How to Build and Sell Your Junk Removal Business Video

Is the junk removal industry saturated? According to Taylor Chastain, founder of Up, Up and Away Junk Removal in Kennesaw, Georgia, the answer is no. Most owners who say it is, he argues, simply aren't standing out. In this episode, Greg Workmon (Founder & CEO, LoadUp) talks with Taylor about how to build a junk removal business that earns customers through relationships, culture, and showing up, not paid ads. Taylor started by cutting grass at 17 and hauling toilets to the landfill. He ended up with a psychology degree, five years working at a church, and a company that did about $1.3M last year with a team of 14. Along the way he's acquired or partnered with five or six small operators, built the business on networking and community work instead of ad spend, and learned the hard way that being the hardest worker on the team can backfire. In this episode: Why "junk removal is saturated" is the wrong diagnosis, and what to ask yourself instead The "devil's bargain" of owning a business: everything is your fault, which means you can fix it How Taylor went from a psychology degree to a junk truck (and why "counseling doesn't feel like a real job") How to buy or partner with small junk removal companies, including the Funky's Junk Removal deal How to grow a junk removal company without paid ads Why commercial clients (property managers, GCs, real estate agents) book through relationships, not Google Taylor's four core values that spell HERO, and why leading by working 15-hour days backfired Why people are "increasingly desperate to work with people who like them," and how that shapes his view of AI and the future of junk removal Career days, touch-a-truck events, and why the whole goal of going to school is "to not be a trash guy" Guest: Taylor Chastain, Founder, Up, Up and Away Junk Removal Host: Greg Workmon, Founder & CEO, LoadUp Subscribe to The Future of Junk for weekly conversations with the leaders, thinkers, and movers and shakers shaping the next 5 to 10 years of the junk removal industry.

Will robots be driving the junk removal trucks of 2035? In Part 2 of this conversation, Greg Workmon (Founder & CEO, LoadUp) and Barry Hartman (Co-Founder & CEO, 505-JUNK) dig into the biggest disruption facing the junk removal and waste industry: autonomous vehicles and robotics. From Waymo and Tesla's self-driving fleet to Elon Musk's Optimus robots, they break down a realistic timeline for automation in home services and why customer service, not driving, might be the hardest thing to automate. Then the conversation shifts to entrepreneurship: the visionary vs. integrator dynamic, how to split equity with a business partner (and the real math behind it), and the mattress-hauling side hustle that turned into a 99%-coverage national business.

In the first episode of this series, Greg sits down with Barry Hartman, Co-Founder and CEO of 505-JUNK. They tackle everything from changing professions, closing sales, AI vs human phone calls, and cutting couches in half.

Get an immersive glimpse into how two CEOs of multi-million dollar companies strategize and problem solve. This in-depth conversation features two great minds dissecting some of the junk removal industry's hardest-hitting questions and exploring multiple possible outcomes.

In our inaugural episode, we kick off The Future of Junk with a candid conversation with the podcasts' host, Greg Workmon. Guest interviewer - President and CFO of LoadUp, David Burkhead - puts Greg through the wringer, focusing on Greg's wins and fails early on in the industry, his personal mindset as an entrepreneur, how he thinks AI can and should be utilized right now, and what the next 5-10 years hold for the junk removal industry at large.