March 31, 2025 • 27 mins
Dustin from Junkernaut shares how his Asheville-based junk removal company transforms spaces and lives through compassionate cleanup and crisis management. His business philosophy centers on addressing the root causes of clutter while ensuring environmental responsibility by finding the highest purpose for removed items.
• Junkernaut specializes in hoarding situations and helping clients dealing with trauma, physical limitations, or complicated personal histories
• The true work often involves counseling and helping clients through emotional barriers before physical removal begins
• Environmental responsibility is central to their mission—items are redistributed through community networks rather than sent to landfills
• Entrepreneurship requires sacrifices that aren't visible to others—comparison is the thief of joy
About Dustin:
From a very young age I was forced to transform through a variety of extreme environments in order to survive. To be more specific we can use hoarding as one example. A part of that process was becoming adept at solving complex problems not just with physical things but socially, emotionally, and spiritually as well. It wasn’t until I was 30 years old until I was able to cultivate a safe place to call home. So that was just eight years ago. My life has comically been situated to observe the two most extreme points of circumstances. You have to learn how to solve problems quickly. I really love transformation. To truly transform you have to understand the complex layers of a problem inside and out. My journey really started in environmental activism where I met some amazing people and learned countless lessons. Then I became a father and was forced to take those lessons and my passion for the environment and transformation into action with Junkernaut. Everything stems from our environment so I chose that fight and I stick with it still to this day in our homes, on our land, and for our people.
Need junk removal or crisis cleanup in Asheville? Call Dustin directly at 828-280-7643 or visit junkernaut828.com to learn more about their services.
Thanks for Listening. You may contact me at https://billgilliland.actioncoach.com/
All the best!
Bill
Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com.
All the best!
Bill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs, and I am superpumped.
Today We've got a cool one.
I'm talking to Dustin fromJunkernaut.
So welcome to EpicEntrepreneurs, justin.
Hey, thank you Bill.
Yeah, dustin, hey, tell us, youknow what is Junkernaut.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Tell us, you know what is Junk or Not.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, we are a local junk removal and crisis cleanup
company here in Asheville North.
Carolina.
So give us a little bit moredetail.
I mean, you're a little bitmore than just a cleanup company
.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, of course .
So, yeah, our passion is reallyin transformation.
So you know everything as humanbeings, you know everything we
do has a manifestation right ofsomething internal.
So I really have a passion forbeing able to look at a
(01:06):
situation that's reallystruggling and being able to
pour a lot of love and lightinto it so that, you know, it
can be at its most efficientstate.
Efficient state, and we just,you know we pour that into
everything we do in ourcommunity.
(01:35):
So there may be situations likewe specialize in, like hoarding
situations, where it's likethree story you know homes that
you know somebody maybe had sometype of accident and they're
confined to a wheelchair, orwhether they have like
complicated family.
You know history, generationaltrauma.
This stuff manifests into ourenvironment and then, in order
(01:55):
to sort of transform it, youneed a specialist that can go in
and be able to speak to theactual root of the problem.
Sometimes, often, with you knowyou have to start with the
client and you have to be ableto work through that difficult
process and then, once you takeresponsibility for all the
(02:20):
things, then you have to figureout what's the highest good of
all these things, cause we don'tjust want to throw it all in
the landfill, you know, becausethat's a whole different issue.
So we try to work to as a partof that transformative process
for our city.
You know, we want everything tobe as abundant for everyone, so
(02:42):
then we disperse it through,you know, different sort of
different channels withconnections that we've made.
So, and that's just one exampleHoarding is just one example.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you could do the extreme.
But if I just had a garage or astorage unit full of stuff and
I didn't know what to do with it, I mean you could come clean it
out and find a new home for alot of it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Heck yeah.
And you know we've been doingthat now for about nine years in
the city professionally.
So you know, we know where yourthings are going to serve their
highest purpose and, frankly,those small jobs are what
sustain us, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Right, it's nice to get a big, giant job, but it
sounds like to me you do a lotmore than just junk removal.
It sounds like you're doingsome counseling.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh yeah, it's always that man.
Humans are always the startingpoint for all this stuff.
So you have to be able toreally just I've gotten very
good at you know customerservice and identifying what
really needs to be done.
There's the work you're doing.
You know that you say you'redoing, but then it's the deeper,
(03:52):
more profound work that you'reactually doing, which is a lot
of times that inner work thatreally helps to heal people.
