Speaker 1: 0:17

Welcome back to Market it with Atmo, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. We share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. I'm your host Story and today we have on the show Jeopardy champion Alan Tabar with Junk Shot of South Arlington. Welcome Alan.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Thank you Story.

Speaker 1: 0:35

I really appreciate you coming on this show. I want to touch on the Jeopardy portion of it, but first tell us about your journey into Junk Shot of South Arlington and how it all began.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Okay, I've always had a business. I've always liked making money.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Of course.

Speaker 2: 0:53

And you know I started as an 11-year-old after helping my older brother with his paper, I got one of my own and you know, back in the mid-80s you could do that. Now, about 10 years ago, I started a tutoring business on the side working through the Wise Ant platform and I liked it, but it could not scale, and so, about two years ago, I was looking for something that could scale. Right.

Speaker 2: 1:11

Because, you know, my kids are getting older, college bills are coming, and realized, as Dave Ramsey would say, I needed a bigger shovel, Absolutely for sure. And so a franchise coach approached me and said you know, this is fairly routine, I would get this a lot because I have a master's in engineering and MBA, so I could get a lot of franchise coaches cold calling me on LinkedIn, right.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Of course.

Speaker 2: 1:32

But this time I listened and I spent a fair amount of time with him. Great guy Quincy Houston and you know, talked okay, what drives you? What do you like? What do you not like? Right, what drives you? What do you like? What do you not like? Right and I gave him my parameters. I wanted something that could scale, that was not digital-based could not be outsourced reasonably needed in good times and bad, and pandemic-proof, because you know we just lived through COVID Right, I was not interested in getting shut down.

Speaker 1: 2:01

I don't think any businesses are right, Right For sure.

Speaker 2: 2:04

And so he sorted through some things, we evaluated different concepts and through it all, this particular franchise through accelerated waste really stuck out One. When I say it can't be digitized, one thing we do have is a patented app, because a lot of the contention around junk haul is what should go and what should stay and how much is it going to cost.

Speaker 1: 2:26

I hadn't thought about that With the app.

Speaker 2: 2:28

Our clients take the pictures, we get the pictures. It lets us size the load ahead of time for better route planning and it lets us give them a fairly accurate quote ahead of time. Wow, that way there's no surprises. Oh, you know, we said it was going to be 400. Now it's 600. That, oh, you know, we said it was going to be 400.

Speaker 1: 2:45

Now it's 600.

Speaker 2: 2:46

That just leads to hate and discontent, absolutely so the app kind of helps you streamline operations, it helps us streamline, it makes it easier for everybody.

Speaker 1: 2:51

That's wonderful. So what all services do you offer and kind of what is your audience or focus?

Speaker 2: 2:57

So we're very focused on the multifamily market. We're not going to say no to anybody, of course, of course, but we are optimized for the multifamily market in a couple of different ways. Okay, number one our dump bed can haul 25 cubic yards. Man. Which is about twice the size of a junk bed. Oh, that's a good comparison and we do that deliberately because we're trying to get to economies of scale. We serve multifamily because, if you think about it, there's 100, 150, up to 500 households in one spot. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:28

And all those households have the same needs as a resident does. Right. I bought a new couch. I know they say I'm not supposed to put it out there by the dumpster, but, sure enough, come 3 in the morning, those couches just kind of magically appear.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Right, or you have a single person in an apartment. They can't get it out.

Speaker 2: 3:46

Right.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:47

And so bulk item removal, property trash outs. We're trying to get a line going with demolition and renovation junk removal, because, if you think about it, that carpenter's making $30, $40, $50 an hour. Why am I paying this guy to go sit in line at the dump? Very true, Right get him going on the next job. Keep him making money for me.

Speaker 1: 4:11

And then you also touched on earlier, you do valet trash as well.

Speaker 2: 4:15

We do.

Speaker 1: 4:16

That's a wonderful attribute for any multifamily community to have.

Speaker 2: 4:21

It really is when it works well. It keeps the community pretty, makes life easier on the residents. Yes, and the teenagers are not holding that trash throwing competition from 50 yards away that's a good point.

Speaker 1: 4:32

I like that a good selling tool on that one. So um, kind of what? What phase are you right now? We, we go by the build, launch, grow scale and I know you're familiar with it. What phase is the business in right now for your franchise? I'd say we're in between launching and growing. Okay.

