From Baseball to Business: Building a 40-Employee Pest Control Empire with Matthew Eickman

Brent Peterson (00:02.278)
Welcome to this episode of Uncharted Entrepreneurship. Today I have Matthew Eickman. Matt, go ahead, do an introduction for yourself. Tell us your day-to-day role and what you've got exciting for business this year.

Matt (00:13.43)
Absolutely. Well, first off, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. my role currently I'm the CEO of Abercadabra Pest and Wildlife Control. so right now my day to day is really removed from, the general operation. We've got a great team that's running that. My job is really just to support everybody within the organization and make sure that we're doing everything we can to, to continue to have the right resources and everything as we're going on our.

trajectory for scaling. I get to do a lot of fun stuff, get to talk to cool guys like you, and really just continue to build really the future. kind of live three to five years down the road. and I really just try to bring that to the leadership team so that we can continue to drive in that direction.

Brent Peterson (01:07.506)
Cool, and anything exciting for you this year that you're doing that's new or fun?

Matt (01:12.462)
Yeah. Well, I mean, we're excited about, I get excited about a lot of stuff, right? But 2025, um, what's really cool is, is we've, we've built the leaders within our organization, right? So, so what's happened is they've really shifted the ownership over to them and they're driving it instead of in the past where I've really been driving it. I'm really proud of them. I'm super excited about that because it really.

allows the company to move forward a lot faster. And it removes me as the bottleneck, which for a lot of businesses that are growing, the founder and the CEO oftentimes is the bottleneck in the growth. So we've worked hard to get to this point so we can, so I can kind of step back and let them do what they're really good at.

Brent Peterson (02:01.158)
That's awesome. Okay. Before we get into that, cause I'll have some questions around EOS and implementing different systems and fun stuff like that. You have volunteered to be part of the free joke project. I'm going to tell you a joke and you just give me a rating eight through 13. So here we go. The weirdest summer job I ever had was cleaning monkey cages at our local zoo. That shit was bananas.

Matt (02:18.71)
deal.

Matt (02:34.05)
I'll give it a nine. It would have been better if there was like the B-A-N-A-N-A-S like Fergie after that, but in its current state, a solid nine.

Brent Peterson (02:36.135)
Ha ha ha.

Brent Peterson (02:41.714)
huh. All right.

Thanks. I appreciate it. All right. So talk a little bit about your growth trajectory and your business and how you got where you're at.

Matt (02:56.856)
Yeah. So, I get asked this question all the time. so I'm a second generation operator. My father-in-law started the company, within the pest control space. The, the entry into the industry is kind of one of only a few ways either are related to somebody that owns a pest control company, or you kind of fell into it because it was a job opening that was better than whatever your previous job was. so.

My father-in-law ran abracadabra from 2002 to 2014 when I graduated college. I played college baseball, I blew a ligament out in my arm early on in the career, which allowed me to have a fifth year. so in that fifth year ended up double majoring. And in that last semester, I really only had one hour of class a week. So I had a lot of free time.

and student loans were on the horizon. So I started working with my father-in-law and really just fell in love with the ability to really manipulate work around my life instead of vice versa. I saw the power that that had. And I just kept running with it. Got married to my wife in 2017. then, excuse me, 2016, purchased the company in 2017. Don't be mad, Monica.

At that point, once I kind of got in control of the, steering wheel, pretty much, we really just put the foot to the foot on the gas pedal and started growing. So it was just me and Mike before I bought the company. Um, kind of a small one man in a spray can type of company. And in the first year after I took over, we hired two employee, three employees.

added a couple of new services and really just started to better serve our customers. And that allowed us to grow really quickly. So over the years, we went through a few different things, ended up having to build two separate divisions within the company to serve both wildlife and pest control side, because they're kind of different businesses altogether. And now here in 2025, we're sitting right around 40 employees.

Matt (05:21.178)
we've got two divisions completely separate and we're, we're serving thousands of customers every year. and our, team we've built is awesome. They're, they're really putting all the work in. I was just a guy that showed up first. So, I'm pretty blessed to be, blessed to have that opportunity. And, yeah, that's, does that kind of answer your question there?

Brent Peterson (05:45.618)
Yeah, that's great. I think keying in on manipulating your work around your life. A lot of people don't think it that way. They think about, hey, I'm just going to work 24-7. And I think maybe you can comment on this, but your business specifically is so localized in that it's harder for an entrepreneur not to let go of some of those things and stay local. And it does then impede a lot of those people from actually doing some of the other life things that they would like to do.

Matt (05:50.924)
Yeah.

Matt (06:15.214)
Yeah. So, I mean, family, I've really only got two things in my life. It's family and my business. Those are the things that are most important. They get 99 % of the attention. Um, but family is always going to be number one. Um, I'm blessed to be able to work with two of my brothers every single day, which is awesome. Um, but if it wasn't for my, my family, I've got three kids and a wife, uh, of almost 10 years now, like if it wasn't for them.

