Surviving Against the Odds: One-on-One with Carrie Simpson

Join us for an inspiring episode of "One-on-One" as we sit down with Carrie Simpson, a remarkable individual who wears multiple hats – franchise owner, self-published author, and five-time cancer survivor. Carrie's journey is one of resilience, determination, and unwavering positivity.

In this episode, Carrie shares her incredible story, detailing the challenges she faced as she battled cancer not once, not twice, but five times. Through it all, she maintained an uplifting attitude and found the strength to overcome adversity. Her story is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook, even in the face of life's toughest challenges.

Tune in to discover Carrie's secrets to staying positive in the midst of adversity, how she found the courage to pursue her dreams despite the odds, and the valuable lessons she's learned along the way. Prepare to be inspired as Carrie's story reminds us all that no matter what life throws our way, with determination and a positive attitude, anything is possible.

Transcript

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What's up guys, Chris Bowen here with Love, Love the Podcast. I am joined today by Kerry Simpson. Kerry is the owner of Mosquito Shield DFW. So Kerry, we'd love for you to introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi, my name is Carrie Simpson. My husband and I own Mosquito Shield North DFW, and we're super excited because the season's about to start. So I am a mom of two beautiful girls and I have a great husband and we live in Flower Mound. And I'm a mosquito expert. along with a small business expert, a author, a published author, not just an author, a published author, and self-published, and a five-time cancer survivor, correct? Five time cancer survivor. Thanks, BDECA. a big shout out there because that is no small feat in and of itself, let alone somebody who's then been an entrepreneur, a book writer, all of the things that you've done. So congrats on all that success in life. Thank you. It started like 25 years ago, basically. So it's a journey in the making, but I'm super blessed. A bless. Yeah, I'm blessed. No complaints. So tell us a little bit about your business, Mosquito Shield. So it's a franchise, correct? It is a franchise. And so basically one day my husband and I were in our backyard and we could only, we live kind of like by a creek or by you. And so we could only be outside for literally two or three minutes. And he was like, Carrie, this is crazy. You know, and we were talking about like, I mean, unfortunately it's, it's true, but our finances had drained several times because like all my cancers and. He was laid off three times because of mergers and acquisitions. And so. just a lot of stuff had happened and he was like, we've got to do something, we're kind of in control over it. And so he had researched a ton of different opportunities and franchises and we just felt like this was the best fit with our morals and values and character. And so, yeah, anyways, we were outside on the patio and we're ran inside by mosquitoes. And so that's what made him look into the mosquito company. And so that's... The rest is history. Texas is rough when it comes to mosquitoes. I know personally, we've had our fair share. That was one of the reasons we ended up putting turf in our backyard is we had such bad drainage issues back there and it just attracted mosquitoes like nobody's business. Yeah, a lot of people don't know, like, and I wish the consumers did know that, but eggs live up to a year, sometimes two years, depending on the species of the mosquito, and they only need a tablespoon of water to activate their life cycle. So a tablespoon of water. So every time it rains and then the water is just sitting there, basically what happens is it starts the egg production. So yeah. tell us a little bit about your business. So it's a, it's more of a seasonal business, correct? It is. So typically we're like April through October, but I always tell my clients, our customers, we go a little like two weeks sometimes into March and sometimes we have to go two weeks into November. It honestly just depends because I let the weather dictate when I need to start, not like a calendar date. So and we actually we could have a really cold winter or, you know, like right now, it's a really warm spring. I mean, it's 80 degrees right now. It is so warm, yeah. And we're actually already seeing them because of all the rain that we've had, and then it's starting to hit the temperatures where they're starting to hatch. So we kind of look for above 60 for the lowest temperature like all the time. For at least like two weeks, that's when we wanna start spraying. But like I said, the weather's so finicky right now, it goes up to 88 and then it goes down to 35. It is kinda crazy, so. I think we're just going to meet in the middle and start mid-March. Well, cool. And so how does that kind of work for your guys hiring? So I'm sure it's, you know, difficult for some people to work only a few months out of the year versus a full year. So how do you guys typically hire for that? Well, that's a great question. So sometimes, like some years I've had to rehire, retrain new people because it is seasonal. And so they have other stuff that they have, after the season's over. And then I've had other technicians that have come back three years in a row. So it honestly just depends on who it is and where they're at in life. And I try to hire as many like high school, college-aged kids as I can, just because I want to give them an opportunity to grow themselves and develop and mature in themselves. And I honestly love them. I mean, they're the greatest kids. I kind of pull from band, football, stuff like that, the local high schools. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that have a work ethic value that are strong, that probably work out. That's kind of who I'm looking for. People that are great, great kids, but maybe didn't want to go to college, or didn't have time right now, or didn't have the funds right now. And then I help them basically save. So I just help them along. that's how I got into the pool industry. I was one of those kids who didn't want to go to college. So, you know, I had to find a job. I mean, there's something for everybody. You got to really, I mean, I think it's great. I love it. Yeah. And I mean, look, I enjoy being outside. I enjoy being on my feet. Um, and really kind of, it was right place, right time for me more than anything. Um, but it provided me a life that I'm able to provide for my family, you know, and that's, that's huge when you don't have a college degree. So. Yeah. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah. We're, we're excited. My, for those of you who don't know, my wife's pregnant right now. probably have the baby by the time this airs so you know I will be a new dad by the time this airs but we're excited about it so Yeah, super. That's so fun. Congratulations. thank you very much. So what does the spring kind of look like? What do you guys do in preparation for your season? What's that typically look like? I actually start preparing for my season. This is so funny, but like in November. So I start, I start as soon as the season ends, I'm literally on top of it for the next season. So yeah, because I have to do, I have to prepare all the marketing. I have to prepare all the product that we're going to need. Who's I have to hire who I, you know, still am going to have stuff like that. I'm really, really blessed this year that I have all of my technicians returning. And that's the I'm excited about that because I can actually focus on marketing and talking to people, which I love to do, and just getting into the community more. Being a part of a franchise, does it kind of help a little bit with some of the marketing? Do they help provide some of that material for you guys? Oh yeah, absolutely. They provide some and then we've created some. So like for example, my neighbor is actually a graphic designer and I have these going out. He helped create them and so like I got some of the stuff from marketing and then my husband and I created the other stuff and then my neighbor said, let me do this and pull this together. So. That's awesome. So you guys do mailers you do social media. Do you guys have people that go door to door and do door knocking or? We have door hangers, we don't do door knocking, just because that hasn't been hugely successful. But I do like people, mosquito business is such a new business, community-wide. It's such a, people don't really think about it. It's so new. I mean, our business has been around for 22 years, I think, corporate has. Our franchise personally has been around, this is our sixth year. Our corporate, long already? That's crazy. That feels like it's just flown by. Yeah, that's wild. I agree with that statement. I agree. But that makes total sense. I mean, I do think it's something that people are coming around to. You know, up until, I think last year was our first year that we actually did it with you guys. And it was a huge difference. And I think the year before that, we had a landscape company that was doing it. But it made a massive difference in what we saw on our property. You know, the turf really helped it, but then... that really kind of took it to the next level where we really didn't see mosquitoes. And yeah, it was awesome. a lot of people, like with traditional pest control companies or maybe other mosquito companies or whatever, they spray once a quarter, once every 21 days. We spray every 10 to 17 days and we're the only company that does that because we spray around weather and life cycle of the mosquitoes. So I'm glad that it was awesome for you. Yeah, I think that part makes a big difference in that, you know, most companies, most pest control companies are only doing it that once a quarter, which is not enough. I mean, you know, the life cycle of mosquitoes better than I do and the science behind it, but you guys come out after it rains and stuff as well, don't you? Because that's what activates their life cycle. Absolutely. So we have, there's four different stages of a mosquito's life cycle. There's eggs, larva, pupa, and adults. And any company can only kill the adults and the larva. And so we have a larva side. No one can kill the eggs or the pupa because they're not ingesting any food during those two stages. So that's kind of why you have to like be smart about it and go a different route. Yeah, it's a lot of planning. I mean, we're out at your house like what? Like 18 to 20 times or? It's a lot of times, yeah, a season. And then we pull it up when it rains. So it's closer to the 10, 11, 12 day mark. And then when it gets a little warmer and dry, then we can maybe push it. But I really can't put it down here in this house. Yeah, so, yeah, it's true. No, no grass growing under our feet. Right? So, and then tell us a little bit