“Be who you say you’re going to be”. He has founded two successful companies, first Green Mango Pest Control and recently Black Hat Security. Green Mango has grown into one of the largest pest control companies in Arizona. Black Hat Security is following a similar course as the fastest growing private home security provider in Arizona.
Recently Cameron sat down with a local 13-year-old podcaster named Bo Mabry to take starting a business and “Dumb it Down” for the next generation of Arizona entrepreneurs.
It’s a great listen as well as a read. Enjoy.
Official Transcript
*Timecode is included to help you find audio easily
Hi guys, this is dumbitdown. I’m your host, Bo Mabry, and today on the show I have Cameron Bawden, and one fact about him is that he is my uncle and I have two uncles, and Cam is one of them. And then the other fact is that he is the owner of two of my sponsors, that’s Green Mango Pest Control, and Black Hat Security, [00:01:18.24] and if you want to go see their websites, you go to greenmangopest.com and then you go to blackhatsecurity.com and then that’s just how you see more about them, and they are a really highly recommended company. They have the best service, and then both of them keep your home safe from bugs, and from bad guys. So, here Cam, is there anything else that you want the listeners to hear before we get started with the interview? [00:01:42.17]
Cameron Bawden: That’s about it. I started my companies, I started Green Mango Pest Control just shortly after my mission, when I was 22, and I’m 28 now. I started Black Hat Security about a year ago.
Bo: Were you 18 when you left on your mission, or 19?
Cameron Bawden: I was 19 when I left for my mission.
Bo: It changed well, yeah, after you got back? [00:02:00.15]
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, a couple of years after I got home, I actually graduated high school, in May, and then left that September, so…
Bo: And where did you get into just home security? How did you get into that, through bugs and bad guys?
Cameron Bawden: So I started off with pest control. It’s kind of a funny story. I never thought when I was growing up that I would be in the pest control industry. [00:02:22.19] My original thought, going through high school, to see my dad in real estate, I always envisioned me coming back and doing what he was doing, and that was real estate, and so when I got back, in 2009, I got back, and I saw the economy, the way that it was, [00:02:38.01] and obviously we were in a downturn in the economy, and there’s not much room there for new agents. So, I got recruited by a good buddy of mine, Dusty Williams, and now my business partner in Green Mango Pest Control. He was trying to get me to go sell door to door for another company, and through those channels, [00:03:00.00] he talked me into starting Green Mango Pest Control with him.
Bo: You started Green Mango when you were 22, and you started Black Hat when you were 29, so that’s a seven-year difference, and…
Cameron Bawden: 28.
Bo: Oh, 28, so it was a six-year difference then. What was Green Mango doing during some of those six years? And how are they different from what they’re doing now? [00:03:18.29]
Cameron Bawden: You know, so we originally started Green Mango Pest Control in a business model that geared around door to door salesman, and so we’d find that when we first started, it was our local buddies, that were just getting home from their missions, to come out and sell it to us, side by side. So, for four years straight we ran door to door sales programs. [00:03:41.00] And Dusty and I knocked every single day for four years, we worked 6am, until many nights until 11:30, 12 o’clock at night, trying to figure out what we were doing and knocking doors trying to build a business. You asked the question, kind of what’s it evolved to now? [00:03:59.04] We were lucky enough in those first four years to build a good customer base, to where people saw the quality of service that we were doing. When we started the company, we looked around at the industry and saw that the industry was known for just guys that got in and out really, really quick, and what I mean by that, is that these technicians would show up on a job site, [00:04:21.24] and spray the home in ten minutes. When we started Green Mango Pest Control, some of the things that we wanted to do, was to make sure that each customer was getting their money’s worth. So, our average service time, we’d take a lot of pride in it, is thirty minutes at each home. The industry average on product is about three to five gallons. [00:04:39.19] You can pull our product receipts on any of our homes, even today, and we will always keep that quality. It’s between ten and fifteen gallons. And so those are the little things that differentiated us in the sense that our customers started to appreciate our service. They saw the brand that we were doing, they saw the technicians that we hired, and our customer referrals just shot through the roof. [00:05:02.13] And so people started talking about us on Facebook, on Instagram, all the different social media sites, and then we were lucky enough to have it in with one of the radio stars, with Johnjay and Rich, their big radio advertisement company here with iHeartRadio, and we started advertising with them two years ago, [00:05:22.05] and ever since then, we’ve been just game busters, putting on accounts in the summer time. So, it’s been really fun to see the transaction between summer sales and now just moving to a business model to where we’re just doing radio advertisement and customer referrals and a couple of little other small home advertising ventures. [00:05:41.26]
Bo: And I want to mention, since you have some experience with starting a business, what are the basic steps of starting one?
