, wow, that was a privilege. Do you know what happened? The phone rang. Yeah, a health and safety man I was dealing with for a shipping company, phone company. He says, Peter, that ship's coming in.

1:26:11 I says he says be ready for it coming in. It was £5000, right for the job. Yeah.

1:26:24 The big. Job man. And then he said, when you've done that, he says, when you've done that, one as another threefold in it, they're all yours. That's something to do. With that, and I just give, I just give £60 away and I got that all that money. So sometimes if people ask you for a discount and things have gotten the plead, don't give them that. But whoever you're working with, if you feel you want to give them a discount, give them a discount when they don't expect it. That's that's what I would say.

1:26:56 Just sometimes give. Sometimes I don't charge, but I'll just say that you have that on me. Especially old ladies and you know, they're nice and stuff like that, you know? I know it's like once my dad, I wasn't there one day and the a woman had two boss nests and no, I can't afford, you know, the first nest because you discount. But she's I can only afford that and she's had young kids and my dad just says, don't worry, I'll just pay for the first nest. Do the second one for nothing because because you it's it's dangerous for your kids.

1:27:33 So we do things like that sometimes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you can genuinely see she was like, I just paid for the first, but I can't afford that. Just did the other one. I. Did, but I'm not a charity. We've got to. Oh no, this was a one off kind of thing. It's not on a daily basis. Yeah, you know. Once in a while thing, when you can genuinely see it, you can. I I like it when relatives who haven't spoken to me for years. Come out good work. And I've got a wasp nest. They give them a price and they've got, I says I've got men's wages to pay for.

1:28:09 I says you should phone me more often, it would be cheaper there. You go. You're right. You're not wrong there. So, yeah, I don't know if there's anything else you want to ask me, Sean. No, I think, I think we've, I think we've covered it. I think people have had a good time watching up. Well, I've had a good time. I am it's. Anybody watching later put questions in and I'll answer them for you. So I was asked what I was asked what I'm going to do if I leave the industry or even not, and I'm actually looking to do it.

1:28:41 No, actually I've been me and ChatGPT have been working away. I'm actually. Oh, it's a idea like me? I ask. It's a lot of stuff I do. Oh, I speak to it. I even support it because I says I thought you knew everything. Yeah. And then I won't mention it. But what I look to do, because I have held that I have helped a couple of people. I may be looking to make a course for people wanting to think about being a pest controller and make it in courts to show them what they need to do but not 3 in them etcetera.

1:29:21 And then once they're established and get to all become a mentor for them for so much per month. Good idea. Good idea that is. That's that's my plan anyway. That's. A good idea, you've got the all the experience and knowledge, you know what you're talking about. Did you know something? Yeah, they still learn something every week. I love, I love that because everyone, because I have heard people say this is the thing you can teach me. But I've noticed recently that over the past couple of years, you know, these training days, no one really says that their mentalities have like kind of gone away.

1:30:05 They have. They have such they have. But. But I like that you're still learning. Every day, every week you are. There's something new. There is. Oh, he's frozen there. Is he there? Peter, hang on. I'm sure I'll be back in a minute. There we go. There we go. You're back. You froze for a second there. Yeah, you did. OK. But it's been a, it's been a good time. Thanks for coming on, Peter. I really appreciate it. It's been fun. It has. I'm sure people have learned something. I hope so. Slightly. It's been, it's been a good chat.

1:30:51 It is. But yeah, do you want to tell people where you're from and where they can find you if they want to talk to you or? I'll probably find them on Facebook. Some pest controllers from the following on Facebook. Peter Stewart. I'm usually, I'm usually doing cycling and things like that, but you can also get more on Facebook, Abacil, pest control, all, all that. Just I've got to tell you that one because because I've got about four of them. Because I accidentally tagged in just abacil and today I've found Abacil pest control.

1:31:24 Yeah, that's the one, that's the one. It's got the, it's got an emblem on it for best of three or something like that. That's it because the other day I was tagging just Abby kill, but today I found Abby kill pest control. Yeah, that's the one you need to go to, to find me. I don't use LinkedIn much, but you can get them on any questions. You can get them on most, if you, if you want to find me, you'll find me and you can ask many questions or anything like that. And one of the things I found that if I'm up here and someone's that we're down in the Midlands and I've seen that happen a lot.

1:32:01 And I ask for advice and on a forum, I contact them and phone them, right, and just go through and give them some ideas, you know? And I've seen some of them go on but never hear from them again, you know? But I don't mind. You know, I like to stay in contact with people, so I would actually stay in contact with you. Yeah, we should all be helping each other as an industry. I think it's the way forward. I do but. We're all we're all in the same same boat, trying to make a living. In the early days, I was quite aggressive salesman, but only with the big boys.

1:32:40 Just with the big boys, you know, I would get taught in about them. But I'm quite most of my work comes through marketing now it's mostly inbound and people know in the business etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I suppose in your area though, you've got a reputation and word of mouth as well you have. Yeah. Well the piece of software I use and do do things I use 30% of my customers who phone in for pest control for owners are returning customers and that works out with 30% each month are coming back to me which is quite a high figure.

1:33:16 You know, oh, it is, it is a high figure. That's that's quite good. That is. Customers never gave a lot of things like. These little bits and bobs. I've just done a programme with ChatGPT and I'm putting a post ID, a lot of a lot of posts, and it's something I went, I'll use that and it's something I put in the text. That should bring up people in different areas with what I've written. Yeah, I'll tell you offline. Yeah, I will. But yeah, thanks everyone. And I'll see you next week on Tuesday. I can't remember who we've got next week, but I will get hold of them.

1:33:59 But thanks everyone on if you're on Spotify, please could you press follow? It really helps the show. Please share this show. If you're on YouTube, please press subscribe. It really I'm trying to push YouTube. And if you're on Facebook, please press follow. It does help the algorithm and everything, but thanks everyone and I'll see you. All even better than just following. Make comments and that boosts it up. It does make comments please. Exactly. Thanks for that. See you all next week. Bye everybody.