The Loew Down
The Loew Down is the podcast where Hamilton's small business community tells its own story — origin stories, pivots, hard lessons and the real advice that only comes from someone who's actually been through it.
The Loew Down
Matus’s Story: The Bed Bug Guy Nobody Talks About. Until They Have To.
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Matus Baran has been the guy nobody calls unless they have to — and he’s completely fine with that. He runs Green Heat Bed Bugs Exterminators out of Hamilton, Ontario, doing 100% chemical-free heat treatment for bed bug infestations across Hamilton, Niagara, and the surrounding area. He bought the business from a guy he met in Cuba, built it from the ground up, and has been doing it for a decade.
In this conversation, we get into the stigma nobody talks about — why people panic, why they beg him to drive an unmarked truck, and why bed bugs have nothing to do with how clean you are. We talk about the families in tears when he walks through the door, why heat treatment beats chemicals every single time, and what it’s like to build a business in an industry where word of mouth is almost impossible. And we close with Matus’s first Father’s Day coming up and what he wants his son to one day understand about this work.
Find Matus at bedbugsexterminators.ca or on Instagram @greenheatbedbugs.
Because your story matters.
You're listening to The Lowdown. I'm Kasti Lowen, Real Conversations with Small Business Owners in Hamilton. The version they tell their best friends, not the one they post. Because your story matters. So let's get into it. Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Lowdown. I'm your host, Cassidy, and today we have on Matheus Barron, owner of Green Heat Bed Bugs Exterminator. Welcome, Mateoos.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for taking the time to be on today.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having me. It's uh interesting uh with the whole bed bug situation going on and getting worse.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know. Okay, so tell us a little bit about the bed bugs because when I was looking into it, I'm like, these stats are are a little bit pretty crazy. So tell us more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I mean, I I've been doing it for about uh 10 years now. I first uh, you know, I first went, well, I went to school in the University of Guelph. I wasn't expecting to actually get into pest control or anything to do with any bugs. I went uh just you know vacation with family to Cuba. Uh met a guy there who actually was the bed bug exterminator that owned Green Heat. And uh he was from Burlington. I lived in Burlington. As you know, he he left. I I came back home and we met up again. He asked me if I wanted to work maybe one or two shifts just to see if I like it because he needed uh extra guy for you know just basically labor, right? So just help him with uh every job that he would get. And uh not every week was you know, three, four jobs, five jobs. It would be occasionally, sometimes one job, sometimes four. And uh I started working for him. I think I only worked for him for like six months, and uh he ended up uh actually moving on to a different kind of career path in like drones and weddings and all that. And I he was gonna sell his business to a competitor. Then I got the idea maybe he could sell it to me. You know, we laughed about it. He uh he said we could do that as long as I we kind of made a contract of, you know, I would pay him uh regularly as I worked to pay off the business that I would purchase from him. You know, he handed me down the trailer, the heat trailer that I used for the jobs, and then his uh truck as well, which was a lease takeover. Overall, like I started uh with some clientele as well, which helped. There was uh Orkin who gave me some jobs, uh, my personal jobs that would just be basically calls coming in. I already knew how to do the jobs since I worked for him. Uh, I already knew how the system runs. Uh, the only thing I I still needed to learn is obviously uh more about bed bugs and uh you know educate myself about their history and everything in between from then and how they start and how they multiply, all that kind of stuff. And then uh also on how to do the properly the heat treatment, right? How to actually strategize when you come to a house and see what the situation is. You have to assess the job, uh see how bad it is, see how long they've had these uh pests in their house, you know, and and such. And then I just kind of rolled from there, you know. I had an employee for a while, but recently I got a new trailer, uh, which doesn't require an extra person. So I am able to do actually heat treatments myself.
SPEAKER_00Oh, cool. That's awesome. Okay, can you walk me through your very first call, like the first the first house you ever attended to? How did that go?
