Two Lane Tucson — Episode 2: Michelle Nolen | Truly Nolen

Season 2

If visibility is up but jobs are inconsistent, your pipeline is leaking.

Start with the Pipeline Profit Inspection. It pinpoints where Google visibility drops before booked work — and the fix order that matters.

Run the Pipeline Profit Inspection — $295

Delivered asynchronously (Loom + written summary). No sales call required.

Guest: Michelle Nolen
Organization: Truly Nolen Pest Control
Location: Tucson, Arizona (Headquarters)
Category: Pest Control & Multi-State Operations


Listen to the episode


Episode summary

In this Season 2 episode of Two Lane Tucson, I sit down with Michelle Nolen of Truly Nolen, a company with more than 80 years of history and headquarters here in Tucson.

Michelle shares the company’s origin story — from cleaning outhouses during the Great Depression to becoming a multi-state operation built on culture, research, and long-term trust.

This conversation moves beyond pest control. It’s about prevention over reaction, why culture breaks first when companies scale, and how leadership shows up when systems are under stress.

Michelle talks about pivoting — how everything you did got you here, but if you want to go there, you have to do something different. And usually, the decision that feels scary is the right one.

This is a conversation about stewardship, responsibility, community, and protecting a multi-generational brand without losing its DNA.


What we cover

  • The unglamorous origin story of Truly Nolen during the Great Depression
  • Why Tucson became headquarters (and how a Yellow Pages deadline helped decide it)
  • Prevention vs. reaction in pest control
  • Mechanical exclusion vs. chemical exclusion
  • Why culture is what you do when you’re most stressed
  • How executive ride-alongs preserve empathy and operational clarity
  • Why solving people problems with systems alone fails
  • Branding beyond price competition
  • Knowing when to stop, pivot, and do something different

Learn more about

Truly Nolen is a multi-state pest control company headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with operations coast to coast. The leadership center houses payroll, IT, marketing, training, and technical departments — supporting service offices nationwide.

Business profile: Truly Nolen Pest Control | Tucson Headquarters.


Another Tucson business featured on Two Lane Tucson is

Christian Beltran | BB Hill Landscaping


This episode is part of the

Two Lane Tucson series.


Tucson context

Tucson is part of Truly Nolen’s operational DNA. The company relocated here in 1955 after identifying the region as a termite epicenter. From renting a trailer and selling door-to-door, the business grew into a headquarters campus that still serves as its leadership center.

Michelle describes Tucson as a community that values consistency, longevity, and local investment — principles that continue to shape the company’s culture today.


For local businesses navigating visibility

If you’re visible but revenue feels unpredictable, the issue is often not traffic — it’s pipeline friction.

The Pipeline Profit Inspection shows exactly what’s limiting calls and booked work (and what to fix next). Delivered asynchronously (Loom + written summary). No sales call required.

Learn more about the Pipeline Profit Inspection.


Links


Transcript (indexable)

Below is a readable transcript excerpt from the conversation. Minor edits were made for clarity.

Read the transcript

Michelle: Our origin story is probably the most unsexy, unglamorous way to start a business — cleaning out outhouses during the Great Depression. From there, it grew organically into rodent trapping, cockroaches, termites, and solving whatever problem customers had.

Michelle: Culture is what you do when you're most stressed. Systems matter, but if you lean too much into process and forget you’re managing people, things break.

Michelle: Everything you did got you here. If you want to go there, you have to do something different. And that decision is usually scary. If it’s scary, it’s probably the right decision.

Michelle: We’re obsessive about trust — from payroll accuracy to technician training to how we respond during hurricanes or outages. Stewardship means showing people who you are consistently.