Knockout Wisdom: Life Lessons from a Boxing Legend Bobby Hitz

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They get shit done. So welcome to the get shit done experience.

Well, well, well, we are back at it again. You are in studio. This is the get shit done experience, also known as the GSDX podcast. You can find us at www. gsdxpodcast. com. And again, I got to tell you, we just keep growing. This is absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for all of you that have sent a rating and a review or have, um, told a friend.

I mean, it’s just, uh, scaling pretty fast. I couldn’t be more grateful to interact with unbelievable entrepreneurs, founders, executives, athletes, innovators, inventors. Um, and I got one today. We’ve got one today. This is going to be absolutely amazing. So if you want to play along, I need you to go to garbage gorilla.

com, right? It’s garbage gorilla. com, just like it sounds. And, uh, you are going to find out about disruption today. We’re talking about introducing new technology, the waste management space. And, uh, this is going to, in my opinion, I don’t know. I probably am not the right person to make predictions here. I’m not certainly not Mel Kuiper of the waste management space.

Right. Uh, but I gotta tell you, I feel like you guys are going first round with this. Um, so I want to introduce to you, Michael and will from garbage gorilla. Thanks for joining the show. Thanks for having us on. Thank you very much for having us. We appreciate it. So this is pretty cool because this is the power of social media and this is what I’ve been talking about.

So I posted. An episode clips of, uh, I want to say it was the gents from United door and doc Michael commented. On that post, I immediately said, well, Hey, cool. This is a new name. I haven’t seen before. That’s commenting on one of the posts. So I looked Michael up when I looked up, Michael, I went, Oh my gosh, what in the world is going on with garbage gorilla?

I got to watch this. So then I go to the website, then I go to YouTube. Then I start watching videos of this amazing truck with this huge ass arm on it. And just like, I mean, we’re talking about what was the movie with Mel Gibson? Didn’t Uh, like way back in the day, it was like in Australia. It’s like, uh, post apocalyptic.

Oh, Mad Max, Mad Max. I’m watching Mad Max. Right. So I’m watching this thing just absolutely destroy garbage. Just, this thing is spinning on there. It’s got like swords on it and blades and all this stuff. And I’m like, I’m having like this, uh, Mad Max moment. I’m like, Mad Max is back, baby. And it just hit the waste management space.

We’re hoping. Okay. So Michael, talk to us a little bit about. Uh, you, you, your partners, right? And, uh, you’re in sales for a long time. Yes, sir. And you get a phone call from one of your partners and he goes, Hey, you want to, you want to crush some garbage? So, uh, yeah, to that point, uh, real quick, shout out to Ben and Mike united dock and door loyal customers of ours.

And we appreciate them. So, uh, back in January of 21, uh, Um, we had some changes. I was a career salesman for a company called CDS moving equipment, shout out CDS. Uh, and, um, you know, just, we had an owner pass away. We had some entered, um, wranglings, uh, in upper management and, uh, you know, the writing’s kind of on the wall.

And, um, I was looking for something, not really sure exactly what I was looking for. And, uh, my client at the time, Alan Oversmith, uh, calls me and, Hey, I got an idea. Okay. How happy are you? We’re, you know, equity deal, you know, want to try and get something off the ground, but we’re starting from zero and we’re disrupting.

Sounds exciting. What are we doing? Smashing garbage. Get the hell out of here, man. What are you talking about? So you had me at smashing garbage. I’m still hanging. I like the smashing part. Sounds awesome. A hundred percent. The garbage part. Okay. I’ve still need to be sold on that. Is that kind of what you’re thinking?

A hundred percent. But now if you’re thinking about the timeline, it’s still January 21. So we’re still in that pandemic scenario. So, you know, you’ve got, um, you know, the only employees that are really going to work are essential and the only industry is really thriving, uh, were essential and that checked that box.

And I was like, all right, listen, Alan, I’m going to be out in the field tomorrow, selling. Let me just see what I see. There’s always savings, but it’s about way more than savings alone. Total technology solutions group redefines managed print services. Excellence is the minimum standard. TTSG is a true managed print service provider, deeply understanding your technology and business goals.

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We set the bar high. Your people deserve it. Peace of mind, powerful innovation, TTSG. com. So as I’m rolling around, uh, you know, rolling around Chicagoland. Uh, knocking on doors, calling on clients and prospective clients. Now I’ve got an eye for dumpsters, right? I’m looking, and I’m not talking the, you know, small eight.

Yeah. Six yarders behind the restaurant, large 20 to 40 yard, open top dumpsters and pull into a warehouse, knock on a door, seeing a client. Wow. There’s two dumpsters there. Okay. No big deal. Go to the next stop. Another dumpster sitting there. And it’s like, wow, you don’t, you know, it’s like the brand never heard of a Volvo until you buy one.

And then all of a sudden you see them all over the road that happened with my previous company. We were like a week away from signing an agreement with this trucking company. I had never heard of them. And then the minute they put ink to paper, I can’t stop seeing them all. They’re all over the place.

Well, they’ve always been all over the place, but you just don’t recognize it until, you know, it comes into your, your universe. 100%. So now you’re still, you know, you’re looking. So now I’m looking. So now I’m looking for dumpsters and I do see them pretty regularly. So I’m like, all right, let’s just, let’s just see where this goes.

So we start planning, we start doing some modeling and we start looking at some numbers. And we’re like, there’s really no one in the space doing it. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t have competition. There are people out there doing it, but it’s an opportunity where, you know, if we’re looking as entrepreneurs for a new opportunities, we’re looking where it is in the life cycle.

Right. And this is right at the Genesis. Yeah. And I was like, There is an advantage to being first in. 100%. Or at least one of the first in, right? One of the first in. Nobody remembers Myspace, but everybody remembers Early entry. Yeah, everybody knows who Facebook is now. So, um, you know, long and short, give it a week or so, did the homework, come back, Alright, let’s do this.

So, ultimately, uh, that was Genesis, probably January, we start modeling, putting some numbers together, putting things together, found a truck dealer, and the very definition of irony, um, week of July 4th, Is was my anniversary date with CDS. I hopped a plane to Baltimore to drive back truck. Number one, uh, we took that month, uh, to really plan, get some marketing materials, get some things going, some beautiful branding.

And then by August, uh, we had started rolling, um, and I was doing it. You know, I had, uh, my, my, my other work phone, um, I had my personal phone. I’m out there trying to sell. And, um, it was pretty obvious early on. We needed help. So, um, Will came on, uh, I started rolling in August. Will started with us basically January 1st of 22, and we’ve been off and running.

I love it. So let’s talk about differentiators, right? Because you are disrupting. And, but you did mention that there’s. You know, a few folks that are doing it, they’re doing it, but, but you’ve got a unique something. What is that unique something? You know, that’s a great question. Um, you know, in all sales and marketing, we really feel like our unique something is our brand and our touch.

Um, you know, what we’re doing isn’t necessarily sexy per se. Um, but it’s always that thing that’s not only essential, but How much garbage are we creating even here as I’m drinking a cup of coffee or a bottle of water? Oh, I’m glad you said that. Not the content that we’re creating. There’s time. I’m glad you let us talk.

I’m glad you labeled that because I mean, it was starting to go down that direction. So, all right, we’re good. Um, you know, um, it’s, uh, Are what we find ultimately at the end of the day being a disruptor Uh, our biggest obstacle is, you know, essentially educating the consumer and that’s kind of where we’re at So, you know and coming back full circle to this Thank you so much for giving this the opportunity to get the voice out there and you know, give our unique situation, but ultimately You know, it boils down to service and relationship.

