He Nearly Went Bankrupt… Then Built 5 Companies Worth Over $1 Billion | David Royce

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David Royce is known as the “Pest Control Mogul.”

But before the exits, the sales teams, and the billion-dollar valuations, he was a broke college student working minimum wage and failing to make a single door to door sale for five straight days.

He poured his savings into his first company, worked 16-hour days for nearly a decade, and came close to bankrupting the business before learning how to control cash flow, train elite salespeople, and build recurring revenue.

He went on to knock 60,000 doors, create a sales system that helped reps outperform competitors, and build cultures inspired by companies like Google, Meta, and Zappos.

Today, he has built and sold five companies for over $1 billion in combined value and invests in private opportunities that most people never get access to.

In this episode, David breaks down door to door sales, rejection, body language, recurring revenue, boring businesses, leadership, hiring operators, business systems, private investing, AI, and why persistence may be the most underrated advantage in business.


00:00 Intro
01:05 Starting in Pest Control and Building the First Company
17:02 Sales Training, Service Differentiation, and Recurring Revenue
29:34 Business Systems, Training Manuals, and Time Priorities
34:38 Solar Business Mistakes, Boring Businesses, and Investing
43:55 Books for Sales, Wealth, Scaling, and Company Culture
46:38 Persistence, Developing Leaders, and Closing Remarks


Find David Royce here
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedavidroyce/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-royce-22539425/

Learn more about Aptive Recruiting:
https://www.aptiverecruiting.com/

Aptive Pest Control:
https://aptivepestcontrol.com/

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