Ep #14-Sink or Swim: A Story of Entrepreneurship Against All Odds with Amos Greenwood

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Meet Amos Greenwood, the dynamic force behind My Party Rental Guys and Pest Protect 360, whose journey from poverty to entrepreneurship embodies the spirit of determination and grit that defines the Coachella Valley business community.

Abandoned by his mother at 17 with limited reading abilities and no high school diploma, Amos refused to let circumstances define his future. Through sheer determination, he secured housing, worked multiple jobs, and eventually taught himself to read through YouTube videos—a platform that would later become his business education center. His early struggles, which he once viewed as embarrassing, have transformed into his greatest strengths and most powerful teaching tools.

After climbing the corporate ladder in the pest control industry, Amos experienced a pivotal moment when he substantially increased company profits but received minimal recognition. This disconnect sparked his entrepreneurial awakening: "I can't just sit here and enrich this corporation." When poor service from local rental companies left him scrambling for a tent for his daughter's baby shower, he identified a market gap that became the foundation for My Party Rental Guys.

What began in his garage has expanded into a comprehensive event service business growing at 150% annually for three consecutive years. Rather than outsourcing, Amos has methodically brought everything in-house—from basic rentals to bartending services, floral arrangements, and even wine tours. His commitment to being "for locals, by locals" has resonated deeply in a market dominated by impersonal corporate alternatives.

Building on his industry experience, Amos recently launched Pest Protect 360, applying his technical certifications and management expertise to a second successful venture. Despite running multiple businesses, he credits his ADHD as both his "kryptonite" and "superpower," allowing him to balance demanding schedules while prioritizing family.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur facing obstacles or an established business looking for inspiration, Amos's story demonstrates that with persistence, continuous learning, and the courage to bet on yourself, extraordinary success is possible regardless of where you begin. Connect with Amos on social media or visit MyPartyRentalGuys.com and PestProtect360.com to learn more about his growing business empire.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up everyone?
I am Robert Mraz and I'm FinaMraz and this is CV Hustle, the
podcast dedicated to inspiringentrepreneurship here in our
local Coachella Valley, andtoday we got a real special
guest.
We've got an up-and-comerentrepreneur that's not only run
in one company, he's also runin two.
He's also an award-winningentrepreneur.

(00:22):
That's how we met thisentrepreneur at an award
ceremony for entrepreneurs.
So this guy's an up-and-comer.
He's a young buck in the gamebut he's coming up um.
Today we've got amos greenwoodfrom my party rental rental guys
and pest protection 360 twobusinesses man thanks for coming
in, man.

(00:43):
We appreciate you coming in andspeaking to us today, definitely
, definitely.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thanks for the invite .
It's awesome, yeah, beautifullocation, really excited yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Absolutely All right, so let's delve in.
I want to know about.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Amos the juicy stuff.
Yeah, the juicy stuff.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, did you grow up around here?
Did you go to high schoolaround here?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So yes and no.
I always tell everybody.
They ask I'm from.
I say I'm from everywhere, likeI literally from everywhere.
They say military brad, I sayno, I just grew up poor, so it
was like the same thing, youknow.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So people, thought we were the military.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I said, oh, we just got kicked out of every place,
uh so, but yeah, I went to um II'm from alabama, florida,
virginia, mississippi, a littlebit of everywhere, so we moved
around.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
How'd you make it out to Cali then?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, moved around a lot.
So I had a.
My mom was a single mommajority of my life and my
stepdad actually worked security, for I think it was like a
General Motors thing, and he gota promotion and he had an
opportunity to potentially get asupervisor role.
And so they said it's going tobe an Indio.
And we're like what's Indio?
We don't know what that is, youknow, and so we come out to

(01:50):
Indio Nonetheless.
They were out here for aboutsix months and left, and then I
stayed and so been here.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
So did you go to high school here or not?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Everywhere again.
So I went to Indio for a littlebit, not even a year, like
under a year to Indio, but Iwent to high school in Florida,
in Alabama, so a little bit ofeverywhere I went to by my
sophomore year.
I went to six different highschools.
Oh gosh yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
So when they left, where did you stay?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, so weird story.
My mom passed away a few yearsago so she can't watch this and,
like I can't believe, you toldme she can't verify.
Yeah, I can't believe you.
She passed away a while backand but yeah, so I grew up with
a single mom and you know, andit was, you know, my mom was
just, you know, without gettingtoo, but she, you know she had,

(02:43):
she had mental disability, shealso was blind, so she had some
handicaps, you can say.
And, long story short, we wereout here with my stepdad.
They split, she was out here onher own and, you know, end up
getting with someone else and hewas a truck driver and she
calls me.
I was 17 and still in highschool.
And she calls me and says, hey,I'm not coming back, you need

(03:07):
to try to figure out a place tostay.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
And I said I'm 17.
I'm 17.
I don't even think I can find aplace to stay.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
You didn't graduate high school.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
It was.
What do you call it?
It's throw the baby in theswimming pool.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, yeah, she let me swim.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Sink or swim man.
She let me swim and uh, so yeah, don't you think like that was
part of like the grit?
Oh shit, I gotta do somethingnow and you gotta kind of like
hustle right and correct yeah soa little bit more about my
story.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
So when that happened , like I said, I was 17, I was
still in high school.
You know, I I throw it all outthere and I'll kind of backtrack
a little bit.
But uh, this is the first timeme kind of telling my story and
actually being honest about, uh,the things that happened to me
growing up.
You know, um, my wife's family,for instance, they still just
know little bits and pieces ofmy story because I I hid it for
so long Cause I thought it wassomething to be you know,

(03:57):
embarrassed about you know, andit was just, you know it was.
I thought it was something to beembarrassed about when I was at
Indio.
At that point I had been heldback already twice, you know,
because I just I never stayedconsistent in a school, I was
homeschooled in between there.
Yeah, that's hard, you know.
So it was just, it was just areally kind of kind of weird,
weird upbringing for me, I guessyou could say, especially when
it comes to education.

(04:18):
So I was already held backtwice at that point and I was 17
, 17, still in school.
You know, I was pretty much asophomore going on my junior
year and and, uh, you know, shegives me that phone call and I'm
like you know what I said I'mdropping out, I'm not gonna
finish.
You know, that's it.
I can't, I can't go to schooland work, yeah, yeah and so, to
answer your question, Idefinitely think it's part of

(04:38):
the grit.
I had to um, you know, get ajob and I was blessed to be able
to get a job at a it was aresort out here in Indio, so I
was blessed to find a job therelied to them and told them I
definitely graduated high school.
Yeah, I had 4.0.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I hope they don't check.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I definitely graduated.
So I lied to them and, you know, just started the grind from
there.
You know I was blessed to finda landlord that gave me an
opportunity.
She saw something in me andpromised her hey, I'll be able
to pay, you know, my bills.
And so I was 17, moved to alittle studio in Cathedral City
and that was all she wrote.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
You started your journey.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, I just started my journey and started working.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
So I was thrown in the water.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
That's quite a story, man, it's quite a story.
Quite a testimony to your work,ethic and grit and just
determination, right.
It all kind of boils down tothat right.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, now I see it as that.
You know when you're in it.
You're literally in the waterjust trying to swim.
You know when you think it'snormal.
You know, at a point I hadthree different jobs, you know,
and so I'm working.
You know, and so I'm working.
You know graveyards, I'm doingstuff during the day, I'm also
doing a little part-time kind ofsecurity thing, and you know,
just, multiple jobs is trying tomake ends meet.
Because, you know, growing upwith a parent with, you know,