That's why I love this industry.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, I reckon if you went into a house and it was a
mess and you cleaned it out butyou didn't help the person, it
would just become a mess again.
Boom.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
There you go, and that's one of the biggest parts
of my mission is that I don'tlike touching things twice, so I
want to do it right the firsttime.
So that's a big problem I seein our systems, right, like I
(04:35):
got an example.
So it's like I'm not hating ongreen companies, because we all
got to be as green as we can,but we can only be as green as
the system allows us to be Right.
So you know, it's like we're,we all like when, when doing
this type of work, you want tomake sure that you're not just
(04:56):
creating the same problem overand over and over again.
You know, because, like,sometimes things are, they're
just outdated and it's time tomove on, and so nothing
discourages me more when, like,I go do a removal and you know
it's stuff that was popular backin the 80s, like these curio
cabinets that have, like allthis, you know, china, and like
(05:20):
these glass dolphins andknickknacks, it's like I can
take these things and I can takethem over to Goodwill or
anywhere.
I could donate them anywhere.
But the issue is is that thosethings were made to prop up our,
our egos and they're notgetting us closer to our friends
and family.
So you go and you put them in,you redisperse them and they
(05:44):
just end up right back inanother house again, and so it's
kind of an interesting issuebecause you want to continue
serving the city and thecommunity, but sometimes you
know we all just have to beready to move on.
So there's kind of a deeperaspect to the touching it twice
(06:04):
sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I don't think people think about junk in those
terms.
I know, for I mean junk that'sa big term.
It's not a lot of this stuff isnot junk, a lot of it's
valuable We've got.
I know from experience.
It sure is a lot easier to havesomeone like you come and cause
you don't have an emotionalattachment to anything, it's you
.
But everybody's got emotionalattachment to their stuff and
(06:30):
it's pretty hard sometimes toget rid of it.
So you know, I'm a big fan ofwhat you do and how you do it
and your mission and all that.
Let's dig in a little bit aboutbusiness.
If you had to start over inbusiness, what would you do
differently?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh man, that's tough.
That's a tough one If I had tostart over.
I don't have a simple answer tothat.
I mean, for me, my problemsolving is always down to what
(07:10):
is the terrain saying to me.
You got to read that terrain,so you know, if I had to start
all over again, I would justlook at my surroundings, I'd
look at where we were at and I'dlook at how to best serve the
community at any given point,you know.
So it's hard for me to say whatI would do, not knowing yeah,
(07:34):
Okay, I got it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I understand.
In other words, times changeand so you know you might have
to do it totally differentlythan you started the last time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You have to adapt to all of it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah.
So what are some of thelearnings that you've had as an
owner and an employer that youwould you know since you started
?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Some of the things I've learned.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You know, just taking accountability.
Taking accountability, you know, leadership has been a very, a
very challenging one and justsort of learning how are always
(08:24):
changing, like pay, for example,like living wage, you know,
having to, knowing that you wantto be able to provide enough
for your staff so that they cansurvive and thrive or not just
(08:45):
survive but thrive and sort ofdealing with the challenges of
needing the market to catch upto it all and sort of just
trying to find patience withmyself.
And also, a big part of theprocess for me, especially in
(09:09):
what I'm doing is is learning tolet go, learning, you know when
to let go of something.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Um, I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much the.
The spine of my whole operationis you got to know when to let
go of it.
So you know, I'm constantlylearning about people and about
sort of how we handle situations, how things manifest and just
(09:39):
how to show up.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot there.
It is a lot, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, what I heard was yougot to always be learning?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
You got to be.
Yeah, that's what I heard.
So what do you think some ofthe misconceptions are about
running a business?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh, I don't think people understand how many
sacrifices you make, you knowthere's no way.
You make sacrifices that peoplecan't see, and you know they
look at you a lot of times.
You know comparison is thethief of all joy.
You know we look at each otherand we compare ourselves
(10:25):
constantly, especially in thesocial media age.
You know that we live in todayand we make these comparisons,
and you know you look, I justthere's a lot there.
No, no, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And we can.
You know we're happy to unpackit.
A comparison is I tell you onething.
I mean I'll tell you one thingwhile we're chatting is that
when you start comparing, youbetter get the full backstory of
who you're trying to compare.
Because there's a backstory,there's a deeper something going
(11:19):
on.
Some people that look likewhat's going on, that look, you
know massively successful people.
You need to find out theirwhole story.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Right, yeah, it looks like, you know, it looks a lot
like people just get the wrong.
