... You get paid for carrying the responsibility other people avoid. I saw a graphic floating around about “How to earn $1M/year working for someone else,” and the message is simple: Hard work isn’t rare. Ownership is. Not “ownership” like equity. I mean the kind where you absorb the mess, stabilize the room, and move things forward when it would be easier to blame, delay, or disappear. Most people want the paycheck that comes with high-level responsibility…without actually carrying the weight that creates it. And that’s the gap. The Real Currency Is Responsibility In every company I’ve been around—especially field service businesses—there are two types of problems: 1. Problems everyone sees 2. Problems everyone avoids The second category is where careers are made. Because if you become the person who reliably handles what others avoid—without drama, without ego, without excuses—you become extremely valuable. And value is what gets paid. Not hours. Not effort. Outcomes. My Take on the “$1M Employee” Traits Here’s what the graphic gets right (and what it leaves out). 1) High tolerance for pressure and responsibility This one is real. The person who stabilizes the room becomes the default leader—title or not. But here’s the truth:Pressure tolerance isn’t about being tough. It’s about being regulated.No panic. No spirals. No emotional whiplash. 2) Extreme ownership The best operators don’t manage around problems. They absorb them, solve them, document them, and build the system so it doesn’t happen again. Ownership isn’t taking blame for everything.It’s taking responsibility for outcomes, and being willing to say: “This is on me now.” 3) Commercial awareness This trait separates “good worker” from “trusted leader.” Commercial awareness is understanding: - what actually makes money - what kills margin - what causes churn - what creates referrals - what creates callbacks and rework If you can connect daily decisions to business outcomes, you stop being a cost… and become a lever.

Hey everyone!!! I want to share something that was super impactful in me obtaining my Operators license here in Florida, So... What I did, was I bought the practice tests from here: https://www.bobkesslerceu.com/Home.aspx THESE QUESTIONS WERE LITERALLY AD-VERBATIM, WHAT WAS ON THE TEST! ***I did not know that beforehand, but had heard good things from industry pros that Bob, has an "in" and gets all the test questions, somehow.... Bless Him! I then took the questions he provided along with the answers, and explanations etc.... and I plugged them into a GPT, Here: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-4dY9MRSR5-florida-operator-exam-prep-gpt This GPT, has its own pest control knowledge repository, and literally knows almost anything you can ask it, please try to break it!!!! I need feedback on how to improve it! I honestly used this GPT, to create question-specific index cards, in pdf format (exported by the gpt itself), Boom!!!!! So solid! ...and when I took the test, a 3 hour exam, took 45 mins, because as I said, the questions were the same, as were the answers, Just in a different order than what I had on the practice exams. Let's win together!!!! -Ian

I’ll start with mine , I would definitely need more outbound and advertising due to a low workforce, what’s yours?😃

What side does your company focus on?

PestWorld was a lot. Between vendor meetings and dinner invites, the calendar filled up fast. It was good — but not light. I left grateful, mentally full, and more committed to the craft than before. For those who’ve never attended an NPMA event, I’d recommend it. Even if you think you’ve seen it all, there’s always someone there doing something better, smarter, or different. Humbling in the right way. Some takeaways: - Networking still trumps everything. You can spend 6 months guessing, or 6 minutes in the right conversation. - Ants and roaches are still the primary re-service issues. We chase the new stuff, but the classics still keep the phones ringing. - The tech is evolving fast. Some of it’s fluff, some of it’s game-changing. The key is staying open without chasing every shiny object. - Know yourself. As an introvert, the volume of it all was overwhelming at times. I appreciated the built-in recharge space. Small thing, but thoughtful. I left with more clarity about what we’re doing right, and what we could do better. More importantly, I left with better people in my circle. That’s the real ROI. If you haven’t made it to one yet — make a plan.