Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kate Mitchell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Kate, thanks for joining us today. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

I own a junk removal business specializing in work with multi-family communities, specifically apartment clean outs and bulk pick ups at dumpsters. That seems to be a far cry from the 10+ years I spent as a high school English teacher. However, the reality is that every lesson I learned as an educator prepared me for owning a business. Early in my teaching career, I learned that no amount of reading, writing, speaking and listening skill instruction would resonate without building a community of learners who felt seen and valued before asking them to learn. I tried every day to respect the people who walked through the door, and I worked to learn alongside them. Once I realized that building a community was the most important aspect of learning, the skills followed.
That realization has been the foundation of our small service-based business. Our customers are our foundation – they are the students in our classroom – our community. GI Junk has been successful because of that community – reviews, referrals, and repeat business.
The content might have changed from English to junk removal, but the idea stays the same. If our GI Junk team partners with each other and our customers to learn alongside each other to achieve a common goal, success follows. Teaching introduced me to the beauty of community, and I’m incredibly lucky to transfer that passion to GI Junk.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Every good story has a surprise chapter, right? That’s how GI Junk was born – a surprise chapter. After over a decade as a high school English teacher, I became the owner of a junk removal company. GI Junk Removal was originally the solution to two commercial property managers looking for affordable bulk item removal that didn’t break the budget and was completed by an honest, efficient team. I stepped in to do what I was teaching in my classroom – communicate. I answered a handful of calls, wrote some emails, and sent grammatically correct invoices. When life took a turn and the phone started ringing more, I took the leap to making GI a possible full time option. I voraciously read everything I could about junk removal, the service industry, small business, successful entrepreneurs; anything I could get my hands on, I devoured. From my garage and a few former students, GI Junk became a real business. I thought I’d closed the door of my classroom when I left teaching, but in reality, I just met that classroom in a different element. Those students, their families, and our community became our customers. They trusted us to learn about junk removal as we cleared their basements and removed old appliances. Meanwhile, the word spread in property management. A junk removal option that was honest to a flaw and didn’t have to be asked twice to show up fast? Managers started calling and emailing. The phones began to ring.
My home garage became a shop near the transfer station. Research and ideas became clear pricing structures, honest service, and repeat customers. Now, GI Junk provides both residential and commercial junk removal services. Our team leads are two former students of mine who were willing to learn alongside me as we built the floor of the company we stand on. We are honest to a flaw – explaining pricing in detail and sticking to our word, even if it means a loss in profit. We believe that if we put people first, the profit will come.
Our online reviews are from real people who have trusted us during transitions in their lives – from upgrading furniture to moving to a new home or cleaning out a loved one’s basement of memories after they have passed on. Commercial customers know that we have a team that can clear a unit quickly and know the ins and outs of the multi-family industry. We are proud supplier partners of the Apartment Association of Kansas City, where we learn alongside members of the industry to ensure that we understand Fair Housing, budgets, and property needs. The phones don’t ring just a handful of times now; they don’t often stay silent.
The best part? We intentionally connect with our community. Every month, our team can be found giving of our time and energy, whether moving a family from Flourish Furniture Bank, volunteering at Community LINC and Operation Breakthrough with the AAKC, delivering mattresses from Sleepyhead Beds, helping the Northpoint Foundation give back to KCIA, or supporting our Liberty Public School students through sponsoring the Character Trait Awards. Often, our team leads call me with explanations of discounts they provided or reasons that a job might not have been in the green. My only response? Were you kind, and were you honest? That defines GI Junk Removal. Junk removal isn’t much different than teaching. Same people. Different classroom. This one is just a little bigger, and one day I hope one of my 5 kids decides that this business is a chapter of their story. It’s a good one.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The most obvious pivot of my life came when I left the security of doing what I knew and loved – teaching reading, writing and speaking to jumping into the trades. That pivot seems massive, but the real pivot is learning to be flexible on a daily basis. Junk removal happens as customers need it – when they need it – how they need it. The ability to pivot is the most important aspect of our team members days. One of our team leads mentioned recently that the ability to think on the fly and problem solve a change to a schedule, job, or circumstances is the most important part of our job. We never really know what an apartment holds until we finish clearing it. We don’t know what the schedule of the day includes until we finish it. Pivoting and flexibility and the ability to do so with a positive attitude is the most vital part of our job.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As a teacher, you have to believe in redemption. You love every student who walks through your door. You love them when they follow the rules and excel. You love them when they sleep through class or act out for attention. You offer grace and redemption.
After a decade loving students, I became redemptive to a flaw. I offered grace at my own expense. That transferred to my business ownership. I have struggled to not offer redemption to employees and customers. Sometimes, I’ve offered second (or a million) chances to employees or allowed customers to take advantage of our desire to help. I’ve had to unlearn the idea that redemption without boundaries is the only answer. GI Junk, whether as an employer or service provider, is just a chapter in someone’s life. I can create service with kindness and then set page limits for the chapter of that service.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gijunkc.com
• Instagram: @gijunk_kc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/GI-Junk-Removal-100075874464922/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-mitchell-cas-992818230