635: $1000/mo Renting Out Plastic Bins: Starting a Box Rental Side Hustle

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Side Hustle Show – Episode 635: $1000/mo Renting Out Plastic Bins: Starting a Box Rental Side Hustle

Introduction

In Episode 635 of The Side Hustle Show, host Nick Loper interviews Gary Grewall, the founder of CalBoxRental.com, about his innovative side hustle: renting out plastic moving boxes. Over the past decade, Gary has successfully managed this eco-friendly rental business with relatively low startup costs and manageable time investment, earning approximately $1,000 per month. This detailed summary explores Gary’s journey, strategies, challenges, and insights into running a profitable side hustle in the rental industry.

Origins of the Box Rental Idea

Gary recounts how he conceived the idea for his box rental business during his time at UCLA. On move-in day, he noticed an abundance of unsightly cardboard boxes and, driven by his passion for sustainability, sought a better solution.

“I was like, man, that's pretty unsightly. I've always been very sustainability focused… why don't I start something like this?” (01:15)

After discovering Frog Box in Canada—a company that delivers reusable plastic crates for moving—Gary saw an opportunity to replicate and localize the concept in Sacramento, California, where no similar services existed.

Launching the Business

Gary's initial steps involved sourcing the plastic bins. He purchased his first batch from Lowe's, encountering challenges such as high costs and limited suppliers. Eventually, he partnered with Reusable Transport Packaging, a bulk supplier, allowing him to scale effectively.

“I initially ordered, I think 50, and it was close to $2,000 with delivery.” (06:02)

To store the boxes, Gary rented a storage unit, ensuring his home space remained uncluttered. As demand grew, he expanded his operations by partnering with a local moving company, enabling streamlined logistics and broader service coverage without significant overhead.

Marketing and Customer Acquisition

Early marketing efforts focused on grassroots methods like Craigslist listings, which proved surprisingly effective despite the platform's limitations.

“I couldn’t believe that we got an email from somebody that was like, yeah, I want to rent these, I want to try these out.” (09:14)

Gary emphasizes the importance of local SEO, ensuring his website ranks on the first page for relevant searches such as “rent moving boxes in Sacramento.” Additionally, he forged strategic partnerships with interior designers and organizing companies, tapping into their client bases for consistent referrals.

“We have relationships with a lot of interior designers and organizing companies out here… they're probably going to find us. We're on that first page.” (04:17)

Pricing Strategy

Determining the right pricing involved analyzing competitors across various regions and experimenting through trial and error. Gary opted for higher margins to compensate for lower volumes initially, aligning prices with the value provided compared to traditional movers.

“We started to increase our prices and we would still get… most people really don't bat an eye because they see that if I'm paying movers $2,000 or $3,000 to pack up and move my house….” (13:53)

Pricing structures are based on the number of boxes and rental duration, catering primarily to in-town moves to facilitate easy returns via partner moving companies.

Operational Logistics and Partnerships

Partnering with a top-rated local moving company allowed Gary to overcome logistical hurdles, such as storage and transportation, by leveraging the mover’s existing infrastructure.

“They moved all the boxes to their warehouse area. And so that basically took care of rent and reduced our expenses.” (08:05)

This collaboration enabled Gary to maintain a low time investment, dedicating only a few hours per week to manage the business alongside his day job.

Managing Risks and Liabilities

Gary acknowledges potential risks, including damaged or unreturned boxes and liability concerns. To mitigate these, he implemented comprehensive rental agreements outlining responsibilities and indemnifications.

“We basically made sure that the rental agreement had… indemnified us for anything.” (25:18)

Additionally, Gary ensures boxes are cleaned and sanitized after each rental, either personally or through a trusted partner, maintaining quality for subsequent customers.

Customer Reviews and Business Growth

Maintaining a high standard of service has resulted in consistent positive reviews and a strong reputation in Sacramento. Gary actively seeks reviews through follow-ups and leverages tools like Google Voice to streamline the process.

“We have a five-star rating on Yelp and Google… it's been pretty clear.” (33:49)

Expanding his inventory to nearly a thousand boxes, Gary has created a robust system using spreadsheets to manage bookings and inventory, ensuring efficient operation even as demand fluctuates.

Future Plans and Sustainability Goals

While Gary recognizes that national scaling may not be feasible due to the localized nature of the business, his primary goal is to sustain and gradually grow within the Sacramento area. He envisions a future where renting reusable boxes becomes the norm, contributing to zero-waste initiatives.

“I'll be happy when renting boxes is more normal than buying cardboard boxes. Right.” (40:27)

Key Takeaways

1. Strategic Partnerships: Collaborating with local businesses, such as moving companies and interior designers, can significantly enhance reach and efficiency.
2. Local SEO and Online Presence: Ensuring high visibility on search engines through effective SEO practices is crucial for attracting organic traffic.
3. Sustainable Business Practices: Aligning the business with sustainability trends can differentiate it in the market and attract eco-conscious customers.
4. Managing Operational Risks: Implementing clear rental agreements and maintaining rigorous cleaning protocols helps mitigate potential risks.
5. Customer Relationships: Building strong relationships and actively seeking reviews fosters trust and drives referrals.

Conclusion

Gary Grewall’s box rental side hustle exemplifies how a simple, sustainable idea can be transformed into a profitable business with strategic planning and effective partnerships. His journey underscores the importance of adaptability, customer focus, and leveraging local networks to achieve steady growth. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Gary’s story serves as an inspiring blueprint for launching and maintaining a successful side hustle with minimal time investment.

Notable Quotes

• Gary Grewall on Starting the Business: “I thought, what a great idea. Why don't I start something like this?” (01:15)
• On Marketing via Craigslist: “It was super sketchy. But I just had no inhibition. I was like, yeah, I'll just go on.” (09:14)
• Pricing Strategy: “We started to increase our prices and we would still get… most people really don't bat an eye.” (13:53)
• Risk Management: “We basically made sure that the rental agreement had… indemnified us for anything.” (25:18)
• Sustainability Goal: “I'll be happy when renting boxes is more normal than buying cardboard boxes.” (40:27)
• Gary’s Side Hustle Tip: “Just try, just start something, right? Do something that's going to move the needle.” (41:30)

Resources Mentioned

• CalBoxRental.com: Gary’s box rental business website.
• Financial Fives: Gary’s book on saving and earning.
• Show Notes Free Download: List of 25 unconventional rental ideas available at sidehustlenation.com.