And that’s what we think we do the best. You know, we are responsive. We’re one of the only folks in the marketplace with two trucks, with multiple. So, um, you know, we could be wherever you need us to be, when you need us to be there. Um, you know, for the most part, um, you know, we’re very customer, uh, focused, very customer service oriented.

So, um, And we’re, we’re a big culture first, um, company. I’ve worked for companies in the past where, you know, the business was good, but the culture wasn’t great. Um, and we had a lot of turnover in those sort of situations. You’re like you’re making this much money. You’re doing so well. Why are you leaving?

Yeah. Well, there’s more, there’s more to life than money. A hundred percent. So, you know, ultimately what we’re trying to build, Is we’re trying to be a disruptor, but also trying to do it through the lens of how do we want to build this business? What is going to make me happy? You know, not only just creating jobs and disrupting and now starting from zero and going to a hundred and, but we want to make sure that, um, you know, we’re, we’re, I told Will when he started with us, No matter how happy, unhappy, whatever.

One thing I’m going to make sure that you do is, you know, that I care about you. And at the end of the day, if. everything goes sideways, you’re going to have a new set of career skills that will be able to take you to the next level, no matter what you’re doing. Yeah, build the person, not just the business.

A hundred percent. Build people. A hundred percent. So we’re very people oriented, both external and internal. That’s awesome. Will, what, what, um, are you hearing when you’re out in the marketplace? What are you hearing from folks? What are they saying about this because first off the truck looks amazing.

Usually everyone we work with they all love the service Yeah, it’s usually like he’s been saying and we’ve all been talking about Educating the consumer of who doesn’t use the service or does because we do the free demonstration So we’ll come out for anyone who has a dumpster. We’ll come out and do a free one Just because we know that’s a way to get you you get to see it.

Yeah, you see it You see you’re hooked in you’re yeah, you see everyone enjoys to see it Usually, you know, there’s a few dumpsters that we go to maybe they don’t have a good crushing dumpster We don’t do well, but that’s also why we offer it So no one gets it, but everyone who does it loves it. And then the people that I would say right now, and they always say election, you know, everyone’s trying to save money.

But if you’re really trying to save money, you would be using us because if you’re trying to save those pennies, why are you going to spend 600 to get your swap, your dumpster swapped out when you can pay us less the quarter price and we’ll get you 70 percent of a new dumpster. So that’s kind of where I, I, you know, It’s really just educating the consumer and getting people to understand that we’re, we’re not a crazy business that’s gonna, uh, um, like cost you a bunch of money.

We’re very, uh, consumer friendly. We help save you money. And that’s kind of the whole idea of it. So I don’t really like what, that’s what I’ve been hearing a lot election time. We don’t want to spend money. But if you don’t want to spend money, shouldn’t you be trying to save money? In the sales world, my friend, that is called a hedge.

Yeah. So you have to destroy the hedge. First, you have to identify the hedge. And then you have to destroy the hedge. And I think you did a fantastic job of essentially getting to what’s going to destroy the hedge. You know, people always looking for three main things, right? Can you save me time? Can you make better use of my money?

And can you give me back my energy? Right? TME. If you can do that, then you got some, you can sell anything all day. So I love the fact that you went right to, Hey, look, if you’re trying to save money, You’re actually contradicting yourself. Because this is going to save you money. And that’s what I’ve always thought about.

It’s just like, if you guys really want to say, I always say, try the free demonstration. Yeah, what do you have to lose? What do you have to lose? I’ll still call you a bunch, probably. But I’ll probably call you less. Yeah. I’ll bug you less, if you give me the free demonstration, I’m still gonna bug you, I’m a sales guy.

No doesn’t mean no, in my dictionary. No, no, no means I need to know more. Yes, exactly. So, I would say just try the free demo. If you don’t like it, tell me to get out of here and then block my number. By the way, The free demonstration is probably 15 minutes of pure entertainment. Naughty, yeah. I mean, it’s beautiful.

It’s awesome to see you. All you gotta just do is, is watch a YouTube video. But this is exactly the reason why we’re on the podcast here, because there are businesses that need a light shined on them. So, Because, um, as you mentioned, the model makes total sense. It saves money for organizations. There’s probably a level of cleanliness because some of those dumpsters start to get packed too high and they’re overflowing.

Now the garbage is blowing in the wind is blowing down the street. So that’s ruining the aesthetics of your headquarters, right? Not even only to that point, if I can interject right there. If you, let’s just say you had a dumpster out here that’s over the line and you get that wrong driver that particular day who brings you the empty, now you’re double handling your garbage because he’s making you take the garbage out of the overfilled one and put it in the empty one.

So it’s funny how many light bulb moments there are in that. Yeah. So this is about awareness because this is something that is new to the marketplace. and, uh, is going to catch on, but it’s just about people being able to see it. So when, uh, folks see it, as you mentioned, you get the, you often will, we’ll get the aha moment or you’ll get the, wow, this is really cool, but you’re still going to get the, Hey, look, you know, this is something we would consider, but we got to wait.

You know, I, uh, you know, it may cost too much in this and that, um, what about the folks that have overcome that you’ve mentioned like, what’s the feedback that you’re getting? From folks who have said, okay, let’s take the plunge. Let’s see what this is like. Let’s go for it. What are they saying, Michael? I mean, hand over fist.

I mean, anybody who gets the light bulb moment, uh, we’ve earned a loyal customer for the most part. Um, you know, it’s, it makes so much time or it makes so much sense because we’re, we’re saving time, we’re making you more efficient, we’re improving workplace safety, you know, the other part of the, of the green aspects of it is Um, you know, we’re helping landfill impact, you know, those sorts of things.

One of the things that I had mentioned to Will about that was most exciting, and I’m going to use an example. Of a customer that we lost, but I was excited about, I didn’t want to lose the customer, but this is where I’m going with it. We dealt with a customer out in Romeoville who was doing warehousing and logistics, and the way they were packing their dumpster didn’t make a ton of sense.

So they were crushing, we were crushing them for a long time. And so, And all of a sudden we see the pattern fall off. Like, Hey, we used to see him once a week. Now it’s once every two weeks, once every three weeks, whatever the case may be. But I, so I went in and talked to my point of contact. Hey, how are you doing?

You know what’s going on, Mike? I got to tell you, you have completely changed the way we think about garbage. What do you mean? Okay. All right. Can you extrapolate on that for me? Absolutely. So now we’re separating our corrugated, our plastic, our metals. We’re getting weird. Actually. Now the only things you’re really crushing are our broken pallets.

We’re paying attention now. So. You know, in the, in this process of disrupting and educating, you know, if we’re really truly doing it the right way, we are making people look at garbage through a different lens. They’re having to adjust their operations. 100%. You could, You’re throwing money away. If you’re throwing, if you’re not recycling some of your lumber, if you’re not recycling some of your metals, if you’re not recycling some of your corrugated, like, um, those are opportunities that could potentially bring you money versus costing you money.

And like Will said, we’re a situation where we’re not trying to cost you money. Well, I was gonna say, I’ll add onto that. There’s, I would say 95 percent of. free demos, and I’m sure you can test this. No one knows how much they pay for their dumpster. No, of course not. That’s not something they’re like, they’re like, Oh, well, we’ll have to look into like how much we pay.