(05:53):
disabilities as well as herbeing blind um, it was just
something.
You know.
I grew up knowing how manybills we had to pay and what we
had to pay, how much we owed.
You know when we're going toget kicked out of here, how
we're going to do this.
You know selling Pokemon cardsand stuff, just to try to get
some food.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
You know what?
I have somebody in my officeright now that they just started
a Pokemon business.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh really, yeah, it's a business, I made some money.
He's like oh my God, we paidsome bills spent on Pokemon
cards though that's true.
Our kids, when our kids wereyeah and then I've always been,
I guess you'd say a hustler ofsorts.
I used to, you know, mess withthe kids, like when I was a kid,
like hey, let's battle.
You know what I mean?
Oh man, that's my card.

(06:36):
Now you know, Battle, they'recards.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
They're cards Old battle cards yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
I thought you started boxing it's like poker with
anime.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
That's what poker is, yeah there are different levels
and all this.
I used to battle the kids andI'd win.
And you know, sweet talk.
I'm like, oh man, just shoot methese two cards.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
And then I'd go slang them and sell them somewhere
and all that like how did howdid this start becoming a thing
like?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
yeah.
So that's an interesting kindof uh pivot for me.
So you know, growing up I you,that happened.
I had to find my own place tostay.
I had to figure things out.
During that same time I met mywife.
I met Brianna.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
You made her a job that you guys were at.
I met her at that resort.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
She was a lifeguard.
She was a lifeguard, she was alifeguard.
I did a bunch of different jobsthere.
I was an attendant, working thefront desk and doing a few
different things.
So I met her there and Ioriginally thought I was going
to end up joining the militaryor doing something like that,
because growing up we alwaysheard and I heard from some

(07:59):
family of mine you'd hear thewhispers.
It's like they knew who I wasand who my mom was and you know,
and they were just you know.
They would always say you knowhe's either going to be dead in
prison or a drug addict or youknow he's going to have to join
the military or something.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Right, Cause the military guy normally wants to
well shape you up.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, Apparently it'll be in the shape you know,
because I used to have to try tohustle and so even throughout
my schooling and stuff like thatI would, you know I would be
gone from school more times thanI was actually at school.
So you know I was a littleknucklehead of sorts.
But you know I had to grow upreally fast because of what my
mom was going through.

(08:39):
You know I didn't have theopportunity to.
I had to grow up.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Sink or swim man.
Yeah, sink or swim.
Really childhood, like you know, like a typical childhood, yeah
.
So where does the?
Where does the entrepreneurialspirit of like hey, I think I
can.
So did you work for like what?
What business came first?
I know you have a couple ofbusinesses going on which is
amazing, like that's.
You know it's hard enough torun one profitable business as
opposed to two, you know, at thesame time.

(09:06):
So so where does that?
To kind of walk us through thatjourney of like, okay, you know
, did you start?
Which business did you startfirst?
And how did you kind of get theidea Like, maybe I can, you
know, open up a business doingthis For?

Speaker 2 (09:17):
sure?
Yeah, definitely.
So I'll, I'll when I.
So when I met my wife Brianna,she, I met my wife Brianna.
She grew up completelydifferent than I did, you know,
so it was totally different.
When I tell you, you know, Isaid her family doesn't know
much of my story.
It was for a reason.
You know, I step into anenvironment where you know her
dad was he's.
He's a wealthy man.
She grew up in a wealthyhousehold, you know, and so it's

(09:42):
just different.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
You know, she graduated with like a 5.0 GPA.
Wow, never had a B in school,so she's the brains of the
operation.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
She's the brains right.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
I'm the beauty, the beauty and the brains, the
beauty and the brains.
You're just the bulk.
I know you're cute.
You're just the bulk man,You're good at moving stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yeah, exactly, I'm the muscle, and so walking into
that household was, you know?
I remember having to think like, wow, I got to like step my
game up.
You know if I'm going to bearound.
You know, um, you know thesesuccessful people, this kind of
just different environment andum.
So nonetheless, you know, I gottogether with her.
Her dad is in the pest controlindustry, has been in the pest

(10:21):
control industry for a long timeas well, as he's an
entrepreneur of sorts too.
He has a ton of rentalproperties and that's kind of
his thing, so he's a real estateguru of sorts.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
You know what's so funny?
Like the pest control business,they bring in money.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Oh yeah, I can't believe it.
Hey, they're always going toneed, you're always going to
need pest control, our guy.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
We've been with him 20 years and his wife has never
worked.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Like and they're always I mean, it's awesome, I
love it, but it's just like man.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, so that's what surprised me.
So when I first met her andwalked in and met her dad and
I'm thinking like dear Lord,I've never been in a house this
big, you know pool, and it wasjust so different for me.
And I asked him I said, what doyou do?
He says, oh, I work in pestcontrol, I work for Ecolab.
And I said, oh man, what do youreally do?
You know you don't do pestcontrol.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know, I'm looking around like I heard you got a
bunch of houses.
Yeah, that's a front.
That's a front for something.
Man, what do you?

Speaker 2 (11:11):
do.
Let me in on it.
What are we doing, you know,and nonetheless in the pest
control industry.
So I was with her for about ayear, give or take, and, no, a
little less less than that, forsure and he got me into the pest
control industry.
So I started working for Ecolabfor a little bit, and so like
what is it?

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Is it just pests?
Like you're just spraying stuff?
I mean, like our guy kind ofdoes it all yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
So so, yeah, so so we work on.
At that point it was just, Iwas a general pest control guy.
I was just going aroundspraying commercial locations,
right, um treating for whateverit was that they had.
You know, dealing with rodentsituations, um yeah, it was yeah
, it was kind of a.
It was kind of a different joband I'm a real scaredy cat.
My mom used to say that scaredycat, so I use that word a lot.