We get this perception of how asituation is, and it's never
what we think it is.
Even if we have 95 percent ofthe equation, there's that five
percent that could changeeverything, and you know those
(11:48):
of us that are out here runningthese businesses we've made
sacrifices that you know thatmost people aren't willing to
make, and so it really justboils down to where's your heart
at, and so this work reallyisn't for everyone.
Um, it's about a lot of it'sabout taking a lot of personal
responsibility.
Um, it's about a lot of it'sabout taking a lot of personal
(12:11):
responsibility and about umreally being centered in your,
your goal and where that goal is, and I just think that people
have no concept of that, um, andthat's why a lot of people
don't do it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, if you haven't, if you've never done it, you
can't know, right.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
It's there.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There's, it is a.
I always say that we'redifferent, Business owners are
different, we're different, andthat's okay, it's not.
It's not better or worse, it'sjust different.
And you know, we're built alittle differently, and that's a
.
That's that's.
That's a great thing.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
That's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So what do you attribute your growth to?
Resilience overall.
Just to put it simply A lot ofself-motivation, discipline,
those things that are sort ofhardened in you over time based
on your own experiences, yeah,you know, and just never, never
(13:12):
giving up.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I love that.
Never give up, yep, never giveup, hey.
So this might be.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So how do you balance , like, business and personal
demands?
Oh, that's a tough one, I think, for all of us, um, especially
in the demands of the currentmarket, you know.
I mean you have to be able tobe on.
It's funny cause it's socompetitive.
Like I, I often think about, um, how things must have been
before cell phones.
You know, nowadays you'reexpected to be available all the
(13:53):
time because if you're not theperson that's like a competitor,
for example, they could be justa little bit more available to
you, maybe just a little bitmore willing to pick up the
phone while they're behind thewheel and you've lost customers.
So it puts this pressure oneverything all the time.
(14:15):
So you just have to figure outwhen.
You know, you really just haveto be very aware of yourself and
your operation and know whenyou can take the time, know when
you're taking too much time andand take the little victories,
(14:35):
whether that be a slight, uh, aslightly slower morning, um,
every so often, and just be ableto appreciate those slower
moments.
And then, and also I think it'sgot a lot to do with just being
organized in your own life,cause a lot of people excuse me,
a lot of people and it's justtotally human to do this.
(14:56):
But we have a lot of things inour life that isn't quite
situated where it needs to beper our priorities.
And so you know, if you, if youknow the people and the people
places things in your life thatare most important, then you
know when you get that moment,that free moment I'm talking
(15:18):
about that, you know where tospend that energy, um, and yield
the return that's going toincrease the percentage of you
reaching whatever that goal maybe in your life.
So that's been helpful for mein just giving myself grace and
taking those moments when theyarise and knowing when you just
(15:41):
really need to schedule.
Sometimes you just have toschedule yourself a break.
Oh, a hundred percent All thetime, like you have to give
yourself.
You have to know where thatbreak's coming from and when.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, so when it comes to team members, what
qualities do you look for ingreat team members?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, I like people who naturally have a very
positive attitude.
That's probably number one forme, because I can work with that
.
If someone's positive, I canwork with it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, yeah, I agree 100%.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
No matter what.
Yeah, you can teach them thestuff if they've got the right
attitude.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, yeah, I agree a hundred percent.
I mean, yeah, you can teachthem the stuff if they, if
they've got the right attitude.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, exactly, and um .
So for me, it's more about whatI don't.
What I don't want is uh, Idon't, I don't like entitlement,
I don't like um, excuses, um.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, you know, cause .
You know everybody's like outto be a victim half the time
nowadays, and it's it's just youknow being able to.
I'd say grit too.
You know, just like drive Um uhyeah, and I accountability like
I don't.
You know, nobody's perfect.
(17:06):
You know we're all, we're allflawed.
But just yet, back to theexcuses.
Just you know People that wantto make a difference in their
community and want, want to showup.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, that's very good.
Positive attitude, noentitlement, no excuses.
Grit accountability, make adifference and show up.
I mean, that's a great employee.
Yep, Yep, A hundred percent.
All right, I got some quickfire questions here.
So name of the podcast is EpicEntrepreneurs and Epic is an
(17:44):
acronym, so I you know.
I'd like a word or a sentenceabout each one of the letters.
So the E stands for education.