Cameron Bawden: The basic steps of starting a business, it’s funny because I think about that all the time. [00:05:57.22] I think about how truly lucky I got with Green Mango Pest Control, in the sense that when I started it, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I knew what I wanted it to become, and I’ve had to learn a lot of hard, expensive lessons along the way, but as I looked back and asked myself, I think it’s important that you have a good base when you get started, and what I mean by that, [00:06:21.29] is you’ve got to make sure that you have some type of money coming in. I was fortunate a lot enough when I got back from my mission, my dad told me, here’s forty grand. You can either buy a truck, or you can invest it. And luckily, I invested it into a couple of little rental properties, [00:06:40.28] on the west side of town here, and I was able to make 1600 bucks a month, and that 1600 bucks was enough to carry me through the first four years of Green Mango, because I didn’t take a dime from Green Mango in the first four years. So, I think that’s the most important part that kind of a lot of people overlook when they’re starting a business and thinking they can take money from it right away. [00:07:04.01] If you want to put everything back in and grow it to a large substantial business, you’ve got to make sure you’re putting all your effort, time and money back into it, so I think that’s the first thing, having a little bit of income, somehow, to make sure that you can focus on building the brand and the company. [00:07:23.27] The second thing, it’s important to establish your core values, and who you want to become, who you want the consumer to look at you as, in the company. And what I mean by that, it’s easy as you get going down the road, for instance, we could have saved a lot of money if we would have fell into that trap of the industry average of the technicians only being at the home for five to ten minutes, [00:07:47.14]because if you think about that, if the technicians only at a house for let’s say ten minutes, they can spray almost three times the amount of houses that we can in a single day, so that means less trucks, less technicians, less gas, less product, less everything.[00:08:02.11]
Bo: And it saves money and gas.
Cameron Bawden: It saves a ton of money, and so we could have used that money in the first few years, but we stuck to our core values and who we wanted to become, and who we wanted to be known for, so it was really painful, I remember, my business partner, Dusty, we had one of our first arguments, [00:08:22.07] it was if we should put nice after-market wheels on one of our company vehicles, and it was a lesson that I learned right off the bat from him and sticking to that core principal of, hey, we have a brand and an image to uphold. 2000 dollars for rims, we do not have in the budget for it, [00:08:41.16] but we need to do it because that’s who we are and luckily he won that conversation, and we put the rims on the truck, and I’m not saying we’re successful because we put the rims on the truck, but people know us now as the flat black chevvies, that drive down the road with twenty inch rims on it, you know, it’s just different from everyone else, [00:08:59.16]and people appreciate that, we stuck to our core values. And then the third thing, is just staying motivated, and staying dedicated. So, if you’re going to start a business and go down that road, don’t let anything get in your way of stopping you, and there will be obstacles and there will be hurdles, and pain, and long nights, and a lot of stress, [00:09:19.13]and everything that comes along with it, but if you can fight through it, you will be really happy, I truly believe in that.
Bo: So, just a little note to my audience, for the ones that live in Mesa, [inaudible 00:09:29.16], all these areas in Arizona, if you’ve seen a Green Mango truck, then you know that they’re all black, decked out, the side is Green Mango, and just these huge monstrous wheels, and that’s the person I want to squash my bugs, [00:09:41.29] just from the looks of your trucks. So, how much do you think that car advertising through trucks and I saw you had a [inaudible 00:09:47.21] with a little, and I’m not saying that’s a big monstrous truck, but it does the job too, so. How much do you think that car advertising does for your company?
