{"id":10616,"date":"2020-05-01T16:27:27","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T06:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ppmmagazine.com.au\/?p=10616"},"modified":"2022-02-23T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T22:37:15","slug":"paying-it-forward-in-west-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/professional-pest-manager-magazine\/paying-it-forward-in-west-sydney\/","title":{"rendered":"PAYING IT FORWARD IN WEST SYDNEY"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Pesties Giving Back’ is a new segment of <\/em>Professional Pest Manager magazine, sharing the stories of pest managers who give back to their communities.<\/em>
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Doug Balsom<\/strong> (pictured above, left) is the owner of Serial Pest Control based in west Sydney. He and his trainee technician Timmy service the greater Sydney area and have close ties to the local community around Marsden Park.<\/p>\n

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Since leaving a large multinational pest company and setting up his own business in 2017, Mr Balsom has made it a priority to give back to those in his local community. For him, this means everything from performing free pest treatments to holding small fundraising events, as well as sponsoring those taking part in national campaigns such as Dry July, and the Leukaemia Foundation\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Shave.<\/p>\n

Working in one of Sydney\u2019s lower socioeconomic areas means that there is often the opportunity to help those who are unable to afford a much-needed pest treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live near Mount Druitt, a low income area with a lot of commission housing. There are lots of hardworking people here. Sometimes a customer will contact us,\u00a0and they\u2019ll have a bad infestation, usually of German cockroaches. When we visit the site it might be obvious that they\u2019d struggle to pay \u2013 so we do it gratis for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same with elderly customers. There might be an old lady with a wasp nest, which we will treat for free. We do that quite a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

By taking an active role in the community, Mr Balsom finds that Serial Pest Control is often recommended by one person to another, helping to build a positive reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes if we do a free job for someone, they recommend us to others, those who can pay. But it\u2019s not about being good for business, it\u2019s about karma.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As someone with six children and eight grandchildren, Mr Balsom also enjoys giving back to the community\u2019s younger residents. In July, Serial Pest Control plans to spend the day at the local shopping centre offering free face painting and balloons for children. Mr Balsom also gives away small treats on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I park at the shopping centre, kids will often point to my van as it\u2019s got a big redback on it. If I see them,\u00a0I ask their parent\u2019s permission, then give them some pencils and a colouring book.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The redback spider on Doug Balsom\u2019s van is popular with local kids<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Serial Pest Control is a key sponsor of Blacktown City Bears football club, which in recent years has struggled to gain sufficient sponsorship to remain open.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy stepson used to play for Blacktown, now my grandkids play for them. It\u2019s only a little club, so they struggle to get sponsorship and face being pushed out by other, bigger clubs. As well as sponsoring the club, we\u2019ve donated registration fees for kids who can\u2019t afford it. By paying the fee, kids who can\u2019t afford to play can join in and be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Balsom also believes in valuing his customers, which he shows by offering regular giveaways.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve given away all sorts of things to our customers \u2013 a weekend away, a vacuum cleaner, a barbecue, spa days, that kind of thing. We give a ticket to people who book\u00a0a job with us, then draw a winner. We sometimes do it through Facebook, too. People don\u2019t have to spend any money to enter, we just give things away for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mr Balsom, the idea of \u2018paying it forward\u2019 underpins his business practices. \u201cI\u2018m very much a believer that you can\u2019t take, take, take \u2013 business can\u2019t all be about profit and dollars. It\u2019s about the people around you. It doesn\u2019t hurt me to miss out on a few hundred dollars here and there but it means so much to other people. It\u2019s all about paying it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Pesties Giving Back’ is a new segment of Professional Pest Manager magazine, sharing the stories of pest managers who give back to their communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":10619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"'Pesties Giving Back' is a new segment of Professional Pest Manager magazine, sharing the stories of pest managers who give back to their communities.","_seopress_robots_index":"yes","_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"company":[],"pest":[],"pesticide":[],"product-service":[183],"class_list":["post-10616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-pest-manager-magazine","product-service-business-management","wpbf-post"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"company","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/company?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"pest","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pest?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"pesticide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pesticide?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"product-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-service?post=10616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}