Joe Yurick With JDog Junk Removal and Hauling

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Lee Kantor: [00:00:32] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio, and this is going to be a fun one today on the show, we have Joe Yurick with Jay Dog junk removal and hauling southern Lancaster County. Welcome Joe

Joe Yurick: [00:00:45] Lee. Good morning. How are you?

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] I am doing great. I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Jay. Doug, how are you serving folks?

Joe Yurick: [00:00:52] So we are a veteran owned and operated junk removal company, and we do things as small as a single item pickup to a full estate cleanout. What kind of sets us apart is the whole veteran aspect. My crew are all local veterans, and what we do when we find items that we could repurpose on jobs is we’d like to keep those items and donate them to local veterans or even local civilians, anybody in need. Our focus is to keep things out of the landfill as much as possible.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:20] So your franchisee, what attracted you to this franchise?

Joe Yurick: [00:01:25] To be honest, I got out of the army back in 04 at an honorable discharge after serving during Iraqi freedom and enduring freedom. And throughout my professional career, I’ve been doing this for four years. I never really had a chance to kind of celebrate the fact that I was a vet. Like, unless you knew me, you didn’t know that. So when I heard about Jay Dog and I saw the obnoxiously beautiful trucks with the vehicle wraps and the fact that it’s veterans and putting veterans back to work, I was like, That is actually really cool. So just the idea of it wrote me in and month and a half ago we celebrated our 40th anniversary and it feels like I’ve only been doing this for a couple of months. I’m just having a blast.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:01] Now, how was that transition to go from the military into being a business owner?

Joe Yurick: [00:02:08] So the transition from military to civilian at first is kind of rough, I feel like now they have a lot of programs that help you with that. But back when I got out, I kind of felt like alone and lost. But the cool thing about the military is they kind of instills like an intestinal fortitude and an attitude where you can adapt and overcome to any situation, especially in our industry. We use this term a lot embrace the suck. We do a lot of like water clean outs and on days like that, like the smells the haunt you forever. So you just kind of have to embrace the suck. Focus on the mission and just move forward. So I’d say the military helped a lot and become an entrepreneur.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:45] Now, when you’re leading men in the military and leading men and women in the in your business, now there’s a sense of mission, there’s a sense of, you know, serving. Is it that much difference? I would imagine there’s that that part of it is pretty similar. I mean, as a civilian, I don’t want to. I mean, I know that the there’s different missions and there’s different stakes, obviously, but just intellectually, it sounds like a similar kind of endeavor.

Joe Yurick: [00:03:18] It adds It actually is, yeah, in leading people, and it depends on your leadership style, my leadership style is I like to lead by example, so even though I’m out of the truck, I’d say 80 percent of the time, a lot of the harder jobs. I do it with the guys just to show like, Hey, if I can do it, you can definitely do it. Now, when it comes to mission, this is something that definitely is taught in the military that I don’t know if a lot of civilians deal with this when you’re out of work time or on any kind of mission. It never goes as planned. You could go in with the best plan in the world, and something throws a wrench in it and throws that plan off on the military. Like I said earlier, we’re taught to adapt and overcome. So literally, no matter what happens, we readjust, we figure out, and we still complete the mission.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:00] Now, do you think that going the route of franchise is a good path for people leaving the military?

Joe Yurick: [00:04:08] I do, and for a couple of reasons, number one, they provide you with a playbook of what to do. So even if you’re not the most outgoing or spontaneous person like they literally tell you what to do to be successful. And then number two, which I really like, there’s a huge support system. Like when I first started, I remember doing my first baby grand piano removal, and I’m like, How the hell do you get a piano out of the house? So I went on our internet and I said, Hey, doing a piano removal, any suggestions and other $J owners would chime in. Do this? Do this step one, step two, step three. So then I went into the job looking like a professional, even though it was my first time doing it. But I just relied on my network as a franchise. And to me, that’s invaluable.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:50] So now, as part of when you were when you were deciding to go, you know, be a business owner and be a franchisee. Did you check out a whole bunch of different franchises and then landed on Jay Dog or was Jay Dog just kind of the thing you saw and you’re like, Hey, this is what I’m going to do.

