July 24, 2020 • 50 mins
Pete catches up with Ryan Granger from Acadian Sanitation in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
Ryan launched Acadian Sanitation in November 2019 with 25 toilets and recently purchased 25 more. He talked with Pete about how he started the business, the challenges he faced, his business strategy and his hopes for the future. Over the course of the conversation, Ryan and Pete share experiences and ideas and have a few laughs. To learn more about this week's guest, please visit www.acadiansanitation.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:17):
Hello and welcome to GetFlush, the world's favourite sanitation
podcast.
I'm Pete.
Way back in the introductoryepisode, I said I wanted Get Flush
to be about the people whomake up the portable sanitation industry.
Sure, it's been great to talkabout equipment and the technical
aspects of the job, but it'sthe human element that holds the
most interest for me, and Ihope that other listeners feel the
(00:37):
same way too.
The monthly special will runfor about an hour and each episode
will feature a differentoperator or business.
The idea is really simple.
I'll visit them in person,call them by phone, or arrange a
meeting online to get them totalk about their business.
There is no script.
I've not got a list of preset questions.
The show really is all about them.
(00:59):
Picking the first operator toappear on pumantels was really easy.
I wanted to talk to someonewho was relatively new to portable
sanitation, someone with a newbusiness who started from scratch,
someone with a small operationwho could explain how and why they
got started and perhapsinspire some other entrepreneurs
to have a go.
My idea was that lots ofpeople will identify with this story
(01:21):
if we start small, and thatwill give us a great platform for
looking at bigger businessesin the future.
And so, with the introductionsout the way, let's get going on the
very first episode of the PoohMan Tales.
This episode features RyanGranger from Acadian Sanitation in
Lafayette, Louisiana.
(01:42):
Ryan's been in business sinceNovember last year and he started
Arcadium with 25 toilets,which has just increased to 50.
He runs that fleet as asideline to his main job as a fabricator
welder, and that means heworks evenings and weekends to keep
his customers happy.
I'll point out that I've neverbeen to Lafayette and until a month
ago I didn't know Ryan.
(02:03):
It turns out that he'dlistened to an episode after I posted
a link on Facebook and hemessaged me to say he'd enjoyed the
show and learnt quite a bitfrom listening in.
Over the last couple of weeks,we've spoken a few times and I've
persuaded him to appear astoday's guest.
And I've already sent him aGet Flush mug to say thanks for taking
part.
In a non Covid world, I wouldhave found a way to jump on a plane
(02:24):
and go visit Ryan in person,but sadly that's just not possible
these days, so we've had totalk by phone.
Now I'm in New Zealand andRyan was in Louisiana and the first
time I called he was actuallyoutside There's a little bit of wind
noise in that call and I'll apologize.
I've tried to edit it out, butyou may find that a little bit distracting.
The second call was muchclearer and the audio quality is
(02:46):
much improved.
Hey, brother.
How are you?
Good.
How come you're working at the weekend?
Well, we had some weekend rentals.
(03:06):
I had two graduation partiesthis weekend.
I dropped off on Friday andthen we pick up on Sunday.
So, Ryan, can we start withyou telling us just a little bit
about Acadian Sanitation andhow long you've been in business?
We've been in business, I'mgonna say nine months.
So what were you doing?
Welding and fabrication.
Okay.
(03:26):
I still am.
I still.
I work full time and I do myportable toilet business after.
After hours.
So talk me through your setup.
What did you start with?
Number of toilets and truck, etc.
We started out with 25 toilets.
Brand new units.
Yeah, I bought a truckload.
I bought 24 standard units anda wheelchair accessible with one
(03:49):
self contained sink.
That was my truckload.
I started out with.
I started, I still have.
It's a Ford 550 and I have a300 gallon tank.
300 wastewater, 100 gallonfresh water.
Mounted it on the back of afarm truck and that's what we're
still using today.
Two weeks ago, I placed anorder on my second load of toilets.
(04:11):
Cool.
Before the newest truckloadcame in, I had three of those parties
rented out.
What I'm trying to do in thisepisode is explain to people that
it's actually.
I won't say it's easy, butit's relatively straightforward to
start in business.
And it gives you enough,hopefully to earn enough money and
to make that transition intofull time once you get really well
established and people knowthat Acadian Sanitation is here to
(04:34):
stay.
Correct.
And that basically was ourstrategy to start out and learn the
business as well as thebusiness learns us and just have
a great foundation, two feetplanted firmly on the ground and
be able to build from thereand exactly what you said, they can
learn that we're here to stay.
(04:54):
Growing from the bottom up.
I don't want to bepessimistic, but if it goes wrong
and you decide it's not quitefor you, you've bought polygen and
you'll definitely sell thoseshould you need to recover some of
your cash.
So you've actually mitigatedthe risk a little bit by choosing
a brand that you could be ableto move on.
It's not in the agenda, butyou Know what, What is in the agenda?
There's.
(05:14):
There's no plan at this point.
Who would have thought twoyears ago that you'd have been the
king of the toilets in Lafayette?
Correct?
Correct.
I know, I know.
Myself for one, would havenever guessed it.
What did the family say whenyou said you were going to start
a portable toilet business?
Right, that's the story.
(05:35):
Here's the great thing came about.
My wife has her own shop.
She's a dog groomer.
One of the guys that shegrooms, the dogs, we know him, he
picked up late one evening andhe said, I started something a while
back.
It was a portable toilet.
You know, it makes pretty good money.
And first thing is, likeeveryone else who Portal is, wow.
(05:57):
She said, man, it's not that bad.
He said, it makes money.
It's not hard work.
And if you do right, you get.
Get good customers.
So he walked us through theentire process of what you do.
How to clean a toilet, how toset it up, on and on.
The guy stayed at our housefor three hours, just talking.
Portable toilets, where youorder them from, where you get the
(06:19):
tank, what kind of tank, whatit entails, everything.
Later that evening, we'relaying in bed and I'm on my phone.
My wife's on her phone orreading a book.
We get to talking and shelooks and I have a portable toilet
website brought up.
And she says, oh, boy, youcan't be serious.
I said, what's the look?
I mean, what's it hurt?
(06:39):
She said, okay, you go aheadand look and think you're gonna conquer
the world with some portable toilets.
I said, okay, well, goes on afew days.
And I told her I made a call.
I called into a portabletoilet manufacturer, talked to the
guy, stayed on the phone withhim 30 or 40 minutes.
She says, you don't think thisis something we're really going to
(07:00):
be able to get into?
I said, I already have the truck.
You know, I didn't have to buya truck to get in the business.
I already had a 554 wheeldrive farm truck.
She said, no one is going tobe crazy enough to give us any money
to get started.
She said, but follow your dream.
Okay, fast forward two orthree more weeks.
(07:20):
I got in touch with some otherportable toilet people.
I called up the tankmanufacturing companies, two of them
getting quotes.
And then I made an appointmentwith the bank because I got all the
numbers ready and what Ineeded to open up.
She said, you can cancel it.
We're not going to do it.
It's not going to happen.
It's just.
She said, you've gone farenough now.
You know what, what moneyyou're looking at.
(07:42):
She said, but we're going tohave to wait about a year.
So I said, okay.
And I went to the bankappointment and talked to the guy
and lo and behold, my wifecalls me while I was in the bank.
I didn't answer.
Naturally called her when Ileft and she said, hey, where are
you at?
I work 15 minutes from home.
I'm usually home at 3:30 inthe evening.
(08:04):
Well, this was 5:30 and soshe's where yet?
I said, well, I told you I hadthe meeting today.
I told you that last week.
Today was the meeting.
Oh boy.
She said, you went make a foolof yourself.
There's no way you went put you.
She said, anyway, even if hedoes give you a loan and he's crazier
than you are, we're notsigning on it, okay?
The guy calls me back threedays later.
(08:26):
You're approved, man.
Pete almost wrecked my truck.
I just, I let off the gas,just idling, staring like I can't
believe this is true.
This fellow really is crazy.
He gave me money, got home.
We were going on a camping trip.
We have a travel trailer andwe were going camping.
(08:47):
I didn't tell her anything.
We're going down the road.
We passed the constructionsite, we saw a portable toilet on
site.
I said, look at there, thatcould be us.
She said, yeah.
You ain't heard back from yourguy at the bank, have you?
It's been what, almost a week?
You haven't heard from him?
I said, actually I did.
She said, what do you had to say?
I said, well, we approved.
(09:09):
She got mad.
She said, first of all, Ididn't want you over there.
Now of course he's going togive you money.
You got to pay it back ortheir garnished wages, they can't
lose.
You're crazy.
It's not going to happen.
Well, the rest is history.
Now there's a big differencebetween getting approval for finance
(09:30):
and turning that into reallive action.
So I asked Ryan what happened next.
So this is what I did.
I called a guy up.
I said, man, how long do I have?
How many days is this approvalgood for?
He said, 30 days.
The next day I called the tank people.
How long before I get a tankin four to six weeks.
(09:51):
I said, perfect.
Do I need a down payment foran order?
He said, we usually require atleast half down.
He said, what are you looking at?
I said, well, here's my strategy.
I don't want to sign on thebank loan today and owe money before
I even have my tank.
I want to order the tanktoday, and by the time I owe money,
I'll already be able to be in business.
(10:11):
He said, I tell you what, if.
If you can get me 10% to putdown, I'll put it into production.
I said, done.
Send him a credit card number.
Gave him 10% to have it down.
Got the tank rolling.
Call up the portable toilet manufacturer.
How long we're going to needbefore we see toilets.
He said, I'm a week out onshipping right now.
That's a little soon.
(10:32):
Give me some time.
I said, I'll call you back inthree or four weeks, but we will
do it.
I said, I've got a bank approval.
Everything's good.
So I started making calls to customers.
I'm going to be in theportaled business.
I'm going to be in theportaled business.
I got two guys to tell me,we'll do business.
I'll try you out.
Two days later, called andordered my toilets, you know, and
(10:53):
the ball got rolling from there.
And then I had to tell thereal boss, you need a sign here.
I'm going to get the money.
She says, well, here's what it is.
She said, there's too manythings are lining up perfectly to
turn back now.
I'm no preacher, but I'm goingto be honest with you, it's been
a blessing ever since.
It's a cool industry, Ryan.
It really is.
(11:13):
It really is.
I enjoy what I do.
I've got my best friend sincesecond grade.
We're 40 years old.
He comes with me.
He comes every day.
He can, work permitting.
Sometimes I'm working, he's off.
He'll take the truck and gorun the route for me.
He's passionate about it as I am.
We've had really goodcustomers, really good clients, really
(11:34):
good feedback.
People call us and tell usthank you, and it's the weirdest
thing ever.
You're paying me, but you'retelling me thank you.
As a new operator, I askedRyan how he'd got himself up to speed.
I'm new in the business, butwhat I want to do is, I'm going to
call it, revolutionize theindustry around here, at least locally.
Giving people the service thatthey deserve, something they're not
(11:58):
used to seeing competition,for lack of better terms, you know,
they're just not friendly.
So you can't ask anyone in the business.
So I'm basically going on what?
