EP #232: Beekeepers to Pest Controllers: Mitchell And Monica Walters Journey With Home And Hive Pest Control

What makes Mitchell and Monica Walters with Home and Hive Pest Control Good Neighbors?

Meet Mitchell and Monica Walters, the dynamic husband-and-wife team behind Home and Hive Pest Control, who are revolutionizing pest management in Frisco and surrounding communities. Their journey began in 2014 with a specialized focus on live honeybee removals, drawing from Monica's childhood experience helping her parents with beekeeping. What sets them apart? A customer-first philosophy that transformed their niche service into a comprehensive pest control company when clients kept asking for more.

The Walters bring refreshingly different backgrounds to pest control—both come from sales careers in unrelated industries, giving them unique perspectives on relationship building and customer service. Their approach challenges industry norms by focusing first on exclusion techniques rather than chemical treatments. "A lot of times we can solve customers' problems without using any chemicals at all," Mitchell explains. Their commitment to environmental responsibility extends to their 100% natural mosquito fogging service, protecting the honeybees they care deeply about while effectively eliminating pests.

Taking the entrepreneurial leap wasn’t easy. Mitchell left an 18-year IT sales career at Apple to join Monica in building Home and Hive Pest Control in 2023. Working together as spouses brings its challenges—Mitchell jokes that Monica has "fired" him about a hundred times since they started (and he's returned the favor twice). Yet this partnership has strengthened both their business and relationship. Their success stems from understanding what customers truly want: transparency, communication, and personalization.

What makes the Walters a good neighbor? It’s their belief that business isn’t just about transactions—it’s about trust. They show up with integrity, treat each home like it’s their own, and genuinely care about the families they serve. As Monica puts it, “Our customers' trust is everything to us.”

To learn more about Home and Hive Pest Control, go to: https://homeandhivepestcontrol.com/

Home and Hive Pest Control

972-439-6037

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a pestcontrol company?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbors
Mitchell and Monica Walters withhome and Hive pest control.
Mitchell, Monica, how are youguys doing today?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
good doing good.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Thank you for having us on today yeah, it's a
pleasure to have you on andwe're excited to learn all about
you in your company.
Can you tell us a bit about it?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yes, I would love to so.
Like you mentioned, my husbandMitchell and I we own Home and
Hive Pest Control.
We service the Frisco area andsurrounding communities.
But we're not just your averagepest control company.
We actually, before we got intopest control, we both came from
sales backgrounds in completelydifferent industries and really

(01:11):
learned a lot about theimportance of building
relationships rather than justselling a service.
And so we came at pest controlkind of with that in mind and
asked ourselves you know, whatwould we want as pest control
customers and sort of build thecompany around that.
And so we focus on problemsolving rather than just, you

(01:35):
know, kind of applying the sameservice for every house, and
really focus on customer service.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Amazing, and how did you guys get into this business?

Speaker 3 (01:47):
So we actually started Home and Hive back in
2014.
And at that time we only didlive honeybee removals.
So growing up my parents keptbees as a hobby.
We had a couple of hives and Iwas kind of out there helping
them, you know, just interestedin that whole little ecosystem.
And then just some shifts inhow people you know were dealing

(02:13):
with bee issues and peoplestarted realizing that
extermination of honeybees isnot good for the environment and
not the best solution for yourhome either.
So there became like a real needfor live bee removal and so
back in 2014, opened Home andHive doing just that and we
found a real niche market ofpeople that did not want to

(02:35):
exterminate the hives and weoffered a exceptional level of
just customer servicecommunication, just really ran
the business how we would wantto be treated and got a
reputation for doing reallygreat work in the bee removal
area.
And then people just startedasking, while we were there

(02:56):
treating their beehives, if wecould help them with their pest
control.
And enough people brought it upover long enough that we talked
together and Mitchell had theidea of coming and joining the
company and opening up a pestcontrol branch, because pest
control sometimes doesn't havethe best reputation for customer
service, and that was thebiggest complaint that we were

(03:18):
seeing is just, you know, peopleweren't getting the information
they wanted or thecommunication that they needed,
or even knowing what was beingdone to their house, and we just
felt like, with our backgrounds, we could bring a whole new
level of service to that.
So in 2023, he left his 18 yearIT sales career and we kind of

(03:41):
jumped in to pest control.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Wow, that's amazing.
And so what is the most commonmyth or misconception you both
typically come across?