about your book. So you're a self-published author, would love to hear more about it. I am. So I'm writing my autobiography. I've been writing it since this is so funny. I was diagnosed with my cancer the first time, 9999. So you can't really forget that. But so I've been writing my autobiography ever since, but it's just so, you know, heavy and stuff that I was like, you know, I want to a children's book because it's light and fun and fluffy. And so, so that's what I did. So I wrote and self-published, it's called, Oh No, I Swallowed a Seed. and my publishing company is Be Kind Publishing. I don't know if you can see that. Yeah, like be like a bumblebee. Be kind and then see the little kind stripes on the on the bee. Can you see it says kind? it? Oh, it does it really? That's cool. I like that. so I created that. And so it's just basically about a little girl who swallows like a strawberry seed, and she dreams vines are gonna grow out of her nose and tickle her toes. And then it goes through the color of the rainbow to teach kids colors. And then it's repetitive to teach them to read. And then it's funny to teach them to love, to learn to read. So, and then at the end it says, remind me if I ever worry about swallowing a seed again, that no one has ever had a seed grow from within for happy. And she has the fruits of the spirit coming out of her heart, because I believe that they grow inside of you if you love them. So yeah, so I actually have two more that I'm working on right now. So it's exciting. busy person between writing autobiography, running a business and writing two more books. Okay, so people who say that, and you have kids. So basically anybody else who complains about how busy they are can listen to this and realize they're not that busy. That's true. There's always some time in the day to do something. That's exactly right. You know, I choose to do a lot of my work in the evening times after the kids go to bed. Um, so I, you know, typically I'll block off. I picked them up from school around four 30. Um, they go to bed around seven 38. And then, so I, you know, I start work eight o'clock to four or eight to four 30 and then pick back up at eight. So, you know, you do what you got to do, get it done. I mean, honest to goodness, that's, that's the name of the game. It is, that's self-employment right there. But the best part is that you're spending time with your family and like actually making the time, you know, to do everything that needs to be done. And it's just a balancing act like everybody, a juggling act that everybody goes through. So you don't get that time back. So, you know, there's no amount of money in the world that gets that time back when your kids are little and, you know, impressionable and they want to spend time with you. So, yeah. So what, what aspects of your business do you handle versus your husband handles? So at the very beginning, my husband did the spraying and he would like do the backpack maintenance and stuff like that. And my husband actually has another job. So I'm kind of, the mosquito shield is kind of me and then his other job, I can't do that for him. So it's his. And so, but he still helps out like with the marketing and actually like last night we were, we're doing these direct mailers and He helped me last night kind of organize where we wanted to put them and we had to try them out. And so. are you guys typically doing that? Are you guys going based off of like a list that you've purchased or are you guys kind of just choosing a geographic area? Yeah, geographic. So basically what I did this year is I pulled up a map of my current customers and where they were located and then I basically mimicked them. So if I had, you know, eight customers on this one street, then I just put those eight, I mean that one street in and then basically kind of did like a mile search out from there. And so I would look at, you know, different demographics. That makes total sense. I mean, that way you, if you're looking at the big map, then you can look and see like, okay, who's like you who has kind of a creek running through their backyard, who's, you know, somewhere in your pond. Yeah, exactly. You know, places that mosquitoes are more likely to be. So that makes a ton of sense. Yeah. Well, very cool. So, and then walk us through kind of your cancer journey, if you will. I know it's kind of a very personal topic, but you know, I do have a lot of people out there that I know that are going through it right now, and I've lost, you know, people to cancer as well. And so I would love to hear, you know, a success story. they're out there. I think cancer has such a negative connotation and I mean as it should, it sucks, right? But I think there is a lot of silver lining and positivity if you just look for it in anything. So no matter what it is. And so I always tell my girls kind of if you have a hundred percent of your day and 99% was horrible, someone was mean to you, whatever. And 1% was absolutely amazing. Focus on that 1% and make it your 100% because you really have no control over the 99% that happens sometimes, right? It's like, I couldn't control getting sick. I couldn't control, we've had two fires. I couldn't control that. We've had three layoffs. I couldn't control that. But what I could control is how I've chosen to smile and pray and persevere and praise God through it because it's a choice for me. It's a choice. I know some people... and their mental health maybe, it's not a choice. And