A friend of mine has told mein the past that he used to have
a business doing this.
And so it's your podcast.
It's the Portable ToiletNetwork on Facebook group has really
(12:21):
helped me tremendously.
Oh, well, I'm glad you foundthe podcast.
And it's been useful for you.
It has been.
It has been very useful.
Matter of fact, the guystalked about revving the engine up
on the donkey motor, and I wasdoing exactly that.
I would start my motor, thenrev it up all the way, go and take
care of the unit and come backand throttle it down and then turn
(12:45):
it off.
And so now I start.
I just leave it right in the middle.
Just, you know, not all theway low and not all the way high,
and it works just fine.
I'm really keen to find outwhere your name and your color scheme
came from.
Okay.
The name came from here inSouth Louisiana.
(13:06):
We have an Acadian background,and Acadians are known for good hospitality,
hard work, strong family and stuff.
So with that in mind, Iintegrated that into our game of
sanitation.
And so it kind of had a littlerhyme to it, and it's sort of what
we do as well.
And Cajuns or Acadians camefrom Canada that were settled into
(13:33):
South Louisiana back when thecountry was first developed.
And as I've looked at yourFacebook post, I see that you've
got your blue and pink doorsfor male and females, but then gray
sides and back walls.
What made you go for that combo?
We went with gray all the wayaround just for durability and longevity
against sun fade.
(13:54):
We went with the blue doors tokind of match and accent the logo.
Yeah, and then I did pink justfor if we had a birthday party, girls,
graduation, young kids, stufflike that.
The logo that we have isactually the Acadian flag, if you
would look it up.
And the city flag for la, thecity of Lafayette, is that Acadian
(14:19):
flag.
I just turned the right sideof our logo has the old style outhouse
building in yellow on theAcadian flag.
It's actually a small castle design.
So you just adapted it out.
Right.
One of the other issues, andwe've just touched briefly on this
(14:40):
in messaging, is the admin andthe paperwork side of the business.
How are you coping with that?
That's mainly after hours.
When I get home, I tend to thebilling paperwork and stuff.
That's what I do in.
In the evenings and afterroutes, maybe in between at lunch
(15:00):
times and stuff.
You know, when we havedowntime, I'll Take care of it at
that point.
Not really much software.
I just take care everythingbasically the old way by hand.
I have enough toilets to whereit's not too much on a route.
I can still do them on paperand have locations or nicknames of
locations to where.
(15:21):
I know our friend of mine thathelps me out, he knows where they
are.
We pretty much group onesection of town in one day.
Yeah.
And then another section oftown another day.
Or we have long runs we'll dooutside parishes or counties or however
your city's divided.
And then what I'll do is I'llmake the long distances one day.
(15:44):
Yeah.
You know, if I have one toilethere and one toilet in a different
parish, I'll catch those onthat day.
Although it may be two orthree toilets.
But it fills my apple.
Yeah.
And you know Ryan, I thinkthat's a very cost effective and
straightforward approach forthe volume that you're working with.
There'll come a point whereyou start to look at software packages
and I know from my researchthat one of the problems you'll encounter
(16:05):
there is just the cost ofthose packages.
Exactly.
And that's why we're not onsoftware yet.
Because they're not designedat all for part time operators like
I am.
I don't even have an ESignature subscription because the
cost is way too much forsomeone ourselves.
You're right.
No one's doing that for thesmall scale operators.
(16:27):
And they're a really importantpart of the market.
The big boys might not likethem, but they're in the market and
they're providing good servicein terms of equipment.
I know from looking at yourphotos you've got your truck and
your tank.
You've got a trailer as well.
Did you need to buy or lease ayard to put all of your gear in?
(16:48):
No, sir.
I currently live on four acresand so I already have farm equipment
and stuff and in a limestoneyard where we park implements and
stuff.
So I basically startedstacking them out in the back.
And if wind picks up or summerstorm or whatever may come through,
I have a lean to shed that Icould rope them all off to any time.
(17:14):
Sure.
And I don't want to get you inany trouble.
Is there any local ordinancethat you had to follow to get permission
to store your toilets oroperate the business from the property?
No.
An at home business, there'sno ordinances for where I live outside
of city limits to operate ahome based business.
And it's there.
Again with numbers.
(17:35):
Once you are turning over yourcash Flow so much X amount of dollars.
But once you cross over intothat then you're not considered home
business anymore.
You considered a fullestablished business.
This place now becomes yourplace of business, not your residence.
And at that point we transferover to different ordinances.
(17:55):
The main thing that I'm awareof is a occupancy license if I have
an office.
Because we're not running anyextra power.
We're not putting in aseparate structure.
We don't have any sewagefacilities or employees.
You know.
So it's basically an extensionof our home.
We're just operating this oneresidential property.
(18:15):
In terms of carrying septicweight, did you have to get any licenses
or license conditions?
Correct.
We had to get licensed throughthe Department of Environmental Quality
in the state of Louisiana.
Yeah.
And had to apply for a license.
It's called a hauler's licenseout here.
(18:35):
And it's an annual fee.
And you have to record whereyou dump and that they're accredited
business with those folks andthey follow their guidelines.
And we have paperwork in thepaper trail of how many gallons pumped
and how many gallons the otherplace receives.
You know, the dump facility.
And as long as you keep upwith your paperwork and file your
(18:58):
annual report is all you're good.
It covers.
How straightforward was it toget into the dump station.
It's actually a private owned facility.
Yeah.
And all I had to do was goover there and give them my information,
proof of insurance, stuff likethat and show that I actually applied
with the state through DEQ andthen they approved me.
(19:21):
Because that's the missingpart of the equation that you can
do everything else yourselfexcept dispose of the septic waste.
Correct.
And it has to be documented ofwhere you're disposing of the waste.
Barriers to entry are really low.
Let's not minimize it.
It's not easy.
But it's not really difficultto get started.
It is not.
It is not.
And that's why our bigcompetition doesn't want anybody
(19:43):
in the business.
So because he doesn't want the secret.
Out that it's fairly easy togo in.
Yes.
But the trap is.
And you, you seem to haveavoided that.
The trap is people go in andthey think that the only way they
can compete is on price.
And, and therefore they tryand do it cheaper than anybody else.
And that ultimately leads tothem doing the worst service.
You can't provide properservice for any cheap.
(20:05):
You can't just can't.
You can't.
I mean I've got 30 toiletsrented out.
We're Fairly local.
Yeah.
My fuel bill is a hundredbucks a week.
Yeah.
Fuel is the cheapest it's beenin seven years around here.
And if you go further thanthat, Ron, you've got to charge mileage,
and.
People don't get well dooutside of.
So in Louisiana, we have parishes.
Yeah.
(20:25):
Everywhere else in the worldhas counties.
Yeah.
So I have Lafayette Parish,and that's like my local.
So for entry level, for prettymuch an introductory rate, I won't
charge a delivery fee.
Yeah.
I go out and I bring you a toilet.
No delivery.
If you're outside of LafayetteParish, I have a minimal delivery.
(20:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is fair.
And they say that's fine.
And because everyone else ischarging the delivery fee if they're
going to block or across town.
Yeah.
I started charging deliveryfees this month on my event rentals,
small weekend rentals and stuff.
I charge a minimal deliveryfee, but it's because of the setup.
It's not so much as just to deliver.
(21:07):
And I explain this to folks.
You start out with a fresh air freshener.
You start out with two freshrolls of toilet paper.
You start out with a freshurinal screen.
It's brand new from the start.
And so there's a little bit ofcost involved.
And there's no guarantee we'regoing to get any of that back.
No.
You may use up both rules oftoilet paper.
(21:30):
Running your own business.
It's your name on the door.
People will know that that'syou, Ryan.
And if you leave them openingthe door and thinking, oh, I don't
want to go in there.
That's right.
They're gonna say, ryan'stoilets are nasty.
Yeah.
It's exactly what they'regonna say.
I get it.
Guys don't get it, though, Ryan.
That's the shocking part.
They don't.
They don't.
(21:51):
You're right.
And.
And when someone tries to comein and do a better job, instead of
upping their game or beingcordial about it and saying, let's
do something about it, no,they want to knock you out.
So no one knows what good service.
And they compete on price,which is just mental.
It's just a crazy.
It is.
It is.
I've act.
I've had customers ask me,man, what can you do on price?
(22:11):
And I tell them every time Isaid, the price you're getting is
a more than fair price right now.
It's a very fair price.
Any less than that, we can'tprovide the service we plan to provide.
Yeah.
Now, I've driven a truck.
I'M quite fit.
I ride my bike, I go running,I use the gym.
When I've dragged that hoseoff 25 times, I'm absolutely done.
How these guys are doing 50services a day.
(22:32):
A, in a nine hour day thatgives you like six minutes to do
each service.
B, you've got no driving time.
And then just the physicallift of the hose on and off the truck.
And pulling the water in andout, in and out.
Right.
These people doing it, Ryan,there's just no way they're giving
a good clean for that.
They're not.
They're not.
Like you said, they're not even.
That's not even.
You're not even calculatingdrive time.
(22:54):
Six minutes at a toilet iscutting it short.
I spent close to 10 minutes ata toilet, but I, I do also think
I'm spending a little bit toomuch time.
I haven't got my processrefined yet.
I do a lot of back and forthto the truck.
You will iron that out.
And they just don't wash the cabins.
So you go in and you run yourfinger across the shelves, all the
surfaces and there's justthick grime.
(23:16):
And that's a really terriblething to.
Say, but it's the truth.
You walk in a unit that hecleaned out two days ago.
There's no toilet paper.
There's a pile of dung inthere, which you said maybe a gallon
or two of water.
The water thing is, that's thedifference between that driver going
home at four in the evening orsix in the evening.
Yeah.
In one of the earlierepisodes, I talked about toilets
(23:38):
being supplied to residentialconstruction, civil projects, events
and the agricultural sector.
As we carried on talking, Ryantold me that he was supplying another
market too.
You mentioned the agriculturalindustry uses portable toilets, the
equestrian industry as well.
We have some toilets atpeople's barns where they may do
(23:59):
some team roping or they have,you know, horse bow racing and stuff,
but they're not there every day.
They're not there every day.
And so they're not going toplumb up to their barn.
They need a service once a month.
So we can prorate that.
We're not going once a week.
If you get it wrong as asanitation provider, people get sick.
Correct.
That's what I said.
We are in sanitation industry.
(24:21):
It's not just providing aplace for someone to use the restroom,
it's providing a healthy placefor someone to use the restroom.
I think a lot of players justmiss that completely.
They're horrible.
Driver don't give a shit aboutthat toilet as Much as you do.
So if you don't care about itand you own it, how will your employee
care about it?
(24:41):
That's where I plan to get itright first.
And if we make a little moneyin the end, great.
By this point, I started toget a really good handle on Ryan's
values and his approach tobeing in business.
Unfortunately, in manyindustries, these people that own
businesses, their customer isnot their first priority.
(25:02):
The dollar they make from istheir first priority.
Yeah.
And they've gotten to wherethe customer thinks we're all out
to get their money, where wejust want what's best for us.
You know, everybody has theirown saying.
