6 Stupid Behaviors Wildlife Control Operators WCOs should Avoid Wild Life Control Training.
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful episode, Stephen Van Tassel, a wildlife control consultant, highlights the common mistakes made by wildlife control operators that hurt their businesses and relationships. He emphasizes the importance of carrying business cards, accepting free advertising, treating government officials with respect, giving back to the industry, being open to learning, and fostering friendly competition. With practical advice and thought-provoking examples, Van Tassel encourages operators to avoid these pitfalls, embrace professionalism, and build mutually beneficial relationships within the industry. By addressing these issues, wildlife control operators can enhance their businesses, maintain positive connections, and contribute to the overall growth and success of the field.
Takeaways
- 👜 Always carry business cards with you to be prepared to market yourself and your business.
- 📈 Accept free advertising opportunities to promote your products and services.
- 🤝 Treat government officials with respect, build relationships, and cooperate with them to benefit your business.
- 🤲 Don't just take from others, give back and show gratitude to those who contribute to the industry.
- 🧠 Be open to learning from others, attending training events, and experimenting with new techniques to improve your skills.
- 🤝 Cultivate friendly competition and collaboration with other wildlife control operators to tackle larger jobs and support each other during difficult times.
- 🚫 Avoid treating competitors as enemies and harming your business by missing opportunities for mutual growth and support.
- 🔄 Continuously seek ways to learn, grow, and become more professional to stay competitive in the industry.
- 📣 Market your products and services effectively by creating high-quality literature, photos, and promotional materials.
- 🌱 Balance your work life with personal time and prioritize your goals to avoid burnout and maintain a healthy perspective.
Q & A
What is the main topic of this podcast episode?
-The main topic is about the stupid things that wildlife control operators do to ultimately hurt their business and relationships.
What is the first mistake that wildlife control operators make, according to the speaker?
-The first mistake is not carrying business cards with them at all times. The speaker emphasizes the importance of always being prepared with business cards to market oneself and take advantage of opportunities.
What is the second mistake that wildlife control operators make?
-The second mistake is refusing to accept free advertising. The speaker mentions instances where he offered to feature businesses and their products in a newsletter for free, but many businesses failed to provide the necessary information, missing out on valuable advertising opportunities.
How does the speaker suggest wildlife control operators should treat government officials?
-The speaker suggests that wildlife control operators should treat government officials with respect and try to build positive relationships with them. He advises sending them cards, making occasional phone calls, and inviting them to job sites, as these relationships can be mutually beneficial and help in the long run.
What is the fourth mistake that wildlife control operators make?
-The fourth mistake is taking without giving. The speaker encourages wildlife control operators to find ways to contribute and give back, even in small ways, to those who have helped or supported their industry or business.
What is the fifth mistake that wildlife control operators make?
-The fifth mistake is refusing to be trainable. The speaker emphasizes the importance of continuing education, learning from others, and being open to trying new techniques and ideas to improve oneself and stay up-to-date in the industry.
What is the speaker's advice regarding competitors in the wildlife control industry?
-The speaker advises wildlife control operators not to treat every other operator as a competitor. He suggests building friendly relationships with competitors, working together on large jobs, and helping each other out when needed, rather than harboring animosity or hatred towards one another.
What is the purpose of the sponsor mentions throughout the podcast?
-The sponsor mentions are for promoting and advertising the services of Aaron Bray from ServantLabs.com, who helps with website design and maintenance, particularly for WordPress sites.
What does the speaker suggest wildlife control operators should do to improve their businesses?
-The speaker suggests that wildlife control operators should carry business cards, accept free advertising opportunities, treat government officials with respect, give back to those who contribute to the industry, continue learning and being trainable, and foster friendly relationships with competitors instead of treating them as enemies.
What is the overall tone and style of the speaker?
-The overall tone and style of the speaker are direct, straightforward, and sometimes sarcastic. He is not afraid to call out "stupid" behaviors and mistakes in a blunt manner, with the aim of providing constructive criticism and advice to help wildlife control operators improve their businesses and relationships.
Outlines
🎙️ Introduction and Sponsor Mention
The host, Steven Van Tassel, welcomes the audience to another episode of the Living the Wildlife podcast, part of the Pesky Podcast family. He introduces the topic of the day: stupid things that wildlife control operators do to ultimately hurt their business and relationships. He then highlights the sponsor for the podcast, Aaron Bray of ServantLabs, who has helped with website issues for Van Tassel's WordPress site. Van Tassel encourages anyone with a product or service to advertise to the wildlife control and pest control community to consider sponsoring the podcast.
🗣️ Stupid Mistake 1: Not Carrying Business Cards
The first stupid mistake highlighted is not carrying business cards. Van Tassel emphasizes the importance of always being prepared to market oneself, even when not actively working, as you never know when you might encounter a potential customer. He shares an anecdote about a wildlife control operator who missed an opportunity to hand out a business card, which reflected poorly on his professionalism. Van Tassel stresses the need to always have cards on hand, even if it means carrying a large wallet, to be ready for any opportunity to promote oneself.