Speaker 2: 4:48

We're still very much a small company. You know, we have two trucks. Okay. One kind of down the east side of the Metroplex, one on the west side of the Metroplex. We can combine if we need to, right, but we are still learning, especially how to build those lasting relationships.

Speaker 1: 5:04

So that's what your focus is, that's what our focus is. Really helping people more than just kind of scaling and bringing in that revenue which of course you have to have.

Speaker 2: 5:12

It's a very fragmented market.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Right. In what way?

Speaker 2: 5:15

Because it's very easy to get into the market. All you need is a guy with a trailer and, in the multifamily world, you need insurance. Right. And you need trust because that property manager needs to know, if code compliance is coming at noon, that we're going to be there by 10, it's going to be gone.

Speaker 1: 5:33

So honesty and integrity, you would say, is a big staple point in your business.

Speaker 2: 5:37

So we're fractured Again. It's a very fragmented market, and so we're price takers, not really price makers, right?

Speaker 1: 5:45

I like that, and so we're price takers not really price makers.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Right, I like that. So we match on price, we win on service. We're there when we say we're going to be there. We do what we say we're going to do. As we do that that sets us apart and that builds the trust with the property managers, the maintenance leads, and then that's how we grow, that gets us from launch to grow, because then it's and we're starting to see this with different property management companies hey, you take care of Jessica over there. You know Cielo Place, what have you? We need you over here.

Speaker 2: 6:14

And in fact, I was just doing a quote yesterday, because the property manager knows our sales guy from back years ago and says hey, we just did a trash out, we got four tires with rims, two mattresses, a bunch of bags of trash, six couches. Wow, come give me a quote.

Speaker 1: 6:30

So, would you say, referrals are your primary source of revenue.

Speaker 2: 6:34

Between referrals and going and visiting property managers.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Wow, just being out there. Being out there In the community. I worked with multifamily in my past life and trust, especially in service industry, is huge for them because they have a lot of people just bail on them. So what you do really puts a spin on your type of industry, which is wonderful. So, since launching, what has been the most significant milestone or challenge, would you say?

Speaker 2: 7:02

So the milestone and the challenge is we took on the corporate location that was the east side of DFW a year ago. Wow, we've had that now for just about a year.

Speaker 1: 7:12

So it's the whole area that you're servicing.

Speaker 2: 7:15

Now. Currently we have all of DFW. We're going to get a neighbor off to the northeast new franchisee starting up there in the Plano Richardson area sometime in the next few months.

Speaker 1: 7:24

So this is a franchise that you came into. You don't own the entire franchise.

Speaker 2: 7:27

Correct. No, I'm a franchisee of Accelerated Waste Solutions.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Wonderful and they're based out of Tampa. Okay.

Speaker 2: 7:34

It's a young franchise still growing. We were the 13th franchisee to sign up. Wow. And, you know, from 2020, when their first franchisee signed up to now, I think we're past 25 or so. Wow. And we're in every major market in Texas. We're through the southeast, going up the east coast, just started in Chicago and we have franchisees over in California.

Speaker 1: 7:57

My goodness. So you guys are really expanding quickly.

Speaker 2: 8:00

We're definitely growing.

Speaker 1: 8:01

That's wonderful. There's a need for what we do.

Speaker 2: 8:04

As with any franchise right, the more there are of us, the better the awareness grows of course that's after we all grow, absolutely so, um.

Speaker 1: 8:13

You mentioned um the challenges and how to overcome them with your awareness. What other ways are you getting the name out there? I think you mentioned you participated in trade shows and educational events, kind of connecting with the community, that's right. So can you tell me more about that?

Speaker 2: 8:32

Sure. So there's two different apartment associations here in DFW. Okay. The Apartment Association of Greater Dallas and the Fort Worth Apartment Association.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Wow.

Speaker 2: 8:43

And so we are proud members of both. We've gone to the Fort Worth Apartment Association trade show for the last two years, and we've gone to the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas' trade show last year and plan to be there again this year. Man that's wonderful, and so it's just getting a chance to meet people. One of the things I love to do is we got a bunch of rubber ducks with our name and phone number on them.

Speaker 1: 9:05

Oh, I love that Because everyone loves the ducks. They really do.