There’s been I’ve been here for almost three years. Two times I’ve had someone like give me their, this is how much we pay. And we ask for the contract upfront. Like we’re consistently, Hey, your demo’s Monday at nine o’clock. Can you know, can you have your contract available? So we can talk about exactly how it is we’re going to save you.

And you know, again, like we’ll set, no, I ain’t got the contract. This is really cool. How much do you pay? I don’t know how much I’ll get back to you. It’s always, what’s amazing is, you know, Controlling cost isn’t sexy. No, right. So, you know, it’s a lot easier to sell something that is potentially going to bring in new business, drive sales, this and that for the, for the, the, uh, director level decision maker, especially when you start talking to CEOs and stakeholders, which you probably don’t get introduced to at the initial They would love to minimize the cost of business because profit is their pay.

So that’s, that’s pretty, pretty key, but I would imagine it doesn’t necessarily get to them until it gets to them. So you’re a hundred percent right. That’s usually at. Not even the freedom is because usually sometimes it’s not even the free demonstration. We’ll see him. We’ll get the free demonstration.

We’ll just say, like a warehouse manager, and then he’s like, okay, I’m gonna run this up the flagpole. And then the next, then they’re like, okay, we want to use you guys. And then the next time there’s even a bigger crowd for the first paid. Well, if I’m a, if I’m a warehouse manager, right, I’m, I’m probably not driving sales, right?

I’m an efficiency, manage people, make sure we adhere to the standards. I’m customer service. Sure. Right. So, but if I could go to my boss, which likely might be a director or go to a VP or go to a CEO and essentially say, Hey, I just found a way to cut a cost by 30%, which would potentially mean 0. 5 percent to the net bottom line.

Um, would you like to know what that is? Then when they start deciding, Hey, look who should get a promotion, they’re probably going to look at the person who just saved him 0. 5 percent net. Okay. So I think sometimes, you know, I love the fact that you went not to bells and whistles. You went to, to financial value because not enough people in management positions look to the greater impact of profitability and value to the company that they actually have.

They just think about their role. A great way to get promoted is to think about the role above you when you’re making your decisions. Because they’re going to see you as somebody who could now fill that role. So I love that you, that you went with that, that angle, uh, as it relates to differentiators, you know, those things always stand out, but you know, we’re building here through this podcast, we’re building kind of a catalog of commonality.

And I have this kind of blessing in that I get a chance to talk to business owners at all different levels. So I’ve had a chance to talk to business owners or 30 years in business. They’re onto their 12th business. They’ve sold four, you know, they’re, they’re pulling up in super fancy cars. I’ve had a chance to talk to the person who’s five years in business, made it through the pandemic by, you know, pins and needles and barely survived.

And now is 10 X their business because they got through that adversity. So everything is easier now. And now I get a chance to talk to essentially a startup. Um, that is bringing something new to the marketplace, is fully branded out, and wants to franchise. Absolutely. So let’s talk about that. Okay, so, ultimately getting into this, uh, Early on in the modeling system, or process, uh, we knew that the end game was franchising.

So we came into this idea always with that being the end goal. Um, you know, so, we’ve, we’re doing our homework, doing our research, and we did end up partnering with, shout out to iFranchise out of Homewood. Uh, so, we, uh, have partnered with iFranchise, uh, we are in the process of finalizing our, um, uh, franchisor.

We’re also, uh, creating an IP company as well because we are a branded and registered trademark as well. Um, so, um, we’ve, we’ve got big aspirations. The nice thing too about it is my partners are, um, two men in a truck franchisees as well, too. So, um, you know, we had, um, the opportunity to look at forming the franchise or through the eyes of a franchisee.

So as we’re talking about being differentiators, um, uh, in, in building this culture, people first on the local side, we’re also doing the same thing on the franchise side of things as well, too. I mean, any. Franchisor could sell you a franchise and not really give a shit about whether or not you succeed We want those royalties.

We want to sell you want the big chunk up front money Yeah, and then if you fail, they’ll take it back and sell it to somebody else 100 same market. They don’t care. Yeah That’s not how we’re setting this up. So at the end of the day, you know, we going into it, playing the long game, which it always is, especially in a startup sort of situation.

Um, we knew that we wanted more than Chicago. The nice thing to the partners that I work with one is in Ann Arbor. That’s a market that I know intimately. I covered the mitten for 18 years. Uh, we’ve got another part or out of, um, Cedar Rapids, um, very successful independently on their own. They run their own organizations and their own two men franchise groups.

Um, which is, you know, it, that’s why it makes a nice union. Um, cause they hired the sales and marketing arm. Alan and I worked together for, uh, eight years out of Ann Arbor. And you know, he went to one guy and he thought of me and I was selling him boxes and four dollies at the time, you know, so. Well, he knows you could sell because he bought 100 percent 100 percent 10 years though, right?

Yeah. Alan’s like, Hey, if we can speed up the sales cycle a little bit, cause I did say no 38 times. So if you could bring that down to like three objections and then a yes, that’d be great. Uh, so you talked about, you know, being purpose driven and principle driven and so on being a startup. It’s, it’s difficult, you know, being able to really put core values and principles and make them visible and get all those things documented and so on is almost kind of a luxury of a business that is.

established is generating revenue, has people in roles that are filling those roles and doing their job and they’re making a profit. But when you’re a startup company, you know, you got to make sales, you got to get cashflow going. So those things kind of get back put on the back burner. But I think it’s really interesting that you led with that.

So why is that so important to you? You know, I just laying the foundation is probably the most important thing. I mean, ultimately, if you. You know, build a strong house on a, on a crappy foundation. It’s ultimately going to buckle. So why is it so important to you to be, you know, purpose first, culture, first people, first people, first culture, first, uh, super important because ultimately at the end of the day, People buy from who they believe in.

You know, people work for who they believe in. You’ve got two army guys here, too. So, again, 20 years apart. service. My pleasure. Um, but, you know, ultimately, I always found in the service, I always wanted to run through a wall for that guy who actually, you know, gave a shit about me. We’ve both had NCOs who, or officers in that capacity that maybe were not people oriented.

It was task oriented. It didn’t necessarily matter, you know, who, uh, was left in the waste along the, um, you know, throughout the process. So for us, um, and again, I touched on it earlier. Um, we, We try to build it in a way that emulates a lot of organizations that we respect. And I’m going to bring two men in a truck back into this.

So the way two men in a truck built the franchise business. And I, I had a unique perspective cause I was able to have a relationship with Briggs Sorber, John Sorber, uh, Mary Ellen sheets, and Melanie Berger on the top four at two men in a truck. And a lot of the franchisees and a lot of the corporate employees.

Tell me what you love about two men. Oh my God. What a tremendous environment it is to work for. We’re constantly learning from people, you know, it isn’t, I’m not afraid to make a mistake. Um, you know, I’m given the autonomy to make a decision. And if I, it is a mistake, then we learn from it. We pivot and make the next iteration.

So that’s where I feel as if, you know, internally, you’ve got to have some autonomy. I, I’ve got to trust will to do the right thing. And if he doesn’t, I will help coach that. That’s a learning opportunity. We move forward and we go on. There’s a stronger likelihood of will doing the right thing and embracing the coaching.

If you have that type of bedside manner, a hundred percent. And in order for you to get to the next person, the next person, you have to know the will. 100 percent 100 percent and you know, there’s, that also takes a certain mentality as well too. Cause if you hire the wrong person in that sort of environment, you know, trust, but verify, right?

