Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Residents of Northern Kentucky! Based in Union, KY....The Good Neighbor Podcast helps the residents of Northern Kentucky get to know local business owners as people. We allow the business owners and influencers in NKY to tell the stories of how they started their business and why. We hear about their families, their personal interests and why they love living in and serving resident of Northern Kentucky!
Good Neighbor Podcast: Union
Meet the Self-Proclaimed "Lazy Junk Guy" Cleaning Up Northern Kentucky
What happens when a 20-year corporate veteran decides to trade his comfortable career for a chance to build something entirely new? Craig Blevins, founder of DumpStor of Cincinnati, joins Mike Murphy to share his unexpected journey into the dumpster rental business and the freedom he's found as an entrepreneur.
Craig describes himself as "the lazy junk guy," delivering clean, professional-looking green dumpsters to homes and businesses throughout Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. With a straightforward business model and a focus on exceptional customer service, he's carving out a niche in an industry dominated by larger, less personal companies.
The conversation reveals fascinating insights about the waste management industry, including how dumpster rentals connect with restoration companies, roofing contractors, and property renovations. Craig's innovative "DumpStor Pro" dumpster—featuring lockable storage compartments for contractors' tools—demonstrates his forward-thinking approach to solving customer problems.
Beyond the business details, this episode explores the personal side of entrepreneurship. Craig shares how working alongside his wife Stacey has strengthened their relationship, and how leaving corporate America has allowed him greater control over his life and schedule. His powerful message resonates throughout the conversation: "You have more control over your life than you think."
Whether you're contemplating your own entrepreneurial leap or simply need a dumpster for your next home cleanout project, this conversation delivers practical insights and genuine inspiration. Learn how one man's decision to follow his instincts is transforming both his life and the waste management landscape in Greater Cincinnati.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
Speaker 2:Thank you, charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, host of the Good Neighbor Podcast. We're a podcast based here in northern Kentucky and I interview local business owners and influencers to let you know them as people and not just logos on a business card side of a truck or a shirt. And the business owner I have with me today is a guy named Craig Blevins. Craig lives in Burlington and he recently opened a new business and I want to make sure he gets a chance to tell everybody exactly what he's doing. The name of the business is Dump Store. Is that correct?
Speaker 1:Yes, Dump Store of Cincinnati.
Speaker 2:All right. So, Craig, say hi to everybody and tell us what is Dump Store.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody. Thanks Mike for having me on. Dump Store is a dumpster rental company, so basically I describe it as I'm the lazy junk guy. I'll drop the dumpster off at your house. You fill it up with whatever you need. I come pick it up within 10 days or whenever you want me to pick it up. So real easy business model and just kind of got into it by chance, which we can get into later, but happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:I'm learning a lot about trash other than I'm learning a lot about trash. Well, it's a business that I've used in the past, because I mean not your business specifically, you just started yours. But when I moved out of my last house into this one, when we built, suddenly I realized that my basement was just filled with things that I had no idea what to do with it, and I identified most of it as trash. You know, things that I had accumulated. I wasn't going to move it, I didn't need it, but I didn't know what to do with it. So I had a dumpster rolled off in my driveway and over the course of two or three days I, by myself, just soldiered through it, man, and I cleaned out my basement and threw it in that dumpster, and it was so nice to have somebody just show up and roll it away. Is that kind of the experience that people can have when they work with you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I do commercial, I do residential. So, just as you described by the way, Mike Seinfeld described your basement as the first degree of knowing that you have junk it goes to the basement first. You're not the only one. I do residential commercial. So I'm seeking contacts with restoration companies, people who put fences in, remodelers, things of that nature. I specialize in both. There's not really a job, I'll turn down, unless it's too big, for one know one of my dumpsters.
Speaker 2:I have two sizes of dumpsters 20 yards and 12 yards so residential and uh, just small commercial kind of my specialty okay, when I see dumpsters uh in the neighborhood, usually it's because, of course, the construction crews are out working, you know, building houses or whatever, or uh. I also see um roofers, roofing crews, doing tear-offs, uh ripping shingles down and throwing them into the dumpster in the driveway, and I I never knew if they have their own dumpsters or if they rent them, or maybe a little bit of both yeah, typically, um, a lot of contractors do not have dumpsters number one.