📢 Stupid Mistake 2: Refusing Free Advertising
The second mistake is refusing free advertising. Van Tassel expresses disbelief at companies that fail to provide information or literature about their products when given the opportunity for free advertising. He shares his experiences as a newsletter editor, where he would offer businesses the chance to advertise their products at no cost, but many failed to send any information. Van Tassel emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of such opportunities to market products to potential customers, even if it's as simple as sending some text and photos.
🤝 Stupid Mistake 3: Treating Government Workers Poorly
The third mistake is treating government workers with contempt. Van Tassel acknowledges that many in the wildlife control industry may have a tendency to dislike government workers due to licensing requirements or other interactions. However, he emphasizes the importance of building positive relationships with government officials, as they have the power to make life difficult if treated poorly. He shares a story about a product not being registered in a state due to the abrasive behavior of the business owner towards government employees. Van Tassel encourages developing professional relationships with government workers, such as game wardens, to foster mutual understanding and support.
🤲 Stupid Mistake 4: Taking Without Giving
The fourth mistake is taking without giving back. Van Tassel acknowledges that newer businesses may need to take more than they give initially as they build their operations. However, he encourages finding ways to give back, even in small gestures such as showing gratitude, providing positive reviews, or promoting businesses that have contributed to the industry. He emphasizes the importance of supporting organizations like NWCOA (National Wildlife Control Operators Association) that work to improve the industry, and suggests buying products or services from contributing members as a way to give back.
🤓 Stupid Mistake 5: Refusing to be Trainable
The fifth mistake is refusing to be trainable. Van Tassel acknowledges that the podcast audience is already demonstrating a willingness to learn by listening. However, he highlights the issue of some wildlife control operators who are so arrogant or set in their ways that they refuse to consider new ideas or perspectives. He encourages an open mindset, experimenting with new approaches, and attending training events to continually expand knowledge and improve skills. Van Tassel shares an anecdote about an operator who believed he had nothing to learn from attending a training event, reflecting an unproductive and detrimental mindset.
🤝 Stupid Mistake 6: Treating Competitors as Enemies
The sixth mistake is treating every other wildlife control operator as a competitor. Van Tassel acknowledges the natural competitive instinct in business but emphasizes the need to cultivate positive relationships with competitors. He highlights the benefits of friendly competition, where operators can collaborate on larger jobs or support each other during vacations, illnesses, or injuries. Van Tassel encourages operators to view each other as colleagues working towards mutual success rather than as enemies to be hated or avoided. He suggests building networks and associations to facilitate cooperative partnerships that can lead to greater profitability and stability for all involved.
📣 Closing Remarks and Sponsor Mention
To conclude, Van Tassel summarizes the six stupid mistakes wildlife control operators make that harm their businesses: not carrying business cards, refusing free advertising, mistreating government workers, taking without giving back, refusing to be trainable, and treating competitors as enemies. He encourages listeners to reflect on whether they are making any of these mistakes and to take corrective action. Finally, Van Tassel once again highlights the sponsor, ServantLabs.com, and encourages listeners to visit his website, WildlifeControlConsultant.com, for more information and resources.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Wildlife Control
💡Business
💡Government Workers
💡Competitor
💡Advertising
💡Training
💡Relationship
💡Mistakes
💡Podcast
💡Sponsor
Highlights
Steven Van Tassell, a wildlife control consultant, shares insights on common mistakes wildlife control operators make that harm their business and relationships.
Highlighting the importance of carrying business cards at all times to seize every opportunity for networking and business growth.
The critical mistake of not accepting free advertising opportunities, which can significantly enhance business visibility and growth.
Underestimating the value of treating government workers with respect and building positive relationships with them for long-term benefits.
The significance of giving back to the community and industry, rather than only taking, to foster goodwill and mutual growth.
The importance of being open to training and continuous learning to avoid stagnation and to keep improving in the wildlife control industry.
Encouraging wildlife control operators to view competitors as colleagues rather than enemies, promoting a healthier industry environment.
The potential loss of business opportunities due to not carrying a business card and being prepared for impromptu marketing moments.
Ignoring free advertising as a no-brainer mistake, emphasizing the importance of seizing every opportunity to promote one's business at no cost.
The nuanced approach to dealing with government officials, stressing that positive interactions can lead to easier business operations and opportunities.
The value of contributing back to the community and industry, including through memberships in professional organizations, to support the broader field.
The danger of refusing to be trainable and the importance of maintaining an open mind to new techniques, technologies, and business strategies.
Recommendation to leverage friendly competition and collaboration with competitors for mutual benefit, especially in larger projects.
Mistakes like not carrying business cards, rejecting free advertising, and poor treatment of government officials can significantly hinder business growth.
The emphasis on continuous improvement and education as a cornerstone for success in the wildlife control industry.
