Colony Confidential

The new season is finally here!   We've been weathered but we're not out.  Join Ed & Joe for all new topics and tips this season.  We have a hige annoucement and wonderful new partners to help boost us all to our next best.  We're going back to basics of our family business bootcamp.  In this episode we're reconnecting with Ed & Joe, hearing a summer summary and finding out what's next!  

Today we're talking about some of the tech tools that are making us more productive in business.  Jeff King from Pest Rangers is all about automation and in this episode he shares some of the apps and programs he's using to make things work easier and more cost effective. If you are curious about any of these programs and how they can help in your company then this is the episode for you. Glip Slack Zapier GPS Trackit Slydial Clientpoint

Welcome back to the Colony Confidential Podcast, today Ed and Joe talk about some of the biggest challenges facing business owners and some of the ways we're going to overcome them.  We touch on topics like Vehicles, route optimization, onboarding new hires fast, inflation and lowering insurance costs.  Stay tuned for an episode on Pricing coming up next!

Jeff White is back with us for the first time since our first season.  A whole lot has happened since then, for one Jeff has started a spanking new business.  Today he tells us all about it and how his technical expertise can help you.

Revisit before we reboot.  Check out the fundamentals of Pest Control in this episode with Ed & Joe covering the basics of IPM.  Also some great stories from Ed's life in the streets.

We've rounded up some listener questions so you know what that means?  It's time to call in the experts.  Jill Chapman joins us on this episode to answer these : How to communicate with your team when Business is struggling? What are some signs that I am micromanaging? If hiring a remote worker in a different state do I pay minimum wage and file labor rules from my business location or the employee's location?  

In this episode, meet Ed Sheehan Jr. who joins Ed and Joe from Phoenix Az. The talk of the town - the Renotkil/Terminix news and some behind the scenes info from a former Rentokil staff member. The family is all involved in pest control, jump into their typical dinner table discussion.

According to Ed he learned a lot in this episode - most importantly - that he's happy he's not running a business anymore.  #retirementgoals.  We've said it so many times before, running a business now is more complicated than ever, then sprinkle on a global pandemic.  We gathered listener questions and sat down with Jill Chapman and Lori Sweeney from Insperity.  If you don't have an HR Department, and continue to grow, you're gonna need some help.  Send in your questions to us for Ask the Expert at colonyconfidential@gmail.com

Here is all you need to know about Call Centers from the Customer Service Queen herself Margaret Garcia.  She's heard and seen a lot in her 20 plus years of experience in Customer service for Pest Control, Lawncare and Hvac and Margaret still swears by routine spot checks on phone calls.  Listen in for everything else new with her, Ed and Joe.

Grit PPO's Founder and President Margaret Garcia joins Ed and Joe in this informative episode that focusses on the front line staff and the importance of Training and Development.  Grit PPO is able to provide stellar customer service and is an outsource call center for Pest Control, Wildlife and lawn care industries. Working in a variety of softwares, Grit's team promises a human touch in a digital world.   Get a sneak peek into their operation, how they think and the keys to getting the most skilled customer service representatives in the home services industry.

Join Ed & Joe for a recap of some of the highs and lows of Pest World 2021 Lessons learned and big takeaways - from the largest national event for the industry.  Make sure you subscribe and review! 

Jeff King is known for his marketing smarts and has grown Pest Rangers in PA  into a successful and respected brand.  Listen to his story and a culture Q&A with Jill Chapman from Insperity     

Hi Mr. & Mrs. America, we're excited to share another installment of Meet the PMP.  Today's episode features friend of the show - Jeff King from Pest Rangers in PA.  Jeff has built a great business with his marketing smarts and is here to share some of his tips and thoughts from how he started in the industry to what he considers the biggest waste of advertising money in the industry. Listen Up and join us for more on Thursday.

Join Ed and Joe as they discuss a few current events affecting business.  After our talk with Paul Giannamore, Ed made some changes and gets into his new purchases and what he's looking at.  Some of the talk around NYC is how it's changing from a mass transit city to a driver's city - 500 thousand new cars have been added to the roads in New York City alone.  Jill Chapman and our friends from Insperity are coming by to answer some listener questions - If you have a question for the Experts - Send us an email colonyconfidential@gmail.com or DM @colonyconfidentialpodcast

Season Three will teach us more than we want to Learn??!? Starting with vaccine mandates and how they've changed the way we do business. Since our Parent company Colony Pest Management services a lot of healthcare facilities in NYC, things changed very quickly for us.  In this episode hear how Joe made the necessary adjustments and stick around for the Insperity Q&A series coming up. Send us an Email with your questions and hear the answer coming in October!!

