My First Customer Asked Me To Kill A Cat with Michael Boehmler, Buzzkill Pest Solutions

0:00Welcome to Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners. Every week, we sit down with business owners, founders, and leaders to uncover the real stories behind building a successful business. The wins, the setbacks, the lessons learned, and the strategies that help them grow. No scripts, no fluff, just honest conversations with entrepreneurs who are in the trenches every single day. Whether you are a business owner yourself, thinking about starting a business, or simply enjoy hearing how successful people think and operate, you are in the right place. Let's jump into today's episode, shall we?

0:57Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth. Today, I'm excited to be joined by Michael Balmer with Buzzkill Pest Solutions. Michael, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you? How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful, man. I'm doing wonderful. It's early May and it's still pretty nice out. It's not too hot yet. So it's actually kind of on the chilly side, honestly. And that's really, really nice. Actually, we haven't started summer just yet.

1:34But, you know, it'll get here and you know, it'll come and we'll be we'll be complaining about the heat in no time. So but yeah, very much excited to have you, Michael. Let's go to jump right into things. So so for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, who are you? Who is who is Michael Balmer and what is Buzzkill Pest Solutions? So Buzzkill Pest Solutions is something better. It's a better pest control because I'm doing it. I don't need to toot my own horn, but I spent 10 years in the lab in the Florida Keys researching mosquitoes and other bugs and publishing scientific papers, doing tests, speaking at scientific conferences.

2:14And when I moved to the Greenville area, I applied to so many pest control companies when I moved here and nobody would hire me because I was overqualified. I was told that several times by several national brands. And I said, you know what? I think I could do it better anyways. The problems that exist in the pest control industry are largely because of these national brands and regional brands that are eating up the mom and pop shops. So I always tell people, look, you don't have to hire me. I want you to. Of course I do. But I urge you to actually do a little bit of research on the company that you're hiring because we have a huge issue with private equity and national brands that are publicly traded are buying up mom and pop shops and they're keeping the names.

3:15So you have this fake competition going on. So you could say, well, I don't like this national company. So you go with one that you're like, oh, they're local. I've seen them around. But that national company actually might own that regional brand or that local brand. But what they do is they don't – I don't think they actually train their people that well. And I really am not trying to denigrate any individual technician or anything like that. But a lot of these guys, they want to learn. They want to know how to do these things and how to chase down these insects and these pests in your home.

3:57But they're not getting the proper training on the chemicals. They're not getting the proper training on the pests themselves. And all of that together is necessary for you actually to do a good job as a pest control technician. And that's what I'm trying to bring to the pest control industry is knowledge and the ability to use less chemical when necessary. It's something called IPM, Integrated Pest Management, where you use a variety of different methodologies to actually control the pest and not just chemical. That's just one of many, many things. Gotcha. I love it. Love it. So, Michael, let's just really get into it.

4:38So real talk, what would you say is something about running a business that people think is amazing, but it's actually complete BS? When people say, oh, I like to work for myself. Well, if you're a perfectionist, then you are going to be the hardest boss you've ever had. And I definitely have that problem. I'm harder on myself than anybody has ever been on me. and you say, oh, we don't have the freedom. No, you don't have freedom. You work every waking hour in order to make business successful. And I'm still trying to get to that point. So, I mean, I'm working every waking moment in order to try to propel myself into what I would call success.

5:30Nice, nice. Okay. Okay. Now, you may not have had this, but let's say, you know, if you have, what was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business could either really work or it could completely blow up in my face and I lose everything? Have you ever had that? No, not yet. Because I actually, I'm building as slow and as meticulously as I possibly can. I'm not trying to leverage anything. I'm only looking at the upside. I can't look, I can't have a negative view of this because this is my passion and I'm only going to let this succeed. I'm not going to let this fail. Nice. Nice.

