Kirk Slack on Selling a $3M Lawn Care Company and Starting Over in Pest Control

00:00Dan Leibrandt

Hey everyone and welcome back to Pest Control Success Stories. I'm your host Dan Leibrandt and today I'm with Kirk Slack who is the founder and CEO of Dang Pest Control. Kirk originally got his start in home services and lawn care. He started lawn care about 14 years ago, grew his company to $3 million a year and then ended up selling it just about a year ago. And now Kirk is running back the playbook starting a pest control company. So he started Dang Pest Control just about a year ago growing fast and taking a lot of the lessons that he learned from his previous company into this new company. So what we're going to talk about in this episode is the lessons that he learned from that company how he's utilizing Facebook groups and getting tons of leads from those and also the difference between pest control and lawn care. Why he likes pest control more than lawn care and why he got out of that industry.

00:53Dan Leibrandt

So yeah without further ado Kirk welcome to the show.

00:57Kirk Slack

Hey hey man I appreciate it's good to see you.

00:59Dan Leibrandt

Yeah of course. Yeah Kirk I think you're an awesome person in this space. I always see you in the Facebook group. I see you on the weekly coaching calls. So I think you're just an awesome person. I love being connected with you. Oh...

01:12Kirk Slack

Thanks man. I appreciate it. I appreciate all your your influence and...

01:16Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. So Kirk let's start with the lawn care company. You started about 14 years ago. Why did you start it and kind of how did you start it?

01:28Kirk Slack

Yeah so the short version of that is I spent the first half of my career in commercial real estate and as everyone knows in '08 it just it just went to toilet and a couple of things were going on. I'll spare you all the long story but there was a lot of transition going on in my personal life at the time. I going through a divorce both of my parents were sick and dying. There's a lot going on. The market went south in real real estate and then I was kind of partnered with working with some people that I just did not want to be a part of anymore. And so, I left all that behind and we just spent a lot of time praying about it. And it felt like I was being led to go into ultimately lawn care, landscaping and lawn care. And I met a ton of people. I just felt like these people were being put in my in my path for a for a for a reason. And so, literally threw a lawnmower in the back of my truck and started and I mean, I'm telling you, when when you go from from one lifestyle to on your hands and knees spreading mulch in someone's front yard, it is a it is a humbling experience, which I desperately needed at the time.

02:39Kirk Slack

And that was that's basically how I got into lawn care and then I just grew it from...

02:45Dan Leibrandt

So, how did you grow I mean, you grew it into a big company. How how did you do that?

02:50Kirk Slack

Yeah, so it all started kind of guerrilla marketing and so, it was sometimes it was it was if I if I picked up a client, I would just go door-to-door after that and see if anybody else needed their lawn mowed. I had some very cheap flyers printed up and I'd go flyer the neighborhood and flyer all the neighbor all the houses around where I was mowing. And handing out business cards everywhere. And that was kind of it. Just the old-school guerrilla marketing of beg, borrow, and steal and you know, to try to get every client I could. Begging for referrals and then it just started picking up momentum and then obviously got a Facebook page, was very active on Google, and Google was super cheap and easy and effective at the time, very measurable. Nothing like it is now. And then and then eventually started producing videos and content marketing, get on Facebook, create a YouTube channel, and really being forward on the technology side.

03:49Kirk Slack

So, we really got in front of people at that point. And then it just started to build and build and build. Mhm.

03:56Dan Leibrandt

Awesome. Yeah, before the call you mentioned like you could kind of just turn on and off Google. You're talking about like Google campaigns and they're just pretty easy to set up.

04:05Kirk Slack

I don't even know campaign was a word. You would You would go in and you would set your budget and you would just turn it on and literally the phone would start ringing a few minutes later. And then when I would get inundated and too busy, I would just click it off real quick. And then I get caught up and then you know 2 days later I'd click it back on and it would boost the boost you know the phone would start ringing again. And it was dirt cheap and it was super effective and unfortunately everyone else got into it and bid it up and complicated it and you know and so and here we are today, you know, it's a lot lot different than it used to be. Mhm.

04:36Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, it's much more competitive now as we both know. And you could kind of say LSA is that simple, but LSA is not that cheap.

04:44Kirk Slack

No, it's not cheap at all and but it's pretty simple as far as all the advertising we go. LSA is pretty pretty easy to set up, put on cruise...

04:53Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so you're doing a lot of like traditional guerrilla marketing it sounds like because I know companies do what's called cloverleafing thing which you know all all your customers you maybe knock on the doors. So it seems like you were doing advanced cloverleafing almost.

05:10Kirk Slack

Yeah, we called it nine arounds at the I joined a mastermind group too which was which was absolutely instrumental. It was the same mastermind group that Jonas Olson was in at the time. That's how I met Jonas. And we called them nine arounds. It just meant that you had to the you know like five across the street and two on each side and so you end up hitting nine houses, but it's cloverleafing is what it is.

05:31Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, that's Jonathan Pototschnik's thing. Is that service auto or is that service auto Service Autopilot...

05:38Kirk Slack

Academy is what we called it. Yeah.

05:43Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, tell me some more of what you learned from that because obviously that I talked to Jonas about it. That's fundamental in his growth and Jonathan Pototschnik makes taught him so much and he's grown a massive company. So, what did you learn from Jonathan Pototschnik in that?

05:57Kirk Slack

Oh man, then we could dive into this for hours. He's he's an absolute legend. He's been phenomenal in all of his businesses he's been involved in. But I would say one of the most valuable ones is you know, being the owner of a company is very lonely. You do a whole lot of throwing things against the wall and seeing what sticks and you know, and you're just really hoping that something works. But to get into a group where there was a hundred of us and then there was a and then there was a group called Elite within that hundred that was only about 30 35 of us. And we met four times a year. We traveled together. We took group vacations together. And we're very intentional about sharing best practices, holding each other accountable. We would tour each other's facilities and be very critical about what we saw. I know when they came to mine you know, it was it's you got to have tough skin and swallow your pride because you would get some brutal feedback. But then it's but it's like everything in life with you get out what you put into it and I was super involved, developed some phenomenal friendships and relationships and even to this day you know, and I can I can call anybody they pick up the phone they talk to me.

