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Today we are celebrating the 100th episode of The Business Growth Pod. Allan and his producer Becky reflect on why this podcast was started. In July 2020, Start And Grow Your Pest Control Company was launched. Allan saw a need in the industry and wanted to add value and resources for pest control owners. With the same goals in mind, Allan wanted to help entrepreneurs in all different areas, so the podcast evolved into The Business Growth Pod. It is produced specifically for entrepreneurs wanting to grow or start up their own businesses. We are truly honored that the past 100 interviews have been downloaded by people from all over the world.
Transcript:
Allan has started and grown several multimillion dollar businesses, his mission is to help you do the same. Welcome to The Business Growth Pod, building the future, one entrepreneur at a time.
Everyone, Welcome to The Business Growth Pod. I’m Allan Draper. This is a very special day, we are recording the 100th episode of this podcast, which is kind of interesting because it has changed names over the two plus years that we’ve been recording. So I can’t say it’s the 100th episode of The Business Growth Pod. But we’re really excited for this episode. And it’s going to be done a little differently. It’s not going to be a full solo episode, like I do sometimes when I don’t have a guest, because I don’t have a guest today. But I do have the Podcast Producer, Becky here with me. And so we’re going to just see how this goes. It’s going to be a little bit of a conversation about the journey of the podcast, some things that we’ve learned a lot of things that we’ve learned from business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the process. So I’ve got Becky here. Thanks for joining me, Becky, it’s awesome to have you on here. Because you’re usually in the background. So yeah, my
job is really easy. Sometimes I just get to hit mute and hide my camera, and you know, just listen in. But I am excited. It is my 100th episode with The Business Growth Pod. I remember episode one when we switched over. But I do want to ask you about kind of how you got started. And what made you want to start a podcast kind of in the middle of a global pandemic, it was in July 2000. And you decided you wanted to start a podcast and you named it start and grow your pest control company. And I want to know kind of why you started that and your reasons for wanting to put content out there.
A lot of people don’t know this about me, people that are like super close, like really close family, they know. But a lot of people even that follow me on Instagram or whatever. A lot of people that I work with that work for my companies and stuff don’t know this about me. But I’m a super emotional guy. And that works in like, all sorts of different directions. And so when I feel something, I really feel it, and I’ve debated about whether I should say this or not, but like I publicly cry sometimes, which is kind of weird, like if you think about it, because of that emotion. And so just thinking about where we started, and a lot of the reasons why we started is bringing this like flood of emotions, and I think I’ll be able to control myself for the most part so that we can, like get through this and so that I’m because when I do cry when I’m trying to talk, I just turned into a mess and like, like my voice starts cracking, it’s really embarrassing. But just talking about when we started, it brings back some of some of those memories and a lot of the emotion of those early days. But during you know that time which July is early into COVID, right, uproot a couple of months prior to that I started a Facebook group that was specific to an industry niche that I’m involved in, which is pest control. And so I have a large network group of pest control company owners, and that group has also evolved on Facebook over the last couple of years, but that’s where it started. And the reason why I started that group was because I felt like there was such bad information out there. Most of it was coming from people that didn’t have the experience to be giving the advice that they were giving. For example, I use this example all the time. There was a question in this other group once about how to hire people how to find and hire really good people. And this person responded and went off on two paragraphs and was getting a lot of comments and stuff. And I know quite a few people in the pest control industry. Well, this particular individual had never hired anybody. And I remember that that was and then you know I’m an attorney, I would see people giving legal aid buys like pest control company owners giving legal advice in states where they don’t operate. And so that was the the impetus for starting the the Facebook group of pest control owners, which evolved into, hey, I need to bring people on that deserve to have a voice that aren’t really sharing stuff in that Facebook group. And that’s how starting grow your pest control company began.
And we talk a lot on the show how, as entrepreneurs, we have a problem, and we want to find a solution for it. And I think that that is so cool that you saw a problem in the industry, which was bad information or incorrect information, however you want to say it, and you wanted to solve that problem. And you didn’t know what you’re doing. And you you took the time and scheduled different guests on your show, and did your due diligence to make sure that the content that you were putting out there was correct, so that you could ultimately help other pest control owners. And I just think that is amazing that you did that.
