We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cliff Poynter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cliff, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

As the owner of this company, I believe that I am personally responsible for creating and maintaining a strong company culture. This means that as a business that is in the service industry, our mission both collectively and individually is to never forget that we are to be servants. As such, I teach my team members that there is always an underlying purpose behind every job that we perform. We are not simply hauling off someone’s trash, we may be helping them move in to a new home. We could be helping them close an unpleasant chapter in their life or helping them to run and operate a business of their own. We make it our goal to remember that we are helping people find solutions to these problems.

Often these problems are simple and straightforward where all we have to do is help the customer achieve their stated goal. Other times, these problems are layered with complexity involving narrow timelines, a mixture of items that need to be sorted through or even legal obligations that must be carefully navigated.

In one example, I received a call from a potential customer late on a Friday afternoon. It was clear from her voice that she was upset and she stated “enough is enough, I have to do something!”.

I spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone with her and learned that she had been through some personal hardships that led her down a path of poor mental health manifesting itself into a reclusive lifestyle and hoarding. She explained that her children had just let her know that they would no longer be bringing her grandchildren to see her, due to the deteriorating condition of her home.

As an occupational therapist with 12 years of in-home patient care experience, I knew that this situation was much more complicated than a simple accumulation of items in her home. I also knew that I need to meet her in person to show her how our company was different and that we could help her navigate this situation.

When in her home, she and I came up with a carefully customized scope of work that would allow for the cleanout of her home while leaving in place items of importance or areas of the home that would compromise her dignity. Finally, she and I agreed that it would be best for her well-being to not be present in the home while this work was being completed. Instead, she planned to treat herself to a trip to a hair and nail salon. When she returned she would be, “A new her for her new home!”

On the day that our team arrived, this customer was amazed at not only at the lack of judgment that she felt from our team members, but also at the level of care and kindness that they showed to her. She left as planned to go to her salon appointment. When she returned home she was in tears of joy. The home had been treated with care and respect while all of the unwanted items had been quickly and carefully removed. She was very thankful for the care and support we had shown her and could not wait to report the news back to her children.

Cliff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I created In and Out Trash Services after several years of real estate investing where I continuously encountered the need to have trash and debris hauled away. Sometimes this was to clean out a house for a renovation. Other times it was just to have a small number of items removed because of maintenance or a repair. As an investor I learned quickly that there were two primary ways to harm your margins on these projects. They can either cost you too much money or cost you too much time. Because of this, I purchased my first dump trailer in hopes to mitigate both dilemmas.

It was soon after this that I began to learn how many other people (not just investors) were faced with this same problem. The reasons that someone may call a junk removal company can be nearly limitless but they still all face the same two dilemmas. Disposal of their items will almost always cost them an unreasonable amount of money to have the work completed for them or they can do it themselves for an unnecessary amount of energy and time.

We strive to provide a balanced solution to this problem by being both the fastest as well as the most affordable junk hauling service in the SC Upstate. We now have multiple trucks and trailers as well as several roll-off dumpsters. However, the equipment that we invest in is only one small component of what sets us apart. I hear a lot of disparaging comments these days made by people of my age and older stating that this current generation of young people just do not want to work. I have found just the opposite to be true. I consider myself blessed to have been able to build such an amazing team of young individuals who are mostly in their early 20s and who absolutely love what they do. And it shows!

These team members first and foremost count on each other and it is especially rewarding for me to see the friendships that they have made with one another grow. Their enthusiasm and energy absolutely radiate from them, and it often catches our customers by surprise.

If you don’t believe me, just check out our reviews and count how many times these guys are mentioned by name. If you do, you will see dozens of examples of how “Blake and Hayden were so fun, energetic and professional” or how “Carter and Nathan were knowledgeable, hardworking, and had such a great attitude.”

Reading these reviews and seeing these guys get publicly acknowledged for the work that they do is honestly one of my favorite parts of my job. They are without a doubt what sets us apart from the rest and I could not be more proud of them.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In 2013 my wife and I became frustrated with our financial situation. We felt hamstrung by the typical debt that traps so many Americans. Car loans, student loans (a couple of credit cards sprinkled in) and a mortgage on a house that consumed a significant portion of our income all by itself.

So, we set out on a debt payoff mission that involved a year of preparing our house for sale. We took the equity from that home and moved with our then three-year-old son into a condo that we could afford to pay cash for with the sale of our house.

While incredibly difficult at the time, this was without question the best financial decision that my wife and I have ever made. After a few years, when expecting our second son, we felt that we were financially prepared to purchase another house.

At that point, we decided to keep the condo and rent it to some friends. In doing so we made every mistake in the book, but things actually turned out okay. From there we decided that we wanted to learn more about real estate investing. Then came the books, the podcasts and the countless hours on YouTube learning everything that we could about this topic. Implementing some time tested “get rich slowly” strategies that real estate offers, we went on a saving spree and refinanced the condo in order to really start to grow our little portfolio.

It was through this process that we were able to accumulate the capital required to buy the first few dump trailers. I initially pulled these with only my personal vehicle to begin taking on jobs.

The cash flow on our real estate, while not what it once was, has provided the financial stability for our family that has allowed me to reinvest the earnings of In and Out Trash Services so consistently. In less than two years we have added a dump truck that we named “Smoothie,” additional pickup trucks and most recently a roll-off dumpster system.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

As a parent and coach, if there is one thing that my boys know about me, it is that I will always do my best to train with them for as long as my body will allow me to do it. That means time on the wrestling mat, time in the pool swimming laps and most definitely time out in the neighborhood running. Why would I risk the resentment that may be felt from me telling my child “you need to go for a run” when I can instead say “lets go for a run together” and benefit from the time that we could be sharing.

As the business owner, it is inevitable that when you have others working on behalf of your company, they will often be expected to perform difficult, challenging and often unpleasant work. As their leader, it is crucially important for me to show them that I am not above performing any tasks that I expect for them to perform. That includes not only handling the heavy stuff but also the gross stuff.

We often have to clean out fridges and freezers filled with bugs and food that has been sitting at room temperature for weeks. My crew knows when I am on the job, that task always goes to me. If there is a crawlspace to clean out, I will be the first one in there and the same goes for a 98 degree attic. Now that I am not present on as many jobs, my crew leaders have each embraced that same philosophy. They may be in charge of that crew, but they are also responsible for handling the dirty work. This communicates to other crew members that nobody is too good for any job and also this teaches them that this is what is required if they have aspirations of taking on leaderships roles of their own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inandouttrash.com/
• Instagram: @inandouttrash
• Facebook: In and Out Trash Services

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