"Before starting to invest any money in starting a business, you have to do all the financial calculations for best and worst-case scenarios and find or create a secure funding source."
Meet Nicholas Martin – an entomologist and professional exterminator with more than 25 years of experience as well as a pest control consultant and the founder of Pest Control Hacks, a leading DIY pest control resource featured in USA Today, BestLife, Reviewed, Family Handyman, Yahoo News, and more nationwide platforms.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Nicholas Martin: I worked as a solo entrepreneur (pest control consultant and exterminator) for 25 years. I always knew that I want to retire early, so I saved up enough to retire in 48 y.o. I got bored very quickly and started I new business. I dared to launch a web platform that has a high-end exterminator search engine and a blog. It was an entirely new field for me, but I managed to make it a profitable semi-passive income source.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your view point, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Nicholas Martin: In my opinion, you can have an inborn predisposition to entrepreneurship, but learning “how to do the thing” is a more common and realistic way to achieve something. Being an entrepreneur requires particular skills, such as the ability to delegate and control processes, create long-term plans, understand the laws of the market, etc. It’s about educating yourself on a daily basis.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Nicholas Martin: I have zero IT skills, but I made a profitable website!
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Nicholas Martin: My website aggregates profiles of exterminator agencies from all over the US to provide users with quick recommendations of professionals around them. Besides, there is a DIY pest control blog that generates income through affiliate links.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Nicholas Martin: Before starting to invest any money in starting a business, you have to do all the financial calculations for best and worst-case scenarios and find or create a secure funding source. The truth is that the competition becomes much lower if you enter it well-prepared. Most of your competitors will be knocked out due to the lack of planning.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Nicholas Martin: Sure! My huge mistake was to try learning web design and even coding in my late 40s. Not that it’s impossible, but it appeared to be too complicated and expensive. Delegating everything but blogging to several freelancers solved all my problems but didn’t return me almost 6 months of wasted time.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain
Nicholas Martin: Delegate as much as possible! It will help you to save time and focus on the full picture instead of dispersing yourself on tasks others can do better and cheaper.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Nicholas Martin: “You’re too old for that, man!” As my own 4-year results show, it’s never too late to start something new. You can become a successful entrepreneur as long as you can keep thinking clearly.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Nicholas Martin: In most cases, modern businesses require you to start online today. It’s safer and cheaper unless you have to provide any specific services that require any sort of public facilities, such as offices. The pandemic was a huge positive push for many industries to develop remote work policies and realize the huge long-term financial benefits.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Nicholas Martin: Many people think that the competition is too severe and it’s impossible to start something new and succeed. The truth is totally different. You can always come up with something new, and, in most cases, it will be something old but implemented better! There’s no reason not to launch a pizza delivery if you know that your pizza and marketing are much better than your competitors’.
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Nicholas Martin: Businessmen should be able to avoid useless information, such as stereotypes, misbeliefs, unfounded fears, and other things that can build a wall between them and potentially great business ideas and concepts.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Nicholas Martin: The problem with most books and websites is that they usually exaggerate the ideas they cover. I recommend the real-life practice and live seminars with active entrepreneurs instead.
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Nicholas Martin: I would probably take part in entomological research and/or give lectures in universities, but I don’t like the financial and schedule specifics of both ideas.
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Nicholas Martin: The US is overflowing with historical people who are not politicians and I’m proud to share the country with them. I just can’t think of a single person!
Larry Yatch, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nicholas Martin for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nicholas Martin or his company, you can do it through his – Facebook
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