SPEAKER_01So I obviously worked for the uh previous owners, so those were jobs where I remember that first job. It was my first time actually doing it. It was weird seeing bed bugs in in reality and uh you know uncovering them from mattresses and box springs and things like that. It became a little bit of uh same thing every day kind of thing. Like hey, just this becomes a you know a routine thing after a while. And then when I started the business and worked uh you know on my own and started answering these phone calls that first day, yeah, it's a little bit stressful because you're you know, first thing is you're driving a truck and a trailer, which you're also kind of inexperienced at the point. So you're gonna reverse the trailer into the driveway. You know, be there's a little bit of stress there. Then you go and talk to the customer, you gotta be professional, obviously, and uh and comfort them and you know make sure everything's gonna be okay because they're obviously a little bit stressed about the issue. And then you have an employee which you're trying to train as well. So yeah, it was it was a little bit, you know, but I'm okay with that. You know, I I like challenges in life, I like to adapt to new things and uh, you know, take on anything that comes my way, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know that's the that's awesome. I mean, I would imagine the the phone calls that you get insane when you come into their house or their business, they're probably quite in a panic state.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they uh usually, you know, some are in a panic state and some have been dealing with the problem for a while. And those people are a little more relaxed because they they know what's going on, they've educated themselves. The people, you know, the families that have uh little kids and stuff, and like the kids are getting, you know, maybe be bitten that night and they're not sure why they're crying, they're itchy, they got bites, and then eventually they find out what's going on. Sometimes you don't really know you have the problem uh right off the bat, as uh you think maybe it's mosquito bites or spider bites, but eventually, you know, the the problem uncovers itself as as they multiply. So those those customers can be definitely a little frantic. There may be some tears shed, you know. But you know, I'm there to try and comfort them in any way I can, even if it's uh uh therapeutic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're you're there to diffuse them emotionally and then like clear all the bed bugs at the same time. So then the the families and situations that they've been dealing with with it for a while, why why would it come back if it has already been treated before?
SPEAKER_01So, I mean, sometimes you're living in apartments, sometimes you're living in townhouses or semi-detached homes or or you know, multiplex houses. Those are the higher risk like residences that basically those places can have them and come back as well, even after you exterminate everything. Sometimes they may be in uh in an upper upper unit or the neighbor's unit, and then because they can travel between units if they're connected with you know the electrical outlets and uh even the older radiator systems in apartments, they can travel through those. You know, other bucks can do that as well. Obviously, cockroaches can be a big issue in apartment buildings as they travel through. But bed bugs, they can find a new source of meal. Uh if someone vacates their home for a while or their uh apartment, the bed bugs eventually get hungry and then they move to the next door unit. And even if you've done the treatment in that next door unit, you know, months before that, and the bed bugs just decide to kind of come over there from the next door unit, uh, you got them back again, right? And then they can spread easily. You know, maybe the reason you got them is maybe your child is out of daycare, that maybe another child has them and brought them into the daycare accidentally. Maybe it was a hospital visit, you know, maybe it was a Uber or taxi, you know, movie theater. You never know. High traffic areas are always a little more risky. Um, and another reason that people can get them back is uh buying secondhand things, right? Uh you go to thrift stores, you never know they can carry stuff as well.
SPEAKER_00Wow, I actually never knew that about bed bugs. I think I associate it only with don't get the cheapest hotel and be careful when you go to Airbnb's. I had no idea. I mean, it makes sense now that you're saying that, but I like daycares, the movie theater, taxis.
SPEAKER_01It's high anywhere you see a lot of people come and go can create a little bit of a risky scenario. But again, it's it's a really low chance, almost slim to none, to obviously have that happen. Uh, I've been in hotels, I you know, I s I still check the bed, but it's not like I'm expecting to find something. Most of the hotels chains and everything, they're fine. Airbnbs, I've been to a bunch, I've traveled around and I've never really sometimes I don't even check the bed. I'm just you know confident enough that it has nothing. But occasionally you will come into those uh areas, you know, that maybe someone has a lot of them and maybe they're the ones that are accidentally spreading them. They may wear the same clothes that they wear to bed, and then they walk out of their house and possibly go to a shopping mall or a restaurant and sit down in a chair and you know accidentally drop a couple eggs and and that can stick to someone else that goes into that chair, you know, the following hour or two.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I mean, it makes me think about life. That it just it spreads so easily, especially with kids at the school and stuff. I mean, so some of I was looking at the stats on on bed bugs in Canada, and uh I mean it's something I never really thought about. But um so Canadian pest control is a 2.8 billion industry in 2025 with bed bug extermination as the largest single segment. Toronto has been Canada's number one bed bug city for seven consecutive years, and Hamilton is in the top 25. So now your business is operating out of Hamilton. Where are you mostly traveling to right now for your calls?