Transcripts
[Music]
hi
everyone steven van tasley here wildlife
control consultant
another episode of living the wildlife
as part of the pesky podcast
family thank you so much for dropping by
and listening again
today's topic is about stupid things
that wildlife control operators do
yeah stupid things that wildlife control
operators do
to ultimately hurt their business and
hurt their relationships so i wanted to
highlight a few of these things
um had some experience in this
particular area as you know i've been
out of the field work
for a fairly long time been working in
academia and of course for
my government job but i still maintain
relationships within the wildlife
control industry
and what i've found is being as an
outsider who's sort of associated with
the industry
i don't i'm not gunning for work i don't
have some of the stresses that you guys
are going to have gunning for
for work but i wanted to try to give you
sometimes when you step out of the box
you can see behaviors that damage
people's
businesses and it it strikes me
as just bizarre as to why this happened
it really
it really underscores for me that
sometimes
people who are great wildlife control
operators in terms of their ability to
capture animals
doesn't mean they know how to run a
business
and sometimes the best people that know
how to do
wildlife are horrific business people
why because they just hate people but
i'm digressing here a little bit so i
wanted to
highlight our sponsor for today again we
have a sponsor
for the what for the living the wildlife
podcast and i wanted to definitely give
a shout
out to him uh let me get my information
his name is
his uh adam
oh where do i go here here we go get it
out
i had it written down yolk sorry not
adam aaron bray
sorry but slipped my mind it's too many
things going on aaron bray of servant
labs
i have a blog i have a wordpress site
had some issues i've hired him a couple
of times now
and aaron bray has come through to take
care of cleaning things up without
breaking the bank so which is always
helpful sometimes
when you pay a little more per hour you
actually get someone who works fast
so sometimes going with the cheap hourly
rate means you're paying a lot more
because the person's basically
having you pay them for them to learn
well i've been pleased with some of the
work he's done for me
and my website
wildlifecontrolconsultant.com so contact
aaron brayservantlabs.com let me reserve
labs.com
and he will be able to hook you up with
your website talk to them today
conservantlabs.com aaron bray should be
able to help you out with your website
certainly with your wordpress site which
is what i have give them a ring
reach out to them tell them that living
the wildlife
podcast with stephen van tassel sent him
we would love to have more sponsors for
our show with the pesky podcast family
if you have a product or service that
you want to advertise to the wildlife
control and pest control community
we do hope that you will give us a ring
that's
wildlife control consultant at gmail.com
wildlife control consultant
gmail.com all right well let's get right
into it in terms of the topic today
things that wildlife control operators
do
to hurt their business so
what's number one well they're not in
any necessarily hierarchical order i was
just sort of doing some brainstorming
and i came up with a short list this
isn't comprehensive by any stretch of
the imagination i'm sure you can
probably think of others
but i hope that you would commit
yourself not to commit these mistakes
because these are really
unforced errors folks
don't do it do your best to avoid these
particular areas number one
this one really gets my goat i don't
know why it happens it totally blows my
mind
carry a business card with you all right
if you're in self
one of the challenges with
self-employment is you're always
on the job even when you're not on the
job you're on the job because you don't
know
where that next customer is going to
come from and you know i
i've asked wildlife control operators
sometimes pcos but not to the same
extent
but wildlife control operators hey do
you have a card oh no
i left it in the truck i don't have it i
ran out i just handed out my last one
and you know they probably had two in
their wallet
don't do this folks you know they're
really not that heavy
be prepared for those
moments where you need to market
yourself
have a way to make sure that you're
constantly carrying
business cards with you i get a lot of
criticism and people make fun of me for
the size of my wallet
there it is okay it's the costanza wall
of those of you that remember seinfeld
okay
i have a costanza wall look at how thick
that is all right
that's pretty thick let me put it right
up there to the screen for you
it's probably an inch that people said
you sit on that no i don't sit on it's
in my front pocket
now this is a little over the top but
if you look carefully i have
business cards okay i've got business
cards in here i got because i i
got business cards so in their mind okay
there are cards that i have i have to
carry more than
one type of card because i have a
government job and of course i have my
business
self-employed my own personal business
right so i have to carry more than
one type of card carry your cards
i don't know how to explain that anymore
carry your cards
so always be prepared to do that
why does this matter because i was
talking with the wildlife control
operator
he's not a pro in the sense he's doing
this full-time
but he was telling me how he's charging
150 dollars a skunk
and i said would love to have a cart
i mean because i could i do referral i
refer
people to wildlife control operators
very happy to refer people to him oh he
didn't have on the card he told me he
already gave me several but this was a
different context and he probably did
i'm not denying he
might have given me several cars in the
past
but he took the opportunity he lost the
opportunity to follow
i handed him my card it looked to him as
if he didn't even care
so what does that tell me about his
professionalism
what does that tell me about is this
someone i really want to refer
people to visit people do strange things
i don't know why
they would look an opportunity in the
mouth let me give you even another
illustration
of how silly people are so number one
carry business cards okay
number two accept
free advertising
you may say well that's that's a
no-brainer stephen why why wouldn't i
accept free advertising well you know i
i'll be quite one with you i have had
this encounter
numerous times this is not just a
one-off deal here i'm talking about
numerous situations i was the editor
of a newsletter i edited for
a particular association and i would