Speaker 1:They're hard to store. You gotta, you gotta have a place to store, you know. And it's just one less thing they have to worry about because you know, uh, the rates I charge, or you know a lot of people charge. It's just more uh conducive for them to get their business done fast and one less thing they got to do. So that's kind of where I like to sell the businesses like, hey, let me do this for you. You call me, one call, I'll take care of everything else. So yeah, you're exactly right.
Speaker 2:Okay, so your industry touches a lot of other industries, correct, and I imagine, mostly the trades it would seem. So, people listening to this podcast, they may need your services, or they know somebody that does need your services, and I think the depth and breadth of your target audience, I guess, and if there is such a thing, is much wider than I assumed. Yes, so, as you have learned this business since you're, you know, relatively new to it, has there been anything that surprised you about this business?
Speaker 1:I can't say surprised, but just things I come across and it's just kind of a light bulb. Not really a surprise, but, like you know've never worked in in like the transportation industry, which is kind of you know a little bit of what we do, and just you know dealing with, like the us department of transportation and all the ins and outs of that part of it um I've dealt with truck drivers my whole life in my prior industry and um didn't really know what was all into.
Speaker 1:There's a lot more to it than you know, like keeping logs and and all that kind of thing. Just safety is paramount and of course that didn't surprise me.
Speaker 1:But you know, one thing that did surprise me was I've gotten two calls now for for like burnt down buildings, and you know I wasn't expecting that, so that was kind of a surprise to. Guy called me he needed to need to clean a trailer that burnt down on his property. Another guy called me and needed a for next week, need to clean up a barn. So they're just like those kinds of things that you never really know, that that that are and that's, that's good for my industry, because obviously that's work and um yeah so that was a little bit of surprise.
Speaker 1:But yeah, really just like the transportation part of it that just knowing all the ins and outs of that was was kind of gave me anxiety. But now I'm learning it and uh yeah like second nature.
Speaker 2:You touched on something earlier. You said, um I think you said the word um storage or inventory of dumpsters, but you alluded to the fact that you've got a couple sizes available. I'm sure you have more sizes than that ultimately available to you. I just don't know what your world looks like right now, in this moment. What's your inventory looking like, and what type of lead time do you require?
Speaker 1:So right now I do only have a 12 yard and 20 yard. I do have more available to me. I can get them pretty fast. Right now I have about I started with 30. I've got about 24 in my lot right now.
Speaker 1:Cause a lot of those I dump in return things that they don't come back to the yard right away. So, and like I said earlier, you know this is my second week in business and it's going pretty good Looking to have that yard empty, you know, and probably a month or two, and actually I'll probably have to order more at that point, but right now it's just kind of a wait and see, like, how the business is going to ebb and flow. I've noticed, you know, it's kind of feast or famine, I think. It's like you know I've dealt with that in other businesses too. It's like, you know, when it's busy.
Speaker 2:it's busy. When it's dead, it's dead you got to find things.
Speaker 1:And certainly there's plenty of things that keep me busy when I'm not delivering dumpsters, marketing things of that nature yeah, so you're wearing many hats, I assume.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right. Well, if you have sort of a, a hit list, a punch list of um, I'd say community partners that you'd like to, um, get connected with, um, who would they be? What's what's on your what's on your wishlist in terms of setting up relationships with other professionals in the community that could help you move your business forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly I mentioned them before. Restoration companies are a very big part of my niche because they do like the less industrial right. Like you know, 20 yard dumpsters, 12 yard dumpsters, so you know most dumpsters, you yard dumpsters, so um you know, most dumpsters you see out there.
Speaker 1:If you're just a lay person, you see a dumpster on a big construction site. That's probably like a 40 yard dumpster. That's not where I specialize. Where I specialize is like, like I said, restoration companies. Uh, actually I dropped the card off at the cottage up here on us 42 the other day.