(11:57):
I was a big scaredy cat and umgot into the pest control
industry and just for me it wasjust such an opportunity because
seeing what he did with thiskind of career path, my eyes
just opened up where I'm likewow, I can do something else.
There's not just military oryou know, doing something
illegal.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
So then, so like, like what I'm hearing is he?
He was a big mentor in yourlife.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Huge, huge, huge mentor in my life and, um, you
know, so, getting in the pestcontrol industry.
I did that, for I was atechnician for a short period of
time before I start moving myway up through management.
And you know, before I did that, one of the things I did and
this was kind of a secret, likelow key thing was was it wasn't

(12:39):
that bad, but to me it was a bigdeal, was you know?
I was with my wife and, like Isaid, I had to step it up.
So I remember telling her Imight join the military, I'm
going to go take this militarytest, or whatever, and it wasn't
.
I was going to take the GEDexam.
I was terrified, though, right,I was terrified.
I was like I can't tell her I'mgoing to go do this.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
I told her I graduated with like a 4 Wow she
don't know.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Wow, hopefully she doesn't ask me any math
questions or anything.
Hopefully I can get away withit, but I was always, so Just
tell her you graduated fromIndio man.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
There's no expectation.
I know I'm a Raja.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
I can tell you that there's no expectation when you
come from Indio.
I'm sure she was in love withyour personality, not the brain.
Yeah, that's what happened tous.
He's a raja, remember he's araja, um.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
So I lied to her and said I was gonna go do some exam
.
It was might do the militarything.
I don't know yet.
You know it's.
You know I was.
I was really, I was reallyhyping it up and that was the
first time I actually sat downand you know, I was so
disciplined with trying to.
I had to reteach myselfeverything.
I didn't know how to read.
I didn't know how to read.
I didn't know how to writeproperly.
I didn't know how to do mysimple multiplication tables in

(13:49):
middle school, you know, and soI had to sit there.
I'm on YouTube and I'm you knowkind of hiding, because I don't
want her to know, I'm, you know,going over fractions and stuff,
and she's like you know, she'sa genius, literally a genius,
and I'm, you know, I'm reallylooking at these simple things,
and it was part of theembarrassment I told you guys

(14:09):
when I, when I first came in,was, you know, my upbringing I
used to always think it was anembarrassment, it was something
I had to hide and, you know,throughout my my short term so
far in entrepreneurship and mylife, now I realize it's, it's
part of my strength, it's partof my story, you know, and so I
don't want to hide it becausethere's other people who can
benefit from it.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
I mean to teach yourself that.
I mean, like my dad, my daddidn't read, like both of my
parents didn't even graduatehigh school, right, and so like
my dad would have to call me andsay I got something in the mail
.
I don't know what it is and orwhat does this bill mean or why

(14:47):
like?
So?
Totally have respect.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, for you, for that and like teaching yourself
that that's it was hard byyourself, like that's even it
was hard.
And when I say I couldn't read,I don't even mean, you know, I
had to sound it out, I had to.
What I mean is, like I, I could, I could read really slowly.
I couldn't comprehend any of it.
Like any of it, I'd have toreread it 20 times, you know.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
And later in life finding out I had adhd, I had
all these you know, I'm likeit's a superpower sometimes I
like, yeah, sometimes, sometimesit's a superpower, it's your
kryptonite

Speaker 2 (15:17):
yeah, it's also it's also a downside we'll keep it.
We'll keep it light today I sayit's my kryptonite and my
downside so you know, I couldn'tcomprehend these things and I
had to just reread it, reread it.
I watched a story on TV and Iremember at the time it was, I
think it was about Dr Ben Carsonand it was.
I think it was a movie where,like Cuba, gooding Jr was

(15:37):
playing him and he was in thelibrary just rereading things,
and it really inspired me.
You know to where I was like Igot to just keep rereading this
until I understand it.
And so I remember that was myone thing that I decided to do,
because growing up I didn'tremember one test that I ever
passed Not one, you know, youknow.
So, not one test that I everpassed.
And so I'm going into this,just like I don't know if I can

(15:58):
do this, and I go andnonetheless, I pass with flying
colors and you know I was ableto teach myself some of these
things.
Wow, dude, she was like theperfect tutor, though, I know
right, I couldn't ask her what'stwo plus two?
What is it?
Carry the what?
Yeah, it was such anembarrassing thing for me

(16:19):
because, you know, when I sayshe's a genius, she's a genius.
You know, straight A's.
I'm looking at her transcript.
She didn't have one b, you know, it was just.
It was crazy, you know.
And um, yeah, so it was.
That was a big part of myupbringing and so, after I got
that, you know I started tellher about the ged.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Afterwards, years later, she's all years later,
after you're already married,like, oh, you can't, you can't
leave now years later, yearslater.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
I, years later, years later, I said, I got something
to tell you.

Speaker 3 (16:45):
Oh, what is it Like an exhilarating moment and then
not be able to share it.
It had to have been like comeon.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah, I was just screaming and excited in my then
car, you know, and so I wasjust excited and I was screaming
and you know it was an excitingpoint for me, but it was more

(17:11):
or less because I didn't have tofake it.
I could kind of say thesethings, say it a little
differently, but still mean whatI'm saying and actually have
done it, you know, andaccomplish something.
So when I did that, you know, Istart, you know, really just
diving deep into the pestcontrol industry.
During that I used to watchvideos all day and all night
about Toastmasters and aboutspeaking you know all these
different things I had.
I had a slight accent, likeAlabama accent, a slight accent.
I had all these different youknow.

(17:32):
So I I got rid of it.
I just, I just was religiousabout learning how to do public
speaking and how to be able to,you know, articulate what,
articulate what I'm trying toget through, because I figured,
especially in that industry, Icould be darn good at sales,
right, so I always knew that was, that was my gift of sorts.

Speaker 3 (17:50):
So then, how did it go from?
Like he was working at whatever.
I forgot the name of the namealready.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Equalab.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Equalab, and then to to you starting your business,
and did he follow along with youthis time?

Speaker 2 (18:02):
So no, yes and no.
So I start working for EcoLab.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
I start quickly making my way through the ranks,
not just there.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
I start working for a different company.
Shortly after that I followedmy wife to school at San Luis.
She was in San Luis Obispo.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
She went to Cal Poly out there.
That's an awesome place to be.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
I followed her to that out there working my three
jobs doing my thing, and thengot in with Ecolab and was still
working multiple jobs at thatpoint too, just because it was
like you know, how are we goingto survive out here?
And we had to.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
You know, it's expensive out there.
Oh yeah, we had to reallyfigure it out.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
And so, yeah, we had to really figure it out.
And so I started making my waythrough the ranks there she, so
I started making my way throughthe ranks there.
She was almost finishing schoolat that point.
I decided to come back sooner,start working for a different
company, and then I startedworking for Terminex.
I was a manager with them?

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Are they still around ?
Oh yeah, are they?
Yeah, I haven't.
You know what.
I probably see them passing by.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
They're a big national brand right.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah, they're huge.
They just merged and got boughtby Rent-A-Kill, so now they're
the largest pest control companyin the world by almost double.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
So then you started working for them and then you
just said I'm out of here.
You started servicing clientsand getting to know those
clients.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
So all I did was manage with them.
So I've been in management eversince I was with them.
So I just managed with them.
I was one of the youngestgeneral managers.
I was one of the youngest youknow, guys that work on the
divisional side.
I did some service.
It was a different service jobon the divisional side where I
manage multiple locations anddid some things like that.
Um, and so I start reallymaking my name there and making

(19:42):
a name for myself in theindustry and for a long time I
thought I was going to be acorporate guy.
I was always going to staythere because I was so blessed
to be able to make the kind ofmoney I was making.
I grew up and used to justthink like man, if I could make
this, I'd be a billionaire.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
You don't know that I'd be a billionaire.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
You start doing it and you're like wow.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Start doing the math, right right in your head and
you're like, 10 years, I'll bedoing this right, exactly.
So what?
When was the reflection point,though?
Because all of us entrepreneursthat have like, took in that
leap of faith and bet onourselves.
There had to been some pointwhere you were like right on
that fence, like am I just goingto stay in this cushy job?
Because that's kind of what weexperienced.
We're like, okay, you knowwe're going to stay here and be

(20:19):
comfortable.
Are we going to take that leapand be uncomfortable and then
really, like, try and bet onourselves and and and go out on
our own and enrich ourselves?
So, like, where was that?
Where was that inflection pointfor you?
It sounds like you were workingyour way up doing the corporate
thing.
Yeah, is there, like, is therea moment that you can kind of
remember?

