Dave Royce on Pest Control, Private Equity, and Purpose
6/24/202636 min
In this episode of The Money Mondays, Dan Fleyshman sits down with entrepreneur Dave Royce, who built four pest control companies and a solar energy company while helping scale one of the largest residential pest control businesses in the United States.
Dave shares how he went from a broke college student struggling to make a single sale to becoming a top rookie, sales manager, founder, and multi-time business builder. He breaks down the door-to-door sales model, how young reps can earn life-changing money in a single summer, and why sales is one of the most valuable skills anyone can learn.
Dan and Dave also dive into investing after a big income year, how to avoid lifestyle inflation, why access matters in private investments, and how to think about risk, savings, and long-term wealth. The conversation closes with a powerful discussion on philanthropy, purpose, education, charity, and Dave’s commitment to giving the majority of his wealth away.
This episode is for anyone interested in sales, entrepreneurship, scaling teams, investing smarter, and building a life with both money and meaning.Like this episode? Watch more like it 👇Watch ALL Full Episodes Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs0D-M5aH-0IOUKtQPKts-VZfO55mfH6k---The Money Mondays is a business podcast here to teach you how to make money, invest money, and donate money by showcasing some of the world's most successful people and how they do the same. Hosted by serial entrepreneur Dan Fleyshman, the youngest founder of a publicly traded company in history, this money podcast gives you an exclusive behind the scenes look at how the wealthiest celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes and influencers make, invest and donate money.If you want to learn more business and investing while you work to improve your financial life, you're in the right place! Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@themoneymondays?sub\_confirmation=1Dan Fleyshman,The Money MondaysLearn more here: https://themoneymondays.comWatch all the podcast episodes: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs0D-M5aH-0IOUKtQPKts-VZfO55mfH6kLet’s Connect...Website: https://themoneymondays.comPodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-money-mondays/id1663564091Twitter: https://twitter.com/themoneymondaysLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-money-mondays/about/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@themoneymondaysFB: https://www.facebook.com/The-Money-Mondays-110233585203220/
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDan Fleyshman· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a special edition of the Money Mondays podcast, where we cover three core topics: how to make money, how to invest money, how to give it away to charity. Our guest has built a humongous company in a very unique category that every one of you has dealt with, things that happen inside of your household or right outside of your household. You might be thinking, "What is he talking about? Is it my alarm system? Is it the, the pest control situation? Is it my roofing, my garage? What is it?" We're gonna dive right in. What I want you guys to keep in mind, these podcasts are under 40 minutes for your listening pleasure, because the average workout is 45 minutes. The average commute to work is 45 minutes. This episode will be between 36 and 40 minutes for you guys. We're gonna dive right in. Dave, give us the quick two-minute bio so we can get straight to the money.
Dave Royce· Guest0:52
Yeah. So, uh, built four pest control companies and a solar energy company.
Dan Fleyshman· Host0:56
Four?
Dave Royce· Guest0:57
Yeah. Yeah. [chuckles] And part of that strategy was I f- I figured out this thing called an asset deal, where I could sell off just the customer base, basically the book of business. I could sell that off, take all that money, and throw it into the next company, and so it was a way to basically get investment with... and still being able to have all the control and all the equity on my own.
Dan Fleyshman· Host1:14
Wow.
Dave Royce· Guest1:15
So I did that for about 20 years. Every, roughly every four years, the first four years, I would sell, get money, you know, rinse and repeat, same thing over and over, and then, uh, yeah, became the third-largest residential pest control company.
Dan Fleyshman· Host1:26
The third largest?
Dave Royce· Guest1:27
Yeah, in the United States.
Dan Fleyshman· Host1:28
Okay. So how did it start?