When someone says, what thehell's made you into this business?
My answer when someone says,man, what really?
What made you think of this?
What gave you this idea?
(25:23):
I say, well, I've alwayswanted to be a chemist, and this
is my way.
I'm going, I'm turning shitinto gold.
They call that alchemy.
You got to change the name ofyour company.
Alchemy.
Sanitation.
Alchemy Sanitation.
(25:44):
But it's a cool industry andit annoys me that people just don't
understand the fundamentalsand they get it wrong time and time
again.
And then everybody, you know,I've said in some of the episodes,
you open the door and you justthink, whoa, whoa.
Exactly.
Exactly.
We have festivals here.
I don't know if you've everheard of Mardi Gras.
Yeah, Mardi Gras is.
(26:06):
It's huge.
And it's just filthy.
It's disgusting.
Yeah, it's filthy.
And so when that's what peoplerefer to portable toilets is the
units they see over at Mardi Gras.
And I'm out to change theirperspective of it.
I'm telling you, I tell folksthis every time they call me, every
time I go bring a toilet out.
(26:27):
The folks I went to today,when I got to their place Friday
afternoon, they were like,wow, this thing is nice.
I said, I'm out to changepeople's minds about these things.
Yeah, they're great.
I went pick up today.
Both husband and wife met meoutside to first thank me, next to
tell me every one of theirguests were impressed.
They have never seen a toiletlike this ever in their life.
(26:49):
A toilet to toilet.
You know, as well as I know,they're just a different shape.
This was a fancy, high class,nice, well put together unit.
Yeah.
No, it's just the care thatwent into it.
Seven gallons of water in thetoilet, not four.
Yeah.
If you're on a Dump stationthat charges by volume.
It's going to cost you moremoney to dump those seven.
It does.
And I am on a dump station by volume.
(27:12):
I also make my money by volume.
So the more toilets you haveon rent, the more money you make
and.
The better the experience, themore toilets you're going to have
out.
Exactly.
It's simple math, my unclewould say.
We call that common sense.
One of the biggest challengesfaced by many small businesses is
cash flow.
(27:32):
There's an inevitable delaybetween the invoice being sent and
payment being received.
And I asked Ryan how he wascoping with the administrative side
of his business in order tomaintain a healthy, positive cash
flow.
I still do paperwork stuff.
You know, I still my rentalagreement still on paper and paper.
And it's proven to be a taskto get the customer to do it.
(27:53):
The E signature software isjust expensive.
It's just too expensive for meto use right now.
It's 30 bucks a month for five signatures.
It goes up to 100 somethingand then you get 30amonth.
With toilets on constructionsites, you very rarely see anybody.
So especially my personalbusiness is done after hours.
(28:14):
And the guys on the side don'twant to talk to you.
The guy, you know, it's hard.
And then if you mail them, ittakes so long to get it back because
you're sending it to most ofthe time their billing address is
their corporate headquarters.
It's not the person.
It doesn't go to the correct person.
Well, by the time they figureout who the correct person is, months
(28:38):
have gone by.
It's irrelevant at this point.
Just on that.
Are you getting paid regularly?
Is that.
We have been.
I've had two customers thatkind of.
A little slow.
Yeah.
But never refused payment.
You called them up?
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I forgot.
Whatever payment shows up, no problem.
(29:00):
I haven't had any issues with that.
Like I said at the beginningof our talk, I've been blessed with
great customers as well.
And that's good.
They're on a regular payment schedule.
And you know, I always feelyou can say no to customers if there's
somebody you don't want to supply.
There's no shame in saying I'm sorry.
I just can't help you at this moment.
You can always find an excuse.
Correct.
There's always an excuse.
(29:21):
And you know, and I'm sure intime it'll happen.
Will come across those guys.
Yeah.
You know, you try to be asnice as can be, even if they're two
or three months behind youyou're gonna catch more flies with
honey than vinegar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so if you just keephounding them by being friendly about
it, they don't think you'rehounding them.
(29:42):
But you're always going to beon their mind because you call them
every.
Every other week or so.
They can't forget about you.
They know.
They kind of know why you calling.
But you chit chat with them.
Yeah, yeah.
And it just, you know, justpinch, bolt, pinch, bolt, nudge.
Pinch, bolt, nudge.
It's my strategy.
I can't say it's going to work.
It's just.
No, I think you're going theright way.
And, you know, it's nice tohear you say that the podcast has
(30:04):
made a difference to youbecause that was the plan.
Biggest asset to the podcastand to the Portable Toilet Network
as well is you actually havepeople that are actually interested
in doing a good job.
Yeah.
Interested in the industry.
Interested in what other folksare doing.
It eliminates the guys whodon't give a damn.
Yeah.
(30:24):
You're not going to havenobody call you that's not passionate
about what they do.
No.
And you're not going to havepeople that want to do interviews
like you and I are doing, likethe past people used to.
Those people are interested.
Yeah.
They're going to help anybody.
Like you said, the guy youspoke to, you want to get me connected
with.
He could be a half a worldaway as well.
He's just interested in helping.
(30:46):
I'm the same way.
Is the kind of folks that youare going to put the rest of the
industry in touch with.
Yeah.
So.
So you telling your story isnot going to hurt anybody else.
No, absolutely not.
You know, but I may say onething about what we talked about
this whole time.
Someone on the other side ofthe continent or on the other side
(31:08):
of.
My state, because we've gotlisteners of.
The world either way.
That's right.
It could be on the other sideof the.
Or he could be on the otherside of the street.
Yeah.
Someone may pick up just onesentence that I said learn something
and better his business.
The end of the day out of allof this is we want to satisfy our
customer better.
Yeah.
(31:29):
And the more you learn aboutit and the more tips and tricks of
the trade, the customer winsin the end.
Absolutely.
And that's the completeantithesis of everyone just pushing
the price down.
Because it ruins everybody.
It ruins the whole.
It ruins everybody, Right?
No.
What we call them around here.
Cutthroats.
Yeah.
And no one wins with a Cutthroat.
(31:50):
Not at all.
Including the cutthroat.
Yeah.
Hey, eventually what's goingto happen?
And it's sad, but it's alreadya crowded market.
Someone's going to lose that.
Yeah.
And it's not going to be theguy who's doing the good work.
It's not going to be the guythat's got thousands of toilets.
It's going to be the ones thatfall in between that are trying to
(32:13):
do this for a cheapskate price.
Yeah.
That just can't keep up.
Well, they just can't keep up with.
It, you see, because theycan't provide the service with that
volume.
You need to hire more drivers,you need to hire more passionate
people.
You can't hire more peoplebecause you're not charging enough
for your service.
One, it's, it's a circle.
It goes a full circle.
(32:33):
Can't have one without the other.
And it's, it's sad.
You know, if I get a urinalthat's overly used on a site, I've
got a brush.
I'll go in there and, youknow, brush it out ahead of time
before it gets scaly.
I haven't got to the point yetwhere it's scaly.
Yeah.
Because we stay on top of it.
Yeah, yeah.
(32:53):
It should never get scaly.
I like the screen.
It stops the splash.
Yeah.
It lets out a more fragranceodor rather than the spicy of the,
of the disc.
The urinal screen is good for60 days.
Yeah.
I leave them in for six weeks.
They'Ll get thrown in the bowl.
(33:14):
Right, right.
So especially events, you know.
You do?
Yeah.
I mean, who touches that stuffto throw them in the bowl?
But, you know, we got crazypeople all over the world.
Yeah, we do.
You know, as far asconstruction site wise, that's really
helped us out a bunch.
It minimizes the splash.
Yeah.
It doesn't get as much allover the floor on the outside of
(33:35):
the tank and stuff.
Like I said, it's good for twomonths, but a month and a half, I
change them out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The ones I bought were Circo.
Yeah.
Was I bought way before I knewTammy or your podcast and stuff.
I actually bought them from anoutside vendor and I love them.
I told her, I said, listen,before I even spoke to you.
I've used your products is whyI'm calling you.
(33:56):
Yeah, they're great.
I noticed the differenceimmediately when I used the urinal
screens.
Deodorizing discs.
I was in two minds about.
I do use those.
I put them on the toilet Paper roll.
Okay.
So when the guys put them inthe vents, all the smell goes out
through the vent and they dry out.
Especially in the summer, theydry out.
And then if you get rain, assoon as water hits them, it dilutes
(34:16):
them.
So there's, they sell a holderwhich you can put down low on the
wall.
Right.
And you pop them in the holderand then the smell permeates up.
I stopped using them in theend because they just ended up everywhere.
I don't know what it is aboutpeople in toilets.
They can't leave anything alone.
And I mean, like I said, whowants to touch anything in a deadly
toilet anyway?
But I hang mine on the rod.
(34:38):
But outside of the littletoilet paper.
So you're using the toiletpaper holders that came with the
toilet.
Correct.
Yeah.
See here in New Zealand wehave to build our toilets.
They all come flat packed.
Okay.
They tend to use jumbo rolls.
So they're a really big roll and.
That'S what I use.
A nine inch roll.
Yeah.
So they get a single, a oneand a half or a double holder.
(35:01):
Okay.
And most people use a single.
Well, the problem with that iswhen you're down to less than half
a roll, you have to make, you have.
To swap it out.
Yeah.
Right.
So you end up with a truckfull of half used rolls.
I use the one that comes with it.
I do use the 9 inch rolls.
It's not the jumbo jumborolls, but I have two rolls at all
times on it.
So I, I always tell people toput in a double jumbo.
(35:21):
So you get a full one on thisside and then a half one on that
side.
Right, right.
And that seems to work pretty well.
If you run out of paper,you're going to get the call and
then you're going to spend $10in gas driving out to a job to put
in a two dollar roll of toilet paper.
And then you get a bad name.
Yeah.
Because they're going torepeat that forever.
This guy ran out of toiletpaper on me.
(35:41):
It's a pretty traumatizingexperience when you're taking a crap
and there's no paper.
Well, you know when it'shappened because you find socks,
open the door and.
Holler out at someone.
You find socks in the tank.
You're right, you're right,you're right.
Sure sign they've run out.
I can believe that.
It's never happened in myunits, but I've heard talk of it.
(36:02):
It'll come, it'll come.
Oh, it'll come.
I'm sure, I've yet to see theworst of it, but that's what it is.
What it is.
You keep doing events andyou'll see everything.
Honestly, you see everything.
You're right.
So if you were going to startagain, what would you change?
(36:23):
I'd have to say if I would.
Start again, I would shootforward, starting full time rather
than part time simply becauseof the struggles between juggling
a full time job and yourafternoon job, which is your own
business.
Yeah.
And then you know it, itbrings about.
The biggest struggle I find isthe getting out to go and visit with
(36:47):
potential clients to actuallygain business.
It's tough to get out to gainthe business.
Yeah.
Folks a lot of times like tovisit over lunch or have a, you know,
a little sit down and hellomeet and greet and it's just most
of the time not an option forme because I'm either at work or
running a service route.
(37:08):
The drama is that you'reupscaling fairly significantly because
I'm guessing you offset yourliving costs by your current job
and then any extra time andany extra money you've got goes into
your business.