Cameron Bawden: You know it’s one of those hard indicators to track, [00:10:01.13] and that’s why Dusty and I were having such a battle towards it at the beginning, because it’s an overall brand that you’re trying to create, when you’re starting a company, to say, on average, we probably get two hundred accounts a year from our truck sales, but I don’t know what that number would mean if we just drove around normal trucks. So, that’s hard to say. [00:10:24.04]
Bo: I never can really see the brand of your trucks, what do you guys use Chevy, or Ford. What do you guys use?
Cameron Bawden: We use Chevy.
Bo: Yeah, I was just wondering, because I’ve placed bets with my Dad, he’s like, I don’t even know.
Cameron Bawden: So yeah, Chevy for Green Mango, and actually my business partner in Black Hat Security is Jeff Wyman, [00:10:44.22] he owns a little bit of the dealership here at Henry Browns, so we go through them to buy our Black Hat Security trucks, so we do GMC for Black Hat.
Bo: And I noticed that, of your two companies, both of them protect homes from busting bad guys, and killing bugs. [00:11:03.08] Is there any other home security things that aren’t covered by one of your companies?
Cameron Bawden: How I could answer that, the reason why I got into Black Hat Security, and obviously I started with pest control, is because the business models are really similar, in the sense of they’re both service companies, [00:11:21.04] and they’re both residual businesses, so once you get the customer initially signed up, if you do your job and continue to be who you say you’re going to be, in the sense of servicing a home, and obviously protecting the home, they’ll stick with you for life, and so I love the business model around that. [00:11:42.01]
Bo: I have a million questions about a million things, but I want to talk a little bit about Black Hat, and what’s the story of how you came up to that, because in my house it just kind of came out of nowhere, it’s like, hey I’m going to meet with Black Hat, and it’s the first time I’ve ever heard about it, and I’m like, what’s Black Hat? And then my next thing was I’m sure Cam is behind it, so… [00:12:01.00]
Cameron Bawden: You know, it’s an interesting story, I’m kind of like you Bo, in the sense that I’ve got to be busy, I need to be doing something at all times. So, when I mentioned earlier about Green Mango how it went from a door-to-door company to more of an advertising company, putting on accounts, [00:12:22.14]and during that time, I went from working sixteen, seventeen hour days, to not having to do very much with Green Mango, because we had to put managers in place because we were getting to a size to where Dusty and I couldn’t do everything, and so we had to put managers in place for the technicians for the office, [00:12:41.19] for the salesmen, and I was kind of…I found a lot of open time, and it bothered me, and so I was looking for that new challenge in my life, and I knew with how well Green Mango could be doing, I could open up another company and have the time to do it, [00:12:58.27] and still give the attention needed for both companies. So, about a year ago, I’ve always saw the security business model as we were…we’d always recruit against…when you’re starting a company and you’re doing door-to door sales, you have three big companies that you’re recruiting against for the salesmen. [00:13:20.29] So you have solar, you have alarms, and you have pest control, and so when we would meet with these reps, and try and get them to come and sell with us, we were always constantly talking about what they could make with selling an alarm system or what they could make with doing solar, and so I was always around it for a while and it always intrigued me. [00:13:38.26] And so when I was looking for something else to fill my time, I immediately went towards security, and a couple of different, I personally have a little boy, his name is Binks, he’s three and a half.
Bo: Everybody loves Binks, huh?
