John Stopka runs Liberty Pest Control. John started his company in February 2024, and two years later he’s on track to hit $2 million in revenue. He’s also opening a second location. I’ve watched his story up close, and it’s one of my favorites. Here’s what stood out.
This interview is part of the PCM Podcast. If you like fast early-growth stories, also read how Ashton Walden built a $700K pest company in year one.
John’s story doesn’t start clean. He got into drugs in middle school. He got kicked out of school. He spent time in juvie and a group home. As he put it, “if you knew me in high school, you would not expect me to be doing some of the things I’m doing now.”
What turned it around? The people. He went to live with his aunt and uncle. Then he had his son at 18. That changed everything for him.
I see this all the time. I had friends in high school who were great athletes, way more talented than me. But they fell in with the wrong crowd and never came out of it. John almost went that way too. The old line is true. Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.
One cockroach can change your whole life
This is my favorite part. John found a roach in his new apartment and had no idea what it was. So he put it in a pill bottle and drove to the local Terminix to ask about it. The doors were locked. Nobody was there. So he Googled the next pest control place and walked into an Orkin office. The service manager told him it was a roach. Then they got to talking, and Orkin offered him a sales job.
He couldn’t really afford a commission-only job. He’d just spent his tax return on the apartment. But his wife told him to go for it. So he did, and that one walk-in built his whole career.
When you find what you’re good at, go all in
John got good at sales fast. “My first full month out was March of 2017, I sold 70-something thousand dollars, and that’s when I knew this was going to be a career.”
He stayed in sales at Orkin for years. He read business books, he listened to podcasts, and he found Grant Cardone at 21. He built the skill that later let him start his own thing. Sales was his foundation. By the time he left, he had the one thing every new owner needs most. He knew how to bring in customers.
Pest control is simple, so stop making it hard
This one we agree on hard. Here’s how John said it: “Pest Control’s a simple business model. I think a lot of people overcomplicate it but you just need customers and then when you get to X amount of customers, you put a technician in to do the service.”
Then you just repeat it, adding more techs, then a manager, then more branches. He called it plug-and-play. The hard part isn’t the model, it’s getting better people as you grow.
Buy back your time
John didn’t try to do everything himself. He hired a tech, then another tech, then a CSR. “I just did everything I could to get myself out of the way of the company and to hire people that are smarter and better than I am at the job.”
That’s why he can run the day-to-day from a distance now and still grow, and the numbers back it up. Month one was 24 customers. March 2024 did $15,000. April did $20,000. Year one closed around $335,000. 2025 hit $1 million. His trailing 12 months is now $1.5 million.
Don’t chase shiny objects
I posted about this, and John brought it up. When operators make a little money and delegate, they get bored. So they add a new service line. Lawn care. Pool service. Whatever it is. Now they’re doing two things badly instead of one thing well.
John’s been there himself, so his next branch is going to start simple on purpose. General pest and mosquito. No crawl space work at first. Keep it clean so it has room to grow.
Never switch software in your busy season
We could have talked about this for hours. John’s point was simple. No software is perfect. You will always have to find a work-around with whatever tool you pick. He sees people switching their whole CRM in April or in the middle of summer. That’s a trap. The busy season is the last time you want your team distracted by new software.
If you’re going to change tools, do it in the slow season. I made this mistake myself with a tool last year. I rushed the setup in peak season because I couldn’t wait to use it. I’m still going back to clean it up.
Pay for knowledge
I asked John what drove his growth the most, and his answer was simple: mentorship and guidance. He reached out to people directly. He paid to be in the right rooms. He reads close to a book a week.
I feel the same way. There’s a blueprint out there for almost everything you want to do. It’s in books, and it’s in people who have already done it. You just have to go find it and pay for it. Some of his top picks were Buy Back Your Time, Atomic Habits, and anything by Alex Hormozi.
Wanting a role doesn’t mean you’re ready for it
John’s worst stretch in business was recent. He had to let go of a manager he had promoted, and then the blowback hit. Stuff that wasn’t getting done, things done wrong. It wasn’t one bad day. It was a whole bad week of cleaning up the mess.
The lesson stuck with him. “just because someone wants to be in a position doesn’t mean they need to be in that position.” A lot of us promote our first tech too fast because we think he’s going to be a superstar. Usually he’s just the first guy we hired. John learned to hire future leaders on purpose.
What I keep thinking about
John is 28. He has three kids. He has a company doing seven figures. He has a second branch on the way and a five-year goal of $10 million. And he’s not letting up. “I’m only 28, so I’ve got absolutely no reason to slow down.”
Neither should you. Keep an eye on his story. It’s just getting started.