Additional Rental Side Hustle Episodes for Inspiration

• Episode 428: Steve Nadremia’s portable hot tub rental business.
• Episode 564: Lenny Tim’s mobility scooter rental business.

For more insights and actionable tips on starting and growing your side hustle, tune into The Side Hustle Show and explore the myriad opportunities shared by successful entrepreneurs like Gary Grewall.

Transcript

[A]

1000 bucks a month renting out plastic bins. What's up? What's up? Nick Loper here. Welcome to the side Hustle show. It's the entrepreneurship podcast you can actually apply. I've got a fun case study for you today under the category of buying something once and getting paid for it over and over again. A creative rental business. For the last 10 years, my guest has been renting out moving boxes. Relatively low startup cost, steady and maybe even increasing demand. Just a few hours to week that it takes to run on the side from his day job from Cal. Boxrental.com Gary Grewall. Welcome to the side Hustle show.

[B]

Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me here today.

[A]

You bet. Stick around. In this one, you hear how Gary came up with this random idea, how he gets customers, and how he handles the storage and delivery logistics for this physical inventory business. Now, you know I love a fun rental Side hustle, fun rental business. And boxes certainly aren't the only thing that you can rent out for a profit. Which is why I put together A list of 25 other unconventional things that you can make money renting out that is yours for free to download at the show notes for this [e-mail] Gary. Or you can just follow the link in the episode description and it'll get you over there. Gary, how'd you come up with this idea? This is a pretty random one.

[B]

Basically, like, I was in college, ucla, and I think it was move in day for fall quarter. And there was just tons and tons of boxes. There was piles and piles and piles of boxes everywhere. And I was like, man, that's pretty unsightly. Like, I've always been very sustainability focused, you know, I thought, well, there's gotta be something better than this. And so I just typed in in Google, like rent moving boxes. And I found there was a company in Canada called Frog Box. And I thought that was such a cool idea. You just basically get boxes delivered to you and then there are these plastic crates basically with the lids attached, and then you pack them, you move, and somebody comes and takes them away. I was like, what a great idea. Why don't I start something like this? Cause there's nothing like that where I could find it during that time.

[A]

Okay, so somebody was doing it in Canada, Frog Box. And instead of being discouraged, which sometimes would be my reaction, like, oh, I come up with this great business idea, of course, Google it. And then, oh, somebody else is already doing that. Feel like, well, back to the drawing board. Like, no, no, no. Well, Maybe in this case they're doing it in a separate area and say, okay, I could bring this idea to California.

[B]

Yeah, that's the thing is like these kinds of businesses, it's just like a coffee shop. If you go to this really cool shop or restaurant and there's not like that where you live, you can duplicate it, you can make it your own. Now if it was like, if I was selling these boxes and I was like, I'm just going to sell these boxes, well, I probably would be out of business because there's much larger companies doing that who have, can take on smaller margins and have greater exposure and.

[A]

It becomes a commodity type of thing.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's very localized. Right. Like they're not going to deliver boxes to your door from Canada to California. And so this was something that, you know, my hometown in Sacramento, California, there is no company that does what we do. Even today, I don't know of any. That's their primary line of business. Now it has caught on. Some movers are like offering this to their customers. But we are the primary offering here.

[A]

Yeah. And I want to highlight too, even if there is somebody else doing it, there's room for more than one sushi restaurant in town. There's, you know, if you have a decent population, there's. There's a little room for healthy competition and you can think about other ways to differentiate yourself aside from just the, the product. But in this case, it was somewhat of a blue ocean. But then the next question is like, is there any demand for this? Like, did. Did moving customers know that this was an option? Or is there a little, like, market education that has to happen?

[B]

You know, Nick, Even today, after 10 years in business, I still get calls and emails like, why haven't I heard from you guys before? I didn't even know this existed. So obviously we could do a little bit of a better job, I guess, of publicity. And this just goes into the fact that, you know, it is a side gig. I contribute maybe three hours a week to it. Probably could do more. But we have a consistent stream of customers and we're at this point we have the biggest groups that come to us, biggest clients is return clients and people finding us from referrals and Google. So fortunately, our Google search is working well. They search rent moving boxes in Sacramento or any of the outlying suburbs. They're probably going to find us. We're on that first page.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And we have relationships with a lot of interior designers and organizing companies out here. So that's kind of like our Niche is if they're working with a client who wants to redo their kitchen or have a organize their whole house, well, they got to pack it all up because they have to redo it. And they like to use our boxes because they're eco friendly, they're ergonomic, they're useful, and they can stay on site for a couple of weeks.

[A]

So what was the first move here? So you Google rent moving boxes, you find this competitor in Canada for some level of validation, and then you just go to Home Depot and order up a bunch of those. Like, I'm picturing like the giant Tupperware bin type of things.

[B]

Yeah, it's funny you say that, because that's exactly the first thing that I did is I went to, I think it was Lowe's and they have like these big black. You know how like, people store their Christmas decorations in their garage?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our attic is filled with these things.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So it's like, I thought that's what you should use. Cause I didn't know where else to buy them. I was just like, oh, I'm just going to start this business. Why not? I was 23 years old and so I bought like five. And I was like, well, it's kind of a lot of money. We have to do a different business. And then I kind of hemmed and hawed for a couple of weeks on it. I returned them and I Googled, like, I think I reached out to a competitor in Texas. It's like, where do you guys get your boxes? And they're like, oh, there's this company in Florida, in Nevada, called Reusable Transport Packaging. They're one of the companies that sell. They're kind of like a U line where they sell all kinds of various business products like forklifts and dollies and trays and tape and all kinds of stuff. So these companies sell boxes like this in a bulk inventory. You can't just buy one or two. You to buy 50, 100, 500 boxes. So when I saw that, I was like, okay, I'm going to go in with both feet and make the investment and see what happens.

