What’s the origin story of your business?
I was previously working for SERVPRO in Nashville. When the tornado came through I was put in charge of demolition as a manager. The owner of the business offered me mentorship and after that, me and my best friend decided to start a business.
What’s an obstacle that you’ve had to overcome to build your business?
I would have to say communicating what we do. We are a younger group and the industry is run mainly by old guys. We also had to overcome some pricing issues. Our prices needed to reflect the work we did. Being lower than some others can give people the wrong idea.
What is unique about owning and running a business in Murfreesboro?
Murfreesboro is a very supportive community. Everyone here wants to help each other and is incredibly supportive of small local businesses.
As a business owner, what keeps you up at night?
I don’t stress out about much. I gave up on that. I do worry about making sure all of my customers are happy. I’ve learned that everyone is going to complain about something. People are always going to talk so I want to make sure we make our customers as happy as possible.
If you could wave a magic wand and make one problem go away in your business what would it be?
Dumpster costs are going up and sometimes finding dumpsters, in general, can be an impossible task. We use 3 or 4 different companies and each one is all booked out. We can fill a 30-yard dumpster in an hour. What’s going to be next for us is buying dumpsters and hiring someone to drive the truck all day.
If you could travel back in time to the day you started your business, what advice would you give yourself?
Price your work not to get the job but to the value of your work. In the beginning, we did big jobs for little pay. It caused a lot of stress for us. It never worked out when we had to raise the price. We also needed to be a little more organized with our bookkeeping.
What time of the day are you most productive?
7 AM. My job starts in that early morning motivation. I get my burst in the morning and I start running down my checklist. Make sure all the tools are there, send out the schedule, have our morning meetings, and then we go until 5.
What’s one thing you’d say to a person starting a new business?
Just do it. It’s not easy. It’s stressful. I promise you will know within 2 months if you can or you can’t. You just have to keep thinking, “Hold on. It’s getting there”, and push forward.
What’s one thing you’d say to a person who’d owned a business for a long time?
Maintain loyal customers. Every customer is important and every customer should be treated as though they are important. You have to remember to take care of the people that take care of you.
Learn More about Volunteer Demolition LLC by visiting their website!