It’s crazy. Because I think you’re right, I think you hit the nail on the head, because a lot of entrepreneurs will come to me with different business ideas or asked me what they should do or, and, and solving a problem is really at the heart of what an entrepreneur should be doing. So, you know, I didn’t really think of it like that. Until now until you said that, but that’s exactly what was going on. And that’s just my mentality with things, I noticed that there was an issue that was going on, and I wanted to address it. And just for the record, I have never monetized my podcasts, either of them. So what does that mean? Everything comes out of my own pocket. Now, I have made some incredible connections, I have purchased equity and companies that I’ve made money from through the podcast is one of the tools that I use to network with people. I’ve learned a lot. So I can’t say that there has been no financial benefit to the podcast. But there’s definitely no direct financial income. And I actually, if you just look at, if you look at like the p&l, the profit and loss statement from my podcast, I’m at a net loss every single month. And I have been for years, my CPA the other day said, you have to start bringing in some type of revenue, because you can’t have losses for three years without the IRS thinking that you’re it’s just a hobby. So we figured out some ways to do that with my business consulting and things like that. But and I think when you do something for free, and not only for free, like I pay for it,
right? I know, my paycheck comes out of your pocket. Right. Exactly.
Exactly. So that makes it a little different, right? Because the reasons why I’m doing it aren’t, they’re not financial. Now, I think there’s there’s some hope there in the future, right? For monetizing it, and either getting some sponsors or finding a way to create at least to cover some of the costs and stuff. But you know, back in those early days, I had no clue what I was going to do with the podcast, I didn’t really sit down and say okay, I’m going to do it for six months. And if I met these numbers, after six months, I’m gonna keep going. I just figured, hey, I’m gonna start talking about pest control. And I’m gonna start talking about business principles, things that I didn’t really learn from a book, but I learned from the school of hard knocks, as my dad would say, I just learned from from doing it making mistakes. And I figured if I could throw something out there that I learned that I made a mistake from maybe it could help people avoid it in the future. And so here we are, more than two years later, 100th episode of this podcast. And then over a year ago, I started the bug bucks podcast, which is interesting because it started as a pest control podcast, and then I converted it into more of this entrepreneurial business startup, more general business. But then I saw this hole that I had left in leaving the podcast world from a pest control standpoint. And people were asking me about it. And I realized that that information was so valuable that people were depending on that. So it’s it’s kind of crazy how it’s come full circle a little bit and to be honest, Becky, I don’t know where it goes. I’m just kind of on this ride. It’s a lot of work. Podcasting is surprising in so many different ways. But it’s, you know, one of the ways is how much work it is. And I have an amazing team to an amazing team back He does so much. So if something happened to Becky, that’s one of my podcasts, it’s probably because I couldn’t do it, I definitely couldn’t do it on my own. It’s a lot of work. And I have people, Becky does all the scheduling and she finds the guests, she makes sure they have everything that they need to record, she schedules it, we have an editing team, and she facilitates all of that she does a lot of the social media posting. And then I have hunter that does a lot of the content creation, especially with reels and announcing the new episodes. So there’s so many moving parts. But in the end, I don’t know. I don’t really know where where it goes from here. But I have no plan on on stopping I’ve, I actually really enjoy it. I enjoy the process, but especially what I’m learning and the people that I’m meeting,
right. And that actually leads me to my next question, you know, it is hard to see into the future and where the podcast is gonna go. But tell me about some of the things you really love about podcasting, because some of the things that I really love, you know, I think it’s really cool to network with all these different people. You know, we get to meet people from all over the world, all different walks of life, some people were born into wealth, you know, some people were not born into wealth. Some people, you know, went to college, some people didn’t. And so one of the things that brings me a lot of joy with the podcast is just the connection with other people, and also how much you can learn from somebody else, just from a 30 minute podcast, they might say one thing that just completely just changes how your how your mind might think about something. So I want to talk a little bit about that. Because I do you think that that that is a driving force when you know, you’re not making money on the podcast, it’s very time consuming. So kind of what brings you joy to when you’re doing the show.
So I think at the top of the list is just one working with people that I like, you know, working with you working with Hunter, and then adding the guests on there, just this opportunity to meet new people, like you mentioned, we’ve had people from Spain and Australia and England and a bunch of different countries. And kind of as a side note, I remember early on to start and grow your pest control company. I checked the heat map. And I remember my podcast, or maybe it was early in the days of the business growth pot. I can’t remember if it was before or after the transition. But there was this country, in very, very small country, I think it had like 10,000 people, the entire country, in Polynesia, and I can’t remember the name of the country. But mine was the number one.
downloads in that country. I remember. Yeah. So.
