Figure out what you love and do it…don’t chase money, chase happiness.
Helen and Dwight are co-owners of Champion Pest & Termite Control, LLC. They specializes in pest and termite management services for residential and commercial locations throughout Central Ohio. They have also expanded their business to complete pest inspections for real estate transactions.
Believe it or not, Dwight and Helen Holloway met each other over a pest! Over Helen’s summer break from college she lived in the basement of a family member who was neighbors with Dwight. One day, she was heading to her basement living quarters when she came across a large spider, large enough to see from the top of the basement stairs! It was her neighbor, Dwight, who came to her rescue and they are now celebrating 10 years of marriage.
Helen and Dwight are both passionate about focusing on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction. Dwight has a history in the extermination industry and used that experience to start his own business feeling he could work harder to meet client expectations on his own. Dwight wanted his company to treat every situation individually. To evaluate the clients’ situation in order to create a comprehensive plan to control pests at their location, rather than just provide the same treatment for each client without any forethought.
Dwight and Helen have grown Champion Pest and Termite control to include five licensed service technicians. Each one is trained to exercise their industry experience and utilize proven methods to exterminate and protect against pests the way Dwight always wanted—with an individual approach.
Where did the idea for Champion Pest & Termite Control come from?
After working for two of the largest pest control companies, Dwight struggled to get promoted in the companies. While sitting at church, the pastor preached a sermon entitled “Designed to be A Champion” and Champion Pest & Termite Control was born.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
Only thing that is consistent on a typical day is that it starts around 5:30 a.m. with several cups of coffee. Nearly daily, I review schedules and supplies with technicians who are all typically out on the road no later than 7 a.m. After reviewing voicemail and email, my day varies widely. Sometimes, I have appointments or go out on sales calls. Sometimes I go ride along with technicians, to observe their service processes and complete any necessary training or coaching. Sometimes, I stay in the office to work with the office team regarding any necessary scheduling or administrative needs. At the end of the day, I debrief with all the technicians regarding their day, sometimes staying a little late to grab any evening phone calls, but the ultimate goal is to be home by dinner.
How do you bring ideas to life?
We bring ideas to life as a team. Typically, I just do it. But when I tell Helen about my ideas, she works the back end of things, including any necessary documentation or materials needed, follow ups, and helps create a plan to really execute and make it successful.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I appreciate how much consumers are doing business with small businesses. We try to always eat at local restaurants and try to find hidden gems both locally as well as when we’re traveling. We believe that small businesses are the lifeblood of our country. We appreciate when other people give us a chance so we try to do the same with other small businesses.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Rising early in the morning, I get time to go through email, get energized and start the day before anyone else. Starting after 7 a.m. gets me out of my zone.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Save your money. Figure out what you love and do it…don’t chase money, chase happiness.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
I believe anything is possible if a person puts their mind to it. I don’t believe in “I can’t”.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Have fun!
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Hiring great employees. Having the right people in the right places has made all the difference.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
We’ve definitely made some bad advertising investments along the way. We learned to really make decisions to focus our dollars on markets we want to get in front of, but ultimately, word of mouth has been the best referral source so we decided to focus more on customer service instead.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I would like to start a hand carwash. I think those are a very niche thing. I think with the right employees it could really take off. People like the personal touch and semi-detailed clean that you can receive at a place like that, rather than just driving through machine and vacuuming it out yourself. I have seen successful hand carwashes, but it all depends on the employees.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Taking my mom out to dinner.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Google calendar is the way that we communicate from the office to the field throughout the day. Even my wife and I use it for personal matters that we need to make sure each other are aware of. It makes things easy and keeps my organized.
What is the book you recommend our community should read and why?
Rich Dad, Poor Dad was a great book. It teaches some great life lessons.
What is your favorite quote?
“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
― Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.