SPEAKER_01So I would say uh 75% would be Hamilton and like surrounding areas, such as like Grimesby, Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, and things like that, which is I guess considered areas around Hamilton too. But so like St. Catharines, uh Niagara Falls, and make up a few other ones. Uh you'd have calls in obviously up towards like Etobicoke. Toronto is a is a little bit different because as they have they have a lot more competition there with the pest control companies. So it's a I I like to stick around that Hamilton, Brantford, and Niagara Falls kind of triangle. So it's less traffic, and and for me, I get a lot of calls from there anyway, so it's it keeps me busy enough. Definitely like it comes down to population as well. So an area like down towards, let's say, like uh Port Dover or you know, like somewhere where there's less less housing, less density, you'll you won't get many calls from there. Maybe once every six months, let's say I go down there. But you know, Hamilton, because of the the density of the population and the house housing situation, like there's a lot of tends to be a lot of lower income housing as well. Now, there's no correlation with it really, but because of that, the tenants or landlords uh dealing with the tenants, the tenants can sometimes end up going uh cheaper routes to get furniture, such as you know, off the street or even secondhand or garage sales. And because those tenants are going, they're in the lower income housing, they they don't have as much money to go and buy brand new stuff, so they might get secondhand stuff and and then they can you know spread the the problem around a little bit more. That's why it results me getting a little more calls from these areas. Plus, I do obviously advertise a little bit more in Hamilton, you know, and I've done everything from places that are like hoarders to places that are very clean, so there isn't really a crazy pattern in that aspect of things, you know. I mean Toronto's probably number one, obviously, because of the the number of people that live there, so it makes sense that you know it's as bad as it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Why do you think people don't like to talk about bed bugs? Like there's definitely a stigma attached to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I know there's uh obviously the whole um you know mental aspect of it where people think like, oh, maybe it's maybe it's because I'm dirty, maybe uh oh, I don't want people to think I'm dirty, like I'm not dirty, and then they call me and you know they explain their situation. Yeah, but like you don't want your neighbors I I can't even advertise on my truck, you know. Like if I show up, people are asking me, oh, before I show up, are you gonna have stickers all over you that you're a bed bug exterminator? And uh, you know, I obviously reassure them that there's nothing on my truck. I'm as as discreet as they come. I try not to uh you know converse with the neighbors, obviously, because they might ask, hey, what's going on, and this and that. But apart from that, like it's if I was to advertise and show up with all this bed bug stuff on my and my truck and trailer, all of a sudden the neighbors are avoiding those people probably for a long time, or family might not even show up. And it's it sucks, but it's you know, they're doing the right thing by getting it treated. It's not their fault they got bed bugs, you know, in the first place. I mean, sometimes it can be, but sometimes most of the time, it's something that they were not planning for, obviously. There, you know, it's not like they they maybe had uh visitors come in and accidentally they drop something, or maybe they bought something from a furniture store where the movers brought it in their moving truck, and you know, maybe bed bugs were in the moving truck from a previous move. So these are the reasons that they can happen, but there's the stigma, like, yeah, it's it's it sucks because obviously, like I can't just you know hand out business cards to the neighbors, you know, it's not like that. It's I just have to be discreet and uh and you know, yeah, reassure people like it happens to everyone, you know, uh to make them more comfortable that look, it's not anything about your cleanliness or it's nothing about that, it's it's no pattern. I mean, if you're hoarding, and in I've been to some units and apartments where yes, some some people may have a bit too much stuff, this does cause the problem to get worse a little bit quicker than if you're clean. So if you're well, you know, you have lots of room, there's lots of uh space, and you're clean, you vacuum all the time, chances are you're probably gonna even kill a lot of bed bugs just by vacuuming your house weekly. And then that, you know, that basically reduces the number of bed bugs you may have in the future. So and then some people that are hoarders, they there's a lot of hiding places when you're a hoarder when you have a lot of stuff, there's a lot of hiding places where the bed bugs can actually go and hide and multiply and make things worse for you. And sometimes in apartments, you cause a problem for many others around you as well, which then is it just gets worse and worse at that point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I can I can see that that would be a huge issue. Do you have a line that you usually give to neighbors when you're treating a someone's house or apartment?