What are your thoughts oneducation?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Uh yeah, education's important, no matter sort of
what, um, you know where you'recoming at from that.
Uh, educate yourself 100%.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Always yeah, self-education yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I love that?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How about planning?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Oh my gosh, that's a big one.
Planning is essential.
You know it's funny, I got thissaying plan to wing it.
I'm going to write that down.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I might call this episode plan to wing it.
That's coming, man, I got it.
I just I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, oh man Cause you know we all have these plans
and uh it just uh so often itjust doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
It is good, man yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
That's, that's so good.
All right, I is inspiration.
Thoughts on inspiration.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Oh yeah, that's a big , a big motivator is going to be
just inspiring and and being,and being inspired, and being
inspired.
You know I've had a lot ofinspiration in my journey and
it's it's definitely way upthere.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, got it.
How about C is commitment?
How?
What's your thought oncommitting?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Uh, well, yeah, 100%.
If you're sitting on the fenceor if you're standing in the
middle of the road, you knowit's not going to work out.
You know it's just kind of likea law.
It's like a law in the universeJust pick a side, it's like
just it doesn't matter really,um, what you do.
It's uh, it's like sometimesnot making a decision is a is
(19:36):
the worst decision that there's.
A lot of times there's no rightor wrong.
Just make a decision and rollwith it.
So that commitment to thatdecision or to, um, to anything
really, I think, is anotherreally important one.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So what do you wish someone hadtold you before you got into
business that you know now?
That sometimes the sacrificesthat you're making aren't always
(20:19):
for the reasons that you thinkthey are.
Wow, that's deep.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Well, so what advice would you give other business
owners that are looking to grow?
Um, just know what you're upagainst, you know, like,
definitely, think it through andget a, get a good game plan.
Um, but I think you know youcan do it.
You can do it with that driveand that belief in yourself and,
(20:51):
frankly, like we need that.
We need that now.
Like we need people to lead,follow or get out of the way.
So, yeah, take take the leapand believe in yourself and,
yeah, plan to wing it.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah, plan to wing it .
I love that.
So is there any last piece ofadvice or anything you'd want to
give?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
other budding business owners and
entrepreneurs out there in theworld.
I mean, surround yourself withgreat people.
You know, like when I firststarted Junk or Not I had five
people and I, straight up, Itried something a little bit
(21:40):
different.
So I've got these incrediblepeople that have been on my side
and been supportive to me and,you know, I just really thought
it out and thought about thosepeople and I really thought
about what it is that they areproviding to me and I also asked
like, what do I, what do Ithink I'm providing to them,
what could I provide to them?
And I wrote that stuff down andI called each individual and I
(22:03):
sort of made a, you know justkind of like a, and I sort of
made a, you know just kind oflike a board of my mentors and
my closest people and I calledthem and told them everything
that I thought that they werehelping me with.
(22:26):
So that when.
I called them, they would know,like I had a hype man.
You know, like one of mybuddies he's just a hype man.
Like he's just there, he'sawesome and you know it's great
because when I call him I don'treally need to vet through the
problem.
You know I have a friend forthat.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
You know another friend for that.
You got the, you got the guy.
I am a little down man.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I'm talking to you Get me up.
Yeah, I don't even have to saythat to him because I call him
and I say, hey, man, you know,I've talked to him, I connected
with him and was like you know,I really appreciate how you are
always showing up for me.
No matter what side I'm, I'mwhat, where I'm coming from in a
problem, you always havepositivity to attribute it to,
(23:16):
and I don't have more questionsafterwards than I did going in.
So it feels like a safe placefor me to be able to just really
soundboard, and so he is awareof that and so he knows how to
show up for me too.
And you know, I've got somebodywho's a mentor to me.
She's an amazing business womanin the city and she inspires me
(23:38):
and you know.
So I'll call her and we cantalk about business stuff.
You know, if I'm, if I'm,afraid of something or
struggling with something, Iknow that she's um, she's faced
it before.
So, yeah, just surroundingyourself with good people and
also communicate and be.
You know, don't wait untiltomorrow or some other time to
(24:00):
tell people how you feel.
You know, do it, do it now andum, and that way your, your
communication is more organizedand um, you're, you're
contributing and also receivingthe utmost from the people that
you're surrounding yourself with.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
So how does somebody get ahold of you or Junker Knot?
What's the best way for people?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Best way is to just call me.
Um, yeah, just pick up thephone and call me um
828-280-7643.
Um, because everybody'ssituation is different.
