With a healthy family, business is now the focus

Thirteen years ago, Brian Zahringer’s world was unraveling. The father of two little girls felt helpless as his wife, Amber, began suffering from epileptic-type seizures. The seizures were mild at first but eventually strengthened and became more frequent.

A little while after the seizures started, their younger daughter, Mackenzie, started having problems in school. The 6-year-old exhibited anger issues, including throwing chairs. She escaped from the school more than once, running into the surrounding cornfields.

“On several occasions, we had to have local rescue workers help us find her,’’ Zahringer recalls. “The school had to put special locks on the doors to keep her inside.”

Unfortunately for the Zahringers, things would get much worse before they would get better.

Steady growth

Brian Zahringer

Zahringer hails from Kenosha, Wis., and currently lives in what we “Flatlanders” (Illinois natives) call the “North Woods,” or Northern Wisconsin. Clintonville, Wis., is an industrial town and quaint village of about 5,000 residents. It is a great place to raise a family and grow a business.

With seven years of industry experience, the 42-year-old started BugBoss The X-Terminator with Amber in 2021. Since its inception, BugBoss, which Amber co-owns, has grown steadily. He finished 2024 one cheese curd away from $200,000 and plans on hitting about $240,000 this year.

“I’d like to hire a pest control tech this year and maybe reduce the mileage on some of my wildlife jobs,” Zahringer told me as he plans for future growth.

Positive outcomes

Before 2012, neither pest control nor Clintonville was in Zahringer’s future. He and his wife were simply raising their daughters as he tested out various jobs, including food delivery and warehouse gigs. By 2013, however, his wife’s seizures got worse. Plus, Mackenzie’s behavior became so severe the family had no choice but to move in with Zahringer’s dad and institutionalize her.

“It was heartbreaking,” he admits. “It was only for a few weeks while they tested her, but it seemed like forever.”

Then, a miracle happened at the hospital. A doctor found five gangliogliomas on Mackenzie’s brain. The cancerous tumors were affecting her personality.

She had surgery at Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee and is now cancer-free. But as happens in many instances, she contracted an infection. They installed a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line) that intravenously pumped antibiotics directly into her heart. It was a straightforward procedure — until a few weeks later when the family cat chewed a hole in the catheter! After relearning a few motor skills, Mackenzie, now 17, is doing great. She is even starting to look at colleges to attend later this year.

As for Amber, the struggles would continue for three more years. Finally, a blood test revealed that she had Addison’s Disease, also known as primary adrenal insufficiency. It is a rare, chronic endocrine disorder that occurs when the adrenal glands don’t produce enough of the hormones cortisol and aldosterone. Doctors prescribed her hydrocortisone, and she is doing so well these days that she is back to work as a district supervisor for a lending company.

Moving forward

Meanwhile, Brian Zahringer started working for his uncle in a gun shop. One day, a wildlife professional came into the shop, and they struck up a friendship. A few weeks later, Zahringer’s new friend asked him to work for his pest and wildlife control business. Zahringer was hooked.

“I think all of the issues my family has had to deal with over the years gave me the confidence to handle the stress of starting a new business,” he explains.

Oldest daughter Anastasia was always extremely helpful when it came to her mother’s and sister’s issues. “Without her help, it would have been so much harder to get through everything,” he says.

GRAPHIC: PMP SATFF

BugBoss provides quarterly pest control, attic cleanouts and wildlife, mosquito, bat and bed bug treatments. His 60-mile service radius includes Wausau, Stevens Point, Green Bay and Oshkosh, Wis. He already has an office in a church, for which he trades out services.

Zahringer’s favorite parts of his job are helping people and seeing how his services improve their lives. His least favorite is the business side. He and I will be working on that area quite a bit this year.

Tragedy can strike any of us at any time. In April 1998, my father-in-law, Fred Grosch, suffered a fatal heart attack just hours after holding his brand-new grandson, Peter Schopen III, in the delivery room. It took years for my wife’s family to return to “normalcy,” or at least a new normal.

The only thing you can do is pick yourself up and keep moving forward. Brian Zahringer and his family know this all too well.