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I try to keep it kind of simple, not not go into detail too much. Uh sometimes they ask me if I'm doing duck cleaning, but that looks a little bit different than my system. It don't it's similar, but you got a couple hoses that go into the house from the trailer, and that's all you see, and then there's a generator that's running. And uh so they ask what's happening. And I, you know, it's a bit of a white lie, but I can say there's a bit of a leak in the basement, and I'm trying to kind of prevent mold from uh occurring or trying to kill mold if there's any mold on the drywall. So that can be a really easy way of getting people to kind of just but usually I try not to uh converse too much. I try to because a lot of the a lot of my jobs uh they are in my truck, obviously sitting and waiting uh time and time, and then go back inside and move the furniture around. So I'm between the house and the truck is all I really am. So hopefully a lot of times people don't really converse with me either way, but if they do, it's most likely a mold prevention cleaning kind of thing going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay. And then for as far as advertising goes, because you can't walk around with uh the bed bug exterminator across your shirt, how do you usually go about advertising for your business?
SPEAKER_01Mostly uh have some property management companies that would call me back uh whenever they have issues in their units or in their rental properties, and that's already in their system, obviously. And then you have other ways of word of mouth, which is very little. Um, obviously, families aren't like spreading my word to other family members, like, hey, there's a guy that knows how to do this. Because they then again, that's the whole thing of keeping this hush hush between families uh so they can still visit each other without being scared to bring backs home and stuff like that. So the best advertising tool I've had is probably through Google ads and I would say Facebook ads and uh trying to keep an Instagram profile going. But I think Google ads and also even AI right now is is kind of coming into play a bit, you know, ChatGPT and a few other engines, search engines. As long as you kind of uh make your website work that way where it's uh the algorithm gets it all set up that way. And you know, you may pop up on on cheap on GPT or whatever these search engines. And you know, I've had a few customers already call me, you know, that they did go on AI search engines and asked about who's the best uh heat exterminator or what's the best treatment locally around here. And then uh it does show up as uh, you know, me and a few other guys, obviously, right? There's I'm not the only one. So but it's nice to have those uh options because uh without that uh it would be hard to advertise, really. You can't, you know, have a magnet on your truck that you can take off, and then when you're driving somewhere, you can put it back on. But it's a it's just a lot of a hassle to do that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, definitely. That's interesting how it's showing up on these AI searches. So you must have really good the SEO and all of that on your website that is it's turning up. That's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I I uh read re redid the website a little bit. It's good to update it, obviously, and and keep things in in sync, kind of like you know, you want to have the Facebook page, the YouTube channel if there's any videos that you want to post, uh, Instagram page, and all of it kind of lead around home stars and a lot of different backlinks. So in the long run, like even uh even a blog or you know, pages that you keep going about the bed bugs and stuff, it's a niche market, so obviously to get busy, you have to get those jobs, and to get those jobs, you have to be seen as one of the top guys, and also you have to show up on Google search and and GPT and other Gemini, other engines and stuff, so that you're not like a second page or third page. You want to be probably like top five at least on those pages, you know. There's some bigger companies that show up first, and then there's the smaller ones. But if someone's searching strictly for heat treatments for bed bugs, that's when you know I come into play. Like if someone searches just bed bugs or just hey, how do I get rid of bed bugs? It's probably not gonna show up. But I'm trying to, you know, target only those people that are actually searching just strictly for heat treatments.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And what is the difference between the heat treatments versus uh what would you call it, like the traditional treatment, I guess, where they're going in and spraying and yeah, so there's definitely a huge difference there.