offer
i would talk to different businesses and
i said hey you know you have
a new product coming out service
send me a little bit of information i'll
put an ad in the newsletter free no
charge
no charge we'd simply be interested in
getting you getting you getting your
information out to our constituents
you would be shocked how many never sent
me information i've often i'm kind of a
sarcastic guy if you haven't figured
that out because i'm i'm always
intrigued
at the stupid things people do i mean
i'll just call it what it is it's
absolutely stupid okay
i'm not talking about an issue of people
not having information
and not knowing something i'm not
talking about ignorance here i'm talking
about fundamental
stupid behavior okay
the heaviest thing when i was you know
this is it's changing now thank god but
years ago i would argue that the
heaviest
object in the world was the send key
and they say why would i say that
because i would ask people
send me you know your advertising
information send me
literature about your product this is
primarily for people trying to sell
products
and they would never send it
now think about that for a minute you're
selling a product you're trying to find
a market for your product
someone is asking you to send
literature about your product
and you don't send it
now why would they do that
especially when they knew that their
product would be spotlighted
in a newsletter that would go to
individuals
that could possibly buy that product at
no
charge the only cost to that individual
was simply
to send the material for the ad
how how is that complicated they didn't
even have to do a layout
we would do the layout i just needed
some text
and a preferably a photo wouldn't send
it
so i've argued that the heaviest object
in the world and let me kind of show you
what it is it's going to be upside down
but it's the return key okay where is it
right over here
the send key here it's called the enter
key that's the heaviest object in the
so as i said the heaviest object
in the world is the send key
don't let that be you when people are
asking you
for information about your company make
sure you have something that you can
send them it doesn't have to be
the great american novel but if you
don't have someone that created there's
a ton
of software programs out there you can
do you can even use
wordpad in if you have microsoft
uh you know office you should be able to
do that apple of course has their
materials i mean this is
not that kind of go to the library it
creates something
okay it should not be that difficult for
you for you simply to do this
carry a business card
be willing to hand it out of course make
sure you have literature for your
company particularly those of you that
are trying to sell products it just
boggles my mind a subset of that is you
need to have the ability to have some
photos of your product if you don't know
how to take photos have someone take
photos
i take photos if you're looking for
someone to take photos of your products
send me a product i will take photos of
your product and send it back to you
okay we'll do it as an exchange it's
really not that complicated right
but getting good photos is a little
takes a little bit of skill
it's not rocket science i'm not
suggesting that at all
but you want to be able to market your
product appropriately not just sending
people a postage stamp image either
where it's 54k
okay you want to have something that's
well over a thousand k
so at least a megabyte megabyte or
preferably 2 to three megabytes right so
you can have something that's going to
be
three by four inches in bit size at a
300 dpi
uh pixel rate so
again that may be that may be rocket
science it may feel like that's unusual
for you
again it's we can help you
right we can find or find someone local
maybe your children know all about this
all right but the point is
is that get that material about your
product to be
and have it in a location where you can
actually send it to people
so that's the second problem that people
have that wildlife control operators
the stupid things that they do
number three how do you treat government
workers
now i know for a lot of people in the
wildlife control industry
maybe in the pest control industry and
i'm not as familiar with them of course
but they have a tendency to think that
they they have a
they love to hate government workers
whether it's wildlife services whether
it's the state agency that they have to
get licensed through
whether it's to d whether it's their uh
licensing for their vehicles
whatever the case may be government
workers they hate them
but let me let me kind of kind of clue
you in on some things here
government workers can make your life
miserable
don't encourage them to do that
now i'm not agreeing with that i think
that government workers have to be
have an emotional stability where
they're doing
the right thing even when people are not
treating them properly
however it's naive to think that
everyone
tries to behave in a christian manner
okay a lot of and then there's plenty of
people who think they're christians
and they're not okay you could not
convict convict that person to being a
christian in the court of law if you'd
be tried
there's just not enough evidence
okay people are human i've heard a story
of a gentleman who was trying to get a
product registered in the state
and the only reason why that product was
not registered in that state
was because he was so abrasive that he
basically was part of my language he
pissed off a bunch of government people
and they would not register that product
now
i don't think that's right that's wrong
to do
but i understand it
how does what does this mean does this
mean you can't disagree with a
government worker no does this mean that
you always that you can't raise your
voice for the government work
no it means you have to watch how are
you behaving
is this person who is giving you a hard
time or in your perception
giving you a hard time is this person
simply following the law
or is this person being a jerk and you
know what before you get to the jerky
you have
one other issue and that is sometimes
never
assume conspiracy when incompetence
is suffices the fact of the matter is
is not every government worker knows
what they're doing
and a lot of government workers are lazy
i'll admit it yeah it's a problem okay
they're not all
we have a bell curve right not everyone
is out here in the other end
shooting the lights out there's a lot of
people who just sort of go along
to get along to do the least amount of
work necessary
that sometimes happened i'll be and i'll
be frank with you sometimes you should
be very grateful that government workers
don't want to work more