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, everyone loves Binks, and then we just had a little girl, her names Ivy, she’s about six months old now, [00:13:59.23] and for me there’s just something about arming this system at night, and giving you that peace of mind. I have guns in my house, I have a gun by my bed, but there’s just something about getting a little bit more noticed if someone would come into the home, or the scary thought of someone slipping through Binks’ window in the middle of the night, [00:14:20.09] which is on the other side of the house, and me not knowing it. And so, I’m really passionate about this security, and protecting kids and obviously my wife, when I’m out of town, and so as we started to go down that road, and I started to really crunch the numbers, it just made sense for me to start the company and I originally started it, [00:14:43.01] I wanted to do it a little bit smaller than Green Mango. I didn’t want to take on the pressure of investors. I didn’t want to have that burden on me at first, and so I originally actually went to my dad. I went to him and I said, look, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me with Green Mango, because he was one of the original investors in Green Mango that we went to. [00:15:03.04]
Bo: And I’m guess that he’s one of the reasons why you guys went through the roof in sales?
Cameron Bawden: My dad, he’s an amazing salesman. So, I went to him and gave him an opportunity to come in on this, at just a really small level, in the sense that, hey, I’m not looking to blow this thing up,[00:15:18.28] I want to keep it small, there is going to be some growing pains of learning the industry, I get that, I understood, just because I did it once with Green Mango, and then I thought I knew the service industry, I can just go open up any service company. I knew that there’s going to be some growing pains, and a learning curve there. And so, I wanted to start it off slow, and go through those growing pains, [00:15:40.29] and then grow it, put the fuel on the fire after that. So, the first three months, it was just my dad, and myself, a part of the company. We signed a deal with Johnjay and Rich to start advertising with them.
Bo: And they’re 1059, right?
Cameron Bawden: 1047.
Bo: Oh, 1047, [00:15:58.00] sorry.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, 1047, and those first few months I started to see some serious traction on there, and of course, knowing myself, I wanted to make shortly after, I wanted to make this thing huge, and that’s when I approached Jeff Whiteman to be another partner in this, and really put the fuel on the fire, and go big.[00:16:19.19] So, we’ve been able to keep all of the accounts, in-house, and so we’re going month to month right now, seeing how it’s going and we’re testing the market. The radio, we started on the radio. The radio might not be the market that’s going really well for us right now. We’re doing a couple of other siding things with OUR, Operation Underground Railroad, [00:16:40.01] and we’re still trying to find that marketing niche, where we can really reach the right demographic with people, so…
Bo: And you’re talking about Operation Underground Railroad, and I know that my dad’s involved in Black Hat, and that, so did you kind of use my dad as kind of a melting point between those two?
Cameron Bawden: Well it was really cool, [00:16:58.20] obviously your dad’s a part of Black Hat Security, and we’re looking for a way to really make a difference. We don’t want to just be known as another security company, and that’s kind of my whole goal, when I start these companies, is that I don’t want to just be known as another pest control company. I don’t want to be known as another security company. [00:17:20.02] We want to differentiate ourselves, and so I feel like we’ve done that already with the brand, with the service, with the technicians we hire, everything that we do with the security company, but there’s just something still missing, and you know, as your dad was down here for one of the trips, we started talking, we thought how cool would it be to drive more awareness to OUR, [00:17:43.17] and helping save children, because that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re helping, we’re trying to protect families. The automation is awesome, being able to control your thermostats, and your door locks and your garages and have the doorbell cameras. That’s all cool, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the security of the home,[00:18:00.22] and of your family, and so we thought, let’s talk to Tim Ballard and see if there’s a play there, and as we talked to him, he was really excited about it, and we’ve worked out a deal to where we actually will give back 10 percent of our monitoring fees to OUR, which is a substantial amount of money to go towards that cause and saving children here in Arizona. [00:18:21.18]
Bo: And I don’t know if this is a compliment or an insult, but I’ll try, but you guys aren’t just another security company, you guys have the charity behind it, the cool logo, the monstrous trucks and stuff, the great quality product.
Cameron Bawden: I think that’s a compliment, I appreciate that. [00:18:39.02]
Bo: Alright, ok, good, because Ava, she did a little performance for singing, in a Genesis thing, and she had over 2000 people up on her feed sharing…
Cameron Bawden: Wow.