Joe Yurick: [00:05:06] No, Jay Dog is definitely the first one I saw. And like I said, the whole veteran aspect really, really roped me in. So what I did was I reached out to local $J, who already existing. I spent a day with them, shadowing them, just picking their brain, working on the job with them and seeing if it’s something I would like to do. And it’s just it’s great. I mean, I I didn’t shop around franchises, but when I sold this one, I just fell in love.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:30] Now any tips for new franchisee on how to get that kind of escape velocity? Because ultimately, it’s your business. You know, the franchisor helps and they have a structure and a playbook, but you’re the boots on the ground. You’re the one who has to, you know, kind of drum up the sales and get the business. Any advice for a new franchisee on how to create that escape velocity to create a successful business?

Joe Yurick: [00:05:54] Yeah, absolutely. Now going into it, I’m not going to lie to you. This was one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made because, like you said, when you’re a business owner, the success is all on you and the failure is all on you. So my suggestion is, do the work do things that make you uncomfortable? Do networking go to being in groups? Join your local chambers, give back to your community? I always say you have to network to get work. And in my experience, the more you give people give back to you. So anything you could do to help, whether it’s volunteering your time or donating whatever you could possibly do to give your community. You’ll get it back like tri fold. So don’t be afraid of anything. Jump right into it, get out of your comfort zone and always network. You cannot sit at home and wait for the phone to ring. You have to put your brand out there, be a part of your community and the business will come.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:42] So be very visible. Don’t you’re not going to succeed just by staying in the office and waiting for the phone to ring.

Joe Yurick: [00:06:50] Not at all. No, no. My my soul dies if I sit behind a desk for too long. So I have to be out and about networking and meeting people and just talking to people like you and just spreading the word.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:01] So now let’s talk a little bit about the new reality show that Jay Dog is being spotlighted in. Can you share a little bit, maybe a sneak preview of that?

Joe Yurick: [00:07:11] Yeah, so the name of the show is called Operation Hidden Treasures, and it is on Sunday mornings on the Discovery Channel at eight a.m. And then there’s an encore episode on the American Hero channel, which used to be the military channel. And that’s prime time at 8:30 p.m. So each Sunday, each Thursday, they shot a total of 10 episodes where nine of them and it was so cool to shoot because it really highlights what we do and everything’s in the title operation Hidden Treasures. So we go to jobs, we do clean outs, we find really cool things. We find either veteran or civilian, anybody in need of these items, and then we donate them free of charge to the person just to do the right thing and give back. And a lot of those stories are very heartfelt. Some of the guys we pick up are actually pretty outlandish. So you definitely want to tune in. It’s a really good show

Lee Kantor: [00:08:01] And that goes that that wasn’t just for a show as part of the show. That’s just part of how George does business normally, right?

Joe Yurick: [00:08:09] Absolutely. You could go on my Facebook page, all of southern Lancaster County and go to any date and look within a week and you’ll see us doing some sort of donations. I mean, we’ll just do that for cameras. I think that’s what kind of enticed the producer to put us on on the world stage. But yeah, we always donate because it’s it’s the right thing to do. And to be honest, it kind of makes up for all the the hard crap jobs that we do, like the hoarder houses and everything. When you donate to someone and they start tearing up and they just give you that big hug, like you can’t put a money amount on that like that just fills my bucket. That’s the best feeling in the world.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:43] Now, any advice for homeowners who have been acquiring a lot of stuff, what could they be doing to not get to the point where, you know, they become a hoarder? Like, is there some just regular maintenance people should be doing just to kind of, you know, purge some of the stuff that they’ve been acquiring over the years because it just sneaks up on you a lot of times