Speaker 2: 9:09

And we got them because we were a sponsor of the Arlington Rotary Duck Race back in April. Wow, and so we got a good deal. Only have 500 ducks, and so there's still a lot. Of them are still with us.

Speaker 1: 9:20

I know all the Jeep owners love that All the.

Speaker 2: 9:22

Jeep owners love that. All the Jeep owners love them, but also all the maintenance guys love them, and so, okay, hey, have a duck Right and that gets the conversation started. No-transcript On their desk. Yes, something to remember when you buy, so when they need it, it's there, you're there.

Speaker 1: 9:38

That's wonderful. So what's your approach to turning those property managers when you walk in and say hi and introduce yourself to turning them into clients? How do you do that?

Speaker 2: 9:48

So it's. I won't say I have it down to a science, because I don't.

Speaker 1: 9:52

You can always do better at everything, that's right.

Speaker 2: 9:58

But it's get the conversation going and it's easiest. For example, I just met with one I'll call Emily what we do? We drive around the property first, because you want to look at the property. There's 3,500 multifamily properties in DFW Wow, and so am I going to know every single one of them just off the top of my head. No, go in, look around. Right.

Speaker 2: 10:19

And I was able to you know. If you see bulk sitting by the dumpster, take a picture. If you can find the maintenance guy, have a chat with the maintenance guy, but you know this particular property, you know oh hey, behind that dumpster door there's five mattresses and two couches. Right. So then you go into the office and say, hey, I'd like to meet with the property manager. Met with her. Hey, oh, it's the first day on the job, by the way, did?

Speaker 1: 10:46

you know that you have this sitting here. I didn't know. So doing your due diligence and finding those pain points before you even walk in and talk to them is a huge selling point. Maybe they didn't even know.

Speaker 2: 10:56

Yeah, you got to know Right, and you know, deming said it. Well, I'm going to attribute him a quote that may not belong to him. But go to Gemba, if you're going to fix something, you got to be at the place where the prey pain is. Absolutely, you got to see what's going on. You can't just waltz in and say I got the solution to your problems. Who are you and how do you know my problems?

Speaker 1: 11:16

Right, you have to actually know the solution and the care you put into. That is very inspiring because a lot of people are doing. You know the digital advertising, which is a huge selling point for most businesses. But with your physical presence that you have to have, it's almost necessary for you to be on site when you're talking to these people, right?

Speaker 2: 11:36

That's right. Property managers live in a very reactive world by the nature of their job. Yeah, they really do, you know anything can be happening at any given time, and so they don't return phone calls. They don't return emails. No, because they don't have time. If they're at their desk, they're doing invoicing.

Speaker 1: 11:55

Yep. So how did the digital aspect of it come into play for you? I've never heard of a junk removal service having a digital app or anything like that. Does that digital awareness really help you scale more?

Speaker 2: 12:08

that is the theory right and as we do, more residential, I think that will help us on the residential side more than it really helps our multifamily side. Right. Multifamily is okay. I'm back at the same community and complex if they don't like it, it's the same community. Okay, I know where the dumpsters are. I know that this one's going to have five couches.

Speaker 1: 12:31

So is it just the property managers you're creating relationship with? I feel like the maintenance supervisors? It's both. It really is you have to have.

Speaker 2: 12:37

Because, just like I mentioned the carpenter, right, they're the high skilled guys. These maintenance folks really are high skilled. They are. They got to be able to fix plumbing, got to be able to fix HVAC. The roof, you name it, they got to be able to do it and so where we can take the heavy hot stuff off their backs. Absolutely you know, like I say to them I'm here to be your best friend.

Speaker 1: 12:59

That's wonderful.

Speaker 2: 13:00

I'm here to make your life easy.

Speaker 1: 13:02

And you really do.

Speaker 2: 13:03

That's right.

Speaker 1: 13:03

You actually follow through with what you say and that that builds a lot of trust. And you said that does your wife help you in this business as well?

Speaker 2: 13:09

It's kind of a family business she does she does all of the back office part.

Speaker 1: 13:19

That's wonderful. Having a team to help you it is. I would have been lost without her. So tell me what are some of your future goals for the business? Do you have any goals for the next six months this year, now that we're in 2025?

Speaker 2: 13:28

So, like all small businesses right, the first job is to become profitable and stay profitable.

