How Taking a Step Back Was a Huge Step Forward for This San Diego Small Business Owner

Impact LabSmall BusinessClient Success Story

Mar 27

How Taking a Step Back Was a Huge Step Forward for This San Diego Small Business Owner

For Chris Brown, gaining financial clarity in the Impact Lab created room for growth.

With any construction project large or small, the post-build clean-up process can quickly turn into a headache.

When Haul’n Off founder Chris Brown remodeled his own home, he ran into major hiccups while trying to remove the construction debris from his property. After speaking with others, he found they frequently ran into the same issue.

Chris believed he could come up with a solution.

Haul’n Off is a dumpster rental service that helps individuals and businesses safely and efficiently remove large amounts of waste from their home or place of business. It’s also more affordable than other waste removal options, one of the key elements that sets Haul’n Off apart from its competitors.

Chris found himself getting bogged down in the logistics of running a small business. When he joined us in the Impact Lab, our goal was to address some of his current challenges while freeing Chris up to work “on” his business rather than “in” it.

The Problem

Like many solopreneurs, Chris was running a lot of the behind-the-scenes of his business by himself, including bookkeeping and manually coordinating calendars, emails and invoices.

Chris’ passion and personal connection to the mission behind Haul’n Off set a strong foundation for his growing business, but when we began working together there were some challenges that needed to be addressed.

With so much of his time eaten away by day-to-day operations, it was near-impossible for Chris to focus on the big-picture items, like goal-setting and optimizing SEO (one of his goals for his time with us).

He also discovered that the limited number of dumpsters he had to offer clients were limiting his potential for income. When they were all booked out, it was impossible to scale, yet Chris’s business couldn’t afford to purchase another dumpster – much less find an affordable spot to store all of them.

Chris did develop a subcontractor side of his business where he acted as a broker rather than a supplier of equipment. Although this solved the issue of capacity and storage costs, he didn’t have a method for determining whether this side of his business was actually profitable.

Where mission edge came in

We paired Chris with our CFO, Pat Phelan, to help him review the current state of his business and define the next steps he needed to take to grow.

Pat helped Chris go through his current pricing and logistics structures and get a better understanding of his finances.

Business Owner Speaking with Microphone — Chris Brown, owner of Haul’n Off, speaking at Mission Edge’s San Diego Impact Lab networking event.

We were also able to provide Haul’n Off with a $10,000 grant to purchase two new dumpsters, with the goal of increasing the number of customers on his books and doubling his current revenue. The increase in resources helped solve a major barrier to scaling and allowed him to better meet the needs of his customers.

In addition, there was a list of infrastructural changes Chris made to make his business more profitable and scalable. He raised prices and adjusted his payment structure to make the subcontracting part of his business more profitable.

At the beginning of the intervention, Haul’n Off relied on 30% of its business from subcontractors. After looking at the numbers, Pat and our accounting team helped Chris realize that these deals actually were very profitable. Now, Chris has shifted his business model to 90% subcontractor deals and 10% fulfilling dumpster rentals himself.

This shift not only helped the business grow, but it freed up Chris’s time to make strategic decisions both now and in the future.

Lastly, after working to build a stronger financial foundation for his business, Chris was able to look toward hiring part-time staff for roles like answering phones and driving the truck so he could focus more on the big-picture.

The solution

Results from the Impact Lab Program

We’re so thrilled with the growth of Chris and his business. Since working with Mission Edge, Haul’n Off has increased its sales by 30%. He also now ranks in the top 10 SEO results for dumpster rentals, which will help increase brand recognition and revenue.

Next, Chris is hoping to expand his business to nearby locations, and add even more dumpsters to expand the subcontracting side of Haul’n Off.

After seeing the benefits of a third party who handled the books, Chris has hired an accountant to help him manage the financial side of his business.

Overall, one of the biggest wins for Chris after completing our program is increased freedom to focus on strategy instead of being trapped in the logistics.