Sam Evans, a Penn State Altoona senior, founded You Call We Haul after reading The Effortless Entrepreneur. He built the junk-removal company to two locations by applying his core principle that everything is negotiable. Evans says his biggest regret is not buying a truck at 16, and he tells aspiring entrepreneurs not to fear any industry because early ventures teach skills you'll use later.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite makes the process of becoming a published bestselling author as simple as sipping your morning cup of coffee. You can learn more about Authors Unite at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
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All right, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. Today I have Sam Evans with us. He is a senior at Penn State Altoona and owner of a junk removal company based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. So welcome to the show, man.
Thanks, Tyler. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Of course, man. Grateful to have you here. We'll dive into the first one, Sam. The first one I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So when I was about probably 8 or 9 years old, I had just gotten an Xbox. I had saved up all my money, bought an Xbox, but didn't have a TV. I had a couple hundred dollars left, but this is when TVs were like $500 for a 20-inch TV. And I somehow convinced my parents to split it with me pending that I pay them back with interest. And I'm like 9 years old at this time. And it took me probably about a year and a half to get my mom the other like $100 or $200 that I owed her. And it really taught me the value of money and how I never ever want to go in debt again.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So with junk removal, one thing that comes up constantly is negotiations. And I would say just that everything is negotiable. It's one thing I always try to live by because you can negotiate everything in your daily life. You know, even things that don't seem negotiable can be if you really push the issue and try to negotiate them. So that's one thing I've learned with junk removal. Because I negotiate on every job. I'm always negotiating prices with people, stuff like that. So I'd say everything is negotiable. Yes, man.
And if you don't mind, I'd just love to dive a little deeper. How did you start? Because you're still in college, so can you tell us a little bit more about your company, how you started it?
Sure. So my company is called You Call, We Haul. We're based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We just opened up a second location in Altoona, Pennsylvania. And I started it right after the summer of— or going into the summer of my, right after my freshman year of college. So I read a book about it called The Effortless Entrepreneur by the guys who started College Hunks Hauling Junk, if you're familiar with them. They were one of the fastest growing franchises in America a few years ago across any industry. And it really just gave me an idea to start the business and see if I can make some money with it because I was working the 3:00 AM to 9:00 AM shift at UPS that summer. So one of my main goals was to figure out what to do with the rest of my day that could also make me some money. So I read the book, went out and bought a truck, put out some flyers, and next thing I know I was in business. 2 and a half years later, I actually, I'm a legal entity now, have an LLC. Like I said, we just opened up our second location, so it's been going well.
Wow, man. Dude, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. So it's called You Call, We Haul?
Yep.
Got it, okay. My next one is, and maybe you kind of touched on it there, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? Answer however you want, but maybe what makes sense is like, there's a lot of people today that want to start their own company, but they're scared or they don't know where to start. For you, what would you tell someone if they were just starting out? What's the first thing they should do?
Don't be afraid to get into any industry. I mean, looking back on it, I never thought that junk removal would be something that I wanted to pursue after college. But starting it and learning the branding of it, learning how to market myself, market my business, and then seeing the growth that had, like the potential for growth that a business like this has, I would say just don't be afraid to get into any type of industry because you learn so much no matter what it is. And even if, you know, you start a junk removal company and that's not what you want to do, you can leverage all the connections you make and the progress you've made on that business into something bigger. So I would just say Don't worry about what you're starting right away necessarily, 'cause you can always leverage it into what you really want in the long run.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Buy a truck when I turned 16 rather than after college, or after my first year of college. I would have started it younger if I had the opportunity, but I would just say don't be afraid to do, which is one thing that always held me back from certain things, just being afraid to put myself out there. So I would say you're willing to do that and hop on podcasts like this. Like, this isn't something I would have done before, but, you know, I've done a few now, and I'd say just putting myself out there.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Doing something that you love. I mean, not that I love junk removal, but I love building the business and branding and everything. So I would say just finding something that you enjoy doing, because once you're happy, that's how you can provide happiness to others as well.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I read a book recently called Living with a SEAL by Jesse Itzler. He invited David Goggins, who's widely known as the toughest man in the world, to live with him for a month and put him through a training regimen, kind of just to kick him out of his rut that he was in. And the one thing I learned from it that really stuck with me is that the only limits that we put on ourselves are all mental. I mean, you can push way past your limits. If you think that you're done at 40%, you can really go up another 60%. And get to 100%. So that's one of the things that really stuck with me, just that the mental limitations we put on ourselves are very constraining and they don't need to be.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
I really don't have a favorite quote, but something I always try to think about is Steve Jobs saying that the people that are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. Because I see that all the time with entrepreneurs and people I know. I mean, if you're changing the world on a very small basis, it's the people that actually go out and try to do something that actually end up doing it and change the world.
Yeah, man, love it. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. Your story is very cool and still a lot more to go. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find and connect with you online?
For my business, you can go on my website, youcallwehaulpa.com, or follow us on Facebook, facebook.com/youcallwehaulpa. And if you want to get in contact with me personally, you go on LinkedIn, search Sam Evans IV, Sam Evans IV. I should be the only one on there.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for jumping on.
Absolutely. I appreciate it. It was fun.
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