We sat down with Brad Ward, owner of Eagle Pest Solutions and the Flagler based Referral Diamond Club networking group.
Brad relocated to Flagler County from Mount Auburn, Illinois in 2008. He explained to us that the town has a population of around 450, down from 500 residents. “It was a great place to grow up. We had a lot of freedoms. I had fun growing up riding three wheelers and motorbikes.” He also enjoyed playing baseball and basketball and spending time with family.
When asked if he had any obstacles in choosing a career path when he was younger, he recalled that he had a speech impediment. His parents found the best private speech pathologist in St. Louis which helped him greatly improve the issue.
After college, he worked for Illinois Department of Revenue as a tax specialist. “It was a very boring job for me. I eventually left and started a landscaping business. I sold that business. My parents owned a cell tower construction company and I went to work for them as a project manager. Not long after that, I moved to Florida and got into the pest control business”
We asked why he chose pest control as his career path. Brad explained, “The reason is lawn care. When I moved down here I interviewed with a few lawn companies. I got both jobs but ultimately chose the one that included pest control. That is what introduced me to pest control and that industry is a lot better.”
His long term goals with Eagle Pest Solutions is to keep taking care of customers and to be the premier pest control company in Flagler County. It is a locally owned and veteran owned company. “We do once per year pest control by using products that last all year. We do inside and outside as well. One thing that differentiates us from other companies is our quick service response times,” Brad said.
When asked if he has had any memorable customer interactions, Brad laughed and paused. “In 2008 or 2009, a customer thought he had termites in his attic. The homeowner came out of the garage and he was clearly upset. He gave me the go ahead to climb up into the attic and check it out. He had a Cadillac on one side of the attic door and shelves on the other. I was struggling to get the pull down to the attic open because I didn’t want to knock anything down. The homeowner decided to try to open it and as he was pulling on it, his pants fell down. It didn’t phase him, he just kept pulling on it until it opened. He didn’t say a word, pulled his pants back up (thank goodness he had boxers on) and I went up into the attic. I have had some nightmares about that one. There were no termites up there, by the way.”
We asked Brad why he chose to attend networking meetings when he first started his business. “When I was a salesperson, I was always wanting to get to know other business owners and learn how we could help each other,” he explained. “Eagle Pest Solutions would not have made it through the first year without networking, 66% of business came from networking.” We also asked what made him choose to start his own networking group and he explained that he wanted to create a new group with less strict rules than others and less expensive to join.
We wanted to know if he has had any struggles with trying to run the networking group and his own Company. “No real struggles. Luckily I am good at time management. The toughest thing is membership issues. I have had sleepless nights if there is any issue with a member or complaint. That is tough because I am a people pleaser. I like to bring people together.”
Brad also wanted to share tips on keeping your home pest free. “Get rid of wood mulch. Get rock, stone, or rubber mulch. Termites, roaches, and ants love wood mulch. Get rain gutters and downspouts that point at least 2 feet away from your house. Keep irrigation heads off of your home and don’t have wood right at or up against your home. Keep trees trimmed away from your home as you want airflow in between shrubs and the home.”
To challenge his fellow members, he said ,“Do something you are uncomfortable doing. For me it is speaking. I still have speech issues, there are things I can’t pronounce. I get by and I do it.”
