On March 13, 2020, Jess Bisher was headed to the airport to buy a business in Florida.
COVID hit, the trip never happened, and a month later she bought a dumpster franchise instead.
On this episode of the Bucks Townies Podcast, we sit down with Jess Bisher, owner of redbox+ Dumpsters of BucksMont. Honestly, this one should have been called Business Townies. If you own a business, or want to, you're going to learn something.
Yes, the Dumpster Has a Toilet
We had to start with the question everybody asks. redbox+ runs four dumpster sizes, and two of them come with a portable toilet built in. The trucks carry vacuum pumps to service them, and yes, they've tested lifting a dumpster with the toilet still full.
Today Jess runs nine trucks and a big fleet of red dumpsters. About 90 percent of her work comes from contractors, and almost none of it is on long-term contracts. It's relationships: a contractor texts that they need five dumpsters this week, and they get them.
Five Kids, One Bathroom
Jess grew up in Pittsburgh in a family of five kids and one bathroom, with parents she calls real scrappy people. She says that's where she learned to be fine without everything planned out.
She got an engineering degree, spent five years in heavy highway construction, then went to business school at Penn, where she got pregnant and her whole risk profile changed. After three kids came quickly, she decided it was time to work for herself.
The Question Every New Owner Should Answer
Jess worked with a franchise consultant, which she describes as kind of like a realtor for franchises, and one question stuck with her: how many years can you really go before you make money off the business? She means financially, but also emotionally, and she says to talk it through with your spouse.
It matters in a business like hers. Each truck runs about $300,000, dumpster loans don't come at 100 percent, and she was selling dumpsters to customers before the dumpsters had even arrived.
Take More Work Than You Have Trucks For
Jess explains the part of the trash business most people never see. Trucks and insurance cost so much that you have to keep them running 11 to 13 hours a day, and that means taking more work than you think you can handle, then figuring it out day after day.
That's why she hires the way she does. Her go-to interview question: how many ping pong balls could fit in this room? She isn't looking for the right answer. She wants someone who answers and runs with it.
She also gives one of the most useful tips we've heard on the show: sign every business document with your title, even if there's no line for it.
Velvet Fold
Her newest venture is Velvet Fold, a laundry pickup-and-delivery service she runs with a partner, serving Yardley, Newtown and nearby areas. Jess sees more and more families paying for home services, and her long-term goal is to become a franchisor herself.
We also hear about getting stuck on top of the landfill a month into owning the business, giving second chances to drivers, why she'll always be a minivan mom, and raising four kids who all do their own laundry.
Watch the Full Episode
Watch the full conversation with Jess Bisher on the Bucks Townies Podcast on YouTube, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Find Jess at redboxplus.com/bucks-county and velvetfold.com, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Bucks Townies features conversations with the entrepreneurs, creators and personalities who make Bucks County such an interesting place to live and work.
The Bucks Townies Podcast is presented by Revival Building Group — We Are Your Builder™.