Joe Yurick: [00:09:05] It really does. And it’s funny. A lot of people don’t realize how much stuff they have until they move. And they’re like, Man, I’ve moved these boxes with me to three houses like, Why do I still have this? Or if they have the garage where Powell started keeps getting bigger and bigger, and now they have these expensive cars outside, but they’re protecting junk in their garage. So what I would suggest is, and this is really hard to do it if you’re enticed to look around at everything you have, if you haven’t used it in two years, you’re probably not going to use it. So just kind of get an idea of what you want to get rid of. Call your local dog. And the beauty of hiring us is we do all the work so you don’t have to. So if you had items in your attic, in your basement, your garage or guys go in, we grab them, pull them out. You just have to hit them with the mice and show them what to grab. And we do all the work, so you don’t have to.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:51] Now what about the folks who who think, Oh, this is valuable? The hanging onto this because at some point I’ll be able to sell this.

Joe Yurick: [00:10:01] That’s tough, and just always think that if you haven’t sold it yet, like I said, the two year thing, if you’re going to sell it, sell it, put on eBay, put on Craigslist, put on Facebook Marketplace, but do it because it’s not your kids are going to end up cleaning it out of your house and saying no dad wanted to sell this like ten years ago. And now it’s your child’s responsibility. So if you’re going to sell it, act like Mike, you just do it. It’s not definitely has somebody pick it up because again, we repurpose items. So if it is something of value, we could find a home for it so it doesn’t go to the landfill.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:32] Now in your work, is it what is the primary customers that someone moving is a death like? What is the typical job for you?

Joe Yurick: [00:10:42] So it varies our our clientele seems to be, for the most part, housewives anywhere between the age of 25 and 85. Maybe they’ve asked their husband to clean out their basement and they haven’t done it yet, or they’re just tired of parking out in the rain and carrying their groceries, groceries in the house when their garage is full. We also do work with a lot of realtors, so like if tenants just move out and leave all the items behind, we could pick that up. Or if you have like you’re walking through your for your final day of closing and the seller was supposed to remove that jacuzzi and it’s still there, you could call us, we pick that up. We also do nonstructural demo. So if you have like a playground in your backyard and you’re an empty nester and you just want the playground guard gone, we could grab that. Or if you have a shed that’s falling apart. We could demo and haul that off. So there’s really not one. Typekit customer we have because literally everyone has jumped, so it’s just a matter of time until you’re ready to get rid of it and then you just call the veterans at Tatel.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:38] Now, as part of your business, you mentioned networking is knowing kind of like a lot of real estate agents. Is that critical for your job? Because the more you know, the more people are going to refer business to you? Or is it do you just kind of wait for the consumer to find you or you find the consumer that need you?

Joe Yurick: [00:11:56] Now, it’s critical to have real estate agents in your network because word of mouth, especially in my territory, because we’re just outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is like Amish country, word of mouth down here is everything. That’s why I get priced 60 percent of my work is we do a good job for a realtor once and then they talk to their realtor friends and it’s just it’s key. So take care of your realtors, take care of everyone in your network group and just just always communicate just if you can’t do something. Be honest if you can do something. Be honest. So it’s all about communication and making sure your network is taking care of good stuff.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:30] Well, congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to learn more about the job opportunity or even get a hold of you in southern Lancaster County, what are the best coordinates?

Joe Yurick: [00:12:42] So worldwide for the job opportunity, just Google www.youtube.com, and that’ll send you to the main landing page because there’s also two parts of Jade, there’s a carpet cleaning and a junk removal, so that will put you where you could kind of make that decision. Now, if you’d like to contact me, I’m the jade dog of southern Lancaster County. I’m on Facebook, Instagram and you could also find me online. And we also started a film company called Final Information Films because we like to do these fun videos while we’re on jobs. So if you Google my name, which is Joe York, Joey YRI, C.K., I’m on YouTube, and you can check out all of our fun videos of what we do on jobs.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:21] Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Joe Yurick: [00:13:28] Aileen, thank you for the opportunity, and it was great meeting you.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:30] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.