Speaker 1:He needs, he needs dumpsters at time to get rid of existing structures okay, in order to put his new structures up so I'm really just creating relationships with, with restoration companies at this point, uh, flooring companies, uh, roofing companies which, honestly, when you know I didn't know this either kind of surprised I guess. Going back to your last question is um, a lot of restoration companies do roofing. Probably 80% of the jobs you see people doing roofing that's done for a restoration company as a contractor. So that's a big part of my business and I've already partnered with one in the area First Call Restoration Services. I got with them and they were gracious enough to give me a contract.
Speaker 1:So just trying to get those off the ground and get steady work is what you know. I need to get the work to you know the way I put it, the work that covers the bills, and then I can go out and find all that you know cherry on top work as of right now. That's kind of the stage I'm in right now.
Speaker 2:So, since you are wearing all those hats, are you literally the one that's out delivering the dumpsters? Are you literally the one that's out delivering the dumpsters, dropping them off and picking them up?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:I was actually talking to a client this morning and he was asking me the same thing and I was like, yeah, but in my mind I have to do that because I want to know the ins and outs of every part of the business before I hire, before I hire a driver, that way there's no circumstance I've been in, you know they can't really get one over on me. I know what's going on. So that that is my. It's kind of a discovery stage for me in the next, in the next couple of months, just learning a business and then really, once I start picking up business and I'm comfortable with all the scenarios and walking them through it and training them, then I'm going to go out and just kind of be the sales guy or the face of the company. That's kind of the journey I'm on right now.
Speaker 2:Okay, so somebody that helps support you learning this business and making sure that you're getting sleep, making sure you're getting fed, making sure to keep your energy up, is your wife Stacey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Stacey, she's actually right here in the room with me. We share an office together. So that was one of the one of my motivating factors for leaving the corporate world was to spend more time with family. And we had said, right, you know, right when we got married, like you know, it'd be nice if we could work with each other every day. So I'm, you know I'm in and out, but you know, we've shared the office now and it's kind of cool to just sit here and be able to talk about dinner tonight or whatever, without having to make a phone call or whatever. But, yeah, she's been a great support and she's actually the one that pushed me to do it. So, you know, love her to death and love the family and they're supporting me like crazy.
Speaker 2:Let's make Stacey poke her head in behind you and wave and say hello, come on over, stacey, come say hello.
Speaker 1:Now she's going to make me look bad on camera.
Speaker 2:Hey, stace, it's nice to see you're not in your bathrobe. I can't hear you. Okay, good thing she couldn't hear me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So then you've got kids as well, too, that are part of your world. What's family look like for you?
Speaker 1:Family's awesome. So I've got a 20-year-old son who is in UC. He is interning down in Louisville right now for this semester as a software engineer, so he's basically a junior at the end of this semester. He's doing really well. And then I've got two bonus children, stepchildren, whatever you call them. They're my kids, whatever you want to call them but Ethan he's 11. And Raven she's 6. And they've been a great addition to my life. To be honest, with you. We have a great time.
Speaker 2:Cute little kids, I've seen them. Yeah, I actually knew Stacey from you know past jobs that we worked together back in our Comair days. I've known her quite a while.
Speaker 1:Your name has been coming up, since we've been together.
Speaker 2:Now, here we are. Here we are. We got to meet face-to-face about two weeks ago. Maybe I'm still getting calls from that event.
Speaker 1:To be honest with you, I met with a guy this morning yeah, we hold those events for just that reason.
Speaker 2:You know, we want to make those connections. Just, you know, that's the point of this podcast as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great job on that, by the way.
Speaker 2:So what do you guys do for fun? I mean, you're in heavy work mode right now, obviously, but when you get a chance to get away, what do you guys like to do?
Speaker 1:Well, we like to just get outside walk the dogs. That's a big part. Um, you know, now it's warming up, we're looking forward to just hanging out on the patio grilling. I love to cook, so that's obviously a big center of the family kind of thing. We can all get together. Um, I probably cook too much. There's there's a lot of leftovers and stuff I'm tossing all the time, but um, I just like to make different things and uh.
