Interview with Jerry Schappert, CEO of the Bug Doctor.

Read our interview with Jerry Schappert, CEO of the Bug Doctor. Learn how he consistently ranks on the first page of Google without spending a dime and how he has leveraged his blog into a variety of other income streams while providing great pest control service to his Ocala FL customers.

I started The Bug Doctor inc. in Ocala, Florida in 1993. Our website, www.mybugdoctor.com is consistently on the first page of Google without spending a dime. One reason is that we have the most reviews. More importantly, we have grown into a trusted and established force here in Ocala. I just think word of mouth gets people to searching and clicking and eventually the search engines caught up.

If I had to say the one most unique thing about our company is that other pest firms in town actually refer business to us.

In 2007 I created the blog, www.pestcemetery.com. Initially it was to create a steady source of passive income via banner ads. After a few years, I realized that most of my writing wasn't for the clicks, it to tell my story in the hopes of helping others solve problems or improve personally & professionally. Readership grew and apparently my blog was more like real life and offered valuable answers and hope. I now get 50,000 hits per month on average (not all pest people-many homeowners too) and I believe people like my approach.

Somewhere in this time I started the Pest Cemetery Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/239861312775/?fref=ts

By now, I had a book to sell and I thought this would be my ticket. Again, just like my blog, readership grew. I decided to close the group and make it specific to pest industry folks only and that's when it really took off. It has now grown to over 3700 members who enjoy a non stop 24 hour, 7 days a week learning fest. People from all around the world chime in and from all different levels of expertise and experience. It's grown so much that we have t-shirts, hats and other products and have embarked on the 1st annual Pest Cemetery Carribean cruise in March 2017.

The craziest thing I’ve seen in Pest Control?

There's been so much, I even wrote a book about it and have another coming out soon. Tales of the Route & Tales of the Route TOO (due out this year).

Perhaps showing up to a home in Baltimore city on a sweltering summers day only to have a very large blind woman answer the door. It was a roach call. She was such a sweet lady and although she couldn't see the roaches, she knew they were there. Man oh man were they. What totally tore my heart out was her baby came from around the corner in one of those little walkers, the kind with a tray for food or toys. That cute baby was eating Cheerios and scooting along and while the roaches were crawling ALL OVER the walker, on the baby and her food. It set me into a complete kill mode & I vowed to get rid of every last one of those suckers right then and there. It's a picture I can never forget nor get out of my head.

The one piece of advice?

Hmmmm. I would simply recite my all time favorite quote by Evangeline Wilkes.

On the sands of hesitation,

Lay the bones of countless millions,

Who at the dawn of victory

Sat down to wait,

And waiting—died!

Get up & make it HAPPEN!