that's totally understandable. But for me, I feel like I was gifted with joy. And so that's kind of my, I'm actually thinking about creating a podcast specifically for like cancer helpers kind of. So I don't know if you know this about me, but I actually created, it was called Cancer Biographies many, many moons ago. It was probably, oh gosh. 15 years ago, it was kind of like right when I was first diagnosed, maybe 10 years ago. And it had like 50,000 followers. It was basically like a Facebook, but for cancer patients. So like if your grandma, you know, wanted to talk to maybe my mom or whatever the situation was, you kind of can like message each other. It just got, it was a way to connect. Yeah, absolutely. And so I'm thinking kind of bringing that back, but in a podcast form. because it kind of got just so heavy for me personally, because I was the one that was funding it and literally working on it all the time. And I didn't make a dime off of it. I was giving my money of it. And so it just became so taxing for my family because my girls were so little that I just chose at that time that it wasn't the right time for me at that time. But super, super blessed that like one of the guys that I, or two of the guys that I went to high school with, they saw that... I had talked to them or whatever about my cancer and they saw my character and they were like, yeah, we just want to help you. And so they created it because that's what they do. So yeah, it's just stuff like that. So basically like I said, I was diagnosed in 9999 and I had Hodgkin's lymphoma and then I was over-radiated, unfortunately. And so that made me have sarcoma. It's called MFH sarcoma. And so basically... I had that three times. There was less than like a 10% survival rate each of those times. And so they took out three of my ribs, part of my spine, three fourths of my back has been taken out. If you're looking at me, my neck is a little like that. My neighbor said, oh no, you didn't cancer. Hahaha! I love it. I love the positive outlook. So I've got a guy that I know right now, who I consider to be a friend, going through a cancer battle. And he's also a very positive person. And he's chosen to not go the typical route of chemotherapy and radiation and stuff like that. And, you know, it's just remarkable to see it, you know. I think is so important. I mean, that side of it as well, right? The way we exercise, the way we eat, the way, you know, I do hot water with them. revamped his lifestyle basically to fight this cancer. And it's apparent, I mean, he lost like 40 pounds like it was nobody's business like immediately just by changing his diet and his lifestyle. Yeah, it was very cool to see. So. I've actually been working out since like October, probably like three to four days a week, but my body is a little slow. So it's just gonna take a little bit longer. I just do like abs different than people, right? So like other people can do crunches and I'll do like wall pilates or something. I just do it, I just adapt. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. really what fitness is about is just, it's being active. It's not, you know, not everybody's gonna go play in the NFL. You know, it's just about getting out there and being active. And like a day like today is a beautiful day to go for a walk. It is gorgeous. It is so gorgeous outside. So that's our plans for the afternoon. We're gonna go for a walk, we're gonna walk up to the park and go play at the park. So, yeah. That's exactly right. So for those that are interested in mosquito services, how is the best way to get ahold of you? Sure. You can contact, you can text me if you want at 214-513-BYTE, which is 214-513-2483. And then I can text you back, no worries at all. If you want, you can call that as well. It goes straight to the call center and then shuffles down through me. So if you want to text, I can get back with you right away. If not, then you can call the call center and talk to someone live. And what's the website? Yeah, it's mo it's kind of long. It's a Mo shield. Hold on. Let me tell you correctly because I'm going to get it wrong. They just changed it. Hold on just a second. Yeah, moshield.com, that's the easiest way. And then you can go to the locations page and you can put in your zip code. And that's how my long one is. That's what I was trying to look up because it has like numbers and letters and dashes and. No, no. But if you just go to moshield.com, M-O, because Mo is our hero character, this guy right here. That's Mo. So yeah, I said I was. Mo the mosquito man, that's right. So yeah, that's awesome. So yeah, we spray every 10 to 17 days. We're super excited to get our season started and also a fun little fact. I don't know if you know this or not, but they're 500 times more active the week of a full moon. So we, yeah, it's true story. Every full moon when you go outside, you'll see, oh my gosh, like when you're walking your kids to the park, you're going to be like, why do they have so many bites? That's why. Mosquitoes are weird. It is crazy. Yeah, they like dark colored clothing, so wear white colored clothing or long colored clothing. Yeah, the females. I always get bit by mosquitoes because I always have, you know, a dark colored shirt on. Crazy. females are the only ones biting. Yeah, that's wild. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Kerry. I really appreciate it and we'll talk soon. Yes, have a great day and congratulations daddy. Why, have a blessed day.