[A]

How do you remember how much it was or how many boxes you got?

[B]

Yeah, I initially ordered, I think 50, and it was close to $2,000 with delivery.

[A]

Yeah, because you can't do this with just five. Like, people got more than five boxes worth of stuff. Like, it's got to be. You got to have enough to hold a house or an apartment's worth of belongings, right?

[B]

Yeah. And I Quickly found that out is that, you know, clients would consistently ask, especially after we got established, after a couple of years, they would want a hundred boxes. And that's especially true for when we started to do office moves. So a lot of law firms or whatnot want to move offices. They want 100 boxes. And so that's when we had to start ordering more. And then the nice thing, too, is these boxes last over 100 moves. Yeah, right. So we're not ordering new boxes every month or even every year. It's maybe every couple of years to refresh our inventory.

[A]

Okay, so you're a couple grand into it. You got 50 boxes. Where do you. Where do you put them? Like, is there room in your garage for this stuff?

[B]

No, I wish there. Initially there was. First month was there. I then got a storage unit so that I could. Because, you know, sometimes people want to pick up the boxes. I don't want people coming to my house and picking up boxes, you know? Sure. And I think it was like $80 a month to rent a storage unit for my boxes. And then after that, when we started to get a little busier, I actually had moved to Denver. And I said, okay, well, I don't want to shut down the business, but I want to move to Denver for this job. So I reached out to a moving company, and this is one of the craziest things I've ever done. He's one of the. This guy, he owns a moving company out here. He's one of the top rated movers in Sacramento. And I explained that he had referred some customers to me, and I had reached out to him, like, hey, tell your customers about our boxes. And I said, hey, I have this crazy idea. You want to go into business together? Everyone that you bring to me, and you take care of the delivery, I'll handle the clients, and we'll share the revenue. And I went into business with somebody I'd spoken on the phone, but I'd never actually met, which I thought was the craziest thing anybody could do. But I did it, and we continued to grow.

[A]

But this solves your logistics problem of, you know, having to meet customers at the place. Like, maybe the moving company can keep them at their facility. They can handle that delivery since they're going to be moving those belongings anyways.

[B]

Yeah, and that's exactly what happened. They moved all the boxes to their warehouse area. And so that basically took care of rent and reduced our expenses. And so when they would have a move, they would just, you know, take our boxes with their Moving truck, deliver them and then go do another move. And so it's very strategic kind of how they do it. But some customers do still pick them up.

[A]

Do you remember your first booking, you know, and how that person found you? Is it still trying to get on moving companies preferred vendor list or, you know, was it early Google rankings? Talk to me about the first couple bookings where you're like, oh, I'm slowly going to start to recoup this initial startup cost.

[B]

Yeah. So it's funny enough, our website initially was very clunky. I had one of our interns at the first job I was at, I paid them 50 bucks to make our website. So there wasn't a way to book it like there is now. And so the first, I actually started off marketing on Craigslist. So on Craigslist there's a section where that says services offered. Right. Or like, you know, you need some help with something. So I put on there rent, moving boxes. Right. Super, super sketchy. But I said, well, it's free, there's no harm in this. Cause I don't have to pay a search engine. I have to put up Facebook ads or anything like that.

[A]

You know, 10 years ago, Craigslist was a different landscape than it is today. Right. So it was a different era of the Internet.

[B]

Yeah, it was, right? I mean, that's where you. I mean, I found a tennis partner on their roommates. I sold my car. Like, it's not. It was used much more then, I feel like, than it is now.

[A]

Ye. And maybe today you could do a similar tactic on Facebook Marketplace, because that's where I went to look for moving boxes for our recent move. And people are giving them away and like, okay, we'll go pick these up.

[B]

So you're exactly right. Right. Like people give stuff away. It's easier, it's more community feel. You have a more trustworthiness there. But back then I just had no inhibition. I was like, yeah, I'll just go on. And I couldn't believe that we got an email from somebody that was like, yeah, I want to rent these, I want to try these out. And it was a woman living in an apartment, like a senior apartment in a not so great part of town. And so I took this intern with me. We rented a truck from Home depot, like those $19 per hour trucks, because I don't know what else to do. And one of the boxes actually flew out on the freeway.

[A]

Oh no.

[B]

So we learned that we need to close the lids and tie them down. Who would have thought they could fly out. And so we grabbed that, got back on track and we went to this woman and delivered the boxes and was like, yeah, so we'll be back in a week to pick them back up.

[A]

Okay. And so she was just doing an in town move.

[B]

Yeah, she was moving from a one bedroom apartment from north, the northern part of town to a one bedroom apartment on the southern to the southern part of town. So it was just her and her cat and she was a great fan. And we learned the one thing about the negative about this business, Nick, is that think about it, you're renting stuff out, which means you get it back hopefully. So the things you have to look out for is are you getting all your boxes back? Are they damaged?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And are they clean like they should be? Sometimes you'll find like pet hair, human hair, sprinkles, all kinds of stuff in the boxes after people have done moving. And you have to make sure that it's clean and sanitized for the next customer. So not so luxurious part of this business.