Um, you can also go take a lookat my website, um, uh,
Junkernot828.com.
Um, and that's really good.
(24:46):
It's a, it's a really sort of agood guideline for what we do
with some breakdowns, um, youknow, but at the end of the day,
uh, you know, picking up thephone is always the quickest,
most effective way yeah so sogive dustin a call.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You got some.
We've all got it.
You've all got some stuff.
Let's let's get.
Let's get rolling, get get.
Give him a call.
You've all got it.
You've all got some stuff.
Let's get rolling.
Give him a call and let's getsome things cleaned up.
Everybody's got something thathe can help with.
So this has been fun, this hasbeen awesome, this has been
useful.
I think this is great.
I really appreciate you beinghere, dustin.
(25:25):
Thank you, thank you for havingme and until next time, all the
best.
Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic
Entrepreneurs, and I am superpumped.
Today We've got a cool one.
I'm talking to Dustin fromJunkernaut.
So welcome to EpicEntrepreneurs, justin.
Hey, thank you Bill.
Yeah, dustin, hey, tell us, youknow what is Junkernaut.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Tell us, you know what is Junk or Not.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Well, we are a local junk removal and crisis cleanup
company here in Asheville North.
Carolina.
So give us a little bit moredetail.
I mean, you're a little bitmore than just a cleanup company
.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, of course .
So, yeah, our passion is reallyin transformation.
So you know everything as humanbeings, you know everything we
do has a manifestation right ofsomething internal.
So I really have a passion forbeing able to look at a
(01:06):
situation that's reallystruggling and being able to
pour a lot of love and lightinto it so that, you know, it
can be at its most efficientstate.
Efficient state, and we just,you know we pour that into
everything we do in ourcommunity.
(01:35):
So there may be situations likewe specialize in, like hoarding
situations, where it's likethree story you know homes that
you know somebody maybe had sometype of accident and they're
confined to a wheelchair, orwhether they have like
complicated family.
You know history, generationaltrauma.
This stuff manifests into ourenvironment and then, in order
(01:55):
to sort of transform it, youneed a specialist that can go in
and be able to speak to theactual root of the problem.
Sometimes, often, with you knowyou have to start with the
client and you have to be ableto work through that difficult
process and then, once you takeresponsibility for all the
(02:20):
things, then you have to figureout what's the highest good of
all these things, cause we don'tjust want to throw it all in
the landfill, you know, becausethat's a whole different issue.
So we try to work to as a partof that transformative process
for our city.
You know, we want everything tobe as abundant for everyone, so
(02:42):
then we disperse it through,you know, different sort of
different channels withconnections that we've made.
So, and that's just one exampleHoarding is just one example.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So you could do the extreme.
But if I just had a garage or astorage unit full of stuff and
I didn't know what to do with it, I mean you could come clean it
out and find a new home for alot of it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Heck yeah.
And you know we've been doingthat now for about nine years in
the city professionally.
So you know, we know where yourthings are going to serve their
highest purpose and, frankly,those small jobs are what
sustain us, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Right, it's nice to get a big, giant job, but it
sounds like to me you do a lotmore than just junk removal.
It sounds like you're doingsome counseling.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh yeah, it's always that man.
Humans are always the startingpoint for all this stuff.
So you have to be able toreally just I've gotten very
good at you know customerservice and identifying what
really needs to be done.
There's the work you're doing.
You know that you say you'redoing, but then it's the deeper,
(03:52):
more profound work that you'reactually doing, which is a lot
of times that inner work thatreally helps to heal people.
That's why I love this industry.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, I reckon if you went into a house and it was a
mess and you cleaned it out butyou didn't help the person, it
would just become a mess again.
Boom.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
There you go, and that's one of the biggest parts
of my mission is that I don'tlike touching things twice, so I
want to do it right the firsttime.
So that's a big problem I seein our systems, right, like I
(04:35):
got an example.
So it's like I'm not hating ongreen companies, because we all
got to be as green as we can,but we can only be as green as
the system allows us to be Right.
So you know, it's like we're,we all like when, when doing
this type of work, you want tomake sure that you're not just
(04:56):
creating the same problem overand over and over again.
You know, because, like,sometimes things are, they're
just outdated and it's time tomove on, and so nothing
discourages me more when, like,I go do a removal and you know
it's stuff that was popular backin the 80s, like these curio
cabinets that have, like allthis, you know, china, and like
(05:20):
these glass dolphins andknickknacks, it's like I can
take these things and I can takethem over to Goodwill or
anywhere.