SPEAKER_01There's there's differences in price and then there's differences in the effectiveness. So the heat treatment I use, it's usually a seven or eight hour process. So there's one big thing that changes the complexity and everything about the pricing, but it's also more effective in that it kills all the eggs as well. So the heat will penetrate through couch cushions and uh mattresses and uh furniture items such as dressers and uh, you know, box springs and and bed frames and headboards and all that. And you can even heat electronics, you just there's certain steps to take, which is all part of the preparation. But with heat, you will get, like I said, you will get rid of the eggs and bed bugs, and it gets into those places where you may not be able to see, such as like wood slats, you know, which are screwed into the bed frame, which then you might have bugs in between those cracks. And a spray may get them eventually, but they don't kill the eggs. And that's your traditional sprays. Now they work also after a chemical spray is done, they would work. That spray works for a couple weeks, but its effectiveness goes down, down, down, right after, and that's where they these guys have to come back and do it numerous times. Another thing that's been happening over the past decade or so is uh bed bugs are actually evolving with a thicker layer of skin, meaning the offspring are also kind of growing into a thicker layer of skin. Thus, you cannot penetrate it with a spray. Uh, it actually doesn't even penetrate through their skin. So studies have been done on these things and uh just kind of proves the thing that's like a survival of the fittest natural selection thing where you know you have the the weak die and then the strong ones continue and give offspring to the strong ones. So heat still gets through them to this day, which is great, obviously. And then for sprays, you know, they're cheaper because it's a quick service. So, you know, you may get a guy coming in and spray for maybe an hour, two hours max, but then they'll come back two to three weeks later to get, you know, maybe the eggs that hatched. The other thing is that if it doesn't get rid of them after three or four treatments, you're running into a problem where the cost may go up and up and up as you do more sprays, and it just becomes a hassle. A lot of times people don't even like the chemicals anymore and the smells if they have kids or if they have dogs, or if they have breathing issues, if they're older, they will not do the spray as as those are things that can harm them. And another reason the heat may be, I would say is is more effective now, is that it's a one and done, right? So I do offer a 90-day warranty with every job, but it's usually a one-time treatment where I'm confident enough that after those six, seven, eight hours, all everything is done and people can go back in their homes and continue living their lives back to normal without that stress.
SPEAKER_00And they can go back to their house that day. Like they can they can call you, you come in in the morning, and by the evening they can go back into their beds, bug three.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so they uh they'll have some obviously warmth in there, so it's it's gonna still still you know release heat. Obviously, the walls and furniture items are gonna stay hot until you actually open up the doors and windows and maybe turn on your air conditioning. Wintertime it's a little slower for bed bugs, they're not as active because it's drier air. So they are more active as spring comes around and more humidity gets into the air. So in the summer when it's hot outside and and you don't have air conditioning or you have just uh window units, yeah, it can be a little bit tougher to cool down the uh residence. But if you if you're you know you got some fans and if you got some good airflow in there, like a cross breeze, if you open the front back doors, you can get in there sleep just fine the same night. It's no problem there, obviously, with that. Chemicals, same thing, right? You can come back the same day and it's just you have to be out for a few few hours so the the smells kind of dissipate because you don't want to go in there smelling all that stuff. There's another spray that's called apprehend, which also works uh fairly well. It just takes time. So the sprays are good if there's a small infestation, and also if you if you actually get them and they're you know and their eggs also hatch and then you kill those as well. So it's just some people don't like it waiting that long for for their problem to actually get away and and be gone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean for the anxiety and stress that's attached attached to having bed bugs, from what I understand what you're saying, the the heat is just one and done regardless how small or large. So for peace of mind and not thinking about the long term effects of having those chemicals in the house and the residue that I guess lingers then to keep killing anything that comes, the the heat method is the way to go.
SPEAKER_01Right, exactly. And yeah, the heat it's good for very infested homes, right? So, like there's been some jobs that have been really, really bad in the heat. You know, takes care of those problems uh fairly easily as well.