Bo: And I was so proud of her and I went up and I said, Ava, you’ve never had a performance that good, and I did not realize how bad that sounded. I was kind of embarrassed. [00:18:59.12]
Cameron Bawden: No, I think that’s being a good brother though.
Bo: So, thank you, but I was just making sure that, that never happens again with any other sort of insult, or compliment, either way, right.
Cameron Bawden: Yip, right.
Bo: I got kind of sidetracked by OUR, but I want to go back to the kind of the start of Black Hat. What was that first sale like? Were you guys going door to door, with Black Hat too, starting? [00:19:18.10]
Cameron Bawden: No, so we started, I’ll never forget it. We went live on the radio, and the first spot airs at 5 o’clock in the morning, and I remember waking up at 4:30 that morning, and at 5:15 the first lead came in, through our e-mail. We tried people to our website, to submit, to request a quote, and I remember we went live at 5 o’clock, and 5:15 I got my first lead, and I just remember thinking, this is going to be awesome. [00:19:48.03]
Bo: Was that with Johnjay and Rich at 5 in the morning, or …
Cameron Bawden: Yes, that’s when their show starts early in the morning.
Bo: Yeah, and I don’t know if this is a good idea, or not, but I think that early morning radio stations are a good thing, because there’s a lot of people that wake up early in the morning, because sometimes they have a long drive to work, so.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah. [00:20:05.12]
Bo: So you definitely had a good time? I mean it’s not like 4 o’clock in the afternoon good time, but it’s a pretty good time, so.
Cameron Bawden: I think it’s a pretty good time. A lot of people, with Johnjay and Rich, we went with them just because they’re funny guys and they get behind the product and they have some funny stories. [00:20:20.23] A week ago, Johnjay actually had one of his co-workers break into his house the day after we did the install, and it was pretty funny, they put it live on the radio, and it was a good blurb for us, but the guy came in the house, and the alarm obviously immediately went off, [00:20:38.28] and you could hear the sirens blaring in the background, and Johnjay’s wife was coming down the stairs so they’re just fun guys. They know how to advertise a company. They know how to make it fun and so, they have a good audience that loves them, and so that morning drive I’d find myself whenever I into the car in the morning, the first thing I do is, 1047, they’re just interesting to listen to, so. [00:21:02.18]
Bo: And were you at Johnjay’s house?
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, we were there the day before that, yip.
Bo: And I don’t want to ask this, but I kind of have to, but did he have Black Hat Security?
Cameron Bawden: Before?
Bo: Yeah, during the break-in.
Cameron Bawden: During the break in, yeah, so I think that’s why he did it. The day before he had a different security company, [00:21:21.28] and we installed it in his house that night, or that day. It took us a full day to install it. It took two guys. He has a nice home, a lot of sensors, a lot of motion, everything there, and the next day he had his co-worker break in.
Bo: And you can just lie on this part, but were you guys all set up, was everything done, or were you still in the process of installing? [00:21:44.12]
Cameron Bawden: Because of how big the home is, it took all day, but my guys, like I said I have amazing technicians, one of the things that we…the ways that we differentiate ourselves in the industry, is, we don’t pay our technicians for a job, so they’re not rushed through the job. We pay all of our guys, are on a salary, [00:22:00.28] so they want to get the job done right, and so they were there literally all day, I think they got there at 7 o’clock and they left at 8:45, but yeah when they left, it was all finished.
Bo: What was it like meeting Johnjay and Rich?
Cameron Bawden: Johnjay is an interesting guy. He’s on his phone a lot, with social media, [00:22:22.02] and I think that’s why a lot of people love him. He engages a lot, like if you follow him on Instagram, you’ll see he’s doing Instagram stories, or Instagram live, Facebook live, all the time.