And it's about numbers, isn't it?
You get to a point whereyou've got enough potties out that
you can actually say reduceyour hours or give up the day job
completely or find.
(37:29):
A different day job where thehours vary or maybe transition into
two part time jobs, which isnot optimal, but it leaves many options
on the table.
Like you said, it's a numbersthing to transition over into the
full time toilet business.
I don't plan on staying parttime forever.
(37:49):
I plan on being full time.
I wish the Lord would bless meand be able to have employees under
my belt.
But if you treat youremployees as well as you treat your
customers, they'll have noreason to cut your stuff short.
I'm not gonna say I'm thesharpest tool in the shed, but I'm
no dummy.
I wouldn't have started theportable toilet business if I wasn't
(38:10):
prepared for the pushback.
And it's plain and simple.
Listen, you can push me out ifyou want or try to push me out.
Doesn't change the fact thatyou're not satisfying your customers.
Wouldn't it be easier to justprovide satisfied customers and then
I'll disappear no matter whatbecause I can't compete with your
values.
Their way to try and push youout will be to lower their price.
(38:31):
My strategy to backdooring meper se is I groom the customer first.
I don't want to know whoyou're with.
I don't care who you're with.
I care that you call me.
Yeah.
I care to provide utmostservice to you.
I care about you.
I care about your guys.
They're going to call you andoffer you free toilets or half price
(38:51):
or sign a contract for a year,no cost to you.
You're gonna get worse thanwhat you had before.
See?
Oh, don't even worry about it.
Never, never would.
We wouldn't be switching ifprice was an issue.
We'd be calling around getting prices.
When you dial our number,you're gonna talk to me or you're
gonna talk to my wife, mybusiness partner, no one else.
(39:15):
And we make it happen.
I'm gonna come out to you,your job, My wife's gonna come out
to your job or my best friendthat helps us.
Yeah.
My customers have met everyone of us.
We are the people that you call.
We answer the phone, but we'realso going out to your job.
And that's really hard tocompete with, you know, because it
is.
You're building relationship.
(39:35):
You're not just providing.
And even when we get to wherewe can have a driver and have someone
and have two trucks on theroad, if I get a call for a complaint,
I'm coming.
We're going to make it right,right away.
My business plan is to leavesome cushion in the day for me.
I'm not going to have a full route.
I'm going to do qualitycontrol and I'm going to do answering
(39:55):
calls, a flip over, whateverit may be.
I'm going to have the time toget off route and service that as
well as visiting customers andsaying hello, and we're still here.
We're still alive.
We realize you're still alive.
The folks are not doing it.
It's not.
I'm no salesman.
I don't like to be a salesman.
Doing is being passionate, andI do it now.
(40:16):
I call the guys up.
Hey, Mr.
Such and Such, this is Ryan Granger.
I have a toilet on your job.
Yes, sir.
Just call in to check, makesure you guys are still doing well.
And you'd be amazed at how often.
The guys are like, can'tbelieve it.
And you could tell becausethis gets silenced for a minute.
They're like, okay.
I said, is everything okay atthe job site?
Great, man.
Listen, everything's fine.
(40:36):
I'm just checking, make sureeverything's good on your end.
On your business, everything's good.
Your employees are happy.
We got a virus going around.
Y'all are still doing well.
Family's safe.
I don't know their family fromAdam, but it means something to get
that car.
But so many portable restroomoperators don't get that.
They don't do it, Ryan.
It's just, they don't, theydon't somehow, right.
(40:57):
The industry has lost sight ofthe fact that we do customer service.
Our main business is customer service.
That's all it is.
You're looking after people.
And like you said, Pete, it'ssomewhere along the way they lost
sight of.
That's what our entire job is,to provide service.
Yeah.
And you know, stories likeyours are exactly what I want the
(41:18):
podcast to be about.
That if we didn't have thevirus, I'd be out in the truck, I'd
come along for a ride alongwith you and you know, I can't wait.
We just talk, clean some potsies.
Well, talk shit.
We'll pump shit.
That, that's awesome.
And listen, I do some talking.
I get in trouble for talkingtoo much.
People are going to listen inand say, hey, that was something
(41:38):
different.
That was really interesting toget Ryan's view and hear Ryan's story.
And, you know, you mightinspire some people to have a go.
You might inspire some peopleto change.
The way they work, to changethe way they're doing.
Correct.
You might just entertain.
My brother in law listens tothe podcast.
He knows nothing abouttoilets, he works in shipping.
And he just keeps saying, hey,that's really interesting.
Listen, who would have thought.
(42:00):
It is.
And that's, that's great news.
That's great stories.
Yeah.
You know, I'm super pumpedabout this.
I told my buddy about it assoon as I talked to you in private
message.
I called my buddy, I told you,my best friend and, and said, man,
I just got off the phone.
I said, not off the phone, but I.
Private message guy started a podcast.
Podcast, very new.
(42:21):
I got in to talk to him andprivate messages, he actually answered
me.
My buddy, he sat down, he waslike, you gotta be kidding me.
He said, man, you gettingworld famous.
I said, with my 30 toilet, go ahead.
Huh?
I'm world famous.
You won't believe thecountries we've got listeners in,
like Greece, Italy, Spain, Timor.
Lies.
(42:41):
I don't even know where that is.
Cambodia.
I don't either.
This is awesome.
You know, Bahamas, Antigua.
This is great, man.
You're doing awesome for theentire, entire industry around the
world.
You're actually giving ussomething to listen to.
Yeah.
Whether it be entertaining or informational.
Yeah.
And, and I'm just superexcited to be a part of it.
(43:03):
Well, I'm grateful that you'veagreed to come and have a chat.
You know, it's when travelrestrictions in.
You're more than welcome to come.
You come once a month.
I don't give a damn.
We can do more podcasts downthe line, you know, I mean, and seriously.
My plan is we want to go onthe road, and if I can spend a couple
of days a week recordingpodcasts, half a day.
What a lovely life.
(43:23):
If we can make a few dollarsalong the way to pay for gas, then
that's all good.
And if we can't, then, hey,we're having fun.
It's.
It's sure to grow and it'ssure to be a hit and do right.
Because you're passionateabout it.
Yeah.
And you just like we'repassionate about what we do.
That's.
And the people who damn andwant to poke and stick fingers up,
well, they won't listen to theshow anyway.
So what?
Doesn't matter, Kurt.
(43:43):
Doesn't matter.
Like, my grandfather wouldsay, good luck to those folks, you
know, hey, listen, good luck.
Yeah, that's cool.
Now, I've got a friend inTexas who every time I talk to him,
he wears his steps.
And I'm gonna have to go andbuy one because I'm feeling underdressed.
Well, if you end up doingvideo podcasts or video chats and
(44:04):
you say it's because of Ryanand the other guy.
Yeah.
Robert absolutely beat me downbecause I didn't have a top.
He'll probably sue me copyright.
He wears his hat every time hedoes a video cast, so.
Right.
Well, you just tell him yougot grief from your other friend
on the other side of the globethat gave you grief for not having
(44:26):
a top on.
Denmark for some reason lastweek went nuts.
Loads and loads of listenersin Denmark.
Now, I can't promise thatthey'll phone you to book bodies
in, but listen.
I can make it happen.
If they need the Potty Kingand Lafayette, I can make it happen.
(44:48):
I'm not sure if they'll beproud of the numbers I provide for,
but I can provide.
Yeah, perfect.
Be heavy on the shipping andmaybe not the same day delivery,
eh?
Correct.
Correct.
How can people get in touchwith you?
We have.
Our phone number is area code 337-348-5055.
(45:10):
Our website isacadiansanitation.com we can also
be found on Facebook at acadiansanitation.
Or email.
My email address isacadiansanitationmail Give us a call,
(45:30):
leave us a message on Facebookor text our business phone number
or directly from the website.
You can contact us there as well.
Yeah.
Hopefully you'll get sometraction as a result of coming on
the show.
You know, that was the ideathat the first of these monthly poom
entails is telling the storyof operators from the ground up and
your entry level been inbusiness since November last year.
(45:52):
An ideal profile for that veryfirst one.
And, you know, maybe there'ssome other listeners who are listening
in who think I could do whatRyan's done.
I'm not saying it's been easy,but you've done it, man.
You're in business and you'rea sanitation provider.
You know, hard work,determination, and just a willpower,
sheer willpower is very possible.
It is very possible.
I'm really pleased that youreached out and you've taken part
(46:15):
and hopefully we'll help yougrow your business.
Right, well, thank you.
I appreciate it.
I've loved the opportunity tobe able to even do this.
You know, it's just I neverthought in a million years that,
you know, we'd be here rightnow doing this sanitation business,
much less speaking to someonea world away and being an actual
part of this community.
(46:36):
You know, it's amazing to me.
No, it's good.
And, you know, certainly thefeedback I've had from other listeners
is that people are willing toshare and they love hearing about
other stories.
So credit to you for taking part.
That's a brave move becauseyou're exposing yourself and you
never know how people aregoing to react.
But well done.
Well, thank you.
Cool.
We'd like to leave you with our.
(46:56):
And I'm sure you've seen it onour website, Acadian Sanitation.
The name to know when yougotta go.
Excellent.
I'll make sure that that's theclosing remarks for you.
I hope you enjoyed listeningto that as much as I enjoyed recording
it.
Ryan was a lot of fun and I'msure I'll be talking to him again
further down the line.
(47:18):
Ryan has shown that it'srelatively easy to start in portable
sanitation.
There aren't really too manysignificant barriers to entry once
you find the money and you canstart small.
Equipment is pretty standard,and other than a truck, a tank, and
the toilets, you don't reallyneed an awful lot more.
The key to success seems to behaving a passion and a drive to get
(47:38):
out there to find yourcustomers and deliver really great
service.
Of course, low barriers toentry mean that the threat of Competition
is never far away, and thatapplies whether you're a new starter
or an established operatorwith a large fleet.
As a new business, you need tocompete to attract customers and
secure your share of the market.
(47:59):
As an established provider,you'll need to compete to retain
the customers you've worked sohard to win and protect your market
share.
How you do that is a matter ofpersonal choice.
Choosing to go head to head onprice seems a really common strategy,
but for me it should be thelast resort.
It undermines the value ofwhat we do.
Poor sanitation can be lifethreatening and I just don't understand
(48:21):
how any operator can provide atop class service for a rock bottom
price.
Surely it's better to charge afair price for good service and top
dollar for a premium service.
We've learned from COVID thatthe costs of poor hygiene are colossal,
but in my experience, portabletoilets seem to be the first target
for cost cutting when anyproject overruns its budget.
(48:44):
If Covid had been transmittedthrough wastewater, our industry
would have come under huge scrutiny.
And some of the toilets I'veseen tell me that some operators
would really struggle todefend the way they work.
But it's not all bad news.
People like Ryan show thatsome operators do understand the
importance of proper hygieneand that they value good customer
service.
(49:04):
I just hope he doesn't takehis eye off the ball or let his bright
shine rub off as his business grows.
Okay, that brings us to theend of our very first monthly special.
