Bill Horgan | Debug Pest Control president
Like many new business owners, when I took over the company, I was focused on growth and the bottom line. I wanted our family’s pest control business to be more than a mom-and-pop operation.
A few years in, though, I started to realize that I didn’t want to just grow the bottom line. I didn’t want to lose the connection that my father had with his customers when Debug was just a “two-guys-and-a-truck” operation.
Could I grow while keeping the personal interactions with customers real and genuine?
Could I have a large staff but keep that family feel?
Could I use our growth to become more actively involved in our community?
We sat down with our staff and created our core values – bring your good vibes, do the right thing, we care, make tomorrow better than today, and put people first – and applied them to every aspect of our business. We reward our staff for demonstrating them.
This year, we took our commitment one (big) step forward: We committed to a full year of demonstrating Debug Cares.
Our team adopted a traffic island and planted a pollinator garden. We held food drives, walked and ran in fundraisers, and committed to share 1 percent of our assets and time in philanthropic community projects. We’ve watched our already close team laugh and sweat together and support each other.
There’s more to life than the bottom line. There is growth that is spiritual, emotional and social that has worth beyond measure.