[A]

No, that makes sense. More with Gary in just a moment, including how he priced the rental service, the pitch for his partnership deal, and other interesting ways he's connecting with customers right after this. What if you no longer needed five separate apps for your business? Bank account expense tracking, invoicing, contractor payments and tax planning. I'm excited to partner with our new sponsor, Found for this episode because Found is business banking designed specifically for side hustlers, solopreneurs and small business owners like you. Under the hood, you'll find one easy to use app to help manage your money, track your spending, invoice clients and even handle your taxes so you can focus on more important things like running your business. There's no minimum balances, there's no account maintenance fees, and there's no paperwork or credit checks when you sign up. One cool feature, Found calls in pockets, lets you allocate income to certain categories like marketing or taxes or profit. Which is really handy if you want to practice the profit first methodology. But you really don't want to set up a bunch of different accounts. Over 500,000 small business owners like you chose Found as their banking solution. So stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for [e-mail] Sidehustle. Sign up for Found for Free today at F o u n d.com Sidestep side hustle. Found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Piermont bank member fdic. Found's core features are free. They Also offer an optional paid product Found. Plus, here's a quick side hustle you can do today. It's called the substitution game and it's an easy way to score what I call reverse passive income. In your life. That's money you're no longer spending every month. That goes straight to your bottom line. How it works is you find lower cost alternatives to the things you're already spending money on. For example, I made the switch to our sponsor Mint mobile back in 2019 and haven't looked back. Mint Mobile offers Premium Wireless for 15 bucks a month when you purchase a three month plan. And all plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and keep your existing phone number along with all your existing contacts. To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mint mobile.com sidehustle that's mintmobile.com side hustle. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mint mobile.com side hustle. $45 upfront payment required. Equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only speeds slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. What does it cost to rent these things out? How do you figure out pricing?

[B]

So that's where the competition really helps, right, Is that you look at what other people are charging in other cities. And so there's companies now in Southern California, Bay Area, Texas, Arizona, even Colorado. And so you see what they're charging. And so what we did is basically just kind of test out the market, right? So we wanted to have a higher margin to make up for the lower volume. And so we started to increase our prices and we would still get, you know, people that would, they wouldn't say, there's maybe a few people per year. They're like, you know, that's a lot of money, $400 to rent boxes. I don't know if I want to do that. But most people really don't bat an eye because they see that if I'm paying movers $2,000 or $3,000 to pack up and move my house, you know, I don't have to go because they're going to charge too, to bring you boxes and tape them up and build them up and dispose of them and everything. And so we figured out pricing just from trial and error and also just looking at what the competition nationally Was charging.

[A]

Okay. So on the pricing [e-mail] it looks like it's kind of a combination of how many do you need and how long do you need them? So like 50 boxes for a week. It gives you plenty of time to pack everything up, move it across town, and you got to do local moves because it's like if you're moving to Seattle, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I need my boxes back. So it's got to be in town moves so your moving company partner can bring them back to headquarters or you can go pick them up and take them back to the storage unit.

[B]

Yep, that's exactly right. And we do quite. Actually, we've had a few people that moved. Sacramento has been a hot spot for people from the Bay Area to move to because much cheaper, especially after the pandemic. So we actually had people that said, I want to rent your boxes and I'll drop them off to you once I move to the barrier, once I move to Sacramento. So if they move to Sacramento, they would drive here, pick up our boxes, go home, pack, and once they move here, we'd either pick them up or they drop them back off. So I will say it's just a culture, I guess. People are big into sustainability in different parts of the country and want that zero waste. And there's that brand awareness out there. There's a great company in the Bay Area called Zip Go. They do what we do. They rent out these boxes, and sometimes they're like, yeah, I wish we could, like, give our boxes to somebody. And they move up there, and then you take them and we somehow get them back. So there is a logistical issue, obviously, if you rent them out. So long distance moves are not our strong suit, but everything else is.

[A]

Got it. Okay. And then if somebody is sitting on these, maybe it's a corporate reload and it needs to go into storage for a minute. I guess you're charging them every week. So you're still making money on that inventory. But it kind of limits the booking requests that come in to say, we'll shoot that inventory is tied up right now.

[B]

Yeah, we've had that. We've had. And especially it's the corporate moves. And those. Those renovation projects is they're like, okay, we'll have it. We want to rent it for two weeks. Two weeks turns into three weeks to four weeks. We've had a customer that rented it for almost two months. And yeah, it does tie up the inventory, but from what I see it, as they're paying, we could have had a customer that week. We could have not. And if we do. Yeah. I do have to say, really sorry, we're booked up. And that creates a. Wow. There's a, there's a. It's like kind of that waitlist phenomenon, like, oh, I want it even more now. So maybe I'll, I mean, I've had people that, honestly, they've delayed their move date or delayed their escrow or closing their, their lease on their apartment because, like, I'll wait till you're ready. I mean, that's like music to any business owner's years. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is you have to turn away a customer, but you're creating that scarcity effect inadvertently. Right. But you're still creating it. And now they want to come back and like, they'll change themselves to work with you.

[A]

Yeah. The inventory is making money, so it's fine. How many boxes do you have now?

[B]

Close to a thousand.

[A]

Oh, my God. Okay. That's more than I expected.

[B]

Yeah, because like, I mean, most rentals are like 100 to 200 boxes and sometimes we have two or three at a time.

[A]

Okay, so you got plenty. You got plenty of capacity.

[B]

Yeah. And it's also a lot cheaper to order a lot at once so that you're not paying additional shipping and logistic fees. And also if some boxes break or whatever, like you have the rest of that.

[A]

Yeah, it makes sense. So you got to be able to fill, fill that demand. Wow. Okay, so starting out marketing on Craigslist, you know, renting, renting the pickup truck from Home Depot to deliver these things. And then eventually it sounds like you're moving, you know, even though this is a hands on, local based business, you're moving several states away, halfway across the country to Colorado, and yet the business is still able to operate thanks to this moving company partnership. Can you play that card, you know, with multiple different moving companies? Like, you sprinkle that inventory around, like to cast away wide net here. What's, what's the play?

[B]

You know, the funny thing is, like, when we were new and even, even once we were like a couple years into business, moving companies did not like us. And the reason is a lot of moving companies already want to sell boxes to their customers. Cardboard boxes. Right. So in essence, if we were partnering with them, we're drawing their attention away, we're taking revenue from them. The way I approached it with them was like, it's not, you know, obviously you can present the choice, but if they want to rent, obviously it's going to be financially lucrative to you. Because you're helping them get what they want. Right. Giving your customers options is always a good idea, but that it wouldn't really be logistically possible because, I mean, to coordinate with several different people. I mean, a one person can't. Can't do all that. And I honestly think that our service radius is a pretty good amount. It's about 25 miles in Sacramento, and we still service outlying areas. We just charge additional for delivery, so we still are able to do that. And Steve, my business partner, is just an incredible human who's very flexible. He's on top of things, and he's the only person I could really trust to do it.