I probably wouldn't work as hard as I do because I wouldn't have that the same fire. so for me, if, and I've fallen into the valley a couple of times here, but, if, if I'm taking time away from my family to do work, something, something's not right. do I need to go to work? Yes. But there has to be a line that you draw in the sand where work stops.

Otherwise it just persists into everything. And now you're, you're really not present. And, that that's big for me. Cause the last thing your kid wants while he's trying to have you read him a story is for you to be on your phone responding to email. but I've been, I've been there before and, really had to, to learn the hard way to draw that line in the sand. So five o'clock done with work.

Sometimes it's earlier than that. Really when I get home, it stops. And I've had to go through like a ritual almost of when I get home, I know there's kids that are going to be super happy to see me. So as I'm going in, I'm like powering down the system pretty much and getting ready for the other more important part of my life, which is my family.

It's tough being in a service industry where phones ring in, customers want you to take care of them. You want to take care of them, obviously, but that can't be the priority over everything else. And unfortunately, I see a lot of operators where they kind of fall into that, well, honey, they called and they have this problem or whatever it is. it's really a tough balancing act there.

Matt (08:39.982)
until you make those really firm boundaries for yourself and then remain accountable to them.

Brent Peterson (08:47.546)
Yeah, that's, I mean, that's a great story. Tell us a little bit about how you were led into EO or how you discovered Entrepreneurship Organization and, and I know that you just started, but tell us how you discovered it.

Matt (09:00.75)
so I think I was introduced by, Kirsten Sansom. She, she is the PTO of, the school that my son goes to. so we met through that. and she brought it up to me maybe a year and a half, two years ago. I wasn't really in a place to join. and I didn't, full transparency. didn't really know what it was. but.

After going through the learning process, I've found that it's really a community. and it's something where there's a lot of structure around helping people elevate themselves. And for me, my main objective coming in was trying to make sure that I'm, I'm the developing myself to be the leader that the future advocate ever needs. and staying in front of the growth of the company so that as a leader, can

provide what the company needs. kind of look at it, a business like, like a kid, like you have to feed it, you have to take care of it. There's things that you have to do, but if, if you're, if you're not in the right state of mind, you can't effectively do that. So personal development and, learning is, something I love, but something I'm kind of obligated to do now.

in the role that I have. So EO is something that I think provides way more resources than I'm even aware of at this point. But the most important thing is really the community that I see that's been built around it and the energy that those people bring.

Brent Peterson (10:47.442)
The balance that you have in your personal life and your work life, it sounds like you have some of that already as you're going into EO. What is your expectations around how you network with people and how you interact with people within the EO network and events and things like that? Talking about personal and business and your own family life.

Matt (11:15.598)
So great question. So one thing that I've learned is one of the fastest ways to be disappointed is to have expectations. So I've really simplified it and this is kind of how I live my life. But every interaction in EEO and outside of that, that I come into, my goal is always to bring as much value as possible to anybody that I interact with.

Cause if, if it's just transactional, and it's always ROI you're looking for, oftentimes you miss a lot of the ROI that's there because you're looking for a dollar. So my goal is to just bring as much value as humanly possible and make sure that I'm. I'm showing up and I'm putting my effort in. cause what I've learned is if you, if you're putting the effort in, that's how you get results. You don't get results from not putting effort in. So.

I just want to be a sponge and ideally be the dumbest guy in the room so that I can grow as much as possible.

Brent Peterson (12:24.754)
You mentioned in our green room that you took some training yesterday or this last week on moderator, I mean on form training. Was there anything particular that you got out of that that was highlighted in your mind that you've learned?

Matt (12:43.67)
wow, what a good question. so it was yesterday that I had the training. and one thing that really stuck out to me, was I didn't know anybody in the room. I don't think anybody there knew each other. so we come in with that type of connection and throughout the, the learning process, the interaction we have with each other, but really the

the vulnerability that, that we all kind of opened up and talked about, like not the surface level stuff, like the deeper stuff. What it did for the group is it, it really brought us together, really quickly. Like it was a stark difference from when we all walked in the room and it started at nine o'clock versus when we were wrapping up headed to happy hour afterwards. and that to me was really, it was really eye opening.

Because it wasn't any type of magic that was really there. was just being present and creating space for those conversations to happen and asking the right questions. But that kind of evolution or transformation was, it's kind of magical.

Brent Peterson (14:03.076)
And I'm guessing you learned some things about resonating now and experience sharing rather than giving advice. Is there, yeah, go ahead, sorry.