The final installment from our interview with Paul Giannamore who explains what's happening in the Financial Markets.  Why he thinks we're moving from crisis to crisis and avoiding a recession.  Why recessions serve a purpose and so much more.  Joe compares the U.S government to Blackberry and the guys all share a little insight into how they're investing their money - Joe's advice - play with the house's money and Remember!!  The views stated in this podcast are opinion only and should not be taken as financial advice.  

Anytime we speak with Paul Giannamore, it gets better.  Understand what's going on in the world as it relates to running your small or not so small business.  It takes more than hard work, to be successful, entrepreneurs need to make sound financial decisions on a daily basis.  This is a great place to start. 

It's The most dangerous pest in the U.S - In this episode learn how to do a tick drag and other do's and don'ts during the summer season.  Summer school Q&A is on Instagram Live every Tuesday at 7:30pm Powered by Gnowbe.  

Insperity's Pete Hinojosa got us together in this episode.  Part 2 follow up gets into the four personality types DISC and how they play out in the workplace.  We even get some help with our personal relationship this time LOL.  Grab the workbook so you can follow along.  Send us an email colonyconfidential@gmail.com

Pete Hinojosa is Back!! joining Ed & Joe to talk about Leadership in a way that just makes sense.  We understand that today leadership and decision making is more complex than ever.  Pete and the team at Insperity are our partners in transforming, understand and increasing our efficiency in the most important aspects of running a small business.  Tune in to this week's episodes for information on Leadership Rules and Personality Types.

We're back at it with Dr. Dini Miller to talk more on cost, time and efficiency in the field.  Roaches, bedbugs, tacos - yes please.  We also talk about the future of Pest Control and how electronic insect monitoring can fit in and the challenges that need to be overcome for their success.

One of our favorite guests Dr.  DIni Miller joins us again today - she is an esteemed professor of Urban Pest Management at Virginia Tech. Specialising in Ed’s favorites German cockroaches and bed bugs.  We always have tons of questions for Dini and start off by talking about her students - we want to know who’s coming up in the world of entomologists.  But things get really interesting when we start talking about IPM and why we should not be asking residents to clean up for successful treatment of roach infestations. Details of what to do instead plus how our professionalism can change the perception of the Pest Management industry are all in this week’s episodes - Trust the Dr. 

Keep an eye out and stay a step ahead with the latest news in online advertising.  Daryl Margaux from Search Kings is back with todays installment.

Daryl Margaux from Search Kings in Canada sits with Joe to discuss what's new in the world of online advertising.  Get ready to hear answers to your questions on streaming media ads, what's new with Google and the steps you should be taking now, to get your business ahead of the competition.    

Frank Macdonald joins us from Select Insurance.

We had the chance to catch up with our Insurance go to guy - Frank Macdonald from Select Insurance.  Frank has been a friend of the podcast from day one.  The last time we spoke it was all about disinfecting services for covid - 19 so this time around, we find out what's new, talk family and how he's been adjusting in his business.  Great advice and insight into the Cares Act, wage and hour policies and more.  

We've been learning and doing so much - today we're checking in, sharing more on what's to come and recapping some recent highlights.  Ed Sheehan decides to go for a pedicure - his first ever!

Another installment of Strategies and Insights for success in your business.  Regardless of your size - these tips are for creating a strong foundation.  Whether you're leading a company or a family, Pete helps us to understand the important things we must get right - no matter what.  Starting with Culture we cover Hiring, Liability, Communication and More - Notebooks Out.  

Our Insperity experts are back to talk with us about Leadership Development Strategies.  Join Ed, Joe and Pete for an introduction to this round of our HR series and come back on Thursday for more.

Talk about Minding your Business? This week's PMP Spotlight takes us over to Arizona meet David Marshall, founder and owner of Arizona Pest Squad. We talk about his start in the industry - moving from the music business. Then here come all the challenges.  Loss, Growth, marketing - it's all in here with so many tips for your business - you're going to need to listen more than once.

Ed and Joe connect to talk about everything we've been learning in the past few months.  There are more challenges in today's workplace than ever before so we all have to get better.  We talk a little about Cuomo's business, company culture, tricks and tips our managers are using to stay connected with the team and foster the behaviors we're looking for. 

Connecting New York City and Buffalo with Ed, Joe and Audrey Hall.  A second generation PMP, Audrey started working with her father on his weekend business and now has over a dozen staff members.  Along the way, she's picked up some great insight on how to start and grow a small business and we had a great time hearing about her entrepreneurship journey. A lot of great takeaways in this one.