07:05Kirk Slack

And then we just we'd share those best practices and then in share our results. We had a call once a month. And it was just phenomenal. So, you didn't have to go and invent everything. You didn't have to you could learn from other people's mistakes and their successes. And that was remarkably remarkably powerful. Mhm.

07:25Dan Leibrandt

Totally. I'm curious when they toured your facility, what were some of the takeaways or critiques?

07:31Kirk Slack

So, my facility was very very unimpressive. Tiny little facility. You think lawn care you would think like a big yard and things stored and you know, you got big mulch piles in the back and all that and we had none of that. It was it was so basically some large storage units. And we ran everyone has said like, "How much revenue are you doing out of this? Like that's amazing." But it was super cheap and it was right in the middle of our market. So it was phenomenal in that in that regard. And hindsight I probably would have done some things differently, but also was very expensive and I didn't want to lose that location and that site. So we just made it work. But I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought. But I don't know. Does that answer your question or did Oh yeah,...

08:19Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. It's I just wanted to hear like if there were any I don't know, a piece of advice that they gave you.

08:29Kirk Slack

Know your numbers was by far. You know, that was just hammered. Know your numbers. Know your numbers. Know your numbers. You know, cuz every every entrepreneur knows out there when you start out you're kind of like, "Hey, I got money in my account. I must be doing good. Hey, I got more money than I had last month. I must be doing doing good." Well, but you don't know you don't know if you're really doing good. You don't know if you could be doing a whole lot better. So knowing your numbers was something that was just hammered in hammered in hammered in. And then the marketing was huge, too. Like you know, the we go and meet or we have a call and we have homework from that it has to be implemented. So, you know, it's easy to go to like say conference and you get all excited and you take all these notes and you go back and you immediately get back in the turmoil and the daily grind of your company and then 6 months later you run across your notes and you're like, "Man, I didn't I haven't even thought about this since I got back." You know, and you know, so it was also really pushed to like get back, implement, you know, and then cuz the only way you're going to grow is to make changes.

09:31Kirk Slack

And so that was a big part of it, too. So marketing, technology you know, YouTube, content marketing, and then we talked a ton about operational stuff, too. So, it could be as simple as I remember one time I went to visit someone else and they had this chain hoist thing that they were lifting up their big zero turn so they could change the blades safely. And I thought, holy crap, why didn't I think about that? You know, so I went back immediately, bought one of these, hooked it up, and my guys were like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing." You know, so it so trivial, but it was so monumental at the time like I didn't have to go reinvent this thing to keep my people safe, a super fast way to change blades, you know. I just I just ran across it at someone's place and implemented it worked well. So, it could have been the simplest little thing that helped with operations, or it could be monumental things that revolutionized the way we did marketing, the way we did hiring, the way we did firing, how we structured our employment agreements, you know, all of those things.

10:34Kirk Slack

It could be any topic under the sun with we talked about it and somebody was an expert at it. Mhm.

10:40Dan Leibrandt

Totally. I want to get clear on know your numbers cuz I feel like that this is a common phrase that's used in the industry, but like to you, what exactly does know your numbers mean?

10:51Dan Leibrandt

Hey guys, Dan Leibrandt here. Real quick, if you're a pest control owner looking to grow, I have two amazing resources for you. Number one is our free Pest Control Millionaires Facebook group. We have over 4,000 owners just like you in our community and would love for you to be a part of it. Go search Pest Control Millionaires on Facebook and request to join the group now. Number two is our book, Zip Code Kings. This was authored by me, Jonas Olson, and Jake Sheldon to be the ultimate guide to pest control marketing. We discuss everything from branding and traditional marketing to local SEO and Facebook ads. Go to Amazon and search Zip Code Kings to get your copy today. Now, that being said, let's get back to the show.

11:30Kirk Slack

So, it could be In any case, so if you look at your chart of accounts, right? Like I didn't know what cost of the goods sold was. I was like, I don't know what that is. And so, but that became one of the biggest numbers to know. So, everyone wants to talk about how many trucks they have, how many employees they have, how many Well, people tell me, "I mow 50 lawns in one day." Okay, but it really came down to what your gross profit, what's your net profit, you know? So, you can have a million clients and you can mow 50 lawns a day, I don't care. But if you're not making money, you're not doing well, you know? And so, it was everything from the efficiencies of your crews, creating KPIs that were easy to track and look at. And when you saw, you know, if they if you were in your your range that you wanted to be in, then you just move on. If you're not in the range, then you start to drill down and figure out, "Why am I not in my range?" So, it could be dollars generated per hour per man hour.

12:30Kirk Slack

We would look at that. We'd look at our cost of goods sold, and then we'd know all your percentages. So, if my if my cost of the goods sold are at 40%, I'm doing pretty good. If they're at 60%, I'm not doing very good. And so, that would instantly tell you that you either have a problem with your pricing, you have a problem with your efficiency, you have a problem with your routing like your routing efficiency. You could I caught guys sleeping in their trucks. And I'll that's why our efficiency is crap is because our guy our guys are crap. And so, we need to fire them, retrain them, remotivate them, you know, do something like that. There are certain expense numbers we would we would look at as well. Like, what do I pay for insurance? What do I pay for rent? All those kind of things. But it really came down to your your gross profit, your net profit, cost of goods sold, some KPI So, KPIs on the efficiency I'm sorry, KPIs on the operational side.

13:27Kirk Slack

And then setting those up and then monitoring those religiously, like daily. And then when you're out of whack, you figure out why you're out of whack. If you're If you're If you're in your If you're hitting your targets, then you smile and you move on and go to the next thing. Mhm.

13:41Dan Leibrandt

Totally. Yeah, most people underestimate KPIs, and there's so I mean that you could have thousands of KPIs in a business, but like you said, ultimately it does come down to profit.

