A former Holden factory worker switched to owning a Local Guys pest-control franchise after redundancy. He handles spiders, cockroaches, bees, and possums, plus commercial jobs and solar-proofing. The franchise provides training, lead generation, and a six-week onboarding, with earnings enough to support his family and better work-life balance than the production line.
So previously I worked for Holden on the production line. I was at Holden for 14 years. Being an employee was a lot different to today being my own boss. You're working for somebody so you're bound to their expectations. Time frames. You have to ask for time off. It's the little things. You don't get to set your own hours. I worked there for 14 years thinking that this was brilliant. And then one day we got told we were being made redundant. The whole place was closing down. Four and a half thousand people had to go find a new job. So I got asked the hard question, what am I going to do next? I then took a package and with that package I bought a pest control franchise. They taught me structure, systems, everything that I bring in to my own business today. I did that for six years before moving on to the local guys. The money's better today. Now that I'm my own boss, I work my own hours. That work life balance is so much better for myself. It's a different phase in my life. I've got a young family that I can be around more. Now that I have my own business, I've got my own free time. I pick up my kids from school. I'm there for all their sports trainings. I work around them instead of them working around me. I was just like the next person. I knew nothing about pest control. My pest control experience was maybe squashing a spider in the lounge room. Then all of a sudden I was being trained to be a pest controller, learning all the new tools, the way to do pest control, from dealing with termites to cockroaches to bees. I've been to thousands of homes. I've done everything that you can do in the pest control industry. The great thing about the pest control industry, one of the things would be the diversity, the diversity of jobs. Each and every day can be different. I can be doing a spider spray one job, cockroach the next, doing a commercial job, a big winery, a small deli. We do bee jobs, possum jobs, proofing up solar panels for birds. There's so many different jobs. Your day is never the same. That's the thing I love about it. Some people may have reservations about getting into the pest control industry, dealing with chemicals, but that's why you join a franchise. We have all the systems in place, the highest quality ppe, the safest chemicals. Some people think pest control is just about killing everything. But sometimes management is the best form of pest control. We don't always use chemicals. If I feel that IPM or Integrated pest management system is the best way to solve your problems. I'll point you that direction. Provided enough of an income for me to support my family comfortably. People think that you have to go to university to get a good paying job. The pest control industry is a high paying industry. I looked into starting my own pest control business opposed to a franchise. The reason I chose a franchise is essentially I knew nothing about business. They already have the plans and the systems in place. They hold your hand along the way. So they do the things behind the scenes that you haven't thought about. When you can just concentrate on doing the pest control. The ideal pest control franchise e that I'd love to bring on is someone that's motivated, someone that is willing to put in the hard work. Be professional towards the customer. Treat the customer the way that you'd like to be treated. That's what I instill in my business and that's what I instill in every franchisee that I bring on. The biggest concern I had with joining the local guys was that I come from pest control franchise. A national brand that had all those customers built already. Coming to a new brand in the local guys. I was worried that maybe the leads weren't there. But the leads I've received are too much for me to handle. I'm booked out for three weeks. I'm turning some work away because I'm influxed. I'm having to bring on my brother as a technician just so that I can handle the work that I've got. So it's a good problem to have. There was a selection process that I had to go through. A pretty strict process really. You can't just come up with the money. You've got to fit the company and the company has to fit you. This is something that I think is a good value of the company that we're going to continue this on into the future. And I believe this process is what will continue to make the company strong for a lot of years to come. We can get you on board up and running in as little as six weeks. You will need to get licensed to do pest control. But this is something that can happen in the background. It's an online course that you can be working your current job while you're getting trained to become a pest controller at the support centre where you will learn everything from our systems to our marketing plans, bookkeeping, everything that you can think of training, it's all included. So then when you arrive home certified you can get out on the road and start pest control straight away but you're not left alone. You have the support of myself. You will be guided along the way. If you need support in anything from leads to your very first job, from quoting a large commercial job, we're there, we're there for support. Really valuable to me that I saw the systems they have in place, that they know what they're doing. You're not recreating the will. It's put there in place for you to succeed. The girls in the call centre are always there if you need them. If you ever have a question, they will answer it, they'll find it out. The online training system that they have in place is second to none. I believe that it's a fail proof system that if you're ever unsure about a job, they have it there for you. It's something that I haven't seen before and I'm really excited to use for the future. Even though the economy is in a bad way at the moment, the pest control industry is striving. I've never been busier. It's an industry that will always be required. People need to protect their homes. There will always be pests. It's a great industry to get into because it's a service based industry. The profit margins are high, the costs are low. Everybody refers you to their friends, their family. When you build a rapport with the customer, they're happy to pass on you if you do a good job. And that's what I strive to do. A typical day for me on the road could start around 8:30. Depends. I can drop my kids off for school some days, then I head off to my first job for the rest of the day. I typically can get about four jobs in and then I'm home by 3:30 most days to pick up my kids. Once I pick up the kids, I do a little bit of book work and I'm done for the day. The other great thing about being your own boss is you don't need to work weekends. If I want to work weekends I can. If I don't, I don't. If I want to go away Monday to Wednesday, that's fine. I would recommend anybody that wants to work for themselves in a profitable industry, someone that wants to work their own hours, have more family time, life, work balance, then look at the local guys. Pest control. I'm a proven fact that this is a great industry to get into. Come out for an experience day. There's no strings attached. Have a look at what we're all about. Come experience the jobs. There's nothing hidden. You can go home, see if it fits for you. And we go from there. I'm lucky that I can finish by 3:30 and I'm home. I picked up the kids. My day's essentially finished, except for I get home and then I've got to do the real work, the lawn mowing, all the things we don't want to do. So you go, I've been dealing with pests all day. And then I come home and deal with the real pests. He wanted me to. He wanted me to rag on my wife. Sometimes I finish at 3:30, which can be a pain because that means I have to come go home and deal with the old ball and chain. Hey, I'm happy to say that to you. No cameras. Yeah, let's get on board with this guy.