okay because if they do sometimes
they'll do things that you've been
skirting the law about that you glad
that they're not paying attention to you
okay
so it kind of cuts both ways at times
my point being is that
i had an incident where i was talking
with a wildlife control operator
and i was trying to get some information
because
i i i like to
relate relate information out to other
people
i try to help market businesses i i
believe that's just part of
my job i'm not speaking here in behalf
of my government position i'm simply
telling you my experience
as a government worker i've also worked
in academia which is similar but not
identical
but similar i don't have a regulatory
role in my job i'm strictly an educator
but i have influence right and i do get
phone calls
and i do refer people to wildlife
control operators
when a government worker wants your
information
give it to them if you're running a
business
and this person can help you market your
company
why not give it i have to i have to
refer
i have people that call and they want
someone to do wildlife control
i can't do that wildlife control right
because that's a conflict of interest i
can't be in the business of competing
with
local businesses so
if i don't have anyone to send that
individual that potential customer
too then there's that the customer's not
helped and you're not helped it doesn't
make any sense
so don't be a jerk to your
government workers and i'm even going to
go a step further
and that is try to make contact with
your government workers
if you can develop relationships so that
you're
helping them do their job
they can help you do your job
and so it can be a mutually beneficial
it doesn't have to be hostile
okay so let me give an illustration when
you
when you give your enforcement officer
let's say your game board many of you
are going to be working in states with
game wardens when you're working in a
state with a game warden
it doesn't hurt you know to give your
game warden to call every now and again
send them a christmas card send them a
thanksgiving card whatever the case may
be
letting them know you're around keeping
that person in your memory
invite them to go on a job with you they
may never go
but the fact that you were open with
them
means a lot because you're like you know
that guy is professional and i'm not
trying to exclude you ladies we just
we're primarily a male-dominated force
right so
when they know you in a good way
that can be helpful for you
because they may remember your name they
may not be trying to exclude any other
wildlife control operators
because that would probably be legal in
their state right but the point is they
may
sometimes a person will ask well who
would you use if you had a choice we
know you can't recommend but who would
you
use if you couldn't and that's kind of
how people try to play this game to get
around it
right you want to be sure
that your nay that you he that that game
warden
that enforcement officer for those of
you the pcos there's enforcement for
pest control as well
you want them to know that you are a
straight arrow guy
doing things right and that you're
treating your customers
like a true professional like you are a
paradigm
for what a good pco would be you're a
good paradigm
for what a good wildlife control
operator
should be and that pays dividends you
you know it's it takes time to build
that type of reputation
but you do that by calling up
occasionally i'm not you know don't make
don't be a pass to yourself not every
week
don't don't do it every day you know
once a month maybe once every couple of
months
just say hey you know i had this really
strange strange job you may want to come
out and check it out
it can be very helpful because sometimes
your game wardens
don't know what you do they really don't
they're so
used to going after hunters and
fishermen that they really don't know a
whole lot about the wildlife control
field and they might just come along
and it would be an opportunity for you
because you probably know the law
better than they do when it comes to
wildlife control that that's not going
to be true in every case of course
but it may be more true than you think
and then you become
the go-to person for them so that way if
there's a complaint
and you know if you're in business long
enough you're probably going to get a
complaint because you don't have to do
anything wrong to get someone to
complain about you right we've talked
you may have heard me talk elsewhere
about the issue between malpractice
and malik currents right that's a topic
for another time but
malpractice uh is when you've done
something wrong you had a bad result
mal occurrences you didn't do anything
wrong you just had a bad result
you know how many times have you you
know maybe set a trap somewhere
did everything by the book and the
raccoon still blew out
another event what did you do wrong well
you didn't do anything wrong
raccoon responded to that trap in a very
violent way and
damage the house more that's mal
occurrence that's not malpractice
right so a lot of people don't
understand that
and when your game warden gets a
complaint he's gonna be like
oh that doesn't sound like so-and-so
you know think of a good friend that you
have and so say
someone came up to you and said well i i
believe this person's a mass murderer
you're going to be like i i you know i'm
over their house
a lot boy if they're a vast murderer
they sure hide it pretty well right so
it's just there's certain things that
you learn that
just aren't just are just so not likely
just beyond the pill not impossible but
just
really the skepticism comes up i'll i'll
give an illustration for myself for
instance
i in my job here i was
doing some doing some of my paperwork
type activities that requires me to
reach out to different
uh to different people why i got someone
that i had contact with they got mad at
me and they called up my boss
and complained and they believed or not
accused me of being a while of
being an animal rights activist now
that is kind of funny
stephen van tassel the animal rights
activist writing a book like this right
so
um no it might my boss actually laughed
on the phone
from what she told me
relationships matter
i know it's work i know you're busy
but you're probably but you're not too
busy to build valuable relationships
where you become
someone who is thought about in a
positive manner
and that could be a very helpful
relationship because something will go
wrong eventually
you want to have people willing to
give you the benefit of the doubt
and if you have good education of your
game wardens or your enforcement people
when they understand the complexities
that you are confronted with on a