Yes. A hundred percent. So, um, but I also believe that you could also take somebody who was a bad employee at another place and then show them the light. And it’s like, oh my God, maybe I’m going to change and be the person that you need. Um, And even on the customer side of things, like, hey, you know, we’ll get a phone call.

You know, it’s three o’clock. You probably put the truck away or, you know, you’re not in the area. Can I get to, can you get to me? I need it. My, my guy’s not going to pick up now until Friday. It’s Wednesday. So how do you keep that type of personal touch with the marketplace as you scale? Does that give you nightmares?

Because imagine, you know, one, one person, especially if the call comes to you, you’re like, well, shoot, my name’s on the front door. Like I gotta go do that. But now all of a sudden you get. You’ve got 12 locations, hundreds of employees. Does it give you nightmares of whether or not somebody’s going to take that call and be like, Ooh, voicemail.

Right. And, and not handle it the same way that you’re handling it. Like, how are you trying to get, um, your staff members like a will to Look at the business as if it’s their own to be an intrapreneur, right? Right, 100%. Own their own business within the business. Operate it like it’s their own. How do you get them to do that?

I mean, I think it all starts with leading by example at the end of the day. You know, when Will started with me, I first, one of the very first things, listen, I was an NCO, you were an NCO, I’m gonna lead you Like an NCO would lead, you know, uh, in the army and CEOs eat last private seat. First, you take care of your guys.

You make sure that everybody’s in that. So, you know, again, that was ingrained a little bit in just my life experiences, but there’s truth to it at the end of the day. Um, you know, if. If you’re willing to set a good example and lead through that example, and you’re hiring the right people with the right mentality, it’ll ultimately bear itself out.

And you know, in the same way, you’ll hire some people along the way who will interview great. And you know, yeah, I, I’m a hundred percent, let’s run through that wall together. And two weeks later, Yeah. You know, they’re turning their back on the wall. A hundred percent. Will, how has your military training helped you to be, uh, an effective employee, uh, an asset to the organization, an effective salesperson?

Just how has your military training been, been a powerful impact? Well, uh, my military training. Thank God for that. Cause I don’t know if I would have really, I wasn’t the best kid in high school, best teenager. I was a little bit of a delinquent, but then I went and I kind of personally like my people on the battlefield to be a little bit delinquent.

So yeah, I don’t, I really don’t want you to be like, hello, enemy. I hope that everything’s okay. Oh, that’s a bullet past my head. No, I don’t like you to be a little delinquent. And it’s funny because I went there and my dad, he was in the Navy and he was, I went to the recruiting station. He was like, go to all the, um, all the branches.

And I was like, I’m going to the army. That’s it. There’s no choice for me. I don’t even, I told him I went to the other ones and I was like, I’m not going to these. This is the one. I’m not eating crayons and I’m not getting out of bed. So I’m good on the other ones. But then I went in and then it was tank.

Or do you want to have like a real job? And I was like, put me on the tank. Yeah, man. So I get to wear headphones like you’re wearing right now in the tank. So I did do that. And I would say it, it won. I’ve always been a good, I guess, speaker with people. I’ve always been like a personal person. I would say about myself, I would just enjoy like talking to people.

Um, but I would say the army, I would say base, base out basically just made me grow up. It made me turn into like, and then having my kids, uh, it all kind of just made me grow up and like want to succeed and not just want to do what I was doing when I was 18 years old. It, uh, it, it also makes me connect with people in a different way.

I understand like struggle, not like obviously everyone has their own struggles, has their own things. But I, you know, I tell someone in the military like, okay, you’ve been through things that maybe I haven’t been through, but we both can connect that we’ve both been through some maybe not fun shit. So I would say it.

I don’t miss it, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I feel like it definitely molded me. And it also gives me the very much like, I don’t like when I walk into somewhere, you can tell me that like, this is never going to happen. Don’t come back. And I’ll just think I’m going to come back next week. Yeah.

You may, if you tell me no, it gives me like, okay, I’m just going to come back and bother you just cause I know it’s going to piss you off. So I feel like it gave me that sort of confidence that. You can’t tell me no because it’s just I’ll just keep coming back for more. Yeah, so putting it in that context when he started and when I was interviewing so I started interviewing in November of 21 and I went through a number of different folks So initially I was trying to find a salesperson like me that I could teach how to drive.

Well most salespeople Don’t like getting their hands dirty. I’m, I’m a little unique in that regard. I don’t care. I’ve driven forklifts, you know, swung hammers, whatever the case may be. Um, that didn’t work. So now I’m trying to find a driver. That maybe I could teach how to sell. Yeah. Um, so you found a tank driver.

So ultimately at the end of the day, I hired a 23 year old kid that had no experience, but the idea behind that was, is to, all right. Prior service, both army. The, the real irony here is he was a tanker. My MOS was 11 hotel. I was a tank killer. We fired the tow missile. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So. It’s funny how much symmetry there is in this and I’ve, he’s heard me tell this part of the story before as well.

I wasn’t a hundred percent sure if Will was the guy, but he’s an old soul. He did it the right. He did it the old school way. Yeah. Hey. You feel that position yet? Really liked it. Yeah, you know what? Not yet. Not sure. Not, you know, God, you hit such a good point. So I mean, ultimately, at the end of the day, his persistence getting the job.

Let me know that. All right, I’m dealing with the mentality. And then at the time, 23 year old just had a baby. Um, you know, the only true life experience was the military, which is a great foundation to build on. And ultimately at the end of the day, um, you know, the salesperson you see now, um, was shy and skittish in January of 21 or 22.

So I am so happy for and proud of the development of this young man. And as I shared to you before the podcast started, I’m saying it officially for, I shudder to think about where this company would be without this young man. There you go. Ring that bell, baby. IT Decision Makers, This Might Sting.

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Leave the technology to GSD GSD now. com. You know what’s amazing about, uh, folks that were in the military is they come out of, they come out of high school and all it is is training. You don’t know what you’re gonna go into. Right? So it’s just, you have to have the ability to be trained, embrace the training, execute the training, duplicate the training, and then eventually train somebody else to do it.

I mean, how perfect for a startup company to hire people that have that ingrained in them already, because you’re already thinking like, you know, what chain of command means you’re, you’re thinking about what brand means, you know, when you’re in the army, you’re in the army, that’s a brand man, like it’s, this is how we do it.

This is the, this is the culture, this is the belief system. And the overall military has one thing, but the army does it one way, and the marines do it one way, and the navy does it one way. So the industry might do it one way. But Garbage Gorilla does it this way, right? So I think that military training is great for folks coming into a startup because they’re latching onto the greater purpose of the total organization.

Love team, understand that, you know, to build something big, you got to start at the bottom. Um, you gotta run, uh, as a team, but you also understand chain of command. Somebody’s gotta make the decision, so you fall in line. These are all things that, you know, I don’t want to turn this into a recruiting video for the military, but I think that it’s, it’s, it’s powerful.

Um, 100%. Even to that point, you know, one of the things that we, you know, as you’re training, In the military, you’re going into uncertain situations. You don’t know the outcome, which is every lead you walk into. You have no idea. You don’t know if Betty is going to chew your head off as a gatekeeper. You don’t know if the, if they just lost three of their top customers and they’re completely upset.

And you also don’t know if you walk into the lay down. So they’re like, yeah, let’s sign up. And you’re like, I think they’re lying to me. This can’t be possible. Like, it was like, you really want to sign up today? Like I’m not that good. Really? It’s like, you know, so you never know what you’re going to walk into in sales.