Ed and Joe are catching up, talking about our recent and upcoming episodes and getting us prepared for the spring.  We get a lot of laughs in this episode and some great tips.  Want to connect? Send us an email colonyconfidential@gmail.com

Finishing up our chat today with Jill who is helping us tweak and adjust to the collective head whipping of hiring through the COVID crisis.  If you listened to Part One, you'd know you should always be hiring.  In today's follow up we hear more about what people want  and how leaders can help support their teams.  

We're kicking off our Brand New HR Series this week.  With our special guest expert from Insperity Jill Chapman.  Jill is so full of knowledge and got us schooled on what's new in Hiring, employee engagement and even how to relate to the different generations at the office.  Join us for this informative and enlightening series that's all geared at leveling up your team.  From hiring to engagement, culture and leadership. Want to find out more about Insperity? Click Here

We've always shared how networking was and remains the key to our success in business.  And while times and events have changed, we still say the same.  Ed and Joe discuss some of the tricks that helped them get new business along with some  new  Networking Tips, you may be a little rusty, so it's time to Sharpen up.  

Catch up with our spring Q & A series.  Don't miss the HR Series starting February 23

We love answering your questions.  Send us an email colonyconfidential@gmail.com    

Another round of Q & A for you friends who want a professional opinion.  We answer questions on which is better to use steel wool, copper mesh and where most rodents find entry into your homes or buildings.  We talk about the one of the worst insects to try and DIY.  How a clean home can suddenly get roaches and so much more.  Send us your questions at colonyconfidential@gmail.com

We're continuing our conversation about Teamwork in 2021.  Things have changed, no doubt about it, so you gotta understand we all have some new things to learn as a result.  Ed thinks this is the best podcast we've done - simply because he's learned so much.  Set yourself up for (more) success with this one.

Ed & Joe catch up on this week's hot topics and the burning topic on every business owners mind right now.  The team.  Employee Engagement is at an all time low - with the recent stats claiming that after the whirlwind of change that was 2020 - there's been a 57% decrease in employee engagement. What are we going to do?   Find answers of course , you ready ?

A lot of folks having sleepless nights because of bedbugs, roaches , rats even fleas!  We're going to tell you how you can find some relief and when you need to call in the professionals.  In the meantime go clean up  after yourselves ok!

Listen in with us as we follow up with Scorpion Repel co - founder Tony Gonzales.  Hear how this new product can revolutionize your pest prevention.  In this episode Mr. America - Ed has tons of questions like "will this work on rodents?" Join us to find out more and get the full story on this brand new product.  Colony Confidential gets to the facts. Enjoy!

Learning about new products is always appealing - especially when it's effective.  We hear the story of scorpion repel from one of the company's co-founders Tony Gonzales.  Join us as he shares his personal story that got him into the pest control industry after a successful career in law!  And hear about the potential next big thing! 

Mr. & Mrs. America, we've got a lot going on so this episode is a nice recap and answer for one of our listeners experiencing growth in his company.

Margaret Garcia is back in the building to give us all the tips and gems to upgrade our customer service efforts.  She's the person who stopped us from asking "how can I help you?" in order to control the call.  No-one else is doing anything remotely close to Margaret's team at Grit PPO where they can handle customers, schedule and sell for your Pest Control Company in the software of your choice.  Get ready to learn new rules with us today. 

Reputation Management is the name of the game right now.  Jeremy Ecker is back with us to get more in depth with details on the importance of getting those business reviews Whether you're trying to grow your business or you're trying to sell your business, either way you want it to have value and.  Think about business reviews like word of mouth on steroids.  Listen in and find out more about 2 Step Reviews on https://colonyconfidential.com

Start the year off right - put your Business up front amongst a sea of competitors.  If you're not sure how or you haven't started yet, it's time to get serious about your company's reviews. In a nutshell - it's the report card your potential customers can all see, after all doesn't everyone google and check reviews before making a purchase?  Jeremy Ecker owner of Rest Easy Pest Control and friend of our show talks to us about how he got into the Pest Control business and why he built a platform to handle reviews that's user friendly and built for ease. Want to find out more Try 2 Step Reviews Here

Ed talks residential and Joe talks Commercial  - Sales It all comes down to personality at the end of the day.  Listen to some key tips and takeaways for hiring, coaching and motivating your sales team.

Ed and Joe cover current events.  Events in the nation and in their relationship.  From employee engagement and holiday get togethers, covid testing and colonoscopies.  Nothing is off limits in this one.  And listen out for one of Ed's best "it may be time for assisted living" moments

After spending the last few weeks learning from Paul Giannamore we're all in the mood for more finance talk.  This episode is one of the fan favorites  and for good reason.  A lot of great nuggets in here for you on investing and how we pick stocks.