Pest Management Professional, May 2016

Start Up DiarieS to have and to hold and perhaps to also do my company billing one day Partners in work and life I must admit Im a sucker for a good love story Jerry Maguire and The Princess Bride are both in the Pete Schopen Top 10 Movies category I know that a rough andtough exterminator is supposed to be more into Terminator or Mortal Kombat but Ive always liked seeing people fall in love My sappiness barometer does have its limits e g The Notebook I actually have a real life love story and here it is When I was 18 I nearly flunked out of Kansas Wesleyan University Too many parties and not enough studying picture Animal House meets Talladega Nights and you have an idea of how bad my freshman year was That summer I regrouped for my sophomore year and transferred to Elmhurst College a liberal arts school in Illinois On the first day of orientation I was hanging out with my tour guide when I glanced across the courtyard and saw this beautiful blonde KAPOW She was laughing and I fell in love with that smile instantly I was too nervous to walk up and introduce myself but I memorized her name tag A few days later I was waiting outside on a bench for my first class to start when she walked by I said Hello TJ and walked her to class Tamara Jean Grosch Schopen and I have been with each other ever since While Tami and I have been married for more than 24 years she has only been working with me for four years In fact this month marks her fourth anniversary with Schopen Pest Solutions For the first six years of my company I did everything billing calling routes running routes setting up tech schedules prepay letters etc At first it was kind of cool to sit in my cozy basement office drinking a glass of merlot and finishing up the billing Over the years the more my company grew the more stressful it became to handle all of the paperwork I had to switch from merlot to Jack Daniels A little over four years ago I put an ad in the newspaper for a secretary A few days later a beautiful woman with an infectious smile walked into my office and said she was the perfect secretary for me Tamara Schopen When she first floated the idea to me I was incredulous She was a college professor and I didnt want her giving up her career for my company My wife loves teaching and I knew it would be a sacrifice She only wanted to join the company because she loves me and just as likely didnt want me to hire some voluptuous 20 year old The truth is Tami has always sacrificed for my careers and I didnt want to drag her down that road again As a young sports broadcaster I forced her to move up our wedding date from Feb 14 to Dec 28 because of a broadcasting commitment She wanted a Valentines Day wedding and that particular year it fell on a Saturday which would have been perfect but my brand new job was handling the play by play for a college basketball team and their conference championships were Valentines Day weekend We lost our deposit on the banquet hall My second job was in Missouri and she had to give up her teaching gig in Nebraska so we could move She couldnt use her Nebraska or Illinois teaching certificate in Missouri so she got a short lived secretarial job before we moved again By Pete SchoPen Contributor SchopenS open Book Start up Schopen Pest Solutions Inc HeadquarterS McHenry Ill Founder Peter F Schopen Jr Start up date April 11 2006 number oF employeeS 7 2006 revenue 97235 one employee 2007 revenue 172495 one employee 2008 revenue 203732 one employee 2009 revenue 243427 two employees 2010 revenue 325960 three employees 2011 revenue 425847 four employees 2012 revenue 489887 five employees 2013 revenue 572772 six employees 2014 revenue 687326 one part time and six full time employees 2015 revenue 858180 one part time and seven full time employees 2016 marcH 66046 21 increase over March 2015 2016 year to date marcH 175575 45000 higher than 2015 2016 predIctIon 1081306 Photo courtesy Pete schoPen Continued on page 88 86 May 2016 pest management professional mypmp net