So I would imagine. Uh, that, that, that’s been a fairly, uh, efficient maturation process for you to go, wait a minute, sales is a lot like, you know, it’s just picking up a new thing and dealing with objection, being resilient, being able to adapt 1000%. That was the other point I was going to make is if you’re a sales manager, what is better than somebody?

Number one, asking for the job in the first interview. Yes. Calling, following up, and asking for the job again. Um, you know, asking for it three more times. Hungry. Because how they try and get the job is how they’re probably going to sell. 100%. So, I love that. Yeah, how hungry are you? I love that. Good on you, Will.

So, what’s the future look like? Let’s, let’s go immediate future, and then let’s go long term. What, what are we working on right now that the marketplace should know? So working on things right now that the marketplace should know, obviously we touched on it earlier, the franchising portion of it. We have grown so quickly in this market, um, that it’s allowing us that opportunity.

So we’ve earned the opportunity to, to, um, to bring the brand to other markets, which we’re very excited about. So that’s probably the most pressing thing right now. The most important thing still is educating the marketplace to us. It’s amazing to me. Um, yeah. Three plus years later, how many people we will still encounter?

I’ve never seen this before. And you know, there, as I shared with you, there are other people out there doing this in this marketplace. So, you know, in, in some ways, you know, they always say good competition strengthens. Sure. So in that same context, I’m saying our competition has helped us a lot. Educating the marketplace.

So that, I mean, realistically at the end of the day, you know, the, the two biggest things are the franchising, but we’re still in the process of educating. So, you know, getting our word out on these podcasts and through social media and even grassroots, knocking on doors, handing out flyers, direct mailers.

You really got to do it all these days. You really do. Cause you don’t know how people buy. You got some old fashioned people that have never opened up Facebook. And then you got other people, there was a study done that That consumers now want 86 percent of the buying process like the like from start to finish to be humanless So really?

Yeah, so think about it this way, right? So this thing right here. I’ll hold it. Where’s my camera? Hi This thing right here Uh, we spend, as human beings in the world, we spend 36 days a year on social media on that thing. Wow. 36 days out of 365, that’s 10 percent of our time. Wow. 10 percent of our year we spend on social media.

So, the reason why that number is what it is, is, and you may have noticed this, I know I have. People don’t answer the phone like they used to know, and so they don’t need to be educated by a human being like they did when we came up in sales. They had to answer the door. They had to take the sale or they didn’t know what the new thing was.

So you had to meet with so and so now you don’t have to meet with so and so you type it into a search bar and you go, anyone know how to destroy stuff, crush garbage, anyone with a big truck with an arm on it from a Mad Max movie, right? So you type that in. And you can do your research, and you might do your research seven months before you’re ready to buy.

100%. 100%. And, and so in that seven months, you’re looking at websites, you’re looking at Google reviews, you’re looking at content, you’re looking at videos, you’re looking at all that stuff. And then, and then by the time, when you’re ready to buy, that’s when you go, hey, I should probably talk to a person from the company.

And, and that’s why what’s happened is, it’s actually easier to make a sale now. It’s harder to get in front of a person to sell. Because they don’t want to talk to you. They want to, they want to do all the research. And when, and it’s crazy to say, because I always tell them, I do my best work when I can see the person.

I was like, I’m, I’m still good on the phone. You know, it’s still the same thing. But I was like, I feel like when I can sit down and see the person. Yeah. It just makes the. Well, the transfer of energy. You got good energy. It’s hard to transfer through the phone. Yeah. I try to keep someone interested over the phone.

It’s just like. It’s hard. Like. All right, I got it. The other thing is give you a Sandler sales training says that when you talk to somebody, they only retain 17 percent of what you actually say. Really? So think about that. If you talk to somebody in a sales pitch, and this is part of the reason why you’re like, we’ve educated people.

And then we go back and they forgot. Yeah. That’s why, because they’re, they’re thinking about other things. They’re not really totally paying attention. They’re only capturing a little bit of what you’re, of what you’re providing to them, which is why that repetition of message. Is so important and so constant.

So this thing right here, as you’re creating awareness, it’s going to be your, your power source is to, is to create those entertaining videos. The cool thing is you have something so entertaining to watch. I would beg you if you’re listening to this, to take a moment and go on YouTube and check out garbage gorilla and watch what their trucks do.

And just watch that process. If you know somebody who owns a business or you own a business and they have a dumpster there, you will be calling them. If anything, just for the free demo, just to watch it in person, it’s pretty amazing. So, um, the, the technology is pretty amazing, right? Technology is expensive.

These trucks are expensive for sure. Absolutely. All right. So, so like there’s a, you have to have a certain amount of sales to buy the capital equipment should go, Hey, we need another, another truck, right? Absolutely. So. Where are you in that in that you’re talking about educating the marketplace how well received and how faster sales climbing?

So we probably have had our most explosive growth in Certainly the near the end of year one insert into year two we’ve We’re up over last year and we continue to grow even despite market conditions so Uh, so we’re excited about that. Um, but we also know that there’s so much untapped market still that’s out there.

Um, so, uh, we’re certainly looking for another explosive growth year and we suspect, uh, 25 will be, yeah, I really do feel like that. You know, we’re just wrapping up our third year. We came into this again. I sold four wheel dollies. I sold boxes, my two partners, they run two men in a truck franchises. And I do want to give their backgrounds and their stories too.

And we’ll get to that. Uh, but you know, ultimately I, I, we continue to surprise ourselves even, you know, we’ll do a demo and crickets for six months, right? Like, and that’s not without effort, believe me, you know, knocking on doors and whatnot. And then all of a sudden. Oh my God, the light bulb goes. So we never know when the light bulbs going to go off.

It’s so tough to tell when it’s something brand new, when somebody is going to be ready to buy. So, you know, in combination of we’re constantly, the way I say it, we’re constantly chopping wood, throwing logs on the fire. We’ve got to consistently get leads, get demos. And then ultimately at the end of the day, hopefully we closed that demo quickly, but we’ve surprised and been surprised pleasantly that.

Holy shit. We did that demo a year ago, and now we’re crushing that customer consistently, you know? So we never know when, but we, we actually welcome that because I think that contributes to the explosive growth opportunity as well. So you mentioned your two partners. So, uh, I want to talk a little bit about this because it is a difficult thing, especially for scaling businesses.

Sure. And you know, a sole owner is hard because you’re on your own. Yeah. You got to do it all. Um, a partner, like 50 50 partnerships are hard because it’s like who wins the argument. Sure. Um, three owners is hard. Cause you’re no longer playing man to man. You’re playing zone defense now, right? So, so like, you know, you could get out ruled two, two to one, and you got a really good idea.

And that, that could create some tension, right? It also is beautiful because you just opened up the room for the amount of ideas, perspectives and, and, um, Points of view and previous life experiences that will impact the way that the organization takes off So tell me a little bit about how you and your two partners Work and get into a flow state to get more shit done.

So If I can I’d like to give you the short story. Let’s go. I love short story. So Alan was a client of mine He owns about eight locations of two men and a truck throughout the country. He needed the service. Come on, Alan. You need to get out there and do something with your life. You only own eight. I feel like you would have been up to 12 by now.

I mean, just sitting around eating bonbons, not doing anything. So good Lord. Eight businesses. Good for you. He’s been operating. Um, for about 15 years, 16 years under the two men in a truck umbrella. And like I said, you know, he worked with me for about eight years. So his team is really who, uh, is responsible for finding the idea, uh, out at their Boston facility.