Speaker 2 (20:35):
and point there is.
It's funny you say that becauseI didn't realize I had that
until you just said what yousaid right now.
Um, my reflection point was sowhen I told you I wasn't a
numbers guy and then I turnedinto a numbers guy where I was
running you know, I'm running amultimillion dollar branch, at
one point I was managing youknow multiple multimillion
branches.
You know so many differentthings, and so I'd be looking at

(20:59):
these spreadsheets and lookingat these P&Ls and you know, and
I'm looking at the kind of moneythat I'm handling on a regular
basis where it is all I'm theleader, right, and I mean
everybody, I'm the leader.
You know I had multiple managersreporting to me.
You know we had, you know, 50plus employees that reported
directly to the managers whoreported to me.

(21:19):
And being so young in that kindof position, you know it was,
it was, it was such a win for mewhere I couldn't imagine not
doing it at a point.
And then when I'm sitting downthere and I'm looking at these,
these PNLs, and I remember I wasin my office one day and I'm
looking at this and I'm lookingat, you know I crush year over
year by.
You know I beat our profit byover a million dollars.

(21:40):
Whoa.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I'm million dollars right, and I'm sitting
there like, wow, we did it, youknow, and they're like great job
, here's a little bonus.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
You know what I mean here's your, here's your 200
gift card from starbucks.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
What, yeah, I don't mean you know it's like this is.
It was just such a a wake upclarifying moment for me.
Yeah, it, like this is the kindof money we're making, and
especially when you're directlythe source to bring those.
You know, certain decisions Ihad to make, not only with
hiring certain managers andputting certain people in places

(22:15):
and starting new services andprograms and different things
that we do internally.
Right, you know, produce this,you know, seven figure increase
over what we projected, and soit was just such a like ugh,
like I almost had that gut.
You know, you just have thatfeeling like you got punched in
the gut where you're just likewow, you know, and it's, it
almost seems unreal when you'relooking at these numbers on

(22:37):
paper and you're looking atmonths with hundreds of
thousands of dollars and you'rejust comparing it and then you
put it on, you know you, youkind of absorb all of it and you
realize how much money you'redealing with.
So, to to be quite honest withyou at that point, that's when I
realized I can't just sit hereand make Enrich this corporation

(22:57):
.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
What was the first step to starting that business
and your own business?

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, so good question.
So amongst all the agreementsand NDAs and stuff I signed with
the brand, that's true.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Big corporation going to make you non-compete all
that, which are not legal, bythe way, but in California, but
they still make you sign them.
They can still sue you, right,yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
So, amongst that, I realized I said, well, I'm not
ready to do this yet.
You know, my wife finishedschool, she became an engineer.
You know, she started doing herthing.
I was, you know, you know, inmy area I was a top manager.
I was, you know, you know, inmy area I was a top manager.
I was crushing it, year overyear.
You know, we were just, we werekilling it.

(23:41):
You know, we were in the top 10branches year over year.
Everything I touched in a sense, just I don't want to say
turned to gold, but turned togold, you know.
And so I realized I had acertain skillset, and why not
utilize that skillset?
So, to answer your question,what I did was I said well, I
can't start a pest controlcompany because I work for a
pest control company, they'll goafter me, I can't start this.

(24:09):
And so it was around the time wewere, it was our baby shower,
my wife, it was my daughter'sbaby shower, layla her baby
shower at the time, and Iremember calling around trying
to get quotes for a tent, and itwas last minute, it was going
to rain, and so I'm panicking,like, oh, I need to find
somebody.
And the companies that we havelocally, just, you know pardon
my French, but treated me likecrap.
Right, I'm on the phone and Isaid, hey, I need a tent

(24:30):
tomorrow, like, and they all butgiggled at me, you know like
what Tomorrow?
And they all but giggled at me,you know like what tomorrow?
I'm like, yeah, I need a tenttomorrow Is that unreasonable?
Yeah, they all but giggled at me.
One company did giggle at me itwas only like two of the big
ones out here and I said, yeah,I need a tent.
And they said, okay, we'll seewhat we can do.
And they sent me over somequotes and it was like six,

(24:50):
seven grand or something likethat.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
And I said you know what that's called.
It's bad, the pain in the assfee.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, it's bad.
They don't even want you toaccept it at that price.
It's like they're jacking up sohard.
It's one of those you know.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
You give a customer a price.
You're like, ah, I don't wantto deal with them.
But if you do, you know themtelling me it was like all but
impossible so did you get thetent?
no, no, no, no, no.
I went to like tractor supplyor something, and I was like we
building this today.
You know what I mean.
We're building this, you know,and um, so, nonetheless, it was

(25:25):
sometime later.
I was, uh, I love having cigars, I love smoking cigars, smoking
cigars with some buddies and,like I say, she works for the
city and um, so I'm having aconversation and I and I heard
how much the city spends peryear on just rental equipment
and it clicked to me in my headand I'm like, well, yeah, two
and two.
Right Now I know it's three,it's four.

(25:50):
So, yeah, I put two and twotogether and nonetheless, it
just clicked to me.
You know, I always try to lookfor gaps.
I did that in the pest controlindustry, where we did it within
the industry, right.
So I always try to look forgaps in our community and
nonetheless, that was a gapwhere I realized there's only,
you know, there's two bigcorporate hedge fund owned
companies out here that are justthere.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
They're hedge fund owned.
Yeah, they're eating up all thebusiness.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
They run the market to where they can.
You're not going to priceyourself out of the market,
because it's just them two right, it's like the DMV.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Oh, my God, Bobby always like don't even bring
that up.
The government ain't got nocompetition, so there's no
customer service there for it.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, you're speaking my language.
I've been there the last week.
It's every day week, every day.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
So.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
So then you felt like , because your wife also worked
in that industry like if youstarted up your own deal.
Well, you kind of had like.
You had like an idea right, yesand no.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Um, so still, to this day, I'm barely getting those
contracts now actually, andwe're what, three years in now?
Um, so I'm still barelyteeter-tottering my way in there
.
Um, because one thing I didn'twant as as crazy as it sounds,
because I'm a sales, but Ididn't want a handout.
Right, I wanted to prove that Ican do this and to the caliber
of events that they do.
It was like you know, they'revery large scale events.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
You don't want to bite off more than you can chew
either.
Like that's how I mean.
I think we went about ourbusinesses too.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Slow growth is sometimes better than too much
too fast.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
So you said all right , I'm gonna start our business
and I'm gonna name it my party.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
Guys, right, yeah, my party rental guys, huh yeah,
yeah, um see the dyslexia no,everybody calls us the party
guys the party guys, we're theparty, guys, um and so it's
catchy, it's catchy, yeah, yeah,it's catchy, it's catchy, yeah,
yeah, it's catchy, uh, and so,nonetheless, after that
conversation, 90 days later Ihad my own brand.
Um, I decided I'm just goingfull throttle and right into it.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
So did you not have any experience in that industry,
you just saw the need.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Wow, that's some cojones man.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
That's.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's like I just saw the need and once again, I
told you how to do the wholeYouTube thing.
Youtube was my education right,so I just Googled it.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Wow, you learned this on YouTube how to run a party
rental company.
See, there you go, people outthere.
If you want to start a business, there is information to start.
I mean, we've got living proofright here.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
A hundred percent.
That's crazy man and honor ofSuper Bowl tomorrow.
You're like the quarterback whothrew the hellberry.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, yeah, I threw the hellberry.
Oh my God.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
I don't think, because you can sell right,
because you already knew youcould sell Correct, so you just
had to learn the ins and outs ofthe business, right?

