“I’m not afraid of hard work.” Said Philip Eickman, the incumbent Director of Operations at Abra Kadabra Environmental Services. The fear of success is nonsense to someone willing to get their hands dirty. Success comes to anyone who tirelessly works on something that leads to meeting the goal set. There are so many ways to define success. It is very personalized and subjective. Many people aim to have all the pretty and expensive things in this world.
Who is Philip “Phil” Eickman?
But someone who’s experienced a lot of ups and downs in life gets to define success differently and on their terms. For Phil, success is developing as a functional individual in society. Making good contributions to the world is somehow his way of defining it.
“Everyone has a responsibility to contribute,” he says.
He also works for a family-owned pest and wildlife company, which is his way of doing it. Not to mention all his years of working for different companies and roles that are considerably different from the role he’s in now. His day-to-day activities involved numerous one-on-one meetings with the employees directly reporting to him.
Phil is mainly focused on the wildlife side of Abra Kadabra. He ensures that all the necessary equipment is set up and completed whenever a job order arrives. On the other hand, he typically handles the business’s numbers, from projections and their results. He measures how much revenue an employee produces each day and assesses them based on how they hit their goals on a weekly and daily basis.
Finding His Magic With Abra Kadabra
It took years and years for Matt, Abra Kadabra’s current CEO and Phil’s older brother, to finally convince him to join the company. Before joining the business with his two older brothers, Andy and Matt, Phil used to work in different companies on the blue-collar side. His previos experience was working for a lumber yard – operating a huge forklift, loading and unloading train cars, semi-trucks, and trucks. He worked for that job for seven years and introspected a life ahead. He realized that he couldn’t stay on that job forever since he noticed that there would be no longer growth and other opportunities in store for him. “I kind of hit that plateau,” he said.
When he worked for that lumberyard company, Phil used to live with Matt, and they’ve always talked about the possibility of working together and how fun and cool it would be. Matt’s father-in-law owned Abra Kadabra during that time, and Matt had just started working for him. It was four and a half years since Phil finally joined the company.
It was a slow burn for him to join the team finally, but in the end, it was just the right time, and he was the right fit for the job. From being the handyman who loves to get his hands dirty, Phil transformed into working in a strategic and vital role. According to his brother Andy, Phil is more of an analytical person, which is very fitting to his current role in the company. Phil sees his brothers as his best friends since they grew up very closely together when they were younger.
That well-honed relationship made it easier for them to have the ideal work dynamic. They’ve learned to separate work and family relationships, too. “When we gather for dinner, our family doesn’t always want to discuss business. So, We don’t have those conversations unless they come up organically throughout the night,” Phil said.
Even in his current state and position, Phil is still that humble man who is very involved in ensuring he delivers beyond what is expected of him. On the day of our interview, Phil was mostly busy and on his truck, on the way for a job in Mound.
Phil Outside of Work
It was almost the weekend, and he looked forward to attending a bachelor’s party in Wisconsin. In his free days, Phil spends much of his time with his fantastic wife and two kids. As a person who loves the outdoors, Phil enjoys hiking, fishing, and hunting, which he mentioned helped him appreciate working for wildlife control.
On a typical workday, Phil has his personal process for ensuring that every aspect and detail on the operations side is in place. Typically, what he does each day is to estimate the materials needed for the upcoming weeks for scheduled jobs. That is to ensure that the team has all the proper equipment on hand. His role is crucial for the company, and he does a wonderful job of making sure that everything runs smoothly.
Certifications and Achievements
Right now, Phil has numerous certifications above his name. He has NWCOA Certifications for Wildlife Control, Rodent Standards, Zoonotic Disease, Bird Management, and Bat Standards. Phil was very much involved in growing the business rapidly in the company’s current state. He mentioned how grateful he is to arrive in a state wherein the company is in the groove of understanding the customers on a grassroots level. Moreover, Phil ensures that the outside sales team’s training process is fine-tuned so that Abra Kadabra can capture more customers and grow the business further. Generally, Phil is radically optimistic about how Abra Kadabra can potentially grow in the coming years.
“Numbers are endless. I could throw a number at you and be way off because we could just hit the stride, and I don’t know. Maybe we could hit a hundred million in no time. Who knows?”
Phil in Photos
In Conclusion
It’s rare to see someone who can think strategically and do physical work. Getting to know Phil is like seeing the future of people who work in the pest and wildlife control industry. He can handle both the business and operational aspects of things simultaneously. Outside of work, he is a family man and an outdoorsman. He is versatile, which is one of the reasons why Abra Kadabra stands on steady ground in the business.
This article is the third part of our employee spotlight series, where we get candid with Abra Kadabra’s personalities and uncover their stories. Stay tuned for more.
If you have any pest and wildlife-related concerns, feel free to call us at 763 – 363 – 4375 or schedule an appointment.
We appreciate your support for Abra Kadabra Environmental Services. We won Gold Minnesota’s Best under the Pest Control Category.