I could donate them anywhere.
But the issue is is that thosethings were made to prop up our,
our egos and they're notgetting us closer to our friends
and family.
So you go and you put them in,you redisperse them and they
(05:44):
just end up right back inanother house again, and so it's
kind of an interesting issuebecause you want to continue
serving the city and thecommunity, but sometimes you
know we all just have to beready to move on.
So there's kind of a deeperaspect to the touching it twice
(06:04):
sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, I don't think people think about junk in those
terms.
I know, for I mean junk that'sa big term.
It's not a lot of this stuff isnot junk, a lot of it's
valuable We've got.
I know from experience.
It sure is a lot easier to havesomeone like you come and cause
you don't have an emotionalattachment to anything, it's you
.
But everybody's got emotionalattachment to their stuff and
(06:30):
it's pretty hard sometimes toget rid of it.
So you know, I'm a big fan ofwhat you do and how you do it
and your mission and all that.
Let's dig in a little bit aboutbusiness.
If you had to start over inbusiness, what would you do
differently?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh man, that's tough.
That's a tough one If I had tostart over.
I don't have a simple answer tothat.
I mean, for me, my problemsolving is always down to what
(07:10):
is the terrain saying to me.
You got to read that terrain,so you know, if I had to start
all over again, I would justlook at my surroundings, I'd
look at where we were at and I'dlook at how to best serve the
community at any given point,you know.
So it's hard for me to say whatI would do, not knowing yeah,
(07:34):
Okay, I got it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I understand.
In other words, times changeand so you know you might have
to do it totally differentlythan you started the last time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You have to adapt to all of it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, yeah.
So what are some of thelearnings that you've had as an
owner and an employer that youwould you know since you started
?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Some of the things I've learned.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You know, just taking accountability.
Taking accountability, you know, leadership has been a very, a
very challenging one and justsort of learning how are always
(08:24):
changing, like pay, for example,like living wage, you know,
having to, knowing that you wantto be able to provide enough
for your staff so that they cansurvive and thrive or not just
(08:45):
survive but thrive and sort ofdealing with the challenges of
needing the market to catch upto it all and sort of just
trying to find patience withmyself.
And also, a big part of theprocess for me, especially in
(09:09):
what I'm doing is is learning tolet go, learning, you know when
to let go of something.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Um, I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much the.
The spine of my whole operationis you got to know when to let
go of it.
So you know, I'm constantlylearning about people and about
sort of how we handle situations, how things manifest and just
(09:39):
how to show up.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, yeah, there's a lot there.
It is a lot, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I mean, what I heard was yougot to always be learning?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
You got to be.
Yeah, that's what I heard.
So what do you think some ofthe misconceptions are about
running a business?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh, I don't think people understand how many
sacrifices you make, you knowthere's no way.
You make sacrifices that peoplecan't see, and you know they
look at you a lot of times.
You know comparison is thethief of all joy.
You know we look at each otherand we compare ourselves
(10:25):
constantly, especially in thesocial media age.
You know that we live in todayand we make these comparisons,
and you know you look, I justthere's a lot there.
No, no, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And we can.
You know we're happy to unpackit.
A comparison is I tell you onething.
I mean I'll tell you one thingwhile we're chatting is that
when you start comparing, youbetter get the full backstory of
who you're trying to compare.
Because there's a backstory,there's a deeper something going
(11:19):
on.
Some people that look likewhat's going on, that look, you
know massively successful people.
You need to find out theirwhole story.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Right, yeah, it looks like, you know, it looks a lot
like people just get the wrong.
We get this perception of how asituation is, and it's never
what we think it is.
Even if we have 95 percent ofthe equation, there's that five
percent that could changeeverything, and you know those
(11:48):
of us that are out here runningthese businesses we've made
sacrifices that you know thatmost people aren't willing to
make, and so it really justboils down to where's your heart
at, and so this work reallyisn't for everyone.
Um, it's about a lot of it'sabout taking a lot of personal
responsibility.
Um, it's about a lot of it'sabout taking a lot of personal
(12:11):
responsibility and about umreally being centered in your,
your goal and where that goal is, and I just think that people
have no concept of that, um, andthat's why a lot of people
don't do it.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, if you haven't, if you've never done it, you
can't know, right.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
It's there.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There's, it is a.
I always say that we'redifferent, Business owners are
different, we're different, andthat's okay, it's not.