13:51Kirk Slack

Yeah, and I think I think you really at least from my experience, I needed five KPIs. I don't need 20 KPIs. They have to be easy to calculate, easy to track, or you're not going to do it, or you're going to have to pay someone a ton of money to try to figure it out for you. And so, you know, we were able to track some of them through software, some of them through someone in the office could just calculate it real quick. We could pull reports and look at it real quick. Even like drive times between houses, you know, if you're like, "Hey, it took you 30 minutes to go 1 minute, we've got a problem." You know, you show that data to your crew lead, who who of course the crew is like, "I don't know what you're talking about." And you show them the actual you know, because you're a truck and then you they're caught red-handed.

14:34Kirk Slack

And then they And at that point, they either confess and they do better, or they're they quit because they're they're caught sleeping doing the Lord knows what. Every time I feel like that human also knows happens, so I'm going to quit saying that.

14:48Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, yeah, totally. So, with this lawn care company, you sold it about a year or two ago. Why did you sell it?

14:56Kirk Slack

So, yeah, a little over two years ago, the I'll try to I should have a short version for this. I never seem to come up with one, but there was so much going on and I had get asked to sell my company every week. And I never entertained it, but what was happening is that my son had graduated from high school. I'd met Claire. We were going to get married. I Claire's father had cancer, and we were we're constantly coming out to East Texas to visit him. And then one of my competitors wanted to buy my company. I actually had three offers at one time. And so one of my one of my main competitors wanted to buy it. And it I just really feel like God had put this where everything came together at once. There were so many things coming together. And Claire and I talked about it. We're like, "Hey, I think we're supposed I think you're supposed to sell your company. I think you're supposed to move to East Texas." And we had been looking at at Tyler for a while.

15:51Kirk Slack

Austin had gotten so expensive. It wasn't a very fun place to live anymore. It used to be. It's not so much now. And I love Austin, but there And then my son wanted to leave Austin and ask him what he wanted to do. And he said, "I don't want to go to college." He's a very entrepreneurial himself. He had a very successful company started at 14. And he said, "I want to move to a smaller market and I want to start a company with you." And I said and Claire and I talked about it. We're like, "Hey, let's move." And so we had we didn't have the company for sale. We just I entertained the offers. I picked one and we closed two months later. And packed got married and packed up and moved. We're like, "Well, then here we go." So, it was it was fun, but it all just kind of came together. Mhm.

16:35Dan Leibrandt

Dang. That's awesome. It seems like everything kind of came together.

16:39Kirk Slack

Yeah, it all worked out really well. I could I could No looking back, man. I could not be happier. Oh,...

16:43Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Awesome. And I'm glad to hear that. And you said like in your journey you said your journey has been fairly similar to Jonas and some of these other people where you were in lawn care, but got out, went into pest control. So, like why did out of lawn care? What is the problem with lawn...

17:01Kirk Slack

Yeah, so many people in the academy had had gotten not all of them, but there's so many had had gotten it had gone from like mowing lawns and landscaping to kind of complaining about how much it how much effort it took and emotion it took and how much money it took to keep those those businesses going. And so a lot of people just naturally went into fertilization weed control. And then they looked at the profits they looked at the ease of service they looked at the profits and efficiency of fertilization weed control and they were like, why in the world am I am I in something that takes takes multiple people and a hundred thousand dollars of equipment to generate a thousand dollars a day when I can send one guy and one truck to generate fifteen hundred generate fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars a day and have much much more profit much higher profit margins and much more valuable company.

17:55Kirk Slack

So, I mean I can I've lost count of how many people have transitioned to that, gotten out of lawn mowing maintenance, gotten out of landscaping, and just focused on fert weed, and then to a lesser degree a lot of them started getting into pest control or fert weed and pest control. And I just so and I talked to Jonathan about this. I watched it go play out with Jonas and so many other people. And then selling my and I was starting pest control in Austin. And but with the changes I said, well, let's put the brakes on that. Let's start it out in Tyler. And we did. And I had a choice between fert weed and pest. And I just chose I chose pest. I liked it. I was already already licensed to do it. I had done it for so friends of mine's company had done some ride-alongs and I really liked the way it worked. And I love the value of the companies and I love the potential profits and cash flow of the company.

18:53Kirk Slack

So, that's what we did. We So, we started it and you know, never looked back and honestly, if I had started pest control fifteen years ago instead of lawn care, you know, and it and just I try not to look at the past but it's hard sometimes not to dream about it a little bit where I would be now. Mhm. Thanks. No regrets. No regrets, no regrets, but then, you know, this is this is nice.

19:20Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. No, I get that. And I feel like I've seen some people say the golden years of pest control were like 15, 20 years ago when you kind of get an early that's a same period where super easy to run Google Ads and, you know, getting dirt cheap leads. And that's all So, why we see a lot of these owners that are maybe like $10 million that started around that time.

19:41Kirk Slack

Well, I don't think you get the multiples back then, though. I mean, at least not to not the way you are now. And I don't think private equity was looking at it as much back then, so I don't know what the golden years are. I mean, I think a lot of people would argue it's right now, but man, it's sure competitive, though. Oh,...

19:55Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Okay, so you were looking to get out of that industry, didn't make sense. And to be clear, just talk a little bit more of like why pest control over fert and weed.

20:09Kirk Slack

So, through through our you know, the academy I got to talk to a lot of people who had been in both. I started really investigating the market for this. And the general consensus was that pest control is a and I know people out here will argue with this. Pest control is a little bit easier to operate. It's easier to get clients on the fert and weed side. It's a much much more competitive on the pest side. That pest clients seem to be more sticky than fert and weed people. People can come home from work and put up with some weeds. They're not going to pick up with put up with scorpions and cockroaches, you know, certainly not bedbugs, the things like that, or termites. So, and so, that's something that I felt was get at the time I was subbing out all my fert and weed, and I was going to bring it in house, but I'd gone and gotten a pest control license.

