Steve started Russell Pest Control because the company he worked for wasn't doing service the way he knew it could be done — they were a volume operation, putting route counts ahead of customers. He built his company on the opposite idea: know the family, know the property, know the pest, and keep customers forever. "I want their business forever," he says. "The key is knowing the family, the dogs' names, the kids' activities." Thirty years later, that philosophy is why the company retains the customers it does — including families who signed on in the 1990s and are still on the schedule today, now having their grown children's homes serviced too.

That philosophy shows up in the small things. Steve teaches every technician the same rule: learn the biology of the insect, and you'll know how to control it. He runs low-drift, targeted treatments instead of blanketing a property; he refuses to make a chemical stronger just because someone asks; and he'd rather tell a customer they don't need the big program than sell them one they don't. Volume companies are bigger, he'll tell you — but never more profitable, and never more trusted on the routes Russell actually serves.