Speaker 1:I always like to have food in the house for the kids when they're here, cause, honestly, they always want food, like all the time.
Speaker 2:Well, I love to cook too, and you know what's on my to-do list this spring is to finally buy that Blackstone grill I've been looking at. So what's your favorite cooking cooking uh tool? Do you cook outdoors? Are you an outdoor?
Speaker 1:barbecue. Yeah, I cook outdoor. I like to grill and uh, smoke, um, but mostly I like to um. Like brunch is my, my specialty. I like to make brunch, okay, um, but you know I love the grill and, uh, one of the things I really love to do is, um. I don't know if you've ever heard of rocklet a rocklet grill, mike.
Speaker 1:Um, it's a european mode of eating. It's kind of like think of fondue. You know, you chop a bunch of vegetables, you're you're cooking it, cooking at the table while you're talking to people drinking some wine, whatever. So I love to entertain, so doing things like that. You know I like to cook a lot of food, so I've noticed somebody's coming over. If I can make you know a five-gallon or a two-and-a-half-gallon bucket of soup or whatever. I just like to feed a lot of people and that's what brings me joy and I like to do some golfing.
Speaker 1:Stacey's getting into golfing as well and we'll probably hit the driving range, maybe this weekend.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, beautiful weather for that. Yeah, I'm a scramble golfer. I'm not. I'm not a great golfer by any means. I just like to go out there and have fun, raise money for charity, have a beer or two, or maybe sneak a bourbon here or there while I'm, while I'm hitting the pill around, but uh hey why not?
Speaker 1:it's a good excuse to get outside, for sure, and you know, it's definitely better mowing the lawn. In my mind, amen, brother.
Speaker 2:So, um, let's see. Um, if, uh, if somebody wants to reach you, well, first of all, there's. There's one thing we haven't talked about yet that I had in my notes, that I thought was a pretty unique thing. You may or may not have access to it right now, but it's that. Um, it's the Dumpster Pro. Oh yeah, that's got the locking storage, because when I saw that it's a dumpster and it's got locking storage like a little walk-in shed for contractors to lock up their tools and things like that, isn't that correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought that was genius. Yeah, so I'm Dumpster.
Speaker 2:Cincinnati, so the company's name is Dumpster. Yeah, I thought that was genius yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm dump store Cincinnati, so the company's name is dump store. It's out of Virginia and I just met these guys through a broker by happenstance and started talking to them when I met them and that was one thing that intrigued me too is they had the. It's a 12 yard dumpster and it's got like, basically, like you said, a storage shed on it. Now I don't have any of those right now. Those are kind of.
Speaker 1:You know, I mentioned the first three months. That'd be like when I get into, you know, full selling mode when I want to get out and I'll probably wind up. You know, working with a contractor like, hey, try this thing for me for a month, let me know how it works, things of that nature. I haven't gotten along those kind of conversations yet because I'm trying to build volume, but that will be a selling point for me down the road is hey, if you're on a job site, you don't need to carry your tools back and forth to the job site for five days, just lock them up in here. They'll be safe and yeah, that's a really good selling point and it will be more of an emphasis for me down the road. But yeah, that's a patented thing for them it's called the Dump Store Pro.
Speaker 2:Dump Store Pro. Yeah, I saw that and I thought that was so unique, because how many times have we seen on social media contractors posting hey man, somebody ripped off my cools last night, I got three saws missing and whatever, and it's always infuriating to see that people are out there doing that and this Dump Store Pro kind of addresses that need and I thought that was something that is going to get a lot of attention once you're able to provide that. So I don't know when that is exactly.
Speaker 1:But you know, when I find my client that and, like I said, you know I like the wheel and deal, so someone wants to give it a try and do some testimonials I can have that thing down here in two weeks. Ok, so I can get dumpsters and trucks pretty fast.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe we can make that happen for you. So dumpster Cincinnati, that's, I'm sure it comes with maybe a territory, what is that like? What's your service area?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I have a pretty large service area compared to a lot of the franchisees. I have all of Cincinnati, which is basically Hamilton County, Claremont County in Ohio and I have no kitten and Campbell in Kentucky and nobody owns any territories around me, so I'm also been served. I'm like I went pick one up from Phoebe, Indiana, yesterday. So you know I haven't looked to expand in those areas.
Speaker 1:Uh, down to crittenden okay north to south and then if you look at like cleves, lawrenceburg area on the west, over to batavia, so that kind of gives you a picture where I'm on. It's a pretty large territory it's basically in their, in their um vernacular, it's four territories. So and I thought, well, if I'm gonna go, if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go big or go home. So, um, they were a little, they were actually a little worried about the bigger territory, but I was like you know, I got it handled and you know, once things start moving along, we can adjust to the size of the market.
Speaker 2:What's the typical contract length? Three, four days, or is it a day or two? What's it look like?
Speaker 1:Well, that's one thing that I really wanted to put an emphasis on was the length, because one thing I don't want to do is break trust with customers, right? So when we were talking over pricing, I wanted to go a little bit longer than most.
Speaker 1:So I give a 10-day a 10-day runoff, which is pretty good when you look at the market, yeah, and then usually most people. You know I don't have to charge people over just for a day, especially when I know in the back of my mind I've got plenty of dumpsters out here. So that was kind of my thought to give value. You know you never want to be, you know, just the lowest in the market or anything like it wouldn't have value for your customers.
Speaker 1:I know that they're going to get not only a dumpster but, you know, a dumpster for the length of time they need it. Yeah, and also you know, you know when you, when you have one of my dumpsters in your driveway, it's going to look good. I take care of them. They're a nice color green and you know, that's one thing we stand for. A dumpster is a clean, fast, reliable service.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because when I go to your website, of course they look beautiful on the website they're supposed to, but in real life, you know what? What do they really look like? I've I've seen some ugly dumpsters, let's face it, yes, and who wants that in their driveway for for too long? So you bring exactly.
Speaker 1:And that's kind of my niche, you know. You know you go play with the big boys and industrial kind of trash hauling. My niche is, hey, like I said, residential. Most of my dumpsters are going to be sitting where they're visible and in my mind, if they're going to be sitting where they're visible, they need to be a reflection of how I run my business. You know, clean, fast, reliable, and you just don't.
Speaker 1:And I'm not banging on the industry, it just kind of is what it is right. For years we've only had, uh, you know, two reputable um trash haulers in the area and it's kind of like you know the electric companies. You're kind of beholden to that right, and what I offer the public is, uh, number one, a different choice um customer service. Because, to be honest with you, those guys that are bigger, you know they I'm not saying they don't have time, but that's not their emphasis right, they're moving as much as they can. I've got to elicit business through being a great communicator, being clean, being on time and just forming a relationship with the customer and that's what is going to get me the business and get me the repeat business so if somebody wants to learn more about your services, see the depth and breadth of your offerings, see some pretty pictures of some beautiful green dumpsters.
Speaker 2:Do you have a website they can go to?
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, just go to dumpstorecom. Easy to navigate the area Cincinnati. Yeah, honestly, just go to dumpstorecom. Easy to navigate the area Cincinnati. Also, you can call 513-928-3867, and that 3867 is dump D-U-M-P. Okay, play on that word. So pretty easy. I'm also on Facebook Dump Store Cincinnati. Search on Facebook, linkedin, craig Blevins, and then my page is managed under that. So, yeah, lots of ways to see me. There's also a company called Hometown Dumpsters. You can go on there and rent through a third party and see what I have to offer as well.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, when I post this to the podcast website, I'll make sure that it's posted correctly. But I just want to make sure, while we're talking, anyone listening to this when they hear dumpstorecom, I want to make sure they understand it's D-U-M-P-S-T-O-R Correct. Yeah, there's no E on the end of store.
Speaker 1:And that's the play on the Dumpstore Pro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's funny, but you know I have no skin in this game at all, really. But I saw that Dumpstore Pro and I'm excited. I'm like dang, I want in on that man. Yeah, it's a great idea.