So. He comes into our partnership with, um, experience running trucks, running a business, um, you know, encountering some unique situations and, um, uh, opening, uh, discovering new markets because there was a, a blackout period in certain parts of the country for two men. And he was one that, One of the, um, first franchisees into those markets.

So he knows how to build a market from zero market share as well. I would imagine it’s awesome too, cause he understands the logistics part. A hundred percent. The efficiency of logistics and how to best control your fuel costs and all those different elements. A hundred percent. So and Alan’s about my age.

Our third partner, uh, Nathan Burns, uh, out of Cedar Rapids. He has probably the most interesting story of all of us. So. Um, has a law degree, University of Iowa and, uh, while he was going to law school, uh, he fell in love with the poker craze, ended up winning seven figures online and didn’t take the bar.

Now he’s like Monty Burns. A hundred percent. Yes, exactly. Release the hound smithers. Exactly. So, uh, ultimately. He has a legal background, but became an entrepreneur. Um, went through a couple other franchising, um, situations before he settled on two men in a truck. So Alan and Nathan always were in and around each other, um, but never had any real direct interaction.

And to be fair, Nathan’s the one owner I was never able to sell. So, uh, ironically, right. Nathan was saying, Alan, he’s like, I’m not sure about this. I don’t know. I’m not so sure he could sell, you know? So, um, and that’s where I come in. Ultimately, Alan and I had the relationship, uh, on the vendor customer side of things.

And, you know, he knew that this was a B2B two men in two trucks B2C. So it’s not an animal that he’s familiar with. So, uh, The nice thing you talk about, you know, now coming back full circle coming into the flow state. The nice thing about it is we really sincerely bring our own, um, experiences and we kind of let the inmate run that part of the asylum for that.

And not to say that we don’t offer opinions or have disagreements. We found your lanes. But we found our lanes and we compliment each other very well. So my background is I shared a little bit, 26 years sales. Uh, I’m an artist by training, so I’ve got a bachelor of art. Uh, my, my wife, uh, Heather Dellenbach, shout out.

Um, she, uh, is a graphic designer, also an art degree. So everything you see with us is bootstrapped organically grown here in the Midwest, um, Michigan, Illinois. Okay. Iowa, uh, and that’s ultimately how we are going to grow the brand as well, too. We are going to grow through the Midwest. First of all, they’re markets that I know intimately from my old line of work.

Um, but, you know, bringing all of those, uh, unique experiences together, we’re able to sit down at a table and hash things out. And it’s really interesting because you could see We’ve got a bi weekly founders call and then now on the franchising side of things we’re working weekly and it’s funny You could you know, yeah, obviously every meeting starts a little small talk.

You gotta lay the foundation and then get into it But you could really see, you know, when we get humming and getting going, it usually is somebody says a thought, didn’t think about that. What about this? And then one thought tends to lead to another. And it’s the same thing with Will and I. It’s very symbiotic.

It’s, it’s, um, there’s never a dumb idea, you know, and even if it needs to be refined. Yeah. And even if it’s something that we end up choosing not to do, we might still do an iteration of it. Mm hmm. You know, and you might not do it immediately. You might come back to it, but you know, you got to throw the idea out there.

100 percent try that. So the, the, the three headed monster has figured out, um, the lane to build this organization. Let’s just get brass tacks here for a second. Okay. Okay. So. A business out there. Let’s take a construction company. Yeah. Okay. Construction company clearly is going to have a lot of materials.

It’s going to have a lot of, um, waste. Um, it’s going to have a lot of scraps. It’s going to have a lot of those things. Um, What’s, what’s the benefit and advantage of them signing up with you today? So ultimately at the end of the day, what we’re trying to accomplish as a business is we’re trying to cut your halls in half at least by crushing the content 70%.

So ultimately at the end of the day, their benefits, well, one, the obvious one, they’re, they’re getting a cost savings if you’re doing it the right way. We’re going to at least crush one dump, you know, a crush, a dumpster. One time we’ve got customers that will crush the same dumpster a couple different times in those situations.

I tell them don’t fill it a hundred percent calls when you’re 70 or 80, we’ll crush you to nothing. We’ll get you that second dumpster, you know, fill that the second time and then top it off. So if you’re really managing your waste and thinking about it the right way, we could save you two pulls, which depending on your contract could be a thousand dollars.

So if they, for all intents and purposes. I, I drive by in this neighborhood that’s across the street from my neighborhood. It’s being developed. There’s might be four dumpsters sitting in the driveway of two new homes. Sure. So two and two. Yeah. Right. And you know, these things are overflowing. Yep. Right. So what you, in essence, what you’re saying is you could potentially take those four dumpsters and with the same amount of stuff, plus some.

Turn it into two. Correct. So the cost of those two dumpsters they reserved that had to be hauled there, picked up, and hauled away, they just saved. 100%. Which they could now either put directly to the bottom line. Hey CEOs, I would imagine you’re doing this, you know, for a little money. There it is. Right. Or, they could reinvest that money back into something to expand, grow, marketing, campaign, whatever it might be.

Thank you. Because it’s money that they’re, that’s already in the business, it’s just where it’s being allocated to. 100%. Well, I was just going to say, uh, you talking about the CEOs, it’s actually funny because construction companies There are some companies that the superintendents, whoever saves the most money on each project, they get a bonus.

So we’ve met up, there’s not, like I said, not everyone does that, but the ones we meet, they get excited to see us. Because I’ll add on that, so for construction, I always, because we always like to be honest, I’ll, we’ll be honest if we think we can’t crush a dumpster. We’re not good for every part of it, because if you’re doing cement masonry shingles, we’re just going to make you heavier.

We don’t want to do that because you’re going to get charged more. We’re towards the end of the project. I always say halfway through to the end, paper boxes, wood chunks. That was kind of, I was just saying, you know, we usually they’re looking for those. The super intense are looking for that cause I was like, Oh, this is going to save me that 0.

5 percent to beat. John over there who gets the bonus every quarter so well and saying it differently to and even in this context where you were saying You know, hey, we saved you this you can reallocate it. What construction project do you ever known to stay on budget? Never so that’s our angle as well, too Aside from you know, the super the project manager getting an extra kick from the savings.

We’re helping you Stay closer to your budget. Yeah, because you built into the budget, you’re going to make a 10 percent net profit, right? You know, 30 percent gross, 10 percent net. And then you know damn sure you end up with 5 percent net after all the indirects. So yeah, if you can add a couple points to that bottom line, that’s pretty awesome.

I want to, um, I want to understand this because again, I talk to people in all different unique positions in their business. Yeah. What has been some of the interesting adversity that you’ve had to deal with that perhaps like, you know, you, it just came out of left field. You’re like, Oh my God, I didn’t realize what the, you know, and, and, and, you know, how did you handle that adversity and then turn it into a windfall?

So, the one thing I can think of immediately is this year, um, so, and I joke with Will about it all the time, um, when, um, you know, the truck breaks down, that’s easy. I take that to a shop, right? Well, the green portion on the back of that truck is a French manufactured part, um, uh, Pac Mat, shout out Pac Mat, thank you very much.

Man, we are doing so many shout outs. Shout outs, man. We should get sponsorship dollars for So, um, but if that part breaks down, you’re looking at the service guy and what I’ve joked about this year is like, man, a three year old truck is like the 15 to 20 year old house. It’s time to reinvest in this thing and put some money in.