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Correct.
And so I always joke and say mymentors are all these different
guys online.
They just don't.
You're my mentor, you justdon't know.
I watch all your videos.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Just DM them and say hey, I watch your videos.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
I want to know who was your first client.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Like who gave you that opportunity?
No, that's a good question.
So we had all these littlesmall.
My first client actually was mywife's mom.
They were like it was like Ineed 20 chairs for this right or
whatever?

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
And she was doing it through.
I coach AYSO, so I was a soccercoach at that point and so it
was through.
One of you know they needed itfor one of their things, so
she's like no, let me pay youbecause it's from them, and so
she was my first client.
So that was awesome.
Thank you, gloria.
Yeah, she's my.

(29:15):
I got that my first year inbusiness, first couple months in
business.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
How did that connection come through?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, so I had a consultant.
I had a business consultantthat I start working with
through the Was it SCORE.
No, no, it was through.
It was through an SBA thing,right, so Not through.
It's through a small business,you know, program kind of thing,
where they do it for free,right, and so you can just sign
up and I'm like, hey, I'm goingto sign up.

(29:40):
Heck yeah, and so I had aconsultant that I would work
with, and she used to tell mehow powerful networking is and
I'm thinking like, nah, I justneed to get in front of
customers, that's it, I'm goingto sell.
And then I realized who mycustomer base is it's everybody.
Everybody there's literally noone that's not going to need my
services for something.
Yeah, and so I just start goingreal heavy on networking.

(30:01):
I joined almost every chamberthere is to join and start going
to all their events.
And I met someone from VisitGreater Palm Springs.
Her name was Susan and she justabsolutely loved me and what we
were doing and the brand.
And she just absolutely lovedme and what we were doing and
the brand.
And so she sent a referral outto Janie, who runs the
Alzheimer's Walk and does abunch of other stuff for them,
and called me up and said, hey,we need 20 tents.

(30:26):
And I'm thinking like, oh mygosh.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, we can do it.
You always say yes when youfirst start.
We're the biggest and baddestin the game.
You'll figure it out after youhang up the phone.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
We can do it.
Yeah, we can do it.
Youtube we're going to get youon a dance, Right.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah, we can do it.
You better be calling themvendors real quick.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
I scattered and one of the cool things, like I said,
I try to do everything in-houseand so, to be quite honest,
that was the first Hail Mary Ithrew, which was investing in a
ton of equipment.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
I was going to say obviously it takes a lot of
space, correct?

Speaker 1 (30:58):
And a lot of capital.
I mean, you've got to have alot.
So when did you get to thepoint, where was it the
Alzheimer's event was where yousaid, okay, I can quit my job
and do this full time?
Did you just go in full timefrom?

Speaker 2 (31:09):
the beginning.
No, so I actually had my brandfor a little over a year before
I decided to go on my own almosttwo years actually okay, so it
was like a side hustle thatturned into your yes or no.
So I always say I kind of jumptoo quickly into things.
It's that adhd he's like I knowwhat you're talking about it's
that, just like I dive so deepinto it so when I tell you, um,

(31:33):
I dove straight into it.
so I not only bought a ton ofequipment, I hired a full-time
employee, someone to run mybrand for me While you're
working at another While I'mworking at another.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Wow, so you had an employee before you were even
full-time in the business.
Yeah, I had a couple.
I'm telling you, man, that'ssome cojones right there, man,
you're like we're doing this.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
I was over six figures in and a couple
employees in and invested in.
You know everything from thewarehouse vehicles, big box
truck, you know all sorts ofstuff that I just and at the
time, once again, I didn't knowhow to do it the right way.
You know, even though I'm usedto running a corporate brand,
I'm also used to, you know,signing off and doing big
purchases and I'm thinkingthat's how we got to do it.

(32:13):
You know it's not.
I'm not easing into it, I'mjust going right in.
So I'm buying my truck cash,I'm doing everything.
I'm just going in and throwingcash around.
You know I've been blessed tobe able to have a position where
I was making good money and Iwas a killer and you're stacking
it.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
obviously you had the capital to do it.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
We got those little, the little bonuses that they
would throw over here and there,you know, for you know,
finishing as high as we did, butwe had those little bonuses and
things like that so stacking itup and you know, I just kind of
dove straight into it.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Okay, I'm confused.
So you were doing pest controland then you were doing this as
a side hustle.
Who is giving you the bonusesnow?
Yeah, Right.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
The pest control company.
Yeah, pest control, he's stilldoing the management.
The pest control company yeah,pest control.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
So I still worked for terminex at the time.
So I was a, I was a manager umwith terminex, so I was running
my own branch.
At that point I actually jumpedback down from the division and
then I was running my ownbranch um because I had my
daughter at that point too.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
So I didn't want to move around too much.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
I wanted to stay in one location, um, so nonetheless
, yeah, so I just dove straightinto it and just start doing my
thing.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
So you mentioned the SBA.
We love the SBA.
They have helped ustremendously.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Tremendously.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
And so you said I need a warehouse, right?
So do you still have that samewarehouse today?

Speaker 2 (33:30):
No, so we grew pretty quick, so I'm a numbers guy.
So we've grown 150% year overyear.
Wow, 150%, 150% in the lastthree years, that's pretty
spectacular.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Those are good numbers, man.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, we've been absolutely blessed to be able to
do that.
In my first year, we didabsolutely amazing, which I was
surprised.
But one thing you're alwayslooking at, especially starting
your own thing and throwing allthis into it, I'm like pushing
out all this money.
I'm like we did so great, andthen you look at what you spent.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh, it's not what you bring in right?
It's not what you bring in,it's what you keep.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
It's not what you bring in.
We made all these sales andthen we look at the bottom line.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
looking at my balance sheet and stuff, I'm like oh,
my God.
Whoa yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
This went away, so that's what kind of did it, and
so I decided to invest in it,and so my first warehouse was my
garage my garage and then I gota huge storage like RV storage
unit, you know, a pretty big one.
And then I got into my currentwarehouse, which is in cathedral

(34:38):
city.
It's a, you know, it's a prettynice size warehouse.
It's a full, legit warehouse,um how big is it?
I think it's gosh, squarefootage wise 30 000 square.
No, no right, you're like 100000.
I don't know how large it isactually.
Um, yeah, I'd have to look atthat, but it's.
It's a pretty decent warehouse.
We can now fit, you know, sixto eight rvs in in there now.