21:03Kirk Slack

So, I was already licensed. I was already ready to start that and starting that. So was this an easier It was just a natural transition to do it here. But I did look at a going into fert-weed here. And I had just gotten so much well more momentum going on the on the pest side, I decided to discontinue that. And then there were podcasts I was listening What's his name? Giannamore? He does all the M&A stuff. I listened to him a lot. He's Of course he's in the business he's in, but he is really high on pest and sometimes scratches his head why people are getting into fert-weed. I think he's coming around on that from some of the things I've heard him say lately. But for me, I was already had so much well momentum going. I don't think it was a wrong answer to go into one over the other. I had just had so much momentum going on the pest side that I had stuck with it. And my years of experience have told me quit chasing the shiny objects and try quit trying to do everything at once and just, you know, I love that saying the riches are in the niches.

22:02Kirk Slack

And I was like, "Well, let's go into residential pest control. We do some commercial. Let's go into pest control in Tyler, Texas, and let's just hammer it and see what we how fast and how big we can build it." Mhm.

22:12Dan Leibrandt

Definitely. So now that you started your new company, Dang Pest Control, what are some of the lessons you've taken from that previous company to growing this one? Oh...

22:21Kirk Slack

Man, there's so many that I'll tell you one of the things that's so valuable to me is and I used to joke about this in my old company where where we would get stressed out. It would feel like, you know, it's just call every call coming in is bad news or you know, or it's raining and we're struggling and people are mad cuz we're not mowing fast stuff like, you know, I started this finally saying, and we rarely kill people in this business. Like, everybody just chill. Nobody's dying. Every day's going to be okay." And so the I brought that same kind of mentality to this. It's just relax. This should be We should work hard. We all work hard, you know, it's never building as fast as we want, but it's okay. And it's going to work. We don't need to stress out if there's something we need to be better at. Now let's get better at it. We need to be better at it. Like for instance, I for some odd reason I suck at invoicing.

23:18Kirk Slack

If I have an opportunity to go spray a house, I make some money, that's great. And then invoicing always seems to be a second thought to me. So I'm training my son to help with the invoicing and I'm having to sit down and force myself to invoice. I just don't like the accounting side. And I know it's going to be okay and I know that I just have to force myself to do it. But no one is going to die. So I love the perspective I have. I love the wisdom I have to bring to the table now, the education I have. And I'm also surrounded by really really smart people like you and Jake and Jonas and people I've met in through Pest Control Millionaire that now I just call them, "Hey, can I chat with you?" Sure, you know, let's chat. And you know, we're learning about the referral side, we're learning about the Facebook marketing, you know, the ad and all kinds of new things we're learning about. So I love just bringing that experience to the table.

24:11Kirk Slack

I call it wisdom because it comes with experience and the knowledge and perception, perspective that I bring to the table. And thankfully I still work every bit as hard as I as ever have and more energy than ever. And but I'm but I'm more much more relaxed at it than I used to be. Although my wife may argue that cuz I'm extremely extremely impatient and I want to go to this as fast as possible. But I know there's problems that come with trying to grow super fast as well.

24:41Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, totally. I understand. Yeah, it's a tough balance between like having a calm mind but also you're almost like going to war with this business of like doing everything you can to grow it, getting customers, retaining them, all of that. So, it's a delicate balance.

25:00Kirk Slack

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm in a more disciplined and where putting my efforts out, you know, if I miss a call at 9:00 a.m. On a Sunday morning, I'm not freaking out, you know, everything's going to be okay. And what the hell are you calling me at 9:00 a.m. On a Sunday morning anyway? So, you know, when before I was panicked, I missed one phone call and you think the you know, the world was coming to an end. And I'm like, "No. No." That's the other thing is clients are very very forgiving, especially if you do a good job and you consistently do a good job and you and you consistently communicate well, they're extremely forgiving when something doesn't go right, you know? You apologize, they say, "Hey, it's If something we need to change our policies or procedures, we change them. If not, we're like, "Hey, we did the best we could." There's some people that aren't going to be happy with that.

25:53Kirk Slack

Not everybody should be our client. And that's okay, you know? Why do we stress about all this stuff, you know? I see you on posts on Pest Control Millionaire all the time. I got a one-star review, you know, I can't sleep at night. Yeah, I mean, just analyze why you got it, change it, and if it's some BS ex-employee or whatever, so what? Just respond to it and move on. Go get 10 more five-star reviews to drown it out, and you're going to be fine, you know? And don't let anything fool you to lose your sleep over this stuff.

26:20Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, I agree. Just Stop overthinking some of these things and just start start acting more. What you're saying is like a lot of these things don't maybe don't matter as much as you think they do. You have to focus on the things that matter.

26:35Kirk Slack

Right. Right. And the other thing is this should be fun, you know? And that's what I love like I'm I talked to Travis the other day out at at Nice Pest Control. And I love his energy. I He I'm sure behind the scenes there's those where he would punch somebody in the face, but you know, the they make things fun and they get criticized for making things fun. My personality is fun and goofy, too. Probably more than it used to be sometimes, but you know, we put out fun videos. We talk about making pest control sexy, you know? You know, and it's just like this should be fun. I mean, we get one life to live, you know? It shouldn't be just digging, you know, digging in the trenches all day long. We should be having a lot of fun with it, so we do. And I you know, I'm super excited my family's along for the ride on this one. That's one of the things that's very different this time is having my wife so heavily involved, my son heavily involved, my step da stepdaughter did our branding, which is and man, it's just fun to share this with someone when before it was just me as the Lone Ranger.

27:38Kirk Slack

Mhm.

27:39Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I seen your videos on Facebook. So for everyone that hasn't seen them, go search up Dang Pest Control on Facebook and check out some of their content. Yeah, it's definitely funny, it's entertaining, it's you doing these videos and it ties to this I guess like flashy brand that you have Dang Pest Control and it people watching can can see the logo on your your hat and shirt. I'll Yeah. Yeah, no, I like that aspect. I think that's only going to be coming increasingly more relevant. Like I was just talking to a big owner about this about like specifically where is search going and to what companies are going to dominate in the future. And I think at least part of it is companies that have a personality and they have a brand and instead of someone searching something like pest control near me, well, now they've been seeing Dang Pest Control over their all over their Facebook and now they just search Dang Pest Control.

