Cold open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the share economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let Thrive, your favorite short-term, mid-term, long-term rental podcast of the world, coming at you from Fort Worth, Texas. And this is episode 291 of your favorite podcast, by the way. And we have a special guest, Mr. Alex Shapiro. Who is Alex Shapiro? Well, let me let me tell you all about Alex. He is the CEO and co-founder of Can Monkey by Day

From title and escrow into STR trash by accident

SPEAKER_02 0:44

and devoted father of four and loving husband by evening. Beyond this, his entrepreneurial spirits, uh pursuits, it could be spirits, right? Pursuits, Alex finds joy in traveling with his family, hitting the golf course, and playing lacrosse. Welcome to the show, Alex. Let's dive into it, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. 291 uh is uh a milestone. Uh congratulations to you, and I'm I'm just excited to be here. So thank you. Yeah, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

We've been we've been at it for a while. And um so today we're gonna talk all about cans, my favorite subject. Love it. Love me some cans. Um no, so what what okay, go ahead and tell me how you got started in this industry first, and then we'll dive in into Can Monkey and what that's all about.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Uh yeah, I mean, honestly by accident, you know, uh I had no idea that the short-term rental was even a space, Airbnb was a space. Uh my background was in title and escrow, working with um investors, but mainly on just like long-term rentals, uh buying at the trustee steps, uh, fixing flips, helping them, you know, just whatever they needed. And I just you know did the title and escrow on the back end. And a bit my business partner now at Cam Monkey started it just for homeowners, and I saw a need for it uh with some of my clients that were converting some of their long-term rentals into STR, short-term rentals, back in 2018. And that's where I just saw like a small maybe niche for it, maybe just you know, here locally. Didn't really think that it was gonna be uh uh a multi-stay uh growth aspect. It was like I said, it was just a side hustle. Um, that was really just for like the the need of no one likes to take their cans to curb, people usually forget, maybe they'll pay for it. It was just kind of the one of those things. Um but yeah, I had no idea how big the industry actually was. Um, I didn't really know the the inning work in her workings. I didn't know there was a vacation rental management association or different associations across the like I didn't know any of it, so I really came in backwards um once I kind of figured out there was a niche for the short-term rental industry, and then I went and said, like, okay, what is this industry? And then went that way.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

So when you say local, where where did you start this at?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

We started in Scottsdale, Arizona. Um yeah, so my business partner uh lived in uh North Scottsdale at the time. It was something that's for him and his neighbors, and I

Scottsdale proving ground and the Super Bowl bust

SPEAKER_03 3:12

uh worked in the Maricopa County, uh, and you know, unbeknownst to us, you know, Scottsdale was like a short-term rental Mecca. So while we were growing this, you know, uh niche for this industry, um, little did I know that you know one of our clients, you know, uh had properties in another state. I was like, what are you guys doing in another state? Like, oh, we have mark, you know, we have properties in several states. Why? Because this is what we do. I had no idea you guys can do this all over the place. So, like, I really just kind of stumbled upon it, did a really good job here. Um, but then when we realized, okay, it took us a while to get to 100 properties, you know, maybe we can expand and go to another market and get to 100 properties a little bit quicker and reverse-engineered everything.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

No, that's that is a great proving ground right there, Scottsdale, Arizona. I mean, it just it went crazy like a couple years ago, uh coming out of COVID, and uh everybody wanted to get into Scottsdale, you know. Because I mean it in the beginning, you know, the short-term rental industry hit up the big cities first, Dallas, you know, Phoenix, LA, and then the these these the second cities really, really started heating up, especially because the big cities started banning Airbnb. So everybody just went to the small in the second number two cities and number three cities. So, but Scottsdale blew up, man. It to the point where, of course, famously a couple Super Bowls ago, that was the big bust, right? The Scottsdale bust where everybody tried to get something to Airbnb, and then nobody booked anything, or uh, most of them were empty. It was it was nuts.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Yes, no, exactly. So that's once again, like that was just you know awesome for us to kind of you know be here, our home state, have all those people come and sign up, you know, their properties for Airbnb. Yeah, you know, apparently some of it was a bus for sure, uh, not what they thought they were gonna get. Um, but that was just kind of cool for us to experience that, you know, and and see, you know, even the aftermath, okay, how many properties did we lose? Because you know, maybe they were just signed up for that onesie twosie, and and and that kind of showed us, you know, our key markets and the markets that are keep continuously growing and that not really affected by uh one of you know attraction or whatnot. You know, um, you know, Phoenix, we've been here the longest since we've been, you know, started here and definitely has its ebb and flows you know in the summertime, it will slows, you know, slows down a little bit. But we've realized now when we expanded to these other markets, we're in over 23 states now. Um, you know, but Florida's always growing. You know, there's certain markets in Florida that you know can sit continuously stay busy. Um Park City has its you know ups and downs, you know. Um so we while we expand into these different markets, we kind of learned there are different idios secrecies as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

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SPEAKER_03 6:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Nice, nice. So 23 states. And and is is you in Dallas? Are y'all in Dallas? Yeah, we're in Dallas. Okay, cool. And and so you I I would assume it's primarily out of houses, correct?