(34:59):
Yeah, so we can fit a ton.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
And do you have to buy racks?
We do, yeah, yeah we had to buyrack.
I mean I can't believe how muchmoney they cost.
And then to have those guys, Ipaid somebody to install them.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Oh my god, that's a good business to get into, yeah,
then you don't realize you needall the space in the middle
clear because you need to beable to remove those pallets and
do this and do that.
So now we're expanding andgetting into the other side of
the warehouse, but even tobacktrack a little bit.
So I was with Terminex anddecided to do my own thing and,
to be quite honest with you, itwas the best thing I could have

(35:31):
done, because I was able to.
I always told myself it was theway I could test it, to see if
I could truly be an entrepreneur, right, while I'm still working
.
And so, luckily, I was a GM I'dwork half the week at home, work
the other half of the week inthe office, and in the office I
stayed in the office on mycomputer.
So I'm, you know, I'm in theoffice, you know.

(35:53):
So I was blessed to be able tohave that position, to do that.
And then, during that sameperiod of time, I told you my
wife's dad, who I woulddefinitely say is my mentor
since I was and I joke and evensay her little brother is one of
my other mentors he taught mehow to do my own repairs and he
owns his own air conditioningcompany, so he was able to kind
of show me hey, this is how youdeal with electricity, this,

(36:16):
okay, I don't.
This, okay, I don't put this onehere, yeah, I don't put this
one here.
So during that time, while evenright before I started my own
business, I was able to investin some rental properties and
things like that.
So I was able to kind of tucksome properties under my belt,
and it was nice because my momwas still alive at that point
and so it was really cool to beable to see her, see me succeed.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
We didn't even know what purchasing a house was like
growing up.
I didn't know it was a thing.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
That's what I tell him.
Like I grew up in apartments mywhole life.
You know what I mean.
So it's like oh, I didn't.
You know, I wanted my kids.
I'm sure you want your daughterLay the same thing right, like
to see a whole, completelydifferent way of life, and I
think that's what's kind of coolis like you grow up with one
parent and then you can turnthat around and parent your

(37:02):
child differently.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
A hundred percent, and so I didn't grow up with my
dad in my life and I and I alsojoke and say my dad's one of my
number one mentors.
Also, he showed me what not todo, right, so he showed me what
not to do with raising kids, andyou know how I treat my
daughter now is a directcorrelation with how he didn't
treat me, you know, and so itreally did help me out.

(37:26):
And so being able to have mymom see me grow up and you know
she's like you just boughtanother house.
So you, you know it was just,it was so awesome to see that
and she eventually wentcompletely blind.
I've always taken care of her.
So, to backtrack years beforewhen she told me hey, you got to
find your own place Less than ayear, she ended up moving back
and she moved in with me becauseit didn't work out In the

(37:48):
studio, in the studio.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
And then she got her own little studio across from me
and so studio across from me,and so she was there for some
time and ever since then, like Isaid, I start purchasing
properties and stuff.
So she lived in my casitas.
I bought a duplex, so, smart,lived in the front, she lived in
the back.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yeah, yeah, I love duplexes well, you know what I
just got my real estate licenseokay yeah because I told him
we're gonna be buying andselling until we die and he
wants to sell one of ourproperties and I I was like,
only if I can have a fourplex,that's it yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
That's a good condition.
Duplexes are nice I love.
The one thing her dad taught mewas a few different things I
love, like the bird technique.
I love that passive income.
A few different things right.
So I bought a fixer-upper in thecity of Coachella, where my
wife works.
We love supporting local.
We don't just preach it in allmy brands, but we actually live

(38:42):
by it.
Right?
So we lived in Coachella, thecity she worked in, and bought a
property out there and it was afixer-upper.
Had no idea about the wholeequity in this and I'm watching
all these videos online learningabout it and so purchase a
property out there.
Her dad's like this is going tobe a good one, and I'm like I
don't know.
You know, let's do it.
You know what you're doing, I'mgoing to do it.
So I delve right into it andstart doing my own repairs.

(39:04):
I'm on the roof on my phonewatching YouTube how to replace
a roof.
I'm replacing the everythingfrom the plywood, like I learned
how to do roof, uh, fromyoutube.
Do you have your own youtubechannel?
I do, I do, but I don't, Idon't post it, it's just a
business youtube channel.
I don't, I don't post anythingon there.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Um, but I, yeah, I, I want to start one day, but yeah
yeah as much as I watch it justfollow the the journey huh from
business to business correct,you got a bit seems like you've
got.
When you have time for yourfamily, you got've got three
different businesses.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
It's a lot.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
You know, it's an ADHD thing that I tell you about
.
That's definitely my superpower, so I'm able to balance, you
know, to where I'm able to bewith my daughter.
I'm able to, you know, stillspend time with the family and
do the things that I need to do,and then I'm up at 1, 2, am on
my computer doing stuff whileeverybody's sleeping.
I need my sleep, though, and Idon't.

(39:58):
I need a few hours and I'm up.
Really, you know what.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I mean yeah, oh nice.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
I joke and say, like you know, life's too short to
waste it sleeping.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
You know, so I'm like I don't need to sleep.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
My brain is going to be backfiring on me.
So did the ADHD lead you tostart the other business, and
I'm kind of assuming that, sinceit was already like a family
business, the Pest.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Tech 360 was something that kind of you were
already thinking about while youwere running this one.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Correct.
You know, I was even in my headplanning out things right and
just how I'm going to do it, butwhen I found out my first
business can be, and was being,successful, it really helped me
kind of put that guard down alittle bit, to be quite honest
with you.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Well, it gives you confidence, right?
Like, okay, I do know what I'mdoing.
I mean, it's right in front ofyour eyes that you're seeing
your baby grow and like okay, Ican do this, so that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
That's exactly what happened.
But it still wasn't easy.
It still wasn't easy to branchoff from that Cause.
When I tell you, the way I grewup was just such a like, you
know, in my mind I'm rich, youknow, and I was like I made it,
I'm doing it.
So to step out of that and getuncomfortable and bet on myself
was really, really scary to do,really scary to do, even with my

(41:32):
business that was doing what itwas doing.
But one thing I always toldmyself is, if my business is
doing this successful with 25%of my time, imagine how
successful I can be with 100% ofmy time.
Yeah, absolutely, you know, andso I just I tried to do the math
.
The two plus two.
I was still equal.
It equals three.
I was still there.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Now we're at three and a half.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
I was like, does this add up?
I was like, does this add up?
And so I was doing the math andI said, if I dedicate my time
into my own brand, you know I'mtired of making.
You know hedge funds andcorporate conglomerates and all
this even wealthier, and theybarely know who we are.
You know we're the ones at thebottom making them all wealthy,
making them their money, dealingwith the people, dealing with

(42:13):
the managers, dealing with allthe issues, and you know we're
the ones doing it.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
I said always issues right, I do it for myself you
know, and so doing that wasreally.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
it was really scary to pivot and you know, luckily I
was able to kind of branch offof that and when I decided to
start Pest Protect 360, you knowit was, it was.
It was not easy.
I had those like coming toJesus moments where I'm sitting
there just like, wow, should Ido this?
Should I do this?