So you get to take some wear and tear, man. So, and the other part of it is, and I joke, you know, all the time about this, you know, when we were in the weeds earlier, like May, June. There’s nobody to take the pack mat to, so you’re looking at the guy. Like I was joking, I, I don’t know why any of the electrical or hydraulic components do what they do, but you bet your ass.

I know where they go and how to replace them. We’ve changed limit switches. We’ve run grease lines. I mean, I mean, but these are all, you know, when you’re in the weeds, they suck. But at the end of the day, I’m a big energy. I’m a gratitude guy. I try to practice mindfulness. So in at the end of it, I’m grateful for those learning opportunities, no matter how painful they are.

But this year, I would say that was probably the most. Exciting, um, pain point that we’ve had because for the most part we show up, we break stuff and we leave, you know, um, that we always joke. We don’t have a long term contract, but we have a month to month agreement that does two things. It protects you, Mr.

Customer. If I break or, or, We will repair by the dumpster. Great news is in three years, the next dumpster we break will be the first. That’s awesome. So, you know, that’s that those are some of the ease or the hardest, um, obstacles to overcome. But, um, you know, at the end of the day, Um, just running the trucks really has been the biggest part of it.

Because again, these are sales hands, man. I used to sell boxes and four wheel dollies. I shook your hand. It was very soft. Exactly. It was as soft as mine. So, you know, you are also going up against your differentiator is also going up against some juggernaut organizations. Sure. Um, so. How has that, has that created some tension with some of the dumpster companies?

And is, is there a way that you’ve been able to kind of compliment that or, or argue that away, if you will, where they go, okay, you know what? Maybe they are kind of an advantage for us. I really appreciate you asking that question. Cause that’s always one of the biggest selling points that I feel. So. The shorter answer is, if you’re a disruptor, you’re always pissing people off.

You’re making as many enemies as you are making friends, right? So that’s the short answer. But the longer answer is, I come from transportation, buddy. I know damn well, you don’t have enough drivers to get to every dumpster. You’ve got to swap out at the end of the day. So in my estimation, we’re a perfect add on service for you.

You can’t get to your customer for two days. How do I know that? Cause he called me to crush the dumpster. Why don’t you use us as an add on service? We’ll charge you the labor costs, you know, of, of turnover. Keep hiring people. We can’t keep them, can’t keep them. hire garbage gorilla to essentially crush it.

And then all of a sudden you don’t need that labor. I’ve bought, I’ve bought you more time. You know, maybe the dumpster’s a little bit heavier and you’re losing a little bit more margin, but you’re also keeping your customer happy. I can’t tell you how many customers of ours have switched their, their waste provider because they can’t get to them in a timely fashion.

I would imagine that’s a pretty common switch too. Yeah. Cause it’s, it’s almost a race to the bottom. It’s like, Yeah. You know, one person does it at one price. Somebody else comes in and goes, what are they doing it at? And they tell them, they go, okay, well, I’m going to do it for 3 less per month. And then they switch.

It’s a dumpster. So they switch over. So what it really comes down to is service. 100 percent price is always everyone’s going to keep moving the price down. So it’s like how, how much amazing service can you provide for that price is what’s going to dictate whether or not they even shop you or they just stay with you.

So you’re, uh, essentially. Bull can bolt on to that waste management company to essentially say, Hey, we’re going to help you provide a better service, which is going to keep your customers happy. Yeah. And it’s going to fend off the competition from coming to your customer and going, Hey, we could do it for cheaper.

No, no, because we’re bolted on with garbage gorilla and they’re not 100. And I will say this, the top executives probably is, but the drivers, there’s been like, maybe we’ve, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve showed up where we’re supposed to crush a dumpster and they’ve, The customer accidentally called to get swapped out as well, and we’ll meet at the same time, and it’s always like the, Oh, man, here we go this time.

And Mo, I would say 95 percent of the time, they’re like, oh, thank gosh you guys are here. Can you crush this one down? I’ve even gotten like extra sales because the truck, uh, the guy wanted the one he was taking away crushed down so that it was a, he didn’t have to put the cover over. They like us. And like he said, they don’t get to him, uh, get to him in time.

So like you guys said, this is, this is a, the scaling of this business at a rapid pace truly is an awareness, attention, educate and influence process right now. And that’s why you guys are here doing this. And that’s why you guys are about going out and talking to as many people as you can and going to the show you’re going to go to afterwards.

Cause it really is just educating the marketplace. Like we exist is one thing. But, guess what? All the things you think are a reason not to use us, actually are the reason to use us. 100%. Like, so every objection you give me, you actually just, if you hurt yourself, you just gave yourself the reason why you should use us.

100%. And, you know, If I can real quick, you know, we’re talking purely on the way side of things. We’ve partnered with a couple different scrap roll off companies because while the waste company may not want us in the dumpster, I don’t know if you’ve checked a scrap metal pricing right now, but it’s as low as it’s been in decades.

So the scrap guys. want us in the dumpster because ultimately, Hey, I don’t have a driver to get out there. Can you crush that dumpster? Because now their customer can get more metal in it. And even at our price, you’re still making a bigger profit than you were. And you just picked up a dumpster full of air and scrap metal.

You know, what’s cool. We’ve said the word crush like 60 times on this show. And I don’t think on the previous shows, we said it once. Yeah, so I’ve the word crush is pretty badass. I like to cry like to crush a golf ball. I like to crush doughnuts. Yeah

They are delicious, all right closing thoughts Let’s wrap this bad boy up. I always like to go with inspiration. So I’m gonna will I’m gonna start with you Give me kind of your driving purpose. What is, and when I say this, I mean life and, and your experience at Garbage Gorilla. Because I would imagine just in a short time of speaking with you, you kind of got, you kind of got a light in your eye, man.

Like you, you kind of, I can feel the energy, right? So, This is not, this is just your destination. This isn’t your final destination. Like you’re going places here with this organization. You’re catching on very quick. So what’s the purpose here at the organization? And then what’s the purpose that’s fueling that purpose, which is probably, you know, some real life stuff.

Yeah. I would say. Honestly, and I, I was waiting to give my flowers. I, I talked to Nathan right before I had my, um, my second, my daughter back in June, and we were just talking. I’ve talked to the partner a few times, not a bunch, and I said, right before he got off the call, I was like, I just, cause he asked me, how was me and Mike’s relationship?

We haven’t talked about much. Me and Mike are like little best friends. We both watch UFC, text each other all weekend. Ooh, did you see that? Ooh, are you ready for fantasy tomorrow? So I would say not even, not only that, but I told him, I was like, the reason I’m here. It’s because of Mike. I was like, I was like, yes, I’m good at sales.

I enjoy sales. Do I know if it wasn’t for Mike, if I’d be here right now? No. Like I said, Mike treats me like how I want to be treated. I get treated like I feel like he is my superior. And I always look at him like that, especially from chain of command. But he also makes me feel like, hey, you can always come to me in a personal matter.

So that really drives me to work for him. So Mike, I’m going to make this into a clip and send it to you. So when he’s, you know, when he’s acting up, Or, you know, it’s like, you can just, you can just play the clip for him and go, remember when you said this? Well, and conversely, I guess I’m going to get a, he’s going to get a clip of me throwing flowers too.

Exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike, remember this? Stop yelling. They’re called the accountability clips. Exactly. But I would say, and then honestly what drives all that is just like my wife and kids. They’re, I’m like a big family person. He knows it. That’s also like a big thing is, I love my work, I love making money, but if my wife called me right now, I’d be like, Bye guy, or like, if there was an emergency or anything was going on and she needed me, I would drop these headphones and I would run out the door faster than anyone else would have seen.