28:32Dan Leibrandt

And no matter what happens with search, you're always going to dominate your brand. You're that that's something you will always own. So I think that's actually really smart of you guys going hard on branding.

28:42Kirk Slack

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And the other thing is you just reminded me and this is something I learned from from you and Jake and Jonas and all of our calls is AI and you know, for years everybody talked about it and now we're very much in the thick of it. You like you look at just the quality of images and videos AI you know, generated the quality that has changed from a year ago to now and you can't hardly tell the difference in you anymore and so by implementing the things that y'all have been talking about we are now getting calls where I ask how do you hear about us and they go oh did a AI search. I mean the first call we got while we're you would think we won the lottery. We're high-fiving them you know, and all and now we it's fairly regular that we get a call through the AI search and you know, we're we have everything optimized through that our our ads our postings like everything Claire has done a phenomenal job get this position so that so that the AI agents are now seeing us searching for us recommending us you know, and I think we are the very beginning of this and a year from now certainly 5 years from now it's going to be a very very different world and I'm really hoping and counting on that this will be you know, this will be what Google was 15 years ago.

30:02Kirk Slack

We're going to look back and go man people are going to look back and go man. I wish I'd gotten more of all the AI from the very beginning and we are so I'm super excited about...

30:11Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, totally. It's a good point and I'm glad you've mentioned the program several times. I'm glad we've been able to help. So yeah, I want to talk about the program a little bit Pest Control Millionaires. So I think you joined like 6 months ago or so just yeah, so talk to me a little bit about your experience and what you've taken away from it.

30:27Kirk Slack

About 6 6 months ago. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. Okay, I'm going to give you my Well, and it may differ from all y'alls. I don't know I don't know what y'all thought was going to happen when you started this. Obviously you have something you say you have a product that you sell and the product was a proven product and works really well and it and just like my mastermind group, the academy before, everyone is going to get what they put in. They're going to get out of it what they put in. So, someone goes in and they take it seriously and they start to make all the changes implement. I truly believe with all my heart it's going to work cuz I've seen it work for us and we don't even get to implement everything. I mean, it's like drinking from a fire hose. But my where I think, this is going. Y'all y'all have the house, right? That that PestWorld. With with ball away I'm putting it I didn't I wouldn't pick it in the beginning. I'm putting a new video here shortly.

31:27Kirk Slack

So, hopefully I'll get this last slot. But, the, I think I think this is already a mastermind group. It's a very large mastermind group. And, because the teaching, the education, the camaraderie has all the look and feel of a mastermind group. It's just a really freaking big mastermind group. I my prediction is you're not going to do this house thing anymore. You're going to have to have your own convention. You're going to you're going to have to have the Pest Control Millionaire event that every that thousands of people are going to go to eventually. It'll probably be hundreds of people to start. The Okay, so I'm using my crystal ball and y'all y'all have created a new that you're you were and I'm not blowing smoke up your butt. You're you're revolutionizing the pest control industry. And I want to be a part of that.

32:18Kirk Slack

And, the going back to that kind of nuts and bolts of it. Like I said, it's I can reach out to anybody and say, "Hey, I you know, I heard you on the last call or I've been following your page. I love your content. Can I Can I talk to you? I mean, Travis just I just messaged him and he goes, "Yeah, let me call Give me a few minutes. I'll call you." He called me and we talked and I'm like, "Holy crap, this guy's calling me down the way from Adam." You know, and you know, and anytime I travel, I'm looking to see is there is there a member out where I'm traveling can I swing by, check out their operation, have lunch with them or coffee or whatever.

32:54Kirk Slack

And so, the sharing of knowledge is by far the biggest thing of this, you know, the biggest benefit of this. And I know from my years of lawn care by surrounding yourself with people who are successful either either they're they're they're coming up and you have more experience and you can teach them or help them. Or you're sharing ideas with someone similar to your size and growth expectations, things like that, or you're or you're or someone who's like seems like they're light-years ahead of you and you want to be like them. They're they're they're all willing to talk to you. All of that is education and on top of the educational content like the videos and the training and stuff they all produce. This is this is exciting and you know, I'm excited to be a part of it and I'm excited to be on the forefront of this and my goal and hope is to be extremely involved, you know, in years to come. And then as my son starts to take over our company, I already talked to him about all this and as he starts to take over our company you know, I want him to be a part of this and have him take over and him become the leader.

34:00Kirk Slack

And I really think it's important not just knowing your numbers, but you need to be we all need to be on the cutting edge of the marketing side of it especially. And then and then also be aware of things that might be coming down the pipeline that that may be detrimental to our industry like overregulation and things like that. You know, and then and as a group we can learn to pivot together. And get ahead of things that that if we were just by ourselves as lone rangers, we wouldn't know. We would be just hope that what you're doing is working. You know, and find out someday either it did or didn't.

34:36Dan Leibrandt

Totally. I appreciate the kind of words and it's funny you mentioned first off the house. You're talking about the real Pest Control House, right? Oh...

34:45Kirk Slack

Yeah, yeah. I'm doing a little plug for myself. I'm this video will probably come out after that selected bit. I really want in that house.

34:52Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Oh, so and I'll let you in on something Kirk. I think they were doing two houses, but we're actually doing our own Pest Control Millionaires house, too. We're back to the victim...

35:04Kirk Slack

To the to the So, how many houses total are there then? Is it two or three?

35:10Dan Leibrandt

There's three, I guess. So, there's two Yeah, there's two real we've kept it pretty low key. There's two real PestWorld Houses it's kind of run by Travis, Mat Rogers, Allan Draper, but since you know, we've like you said that the program's almost become a movement and we like some people didn't have a place to stay and that kind of thing and we wanted to connect with people in the program. So, yeah, I Jake actually just rented the house maybe a few days ago. So, you should be able to get in there and since since you mentioned it here, I think yeah, we had maybe one or two more king or queen beds available and I think we have four six like bunk beds or smaller beds for other So, I should be able to get you into that like a initial group.