So in the business category, my podcast was the number one most downloaded business podcast. And I was like that is so random. But I think that experience of getting to know people, I’ve made some incredible connections, that I’ve kept people that I text every week or every other week, like talk about business dealings, and things like that. So that’s up there. It’s just the people those relationships really high up there is, is what I’m learning. Right. And I probably number two more. Yeah, just I think it’s about the podcast process. But also just talking to people learning about myself. When I was in, in law school, I was in my eyes in my first year. And I was trying to, I’m trying to remember which class it was. But I remember I remember the room I was in with my study partner. And we were on working on this whiteboard and trying to understand these concepts, and I couldn’t get it. And it was right before finals, I think it was either my first or second semester, which your first year of law school is terrible. And I think they do that on purpose because they’re trying to weed people out. But it’s terrible. They do have this point where they cut people if you don’t have certain grades or whatever. But I remember this light going off as I was talking to my partner, and it was this ability that I have to learn something by talking about it by me talking about it. And so they always say if you really want to learn something to a really deep level, you have to be able to teach it to somebody else. And I think those two concepts are related. So So I think number three is that learning both in terms of the podcasting aspect, and then just business in general. And then after that, I would probably say there has been some great financial benefit. I’ve made lifelong connections that are going to financially benefit me and and so but that’s, that’s third or fourth down the list.
Right? Well, I started with you pretty early on I think I’ve been with you right about two years. And so when you hire With me, we were just at the tail end of start and grow your pest control company. So I got to get kind of wet with podcasting. And I actually really loved it. And that’s I think, when you kind of let me have a little more, you know, authority and take the reins a little bit more, and it’s been really fun to watch, you kind of evolved from recording in your closet, you know, I remember used to say, Hold on, I gotta go, I gotta go hide in my closet, too. Now we’re looking at you in a beautiful office, you know, with great equipment. And now you have Hunter here with you to help with content. And so it’s weird to think that in just two short years, how how much you’ve evolved, and also, between the business growth pod and bug bucks and start and grow your pest control company, we’re at over 200 episodes, and I just did, that’s a huge accomplishment for somebody, I know, you probably don’t get a lot of recognition, you know, it’s kind of a, sometimes it can be a lonely job, because you’re just doing all the talking and then people are listening. But I’ve seen the process of you evolving as a podcast host and then starting a second one and hiring a team. And, you know, just your content on social media is better, just everything about the podcasts better. So all I’m gonna have to say is, it’s exciting to see where it’s gonna go from here. Because if what we’ve done in two years, we could do in the next two years, it’s gonna, I think it’s gonna be great.
Yeah, I think that’s a really interesting point. And you talk about how I’m evolving as a podcaster. And I don’t always notice it, but I do recognize how comfortable I’m getting with it. Which just yesterday, during a recording, I was eating a Greek yogurt, which was first. So maybe some might say, I’m getting too comfortable with the process, but it’s definitely, especially because my age, I’m into my 40s. And we didn’t grow up with phones in our pockets, like kids today. And so selfies and videos and Snapchat, it’s so common for them. But for for me, when I first started talking, the sound of my voice bothered me, not bothered me, but I thought it was weird. I thought I sounded weird. I still do to some extent, any type of video, like I felt like I wasn’t good at it. And I’m still working on those things and trying to become better. But there was this huge hurdle that I had to overcome. Where it was, a lot of it was me just convincing myself and telling myself over and over that I actually belong. And, and it’s weird, because it wasn’t really about, about the numbers. A lot of people think that that is what is going to make them feel better about what they’re doing. And it wasn’t, it was never really about that for me. And because I think those types of things are superficial. And I think it’s the same way, with with any business. The numbers are great, depending on what you’re looking at, especially in a business, if you’re looking at big numbers of top line revenue, bottom line, revenue, sales, longevity, and business, things like that. They’re really important. Because if you’re not making money, you can’t keep people and you can’t stay in business. But what’s kind of cool because there was something higher at play where I was, I was learning about myself and what I was capable of.