6:16I like that. Now, what would you say is the most stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like a, you know, how am I going to get through this type of moment? I'm actually going through it right now. Oh, okay. So I was, I was trying to get some business funding for some larger equipment. And previously I've, I've actually just built it based on the money I've made and the equity I already put into it. Kind It's kind of like gambling. It's like, yeah, you could lose that, but I'm not losing everything. But I need some larger equipment right now. And so I try to get business funding. And I try to go to the SBA, the government agency, the Small Business Administration.

6:58And it's a little wonky right now. But they offered up a private company that has, I believe, engaged in some fraud. and I'm trying to get out from under that right now. And so that's been extremely stressful for me and I still need to get funding, you know? So it's just, it's been a nightmare trying to navigate small business funding. Yeah, yeah. I want to dig into that a little bit more. And of course it's, you know, this is all what you're comfortable sharing, but what are your plans? Do you, you know, obviously, So are you just going to try to go with a different lender or a different person or try to get that?

7:41Yeah, I am going to try. I'm going to try some different lenders. I got a few people I need to talk to. And I've got a couple of things to fall back on. I mean, I could take a HELOC loan out on the house, but I don't like doing that. That's kind of my last resort. But yeah, I've got some other banks I need to go talk to. Yeah. Yeah. And any particular reason why you don't want to take the HELOC? Because a lot of people usually use that as, I used to work in home equity loans before in underwriting. And a lot of the times, you know, we used to do the high net worth clients. A lot of times they would, their reasoning would be to start a business or to fund a business or something like that.

8:21So it's definitely a legit, you know, way to source it. Oh, absolutely. You know, absolutely nothing against doing it myself, But I'm trying to keep my family out of it, if that makes any sense. Gotcha. I don't want to. I believe in myself, and I know I'm going to make this extremely successful. But I don't want to leverage the roof over my kid's head. Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Now, you know, and this kind of goes into it a little bit more. I'm not sure if you have a separate moment, but, you know, have you ever had a moment or a stressful moment you've had as a business owner? Like a how am I going to get through this type of moment?

9:05Are you kind of dealing with that now or have you had a separate instance of how am I going to get through this type of moment? Right now is the biggest example that I can give. There's been some tight squeezes on money, but it's always come through. I've gotten fairly lucky with a few jobs coming through right when I needed them. But now I have a little bit of a monetary buffer and business is picking up. It just takes time for a little bit of name recognition and word of mouth to get around. Because right now I can't throw cash at Google to get to the number one spot. So I can't compete with the national brands to get the number one search for pest control or anything like that.

9:54So I am mainly relying on my expertise and word of mouth right now.

10:04Now, what would you say is a mistake you made early on that cost you either serious money, time or reputation? Money and time, I would say, is tantamount right when you're starting out because you've got low funding or low money depending on how you're starting. I would say one of my friends used to say this phrase that just is always wrong with me. I'm too broke to buy cheap stuff. so when i was searching around for equipment and stuff like that i was like oh you know i'll spend some money on on this this i i can use this it's just going to take me a little bit longer to do the job and then when i make some more money i'll buy the better piece of equipment absolutely not you you you you scrimp and you save and you spend the extra money to buy the best piece of equipment that you can that's going to save you time and money in the future otherwise you are actually just throwing money down down the well and that's that's kind of what i did was is is buying like cheaper sprayer cheaper stuff it's and i go well you know i could use this until i can afford like what i really want to get and i shouldn't have done that it's just you know it's the stuff breaks and it doesn't put out like it doesn't put out like you want or um and in one instance i i'm I'm trying to move away from all gas operated stuff.

11:36I'm trying to move battery power and, and just all electrical stuff. I bought a corded backpack sprayer and it's, it's great. I mean, it's good, but you're then attached to a wall. So, and then, and then you're snagging on stuff and you're walking around a yard and it's just, it's kind of a nightmare. So, so I, I, I ended up getting a backpack battery powered sprayer and it costs a little bit more and batteries cost a little bit more, but you have the freedom. Yeah. No, I totally agree with you. I actually have a quick story about that as well. I did the same thing when it comes to my yard. Same thing was using gas power stuff.

