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.
