The Boardroom Buzz: Grow, Sell, or Exit Letters, Letting Go & “What’s Next”: Alina Stevens on Selling All Pro Pest Without Losing the Team
For three decades, Alina Stevens’ family business got “we want to buy you” letters almost daily—then in 2024, she finally said yes. In this candid conversation, Alina walks the Blue-Collar Twins through scaling All Pro Pest from ~25 to ~50 employees, choosing a buyer who kept the team (only one person left), and the emotional gear-shift from making every decision to consulting while the new owner hums along. It’s a masterclass in female leadership inside a family company, statewide routing without extra branches, and knowing when to let the kids “go to college.”
You’ll hear:
- The moment “sell” went from never to now—and why employee continuity was the deal-breaker.
- How she modernized ops: true-mobile routing, GPS/cameras, and ditching IVR hell to stay customer-first.
- Lessons as a woman owner winning respect on job sites by knowing the craft cold.
- Why growth means you’re never “over the mountain,” and how to communicate for buy-in (not just talk).
- Life after close: the ego hit of “they don’t need me”… and the freedom to ask what’s next.
From Gym Teachers to Service Leaders: The Julio Twins' Story | Last Bite Mosquito, Viking Pest https://youtu.be/DAYxtzhswxs
From PE Teachers to Pest Control Owners: The Julio Twins Share Their POTOMAC Experience https://youtu.be/HAx9noqsqTo
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgiannamore
Produced by: www.verbell.ltd
Timestamps
00:00 – “We got buy-your-company letters almost daily for 30 years… then we finally sold.”
00:50 – Intros: Alina’s 2024 exit and the hard art of letting go
02:00 – “Never planned to be the bug girl”: Air Force pilot dreams → family firm roots (1971)
03:45 – Health crises, divorce, stepping in after raising kids—“somebody had to sail the ship”
05:10 – Change management 101: don’t flip everything at once (ask her how she knows)
06:45 – Choosing the buyer: keep the people, not just the book—only one employee didn’t continue
08:40 – Post-close role: retained as a 1-year consultant… but the newco barely needed her
10:10 – Scale at sale: ~50 employees, ~40 trucks; when she took over (~2015) it was ~25 staff
12:00 – Origin story: bank teller → office manager → marrying the boss (plus a $2/hr raise)
14:10 – Earning respect as a woman in a male-dominated niche: knowledge beats assumptions
18:30 – Statewide without branches: “true mobile” ops from home bases across Georgia
19:50 – From proprietary software (“Helper”) to mainstream + mobile; training older techs
22:30 – GPS & cameras: nightmare stories… and the crash video that saved a driver
26:00 – Phones & CX: VOIP, fewer prompts, always a human—because customer-first isn’t a menu tree
27:40 – “FITFO”: figuring it out through hiccups, turnover, and route remaps
30:20 – Leadership reality: 3 a.m. at the office, good people who stayed, and new opportunities under newco
33:00 – Comfort vs growth: the tag that says “AND NEXT” and a Mexico pest-control idea
34:45 – Mentors & marriage: productive conflict that made the business stronger
41:30 – Culture: family and team, where competition never outweighed belonging
44:50 – Communication = buy-in: expect 60–70% of your own intensity; tailor the message to the person
52:30 – Meeting Potomac and what “you’re the best” from an advisor really means