12:15And then I went the same way, went to a quartered thing and I was running over it with the lawnmower and stuff. And then I ended up just getting some nice Dewalt. I don't know if what brand you guys have, but I have the Dewalt battery powered ones and it's excellent. I mean, you want to talk about great. It's nice to just be able to get up and go and just not have to worry about cords. And it works great. I mean, it's probably, it's better than the gas power stuff was. So battery power stuff is great these days. I mean, back in the day, I guess maybe they were underpowered and stuff, but now these days, 2026, now battery powered is the way to go.

12:47Yeah, I mean, gas is great. It's been, people have been using it for years and they've been tweaking, you know, backpack gas sprayers for a long time. But I had to be honest, you know, the size and the portability of electric stuff, you just can't beat it. You just, yeah. Yep. Yep. Like I said, I just popped my battery right into my lawnmower and I, and I go do my thing. Don't have to worry about getting gas. Don't have to, you know, it's just really convenient. Exactly. Now, Michael, what would you say is something about you personally that had to change in order for your business to grow? Have you had to make any changes to your personality or the way you do things or look at things?

13:25Yeah. I, I get a little too excited about bugs. I talked to homeowners a little bit too long. I tell them a little, a little too much information. And, and I have to remind myself, people aren't as excited about bugs and biology and habitats and, and the ecology of bugs as I am. And I could see people's eyes just kind of glaze over sometimes, but it does. It's kind of one of those kind of catch 22 situations where some people are like, holy crap, this guy knows a lot of stuff. And then other people are like, buddy, get out of my house. Like I'm trying to get you to kill the bugs, not show me the dead ones that you found.

14:09Like, and I, so I got to dial back that intense, that intensity for bugs a little bit. Yeah. The passion that you have for it. yeah yeah no i get it i get it so and and this is all hypothetical this next question but let's say if someone shadowed you for a full day or even let's say a full week what would you say would surprise them the most about how you operate your business how much i read and reread things that i I have used before. So in the pest control industry, the label is the law. It is federal law. You cannot deviate from that label. So in any new instance that I come across, I'll pull out the chemical that I'm using and I will reread the label and just to ensure that I'm not misusing it or double checking my rates, things like that.

15:11And people are like, well, haven't you been using this for years? Yes, of course. But at the same time, you want to make sure that you are compliant with the law because you can be fined. You can misuse stuff and cause damage to people's yards or property or pets or anything like that. So you got to make sure that you're actually using it correctly. And to do that, sometimes you just got to reread stuff you've been using for, for years or decades, or sometimes the labels change. So you gotta, you gotta double check everything. Now, how long have you been in business so far? How many years? So I've been in business for myself for 15 months.

15:52So 15 months. Okay. Very, very slow start, no money for advertising. So it's, it's been, it's been a pretty slow start. I'll say, but okay. I'm getting there. Now, I'm sorry, but I'm getting there. Yeah. You're getting there. Okay. Now, and that's, that's actually the reason why I asked. So what would you say was the exact, I mean, 15 months, but what would you say was the exact moment where you, you know, and we're not really trying to get into anything specific, but where was it where you, you found like the turning point where things started to scale and started to grow and you started to become profitable?

16:30So I'm actually not paying myself a dime right now. So technically, aside from gas and spending money on equipment and chemicals, I mean, technically I'm running a profit, but I turn all that money right back into it. Because again, I want the best equipment. I want the best chemicals. I want to make sure that I've got everything I need for a job and to make sure that I'm providing quality service. So, so currently, you know, I, I am not paying myself. So technically, I guess, technically I'm not making a profit right now. Yeah. Okay. But like you said, you're getting there and, you know, hopefully that'll change pretty soon.

17:17You're thinking, right? Yes. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Okay. Okay. Now, what would you say actually moves the needle most in your business right now? Would you say, you know, leads, conversions, pricing, or is it something else? Definitely depends on the client. If someone is just looking for a quick remedy, sometimes you get people that are just going to Google like pest control near me on Google Maps and they find me or sometimes they shop around for pricing. But I always have to warn people, you get what you pay for. And I'll be the first one to say, look, I'm not the cheapest for quarterly, but I guarantee my work.