Bo: Well, I’m following him now. I didn’t even know he was on Instagram.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, so you have to follow him, and you’ll see what I mean. He’s just a funny guy, and we’re at lunch the other day, [00:22:42.04] and there was this older gentleman behind us, we were talking loud, because there’s a big group of us, and you could tell he was kind of giving us that look, because we were in a nicer restaurant, and he busted out his phone and started filming the guy, and it was just kind of funny how he gets people talking, and he creates stories, [00:23:00.02] but Rich, he’s awesome. He’s actually in a band, in a local band, he plays a lot around here, but they’re just good, down to earth guys. They do a lot of good in the community for Arizona, they support the LovePupFoundation, so I think at any given time Johnjay has like eight to ten dogs at his house, and so it’s just crazy. [00:23:20.12]
Bo: So, I’m guessing just from the way you’re kind of planning it out that he’s a pretty successful guy?
Cameron Bawden: Johnjay and Rich, yeah, they’ve had a lot of success in their industry for sure.
Bo: And earlier you said that you were starting to lose things to do, so you started Black Hat, which I’m guessing is doing pretty good, right. [00:23:38.07]
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, it’s going well, so we’re hitting all of our numbers and on pace for where we want to be.
Bo: And then you said that there’s three types of home security things. There’s pest control, solar, and security. So, do you think that if you ever get bored again, you might do solar?
Cameron Bawden: You know, the past few months, as we’ve really put the fuel on the fire with Black Hat Security, [00:24:00.15] I started to experience those pains that come with starting a company, and the stress that comes with it, and probably right now, I don’t think I’ll start another company any time soon, at least for the next four or five years, so, maybe in five years I’ll start something again, but I’m dedicated to making this just as big as Green Mango Pest Control, [00:24:20.25] and it takes a lot of work, a lot of people think you can just start a company and put your name on the door and people will come, but there’s a lot more involved than just that.
Bo: And also, I think that you have another reason, I think that Jeff is kind of tired of donating trucks, so, anyway, [00:24:43.23] is there any advice you’d give anyone in my crowd that’s starting a business?
Cameron Bawden: Advice in starting a business, if I was talking to you Bo, at your age, one of the things that I regret the most I truly believe, life and business is all about who you know, [00:25:00.24] and the people that you network with, and so one of my regrets, I’m naturally…once you get to know me, I talk a lot, and I feel like I’m a pretty good friend, but if I don’t know you, I’m more of the quiet guy, and that’s how I was in school, and so I never really reached out to those people that weren’t really in my interests of sports,[00:25:24.05] or outdoor activities, or whatever it is. But, I would just encourage, if you’re going to school or wherever you’re at, to reach out to those people around you, and network with them, and you never know, not so much when you’ll need them, but it’s just good to know people in different fields. [00:25:42.03] It’s kind of cool to see, as I’ve teamed up with your dad, and as I’ve teamed up with Jeff, and now with Johnjay and Rich, and just the connections of people that you know, you can get in doors a lot easier when you know people, rather than, I’ve got nothing against school or anything, but I feel like it goes a lot further if you know someone rather than have a school that you went to.[00:26:04.29]
Bo: Ok, that’s actually pretty great advice, because I started a little business with my friend from school. We made frames for scout rockets, maybe two and then the summer came, and we gave up, so. [00:26:18.00] And usually I’m a mid-roll ad, but since I’ve figured that you’re a fourth of all my ads, would you like to give an ad for Black Hat Security, or Green Mango, you can choose, right now.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, so the promotion that we’re running right now, is free installation, free equipment and no activation charges, and then Johnjay and Rich love the doorbell camera that we do, [00:26:42.18] so we do a free doorbell camera for all of our listeners that mention Johnjay and Rich.
Bo: Oh, really?