Matt (14:10.23)
Yeah, well, that's my thing is I try to solve problems really fast. So I know that this process is going to be a big practice and patience for me. But by creating a format where people kind of find those answers themselves, rather than being told what to do, it allows for...

expansion of the learning opportunity for the individual whose dilemma it really is, without a bunch of random new ideas being thrown at them as they're trying to solve a problem. although it was foreign for me, it is incredibly powerful when you see it happen and you're given the tools that we were given yesterday. It really provides this framework for incredibly powerful

conversations and development of trust. Like it does a lot of things. So I'm super excited. I don't even know if I can put it into words.

Brent Peterson (15:15.918)
So you mentioned a little bit about growing your business. Did you employ any business frameworks to get where you're at? You mentioned having a leadership team now. And I think about EOS and Entrepreneurs Operating System scaling up, things like that. Is there a framework that you've employed or do you do this all organically?

Matt (15:37.742)
Another good question. There's a trend building here. So.

One thing that, that we did a few years back is I realized that we hit the original goal. had revenue wise of a million way before I thought we were going to. And now I didn't actually know what the team needed. So I found, I found a coach that was within the space who's, who's done it before he's scaled a business. He's grown a business and, I started working with him in a one-on-one, format. And although we.

We use some of the tactics or the structures that are provided in EOS and some of those other systems that you mentioned. We've really focused on building it kind of in a hybrid type of format. take the things that actually work for us and we implement them at a time that works best. I might be wrong in this belief, but I think some of those systems can really hinder or slow down growth.

of a company, depending on where they're at in that growth trajectory and cycle, because it takes a lot of time and effort to get everybody to learn all of that. So for that reason, we really just started with like added simple, simplest form, ensuring our team had support. So we started with everybody gets a one-on-one meeting with their manager or their direct report, every single week. So we do that every week.

For the leadership, it's 30 to 60 minutes, but for our other team members, sometimes it's 15 to 20 minutes. But it happens every week and that allowed us to really provide the support necessary to add the other parts of the systems as we've grown. Because as a small company, when you got six people, traction's a big, it's a big bite to...

Matt (17:44.152)
try to swallow. So we really just started small and had to kind of all go through the learning together and see how it worked rather than trying to force something. I don't know if that really answers your question there.

Brent Peterson (17:56.684)
And just to clarify, when you say traction, do mean the book traction? Or do you mean getting traction? Okay, got it, yeah.

Matt (18:00.142)
I guess like the whole concept like EOS like the operating system itself in my in my mind they're kind of interchangeable terms but obviously not in reality.

Brent Peterson (18:06.183)
Got it.

Brent Peterson (18:12.804)
Right, good. Matt, we have a few minutes left. What do you have that you could share some experience with other entrepreneurs that are thinking about looking at EO and EO network or don't even know about it yet?

Matt (18:30.606)
I would say don't look at the price tag and think about what it is you really want. and then think about the people you have in your circle and whether or not the conversations you're having with them are supporting your growth in that direction to accomplish your goals. so within EO, there's tons of resources and a lot that's there, but.

having people that are involved in business and they've built a business at a different level than you, even if it's in a different space, it allows for a lot of continuity within the conversation because you're talking about things that you can see aligning with other people and yourself. And now you can go take and make change there, but...

without having some type of rhythm or cadence to those conversations, it's hard to really take anything of value and go implement it in the business. this, structure that's there, although there's time commitment behind it, the value, I haven't even really started. I don't even have a forum yet, but I know the value's there just by showing up. Cause the people there aren't really gonna allow you to not.

So if you're somebody who wants to grow your business, and I assume if they're listening to this podcast that, that they do, it's a great opportunity. EO Minnesota is incredibly supportive, in the short time that I've been part of it. And I'm just looking forward to the future here.

Brent Peterson (20:19.292)
That's awesome and Matthew, how would people get a hold of you if they wanted to get in touch?

Matt (20:25.966)
So if you've got pest issues, obviously check out our website, Aber Cadabra Environmental, or any of the social media channels.

If social media is the easiest, that way you can reach out. Or we've got a podcast ourself, Homegrown Hustle. You can send us a direct message there and I'll get that as well. That's probably going to be the best way to get in contact.

Brent Peterson (20:55.088)
That's awesome and I, you we sort of covered the shameless plug, but you know, at very end, we always give everybody a chance to do a shameless plug. What would you like to plug today?

Matt (21:03.438)
So the homegrown hustle is really similar to what you have going on here. We talk about stories and the things that people don't talk about within their business journey, because I believe that through hearing those stories, kind of like within EO, people can learn faster and innovate within their own business.

Cause my goal with all of that is to ideally innovate the entire twin cities business, market, it starts with, you gotta start somewhere. So the, homegrown hustle around all the podcast channels and social media. So if you're interested in growing your business, check that out. that would be my shameless plug.

Brent Peterson (21:54.226)
That's awesome. Matthew Eickman, the CEO of Abra Kababra or Abra, yeah, Pest Control and the podcast host of Homegrown Hustle. Thank you so much for being here today.

Matt (22:01.067)
Average and average.

Matt (22:08.206)
Thank you, really appreciate your time.