Speaker 3 (42:42):
This is going to be like a little nest egg, right
Cause it's always like, okay, Ihave a little money, I can go
ahead and put some money intothis new business too.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Yes, yes, I did.
There was never not to soundany kind of way, but there was
never a lack of funds.
Right, it was.
That wasn't the issue in thesecond half of my life.
It was never the issue, it wasmore of taking the risk and
taking the jump.
Correct, because we also live acertain lifestyle.
You know it goes.
You know I even joke and I wastelling someone just the other

(43:10):
day.
I said I felt like I was, I hadmore money when I was working
three jobs you know, I had atruck, I had my motorcycle.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Your expenses were low, man, you ain't got no
employees to pay.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
I was doing it big you know, and so now it's like
our lifestyle is just such towhere, when you look at how much
money you push out, you're like, wow, like yeah, you have this
huge nest egg.
That feels like it's a big nestegg.
But when you look at how muchmoney you push out, you're like,
wow, okay, we can survive for afew years, or whatever it may
be.
But one thing I always, youknow, kind of relied on is that

(43:42):
you know you have to get statelicensing for pest control.
I got all my licensing as well,as it's kind of like what they
call contractors call theircontractor license.
I got my operator's licenses,so I have all of mine.
So I had these things that Ican kind of, you know, hold as
security.
And those were hugeaccomplishments for me because,
like I told you, growing up andwith school and all, that it was

(44:04):
just hard to read stuff.
And so to be able to get theselicenses that only a handful of
us in the company had, literallyonly a few of us had.
This license was, you know, wassomething that I can.
I can kind of keep a securityin case I need to go back out
and I'm like, oh my God, thisfailed, I need to go get another
job somewhere.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Entrepreneur, you're always think that's always in
the back of your mind.
It's like, oh my God.
But it kind of keeps that firegoing right, Keeps shoveling
that.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Gotta have that fire under your ass.
So when did you, when did yougo out on your?
When did you start officiallyyour pest control, the pest
protect 360 company a year ago,not even a full year okay um, it
was about a year ago ago.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I've had, uh, my party rental guys for three
years now.
We started in 2022, and so I'vehad that for three years now.
Now this one, uh, we started in24, started in 24, but in the
beginning, um, I want to know.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
I want to know some goodies about the party rental
business.
Are there any crazy times thathave any crazy clients that you
know every?

Speaker 1 (45:10):
day, any parties.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yeah, you need to surprise.
Yeah, my guys always call me.
They're like hey boss, we'regonna need to wash this twice.
Wash what twice?
They said it was crazy.
We delivered pipe and drape andit was just uh, it was just a
cover off a little room yeah, soyou'd be surprised.
I'm sure you gotta sign anon-disclosure and your
bachelorette parties and thisand you're, you're the party

(45:35):
guys, and we're like we're nothere for that.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Okay, I have another question.
Yeah, because I like to askquestions.
So when you and I talked aboutthis, so should we bring up the
firebirds thing first?

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Yeah, um, you can yeah go ahead.
Well, I mean okay, so just backstory, how we kind of ran into
you got your story again is wegot, uh, fina's company got an
award from first bank as on likean entrepreneur, small business
of the year, and you were alsoinvolved in that.
You, your companies were alsohonored at that firebirds event,

(46:07):
so that was kind of cool, umwhat was it was?

Speaker 3 (46:10):
it was for being what one of the top top small
businesses in the Valley.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
It was a good business award, so it was a top
companies in the Valley.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
So how did you hear about that?
Because I had like three peopletell me you need to apply for
this, you need to apply.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, so I got nominated, and I don't know by
who.
Someone signed me up for it,which was great.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Did you have to write your little essay about stuff,
or did you just?
You just collected your dollars.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
You just got an email that you won.
Come get your check.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Yeah, I got an email and I was like, wow, is this
real?

Speaker 1 (46:42):
I didn't think it was real.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
They're going to give me money.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
And.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
I don't have to do anything for it.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah, so I got an email.
Someone nominated me, you know,but I'm a when I tell you, one
of our mission statements is wesupport locals, we're for locals
, by locals, right Like wesupport our community.
So I have a good relationshipwith first bank, do as much as I
possibly can for Accreture andyou know I, I just promote local

(47:10):
businesses and and we are we'rereally big in that because our
direct competitors are Signatureand Bright, two hedge fund-ran
companies that claim to be localand they're not.
They ship all their stuff outhere from Orange County and all
that.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
It's the same thing with him and his payroll
business right.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Yep.
There's big box, payroll bigbox guys that outsource
everything to india and callcenters to india and we're like
the little you know engine.
That could you know.
We're here locally, you can calland talk to people and that's
where we win you know and I'msure that's how you you win too
is because you got that localfeel.
We can run stuff out to you.
Then that day it's like yourwhole story I need a tent

(47:50):
tomorrow.
Well, I can't do it, but youcan do it right, because you're,
we're in your community, we can, we can go to the storage spot
and pick it up and bring ittomorrow.
So that's where you kind ofbeat the big box guys right, do
you ever get any?

Speaker 3 (48:03):
uh, you're in what part of the city?

Speaker 2 (48:05):
yeah, yes, yeah, no, they, they ask all, yeah, they
ask all the time.
Especially, it's funny becausemost of our calls start with
where are you located, and it'sbecause they're not expecting us
to say Cathedral City, they'renot expecting us to say we're
local.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
You know they're not expecting that.
I'm saying like if you everdeliver to rough neighborhoods
you're like where are youlocated?

Speaker 2 (48:30):
Yeah, no we deliver everywhere.
We're the party rental guys, wego, yeah, we go.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
You guys are taking stuff to DHS you ain't scared,
we're going up that alley.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Okay, so you were saying that you have a
photographer.
What else is involved with theparty guys?

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah, so cool, really good question.
So we do everything.
So we do tents, tables, chairs,flooring, we do dance floor
stages, av lighting, portapotties.

Speaker 3 (48:59):
People ask you hey, do you have a DJ or do you have
somebody that can make our tablepretty Like, do you?

Speaker 2 (49:04):
do that, yeah, so now we're starting to do all that
in house.
We're just we're launching ourflatware side next month.
We just partnered with thefloral company.
So we're doing fresh floralcenterpieces nice.
We're doing arches, we're doingphoto booths.
Now, oh my gosh, we're doingall that stuff and it's all
in-house um and you're likeyou're running this department,
correct?
yeah, and so it started that way.