36:05Kirk Slack

So, this is this is This is the first time I'm hearing about it. So, this is cool. So, this is in addition to the two houses then?

36:14Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, this is this is a third house. I think I think there'll be 16 beds. It's a massive property that we got.

36:21Kirk Slack

Well, I'll throw this out there, too. I guess got a new I got a CPAP machine so I don't snore anymore so I can be really quiet at night if I need to be.

36:29Dan Leibrandt

Okay, good. Sweet. Yeah, so should be able to get you into that and also yeah, you mentioned the conference. We're probably going to do a conference sometime early next year, too. I we're thinking January and yeah, we want to do much more in person stuff. Like you're you're totally right to say this has become like a big mastermind, a big community, so we've got to do some more stuff in person.

36:54Kirk Slack

I guarantee I don't guarantee you. I bet Jonas would support this, but you know, if there will be there will be people who develop stronger relationships than others. This is naturally how it is. And it will I would be shocked if it didn't. I know I would push for this. If we you know, I didn't get together with 10 guys or girls or you know, whoever, 10 business owners, husbands and wives, teens, whatever it is. And say like, "Hey, you know, y'all want to go? Let's go meet somewhere and do 3 days of 24/7, you know, brainstorming and have a little fun along the way." And in the past we've done we've been Vegas a ton, we've done Salt No, not Salt Lake City. We've done what's it with Utah up in the mountains, Cabo, Cabo, like we've met all Chicago, we've met all over the places and it even if that wasn't something that was structured specifically by Pest Control I know I would I would try to spearhead that within our within a in a smaller community of saying, "Hey guys, let's get some of us together and let's go visit, you know, for a weekend." Oh, you know, and it is it well, we did that.

38:00Kirk Slack

It literally was staying up till 5:00 in the morning talking, you know, and it was very very serious. It wasn't going out and playing around and drinking and gambling in Las Vegas. It was it was it was sitting there talking for hours and hours on end and coming home with a ton of stuff to implement. So, I think it'd be cool. I'm excited for it. Y'all Bill, I'm jea- was, you know, I'm not jealous. You know, I it's not where I am to try to be a huge part of something like that. But I'm excited to play whatever role I can and participate in that. But y'all are I don't know if y'all are aware of how big I'm sure you are by this point, but how big this thing is fixing to become.

38:36Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. No, it's gotten pretty big. We have over 300 people in the group now. So, it's pretty incredible.

38:42Kirk Slack

Nice. Nice. And then your following on Facebook is what? Thousands at this...

38:46Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. Yeah. In the in the Facebook group we have 4,600 people.

38:51Kirk Slack

Yeah. Yeah. So, it's exciting.

38:54Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. No, I know. I'm excited. And again, I appreciate all the kind words. And maybe the last topic I wanted to cover on the show here before we wrap up, Kirk, is regarding Facebook groups. So, you only started your company a year ago and you told me before the call that something that's been working really well for you is Facebook groups. So, talk me more about that. Like, what are you doing with Facebook groups?

39:17Kirk Slack

Yeah, and I really I really appreciate what I know I'm not trying to just plug y'all the whole time, but y'all are we were my previous company we were active in Facebook. But we didn't work it. And so, the and I think that was a missed opportunity there, but even something as simple as saying, "Hey, join every single Facebook group you can find to join, whether it's a mom's group or neighborhood group, or there's all these, you know, you know, everything Phoenix or every you know, whatever Facebook groups that the people have created that you can become a part of and then post if you can post every single day." And like I just recently figured out that if I do a simple post, like this is a great example. It was raining and I thought, "Well, let me get in out of the rain and check my voice, you know, my emails and stuff." And stopped at this burger joint. And while I was outside, I thought, "Well, I'm going to park I always do this, park my truck in front, take a picture of my truck with their sign in the back, and then I just do a real quick thing that said, "Hey, stopped in Burger Warehouse for a hamburger. Wow, this is really great, super affordable, love it, can't wait to come back." And then and that checks all the boxes for all the I forget I'm not the great at vocabulary yet, but like the what's it kind of the micro data or whatever that AI's looking for.

40:36Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, it's like geo-tagged.

40:38Kirk Slack

Yeah, there you go. Stuff all that kind of stuff that's going to show up in the Google searches, show up in the AI I post it I tag them. So now they then on their Facebook account are now following me and liking me. And they start to like my posts in the future, I like their posts in the future. And then also when I go to post it'll say like post to additional Facebook groups. And I'll say, "Yeah." And I think it's like 10 or 13 that'll let me pick. Well, if I pick them, they're I counted the other day it was a 175,000 additional followers in Tyler, Texas that this went to. And so now it's all over the place. And so now the companies that I'm following will now start liking and commenting on my post. I'll like and comment their post. And then I'm in two different networking groups, so we like and post and comment and recommend and refer.

41:31Kirk Slack

And so like I said earlier, you know, someone will call, I'll say, "How did you hear about us?" They're like, "Oh my gosh, everybody on Facebook's talking about you. And you have five-star reviews, right?" And the chances of me closing them are 80 plus percent. And so just by doing that little thing, which sounds simple, but just being super active on Facebook. And by the way, I can watch a movie at night and just be on my phone. It drives my wife nuts. But cuz she thinks I'm not paying attention to the movie. But I'll just sit there with the whole com liking and sharing and posting and commenting on on Facebook stuff. And it just has ballooned. And so now, like I said, it's my second largest source of the referrals at this point is just by being active on Facebook. And I don't think if y'all hadn't have been just talking about that, I don't think I would have pushed it so hard. And then the last thing is, not to spend a lot of time on this, but you know, I'm looking at now may the possibility of starting my own Facebook community group where now can I go out and get 5,000 followers, 10,000 followers, 50,000, 100,000 followers for my Facebook group, and then I control the narrative, and I control, you know, when I can post for my pest control company.