[A]

What was the pitch was like, we'll split revenue 50, 50. We'll. It sounds like, because after a few of these, my. The entrepreneurial spidey sense has got to go off and be like, well, maybe I should just buy my own boxes if why am I sharing revenue with this guy? I'm doing all the work.

[B]

Yeah, no, it's true. I mean, and I thought of that too, but I said, do you want to buy the company from me? He's like, you know, I want to get away. I want to get out of the moving business. And he's saying this for a while, so he's like, no, I don't. I don't want to, you know, really do that. And he doesn't want. I guess he just really doesn't want the hassle of doing it. But to be honest, that's another thing somebody could have done. I think there was another company actually in Sacramento. There was two. One was called UBox. I think they went out of business, you know, and so it's just a matter of, like, people think it's a great. You know, they see it in concept. Oh, he's doing. I can just do. It's a simple concept, but there's an execution involved. And also, I have very low overhead. So it's like, once you buy the boxes, the arrangement that we have is that, you know, I pay hosting for the website, I pay for splitting the revenue, cleaning the boxes, delivery. All of that comes through only when we have a client. If I don't have a customer for a whole month or two months, I'm not paying anything. There's no expenses other than the website. There's no utilities, there's no rent, there's no employees. There's nothing. So we can withstand dry spells.

[A]

Got it. Got it. If you get a booking request that is independent of the moving company partner, does he still have to go and deliver those boxes.

[B]

Yep. Our delivery guy does everything, whether they come through that lead source, any lead source. So most of our leads are coming from Google referrals, previous customers, and interior remodeling specialists.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, there's. Once you start kind of listing these off, you know, I think of just, you know, oh, my lease is up, I'm moving, or my change jobs, so I'm moving to a different area. But there's a lot of different occasions where you might need to pack up stuff. And I guess we did it last year with the. With the kitchen remodel. It's like, I guess we got to move everything out, you know, and it's like, oh, gosh, there's a lot of stuff here. And so all these different occasions where people might be in the market for something like this and kind of looking for those strategic partnerships. I love the interior designer angle. That's one I never would have thought of. But that makes sense.

[B]

Yeah. And we kind of fell into it by accident. We had somebody reach out to us saying, oh, I didn't even know. Another one that was like, I don't know you guys existed. Why did I know about you before? And she introduced us. There's apparently, there's like, meetups of interior designers, and there's like. There's like these conventions for, like, organizers, which I would never have imagined. And they have a lot of business. A lot of people have big homes and discretionary income, and they want to hire these people to make their pantries Instagram worthy. And, you know, what happens is that then translates into their office needs work, this needs work, their kids new needs work. So whether they move, remodel, get a design work done, get any renovations done. And we also do a lot of retail stores now, which just was from accident. There was a store that sold auto parts, a very mom and pop store sold auto parts and machinery, and they were getting their floors redone, so they had to pack up everything off of their shelves and store it for two weeks while the floors got done. So they wanted our boxes because they thought the cardboard, everything's going to collapse, it's going to tear. It's not strong enough.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And, you know, so there's just so much opportunity for using these boxes. That's not just for somebody moving from one house to another house.

[A]

Gotcha. And did they find you through the website?

[B]

They did.

[A]

Okay, Was there anything specific that you did to help it in terms of local SEO ranking?

[B]

I honestly just Googled, like, how to improve your search Rankings and I use wix, which I guess wasn't very recommended, but it was cheap at the time when they had a package deal. And so I just, you know, would put keywords on our homepage and other pages and connect our socials. One business owner gave me a suggestion to you should allow people to directly have a booking request on your website. Rather than sending you an email or calling, just put some, you know, form in there, how many boxes you want, what do you want, all of that and send it to you. And that's been heavily utilized as well. So I'm really not sure what it is. I'm grateful for it. But you know, wix too also has like an SEO checklist. Like, did you do this? Did you do this, do this? So I've been working on that. I haven't hired anybody to do any of our website or technical stuff. Maybe I should. But it's been working so far.

[A]

So far so good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ten years ago, I would have been really hesitant to recommend wix from an SEO standpoint just because a lot of their stuff was kind of dynamically loaded, hidden behind JavaScript. In a lot of ways, they have improved quite a bit. And by virtue of being one of the few players in town, it sounds like, hey, look, eventually you're going to trickle to the top of Google just by virtue of word of mouth and the on page factors that you do have in place here where it says if you need moving boxes in Sacramento and you want to rent them, here we are.

[B]

Yeah, some of it is luck, some of it is just doing what you can to be proactive about making sure you have the right content on your website.

[A]

Now, how about the interior design? It didn't sound like you went to this conference, but it sounds like you were proactive about building those relationships too.

[B]

Yeah, it was this. Once this first woman had reached out to us, she, she was really nice and she did like an. We didn't have Instagram until about two years ago. We just had a Facebook page again, didn't. I've never done any advertising really. And she's like, you need to get Instagram so I can put you guys on my story. So we created an Instagram page and she did, and that was great. She's like, look at these boxes. Look how great they are. They're so easy, eco friendly. And she did a little spin on the, on the dolly and, and, and her friends found. They're like, wow, where are these? Who's the Owner. Where do I find them? So that's the power of the community here, is that it's. It's. It's just like they trust each other. They lean on each other even though they're in competition, right. They don't want somebody, you doing something that their clients are think are really cool and they don't offer it or they don't know anything about it. So we don't do a lot of moves with them, but we do a lot of, like I said, organizing projects.

[A]

All right, this is Cal Box rental on Instagram. We'll link that up. Go check it out. What kind of risks are associated with this business? I mean, it seems pretty straightforward. Like, it's a. It's a plastic box. But I don't know. Do you find any risk or liability here that people should be aware of?