It's not better or worse, it'sjust different.
And you know, we're built alittle differently, and that's a
.
That's that's.
That's a great thing.
So what do you attribute yourgrowth to?
That's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
So what do you attribute your growth to?
Resilience overall.
Just to put it simply A lot ofself-motivation, discipline,
those things that are sort ofhardened in you over time based
on your own experiences, yeah,you know, and just never, never
(13:12):
giving up.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
I love that.
Never give up, yep, never giveup, hey.
So this might be.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So how do you balance , like, business and personal
demands?
Oh, that's a tough one, I think, for all of us, um, especially
in the demands of the currentmarket, you know.
I mean you have to be able tobe on.
It's funny cause it's socompetitive.
Like I, I often think about, um, how things must have been
before cell phones.
You know, nowadays you'reexpected to be available all the
(13:53):
time because if you're not theperson that's like a competitor,
for example, they could be justa little bit more available to
you, maybe just a little bitmore willing to pick up the
phone while they're behind thewheel and you've lost customers.
So it puts this pressure oneverything all the time.
(14:15):
So you just have to figure outwhen.
You know, you really just haveto be very aware of yourself and
your operation and know whenyou can take the time, know when
you're taking too much time andand take the little victories,
(14:35):
whether that be a slight, uh, aslightly slower morning, um,
every so often, and just be ableto appreciate those slower
moments.
And then, and also I think it'sgot a lot to do with just being
organized in your own life,cause a lot of people excuse me,
a lot of people and it's justtotally human to do this.
(14:56):
But we have a lot of things inour life that isn't quite
situated where it needs to beper our priorities.
And so you know, if you, if youknow the people and the people
places things in your life thatare most important, then you
know when you get that moment,that free moment I'm talking
(15:18):
about that, you know where tospend that energy, um, and yield
the return that's going toincrease the percentage of you
reaching whatever that goal maybe in your life.
So that's been helpful for mein just giving myself grace and
taking those moments when theyarise and knowing when you just
(15:41):
really need to schedule.
Sometimes you just have toschedule yourself a break.
Oh, a hundred percent All thetime, like you have to give
yourself.
You have to know where thatbreak's coming from and when.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, so when it comes to team members, what
qualities do you look for ingreat team members?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, I like people who naturally have a very
positive attitude.
That's probably number one forme, because I can work with that
.
If someone's positive, I canwork with it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, yeah, I agree 100%.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
No matter what.
Yeah, you can teach them thestuff if they've got the right
attitude.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, yeah, I agree a hundred percent.
I mean, yeah, you can teachthem the stuff if they, if
they've got the right attitude.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah, exactly, and um .
So for me, it's more about whatI don't.
What I don't want is uh, Idon't, I don't like entitlement,
I don't like um, excuses, um.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, you know, cause .
You know everybody's like outto be a victim half the time
nowadays, and it's it's just youknow being able to.
I'd say grit too.
You know, just like drive Um uhyeah, and I accountability like
I don't.
You know, nobody's perfect.
(17:06):
You know we're all, we're allflawed.
But just yet, back to theexcuses.
Just you know People that wantto make a difference in their
community and want, want to showup.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, that's very good.
Positive attitude, noentitlement, no excuses.
Grit accountability, make adifference and show up.
I mean, that's a great employee.
Yep, Yep, A hundred percent.
All right, I got some quickfire questions here.
So name of the podcast is EpicEntrepreneurs and Epic is an
(17:44):
acronym, so I you know.
I'd like a word or a sentenceabout each one of the letters.
So the E stands for education.
What are your thoughts oneducation?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Uh yeah, education's important, no matter sort of
what, um, you know where you'recoming at from that.
Uh, educate yourself 100%.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Always yeah, self-education yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
I love that?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How about planning?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Oh my gosh, that's a big one.
Planning is essential.
You know it's funny, I got thissaying plan to wing it.
I'm going to write that down.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I might call this episode plan to wing it.
That's coming, man, I got it.
I just I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, oh man Cause you know we all have these plans
and uh it just uh so often itjust doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
It is good, man yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
That's, that's so good.
All right, I is inspiration.
Thoughts on inspiration.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Oh yeah, that's a big , a big motivator is going to be
just inspiring and and being,and being inspired, and being
inspired.
You know I've had a lot ofinspiration in my journey and
it's it's definitely way upthere.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, got it.
How about C is commitment?
How?