Right. And another thing that I know that you’re you’ve talked about before is kind of like leaving a legacy. And I just I think it’s really cool that in 10 years, if your boys want to listen to this podcast, it’ll be out there for them. They can they can listen to it, you know. And so what you’re doing today is you’re leaving your footprint for other people. And I just I think that’s that’s really cool. One other question I wanted to ask you is if somebody’s listening right now, and they’re thinking about starting a podcast, what would you tell them? What would you say? Would you say, do it? Would you do you have any anything that you wish you would have done differently? What’s kind of like a, like a couple of minutes that you can tell everybody is if they were wanting to start a podcast about, you know, something they’re passionate about?
Yeah. So I think it’s very similar to starting a business in a lot of ways. And I would give the same advice if somebody wanted to start a business and that’s let’s talk about the reasons why you want to do it. And not that that’s going to make the decision for us, but that’s going to help them with the process. So So I would start there like why do you want to start a podcast? What what are some of your goals with the podcast? And what do you want it to turn into? Like? Is it something you want to do six episodes and then see what where you’re at, are you sure you’re going to record for at least a year, which is funny that I say that because back when I started, I didn’t have the answers to that at all, I was just kind of winging it. And in some cases, I still am. But just find out kind of what your purpose is. And the reason why is because if you identify that early on, then you can go and get it, you can be more proactive about it. If it’s networking, then you’re then you know that you’re going to spend more time looking for particular guests or trying to trying to find people to surround yourself with that you want to work with. But I would also tell them, it’s a, it’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of time, there are people that do the full production by themselves. They do the editing, I can’t, I can’t imagine doing that. So I definitely underestimated the time and resource requirements, especially to get to the point where we are now. And in all respect, because of the vast number of podcasts, we have a very professional operation, we have literally pros that are helping with our podcasts. So if you’re doing it on your own, don’t think that you need to be perfect. Don’t think that you’re immediately going to go from zero to 100 with it. If you’re doing your own editing, and you’re you know, you’re doing your own video and your audio, it’s just, it’s so much work that you have to give yourself, you know, show yourself a little bit of mercy and, and find out going back to, you know, my first point, find out why you’re doing it and find those small wins, so that you keep doing it. Because I swear sometimes, like I’ll have a really busy slash crappy morning with some of my businesses, things will happen. Just yesterday, literally yesterday, one of my technicians was involved in a very bad accident, right before I started the recording. And like hospital accident, like multiple people ended up in the hospital, I believe I’m still getting details. So I was like, Man, I have to record but I’ve been changing my mentality over the months and years to now I get to record. Because when when you just flip the switch on the mic, and you start talking, there’s a special energy that comes with it. And, and now I feel better because I know what I’m going to end up getting out of that. So you’re talking with somebody and then this crazy energy is created. And it’s only not happened a few times, and I’ve recorded however many 100 episodes. So I love that, that it’s work, but it doesn’t feel like it. So, but don’t underestimate the amount of time. The other thing I would say is, this is a great way to learn something, not just the podcasting, the media portion, which is also a great part about it. But you really, I would recommend if one of your reasons for doing something is to learn more about it. This is a great way you don’t have to know everything.
You know, I didn’t know anything when you hired me.
And that’s the thing is that look at how far you’ve come. And and the cool thing about this podcast is that it is kind of this microcosm of what it’s like being a business owner. Business is exactly the same way. When you start, you don’t know everything. Entrepreneurship is for people that are like, Hey, I have an interest in this. I have a crazy drive. And I want to do something about those two things. And podcasting is the same way.
And I strive to get better. You know, I have to, like I know, I’m still not perfect. I still have a lot of stuff to learn, but I want to learn, I want to make this podcast better. I want to have better guests, I want to have better content. And so I think that that drive, it brings me joy too. And so I love when I hear that, you know you’re enjoying the podcasting and I’m you know, I’m enjoying kind of the behind the scenes. It’s kind of like fun. So I don’t know how much how much more time we have. But I wanted to before we wrap up, I did want to read a couple of comments that have been left on the business growth pod if that’s okay, let’s do it to kind of you know, thank our guests for listening and tuning in and we always love comments. They don’t get on read we read them and I’m going to read a couple that Alan I’m not sure if he’s had a chance to read these or not yet. So the one of the first ones this was written on June 9, and it says it’s obvious Alan put extraordinary effort in every single episode of the business growth pod. But what makes this show true standout is the quality of the guests the inspiring stories and their actionable tactics on find speakers that truly care about being a positive force in the entrepreneurial space. And he shares insight that only a true protector, I cannot read today, practitioner can unearth, don’t miss it. When I see comments like that, it just it, it makes me really happy that people are listening and that people are actually writing good things in there. And they’re getting stuff out of that podcast as well.