[B]

Yeah, it's a couple of things. I mean, one of the things that we did was, I mean, my first customer, we didn't have a rental agreement, right? So technically, she could have just, like, kept the box or destroyed them and I would have no recourse, right? She's like, I don't have any boxes. What are you talking about? But fortunately, she didn't do that. So it was after that I was like, you know what? We should probably have something more than email to make sure customers are on the hook for this. So I went to. I think I went to the library and I looked up like, you know those Nolo books and they have like, how to write a contract. So I just googled, like, how to have a rental contract. And I would just put stuff in there that basically indemnified us for anything. If they were, if the boxes were dirty, if they were, if they were late, how much we would charge them if they got hurt, or if there's liquids in them, like, we're not liable. So we basically made sure that the rental agreement had. What are they renting from, what dates are they renting it, when are they due, and also payment information. So in the beginning days, we only took credit card. We had, you know, square. It was like if I was meeting them, you would slide little thing on your smartphone. But now you can enter it manually. Yeah, and now we've gradually moved since Venmo does business now. We. We primarily try to do Venmo, just keep all our transactions there. We also take PayPal. Because the thing is, like, when I send a rental agreement to a customer, we don't have any fancy docuSign or anything like that. They would have to enter in their credit card information onto the PDF and then send it back to me. And that's not very secure. So most of the time, if they're really persistent on doing credit card, which usually they are, if they're like a company because they want that the points and all of that is we would do it over the phone. So I would take their information over the phone and then once their rental is complete, then I discard the information. Because one mistake I made was if somebody paid by credit card or whatever and then they didn't return all of the boxes or they were damaged or something, I don't find out until somebody goes and cleans the boxes. So I would have to call them back and be like, we have to charge you this. And if I don't have the information on file, I don't have as much leverage.

[A]

Okay, how did you find that cleaner person? Is this like an Airbnb short term rental type of cleaner? Take a pressure washer to these things or you just spray them out?

[B]

I used to do it most of the time, I mean when I was here and then, you know, since I've been back I've been doing it. But now in the last few years, it's the same guy who does our deliveries. He's an employee of the moving company and you know, they have downtime. If they have one move or two moves a day, they're maybe done by 3:00 and he'll spend an hour or two cleaning the boxes. And it's. He doesn't charge much and it, but it is work. Right. Because it's like you have to clean each box inside and out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the, one of the sticky things, literally Nick, is that people leave their labels on these boxes, boxes. So fortunately they'll say like they'll put painters tape, which is great. Right. You can just tear it right off. But sometimes they'll put like, you know, like really adhesive stuff on these boxes. Like and those are hard to take off. So we now provide dry erase markers for our customers. If they request them, they can just write it on the boxes and then if they forget to do it, it'll just come off while we clean them.

[A]

Oh, interesting. So the dry erase will just scrub off.

[B]

Yeah, there's actually a pre made smooth section of plastic on the boxes on the side and on the top where they can put a label in.

[A]

Like designed for that.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. On the other risks though, I would say that there, there is a concern that if a client, if a customer, you know, when you Pick up your boxes. If you're not there doing it, you may not know because let's say somebody returns their boxes, they're going to be in stacks of five, right. They're not going to have every box just out on its own because you just stackable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if they go back to the warehouse and let's say if you are cracked or there's some that are really dirty or have hairs or dirt or something, who knows what they moved, Right. You have to go back to the customer and you have to make a decision. Because if you call them and say I'm gonna have to charge you $100 for cleaning or whatever, you're probably gonna put a bad taste in the mouth. Well, I didn't do that or I don't remember that. And now they may not write you a good review. They may not come back as a customer, they may not refer you. So you have to really play that accordingly. So I try to just judge it based upon my interaction with the customer. If it's one or two boxes that are dirty, I'm not gonna charge them, but if it's a consistent amount, we're going to charge them. And also if they damage the boxes, we have to charge them. And the thing about that that's difficult is if I'm not there, if my business partner's not there and the delivery guy misses it, and let's say that that box that's already damaged goes to new inventory. Now that customer got something and I may have to charge them. So it's really making sure that we play our due diligence correctly to make sure that we're giving each customer customer clean, new, good shape inventory so we don't run into this. And we have a reminder on the rental agreement when their rent is, when their rental period is due. We also say, please make sure you wipe down the boxes and they're all empty and all the labels are removed. Most people listen to that. Some people don't, which is why we just clean boxes after each rental. Sure.

[A]

Got it. And you carry some sort of like general liability policy in case, I don't know, somebody cuts their hand open. It doesn't seem like there's a huge level of liability there, but you never know.

[B]

Yeah, you never know. And that's the thing is like, you know, I've toyed back and forth with bundling this with another LLC or. But yeah, you definitely want to have business liability insurance because you never know. Let's say somebody, you know, hurt, like you said, hurts their hand on the box or, you know, they feel like they were charged for cleaning when it wasn't really dirty. So you just want to make sure you protect yourself. In any case, I don't think this is a very high risk business at all. Now, if we were, like, helping them back and I had employees, then that's a different concern. But this is just them getting boxes delivered to their doorstep. They're then in their possession and then we pick them up.

[A]

Yeah, no. Compared to some of the other rental businesses that we were. You're renting out cars on Turo or we did an episode on renting out mobility scooters. Like, oh, you know, this thing had a mind of its own. It accelerated and it, you know, drove me into a ditch. And there's other things that, you know, would definitely. You check the box for having more liability than a plastic tub.

[B]

Yeah. An inanimate object.