regular basis and you will find that
sometimes the law
doesn't fit and it's a matter of
interpretation
sometimes someone says you broke the law
when in fact it's a matter of
interpretation
we it's sometimes the law is
contradictory there was a situation that
happened in massachusetts where a farmer
was jacking deer at night which was
illegal in massachusetts shooting the
deer with a rifle which was illegal in
massachusetts he had to use a shotgun
and he was
spotlighting the deer and he was
shooting the deer out of season
so a whole host of violations
well he got pinched by enforcement went
to court
the the judge said well you know
the farmer were you killing these deer
and guys said yup sure was your honor
they were depredating on my
my apple orchard and the law says if an
animal is depredating on my
food i have the right to kill it
and sure enough it was like an 1880 law
or something in massachusetts
long-standing law
right and that law
contradicted state regulations guarding
governing hunting and the judge looked
at it looked at the statute and said
yup you're right case dismissed
so sometimes you could be accused of
breaking the law
when in fact you did break a law the
problem was
is that which law because the laws
didn't
the law is contradicted yes it does
happen not common but it can happen
so build those relationships send a card
make a phone call sometimes just a few
minute phone calls your game will
go a long way and just sort of say hey
you know i'm out here working
just figured i'll let you know
especially if you're dealing with high
risk high visibility jobs where
you might be getting into trouble
those relationships can matter okay all
right
so number four
the fourth mistake that wildlife control
operators make is they take
without giving
certainly those of you who are young in
the industry
obviously you're going to be taking more
than you're giving because you don't
have a lot to give
i mean i get that right so we're not
that i don't want to make sure i don't
want to make you guys are new
feel bad okay so yeah you need to take
you need to understand you need to you
need to be bringing in because you got
to try to build your business and get
going
but what it does mean is that there's
different ways you can give
it doesn't always have to be money but
you know respect
goes a long way gratitude
goes a long way i mean it's very
gratifying to me when i
when i have people drop me an email and
they're saying hey steve appreciate the
podcast
keep keep it up i didn't earn any money
on that
i didn't make any money on that but it
meant something that person took some
time out of their day
and said hey steve thanks i appreciate
it
because in this type of a medium we
don't get feedback it's not like i'm
speaking before an audience where you
can see the body language like
they hate my guts or hey they're having
a good time in this type of meeting we
have no feedback unless someone
actively sends it out there and gives it
which would be an
email phone call or they meet me in
person
and a lot of people and a lot of people
from
uh in america aren't traveling to
montana okay so they're not seeing me
too often
make sure that
you do some of those things it also
means that when someone is you don't
given you a lot
that you take the opportunity to you
know maybe buy
some other stuff if they're selling
something
you know this has been something that a
lot of people don't understand and that
is
when you had early in our industry where
we had certain businesses that were
really doing a lot they were leaders
within this particular industry
one of the ways you contributed back and
thanked them
for their contributions and the amount
of information they were giving away was
staggering
is you would buy some bait maybe you'd
buy their book
maybe you'd have them come and speak
there are little things you can do
sometimes it's not a lot you know you
buy a five dollar bait
you know but as a way rather than buying
one that was 425
you paid the five bucks about the final
bait why because this business
contributed to the industry the other
business did not contribute to the
industry
i make it a habit just truth in
advertising i make it a habit of
of contributing more to people who are
members of of the coal than those who
are not members of nucoa
so why is that well because people that
are members of nucala
are contributing to the injury they're
part of the brotherhood
okay we're not a union we're a trade
organization but our trade organization
is endeavoring to try to make things
better
for the wildlife control industry so why
would i want to
to give more to people that aren't
participating in that
because there's strength in numbers when
i would why would i want to
be doing that when there are people
within my industry
who i could be helping and within my
group that would be that i would be
helping so it doesn't make any sense to
me right so you take care of family
first before you go out and take care of
people that are non-family
so i take care of people who are
non-family but i do more for people that
are family than i would
for non-family members so we could talk
the ethics about that if you wish
so that would be kind of fun uh to talk
about for those of you think that's
anti-christian be happy to have that
conversation with you
so learn how to give back sometimes it
can be as simple as what are some other
ways to get back
photos volunteer
talk up something help spread the word
about this person
you know whether it be let's say if
you've had a good relationship with
i'll call it xyz trap company
well then talk up that trap company if
you've had a good service sometimes just
giving them a five star review that's a
way of giving back rather than just
simply
sitting there like a bumping log and
always trying to just take take take
take take
you know how many of you have reached
out to to franklin
and and told him how much you
appreciated him running the
pesky podcast series okay have you given
him a five-star rating on his podcast
right i'm just one contributor within
this right i'm just a one-man show i do
one podcast
or vodcast now a week you know that's it
so i have nowhere near the investment
that he has
i mean i don't know how he does it okay
but
so i hope you get the idea
sometimes little things mean a lot
to help encourage people to continue the
type of giving
that they are so don't just be a taker
be a giver as well
all right number five
refute the fourth the fifth mistake that
wildlife control operators do the fifth
stupid thing that they do is they refuse
to be trainable now
if you're listening this podcast clearly
that's not you
right so i'm talking to the choir here
i'm not talking to the enemies but
