Pest perspectives EP 30 - peter stewart - Aberkil pest control - Pest Perspectives

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

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.

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.

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? 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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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?

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?

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

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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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. 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. 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? 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?

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.

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. Now we were British soldiers

ready to fight the Russians at the other side of the wall.

We turn and we ran screaming now.

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. 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. 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?

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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? 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.

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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?

Oh, the bookkeeper. No, no, no.

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.

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?

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.

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. 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?

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. 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?

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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. 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? 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.

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. 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.

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?

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. 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. 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.

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.

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? 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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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? 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. So what we've done is we've put

out 50 letters, OK? We've done 50 phone calls.

Guess how many appointments we got out of that?

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.

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. 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. 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?

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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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? 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. 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.

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. 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. 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? 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.

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. If it was a paid ad, they can

tell me all that. So, so am IA pest controller

now. Not really.

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.

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? 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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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?

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I says he says be ready for it coming in.

It was £5000, right for the job. Yeah.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Tonight's Episode