[A]

More with Gary in just a moment, including collecting positive customer reviews, managing the inventory and scheduling and his goals for the future of this business right after this. Being an entrepreneur and being able to work remotely definitely has its perks. I've recorded podcasts everywhere from Vietnam to Italy, drafted newsletters from Japan, hosted mastermind meetings from Spain, ended up being the middle of the night to get to US Business hours, and outlined courses in Mexico. The common thread of all of these trips, though, is Airbnb. We love being able to get exactly what we're looking for in a place to stay and have a more local experience than staying in some giant hotel chain. And you know me, I'm always thinking about the next side hustle idea, the next income stream. Right. And one that's at the top of the list is hosting our place on Airbnb while we're traveling. That way, the house doesn't have to sit empty. We could use the income to help pay for the trip. And we've heard from several successful Airbnb hosts on the show. And what's interesting is a lot of them started with almost that exact strategy, renting their place or even a spare room while they're out of town. Taking inspiration from that, you might have an Airbnb right under your nose. In fact, your home might be worth more than you think. You can find out how much at Airbnb. That's Airbnb.com host to find out how much your home is worth. You bet. You're collecting reviews. This is going to be Google, Yelp, Facebook, any platforms that you've prioritized, and anything proactive that you're doing. To collect those reviews from happy customers.

[B]

Yeah. So under my signature for our business email, I do have a link to both our Google page and also Yelp. So most, most of the time customers will leave it on their own. But I do make an effort. I think my business partner told me about this app called Nice Job or something like that, where it sends like a couple of texts to the customer, hey, how was your experience? Write a review? So I just have like a template that I just text to the customers through our audit through our phone app, we use Google Voice. And so I would just ask them, like, how was your experience? Like, I would call them and say, hey, if it was good, like, would you mind leaving us review? Most people are happy to do that. Some people are just like, you did great, I'll refer you. I don't leave reviews. And then some people that didn't have a good experience just don't answer me. They're just like, I'm not going to leave you a bad review, but I'm not going to talk about this anymore. Like, I just want to be done with it. Which is fine. Like, right? It's everybody's right. But we're really fortunate in the people that have done left reviews. I mean, we have a five star rating on Yelp and Google, a clean five star rating, which is, it's really, I'm proud of that because after 12 years of business, right, you might have a disgruntled customer that was like, oh, they overcharged me. Their boxes are bad quality. They were late on their delivery or, you know, these boxes aren't that great anyways or whatever. Right. But fortunately, like, it's been pretty clear.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a law of large numbers is bound to happen after you serve enough clients. Somebody's bound to be unhappy. But that's great. I like this proactive follow up to say, hey, how was your thing? And if you were, you know, giving me positive, would you mind just typing that same thing into the review platform of your choice? That'd be great.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

You mentioned it just takes a few hours a week to run. Where does your time go in the business these days?

[B]

Yeah, honestly, Nick, it's just a matter of answering requests by email and phone. So I'll get a phone call, get a voicemail, I'll get an email and they'll be like, they'll have some questions, when can I get the boxes, how many boxes do I need, how big are the boxes, etc. And then I help them kind of create a Rental agreement and I'll do the scheduling. So I'll connect with my business partner and then he gets the rental agreement, he contacts the customer, what they're able to deliver, and that's basically it. And then during the deliveries, I have a spreadsheet of who's renting what, during what time, what do they do. So we make sure we get them back on time, and that's really about it. I also spend a couple of hours a week creating those relationships in the industry. So if we've worked with people in the past, like, what are you seeing today? Would you like to do a custom promo code together? Do you want to do a. You want to collaborate on a social media post? You know, we'll have like specials like Spooktober. Like this month we're giving a free extra week of rental for anybody who rents with us. So we always just try to do something creative and just try to connect with people and those who are centers of influence to make sure that they are aware of us still, that we are still around and that we can work together.

[A]

Got it. I was going to ask about the spreadsheet for inventory management because with a thousand boxes and people with different parts of town, you know, with different numbers of boxes, like that starts to become a little bit of a logistical challenge. But it is just to just spreadsheet. You kind of have an idea of which, you know, how many are with which customer at what time and when they're supposed to come back.

[B]

Yeah, that's exactly right. It's just a matter of where are these boxes, when are they due, and that's what we go based off. So if I get a rental request and I see that there's boxes due in a week, but they want them this weekend, I'd be like, well, they're not. We can deliver to them as soon as this time. So I can see, like, which boxes are coming back, when, to make sure. Because if a customer wants like 100 boxes, that's a lot harder to do if we are booked than if they want 50 boxes. But usually most of the time with the, with the level of boxes we have now, I mean, we're not a crazy, you know, million dollar company, right? So we usually have the ability to do that. We're just the neighborhood box rental company here.

[A]

Is there a target revenue number or fulfillment metric? Like, how many are being utilized at any given time? Like, are there key metrics that you're tracking for this business?

[B]

You know, it's just, did we do better than last Year. Right. That's. That's what it is for me. I mean. I mean, it should be more. And I know there's been people on this podcast and show that are really, like, running lucrative businesses, but for me, this is not something that I can really scale nationally.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Because very localized, and also a lot of people do it in other cities. And for me, I'm just happy doing, like, this is a. This is an experiment to me, to be honest. Like, I was 23. I was like, what risk do I have? I want to say that I started a business, and I wanted to combine it with my passion for sustainability and zero waste. So I started it. And this now, I mean, it pays for basically all of my fun money. You know, I don't have to worry about, oh, man, I can't join my friends out to eat or go on this trip or buy a new paddle board or whatever I want to do. Yeah, it pays for all of that. It's a side hustle. That's exactly what it is. And my hope is that it continues to grow so more people use it and save. Save cardboard boxes. And, you know, maybe we can do something else. But, I mean, we were recently in, like, a local magazine, and there was a feature on us on Good Day Sacramento. So, you know, we try to speak to good community partners and make sure that we continue to do well.

[A]

Were you doing any proactive PR outreach for that, or they somehow found you? They're like, hey, is a cool story.

[B]

I actually researched. There was a segment I saw on another local business. I was like, oh, they do that? That's a really cool segment they do. I mean, it's not a very. It's not obviously a national audience like the Today show or anything, but, yeah, you know, I reached out, I saw that there's a lady who had an email, did this, and I reached out to her, and we went back and forth a few times. So, you know, hopefully we have a chance to do something.