If you've enjoyed the show,please leave a five star review and
remember to tell your family,friends, colleagues and strangers
to listen in.
(49:25):
Once again, thank you for your time.
I've been Pete and you've beenlistening to Get Flushed, the world's
favorite sanitation podcast.
Hello and welcome to GetFlush, the world's favourite sanitation
podcast.
I'm Pete.
Way back in the introductoryepisode, I said I wanted Get Flush
to be about the people whomake up the portable sanitation industry.
Sure, it's been great to talkabout equipment and the technical
aspects of the job, but it'sthe human element that holds the
most interest for me, and Ihope that other listeners feel the
(00:37):
same way too.
The monthly special will runfor about an hour and each episode
will feature a differentoperator or business.
The idea is really simple.
I'll visit them in person,call them by phone, or arrange a
meeting online to get them totalk about their business.
There is no script.
I've not got a list of preset questions.
The show really is all about them.
(00:59):
Picking the first operator toappear on pumantels was really easy.
I wanted to talk to someonewho was relatively new to portable
sanitation, someone with a newbusiness who started from scratch,
someone with a small operationwho could explain how and why they
got started and perhapsinspire some other entrepreneurs
to have a go.
My idea was that lots ofpeople will identify with this story
(01:21):
if we start small, and thatwill give us a great platform for
looking at bigger businessesin the future.
And so, with the introductionsout the way, let's get going on the
very first episode of the PoohMan Tales.
This episode features RyanGranger from Acadian Sanitation in
Lafayette, Louisiana.
(01:42):
Ryan's been in business sinceNovember last year and he started
Arcadium with 25 toilets,which has just increased to 50.
He runs that fleet as asideline to his main job as a fabricator
welder, and that means heworks evenings and weekends to keep
his customers happy.
I'll point out that I've neverbeen to Lafayette and until a month
ago I didn't know Ryan.
(02:03):
It turns out that he'dlistened to an episode after I posted
a link on Facebook and hemessaged me to say he'd enjoyed the
show and learnt quite a bitfrom listening in.
Over the last couple of weeks,we've spoken a few times and I've
persuaded him to appear astoday's guest.
And I've already sent him aGet Flush mug to say thanks for taking
part.
In a non Covid world, I wouldhave found a way to jump on a plane
(02:24):
and go visit Ryan in person,but sadly that's just not possible
these days, so we've had totalk by phone.
Now I'm in New Zealand andRyan was in Louisiana and the first
time I called he was actuallyoutside There's a little bit of wind
noise in that call and I'll apologize.
I've tried to edit it out, butyou may find that a little bit distracting.
The second call was muchclearer and the audio quality is
(02:46):
much improved.
Hey, brother.
How are you?
Good.
How come you're working at the weekend?
Well, we had some weekend rentals.
(03:06):
I had two graduation partiesthis weekend.
I dropped off on Friday andthen we pick up on Sunday.
So, Ryan, can we start withyou telling us just a little bit
about Acadian Sanitation andhow long you've been in business?
We've been in business, I'mgonna say nine months.
So what were you doing?
Welding and fabrication.
Okay.
(03:26):
I still am.
I still.
I work full time and I do myportable toilet business after.
After hours.
So talk me through your setup.
What did you start with?
Number of toilets and truck, etc.
We started out with 25 toilets.
Brand new units.
Yeah, I bought a truckload.
I bought 24 standard units anda wheelchair accessible with one
(03:49):
self contained sink.
That was my truckload.
I started out with.
I started, I still have.
It's a Ford 550 and I have a300 gallon tank.
300 wastewater, 100 gallonfresh water.
Mounted it on the back of afarm truck and that's what we're
still using today.
Two weeks ago, I placed anorder on my second load of toilets.
(04:11):
Cool.
Before the newest truckloadcame in, I had three of those parties
rented out.
What I'm trying to do in thisepisode is explain to people that
it's actually.
I won't say it's easy, butit's relatively straightforward to
start in business.
And it gives you enough,hopefully to earn enough money and
to make that transition intofull time once you get really well
established and people knowthat Acadian Sanitation is here to
(04:34):
stay.
Correct.
And that basically was ourstrategy to start out and learn the
business as well as thebusiness learns us and just have
a great foundation, two feetplanted firmly on the ground and
be able to build from thereand exactly what you said, they can
learn that we're here to stay.
(04:54):
Growing from the bottom up.
I don't want to bepessimistic, but if it goes wrong
and you decide it's not quitefor you, you've bought polygen and
you'll definitely sell thoseshould you need to recover some of
your cash.
So you've actually mitigatedthe risk a little bit by choosing
a brand that you could be ableto move on.
It's not in the agenda, butyou Know what, What is in the agenda?
There's.
(05:14):
There's no plan at this point.
Who would have thought twoyears ago that you'd have been the
king of the toilets in Lafayette?
Correct?
Correct.
I know, I know.
Myself for one, would havenever guessed it.
What did the family say whenyou said you were going to start
a portable toilet business?
Right, that's the story.
(05:35):
Here's the great thing came about.
My wife has her own shop.
She's a dog groomer.
One of the guys that shegrooms, the dogs, we know him, he
picked up late one evening andhe said, I started something a while
back.
It was a portable toilet.
You know, it makes pretty good money.
And first thing is, likeeveryone else who Portal is, wow.
(05:57):
She said, man, it's not that bad.
He said, it makes money.
It's not hard work.
And if you do right, you get.
Get good customers.
So he walked us through theentire process of what you do.
How to clean a toilet, how toset it up, on and on.
The guy stayed at our housefor three hours, just talking.
Portable toilets, where youorder them from, where you get the
(06:19):
tank, what kind of tank, whatit entails, everything.
Later that evening, we'relaying in bed and I'm on my phone.
My wife's on her phone orreading a book.
We get to talking and shelooks and I have a portable toilet
website brought up.
And she says, oh, boy, youcan't be serious.
I said, what's the look?
I mean, what's it hurt?
(06:39):
She said, okay, you go aheadand look and think you're gonna conquer
the world with some portable toilets.
I said, okay, well, goes on afew days.
And I told her I made a call.
I called into a portabletoilet manufacturer, talked to the
guy, stayed on the phone withhim 30 or 40 minutes.
She says, you don't think thisis something we're really going to
(07:00):
be able to get into?
I said, I already have the truck.
You know, I didn't have to buya truck to get in the business.
I already had a 554 wheeldrive farm truck.
She said, no one is going tobe crazy enough to give us any money
to get started.
She said, but follow your dream.
Okay, fast forward two orthree more weeks.
(07:20):
I got in touch with some otherportable toilet people.
I called up the tankmanufacturing companies, two of them
getting quotes.
And then I made an appointmentwith the bank because I got all the
numbers ready and what Ineeded to open up.
She said, you can cancel it.
We're not going to do it.
It's not going to happen.
It's just.
She said, you've gone farenough now.
You know what, what moneyyou're looking at.
(07:42):
She said, but we're going tohave to wait about a year.
So I said, okay.
And I went to the bankappointment and talked to the guy
and lo and behold, my wifecalls me while I was in the bank.
I didn't answer.
Naturally called her when Ileft and she said, hey, where are
you at?
I work 15 minutes from home.
I'm usually home at 3:30 inthe evening.
(08:04):
Well, this was 5:30 and soshe's where yet?
I said, well, I told you I hadthe meeting today.
I told you that last week.
Today was the meeting.
Oh boy.
She said, you went make a foolof yourself.
There's no way you went put you.
She said, anyway, even if hedoes give you a loan and he's crazier
than you are, we're notsigning on it, okay?
The guy calls me back threedays later.
(08:26):
You're approved, man.
Pete almost wrecked my truck.
I just, I let off the gas,just idling, staring like I can't
believe this is true.
This fellow really is crazy.
He gave me money, got home.
We were going on a camping trip.
We have a travel trailer andwe were going camping.
(08:47):
I didn't tell her anything.
We're going down the road.
We passed the constructionsite, we saw a portable toilet on
site.
I said, look at there, thatcould be us.
She said, yeah.
You ain't heard back from yourguy at the bank, have you?
It's been what, almost a week?
You haven't heard from him?
I said, actually I did.
She said, what do you had to say?
I said, well, we approved.
(09:09):
She got mad.
She said, first of all, Ididn't want you over there.
Now of course he's going togive you money.
You got to pay it back ortheir garnished wages, they can't
lose.
You're crazy.
It's not going to happen.
Well, the rest is history.
Now there's a big differencebetween getting approval for finance
(09:30):
and turning that into reallive action.
So I asked Ryan what happened next.
So this is what I did.
I called a guy up.
I said, man, how long do I have?
How many days is this approvalgood for?
He said, 30 days.
The next day I called the tank people.
How long before I get a tankin four to six weeks.
(09:51):
I said, perfect.
Do I need a down payment foran order?
He said, we usually require atleast half down.
He said, what are you looking at?
I said, well, here's my strategy.
I don't want to sign on thebank loan today and owe money before
I even have my tank.
I want to order the tanktoday, and by the time I owe money,
I'll already be able to be in business.
(10:11):
He said, I tell you what, if.
If you can get me 10% to putdown, I'll put it into production.
I said, done.
Send him a credit card number.
Gave him 10% to have it down.
Got the tank rolling.
Call up the portable toilet manufacturer.
How long we're going to needbefore we see toilets.
He said, I'm a week out onshipping right now.
That's a little soon.
(10:32):
Give me some time.
I said, I'll call you back inthree or four weeks, but we will
do it.
I said, I've got a bank approval.
Everything's good.
So I started making calls to customers.
I'm going to be in theportaled business.
I'm going to be in theportaled business.
I got two guys to tell me,we'll do business.
I'll try you out.
Two days later, called andordered my toilets, you know, and
(10:53):
the ball got rolling from there.
And then I had to tell thereal boss, you need a sign here.
I'm going to get the money.
She says, well, here's what it is.
She said, there's too manythings are lining up perfectly to
turn back now.
I'm no preacher, but I'm goingto be honest with you, it's been
a blessing ever since.
It's a cool industry, Ryan.
It really is.
(11:13):
It really is.
I enjoy what I do.
I've got my best friend sincesecond grade.
We're 40 years old.
He comes with me.
He comes every day.
He can, work permitting.
Sometimes I'm working, he's off.
He'll take the truck and gorun the route for me.
He's passionate about it as I am.
We've had really goodcustomers, really good clients, really
(11:34):
good feedback.
People call us and tell usthank you, and it's the weirdest
thing ever.
You're paying me, but you'retelling me thank you.
As a new operator, I askedRyan how he'd got himself up to speed.
I'm new in the business, butwhat I want to do is, I'm going to
call it, revolutionize theindustry around here, at least locally.
Giving people the service thatthey deserve, something they're not
(11:58):
used to seeing competition,for lack of better terms, you know,
they're just not friendly.
So you can't ask anyone in the business.
So I'm basically going on what?
A friend of mine has told mein the past that he used to have
a business doing this.
And so it's your podcast.
It's the Portable ToiletNetwork on Facebook group has really
(12:21):
helped me tremendously.
Oh, well, I'm glad you foundthe podcast.