42:47Kirk Slack

And I think that might be the next big thing, and it'll be very cheap to do, you know, cuz I don't have to pay for ads if it's that activity on a Facebook Facebook group that I control. So, I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet, just because I'm stretched so many directions at this point. But that's been a conversation of a lot of our calls lately. I know Jake is really excited about the opportunity that he talks about a lot. And that's something I is com- quickly becoming on my short list of things that need to be done, you know, for marketing. Oh,...

43:19Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think Jake came up with that idea, or at least he's the one that's been talking about it a lot, where he has I think he has a Facebook group in California with like 50,000 people in it or something. And like you said, when now you're the only pest control company in that group, you're you're gatekeeping. You can promote your stuff, you can get strategic partners that way. You cuz like one of my friends owns an HVAC business. And HVAC is very competitive, it more than pest. And he was I was telling him about the Facebook group strategy, since he was just like looking for, you know, cheap cheap ways to get leads. And he said it is so competitive. I mean, there's like 20 pest control companies that comment, or sorry, 20 HVAC companies that comment on anytime someone's looking for services, that kind of thing. So, the way to get around that is by creating your own group, which is harder, but more fruitful.

44:14Dan Leibrandt

And that's what we've done with the Pest Control Millionaires group, too, is like, well, now that we have this group of like 5,000 people, we don't let any other marketing people in. Like, if you're looking for marketing stuff, it's from...

44:26Kirk Slack

Yeah, why wouldn't we? Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, you know, that's I'm always looking for the next golden ticket, you know, what like we looked at TikTok and we're not big on TikTok just because, but, you know, it's like, maybe this is the next golden goose is get on TikTok. Maybe that'll come about, maybe it won't, but, you know, maybe the Facebook group is the next golden goose to get in before everyone else does. And it's super saturated and then Facebook figures out they need to be charging for it and all that. You know, maybe maybe that's the next golden goose. I don't know, but like I said, it's quickly up to you know, up up my list of urgent things to deal with.

45:07Dan Leibrandt

I think that will be one of the golden gooses. I don't I don't know if it's like one specific thing, but the top people in digital marketing, like Gary V, Gary V talks about building community and these other people, Hormozi and everyone else. So, I definitely think that's where people are where things are headed. And to be clear on Facebook groups, because it's working really well for you. So, you said you're just like posting in there and staying active and then people like are you promoting yourself at all or how how do you actually turn that into leads and...

45:40Kirk Slack

Yeah, so, two two ways. The free way is just to me is just I just I stumbled upon this is just be super active. And then and then do the things where I went to an electrical company the other day. I got a picture of my truck in front of their sign. And I said, "Hey, I got to meet the great guys at at All Phases Electrical today in Tyler, Texas. Super great guys." And I And I followed them and I and I tagged them. Well, now they're following me and they you know, and they liked it. And so it just creates activity that gets just seen by more eyes, right? And so it's just free marketing. And then there's the Facebook ads on top of that. You know, which obviously you have to pay to do and they're to me they're extremely complicated to figure out how to do it right. So it's a so it's a kind of a two two-edged sword where you have kind of the free activity side and then you have the paid ad side.

46:34Kirk Slack

And I live in a community is the population is only 110,000 but if you go to a great area, it's about 400,000. And this community is just very very active on Facebook. And that it's just worked out really well for us and we're just going to build it from here, you know. But I've really found that this that energy and that activity from everybody is starting to follow each other, post, comment, that kind of thing. It just It just builds and builds and builds to the point where we get calls every day from someone who just saw us on Facebook, what whether or not we ran an ad or not. Mhm.

47:12Dan Leibrandt

That's awesome. Yeah. And I know you're you're posting on your page, but you're saying it's mostly coming interacting in the groups. Or how much of it is posting on your page or...

47:25Kirk Slack

I don't I don't think there's a ton honestly from posting on our page. We only have I say only, we have almost we're about to hit 400 followers. My Our goal is My goal is I would love to have 1,000 by the end of the year. I don't know if we can hit that or not. It we might. I don't know, but it's just a nice round number. But when I am I asked everyone how did you hear about us and they say, "Facebook." I say, "Oh, did you did you go to this site or that site?" Like where did you hear it? And no one's saying, well, I follow you on Facebook and I saw your activity, so I thought I'd give you a call. I've never had anybody say that. They're more general. They'll say like, I don't know. I just see your stuff on Facebook all the time. You know, and then I looked at your reviews and or they'll say like it seems like everyone is referring you on Facebook. So I let and you have great reviews, so I called you. I'm like, sweet, you know. And a lot of times when someone posts in, hey, does anybody know the pest control guy?

48:25Kirk Slack

Of course we're all over that. But what I what all these other companies now and other individuals are starting to refer us as well and say, hey, you should call Dang Pest Control. That's where they that's where the really the excitement really happens. And then that and the they always look at our reviews and then they and then they call us. And that's the these are hot leads. These aren't cold leads. These are people who are ready to Oh, and another thing I do is even even if someone says I got fleas and I'm you know, I don't have any money. How do I get rid of them? I'll post and say like, hey, I understand you don't want to hire anybody and I promise not to try to sell you anything, but I give free advice all the time. Call me and I'll walk you through the steps you need to take and the products you need to buy to go do it yourself. And so I've gotten five-star reviews before because someone said, hey, we didn't have you know, this guy was super helpful and super friendly and said I can call him back anytime I want.

49:21Kirk Slack

That was so we've gotten several five-star reviews just from just from helping people out for free. Mhm. [clears throat] So awesome. Think it's just a it's just a community thing. It's being a good member of the community in that respect. Oh,...

49:32Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, totally. Now, I really like and respect your approach cuz I know some people would just get in and try to promote their stuff as much as possible, come up with like crazy offers and just push those all the time, but seems like you're actually just being helpful. You're connecting with the community. When people need your services, you offer them. Like it's just being a good helpful person.

