We were lucky to catch up with Kevin Melson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kevin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Originally I’m from Detroit Michigan and my father has been running a pest control company there for the last 25 years. In 2019 my father became very ill and could not run his business. Since I did not want my father to loose all of his income I decided to drive to Detroit every Thursday night and help my dad run his business throughout the weekend. Over the summer I received my pest control license and learned all the ins and outs of my father’s business. I helped my father every weekend in 2020 also even though he had fully recovered. And in 2021 I decided to start my own here in Indianapolis because I had a license and all the know how to do it.

My father was originally in real estate before pest control until one of his tenants had roaches and he had to pay an exterminator. He says that the exterminator was in and out of the house in 15 minutes and it cost him $100 (this was over 25 years ago so $100 was much more valuable then) this prompted him to look into pest control. After his research he decided to start his own pest control company.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Growing up I remember my mother working an afternoon shift and it seemed like she was always at work. So from a very early age I knew I did not want a traditional job. My first plan was to be an NBA star so I put a lot of time into becoming the best basketball player I could be. A lot of really great things came from that even though I did not become an NBA star. Like receiving an athletic scholarship and graduating with no student debt. Getting paid to travel the world and play basketball, I had a 10 year professional career mostly in Western Europe. And best of all meeting my wife who was playing on the women’s team at our college Wright State University. After I retired from professional basketball I tried a few traditional jobs, like I was a recreation coordinator for indyparks, and a financial education teacher at Arsenal Tech. But entrepreneur is the only path for me at this time because of the freedom to do what you want when you want and also you get directly rewarded financially for doing a good job.

My pest control business Bee Control focuses on stinging insects bees, wasps, and hornets. Most pest control companies are not well equipped to handle bees because they have to deal with all different types of insects and animals. With me focusing on just stinging insects I am much more knowledgeable and prepared to deal with them. Most pest control companies do not have bee veils and use outdated methods that are messy and not as safe to take care of stinging insects. Another advantage that Bee Control has is that we offer prevention services. We come to your home and prevent bees before they get there. Most pest control companies still believe that you can’t prevent bees, but we know that not to be true. We also do not have monthly subscriptions, this is where most pest control companies are going because it’s more profitable. But talking with my customers they have a hatred for companies trying to push them into subscriptions. So we don’t offer them because our number one goal at Bee Control is to have satisfied customers, because we have found that customers who are happy with your service will happily come and purchase more from you without having to be on a subscription.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

The secret sauce for Bee Control’s brand loyalty is simple, provide an excellent service. Our product works extremely well, we pay attention to detail, and offer a guarantee that puts our customers mind at ease. Of course we run google, Facebook, instagram ads, and email marketing but our biggest growth has come from word of mouth. When someone uses our services and they hear a neighbor or friend talking about their bee issue our customers are glad to refer Bee Control because they have had such a good experience with us. More than half of our appointments are from previous customers or referrals from previous customers.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is that you need to have everything planed out before you get started. I used to waste a lot of time doing research and planning everything out. That stuff is important but the most important thing is taking action. I have found out that no matter how much preparation you put in there will be unforeseen things that happen and everything will not go according to plan. So instead of spending so much time planning start taking action and make plans along the way. So I suggest for anyone starting out with a business before you get an llc, business bank account, and logo. Try to make some sales, because if you can’t make sales none of that stuff matters anyway. Once you see you have a viable product to sell that people want, then you can start planning and get all your documents and things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beecontrolnearme.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beecontrolllc