Yeah, I think, No, it’s true. Because there are some, there are some stations or positions in life that are pretty lonely. And not saying podcasting is one of them. But podcasting is one of them. Where you don’t you don’t hear very much from people, you hear from your guests, you hear from your production team and stuff like that. But when you have customers in a business, for example, like let’s say you have an ice cream shop or restaurant, retail, any type of service company, any type of construction, you get to see the consumer, you get to see the customer, you get to chat with them, you get to ask them how they feel. And I tried to do that, but it’s actually really hard with podcasting. So sometimes, especially when I’m doing my solo episodes, I literally feel like I’m talking to myself. And, and I see the data and I see the numbers, I get to see the downloads and then I have yet to see my website visits and how many people are listening. But there’s there’s not that two way street with the quote unquote, consumer. So podcasting is a little bit lonely. So it’s it’s kind of cool. And I don’t know who wrote these. I don’t know who these people are. But it’s kind of cool to get some of that feedback.
I would agree. And I and I’ll just say it again, I think that you know, you’re a great podcast host. I’ve seen how you evolve over the last two to three years as a podcast host. And it’s been it’s been really cool to be on that journey with you. And, you know, I think this podcast is, is fantastic. And I think that it’s just going to continue to get better.
Yeah, 100% I have this, I’m learning that it’s a personality core. But that’s in me that whatever I do, I feel like I have to be doing it better. If I’m reading a book, I need to be reading better. Or at the gym, I a lot of people can just go to the gym, get a good workout in and go home. But I have to feel like I’m doing better. Like I’m lifting more, you know, my cardio is getting better. And progress is not a not this linear curve, right? There’s all these dips and valleys. But I’m trying to and there’s so many ways that I can improve. Like I’m I was listening to Tim Ferriss podcast episode about podcasting, and I’m trying to learn from him about preparing for guests and being a better interviewer and all these things that when I first started, I wouldn’t have even thought of, and I think, you know, I always say that you don’t really worry about what your swimming stroke looks like if you’re trying to keep your head above water. And that’s very true of podcasting. So the reason why I wasn’t thinking about how direct my questions should be as an interviewer was because I was trying to figure out how to get my podcast on one of the platforms. But as we get better at things, that’s where the real improvement and the real excellence is achieved. It’s through those tiny, tiny things. And the tough part is that you improve a lot faster in the beginning, it makes sense, right? If you’ve never played basketball before, and you play for a couple of hours, you’re gonna get like 600 times better. But if you’ve played for 30 years, or whatever, 20 years, and you’re just getting incrementally better, but it’s the people that get incrementally better, that are the best in the world that are okay with seeing, okay, I got a tiny, tiny bit better, and in a way that no one really can see. And so with podcasting, you really do have to just enjoy the journey. Just know that there’s ups and downs. I remember when we that’s the thing, like think about in the beginning, when we recorded our first episode, I had zero listeners, I had zero downloads. And then I had 10 One week, and I was like, I remember it’s kind of funny, looking back on it, but I remember thinking like, people actually listen. Yeah. Yeah, you know, because I didn’t know I didn’t know if anyone was actually going to listen. And then people listened but that was 10 More people than I had before I started, and those 10 people, that’s an infinite amount of growth from zero to 10 is that’s an infinite, right? From one to 10 is 10 times. And then it grew from there. And so now we’re still ticking upward. But it’s, it’s incremental. And it’s not, you know, that infinite growth we experienced in the beginning. And I’m perfectly okay with that. Because I think the growth is coming in, in other ways. So it’s kind of it’s kind of fun to look back on something. And I don’t think we do this enough, just as human beings, and I certainly don’t, I’m trying to do better, especially because I have small kids, and I’m trying to enjoy those moments, because I don’t want to look back on them with like, I think there’s gonna be some sadness just because kids grow up, you have that nostalgia. But I want to feel like I was there in the moment. And I think the way to do that is to enjoy it. And to not be looking for the next number of downloads or the next 100 episodes. It’s just here we are. Let’s, let’s enjoy it. To be present is the gift of today, so
Exactly. We can end on that. Exactly. Allan, this was a lot of fun, and we’ll see what the future holds. And maybe we’ll be recording a 200th episode. You never No. Thanks, Becky.
Thank you. Bye.
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