Cameron Bawden: So, now more than ever especially with our business model, security is more affordable than ever. You just pay the monthly monitoring and you get all the equipment for free. And then with pest control, you know Green Mango, it’s still my baby, [00:27:01.26] I’ll never forget about it, I love it, it’s amazing to see how many customer referrals come in each day from Green Mango Pests, and I think that speaks a lot towards the office, to the technicians that we hire, and the products that we use. So, we traditionally run a huge promotion on the initial discount, because most people in Arizona already have a pest control company, [00:27:21.24] so it’s not so much a new…most of our accounts are a switch over. Someone that signs up, it’s very rare that they didn’t have pest control prior, and so we say, hey look, try us out for 49 dollars for the first initial flush out, it’s usually 199. We’ll come out and show you what we do, and everyone loves it. [00:27:40.24]
Bo: And so that’s a great ad for both your companies, and I just realized this, that you have two companies and two kids, so I’m realizing that Binks would be like, Mango, and then Ivy would be kind of like Black Hat.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, I mean, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what Binks loves to do. [00:28:00.07]
Bo: And I just want to give another quick ad for Green Mango, and I’ll just tell a quick story. So, I started my podcast as a fresh brand-new baby podcast, I’m kind of like a middle-aged podcast now, but…and then you guys left Utah region, and so we didn’t have pest control for a while, but you guys…we still had your traps and they still work, [00:28:20.14] after months, and then there’s still bugs that go on them, and in fact a few days ago, we got a cockroach probably the size of this microphone.
Cameron Bawden: Oh wow.
Bo: Not the size of the frame, but like the size probably of this black part, which probably is three inches for the people that can’t see it, and so I just wanted to say thank you, because that could have been in my bed, and cockroaches are my biggest fear actually, so… [00:28:40.15]
Cameron Bawden: Nice, well you’re welcome.
Bo: So thank you so much, and so have you met Tim Ballard, for getting you where you are also?
Cameron Bawden: We have yes, so it was really cool. We did an event, I think it’s been two weeks now, we had an event with Tim Ballard, Johnjay came, a couple of other radio stars, the 1025 hosts,[00:29:00.19] Jay Kennedy, 95 high, and then we invited a lot of bloggers,[00:29:04.29] a lot of real estate developers, property managers, people of influence that we wanted to come, and hear Tim Ballard’s speak to get the word out, and obviously about Black Hat Security as well, so I physically met Tim for the first time two weeks ago. Great guy. Love what he’s doing. [00:29:21.11]
Bo: And you said that Johnjay and Rich, and Tim, and all of them were there, and was my dad there too, I’m guessing?
Cameron Bawden: He was, yeah, and Jeff Whiteman.
Bo: Did Tim and Johnjay meet and like get along and talk about Black Hat and all of that?
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, our whole goal of the meeting was to get everyone together and show Johnjay and Rich, [00:29:40.15] and there’s a couple of representatives from iHeartRadio that we wanted them to meet the owners of Black Hat, we wanted them to meet Tim Ballard and see that once again we’re not again just another alarm company trying to turn and burn the accounts.
Bo: You’re one that saves kids and busts bad guys now?
Cameron Bawden: That’s right. [00:29:59.26]
Bo: Did you approach Tim, or did he approach you guys?
Cameron Bawden: To become a sponsorship, your dad actually reached out to them, to bring in a part of Black Hat Security.
Bo: Ok, and so can you kind of dumb that down, because my dad’s with both, so I got kind of confused, he said, I reached out them, and I was like, which ones.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, no problem, so, if you remember when I first told you about how we got OUR started, [00:30:24.22]your dad was down here in Arizona, and we were brainstorming of how else we can differentiate ourselves in the industry, and obviously OUR came up, and so when I say reached out, and this is what I talk about with networking and knowing people, [00:30:39.04]because your dad had such an amazing relationship already, with OUR. He already knew Tim on a personal basis to where he could call him, tell who we were as a company, and the people behind it, and because Tim knows the people behind it, and obviously knows your dad, we didn’t have to go through all the loopholes and then through the many, many people that you would have to, if, say,[00:31:01.26] just anyone on the street approached OUR, and said, hey we want to give 10 percent to your organization, can we have our ties partnerships with you. You probably wouldn’t be able to do that if you didn’t know them.
Bo: I want to mention something kind of funny, I was walking in this building and I looked at your trucks, and I was like jeez, those are some nice trucks, and on one of your truck wheels, [00:31:21.25] kind of towards the road, on the side of the wheel on the road, you know how it’s kind of like the Pacman shape a little. I saw just a huge bug on there, and I’m like, that is Green Mango Pest right there. Even when they’re not around bugs still get killed, you know.