And it's been useful for you.
It has been.
It has been very useful.
Matter of fact, the guystalked about revving the engine up
on the donkey motor, and I wasdoing exactly that.
I would start my motor, thenrev it up all the way, go and take
care of the unit and come backand throttle it down and then turn
(12:45):
it off.
And so now I start.
I just leave it right in the middle.
Just, you know, not all theway low and not all the way high,
and it works just fine.
I'm really keen to find outwhere your name and your color scheme
came from.
Okay.
The name came from here inSouth Louisiana.
(13:06):
We have an Acadian background,and Acadians are known for good hospitality,
hard work, strong family and stuff.
So with that in mind, Iintegrated that into our game of
sanitation.
And so it kind of had a littlerhyme to it, and it's sort of what
we do as well.
And Cajuns or Acadians camefrom Canada that were settled into
(13:33):
South Louisiana back when thecountry was first developed.
And as I've looked at yourFacebook post, I see that you've
got your blue and pink doorsfor male and females, but then gray
sides and back walls.
What made you go for that combo?
We went with gray all the wayaround just for durability and longevity
against sun fade.
(13:54):
We went with the blue doors tokind of match and accent the logo.
Yeah, and then I did pink justfor if we had a birthday party, girls,
graduation, young kids, stufflike that.
The logo that we have isactually the Acadian flag, if you
would look it up.
And the city flag for la, thecity of Lafayette, is that Acadian
(14:19):
flag.
I just turned the right sideof our logo has the old style outhouse
building in yellow on theAcadian flag.
It's actually a small castle design.
So you just adapted it out.
Right.
One of the other issues, andwe've just touched briefly on this
(14:40):
in messaging, is the admin andthe paperwork side of the business.
How are you coping with that?
That's mainly after hours.
When I get home, I tend to thebilling paperwork and stuff.
That's what I do in.
In the evenings and afterroutes, maybe in between at lunch
(15:00):
times and stuff.
You know, when we havedowntime, I'll Take care of it at
that point.
Not really much software.
I just take care everythingbasically the old way by hand.
I have enough toilets to whereit's not too much on a route.
I can still do them on paperand have locations or nicknames of
locations to where.
(15:21):
I know our friend of mine thathelps me out, he knows where they
are.
We pretty much group onesection of town in one day.
Yeah.
And then another section oftown another day.
Or we have long runs we'll dooutside parishes or counties or however
your city's divided.
And then what I'll do is I'llmake the long distances one day.
(15:44):
Yeah.
You know, if I have one toilethere and one toilet in a different
parish, I'll catch those onthat day.
Although it may be two orthree toilets.
But it fills my apple.
Yeah.
And you know Ryan, I thinkthat's a very cost effective and
straightforward approach forthe volume that you're working with.
There'll come a point whereyou start to look at software packages
and I know from my researchthat one of the problems you'll encounter
(16:05):
there is just the cost ofthose packages.
Exactly.
And that's why we're not onsoftware yet.
Because they're not designedat all for part time operators like
I am.
I don't even have an ESignature subscription because the
cost is way too much forsomeone ourselves.
You're right.
No one's doing that for thesmall scale operators.
(16:27):
And they're a really importantpart of the market.
The big boys might not likethem, but they're in the market and
they're providing good servicein terms of equipment.
I know from looking at yourphotos you've got your truck and
your tank.
You've got a trailer as well.
Did you need to buy or lease ayard to put all of your gear in?
(16:48):
No, sir.
I currently live on four acresand so I already have farm equipment
and stuff and in a limestoneyard where we park implements and
stuff.
So I basically startedstacking them out in the back.
And if wind picks up or summerstorm or whatever may come through,
I have a lean to shed that Icould rope them all off to any time.
(17:14):
Sure.
And I don't want to get you inany trouble.
Is there any local ordinancethat you had to follow to get permission
to store your toilets oroperate the business from the property?
No.
An at home business, there'sno ordinances for where I live outside
of city limits to operate ahome based business.
And it's there.
Again with numbers.
(17:35):
Once you are turning over yourcash Flow so much X amount of dollars.
But once you cross over intothat then you're not considered home
business anymore.
You considered a fullestablished business.
This place now becomes yourplace of business, not your residence.
And at that point we transferover to different ordinances.
(17:55):
The main thing that I'm awareof is a occupancy license if I have
an office.
Because we're not running anyextra power.
We're not putting in aseparate structure.
We don't have any sewagefacilities or employees.
You know.
So it's basically an extensionof our home.
We're just operating this oneresidential property.
(18:15):
In terms of carrying septicweight, did you have to get any licenses
or license conditions?
Correct.
We had to get licensed throughthe Department of Environmental Quality
in the state of Louisiana.
Yeah.
And had to apply for a license.
It's called a hauler's licenseout here.
(18:35):
And it's an annual fee.
And you have to record whereyou dump and that they're accredited
business with those folks andthey follow their guidelines.
And we have paperwork in thepaper trail of how many gallons pumped
and how many gallons the otherplace receives.
You know, the dump facility.
And as long as you keep upwith your paperwork and file your
(18:58):
annual report is all you're good.
It covers.
How straightforward was it toget into the dump station.
It's actually a private owned facility.
Yeah.
And all I had to do was goover there and give them my information,
proof of insurance, stuff likethat and show that I actually applied
with the state through DEQ andthen they approved me.
(19:21):
Because that's the missingpart of the equation that you can
do everything else yourselfexcept dispose of the septic waste.
Correct.
And it has to be documented ofwhere you're disposing of the waste.
Barriers to entry are really low.
Let's not minimize it.
It's not easy.
But it's not really difficultto get started.
It is not.
It is not.
And that's why our bigcompetition doesn't want anybody
(19:43):
in the business.
So because he doesn't want the secret.
Out that it's fairly easy togo in.
Yes.
But the trap is.
And you, you seem to haveavoided that.
The trap is people go in andthey think that the only way they
can compete is on price.
And, and therefore they tryand do it cheaper than anybody else.
And that ultimately leads tothem doing the worst service.
You can't provide properservice for any cheap.
(20:05):
You can't just can't.
You can't.
I mean I've got 30 toiletsrented out.
We're Fairly local.
Yeah.
My fuel bill is a hundredbucks a week.
Yeah.
Fuel is the cheapest it's beenin seven years around here.
And if you go further thanthat, Ron, you've got to charge mileage,
and.
People don't get well dooutside of.
So in Louisiana, we have parishes.
Yeah.
(20:25):
Everywhere else in the worldhas counties.
Yeah.
So I have Lafayette Parish,and that's like my local.
So for entry level, for prettymuch an introductory rate, I won't
charge a delivery fee.
Yeah.
I go out and I bring you a toilet.
No delivery.
If you're outside of LafayetteParish, I have a minimal delivery.
(20:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is fair.
And they say that's fine.
And because everyone else ischarging the delivery fee if they're
going to block or across town.
Yeah.
I started charging deliveryfees this month on my event rentals,
small weekend rentals and stuff.
I charge a minimal deliveryfee, but it's because of the setup.
It's not so much as just to deliver.
(21:07):
And I explain this to folks.
You start out with a fresh air freshener.
You start out with two freshrolls of toilet paper.
You start out with a freshurinal screen.
It's brand new from the start.
And so there's a little bit ofcost involved.
And there's no guarantee we'regoing to get any of that back.
No.
You may use up both rules oftoilet paper.
(21:30):
Running your own business.
It's your name on the door.
People will know that that'syou, Ryan.
And if you leave them openingthe door and thinking, oh, I don't
want to go in there.
That's right.
They're gonna say, ryan'stoilets are nasty.
Yeah.
It's exactly what they'regonna say.
I get it.
Guys don't get it, though, Ryan.
That's the shocking part.
They don't.
They don't.
(21:51):
You're right.
And.
And when someone tries to comein and do a better job, instead of
upping their game or beingcordial about it and saying, let's
do something about it, no,they want to knock you out.
So no one knows what good service.
And they compete on price,which is just mental.
It's just a crazy.
It is.
It is.
I've act.
I've had customers ask me,man, what can you do on price?
(22:11):
And I tell them every time Isaid, the price you're getting is
a more than fair price right now.
It's a very fair price.
Any less than that, we can'tprovide the service we plan to provide.
Yeah.
Now, I've driven a truck.
I'M quite fit.
I ride my bike, I go running,I use the gym.
When I've dragged that hoseoff 25 times, I'm absolutely done.
How these guys are doing 50services a day.
(22:32):
A, in a nine hour day thatgives you like six minutes to do
each service.
B, you've got no driving time.
And then just the physicallift of the hose on and off the truck.
And pulling the water in andout, in and out.
Right.
These people doing it, Ryan,there's just no way they're giving
a good clean for that.
They're not.
They're not.
Like you said, they're not even.
That's not even.
You're not even calculatingdrive time.
(22:54):
Six minutes at a toilet iscutting it short.
I spent close to 10 minutes ata toilet, but I, I do also think
I'm spending a little bit toomuch time.
I haven't got my processrefined yet.
I do a lot of back and forthto the truck.
You will iron that out.
And they just don't wash the cabins.
So you go in and you run yourfinger across the shelves, all the
surfaces and there's justthick grime.
(23:16):
And that's a really terriblething to.
Say, but it's the truth.
You walk in a unit that hecleaned out two days ago.
There's no toilet paper.
There's a pile of dung inthere, which you said maybe a gallon
or two of water.
The water thing is, that's thedifference between that driver going
home at four in the evening orsix in the evening.
Yeah.
In one of the earlierepisodes, I talked about toilets
(23:38):
being supplied to residentialconstruction, civil projects, events
and the agricultural sector.
As we carried on talking, Ryantold me that he was supplying another
market too.
You mentioned the agriculturalindustry uses portable toilets, the
equestrian industry as well.
We have some toilets atpeople's barns where they may do
(23:59):
some team roping or they have,you know, horse bow racing and stuff,
but they're not there every day.
They're not there every day.
And so they're not going toplumb up to their barn.
They need a service once a month.
So we can prorate that.
We're not going once a week.
If you get it wrong as asanitation provider, people get sick.
Correct.
That's what I said.
We are in sanitation industry.
(24:21):
It's not just providing aplace for someone to use the restroom,
it's providing a healthy placefor someone to use the restroom.
I think a lot of players justmiss that completely.
They're horrible.
Driver don't give a shit aboutthat toilet as Much as you do.
So if you don't care about itand you own it, how will your employee
care about it?
(24:41):
That's where I plan to get itright first.
And if we make a little moneyin the end, great.
By this point, I started toget a really good handle on Ryan's
values and his approach tobeing in business.
Unfortunately, in manyindustries, these people that own
businesses, their customer isnot their first priority.
(25:02):
The dollar they make from istheir first priority.
Yeah.
And they've gotten to wherethe customer thinks we're all out
to get their money, where wejust want what's best for us.
You know, everybody has theirown saying.
When someone says, what thehell's made you into this business?
My answer when someone says,man, what really?
What made you think of this?
What gave you this idea?
(25:23):
I say, well, I've alwayswanted to be a chemist, and this
is my way.