What's your thought oncommitting?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Uh, well, yeah, 100%.
If you're sitting on the fenceor if you're standing in the
middle of the road, you knowit's not going to work out.
You know it's just kind of likea law.
It's like a law in the universeJust pick a side, it's like
just it doesn't matter really,um, what you do.
It's uh, it's like sometimesnot making a decision is a is
(19:36):
the worst decision that there's.
A lot of times there's no rightor wrong.
Just make a decision and rollwith it.
So that commitment to thatdecision or to, um, to anything
really, I think, is anotherreally important one.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So what do you wish someone hadtold you before you got into
business that you know now?
That sometimes the sacrificesthat you're making aren't always
(20:19):
for the reasons that you thinkthey are.
Wow, that's deep.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Well, so what advice would you give other business
owners that are looking to grow?
Um, just know what you're upagainst, you know, like,
definitely, think it through andget a, get a good game plan.
Um, but I think you know youcan do it.
You can do it with that driveand that belief in yourself and,
(20:51):
frankly, like we need that.
We need that now.
Like we need people to lead,follow or get out of the way.
So, yeah, take take the leapand believe in yourself and,
yeah, plan to wing it.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah, plan to wing it .
I love that.
So is there any last piece ofadvice or anything you'd want to
give?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
other budding business owners and
entrepreneurs out there in theworld.
I mean, surround yourself withgreat people.
You know, like when I firststarted Junk or Not I had five
people and I, straight up, Itried something a little bit
(21:40):
different.
So I've got these incrediblepeople that have been on my side
and been supportive to me and,you know, I just really thought
it out and thought about thosepeople and I really thought
about what it is that they areproviding to me and I also asked
like, what do I, what do Ithink I'm providing to them,
what could I provide to them?
And I wrote that stuff down andI called each individual and I
(22:03):
sort of made a, you know justkind of like a, and I sort of
made a, you know just kind oflike a board of my mentors and
my closest people and I calledthem and told them everything
that I thought that they werehelping me with.
(22:26):
So that when.
I called them, they would know,like I had a hype man.
You know, like one of mybuddies he's just a hype man.
Like he's just there, he'sawesome and you know it's great
because when I call him I don'treally need to vet through the
problem.
You know I have a friend forthat.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
You know another friend for that.
You got the, you got the guy.
I am a little down man.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I'm talking to you Get me up.
Yeah, I don't even have to saythat to him because I call him
and I say, hey, man, you know,I've talked to him, I connected
with him and was like you know,I really appreciate how you are
always showing up for me.
No matter what side I'm, I'mwhat, where I'm coming from in a
problem, you always havepositivity to attribute it to,
(23:16):
and I don't have more questionsafterwards than I did going in.
So it feels like a safe placefor me to be able to just really
soundboard, and so he is awareof that and so he knows how to
show up for me too.
And you know, I've got somebodywho's a mentor to me.
She's an amazing business womanin the city and she inspires me
(23:38):
and you know.
So I'll call her and we cantalk about business stuff.
You know, if I'm, if I'm,afraid of something or
struggling with something, Iknow that she's um, she's faced
it before.
So, yeah, just surroundingyourself with good people and
also communicate and be.
You know, don't wait untiltomorrow or some other time to
(24:00):
tell people how you feel.
You know, do it, do it now andum, and that way your, your
communication is more organizedand um, you're, you're
contributing and also receivingthe utmost from the people that
you're surrounding yourself with.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
So how does somebody get ahold of you or Junker Knot?
What's the best way for people?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Best way is to just call me.
Um, yeah, just pick up thephone and call me um
828-280-7643.
Um, because everybody'ssituation is different.
Um, you can also go take a lookat my website, um, uh,
Junkernot828.com.
Um, and that's really good.
(24:46):
It's a, it's a really sort of agood guideline for what we do
with some breakdowns, um, youknow, but at the end of the day,
uh, you know, picking up thephone is always the quickest,
most effective way yeah so sogive dustin a call.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You got some.
We've all got it.
You've all got some stuff.
Let's let's get.
Let's get rolling, get get.
Give him a call.
You've all got it.
You've all got some stuff.
Let's get rolling.
Give him a call and let's getsome things cleaned up.
Everybody's got something thathe can help with.
So this has been fun, this hasbeen awesome, this has been
useful.
I think this is great.
I really appreciate you beinghere, dustin.
(25:25):
Thank you, thank you for havingme and until next time, all the
best.
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