Tavin Schomberg grew up in a small suburb of Seattle as just a regular rowdy boy who was hard to control and as unfocused as they come. At a young age, Schomberg had begun to notice that he was mechanically inclined and had a very hands-on attitude when it came to learning.
“To the irritation of many, I liked to take stuff apart and put it back together to see how it worked. It usually went okay, but back when I was eight years old, I took apart my dad’s chainsaw and put it back together. I had a bunch of parts leftover,” Schomberg said. Schomberg credits his parents, especially his dad, for their love, guidance, and patience with him as he learned his way in the world. “He went to use the chainsaw one day and the chainsaw began to fall apart in his hands. “He wasn’t too mad. He was like, ‘Please don’t do that again. Luckily he found it funny enough that I didn’t get into trouble. My parents were as patient and understanding as they possibly good be. I was always throwing rocks and breaking glass and stuff. Just…hard to control and rowdy,” Schomberg said.
Schomberg continued down a bad path until he reached an epiphany. He credits his change in behavior to the love and care of his parents. “When I was young, I got into things I shouldn’t have and maybe hung out with a crowd that I shouldn’t have,” he said. “The turning point was in my late teens, I realized I was a disappointment to my dad who I really loved and cared about. I wanted to change and be someone he could trust and be proud of,” Schomberg reflected.
After high school, Schomberg turned to hard work to not only pay the bills but to help build a future. “I became a commercial fisherman in Alaska. I would go up every summer and fish on boats in Alaska. That experience gave me the opportunity to travel around the country. I eventually moved to Las Vegas. When I was 19. I met the girl who would eventually be my wife there,” Schomberg recalled with a smile.
Tavin Schomberg
Senior Exclusion Technician and Estimator
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After deciding to get married and work on building a family. Schomberg took his father’s life lessons and put them to use. “One thing my dad taught me was the benefits of hard work. From there it was just a lot of work. I worked as a day laborer. I worked and learned different aspects of construction and maintenance. I always worked really hard to provide for my family and my future,” he said.
After toiling as a day laborer for a few years, Schomberg linked up with an employer who wanted to hire him as a full-time employee. Schomberg tried his hand in landscaping until he moved from Vegas to Phoenix when his wife got a job as an executive personal assistant.
Once he had relocated to the area for his wife’s career, Schomberg worked as a satellite installation technician for Direct TV.
“I learned a lot and there were things I enjoyed about the job, but I didn’t like the money for the work,” he said. Schomberg made a calculated decision to leave Direct TV and go back to commercial fisherman. The goal was to save the lucrative pay from fishing and buy a house.
Once I had come back to this area, I started working for a tree service. It wasn’t until my mid to late 20s that I got into animal exclusion. He found that he thrived at this new career and it had seemed it was a perfect fit until he hit a personal tragedy. When his mother passed away, Schomberg took it hard and secluded himself for a while to take some personal time.
After the worst part of the grieving process was complete, Schomberg moved to Payson and found Matt Abney, the owner of Friendly Pest Control.
“Matt was looking for someone with exclusion experience. I called him after I saw an ad online. He came and met me in 15 minutes and I realized I liked him very much and needed to work with him,” he said.
Schomberg highlighted his construction experience and the fact that every job he had ever done was hands-on work and that he wasn’t afraid of hard labor.
“I explained to Matt why I was a good candidate. When I was on the fishing boats, because I wanted to learn everything I could, I worked my way up to boat engineer. I explained that my construction experience would come in handy. I can see right through a house into the walls because I know how they are built, which helps me understand where an animal would be and where they hid or nest,” he explained.
From there, Schomberg started with Friendly Pest Control and restarted a career that he feels he was built for.
“Working for Matt who I think is great gives me the ability to build future career plans. At this point in this venture, I believe that this company has a great design and Matt is a great business owner. One day I would like to be in sales and management. If the company grows, there will be a need for a regional manager. I could be someone who looks jobs over. I would want to still do exclusion work, but I would also like to do more management of people and job sites. I would help Matt run the exclusion side of things for the company,” he explained.
Schomberg’s personal goals are just as wholesome. “I am a very proud parent of two kids; a son and a daughter. I just want to be the best dad I can be. I am not worried about being rich, just trying to be a good parent. I just want to provide for my family and be here for them,” he said.
Schomberg hopes to stay with Friendly long-term and continue to grow and develop with the company. “This company has great opportunities for growth and development. For people planning to get into this career, I only have a couple of pieces of advice; I would say you gotta do it for the customers. The money will come as long as you do what you need to do for the customers. If you focus on the dollar, it is a lot harder to get them. If you focus on what you are trying to do, the dollars show up,” he shared.
For more information about Friendly Pest Control services, products or personnel, call Friendly Pest Control at (928) 363-4232