I'm going, I'm turning shitinto gold.
They call that alchemy.
You got to change the name ofyour company.
Alchemy.
Sanitation.
Alchemy Sanitation.
(25:44):
But it's a cool industry andit annoys me that people just don't
understand the fundamentalsand they get it wrong time and time
again.
And then everybody, you know,I've said in some of the episodes,
you open the door and you justthink, whoa, whoa.
Exactly.
Exactly.
We have festivals here.
I don't know if you've everheard of Mardi Gras.
Yeah, Mardi Gras is.
(26:06):
It's huge.
And it's just filthy.
It's disgusting.
Yeah, it's filthy.
And so when that's what peoplerefer to portable toilets is the
units they see over at Mardi Gras.
And I'm out to change theirperspective of it.
I'm telling you, I tell folksthis every time they call me, every
time I go bring a toilet out.
(26:27):
The folks I went to today,when I got to their place Friday
afternoon, they were like,wow, this thing is nice.
I said, I'm out to changepeople's minds about these things.
Yeah, they're great.
I went pick up today.
Both husband and wife met meoutside to first thank me, next to
tell me every one of theirguests were impressed.
They have never seen a toiletlike this ever in their life.
(26:49):
A toilet to toilet.
You know, as well as I know,they're just a different shape.
This was a fancy, high class,nice, well put together unit.
Yeah.
No, it's just the care thatwent into it.
Seven gallons of water in thetoilet, not four.
Yeah.
If you're on a Dump stationthat charges by volume.
It's going to cost you moremoney to dump those seven.
It does.
And I am on a dump station by volume.
(27:12):
I also make my money by volume.
So the more toilets you haveon rent, the more money you make
and.
The better the experience, themore toilets you're going to have
out.
Exactly.
It's simple math, my unclewould say.
We call that common sense.
One of the biggest challengesfaced by many small businesses is
cash flow.
(27:32):
There's an inevitable delaybetween the invoice being sent and
payment being received.
And I asked Ryan how he wascoping with the administrative side
of his business in order tomaintain a healthy, positive cash
flow.
I still do paperwork stuff.
You know, I still my rentalagreement still on paper and paper.
And it's proven to be a taskto get the customer to do it.
(27:53):
The E signature software isjust expensive.
It's just too expensive for meto use right now.
It's 30 bucks a month for five signatures.
It goes up to 100 somethingand then you get 30amonth.
With toilets on constructionsites, you very rarely see anybody.
So especially my personalbusiness is done after hours.
(28:14):
And the guys on the side don'twant to talk to you.
The guy, you know, it's hard.
And then if you mail them, ittakes so long to get it back because
you're sending it to most ofthe time their billing address is
their corporate headquarters.
It's not the person.
It doesn't go to the correct person.
Well, by the time they figureout who the correct person is, months
(28:38):
have gone by.
It's irrelevant at this point.
Just on that.
Are you getting paid regularly?
Is that.
We have been.
I've had two customers thatkind of.
A little slow.
Yeah.
But never refused payment.
You called them up?
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I forgot.
Whatever payment shows up, no problem.
(29:00):
I haven't had any issues with that.
Like I said at the beginningof our talk, I've been blessed with
great customers as well.
And that's good.
They're on a regular payment schedule.
And you know, I always feelyou can say no to customers if there's
somebody you don't want to supply.
There's no shame in saying I'm sorry.
I just can't help you at this moment.
You can always find an excuse.
Correct.
There's always an excuse.
(29:21):
And you know, and I'm sure intime it'll happen.
Will come across those guys.
Yeah.
You know, you try to be asnice as can be, even if they're two
or three months behind youyou're gonna catch more flies with
honey than vinegar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so if you just keephounding them by being friendly about
it, they don't think you'rehounding them.
(29:42):
But you're always going to beon their mind because you call them
every.
Every other week or so.
They can't forget about you.
They know.
They kind of know why you calling.
But you chit chat with them.
Yeah, yeah.
And it just, you know, justpinch, bolt, pinch, bolt, nudge.
Pinch, bolt, nudge.
It's my strategy.
I can't say it's going to work.
It's just.
No, I think you're going theright way.
And, you know, it's nice tohear you say that the podcast has
(30:04):
made a difference to youbecause that was the plan.
Biggest asset to the podcastand to the Portable Toilet Network
as well is you actually havepeople that are actually interested
in doing a good job.
Yeah.
Interested in the industry.
Interested in what other folksare doing.
It eliminates the guys whodon't give a damn.
Yeah.
(30:24):
You're not going to havenobody call you that's not passionate
about what they do.
No.
And you're not going to havepeople that want to do interviews
like you and I are doing, likethe past people used to.
Those people are interested.
Yeah.
They're going to help anybody.
Like you said, the guy youspoke to, you want to get me connected
with.
He could be a half a worldaway as well.
He's just interested in helping.
(30:46):
I'm the same way.
Is the kind of folks that youare going to put the rest of the
industry in touch with.
Yeah.
So.
So you telling your story isnot going to hurt anybody else.
No, absolutely not.
You know, but I may say onething about what we talked about
this whole time.
Someone on the other side ofthe continent or on the other side
(31:08):
of.
My state, because we've gotlisteners of.
The world either way.
That's right.
It could be on the other sideof the.
Or he could be on the otherside of the street.
Yeah.
Someone may pick up just onesentence that I said learn something
and better his business.
The end of the day out of allof this is we want to satisfy our
customer better.
Yeah.
(31:29):
And the more you learn aboutit and the more tips and tricks of
the trade, the customer winsin the end.
Absolutely.
And that's the completeantithesis of everyone just pushing
the price down.
Because it ruins everybody.
It ruins the whole.
It ruins everybody, Right?
No.
What we call them around here.
Cutthroats.
Yeah.
And no one wins with a Cutthroat.
(31:50):
Not at all.
Including the cutthroat.
Yeah.
Hey, eventually what's goingto happen?
And it's sad, but it's alreadya crowded market.
Someone's going to lose that.
Yeah.
And it's not going to be theguy who's doing the good work.
It's not going to be the guythat's got thousands of toilets.
It's going to be the ones thatfall in between that are trying to
(32:13):
do this for a cheapskate price.
Yeah.
That just can't keep up.
Well, they just can't keep up with.
It, you see, because theycan't provide the service with that
volume.
You need to hire more drivers,you need to hire more passionate
people.
You can't hire more peoplebecause you're not charging enough
for your service.
One, it's, it's a circle.
It goes a full circle.
(32:33):
Can't have one without the other.
And it's, it's sad.
You know, if I get a urinalthat's overly used on a site, I've
got a brush.
I'll go in there and, youknow, brush it out ahead of time
before it gets scaly.
I haven't got to the point yetwhere it's scaly.
Yeah.
Because we stay on top of it.
Yeah, yeah.
(32:53):
It should never get scaly.
I like the screen.
It stops the splash.
Yeah.
It lets out a more fragranceodor rather than the spicy of the,
of the disc.
The urinal screen is good for60 days.
Yeah.
I leave them in for six weeks.
They'Ll get thrown in the bowl.
(33:14):
Right, right.
So especially events, you know.
You do?
Yeah.
I mean, who touches that stuffto throw them in the bowl?
But, you know, we got crazypeople all over the world.
Yeah, we do.
You know, as far asconstruction site wise, that's really
helped us out a bunch.
It minimizes the splash.
Yeah.
It doesn't get as much allover the floor on the outside of
(33:35):
the tank and stuff.
Like I said, it's good for twomonths, but a month and a half, I
change them out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The ones I bought were Circo.
Yeah.
Was I bought way before I knewTammy or your podcast and stuff.
I actually bought them from anoutside vendor and I love them.
I told her, I said, listen,before I even spoke to you.
I've used your products is whyI'm calling you.
(33:56):
Yeah, they're great.
I noticed the differenceimmediately when I used the urinal
screens.
Deodorizing discs.
I was in two minds about.
I do use those.
I put them on the toilet Paper roll.
Okay.
So when the guys put them inthe vents, all the smell goes out
through the vent and they dry out.
Especially in the summer, theydry out.
And then if you get rain, assoon as water hits them, it dilutes
(34:16):
them.
So there's, they sell a holderwhich you can put down low on the
wall.
Right.
And you pop them in the holderand then the smell permeates up.
I stopped using them in theend because they just ended up everywhere.
I don't know what it is aboutpeople in toilets.
They can't leave anything alone.
And I mean, like I said, whowants to touch anything in a deadly
toilet anyway?
But I hang mine on the rod.
(34:38):
But outside of the littletoilet paper.
So you're using the toiletpaper holders that came with the
toilet.
Correct.
Yeah.
See here in New Zealand wehave to build our toilets.
They all come flat packed.
Okay.
They tend to use jumbo rolls.
So they're a really big roll and.
That'S what I use.
A nine inch roll.
Yeah.
So they get a single, a oneand a half or a double holder.
(35:01):
Okay.
And most people use a single.
Well, the problem with that iswhen you're down to less than half
a roll, you have to make, you have.
To swap it out.
Yeah.
Right.
So you end up with a truckfull of half used rolls.
I use the one that comes with it.
I do use the 9 inch rolls.
It's not the jumbo jumborolls, but I have two rolls at all
times on it.
So I, I always tell people toput in a double jumbo.
(35:21):
So you get a full one on thisside and then a half one on that
side.
Right, right.
And that seems to work pretty well.
If you run out of paper,you're going to get the call and
then you're going to spend $10in gas driving out to a job to put
in a two dollar roll of toilet paper.
And then you get a bad name.
Yeah.
Because they're going torepeat that forever.
This guy ran out of toiletpaper on me.
(35:41):
It's a pretty traumatizingexperience when you're taking a crap
and there's no paper.
Well, you know when it'shappened because you find socks,
open the door and.
Holler out at someone.
You find socks in the tank.
You're right, you're right,you're right.
Sure sign they've run out.
I can believe that.
It's never happened in myunits, but I've heard talk of it.
(36:02):
It'll come, it'll come.
Oh, it'll come.
I'm sure, I've yet to see theworst of it, but that's what it is.
What it is.
You keep doing events andyou'll see everything.
Honestly, you see everything.
You're right.
So if you were going to startagain, what would you change?
(36:23):
I'd have to say if I would.
Start again, I would shootforward, starting full time rather
than part time simply becauseof the struggles between juggling
a full time job and yourafternoon job, which is your own
business.
Yeah.
And then you know it, itbrings about.
The biggest struggle I find isthe getting out to go and visit with
(36:47):
potential clients to actuallygain business.
It's tough to get out to gainthe business.
Yeah.
Folks a lot of times like tovisit over lunch or have a, you know,
a little sit down and hellomeet and greet and it's just most
of the time not an option forme because I'm either at work or
running a service route.
(37:08):
The drama is that you'reupscaling fairly significantly because
I'm guessing you offset yourliving costs by your current job
and then any extra time andany extra money you've got goes into
your business.
And it's about numbers, isn't it?
You get to a point whereyou've got enough potties out that
you can actually say reduceyour hours or give up the day job
completely or find.
