Hey, I’m Jonas Olson, CEO and founder of Pest Badger. We went from zero to an eight-figure pest control business with 14 locations in under five years. But there’s a lot I wish I knew before I started. If you're just getting going or stuck in the early grind, here are the 10 biggest lessons I had to learn the hard way—so you don’t have to.
1. Use a CRM From Day One
Early on, I was using Google Sheets and trying to manage everything manually—routing, scheduling, invoicing. It was a mess.
A good CRM saves you time, ensures timely billing, tracks revenue, stores data for upsells, and helps with marketing. That $100 to $200 a month might seem steep when you’re starting out, but it’ll pay for itself a hundred times over. One campaign sent from your CRM could cover the full cost for the year.
2. Join Facebook Groups and Find a Tribe
Being part of a community of other pest control operators is powerful. You can learn what works, avoid mistakes, and ask real-time questions to people who’ve been there.
Join a few quality Facebook groups. There’s so much free insight out there—just listen and learn.
3. Get a Mentor
Find someone who’s built the company you want to build. DM them, email them, offer to pay them.
When I finally got a mentor, my growth accelerated fast. One call or one message can save you months of guessing. If you find the right person, even $1,000–$5,000 a month for their time can completely change your mindset, systems, and revenue.
4. Go All In on Marketing
Great service is important, but if no one knows about you, it doesn’t matter.
Wrap your trucks. Drop lawn signs. Put out door hangers. Build a basic website and Google Business Profile. Hit every neighborhood and use simple tactics like 9-round marketing: two houses to the left, two to the right, and five across the street.
Marketing should be your #1 priority under $1 million.
5. Sell Reoccurring Services, Not One-Time Jobs
In the early days, we sold mostly one-time services. Customers came once or twice a year, and then we had to start all over again.
Switch to quarterly or bi-monthly plans. Go from $250 per year per client to $800–$1,000. It builds predictable revenue and makes scaling realistic.
6. Watch Your Churn Rate
You can’t grow if half your customers quit every year. Track churn—how many clients drop off—and aim to keep it under 20%.
You reduce churn through better onboarding, clearer expectations, follow-ups, and delivering consistently great service. Keep your customers happy and engaged, and they’ll stick around.
7. Build a Sales System
As the owner, you’ll always be the best salesperson—but you can’t do it all.
Create scripts, follow-up sequences, and a repeatable process for CSRs and techs to use. Without a good sales system, your close rate will lag, no matter how many leads your agency sends.
Your team should be closing 60–70% of inbound leads. If not, your sales process needs attention.
8. Don’t Hire Friends or Family
I’ve done it. And I’ve had to fire them. It’s uncomfortable and can destroy relationships.
Even though it feels safe, hiring friends and family usually doesn’t scale. Conflicts happen, roles outgrow people, and business priorities clash with personal loyalty. Keep work and family separate—it’s one of the toughest lessons I’ve learned.
9. Know Your Market
I stayed too long in a tiny market of 14,000 people. No matter how good I was, I hit a cap.
When I moved to a bigger city two hours away, everything changed. The same skill set and systems exploded in a better market. Know your market’s ceiling, and don’t be afraid to pivot.
10. Pay for Performance
Hourly pay punishes your best workers and rewards your slowest. With pay-for-performance, your top techs make the most—and you control labor costs.
We switched to P4P and lost a few people, but they were the wrong hires anyway. Our best techs made more money, customer service improved, and efficiency skyrocketed.
Every job completed equals pay. No more watching YouTube in the truck between jobs. This single shift helped us scale faster and cleaner than anything else.
Final Thoughts
These are the 10 things I wish I knew before starting Pest Badger. Each one could be its own deep-dive, and we’ll get to that in future content.
But if you’re starting or stuck right now, go down this list and ask yourself where you need to focus. Fixing just one of these can be a game-changer.
Jonas Olson
CEO, Pest Badger
P.S. Watch the full episode here:
