My guest today sold the same company four times and built over a billion dollars in exits doing it, in pest control, of all industries. David Royce walks me through how he kept his "golden goose" (the sales force and executive team) every time he sold, rolled the cash into the next venture, and rebuilt without ever giving up equity. We get into how that took him from zero to 500 million in eight years, why fast growth nearly bankrupted him first, and the 5 am text that pulled his father out of hospice.
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Connect with David Royce
Website: https://bit.ly/3R7BpNm
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LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4gdSvU2
Timestamps
00:00 - Intro of Show
02:10 - Growing up and early life
02:27 - Dad ran public companies then lost everything
03:56 - Stumbling into pest control by accident
04:51 - Zero sales for five days then top rookie
05:03 - How he learned to sell
05:41 - Making $225K in one summer
06:49 - The light bulb moment
08:06 - Almost bankrupting the company
09:57 - Managing cash while growing fast
10:22 - Sales psychology that changed everything
13:01 - Lessons from three exits
13:14 - Sell the book keep the team
15:16 - Other industries where this works
16:25 - Building the same team across companies
17:50 - White collar culture in a blue collar industry
18:11 - The book that changed everything
20:39 - Green and red flags when hiring
21:55 - Hire slow fire fast
22:46 - Why he recruited missionaries
23:50 - Sold the company and what's next
25:33 - Having two daughters
26:37 - Teaching kids resilience
27:10 - Losing their home in the LA fires
29:06 - Staying in the middle politically
31:24 - Social media and brainwashing
32:05 - How he thinks about legacy
33:20 - Is college still worth it?
37:05 - Private school vs homeschool
40:06 - How he thinks about AI
43:54 - When AI becomes dangerous
45:12 - AI and the future of medicine
46:26 - AI as a better therapist
50:10 - Flying his dad out to save his life
53:23 - 30 Acts of Kindness app
55:17 - Chick-fil-A vs McDonald's
56:22 - Servant leadership and developing people
59:02 - Servant leaders vs visionary jerks
1:01:11 - Where to find David Royce
Watch the “David Guttman Podcast” every Tuesday at 8 AM EST on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3ZGK2yv
Connect with David Guttman
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Podcast platforms:
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