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It’s another episode of the Volunteer Rid A Pest Podcast, with your host Mike Stewart and pest expert Erik Gardner. And this is an exciting episode because we have got a celebration. Now, most people know that April 1st is April Fool’s Day. But no, not this year. April 1st, 2020 is the 50th anniversary of Volunteer Rid a Pest. Now, that means that business has been successfully taking care of pest problems in the Chattanooga area for over 50 years. Well, Erik, I want you to tell us the story of how it got started. I assume your family was part of the originators and the builders of it in the beginning, and that you’ve carried on the tradition and you’re going strong today, taking care of pest problems. So let’s hear about the 50th anniversary of Volunteer Rid A Pest.
Well, Mike, it all started way back in 1970. My dad was working for the Orkin termite and pest control company, and he was a manager there and had had some good success. And he worked at Oak Ridge office at that time. And they wanted to give him a promotion. They wanted him to go and take over the Memphis office, which was probably a five times larger office. And he didn’t really want to go. I was about to enter the first grade. My older brother was in the third grade, and he said, “I just don’t want to be moving around with my kids being in school. I’d rather just stay in one spot.” They said, “Well, you don’t understand. Your job’s in Memphis or you just don’t have a job.” So he had been thinking about starting his own business for a while and that kind of gave him the impetus to go ahead and do it. So he got with a friend of his, his name’s Ed Tipton. And he and Mr. Tipton started Volunteer Exterminating Company on April the 1st, 1970, and my mom, Carolyn, was their chief bookkeeper and still is today.
Wow. Well, now, when did you get involved with the business? I assume if you, you’re admitting your age here, that if in 1970 you were starting first grade, you were pretty young and probably wasn’t aware of all the things that your dad was going through to … My dad had that same issue back when I was young. They told him, “Either move here or you don’t have a job.” And I was the reason he didn’t want to leave Bristol, Tennessee. So you’re telling me that your dad brought family first and got the inspiration to be an entrepreneur. So now let’s move forward years later. When did you get involved and when did you get become passionate about carrying the torch that your dad started?
Well, it’s funny, he started me working in the business when I was 14 years old. So he had seen me sitting around the house in the summer and said, “Why don’t you get … Come on. Come on with me.” So he got my older brother and I, and he took us to the housing projects where he had the contract to get rid of the roaches. So that’s how I cut my teeth in pest control was working at the housing projects, treating for German cockroaches. So kind of at the the worst possible job you could have. So I didn’t particularly like the pest control industry.
Matter of fact, my senior year in high school, the guidance counselor called me in, said, “Erik, you planning to go to college?” And I said, “Well, I don’t really know yet. I’m thinking about it.” He said, “Well, do you know what you want to do as far as your career?” I said, “You know, I really don’t. I’m kind of interested in construction, but I know what I don’t want to do. I do not want to be in the pest control business and I do not want to be in sales.” And here we are all these years later and I’m in sales and I’m in the pest control business.
Well, something had to change because you’re doing it so well. What changed your mind? Because you know what? You can’t really take the advice and thought patterns of a teenager. I’ve raised many of them myself, I bet as well as you have. And to quote my father, he said, “When I was 18, my dad was the dumbest man in the world, and at 25 I was amazed how much he learned in seven years.” And what I mean by that is something must have changed because you’re doing the business so well that … What changed that made you realize that carrying the tradition of a great pest control agency in Chattanooga is something that you’re going to carry the torch for your dad?
Well, it’s something my dad taught me as we worked together for 21 years. And early on, I was sort of just wanting to get the job done and move on. And he said, “You know something? If these people are going to trust us, we want to make sure that they are glad they did. We don’t want to do anything to make them regret that.” He said, “They’re giving us their hard-earned money. We’re going to give them our very best effort to take care of their problem.” And I also began to learn that it was an opportunity to solve people’s problems. If you want to be a hero, this is a good business to be in, because if you’ve got a housewife that’s got a rodent issue or she’s got ants on her kitchen counter and you can solve that problem for her, you’re a hero, at least for a little while. And if they’ve got termites destroying their home and you can stop that, you just solved a very major problem in their life. And if you can do it at a reasonable price, that’s even better.
Well, it couldn’t be more true. When people don’t realize that if they want to have a successful business, they got to be problem solvers … And to quote Zig Ziglar, “When I get you what you want, I get what I want.” So in other words, what people want is peace of mind and a pest-free home. And when you provide that, that is a noble service that needs to be done. Now, my final question is, what special plans have you got for this 50th anniversary? What’s everybody going to do and what are you planning on to commemorate it in April? And even if people hear this a year later, we want to know what happened for the 50th anniversary.
Well, we’re planning to have a big celebration. My mom, who was there from the very beginning and was probably my dad’s number one cheerleader and she would get on the phone every night and call and make appointments for him so that he could go out the next day and do the work and make the sales and all that. So they worked really well together. We want to make sure it’s special for her to know that something that she helped start … Because it’s so rare, I’m finding, for a business to be in business for that long with the same ownership. A lot of businesses will change hands, keep the same name, but to have the same ownership, the same family for 50 years, is really pretty rare. So we’re trying to come up with some promotions to kind of mark it off of this 50 years in business.
But we just want customers understand, we’ve been around a long time in this area. We know the bugs that people have problems with here. We’re not coming from out of town and trying to figure it out. We know, and we can get rid of them quick. So the fact that we’ve been here so long should be a testimony that we’re reliable, we do what we’re supposed to do, and customers in this area can trust this. Don’t do business with some out of town company that if you have a problem, you have to call them out of state. If you have a problem with our company, I’m right here. Just pick up the phone and I’ll talk to you about it and we’ll get it resolved.
Well, that sounds like a great testament to your dad and your mom and to the Gardner family for creating a … We got to support local business. You’re not some giant corporation with no one to talk to where the buck stops. The buck stops with the Gardner family and they’re going to take care of you. So you call Volunteer Rid A Pest if you have any problems in Chattanooga. And happy 50th anniversary to you and your family.
Thank you, Mike.