Alright, well then, that should be a clip too. Yeah, I mean. Can you send that? 100%? Send it to her, I’ll give you the number. Just make sure she gets it, so I don’t, I won’t send it to her. Hey, uh, this just showed up on my phone. I don’t know how I got your number, but here’s what’s playing. I think this is your husband?

I don’t know. By the way, I’m John. But yeah, so I would say it’s just, it all comes in, he’s a big family man, I’m a big family guy. Um, so it’s kind of, we just have the same core values, so it’s very easy for me, like I said, to want to work for him. It makes me want to push myself, makes me want to, you know, get out of my comfort zone.

Um, so, I would say all those things combined, it’s just, it all comes together in one, I always like to say. And he used to tell it to me best, he’s like, I understand you want your personal life, but he was like, your professional life fuels your personal life. Your professional life is nothing. If you’re not doing much, if you’re not putting in that work, how much of a personal life do you, do you have?

He’s right. I, you, there’s this conversation about work life balance, and I think your generation has been lied to. Okay, because work life balance, uh, means that you’re going to give 50 percent to your life and 50 percent to your work, which means you’re diluted in both, right? And in some points in your life, you have to give 90 percent to your life and 10 percent to your work, and that’s just the way that it is.

And if you got a sick child, if your wife just came down with something that is going to be life threatening, um, if you are, if your mental health isn’t right, Like, that, it’s harmony. They have to go, they have to work together. So, I love, I love that, um, that you talked about that. But, um, and Mike gave you great advice.

Because you’re at a point in your life right now where wife is, is healthy. Life is, you’re young, you can take risk. You can go after it. Kids are looking at you. Proud Papa, you haven’t made any mistakes as a father yet. You know, your kids are 15, 17. You ain’t so cool anymore. Right now you’re super cool, right?

So this is like, this is the time for you at your age to really like 90 percent work. But that 10 percent family is everything else is turned off. It’s completely attentive, right? Just like 1000 percent dive in. And then guess what? When you get to be an old codger like me, Then you know you you you’re like hanging on for dear life because your kids are about to go to college So you might be a little bit more life right now Person and then when they’re off to college that I’m gonna dive back hardcore into work.

Yeah, right So it goes like this. I don’t know if you can really balance it. I think it’s more of a harmony thing You just gotta where does your time need to be allocated in that moment? And that’s how I think you stay present and you kick ass. That’s how you get shit done, man. That’s what I have to agree.

A hundred percent. Yeah. Well, I hope people in your generation listen to, cause they, do you agree? Mike, they’ve been lied to the work life balance thing. I like, how do you do 50 50? Come on. Yeah. And, and the more that, um, uh, the generations kind of evolve and becoming, you know, slaves to technology and things like that.

They, they do so many. We used to dial out of a phone book, right? Yeah, yeah, no, I had the carbon copy leads, right? The white, the yellow, and the pink. And they would take the three lead, they would take the, they’d rip them, so they’d make three stacks. So I’m in a room of 50 inside sales guys, right? And we’re all pounding the phone, calling out.

And I got the white copy, little did I know, three seats over had the yellow copy, and five seats from them had the pink copy. We’re all calling the same damn clients. All they did was, all they did was shuffle them, you know? So I might call this guy at this time and he doesn’t get to it to the middle of his stack and that’s at the bottom of that guy’s stack and and I’m calling up and I’m the first one in and then The guy who’s got the pink copies going.

Did you call them an hour ago? I’m like, yeah, don’t you call them, right? So yeah, we were out of a phone book and out of the carbon copies. Absolutely. Totally different world. So yeah, so What is the purpose for you, Mike? What, what’s, what is, what are the, the principles, what’s driving you right now, uh, in business and in life?

So, uh, you could really summarize it on both ends with one word, and it’s service. Um, you know, I, I’ve lived a very long, circuitous life in 48 years, um, you know, I was, uh, Um, raised by a single mom, oldest of four, you know, I’m from Hammond, Indiana, so an inner city kid. We’ve, I’ve, I’ve always had to overcome adversity, and when I got, Um, through high school, kind of into college, and then even after post college was carried a lot of anger, you know, just like, why is my life so hard, you know, um, but then ultimately you hit, you know, you have a kid, you, you, uh, You look through a different lens, you get a good job, you get a good opportunity and it kind of changes your perspective and, you know, I’ve found that the only thing that really ever truly brought me any joy or success in my life was serving others.

So that’s why I lead the way I lead. That’s why I lead my household the way I lead my household. I mean, I’ve, um, I’m, I go into, Most things with the intention of serving people. And you know, if you think it’s genuine, great. Most people do. There’s plenty of that don’t. And that’s fine too. You know, ultimately I feel as if, um, you know, if I’m serving you, you’re going to see the value both in me and what we’re providing, you know, whether it be personally or professionally, I coach my daughter’s 14 you travel softball team and I lead the girls the same way outlaws.

Shout out to the 14 U Outlaws Saw, won our SWS championship this year. I saw I do my research, baby. I know, I saw the Outlaws. So, but I, I lead that the same way I lead my family the same way I lead Will the same way I, I lead this company. I, I serve others. Mm-Hmm. . So I am in service to others because I’m indebted to others because we’re all part of the same society and environment.

And if I’m trying to make you miserable, what essentially am I accomplishing? Um. You know, and I do, everybody uses karma as a bad thing, you know, he’s going to get what he’s, you know, or she’s going to get what’s coming to her. Well, that also works on the good. If you put good out, you’re going to get good back.

And that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but that’s ultimately the lens that I try to look through. And it took me a long time to get there, but I’m grateful that I’m here. And ultimately I try to serve in all that I do. Well, I’m glad that you overcame your anger and you reversed it and you turned it into fuel to serve.

And that’s pretty amazing. So you crushed your anger. I crushed it, right? And you, you turned it into love and passion and productivity folks. We keep hearing the same thing. We keep hearing from all of these entrepreneurs and executives and talented people that it’s about giving first. And it lights my heart up to be able to, to bring that type of, uh, repetition of thought.

to this podcast, because that makes it well intentioned as a podcast, because we want to serve our listeners. And it lights me up because I go, I go, don’t think about you think about others first, and then it’ll come back to you. We talked to another entrepreneur talked about Bill Himmelstein, who talked about the givers gain philosophy, right?

The more you give, the more you gain. And the gain doesn’t always have to be financially, the gain could be peace of mind. The gain could be education. The game could be relationships, um, and, and those things might ultimately help you to gain financial freedom, right? So I’m, I’m just so happy when I, when I get a chance to speak with people, uh, like Michael and will that are, um, that are centered.

that are in the right mindset and have the right intentions for society. These are the people that deserve to win. These are the people that we deserve to reward with our business because they, they, they have the right. Intention of the right purpose and that’s to serve to give and to do the right thing for their families So again, it is Garbage gorilla comm you got to check it out.

I know you know somebody or you are that somebody who has A dumpster or is going to need a dumpster. And, uh, if you like to work with great people, cause people do business with people, this would be the organization that you should check out and you should look into. I hope that I’m able to collaborate with these fine folks, whether it be through their service or some of ours.

Uh, but I want to remind you, gentlemen, you got shit done. Hey, we got shit done with you. Let’s go. Thanks for being on. Thank you.

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