SPEAKER_00This is very interesting to hear all of this, Matheus. And so last year you had a baby. So this is gonna be your first Father's Day coming up. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you, thank you. It's been fun.
SPEAKER_00How has becoming a dad changed how you do your job?
SPEAKER_01I mean, the you know, the jobs uh still there. Obviously, you got pretty busy even like last year. It's always been busy in the summers, and the baby was born like end of June. So being busy in the summer, you know, the the mom, the wife had to be at home a lot kind of during the day. And my jobs are not, you know, four or five hours, obviously. So with the driving to the job and coming back home in the evening, it's a lot on her, but you know, she's done a great job. Obviously, whatever days I have off, it's great to be there and and hang out together and you know and see him. And uh, but you know, work obviously keeps going. I'm self-employed, so I have to continue on uh working. Um and uh you know it's it's fun though. Like it's great, you know. He's what he's almost you know, he's almost one now, so got a little bit easier after the summer when I when fall came and we got to go away for a little bit as I got slower. And then when you have those slower times, you just appreciate the times when you're actually home. And then you get back to you know busy life and busy and then now it's getting busier again, right? So now I'm I'm back on the road and you know working all over the place. And uh it's nice to have those Hamilton jobs as most of my work, so I can be home quicker since uh the drive time isn't as long. Well, you get a job in London, it's uh you know an hour and a half there, hour and a half, plus plus the eight hours. So come home and the baby's sleeping.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh unless he's waking up at nighttime, then he might be awake, he might be awake.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, then it gets a little hectic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's all good. It's you know, I enjoy I enjoy everything, the work and life and personal life and everything.
SPEAKER_00So when your baby is old enough to ask dad what do you do, what's the answer you hope to give him?
SPEAKER_01Uh, you know, uh the thing I say to everyone is I I kill bed bugs, right? I mean, it's as simple as it is. Uh, you know, maybe one day he'll uh he'll want to work for me and then maybe I'll get him to, you know, do a few jobs on his own. Maybe he'll take over the business. Who knows?
SPEAKER_00That would be awesome. That would be really cool. How are you protecting time at home while you're also building a business?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so when obviously whenever I have the day off, uh I I do everything except obviously the accounting part, but I pretty much do everything from servicing my trailer, doing the oil changes. So it comes with a lot of responsibility. Uh, but when I have the off days, I usually try not to do any of that and just try to be there and you know go out with him and play and be with the family and then kind of just take it in because you know, they grow up pretty quick, right? So you want to be there and uh just do activities and see him grow and not try to like stress too much about like if you need to do that work or that call and stuff. Obviously, I have to take the calls I get because those are potential customers and jobs. So, you know, it's not too difficult once you're in the hang of things, like once you're in the routine and once you know what you're doing, once you know what you're talking about, it's a little bit easier. If you know 10 years ago when I started this business, I had a baby, that would be a little bit different than it is now, like more mature, and you kind of understand things a little better. And it's just confidence too, right? Like in talking to customers. Uh, you try to sell the job, but at the same time, you have to make them confident that, you know, I want to be like I'm I'm trying to do the job the best as I can. I'm not just, you know, you're just you're not just a number to me, right? So when it comes to the jobs now, it's a lot easier to talk to the customer and discuss the the treatment and everything. And then also doesn't take too long, but you know, then you go back to you know hanging out with the little guy, right? Like at home. So if you're taking calls, if you you know, you get for a few calls a day, right? Max, like three, four, or five calls a day. They could last anywhere from 25-30 minutes to maybe 40 minutes, depending on the questions that the people have. And I'm willing to obviously lead them through it or follow them through, and then you know, the personal life is the other thing, which I try to balance it all, and you know, sometimes it's hard, but most of the time it's nice to have those days off. That's the that's the main thing. Is it's not like I'm working uh every day seven days a week. So yeah, I balance the balance it out that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Do you have any advice for our listeners with their businesses, with having that work-life balance when you have a new baby in the house?