you know who i'm talking about and maybe
that was something
where you were in the past where you
were not able to
you know you have a fixed system
and god forbid someone else tell you it
tells you it's different
certainly there's going to be things in
wildlife control that are going to be
right
and certain things are going to be wrong
but between those two polls there's a
lot of gray area
where people have different ways i'll
give you an illustration right
do you always set the trap you know a
foothold for those of you in the fur
trapping field
do you always set the trap to catch the
coyote by the right foot or by the left
foot right
does it really matter
really does it really matter
you know does it really matter that the
trap for your squirrel
is one inch this direction versus one
inch that direction
doesn't really matter you get where i'm
going obviously most of us aren't quite
that specific right but
you know that certain people have it in
their head they get kind of
tunnel vision that there's only one way
to do something
and god forbid anyone come along and
tell them that there's a different way
to do it
don't be that person i'm not telling you
to just simply swallow everything you
hear
what i'm saying is be open to hear it
out
and then make a judgment experiment a
little bit i hope all of you
during your work take a little bit of
time
to experiment to try something new
uh don't do it in every job just just
you know if you try to think about it
maybe
half an hour a week you know and some
weeks you'll be able to do more than
others because obviously in crunch time
you're trying to make a lot of money
to get to the slope when you're in the
slow time may be a good idea to try to
say
you know maybe i'll do some bait
experiments you know things are slow
i don't i don't i have a lot of time in
my hands maybe i'm only working four
hours a day uh maybe that's the time i
can spend a little extra time at this
house and i'll bait this trap with xyz
bait
this trap over here with abc bait this
trap over here with
uh mno bait right so we're gonna find
out which
trap works the best i'm going to do that
for all the jobs for the next two weeks
see what works you know i hope that all
of you were kind of doing that because
if you're not doing something
different you're not going to learn
what's going to be more efficient
because we have to find new ways of
doing things
faster in this business because we're so
stressed when it comes to
time so i hope you're trying to do a
little learning so you're learning on
your own
but are you going to be learning from
other people now obviously as i said
before
you guys are already learning right if
you're not if you're listening this
podcast you're obviously
not close-minded you want to learn new
ideas and learn new perspectives
okay but if you have an opportunity to
talk to colleagues
who aren't going to training events
i had a guy i i was talking to when i
was trying to talk up going to the
uh to a wildlife control operated
training event
and he looked right at me and he said
well what am i going to learn there
i'm not going to learn anything new
i stood there in absolute
stunned i didn't even bother arguing
with them i was i was so shocked i
didn't even bother arguing
i was like wow because and i thought to
myself
well obviously if you're god you're not
going to
learn anything new right because you
already know everything you know
everything there is to know
this person actually thought he was the
arrogance
of this now other people are more
creative about their arrogance
they will come up with all kinds of
excuses as to why they can't make a
training event
oh it's you know it's the wrong time of
the year i used to claim when i was
involved in doing
writing some training events i always
argued
no matter what the training event is
always
at the wrong date at the wrong time
at the wrong location so i said that's
just a given
and i've argued that there are lots of
people out there that i could put the
training event on
next door to their house during their
vacation
and do it for free and they still
couldn't make it because it was too far
in the wrong time
now obviously that's very sarcastic
but you know exactly what i'm referring
to here's the reason why some people
don't go to trainings they can't afford
it and they just don't want you to know
it
but other times people don't want to go
because their ego will not allow them to
sit down and listen to what someone else
has to say
they hated school and they certainly
haven't learned to love education later
on even education is going to help them
make money or save money
it's amazing i've had been to events
where
a wildlife control operator came out of
the training event and said oh my god i
just
i because of what i learned to one class
today i made a job that was fifteen
hundred dollars i sold the job for
fifteen hundred dollars
he wouldn't have been able to sell the
job unless he took that class
one class
so don't be that person continue to
always ask yourself what can i learn
how can i improve myself how can i
expand my
reading and understanding and learning
about my field so i can continue to be
professional because if you're not
growing you're dying
it's just that simple
all right number six
the six stupid thing that wildlife
control operators do
to harm their business and that is
treating every other
wildlife control operator as a
competitor
this is really a problem sometimes
within the fur trapping industry and
that is they
tend to treat at least maybe i should
put this a little bit differently
i've had the experience that trappers
have always
have often not always often treated me
as a competitor even when i didn't want
to compete with them
some people in the wildlife control
industry do this as well
it's one thing to compete with someone
in the business area it's another thing
to hate them
you don't have to hate your competitor
in fact
it's been gratifying to see a lot of
wildlife control operators
who have learned to have a friendly
competition with their competitors in
the area
friendly meaning that they will actually
join together
and form a mutual aid agreement that
when they get a big
job they will actually work together to
do the job
they'll compete for those school jobs
and they'll you know
undercut each other and fight whatever
the case may be but when it comes to
those bigger jobs
they put their business competition
aside
and work together because they can make
money together that they couldn't make
on their own
but if you hate your competitor
how are you going to work with them some
people have such a good relationship
that when they go on vacation
they send the calls to their competitor
when their competitor goes on vacation
