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Meet Nathan Schweid of The Junk Trunk in Metro Denver

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Schweid.

Nathan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started the company almost four years ago with a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup truck. It was the summer heading into my senior year of college and a group of close friends were traveling through Asia for the summer, but my parents wouldn’t pay my way. I started going door to door looking for junk I could haul away from people in my neighborhood – if I noticed a furniture item or yard debris that looked like a waste of space on someone’s property, I would approach them and try and make a deal – what they didn’t know was that my going rate at the time was whatever they were willing to pay. I saved up enough money to go on the trip and continued doing it once I got back. Before I knew it, I had a full-time employee and we were doing 4-5 jobs a day. We would stack the junk so high in the bed of the truck that it looked like a seesaw driving down the road.

I’m fortunate to have a life long entrepreneur as a dad to help me along the way. He helped me with my first dump truck and here we are now with four 20 cubic yard box trucks and nine full-time employees. My idea of what a successful business looks like has constantly changed since I first started. In the early days, I used to tear myself up over making mistakes like underbidding a job or having to hire someone for the day to get the job done quicker. I was overly caught up in the day to day operations and not thinking about where I saw the business in 3-5 years or what the best uses of my time and money really were. I’ve gotten much better at not getting so wrapped up in those minute details. My time is my greatest recourse and wasting it over those small problems only holds the business back.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It depends how you define smooth. I think relatively speaking the organic growth of the company has been extremely smooth. It’s grown how I believe any small business should. Relying on referrals from family and friends in the early days was our bread and butter. However, I would be lying if I told you I didn’t question what I was doing or if things were going to work out. The biggest challenge so far for me has been managing things I’m going through personally while still trying to stay present in my work. I’ve dealt with various mental health challenges beginning in college, and that’s been a pro and a con for the business at times.

On one hand, I’ve felt that dealing with those problems has hurt the business in the sense that I’m taking time away from my staff, customers and overall growth. When my mental health hasn’t been at its best I lose the confidence in myself that I need to run, operate and grow the business like I know I’m capable of. However, the pro has been that it’s raised my self-awareness so that I can maximize my investment in the business. I can give the business my all when I know I’m feeling my best, but when I need to lean more on the people around me and take time for myself, I can do that too and be more content with it. It’s also given me a better sense of empathy for other people’s situations – whether that be friends, family, employees, customers, etc. I feel fortunate to go through these struggles because of the better perspective it gives me – I now see it as an asset for myself, the people around me and my business.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Junk Trunk – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We’re a full-service junk removal company – we go into homes and businesses and remove nearly anything. Furniture, household items, yard debris, construction demo, hot tubs, etc. The biggest perk is that we do all of the labor and the only thing the customer has to do is tell us what they want us to take. Pricing is volume-based, you pay for the space your items take up in our trucks. As we grow I try and look at the business more as a platform rather than a method to pay the bills. There’s such an opportunity for a business like ours to contribute to the community. A couple of years ago during Hurricane Harvey, we sent a full truck of supplies and a three-man crew to Houston to help volunteer.

This year we’re organizing a toy drive for the holidays and are working with local organizations that house low income and at-risk youth – we’re expecting over 200 gifts. To me, this shows the power of small business. The business started in the neighborhood that I grew up in by talking with neighbors and friends. Once one customer gained confidence in what we’re doing, they’ve passed the message along to their networks. That’s the real beauty of it – when people see someone that they know doing meaningful work in their community they want to build them up and help them grow. Little by little, everyone’s contribution helps to the point where we can now contribute to the greater Denver community on a larger scale through philanthropic work. When you start to look at a business more as a platform as opposed to a money-making machine, you gain better perspective and hone in on your mission as a company which leads to even more growth in all areas of your business.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We’ve done a good job of acquiring several contractors as great repeat customers, but we now want to turn our focus to growing the residential side of the business. This year we’re also hoping to roll out an employee empowerment program where we work with our staff in an advisory role to help them reach more of their personal, work and financial goals.

Pricing:

  • Minimum pickup fee, $75 (example: a single mattress)
  • 1/4 truck load, $150 (example: office desk, chair, filing cabinet, couch)
  • 1/2 truck load, $275 (example: 1 to 2 bedroom apartment cleanout)
  • 3/4 truck load, $375 (example: 2-3 bedroom apartment cleanout)
  • Full truck load, $485 (example: single car garage full of junk)

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