Speaker 1:Well, hey, if you need extra storage out in your backyard, maybe you can put a liner in, put a swimming pool in it and keep your floats in the top part.
Speaker 2:I'm open to a lot of ideas. You probably already have a pool, don't you? I don't, that's my design because I don't want to knock on pools, but I'm telling you pools can be expensive, oh.
Speaker 1:I understand.
Speaker 2:My neighbors have pools. That's all I need.
Speaker 1:Hey, friends with pools, friends with boats, that's what you need.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly, you got it, brother, all right, is there anything that we?
Speaker 1:haven't talked about that. You wanted to make sure people knew, or have we done? The only thing I would say is you know, I started this journey back in October and I had a very long successful career with a big company in the area, worked for him for 20 years, and I never thought the time would come in my life where I would just look up and be like this isn't what I want to do, right, and I kind of just I woke up one day and just said, hey, you know, I need to do something else because, um, I need to find where my passion lies. And it doesn't lie in this anymore. And it wasn't the fault of anybody, I think it was just, you know, I went the, it went the course with where I was at and it was kind of time to go home and do something and and I just started researching.
Speaker 1:So, just, you know, message out there to anybody Don't feel stuck into anything. Uh, you have more um, you know, um, you have more control over your life than you think. Uh, go find something you love to do, go, start meeting with people and things start falling into place. Uh, of's hard work, you know a lot of time, but, um, you know, that would be my message to everybody because I, you know, I've dealt with plenty of people my my old career and I still do, just counseling them through. Hey, you know, going through the same thing I went through and like, hey, you know, go try this, go try that. Yeah, like you have more power, more control over your life than you actually think.
Speaker 2:Scary and exhilarating at the same time. Awesome, yes, yeah, you. You jump off that cliff, and you know. You just hope that there's something down there that was worth it.
Speaker 1:Well, you said something at that networking event and I've I think I've used it once, as I said something to the effect you know, I haven't made a dollar in like five months, and you said you know, spoken like a true entrepreneur, and now I'm really starting to learn that you know. So that stuck with me. I'll probably I'm going to steal that from you and use it.
Speaker 2:Okay, very good, yeah, because I'm sure I stole it from somebody else. So we pass along our knowledge and wisdom and I'm happy that you and I got to sit down today and let people know about your new venture, dump Store of Cincinnati, and they got to meet you and see your smile and hear about not only Dump Store of Cincinnati but your love of brunch.
Speaker 1:Yes, love brunch. Maybe too much, that's why I have the camera up top here.
Speaker 2:There's a method to our madness. Yep, yes, all right, guy. Well, um, I'm, uh, I'm happy that we got to sit down today and do this, looking forward to your success, and I'll do everything I can to kind of help, um, uh, push you forward in this new endeavor.
Speaker 1:And, uh, I can tell you we're going to have you over for some rock luck here soon. I'm going to teach you all about it.
Speaker 2:Yes, Would love that, would love it Maybe play some. Euchre right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, itching to play Euchre.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you having me on. This was fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll do it again sometime. We'll we'll, um, you know meet, meet back here in a few months or so and update everybody on how it's going for you.
Speaker 1:I did want to mention one other thing. You know I another part of the reason I got into business for myself is I I love giving back to the community. Yeah, you know I love being able to help children especially. So I'm looking really in the next couple of months with Dump Store, because they have a great community outreach program to raise some money for some really great causes that I won't mention right now, but I know what they are. I look forward to getting out in the community and helping people out.
Speaker 2:I would love to help you with that. I've got some community publications that we can promote that in and we'll do another podcast specific to that. Part of my mission is to highlight local nonprofits, charitable endeavors and man man, especially when kids are involved. I'm right there with your brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it, Mike.
Speaker 2:Well, with that being said, this is the end of the latest episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Always good to talk to new business owners. I'll just say to the listeners out there be good to your neighbors. Until next time. See everybody, take care.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Union. Take care.