their competitor sends the work to them
there have been situations where
wildlife control operators have gotten
sick where they've gotten injured
perhaps with a fall or
car act or vehicle accident and the
competition would help
close out their jobs and do it at no
cost
that's amazing and that is something
that's a brotherhood
to use a masculine term or sisterhood
that we really want to have we don't
want
our competition with each other to
become so
personal and visceral and
angry it's just not worth it
because we're so labor is such a premium
in our industry
you want to learn how to treat your
competitor
not as a competitor but as a a colleague
that you're growing with and you're
yeah you are competing for particular
jobs but you're not angry with them
you're not
fighting them on a moat at an emotional
level
you know there's a phrase that's
oftentimes used it's like it's not
personal it's business
you know it's not personal don't make it
personal it's business be
business-like but don't be so
business-like that you forget the
opportunity you may have
to do that big bird job with your
colleague now if you don't respect your
colleague because you think they're
incompetent
well obviously that's going to be a
problem
but you know that sometimes your anger
with a competitor has nothing to do with
their
incompetence or their competency i
should say
you actually think they're good you just
don't like them because maybe they're
better than you are
or maybe they're a better salesperson
than you are
that's not something you know that's not
something to be angry about something
that force should force you
to improve yourself and to grow but
don't allow that competition
to withhold the opportunity for you to
make money where you can see them as a
a colleague working together for those
bigger jobs because maybe i
i suspect a lot of what a lot of control
operators are losing
money they're leaving money on the table
because they're not bidding those big
jobs because they don't have the
manpower
to do it
make friends this is why i'm so emphatic
sometimes about associations
where we need associations because you
need to build those networks
those developing colleagues where you
can work together for those larger jobs
and in situations where sometimes
something bad happens
and you need help to take care of
clients so that you don't even keep your
business afloat there even been
situations where people have helped
keep other businesses afloat while
a wildlife control operator was
recovering from a serious illness
or injury that's remarkable
right we want to encourage that to the
extent
that's possible now if you have someone
that you don't trust
that you believe is illegal
where they're not following proper
ethics that's going to be a tough one
you probably don't want to build a
build a business relationship with that
person because
the fallout from their mistakes will
tarnish you as well
but you know that your com with your
competitors are
quality organizations you know who your
competitors are
that you that you should respect even if
you don't respect them
the ones worthy of respect and you just
may have some sort of personal issue
with it you know the old pissing contest
right you don't want to make this
personal
but for those businesses that you know
the guy isn't
ethical maybe doesn't have liability
insurance maybe he's not paying his
taxes maybe he's not licensed maybe he's
working under the
under the radar maybe it's just someone
you don't think is really qualified
he's working out of his honda
okay um you know a little two-door car
well is that really going to be a
wildlife control operator you want to be
associated with
you get what i'm saying here
avoid those types of mistakes
let's do the run down again i have six
six of them stupid things that wildlife
control operators do
the first one is not carrying a card
carry your business cards
number two is accept advertising
accept free advertising don't don't
fight it
number three is treat
government officials with contempt
that's
the third mistake don't do that make
sure that you treat your government
officials properly and try to build
relationships with them because
it can help you in the long run in ways
that you may not be able to see in the
short term
number four take without giving don't do
that
be a giver even little things can matter
a lot
in the long run number five
refuse to be trainable of course i'm
that can't be any of you because if
you're listening to podcasts that's
obviously not you but you know who i'm
referring to
make sure you're always continuing to
learn
because there's always something new we
can get
and then finally number six
treating your competitors
as enemies don't do that always try to
think about
competitors as can i build a
relationship with this competitor so
it's a friendly competition
rather than a competition of of
animosity and hatred
and you'll find the long run this could
certainly be up there's plenty more ways
stupid things that wildlife control
operators do to hurt their business but
i hope that gives you something to think
about give you something to chew on
are you making any of those particular
mistakes i hope not and if you are
now is the time that you turn it around
and you'll bear the benefits down the
road
i want to close this out again with
another announcement of our sponsor
servantlabs.comservantlabs.com give a
ring out to aaron bray
if you have a situation with your
website you want to have some
consultation maybe some design issues
especially if you're working with
wordpress sites like i have
uh with my site reach out to aaron bray
at servant labs dot com
servant labs dot com and then lastly i
want to thank you again for listening to
our vodcast here have an idea for a
topic you want to cover
definitely reach out to me at wildlife
control consultant
dot gmail.com wildlife control
consultant
gmail.com and then
visit my website
wildlifecontrolconsultant.com we'd love
to have you
have your visit i have a blog that i put
out on pretty much a weekly basis
different things are coming out and
subscribe it's all doesn't cost you
doesn't cost you a thing and then if you
have a product that you would like to
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on their vodcast definitely reach out to
me at wildlife control consultant
gmail.com and we'd love to have sponsors
to help us
continue this type of work that we're
doing love your feedback
hey be safe out there and make sure
you watch out for yourself and take time
spend it with your family and always
think about what goal
are you trying to achieve are you living
to work
or are you working to live
you
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