Speaker 1: 13:32

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 13:34

And that's our goal for 2025 is to turn that corner and be consistently profitable. Okay, and then use that to fuel growth in 2026, 27, 28.

Speaker 1: 13:44

Absolutely so. Are you doing any kind of philanthropy? I know you have a lot of community involvement. How are you helping the community with what you do?

Speaker 2: 13:54

So one of the things that we do is we take good used furniture that we get and store it so we can give it away to people who need it. Wow, case in point property manager called us a few months ago and said hey, there's this family. Cps has already been there. If they don't have beds and furniture in a couple of days, this lady's going to lose her kids. Now, hey, you know what? We've got some bed, bed frames. We happen to have some mattresses that were still in their plastic. Wow, obviously we're not going to donate used mattresses, right? You don't know where?

Speaker 2: 14:23

those are not yeah but we had what they needed, you know, dining room table and chairs, chest of drawers, those bed frames, mattresses and plastic put them on the truck, took them over and that was you know. It's really neat to be able to help that way. We strive to do that. Wow. Now, a lot of stuff we get regrettably really can't be donated.

Speaker 1: 14:44

Of course.

Speaker 2: 14:45

Right Stuff with. If it's fabric-based, you don't know where it's been you don't know what's living inside it. Absolutely. We don't want to be a curse to people.

Speaker 1: 14:56

For sure. So you're doing all that you can with what you have, and have you regretted jumping into the franchise from what you were doing before this?

Speaker 2: 15:05

No, it's been a lot of learning and you know, as I mentioned, I have an MBA. Right. And so I knew in my head right, that new businesses struggle. Absolutely. I was like nah, I got this, I got this. No, we struggled, we continue to struggle All new businesses struggle.

Speaker 1: 15:24

In the build phase, especially when you're trying to get the trucks and you're trying to get the insurance and you really have to have the right people in line that are going to be there. When you say they're going to be there, I mean it's a huge hurdle, but would you say you're still in the growth phase but you're on a good trajectory to meet your goals.

Speaker 2: 15:42

We're on a good trajectory.

Speaker 1: 15:43

That is wonderful. So tell me a little bit about well, you already have really good relationships and you find that as a huge importance. Right, you mentioned that, the philanthropy someone called you to ask for help. So are you connected with any organizations, just community outreach centers who can reach out to you and how can they reach out to you if they?

Speaker 2: 16:08

want to help. We're happy to hear from anybody. At one of the business exchanges I met a contact from the Hearst Community Exchange. Right. And we'd love to partner with them. One of the challenges we have is we don't have really a bricks and mortar location. We have a place where we keep the trucks.

Speaker 1: 16:24

Right well.

Speaker 2: 16:25

And so getting the logistics right of hey, I'm doing this storage area clean out. Wow, there's rack upon rack of clothes. They should go somewhere, but it's a challenge being able to find a partner organization that can respond fast enough to come get it.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Right, because you can't store everything. Right. We cannot store everything and the time to go through it all.

Speaker 2: 16:46

So if anyone out there you're saying I'm happy to partner with folks If you've got a truck and you can say you know, hey, yeah, I want to come meet you. Right. Take some of this stuff, talk to us. We'd love to partner with you. We'd much rather see things go to a new home than go to the landfill.

Speaker 1: 17:04

I absolutely love it. Would you say your personal goals of helping people influence your business model and mindset with the business? In what way?

Speaker 2: 17:12

So a couple ways One just being able to give material things back to the community to find better homes. Mm ways One just being able to give material things back to the community to find better homes, but also I did a stint as PTA president for my daughter's school a couple years ago, bless you. And you know it was a standard past president gets up. If people don't volunteer, there will be no PTA and no advance this year. That is true.

Speaker 2: 17:32

So I went in thinking, okay, I'll be treasurer, I'm good with numbers, I can do that. But it was very clear nobody wanted to be president. So, okay, I'll do it. But being in that school showed me that I've been living in a bubble.

Speaker 1: 17:46

Interesting.

Speaker 2: 17:47

You know my kids are in. I love my kids' schools, but this particular school was dealing with a very transient population, low SES population. It was dealing with a very transient population low SES population and he has a crying need for more community involvement. But I can't do that chained to a desk. Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 18:08

And so that's another thing that drives me to grow this business, to be able to say, okay, I've got a good business, I've got good managers running it, and be able to spend a lot more time in the community. That's wonderful Helping pre-teens, teens figure out okay. Yeah, I know I'm being an idiot right now, but what do I want to be when I grow up?