18:00And I tell you everything that's covered. And I'll even handle stuff that's not covered if I'm already there and I've got stuff right there in the truck. And I'll just take care of it for you. But I do free inspections simply because a lot of the time when I get to a place and show them what the problem is and show them exactly what I'm looking at, they see my expertise and they know that I know what I'm doing. So I get my conversions to sales that way by my free inspections. Love it. Love it. Now, getting into that a little bit more, what would you say? Because you said you do stuff, you know, kind of when you're already there.

18:47What would be an example of that, of you doing something when you're already at somebody's house, like kind of including it? So typically when you have like a quarterly treatment, and this is something I did yesterday. So typically when you have a quarterly treatment, you've got pretty much all general pests are covered. This is one of my clients. She's got an issue with a door jam. So there's some pests that just have free reign coming into her house. And I said, look, I can spray all day long. but you basically have an opening in your house that needs to get sealed up. So she's going to get a new weather stripping on her door, which unfortunately I didn't have on my truck at the time.

19:29But, but I said, well, let me double check your crawl space and make sure that there's no gaps in your, like around your plumbing because cockroaches tend to hang around plumbing and damp spaces and they'll, they'll find their way into the house around the edges of that, that plumbing. I just went ahead and went down there and took a can of spray foam and sealed up the little holes. Typically, that's an extra charge. But I just said, no, I'll take care of it. No big deal. Things like that. It just, it's kind of, you go an extra mile every once in a while when you can. And sometimes it's too much.

20:13but this particular time it, it was a quick, quick little spritz of spray foam. Why would I charge somebody a bunch of money for that? I'm not going to do that. So. Yeah. Yeah. Now, what would you say is an, is something that you're doing that gives you kind of an unfair advantage against your competitors? In terms of, of doing is just being me. having the knowledge base that i do and having the ability to i'm i'm what what is called scientifically literate a lot of people can read sure but can people can everybody read a scientific paper not not really so i can actually read i can actually read stuff from scientifically published journals that are coming out now that haven't made it to the trade journals yet and learn about new techniques and learn about new chemicals that are either coming onto the market or they're better in this situation versus that situation compared to somebody else.

21:22So my knowledge base and my lust for knowledge and getting better every day, that's what actually I think gives me an edge over my competitors. Nice, nice. Love that. Now, would you say, you know, and, you know, I'm not sure. Do you have employees right now? Any employees? I don't know. Okay. Now, have you ever had to make a tough call, like, you know, cutting something off or not or refusing to do a job and it ended up being the right move in the long term? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. so this is actually kind of a funny story depending on how you look at it the very first call i got the very first request i got was to come out to somebody's house and kill their cat oh wow kill their cat so the cat had scratched their kid and i totally understand the, the, the initial response there.

22:27And I said, I, I can't do that. Now I didn't want to say, buddy, like you are my first business call. Like my first customer call that I've ever gotten is for me to come out and you think there's your cat. I can't do that legally, morally, ethically I was like what are you asking me to do I can't sorry buddy I can't do that yeah they couldn't just drop the dog off or the cat off at like one of those shelters or something you know give it away maybe somebody will want the cat yeah I'm not really sure what happened with that situation I hope it was I hope it was a a peaceful transition for the cat, whether it's to a farm upstate, as they say.

23:24Yeah, yeah, no. Wow. That is insane. That is a good story. I actually, I've never heard that. That's a good one. That's insane. Somebody in your first call is just, hey, can you take care of my cat? It's like, what? Give them away. I mean, people, you know, people take pets or just let the cat just drop them off in a field somewhere. You know, that's more humane than just taking them out. Good God. You got me flabbergasted. I don't even know how to process that. Imagine me when I was on the call. I was pretty speechless. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, that's not awesome for the cat, but it's a wild story.

24:01That's something I now have to carry with me for the rest of my life. And being my very first call ever, I mean, kind of hilarious, but my first call, I thought it was going to be like hey, I got a cockroach problem. No, I've got a cat problem. And it's my cat. Yeah. And they think of cats as pests. So that's interesting. Pest solution, they think to kill a pet.