Speaker 4 (03:54):
Yeah, I'll take that one.
So the biggest one I think, evencoming to this industry from
our background that Monicamentioned, was just that
exterminators come and spray abunch of chemicals all over your
house and then kill.
You know everything in sight andso what we've actually found
after doing a lot of researchover the past year or so around

(04:17):
different chemicals anddifferent ways to apply
pesticides and there's a lot ofnatural ways out there as well
that that's really not the caseWith us.
Specifically, we take a verytargeted approach.
A lot of times we can solvecustomers' problems without
using any chemicals at all, evenjust doing simple exclusions on

(04:39):
garage doors for rodentsgetting in your garage or
squirrels getting in your attic,doing exclusions there and just
general bugs coming in throughweep holes.
You know exclusion's a big partof this and really the chemical
piece is kind of the lastdefense that we that we apply um
just to make sure that yourhome's safe from any bugs that

(05:01):
could come in and harm yourfamily um or cause, you know,
undue stress, and even with ourmosquito fogging that we do
that's 100% natural.
So we're not spraying, you know, a bunch of chemicals all in
the air and harming the honeybeepopulation, which is a big part
of our business.
We're really applying naturalproducts in that area as well,

(05:25):
so our goal is really to alwaystake the safest and most
efficient approach, for both ourcustomers and the environment.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
So who are your target customers and, in terms
of marketing, how do you attractthem?

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I'll take that one.
So our target customers aretypically people that have used
other pest control services inthe past and just not been
satisfied, for whatever reason,with that service.
So you will not see us, you know, out knocking on your door
offering, you know, the cheapestservice possible.

(06:02):
But we really focus onexceptional value in what you're
getting, and we found that ifwe could come in and have a
professional, courteous, youknow tech that comes to your
door on time and performs areally thorough service and
informs you about everythingthat was done, people become a

(06:23):
lot less focused on getting thecheapest pest control that they
possibly can when they feel goodabout they're actually getting
what they paid for, and sothat's really been our selling
point.
And so, unfortunately, thepeople had to have kind of a bad
experience to see some of thevalue in what we bring.

(06:44):
But luckily, most people havetried a pest control service at
some point, and so those arereally our ideal customers.
And then, as far as getting newcustomers, I mean word of mouth
is huge for us and that's ourfavorite way to gain new
customers, just because you knowit Google AdWords through some
print advertising, lots ofsocial media and apps, you know

(07:14):
like Nextdoor and Street Fairare huge for us too.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Let's go ahead and switch gears for a second.
Can either of you describe ahardship or life challenge you
overcame and how it made youbetter and stronger today, what
comes to mind for you?

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah, I'll take that one.
So I think the biggest thingfor us was you know, monica and
I've been together for probablya pop quiz, but like over 20
years now.
So we've we've kind of done lifetogether, but I think our
biggest thing that we had toovercome was really starting
this business.
Like Monica mentioned earlier,I had a really stable, great job

(07:54):
in IT sales.
I was actually working at Appleat the time as part of our
healthcare and life sciencesteam and phenomenal company.
Great career, great people thatI was working with.
But we really felt this need toyou know I was traveling a lot
and felt this need to for me tobe home more.
We had a son, so we were wantedto spend more quality time with

(08:17):
him.
But I think just taking thatleap of faith and starting this
business was huge for us.
Also, being a husband and wifeduo makes it adds a little extra
layer of challenges there.
Monica's fired me I don't knowa hundred times probably since
we started this together and Ithink I've her twice.
But, um, you know we're, we'rein it together and it's been fun

(08:41):
.
It's been a great growingexperience for us and, um, it's
really been one of the bestmoves that we've made.
Um, so, like with any hardship,there's always good to be found
in it and we've definitelyfound the good and, uh, it's
been, it's been a fun littlejourney.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, that's amazing, and it sounds like through the
journey, it's certainlystrengthened your marriage too.
So that's, please tell ourlisteners one thing they should
remember about home and highpest control.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
I think probably the most important thing if you get
one thing from this podcast isjust how much we truly care
about our customers.
It's not just a list of namesto us, we really get to know our
customers and tailor our pestcontrol services for them.
We're constantly thinking abouthow we can make each experience
better.
So every time that we leave ajob or we talk to one of our

(09:37):
techs, you know it's how couldwe have done that better,
smoother, make it more efficient, add a more personalized touch.
You know that's really whatkeeps us up at night.
It's not you know, it's not somuch the financial or the
operations side of the business.
It's really what is ourcustomer experiencing and how
can we make that better.
And our customer's trust iseverything to us and we work

(09:58):
really hard every day to gainthat trust and then to keep it.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
And where can our listeners go to learn more about
Home and Hive Pest Control?

Speaker 3 (10:07):
So we have a ton of information on our website.
It's justhomeandhivepestcontrolcom.
The best way if you havequestions is email or phone.
We love talking to ourcustomers and we probably spend
way more time than we should onthe phone going over all kinds
of questions about bees andother bugs.

(10:27):
And you can also find us onsocial media.
We have Facebook, instagram,tiktok, and so we try to post as
many videos there as we can andbasically anywhere you look,
you should be able to find us.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, Mitchell and Monica, I really appreciate you
both being on this show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Thank you, it's a pleasure being here.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPFriscocom.
That's GNPFriscocom, or call469-221-9345.
© transcript Emily Beynon.