Speaker 1: 18:25

Absolutely, I grow up. Absolutely, that's wonderful and the two intertwine. I mean your personal goals have to benefit your business and vice versa. That's right Right, and I'm sure your children are very, very proud to have family that they can look up to and say you know they can do anything. They said they're mine too, and you've really done that, it seems like. So what are your plans for the next five years for the business?

Speaker 2: 18:48

So the next five years my goal is to get to about 15% of the overall multifamily storage area market.

Speaker 1: 18:54

Okay.

Speaker 2: 18:55

Which, as I mentioned you know, 3,500 multifamily communities in DFW, about 500 storage areas. Wow, each property generally is about a load a month, about $500. Uh-huh. So not everybody needs us all the time. Everybody needs us sometime.

Speaker 1: 19:12

Right, of course.

Speaker 2: 19:14

And where you have the multifamily community again. You know a 25 cubic yard truck. If I come clean out your two car garage, you don't need me for five years.

Speaker 1: 19:23

Absolutely right. Right it is clean.

Speaker 2: 19:26

There's nothing left left to do. It takes a family time to accumulate enough stuff to fill our truck. A multi-family community, you know we have some recurring clients. We're there not saying we're pulling a full load every week. Right, we're there pulling a quarter load, a half a load to keep the place clean so that people don't see the dumpsters. Oh, I see, bulk, that means I can put my stuff out there.

Speaker 1: 19:48

This is true, this is very true.

Speaker 2: 19:50

Keep it clean. That kind of discourages, the people who are wavering on whether they're going to follow the rules. Those who aren't going to follow the rules are going to dump regardless.

Speaker 1: 19:58

Absolutely so in five years.

Speaker 2: 20:01

So in five years 10 trucks 10.

Speaker 1: 20:04

And you have two now. We have two now.

Speaker 2: 20:06

But we should be able to build to. The goal is to build to that level Absolutely. So we're doing about $300,000 a month in revenue, which is a good, solid business.

Speaker 1: 20:16

Right for a non-seasonal business. I mean, I'm sure spring cleaning is coming up soon.

Speaker 2: 20:22

If you think about it, there's three ways the multifamily community causes us to have business right. One is the residents buying furniture.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 20:33

And that starts in President's Day furniture sales and goes to about mid-November.

Speaker 1: 20:35

Interesting.

Speaker 2: 20:37

And then you know we do rent support. You know people are evicted. It happens in the multifamily community right Absolutely. They leave their stuff behind or they decide they're leaving without taking their stuff with them. Let's just say December's not a time when a lot of apartment moves happen.

Speaker 1: 20:54

I wouldn't imagine wanting to move in December, for sure.

Speaker 2: 20:57

And you know the Texas school year being what it is. Why am I moving my kids during finals January, the moves pick up again. And then February, the furniture picks up, and now we're rocking and rolling again.

Speaker 1: 21:09

That's wonderful. Well, I definitely know that if I had, especially rental properties, people leaving things behind, I'd want to go. I'd want it to go out to somebody I know is going to at least donate the things that are are useful, because business owners, multiamily owners, they don't have the time to sit there and go through it all. But it's nice to have a company that has that heart like you do.

Speaker 2: 21:35

That's right. Well, again, it's good stuff. It should not go to the dump.

Speaker 1: 21:39

I love that. That's great. So if there's one thing you want our listeners to remember about your business, what would it be?

Speaker 2: 21:45

That we will do what we say. We do when we say we'll do it business what would it be?

Speaker 1: 21:49

That we will do what we say we do when we say we'll do it. That's a wonderful thing to hear. So if they want to reach out to you, whether it be for a job, to help or to partner with you, or if they need your services, how can they reach you?

Speaker 2: 21:59

The best ways are cell 682-374-2225.

Speaker 1: 22:04

Wonderful, and you have a website, social media we do.

Speaker 2: 22:07

So website is junkshotappcom slash south-arlington.

Speaker 1: 22:13

That's wonderful. Well, thank you, alan, for coming on the show and helping us with all the things that you do, because it's such a niche market but it's so necessary. So thank you, I appreciate it To all our listeners out there. I'm your host Story, and we'll see you next time on Market it with Atma.