24:26Michael Boehmler:That's interesting. All right. Yeah. So we're going to head into what's called the quick fire round. So how this works is I'm going to give you one word. And I just want you to tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business and then expand upon why you chose that in a couple of sentences. So that makes sense. All right. First word is success. Success would be for this to be my full-time job, 20 hours a day, hiring a crew and teaching them everything that I know. Now, I mean, the opposite. Okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. I mean, that's just, I mean, to, to pass on my knowledge and to, and, and, and, and to improve this field would be fantastic.

25:09and then the opposite of that failure i don't not an option i i i don't think about it i won't let it happen okay okay burnout i impossible i love this i i love doing what i do it's i think the only type of burnout i could possibly get would be dehydration from working too much during during a hot summer day. But mental burnout on this, I love it. I love doing it. Scaling. Scaling would be starting the hiring practice, getting into big commercial accounts, getting a fleet of trucks. Hiring. Can't wait. Absolutely can't wait. I love teaching and education just as much as I love doing this stuff.

26:01So I can't wait to teach people my ways and learn from them, from what they know. And I, I, I absolutely look forward to it. Competition. I'm going to try not to say anything rude. I don't think about the competition too much. I don't see them as competition in the league that I think I'm in, if that makes sense. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. You're thinking you're at a higher base than your competition right now. Is that what you're saying? And the last word is freedom. freedom would be to be the boss of a crew where I'm, I'm teaching and I get the choice to go out in the field because there, I don't see a future where I'm not actually going out and doing the job as well as doing the office work.

26:59So the freedom to choose to be in the office or outdoors and helping clients, that's freedom to me. Nice. Nice. I love it. Love it. All right. So I appreciate you getting through that quickfire around there. So where do you think your industry is going? You know, all this talk about AI and automation, where do you think your industry is going in the near future? You know, let's say five years from now. And what are most people getting wrong about it right now? So for pest control, actually, when I was a research biologist, we helped company out of Israel, try to identify mosquitoes using AI. And I don't want to say they were, they were doing pretty good at the time.

27:39And that was a few years ago that we were, we were sending them particular species because they were having an issue with one species that looks similar to another one. So we were, we were trying to help them out with training the AI, but based on a lot of Google lens and people, clients telling me like, Oh, you know, AI is telling me it's this bug and it's completely wrong. Currently, not an issue. But the big issue is when clients say, you know, Google or AI, I don't want to say, I don't want to pick on Google. There's so many AIs out there now, but AI told me that it's this and I have to do this for it.

28:19Well, unfortunately for them, when AI gets the insect wrong, you get the wrong control measures. And then you get, Sometimes you can actually make the problem worse and you can make my job harder and then it becomes more expensive for the homeowner. So currently, AI is a non-issue in the field and AI can't go out into the field and actually get into the crawl spaces and get into the tight corners and treat these insects and find them where they're at. So no issue for the foreseeable future until we start making small bug identifying robots that are 100 % accurate all the time. Yeah, that's going to be quite some time.

29:02So, yeah. So, all right. And, you know, I want you to be as candid as you can on the next on this next answer for this next question. But, you know, let's say if, you know, a small business owner is listening to the podcast episode with you today and let's say they're having just a rough day or let's say they're having a rough month or, you know, let's just say they're having a rough go of 2026. We're almost halfway through the year already and there's just feeling stuck or overwhelmed and they're just not profitable. And they're just I mean, they just can't make ends meet and they're just not making it.

29:34What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you today? I tell them I'm right there with your brother. Like 2026 is a hard year. And let me hold your hand through it. But no, I think you really just need to find your passion in what you're doing and whether it's one aspect of the job. So find the passionate part of what you're doing and everything else might be terrible. It might be horrible. Just find that passion. Spend a few hours on that passionate part of it and you enjoy that part of it. just spend your time on that to kind of give yourself a mental rest and, and then come back to the hard parts.