49:53Kirk Slack

Yeah, but we do all that we do all the pushing and begging, you know, in ads and stuff, too. But, at the end of the day, you know, I just it sounds kind of hokey, but it's one of the reasons I got into service industry is I'd like to make people happy. I'm a people person. And I just I just want people to live better lives. And, you know, and at the end of the day, it makes me feel better about myself, too. So, that sounds kind of cheesy, but it's I just I want to make people happy.

50:18Dan Leibrandt

Yeah. No, it's I believe you, and I'm the same way. So, cool. Kirk, we'll start to wrap up here. I've got one more question for you, and that is what is your message to the pest control owners out there? What do you want to tell them? What do you think they need to Oh,...

50:32Kirk Slack

Man. I didn't see this one coming. I Of course, I the first thing popped in my head was know your numbers. It kind of goes along with what I've been saying this call, and it's just I maybe it's just fresh for me right now is relax, have fun, be patient. On the on the call the other day, I said something, and all of y'all said like, and you needed to relax like just chill. It's you be you be patient cuz I'm very very impatient. I want to I'm looking at door knocking cuz I want to grow so much quicker. And get more density super fast. But, I would just say by far, you've got to know your numbers. And then and then just do a really really good job. And then the other thing I've learned over the years is like I said, people are very forgiving. When they're not forgiving is when they feel ghosted. So, communicate early and often.

51:24Kirk Slack

So, if you can't answer the phone, call them back super fast. If something's going wrong, let them know because they're very forgiving when they know what's going on, and they're not forgiving when they feel like they've been ghosted by you, and they're wondering when are you going to show up? What is my next visit? I don't know what's going on. I need to I have an invoice, and I don't know how to pay it. Make sure you communicate really really quickly and really accurately and then the people will be very forgiving. They just hate it when they feel ghosted and that's when you'll start losing clients. We run across stuff that it's hard to solve. We have an ant issue right now that's really, really difficult and they've already fired two companies. But one of the things I told them is I won't stop. If I have to come here at 10:00 at night, I'll come here at 10:00 at night. If I have to come out here five times a week for the next month, I'll come out here five times a week next month. They're like, "What if they don't just call them?" I said, "If I can't solve them, then I want to learn how to solve them.

52:19Kirk Slack

If I have to call Texas A&M University and get entomologist on the phone or get my manufacturer's rep or my distributor's rep out here at your house with me, I will do that because it's just a educational the more I learn the better I'm going to be in the future. So, you know, stick with me and we're going to get this solved for you. And I've done that numerous times. I've set up game cameras for rodents in the middle of the night. You know, I check them at 10:00 at night. I go back at 5:00 in the morning and check them again so I'm not disturbing this restaurant. And we got rid of it and I got a bunch of five-star reviews and then they started giving me to their other restaurants. And I know it's when you're a large company and you have protocols and you have profits, you know, targets you need to hit, it becomes a much more difficult to maintain that level of service as opposed to me who who's like, "Hey, I can sit in front of my computer working and I can go out to your house and fix your problem." thankfully I don't have to but I have the I have the ability to do it now and the challenge will be as we grow and we have a bunch of technicians and trucks on the road, how are how do we maintain that level of service, you know, that I gained a reputation for as we grow and how you know, how do we keep our profit margins healthy by by going above and beyond?

53:36Kirk Slack

And those are challenges I'm going to face. Hopefully you're in the with in the very near future. Mhm.

53:41Dan Leibrandt

Totally. Great advice. Well sweet. Kirk, I really appreciate your time. It's been great having you on the show. Where can people find you and connect with you online?

53:50Kirk Slack

We're super active on Facebook, Dang Pest Control, Tyler, Texas. Instagram, YouTube. I love to chat about business. So, if anybody wants to call and just here we kind of advise or share something or whatever with me, that's fine. Of course, you know, our dangpestcontrol.com is our website. And I love to I love to chat. I look forward to hopefully seeing people in Dallas and meeting face-to-face and, you know, just being part of the bigger national Mhm,...

54:21Dan Leibrandt

Totally. And what about you specifically? Are are you active on...

54:25Kirk Slack

Yeah, mainly as my company. I don't I don't personally from like a like I'm not I don't go on vacation and post stuff on anything. I just I don't know. I just I don't I don't know. And I you know, I just it's not me, but I was super super active as a company. And then personally, I do reach out and I send friend requests in to talk all kinds of people. So if I know you, I really want I want to know you and be friends with you on Facebook. If we're if it's just if you're just a pest controller or you're you're just curious or whatever, then definitely follow us on on Dang Pest Control and super active on that. So, then I might I don't know. I need to be more active probably on Instagram. I just got no where I just I don't know.

55:09Dan Leibrandt

No, no. It just for for people to like follow you and message you. So probably like Oh, probably...

55:15Kirk Slack

By far through the Dang Pest Control Instagram site, Facebook, and then to a lesser degree, YouTube. I don't get on the YouTube a lot as far as communication goes. But, I would say by far number one, Facebook.

55:29Dan Leibrandt

Okay, awesome. So, all those links will be in the description and anything else you'd like to plug or promote?

55:34Kirk Slack

Man, I know. I'm just super excited about all this. I'm very thankful that we've got to know you over the know, the last, you know, 6 or 8 months. And excited about where things are going and you know, and I would say that you know, this go around having my family involved is super exciting. You know, building this legacy alongside with my son and hopefully next year he'll be able to come over full-time. I'm just super excited about that and yeah, I mean and this is a fantastic Wish I'd gotten into it 30 years ago. Oh, my bad. 30 years ago.

56:13Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Yeah, no, I think it's awesome. You're you're building with your family and I can't wait to see where you'll take it cuz I believe in you. I think you'll grow this thing.

56:26Kirk Slack

Thanks, man. Thanks so much. I appreciate that. And all I'll talk to you Thursday night.

56:30Dan Leibrandt

Yeah, yeah, I'll see you on Thursday. YouTube has this crazy feature where its algorithm knows the perfect next episode should watch. So, click right here and watch it now. Just click it. Click. Click. Click.