Ep. 15 | Mark Sayers - POMATL / Discount Junk Removal

Mark Sayers left a 27-year retail career at the end of 2019 to flip houses in Atlanta. When COVID hit in early 2020, his rental income disappeared and his short-term bookings evaporated. He had already listed junk removal as a potential business before quitting, and a friend who sold his franchise rights for four million dollars told him he would do it the same way Mark was planning. Mark launched Discount Junk Removal in 2020 without the overhead of a franchise.

“I quit at the end of 2019 and guess what happened in the beginning of 2020? COVID throws everybody's plans out the window. I shifted gears and decided one of the things that I made a list of before I quit my job was potential businesses that I might go into. I had a relationship with the guy who owned the franchise of ”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers worked in retail for 27 years, often 60 to 70 hours a week. When his son was born in 2016, he realized he did not want to leave before his son woke up and come home after bedtime. He wanted to be home for dinner and have more time with his family. He also wanted to improve his health and lower his stress. He spent three years planning his exit and finally quit at the end of 2019.

“My son was born in 2016 and immediately I realized I can't keep doing this because I don't want to leave before he gets out of bed and come home after he's in bed. I realized that wealth actually has five different dimensions and that money's just one of them. The other dimensions are time, health, relationships, and p”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers recycles metal, cardboard, and glass directly to processors who pay for the material. He takes aluminum cans and scrap metal to recyclers, and delivers cardboard and glass to companies that turn them into new products. He donates reusable items to local charities and posts free items in the Shmooze Swap group. Plastics are harder to recycle because processors do not pay for them and want unrealistic quantities, so he cannot guarantee they get recycled.

“If you want to know if it's legitimately getting recycled, you need to evaluate is it worth anything? When it comes to glass and cardboard and metal, we know that it's going directly to the end user recycler because they pay us for it. When we take a trailer load of cardboard we're getting like seven dollars. We're not”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers says plastics are difficult to recycle because the processors do not pay for them and they are not meant for numerous uses. He cannot guarantee plastics get recycled the way he can with metal, glass, and cardboard. He encourages people to buy products in glass or cardboard instead of plastic at the grocery store, like spaghetti sauce in a glass jar or orange juice in a cardboard carton.

“When it comes to plastics, your guess is as good as ours on what's actually getting recycled. We can't say for sure because the problem is that plastics are just not really meant for numerous uses. A lot of people don't realize that it is a petroleum product and if you do your research, the petroleum industry pushed pl”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers says yes, you can recycle cardboard pizza boxes even if they have grease on them. The recyclers are going to pulp the cardboard anyway, so grease does not matter. The same applies to other paper and cardboard with food residue.

“People are always like oh I can't recycle that pizza box, it's got grease in it. Who cares? They're gonna pulp it. You're gonna turn it into new paper.”Mark Sayers

Wish cycling is when people put something in the recycling bin hoping it can be recycled, even though they are not sure. Mark Sayers says it makes everything worse because it contaminates the whole batch. He would rather people put questionable items in his Peace of Mind bin so he can sort it by hand, but for city single-stream recycling, wish cycling causes machines to reject loads.

“Wish cycling is one of those things where people are like oh well maybe they can recycle this and cross their fingers. Makes everything so much worse at the end of the day. You're putting it in with your recycling.”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers says Discount Junk Removal will travel anywhere for existing customers, including Cumming, Marietta, Lawrenceville, and McDonough. If someone from those cities calls out of the blue without an existing relationship, he will probably decline or refer them to another company he trusts. He focuses on building relationships with customers in Atlanta and following them wherever they move.

“I like to tell them once you become a customer of ours, we go where you need us. If you need us to go to Cumming, if you need us to go to Marietta, Lawrenceville, McDonough, all around the city, we'll go. If somebody calls us out of the blue from one of those cities and we don't already have a relationship established,”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers says Discount Junk Removal hauls almost anything, including furniture, appliances, and full property cleanouts. He defines junk however the customer defines it. There are a few exceptions, like dangerous chemicals, but even some chemicals can be disposed of properly. He also delivers materials from landscape supply stores and spreads pine straw for existing customers, but he does not compete with landscape companies.

“Junk is defined however you define junk. There's very few limitations. We pretty much haul whatever you need us to haul. There are definitely a few exceptions, like if it's some sort of dangerous chemical we might have to decline, but even if it's something that is a chemical, in a lot of cases we can dispose of it pro”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers does not set sales goals like a ten percent increase or a specific dollar amount. He thinks those numbers are plucked out of thin air. Instead, he focuses on the actions that make customers happy, like showing up on time, having a good attitude, not upselling, and offering solutions. He believes if you focus on the right actions, the results take care of themselves. His revenue has increased year over year without setting goals.

“I don't have sales goals. Where does that number come from? You plucked it out of thin air. It is not a number that you legitimately have any reason to expect that you can do. How are you going to do it? What are the actions you'll take? That is my goal. Why do you need a goal if you already know what those actions are”Mark Sayers

The Shmooze Swap is a Facebook group Mark Sayers created for Southern Shmooze members to give away, sell, or rehome items instead of sending them to landfill. It is similar to Buy Nothing groups but covers all of Atlanta instead of one hyper-local neighborhood. Mark noticed people posting items on the main Shmooze page and wanted a dedicated space for it.

“The idea there was it's very similar to Buy Nothing. What I've learned about Buy Nothing is it's very hyper local, that's their intent. They want to keep it to a specific neighborhood. Whereas the Shmooze Swap is another opportunity for you to connect with people all over the city. If you have three sheets of drywall t”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers and his wife take their kids out of the country for at least a month every summer, sometimes five weeks. They also visit national parks during shorter school breaks. This year they went to Europe for a month when his brother-in-law got married in Tuscany. Last year they spent time in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Japan.

“Every summer at least we try to go out of the country for a month. This year we went for a month. Last year we went for five weeks. People always ask do you bring your kids? And I'm like yeah, we don't ever not bring the kids.”Mark Sayers

Mark Sayers left his retail job in part because he wanted more time to travel with his family. He loves watching his kids become well-rounded, open-minded people who make friends with children they cannot even speak to. He looks for playgrounds wherever they go. One of his favorite memories is watching his kids play with local children around the world even when they do not share a language.

“One of the big motivations to leaving my old career was that I wanted more time. I wanted to spend more time traveling. I get to watch them become amazing, well-rounded, open-minded, diverse human beings. I've seen my kids play with so many kids around the world on playgrounds and they don't speak the same language. I ”Mark Sayers