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, you know, if it's if you're self-employed and you own your own business and you have to I don't have any employees, which kind of makes it a little bit easier. I don't have to rely like I don't have to give those kind of uh shifts to anyone. Whatever shifts I get is what I get, and that's all I get. So I can schedule jobs around things. If we want to go, if you can do that as a business owner, that's amazing. But if you're if your demand is so high that you're actually working every day, and then you have to also, on top of that, do other extra stuff at home related to business, it can be a little bit difficult. I guess the best advice would be just to try and try and enjoy, be there in the moment, uh whenever you have those chances to be there, rather than you know, be half there and half not there. Like, you know, you're you may be like working on something on a computer and maybe you could be paying attention to your little baby or you know, as they grow, right? So you want to or take a day off and go to the zoo or you know, go for a little hike or something like that. So just to decompress and just like uh disconnect, right? Like sometimes we go on trips up north, so we you know, I could probably work those days when I'm up north, but I actually prioritize those times a lot more than than work because work will be there, money will always be there, like will not always be there, but it will be there, you know, like uh the baby grows up, right? And then the baby's not gonna be this little anymore and doesn't do those things, and then you if you miss out on those things, you may regret it later, and then you'll just think back, oh, I was just too occupied with work, you know, or or this and that, which you still need money, obviously you need to live, but there's gotta be some balance there where you can at least take some time off and disconnect and be there with the family.
SPEAKER_00Matheus, I love that. So schedule your vacation time or schedule your long weekends, put your phone down, just be fully present with your kids because they're they only keep growing. They only keep growing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. And that's that's what it is. Yeah, like uh help the help the other partner, help each other, and uh and then yeah, so well thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Matheus, for coming on. How can our listeners find you, especially if they have a bed bug problem?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, uh if other than you know searching on Google and uh you know finding me that way, you could always uh go on the website, which is my my website, and it's just bedbugs exterminators.ca. Uh uh bugs exterminators are plural. There's Instagram and uh Facebook as well.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. I'll put all the links in the show notes. And Matheus, one last question for you. How do you want to be recognized in our community?
SPEAKER_01So I obviously want uh, you know, it's not something like people don't usually know of me unless they have had this issue, but I've always had good feedback from the jobs I've done. Uh the way I want to be, I'm proud of what I do. Like I do take pride in this job because I do get happiness from seeing people, you know, live after their bed bug issue and live happily after that. So, you know, they they're in stress, they're in, you know, they're maybe depressed from this issue. They don't know how they got it. But I want them to know that, like, uh in the community to know that like I try to be honest with everything. So with the way that the job is, with with what I do, with how I handle things in their house and you know, everything. Just honesty is probably the number one thing, you know, and then obviously trust, right? Like they need my full trust, and I try to give them that by explaining them that I'm confident that the problem will be gone after I do the job, even if it takes two treatments, right? Like with that warranty I give, it gives them that extra space, like extra measure that that knows that they know that I'll be back if the problem doesn't get resolved the first time. But again, I would say 95% of the time this problem is resolved the first time when I do these jobs, especially now that I've been doing it for a while, and I can I can basically strategize the house and I can you know figure out how to attack the problem a lot easier now than I did when I was starting the job when I was you know 10 years younger as well. So yeah, it's it's it's as long as people see that I'm honest and uh and you know I am trying to actually help them as a customer, as a as a you know, friend of their community, right? Like you're not just a number to me. That's all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I mean, you're playing you're playing bed bug superhero.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's the thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're going in, you're building the trust. Yeah, you're taking your your customers that are frantic and like you said, like to the point that they they're displaying signs of depression, anxiety, probably having panic attacks. I would be for sure having anxiety attacks if I had bed bugs. And uh, like you said, being straightforward and honest with them, and you're walking away sleeping at night knowing you did good in the world, and they're going to bed bed bug-free.
SPEAKER_01As the saying goes, Sorry, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there you go. Well, thank you, Matou, so much for coming on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no problem. Uh thanks, Cassidy. It's been a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. That's the lowdown for this week. If something in this conversation landed for you, send it to one person who needs to hear it. That's how we build this. One story at a time. I'm Cassidy Lohan, and we'll see you in the next episode.