Cameron Bawden: Even when they’re not around. There you go.
Bo: So, also, [00:31:39.01] are there any times where you were scared that your business would kind of go belly up, and you’d have to start like a solar company or something, or something like that?
Cameron Bawden: Honestly, the first four years of Green Mango, probably three, the first three years of Green Mango, Dusty and I were having to literally put on four to five accounts each, every night, on the doors, [00:32:01.14] just to pay for our salesmen, and keep the doors open, so there was a lot of stress, those first few years of thinking, just hoping that the hard work will pay off, and that’s what I mean. There’s going to be those times where you think it’s going to go belly up or you think you can’t pay whatever bill. [00:32:22.29] If you just continue to work hard, and, for us, it was, hey, let’s stay another hour and get another couple more accounts, because that’s going to make all the difference, and so our goal every single day would be to go out and knock doors, after we did all of our office duties, from 4 o’clock until 9 o’clock, [00:32:41.23] and put on five [inaudible 00:32:43.21]articles, five accounts a day, between Dusty and I. And we knew if we could do that, it would get us through the finances that we needed to do, so…
Bo: And I know that you love talking about security and pest control, and your family and stuff, but outside of that, [00:32:59.05] I’ve been getting kind of an addiction with asking this question, but other than that, what would you prefer to talk about?
Cameron Bawden: Right now, and it’s probably kind of sad, but that’s all I do, you know, I get home, and I just play with my kids, I love being outdoors, as you know, when I was 16, one of the things that I got was my airplane license, [00:33:21.27] so I had my single engine, my multi engine, my instrument, and also helicopter, and so I love, love, love flying. I love to raise a ride, so try and go up to the dunes. So, I love anything with a motor, I love to be on it, but Monday through Friday, [00:33:40.06] Monday through Saturday, most of the day I’m either on the phone taking sales, or working, trying to build a business, and then grow it, so later on down the road, I can have that freedom that I desire with Binks and Ivy, and Liss.
Bo: And that’s pretty interesting, because I have two thoughts on that. [00:33:58.20] I can’t believe that by the time you’re 16, you could fly your date and if you said, hey do you want to go up to St George on mountain bike or something, you’re just, ok, hop in, on the plane.
Cameron Bawden: Yeah, so it’s funny, my dad got me started, he thought if he gave me a project, such as getting my airplane license, it would take me away from having time to hang out with girls, but little did he know, I just…I’d just invite the girls on the airplane and impress them, so I took all my dates flying. [00:34:25.07]
Bo: And how are you doing in general, just before we close up this interview. How are you doing, just in general?
Cameron Bawden: I’m doing great, so it’s important…one of the things that I’m learning is that balance is important. You can’t just work 16/17-hour days, [00:34:41.02] you’ve got to leave that time for your family, you’ve got to know when to shut off the phone at night when you get home. That’s one of the things I’m trying to learn right now, but overall, I’m happier than ever, and excited for the future.
Bo: That’s good, and thank you for coming on to my dumbitdown show, [00:34:58.22] and of course this episode is sponsored by Green Mango Pest Control, so they have the best pest control with the most high-quality traps, and the most amazing salesmen, and now they used to serve in Utah, and I got that wrong, with my first few ads for them, so I’m sorry Cam.
Cameron Bawden: It’s all good, we were there up until four months ago.
Bo: Do you guys serve almost anywhere in Arizona? [00:35:20.28]
Cameron Bawden: We do, yip, we go anywhere.
Bo: So if you live in Arizona and you see a scorpion, blame your old pest control company, and switch to Green Mango because they are awesome. Go to greenmangopest.com. You can find out their contact, what they do, find great deals. So, just thank you for Green Mango, and I’m glad to call them a member of the team, [00:35:38.18] so thank you for coming out to my dumbitdown show. And enjoy the rest of your night.
[00:35:48.14]