(37:29):
A different day job where thehours vary or maybe transition into
two part time jobs, which isnot optimal, but it leaves many options
on the table.
Like you said, it's a numbersthing to transition over into the
full time toilet business.
I don't plan on staying parttime forever.
(37:49):
I plan on being full time.
I wish the Lord would bless meand be able to have employees under
my belt.
But if you treat youremployees as well as you treat your
customers, they'll have noreason to cut your stuff short.
I'm not gonna say I'm thesharpest tool in the shed, but I'm
no dummy.
I wouldn't have started theportable toilet business if I wasn't
(38:10):
prepared for the pushback.
And it's plain and simple.
Listen, you can push me out ifyou want or try to push me out.
Doesn't change the fact thatyou're not satisfying your customers.
Wouldn't it be easier to justprovide satisfied customers and then
I'll disappear no matter whatbecause I can't compete with your
values.
Their way to try and push youout will be to lower their price.
(38:31):
My strategy to backdooring meper se is I groom the customer first.
I don't want to know whoyou're with.
I don't care who you're with.
I care that you call me.
Yeah.
I care to provide utmostservice to you.
I care about you.
I care about your guys.
They're going to call you andoffer you free toilets or half price
(38:51):
or sign a contract for a year,no cost to you.
You're gonna get worse thanwhat you had before.
See?
Oh, don't even worry about it.
Never, never would.
We wouldn't be switching ifprice was an issue.
We'd be calling around getting prices.
When you dial our number,you're gonna talk to me or you're
gonna talk to my wife, mybusiness partner, no one else.
(39:15):
And we make it happen.
I'm gonna come out to you,your job, My wife's gonna come out
to your job or my best friendthat helps us.
Yeah.
My customers have met everyone of us.
We are the people that you call.
We answer the phone, but we'realso going out to your job.
And that's really hard tocompete with, you know, because it
is.
You're building relationship.
(39:35):
You're not just providing.
And even when we get to wherewe can have a driver and have someone
and have two trucks on theroad, if I get a call for a complaint,
I'm coming.
We're going to make it right,right away.
My business plan is to leavesome cushion in the day for me.
I'm not going to have a full route.
I'm going to do qualitycontrol and I'm going to do answering
(39:55):
calls, a flip over, whateverit may be.
I'm going to have the time toget off route and service that as
well as visiting customers andsaying hello, and we're still here.
We're still alive.
We realize you're still alive.
The folks are not doing it.
It's not.
I'm no salesman.
I don't like to be a salesman.
Doing is being passionate, andI do it now.
(40:16):
I call the guys up.
Hey, Mr.
Such and Such, this is Ryan Granger.
I have a toilet on your job.
Yes, sir.
Just call in to check, makesure you guys are still doing well.
And you'd be amazed at how often.
The guys are like, can'tbelieve it.
And you could tell becausethis gets silenced for a minute.
They're like, okay.
I said, is everything okay atthe job site?
Great, man.
Listen, everything's fine.
(40:36):
I'm just checking, make sureeverything's good on your end.
On your business, everything's good.
Your employees are happy.
We got a virus going around.
Y'all are still doing well.
Family's safe.
I don't know their family fromAdam, but it means something to get
that car.
But so many portable restroomoperators don't get that.
They don't do it, Ryan.
It's just, they don't, theydon't somehow, right.
(40:57):
The industry has lost sight ofthe fact that we do customer service.
Our main business is customer service.
That's all it is.
You're looking after people.
And like you said, Pete, it'ssomewhere along the way they lost
sight of.
That's what our entire job is,to provide service.
Yeah.
And you know, stories likeyours are exactly what I want the
(41:18):
podcast to be about.
That if we didn't have thevirus, I'd be out in the truck, I'd
come along for a ride alongwith you and you know, I can't wait.
We just talk, clean some potsies.
Well, talk shit.
We'll pump shit.
That, that's awesome.
And listen, I do some talking.
I get in trouble for talkingtoo much.
People are going to listen inand say, hey, that was something
(41:38):
different.
That was really interesting toget Ryan's view and hear Ryan's story.
And, you know, you mightinspire some people to have a go.
You might inspire some peopleto change.
The way they work, to changethe way they're doing.
Correct.
You might just entertain.
My brother in law listens tothe podcast.
He knows nothing abouttoilets, he works in shipping.
And he just keeps saying, hey,that's really interesting.
Listen, who would have thought.
(42:00):
It is.
And that's, that's great news.
That's great stories.
Yeah.
You know, I'm super pumpedabout this.
I told my buddy about it assoon as I talked to you in private
message.
I called my buddy, I told you,my best friend and, and said, man,
I just got off the phone.
I said, not off the phone, but I.
Private message guy started a podcast.
Podcast, very new.
(42:21):
I got in to talk to him andprivate messages, he actually answered
me.
My buddy, he sat down, he waslike, you gotta be kidding me.
He said, man, you gettingworld famous.
I said, with my 30 toilet, go ahead.
Huh?
I'm world famous.
You won't believe thecountries we've got listeners in,
like Greece, Italy, Spain, Timor.
Lies.
(42:41):
I don't even know where that is.
Cambodia.
I don't either.
This is awesome.
You know, Bahamas, Antigua.
This is great, man.
You're doing awesome for theentire, entire industry around the
world.
You're actually giving ussomething to listen to.
Yeah.
Whether it be entertaining or informational.
Yeah.
And, and I'm just superexcited to be a part of it.
(43:03):
Well, I'm grateful that you'veagreed to come and have a chat.
You know, it's when travelrestrictions in.
You're more than welcome to come.
You come once a month.
I don't give a damn.
We can do more podcasts downthe line, you know, I mean, and seriously.
My plan is we want to go onthe road, and if I can spend a couple
of days a week recordingpodcasts, half a day.
What a lovely life.
(43:23):
If we can make a few dollarsalong the way to pay for gas, then
that's all good.
And if we can't, then, hey,we're having fun.
It's.
It's sure to grow and it'ssure to be a hit and do right.
Because you're passionateabout it.
Yeah.
And you just like we'repassionate about what we do.
That's.
And the people who damn andwant to poke and stick fingers up,
well, they won't listen to theshow anyway.
So what?
Doesn't matter, Kurt.
(43:43):
Doesn't matter.
Like, my grandfather wouldsay, good luck to those folks, you
know, hey, listen, good luck.
Yeah, that's cool.
Now, I've got a friend inTexas who every time I talk to him,
he wears his steps.
And I'm gonna have to go andbuy one because I'm feeling underdressed.
Well, if you end up doingvideo podcasts or video chats and
(44:04):
you say it's because of Ryanand the other guy.
Yeah.
Robert absolutely beat me downbecause I didn't have a top.
He'll probably sue me copyright.
He wears his hat every time hedoes a video cast, so.
Right.
Well, you just tell him yougot grief from your other friend
on the other side of the globethat gave you grief for not having
(44:26):
a top on.
Denmark for some reason lastweek went nuts.
Loads and loads of listenersin Denmark.
Now, I can't promise thatthey'll phone you to book bodies
in, but listen.
I can make it happen.
If they need the Potty Kingand Lafayette, I can make it happen.
(44:48):
I'm not sure if they'll beproud of the numbers I provide for,
but I can provide.
Yeah, perfect.
Be heavy on the shipping andmaybe not the same day delivery,
eh?
Correct.
Correct.
How can people get in touchwith you?
We have.
Our phone number is area code 337-348-5055.
(45:10):
Our website isacadiansanitation.com we can also
be found on Facebook at acadiansanitation.
Or email.
My email address isacadiansanitationmail Give us a call,
(45:30):
leave us a message on Facebookor text our business phone number
or directly from the website.
You can contact us there as well.
Yeah.
Hopefully you'll get sometraction as a result of coming on
the show.
You know, that was the ideathat the first of these monthly poom
entails is telling the storyof operators from the ground up and
your entry level been inbusiness since November last year.
(45:52):
An ideal profile for that veryfirst one.
And, you know, maybe there'ssome other listeners who are listening
in who think I could do whatRyan's done.
I'm not saying it's been easy,but you've done it, man.
You're in business and you'rea sanitation provider.
You know, hard work,determination, and just a willpower,
sheer willpower is very possible.
It is very possible.
I'm really pleased that youreached out and you've taken part
(46:15):
and hopefully we'll help yougrow your business.
Right, well, thank you.
I appreciate it.
I've loved the opportunity tobe able to even do this.
You know, it's just I neverthought in a million years that,
you know, we'd be here rightnow doing this sanitation business,
much less speaking to someonea world away and being an actual
part of this community.
(46:36):
You know, it's amazing to me.
No, it's good.
And, you know, certainly thefeedback I've had from other listeners
is that people are willing toshare and they love hearing about
other stories.
So credit to you for taking part.
That's a brave move becauseyou're exposing yourself and you
never know how people aregoing to react.
But well done.
Well, thank you.
Cool.
We'd like to leave you with our.
(46:56):
And I'm sure you've seen it onour website, Acadian Sanitation.
The name to know when yougotta go.
Excellent.
I'll make sure that that's theclosing remarks for you.
I hope you enjoyed listeningto that as much as I enjoyed recording
it.
Ryan was a lot of fun and I'msure I'll be talking to him again
further down the line.
(47:18):
Ryan has shown that it'srelatively easy to start in portable
sanitation.
There aren't really too manysignificant barriers to entry once
you find the money and you canstart small.
Equipment is pretty standard,and other than a truck, a tank, and
the toilets, you don't reallyneed an awful lot more.
The key to success seems to behaving a passion and a drive to get
(47:38):
out there to find yourcustomers and deliver really great
service.
Of course, low barriers toentry mean that the threat of Competition
is never far away, and thatapplies whether you're a new starter
or an established operatorwith a large fleet.
As a new business, you need tocompete to attract customers and
secure your share of the market.
(47:59):
As an established provider,you'll need to compete to retain
the customers you've worked sohard to win and protect your market
share.
How you do that is a matter ofpersonal choice.
Choosing to go head to head onprice seems a really common strategy,
but for me it should be thelast resort.
It undermines the value ofwhat we do.
Poor sanitation can be lifethreatening and I just don't understand
(48:21):
how any operator can provide atop class service for a rock bottom
price.
Surely it's better to charge afair price for good service and top
dollar for a premium service.
We've learned from COVID thatthe costs of poor hygiene are colossal,
but in my experience, portabletoilets seem to be the first target
for cost cutting when anyproject overruns its budget.
(48:44):
If Covid had been transmittedthrough wastewater, our industry
would have come under huge scrutiny.
And some of the toilets I'veseen tell me that some operators
would really struggle todefend the way they work.
But it's not all bad news.
People like Ryan show thatsome operators do understand the
importance of proper hygieneand that they value good customer
service.
(49:04):
I just hope he doesn't takehis eye off the ball or let his bright
shine rub off as his business grows.
Okay, that brings us to theend of our very first monthly special.
If you've enjoyed the show,please leave a five star review and
remember to tell your family,friends, colleagues and strangers
to listen in.
(49:25):
Once again, thank you for your time.
I've been Pete and you've beenlistening to Get Flushed, the world's
favorite sanitation podcast.
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