[A]

I think a lot of local side hustles have this, you know, PR play in their playbook, because especially if it's something that's a little bit creative, a little bit different, like renting out moving boxes, it's like, oh, that's unique. Oh, you could turn that into a business. And these publications like to feature local people and feel good stories, and they're kind of looking for angles like this especially, oh, there's a sustainability play or there's some angle here that can weave into the story that they already want to tell. Oh, look, you know, local businessman, you know, does good or local side hustle. It's kind of, you know, how can you tap into what they're already looking to talk about?

[B]

Yeah, 100%. Like we have a really good community magazine. It's called Style Magazine. It's great, it's free. It's always got like cool little stories and tips from experts. But it's really great in that it brings business owners, small business owners in the community to give advice or like they'll pro, like they always have like business profiles. Why did you get into this business? You know, what made you get into this business? Why do you live here? Blah, blah, blah. And so you really get to meet the business owners behind your local coffee shop, your local auto mechanic or whatever it might be. So it really kind of ties that together with their business and to your point, gives a unique angle on people with that expertise, how they can help the community.

[A]

Yeah. And if nothing else, hopefully a backlink, hopefully some social proof, you know, as seen on, you know, Good Day Sacramento or something.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

So you may look, you know, this is local. We don't do cross country moves. Is there a geographic expansion, Is there a product skew expansion? Like where do you. Aside from just. We're going to ride the rising tide of interest and awareness in sustainable moving box rental. Like there's a new category. This is something that more and more people become aware of it for moving or for storage, like you're going to be a beneficiary of that. Is there anything else to like pour some gas on the fire or say we're good with what we get?

[B]

You know, obviously there always is. Right. We can always get more inventory, rent a bigger space, have a bigger space, get more clients. But for this particular business, I don't anticipate us 10xing or becoming like a, you know, franchising different units or doing anything like that. I mean we have a really good name and our clients and community loves us and hope that as the population continues to grow, there's tons of more houses out here that we can continue to serve them. And there's, there's more renting boxes. I'll be happy when renting boxes is more normal than buying cardboard boxes. Right. That means that we were able to prove our concept. I don't know if or when that'll happen.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But if people are like, oh, I gotta rent boxes from and move and they're like, oh yeah, where do you rent your boxes from? And that's like an actual normal conversation that happens, then I'll be like, okay, we succeeded because we were the only ones, at least the first ones here, to bring rentable moving boxes to the Sacramento area. And now it's normal. Now it's something that everybody does and that'll be mean success.

[A]

Very good. Well, I imagine you'll keep chipping away toward that goal and I'm excited to see where you take it. It's been over a decade in the business and sounds like it's set up to be sustainable without a lot of time investment required to keep it growing. So very cool. Gary, thanks so much for stopping by. You are the author of Financial Fives. This is the top 325 ways to save, earn and thrive to retire before 65. You can find that at financial fives.com the box rental business is calboxrental.com if you want to check that out. Check out what that WIX site looks like. Calbox rental.com let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for side hustle nation.

[B]

The number one tip is just try, just start something, right? Do something that's going to move the needle. That's all the best thing I can do because we can plan and research and talk to people. But I can tell you that unless I just told myself that I'm just going to go to Home Depot and buy these boxes and you see that receipt and you see the box in the back of your car and sitting in your garage, you're like, okay, I need to do something, right? It's something to start that wheel turning right by that domain name. You know, reach out to somebody, whatever you need to do, create, pay somebody 100 bucks to give you a really cool logo and slogan. Whatever it means that whatever your idea is, just try something and start.

[A]

Yeah, some kind of forced action. You'll find that momentum breeds momentum. And there's some law of entrepreneurial physics where an entrepreneur in motions tends to stay in motion. It's just that, you know, is that 0 to 1 to get that motivation to go do that first thing. And here we are, 1012 years later. It's become a really cool side hustle that you built. A couple of takeaways for me before we wrap up, Number one is obviously this focus on partnerships and relationships. Partnerships on the delivery and logistics side. And then on the relationship side, think about that strategic partner of who are your target customers already doing business with. How can you make them. They're not a competitor, but they're an ally or potential referral source for you we've talked about them as, you know, lead fountains instead of, you know, onesie twosie lead trickles. It's like who might need this service again and again and again. I really like the focus there. And then the second thing is like what else could I could I rent out? Like thinking about something that checks this box. Like pretty durable asset. Sure some of them are going to break, but the cost of each individual one is not a ton. And something that could really have a long lifespan, long shelf life. I think that's really just an interesting one and something that like you mentioned is going to be more and more people become aware of it. So you put yourself in a good position to capture some of that demand. Just like side Hustle Nation has captured a rising tide of interest in side hustles over the last decade. So I'm trying to see what gold rush can you sell shovels into almost. And sustainability. Zero waste is a broader umbrella. May be one of those to look into. Like we talked about. Not the only thing that you can rent out for a profit. So make sure to grab your free listener bonus for this week. That's my list of 25 other unconventional rental ideas you may be able to borrow some of Gary's playbook for on the marketing and partnership side. You can grab that for free at the Show Notes for this [e-mail] Gary G A R Y or just follow the link in the episode description in your podcast player app. It'll get you right over there. Other rental episodes for consideration if you like this model we talked about the mobility scooter guy. Love this episode. Doing like three grand a month with a fleet of six or seven mobility scooters in LA. That is episode 564 with Lenny Tim. Fascinating episode. You know, relatively low startup costs, relatively quick to break even. And then it's then it's gravy and then 428. You know, one of the episodes I refer people to most often, this is Steve Nadremia with his portable hot tub rental business. And not really that portable, but like portable compared to a, you know, a fixed, you know, hot tub that's not going anywhere delivering these things and in his pickup truck and I think he had like 25 or 30 of them. Really, really cool, creative episode on the side from his teaching job. So 428 on the hot tubs. 564 with Lenny on the mobility scooters. But big thanks to Gary for sharing his insight. Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. You can hit upside hustlenation.com deals for all the latest offers from our sponsor in one place. Thank you for supporting the advertisers that support the show. That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're finding value in the show, the greatest compliment is to share it with a friend. So fire off that text message. Hey, check this out. Maybe we should do this in our area. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the side Hustle Show. Hustle on.