(49:26):
So within my brand we have amixology department, a
bartending department also.
Yeah, because I just keptgetting asked, hey, do you
recommend any bartenders?
And I start, you know,referring people.
And I'm really cautious of thatbecause I've been, you know,
customers have been done dirtyand same with me, where I
decided, you know, screw that, Iknow how to do this on my own.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
And so I went out and YouTubed it again.
How to start a mobilebartending brand?
Wow.
And so we launched and we didit.
So I was just at this big thingin Cancun for my business,
right, and there's a brandcalled.
I want to say it's calledPerlic and it's a mobile bar.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
It's really popular, yeah, really popular.
I'm telling everybody it was ashoo-in.
We rent bars right, and we rentbars right, we do all these
different things, and so it'sjust now.
We supply the bartenders,servers, all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
You have to get your liquor's license to do all that.
No, it's like a one-time thing,right?
All the bartenders are licensed.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
I got you, we have that department ran by Jules, is
our.
She runs that department for us, so she's in charge of that.
She runs that, but licensedbartender herself.
Everybody else is licensed aswell.
So the way you do it is.
You know you have to supply theliquor.
We bring all the garnishes,fresh juices, all the stuff.
We bring the bar, we pop it allup ready to go.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
So you're a one-stop shop man.
Any event, you guys can handleat this point, yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
Okay, so do you have any news to tell us?
Because I know what we talkedabout when we were at the
Firebirds game about some vino,a little bus, anything like that
, going on A little bus, thetour side, yeah, the tour side

(51:03):
of things.
Is that going on?

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Yeah, so we haven't launched that.
It's funny you say that.
I was like how do you?

Speaker 3 (51:08):
remember that You're all quiet?
Yeah, no, I was like how do youremember that?

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Yeah, yeah, I was like how do you remember that?
Yeah, yeah, so we will be doingwine tours eventually, nice, so
just getting into the party busgame as well, anything to do
with events.
I'm trying to have my hand init Absolutely, and I mean my
hand in it where I'm doing allthis stuff in-house.
That's the hardest part, andwhat takes the most time is
because I don't like to directlyoutsource things.

(51:32):
Right, I like to do it all.
I want to own it all.
I want to have it all to wherewe were not just saying for
locals.
By locals we mean what we say,um and so, yeah, so we're going
to be doing wine tours hereeventually, directly from from
Palm Springs to you know to.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Temecula yeah wine country.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
We're going out to Temecula.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
That's an easy drive.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Yeah, so that's in the works.
But we're always launching somany different things because
it's at that point where we'regrowing to the size where we
just did the arts festival,we're doing the car show this
month.
We're doing all these largeevents now.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
And you know what, in business you start getting a
reputation for being able todeliver and of course there's
always going to have, there'salways going to be things that
go wrong, and absolutely I meanjust sometimes I just go okay, I
submit this, this job's justgoing to go to shit.
It just, it just happens.
But you know so, how do you,how do you when that things go

(52:27):
wrong, how do you kind of handlethat?

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, so that's so.
When I was in the pest controlindustry, that was one of my
super powers was, you know, I?
I joke and say I, like you know, I've been through so much in
life where nothing's gonnanothing's gonna frazzle me, it's
not gonna get me, you know, onmy rocker to where you know.
There was a point where I wasrunning a branch entirely by
myself, no managers, no, youknow customers, all you know it

(52:50):
was.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
It was crazy you're the last line of defense, huh
literally the first and the lastline.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
At that point you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
I was literally all

Speaker 2 (52:56):
of it and I would get calls from our vice president
and this like hey, how you doing, how you feeling?
I'm, like I'm good, what do youmean?
You know, it's just because I'ma firm believer you can only do
what you can do.
And, uh, certain things are inyour hands and out of your hands
and you know, unfortunately,having that kind of composed
mindset that I have has reallyhelped me in my career.
So when stuff like that happens, it's unfortunate, but

(53:19):
sometimes we have to.
Just we do, we can do what wecan do and we can't do what we
can't do.
I'm always going to go above andbeyond.
To this day, knock on wood, wedon't have.
You know, I'm sure there'supset customers somewhere.
That's in any business,especially as many customers as
we service now, sure, exactly.
But we try to go above andbeyond for everyone and we do
more than try.
We do do it.
But you know you're alwaysgoing to have those events and

(53:42):
those customers.
That it's just.
You know it's one of thosethings.
But that's where, utilizinglocal people and local companies
.
You know it's really hard forus not to be able to do
something because everything'shere.
You know we don't have to, likeI told you about our bigger
competitors.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Well.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
I got to bring it from San Diego.
We got to bring it from LA.
We got to.
It's not that it's, it's a 20minute drive back to the
warehouse, Right.
So we'll go get it Correct, sowe're able to make that happen.
And, uh, you know, it's one ofthe skill sets that I've learned
throughout my life, becausewhen you're constantly getting
kicked out of places and this,and we're trying to figure it
out and we're trying to, to methose are things to worry about.

(54:19):
When you're worrying about whatyou're going to eat?
Oh yeah, how are you going toeat tomorrow?
What are we going to do?
Well, we'll figure it out.
So, when a customer is upsetbecause you told them you're
going to spray your house onMonday and you're there on

(54:40):
Tuesday, it's like, well, therecould be a lot worse.
You know a lot worse.
Um, you know, sit down, I needto tell you, exactly, exactly.
We're going to kill those bugs,right?
So that's what we try to do.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Yeah Well, I mean your story is pretty amazing,
man.
So I think I think, uh, youknow, just sitting here for you
this hour I mean those of youout there that are listening to
this you know this guy, this guyis the definition of CV hustle.
So we appreciate you coming in,man.
I mean you know everybodylistening.
If you think, you know, I havea lot of things stacked against
me where I can't do this, Ican't open this business, I

(55:05):
can't get this degree.
I mean just re-listen to Amos'sstory.
I mean it's he, he's a, he's a,he's one of the top business
guys down here at a young ageand he's all self-made.
I mean he just had every excuseto give up and just never chose
to take them.
Correct, it's never.
You never chose to take them.
So that should be a lesson toeverybody listening.

(55:25):
Hey, you know, if you, if Amos,can do it with all the
struggles and things you had togo through at a young age, you
know there's anybody can do itif they just grind it out, you
know, and put their work in andand find their passion and find
their niche.
Amos found his passion, hisniche, and here he is today.
I mean you know very, verysuccessful guys.
So you know you are thedefinition of cv hustle and we
appreciate you coming in mantoday.

(55:47):
And so where can our listenerskind of find you and kind of
connect with you and find yourbusinesses?
If they want to use your partyrental or your pest control,
when can they reach out and find?

Speaker 2 (55:55):
you Definitely so.
Yeah, you can look us up onInstagram, facebook, twitter.
Just type in MyPartyRentalGuysor PestProtect360.
We're going to pop up, or it'sMyPartyRentalGuyscom and
PestProtect360.com as well.
Or just look up Amos Greenwood.
Follow me on Instagram and I'llshoot it all to you.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Okay, and have you.
I know Bobby's going to kill me.
Have you ever been called?

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Famous Amos.
Oh, all the time, all the time,I got you again.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Thank you.
I'm sure she's never heard thatone before, never heard that
one before.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Yeah, this is so cool , that's funny.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
I mean the name is pretty synonymous with cookies.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
That's how I explain to people because they always
say how do you pronounce it?
And I say it's like famouswithout the F, like famous
famous, yeah, there it isPerfect.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
Well, on that note, if you found some value today in
this story, you know theroutine like subscribe and share
, and we'll see you next time onCV Hust.