Brian Scudamore is the founder of a bootstrapping, success story; 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Not only is he strong willed, he is smart; and he has people around him that believe in his vision..
The Beginning of an Idea
1-800-GOT-JUNK was started in 1989, with $700 and a beat-up pickup truck. Brian was just out of high school and had his father’s lofty expectations to fill (a liver transplant surgeon). Imagine the father’s reaction when Brian told him he was dropping out of college to become a fulltime junkman!
Within a week, Brian hired his first employee, a friend by the name of David Sniderman. Not knowing too much about the hiring/firing process, he felt it just seemed easier to turn to someone he already knew. On top of that, he also felt that if he wasn’t willing to make the investment in employees, then he was questioning his own faith in the business.
The Build Out and Expansion
Rather than outsourcing or personally expanding his company’s reach, Brian decided to franchise the business model. And his recipe for success: Take a fragmented business, add clean shiny trucks that act as billboards, uniformed drivers, on time service, up front rates, and a young culture.
One of the reasons his company has grown so quickly is the centralized technology that is uses. All calls to 1-800-GOT-JUNK go to a central call center. Using that system, all pickups are scheduled and dispatched to each of the franchises located in 47 of 50 US states. The franchise partners then log in to a central intranet to see what work needs to be done.
Is this kind of thing profitable?
In 2004, 1-800-GOT-JUNK did about $32 million. I would say that is a healthy return on investment for a $700 startup, bootstrapped and still owned solely by the founder. The goal is $100 million and 250 franchises though.
Not too bad for a junkman..
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Jason, I noticed you cleared a bit the sidebar, it is looking really good now!
By the way keep pumping those “fouder’s story” cause they are really interesting.
Thanks bud! I am on a ‘clean look’ kick. I like it too!
Thanks for the Founder’s Stories support. It will be a nice addition I think.. They are fun to write!
What is your Actual fuel efficiency ?
Don?t choose right away the first car which you inspect, do some more price research with other brands and features also.
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