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Yeah, for the most of it, it's always it's

How Can Monkey works: single-family homes, $49/month

SPEAKER_03 6:46

all single-family residences. Uh, we don't really deal with com uh condos or apartments. We do have some townhomes that have cans that are maybe in the garages that we can service, but for the most part, it's single-family residence housing um and communities that we service.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

And I see, when I started doing this, and I started out of my house over here in in Hearst, Texas, right down the road from Fort Worth. Um, it it did get to the point where I was like, holy crap, you know, who's who's gonna take the trash out? I'm not at that house anymore, even though I was in the in the area, I'm like, damn it, I have to go over there on Tuesday, and then I have to go by, you know, or either early morning Tuesday or the night before and put it out. And then it was in that particular house, is where you just lay the bags on the ground. So you don't want to put them out overnight because then the animals would destroy them, right? So it was just it was it was a conundrum. I was like, I guess I gotta do it. And then my cleaners don't want to take trash with them a lot of times. And I'm like, geez, and so I I saw a need for this early on, you know, and I actually came up with with an idea and I got a website for it, and maybe me and you could do some talking because well, here's the thing, too. The the cat taking the cans of the curb, that's cool, but you know, sometimes uh people put a lot of trash, like you know, apartments and stuff like that. I know y'all are probably brainstorming how to how to handle that too. I'm I'm pretty sure. But um like like smaller like trash removal, you know, that's that's the thing because people do, you know, this Airbnb beers, man. Sometimes they come to town, they want to hang, they you know, cases of beer, they want to get a party, they want to hang out, and and and there's a lot of trash left behind sometimes. And so even if you put all that stuff at the curb, the next person coming in is gonna see a mountain of trash when they're checking in, right? And and so, yeah, that's that's what how I was looking at it, kind of different than what how how you were looking at it with the just you know the setting the curve the cans by the curb and then you know putting them back. But um, so that's that's a long ramble right there. So I did, I did actually, I'll tell you, I'll tell you the name of my company, Trash B and B. I bought that. I don't know if you ever were you were searching online, you might have seen me, but uh yeah, trash B and B it's a big strong name. Uh uh GoDaddy says it's worth a lot of money. I don't know, whatever. I might sell, I might sell it, I might sell it to you.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Um that and that actually doesn't have to cut you off. We do offer that service now, you know. So our foot door was the can to curb. And what we've realized that, like to your point, uh some people have trash recycling on separate days. So we're at your property four times a week, 16 times a month, almost more than anyone else will be at your property taking the cans to the curb and back, especially if it's on separate days. What we realize is that while our can runners are there, they make note of you know excess trash. So, exactly to your point, if trash gets emptied on Thursday, but then you have a checkout on Sunday and a new arrival on Monday, our clients don't want their new guests seeing their old guest trash. We also are a technology-driven company. We have our own techno uh applications connected to different APIs with guestie, Breezeway, some of these you know, scheduling systems. So we have access to your scheduling where we know when you have a departure and arrival coming, and it's you know 72 hours away from trash day, we can automatically schedule an on-demand trash removal to go to your property, remove

On-demand junk removal: $49 first can, local vendor partnerships

SPEAKER_03 9:57

it. And so uh we do have that implemented right now. We're offering that in every market that we have can to curb service. We also have on-demand trash removal and we have uh can cleaning.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Nice, nice. So trash removal. Now that's that's the part I was trying to do some research on back then, but I have a million things going on. So it was like a side, side, side hustle. And um now, did you are there are there certain like I mean you have to get like permits from the city to be able to remove trash from someone's house? Is there is there stuff like that?

SPEAKER_03 10:26

Yeah, so for us, we're we're really like the Uber of trash. You know, what we do is we partner with local community, like uh local vendors in your community. So say like we're in your hearst, you know, town, we'd find a local junk removal guy that's in your area, and what we do is we take the volume of properties that we have and we negotiate a price with them. So we'll say, hey, uh, go to this property and remove this trash, and they're negotiating a price with us. So we collect the money from our clients, but we pay the local vendor. Um, kind of the same thing with the can cleaning. You know, we're outsourcing it all to 1099 independent contractors. There are you know, can runners. Uh, we're not out there actually taking the cans to the curb. I own no trucks, I own no cars. Um, I'm operating all this from Tempe, Arizona, uh, managing over 50,000 stops a month across our country, uh, taking cans to curb. And what we do is use the technology to take photos that are time stamped to make sure the can runners are you know putting the cans to the curb and back. There's issues, I get real-time notifications if there's ever excess trash at your property. That if there is, I then you know gets sent to my on-demand department because it is a different you know, uh, entity. Uh, our can runners have different insurance policies on them as you know, they're kind of just rolling the cans to the curb and back. You know, what we found early on is, you know, maybe we saw a trash bag and we'd throw it away and thought we were doing the right thing, but actually the trash bag wasn't trash, you know, there's clothes in it, and why did we do that? So that's why we kind of put these things in place where you know we get told we're really good instruction takers. So if we do see the excess trash or we see that bag on the ground, we send it over to you and say, Hey, would you like us to remove this, or do you got it yourself? And usually you're not there, and so you say, Oh my gosh, can you remove that for me? We say, Yeah, we'll schedule it for you. And then we schedule it for you, and um, you know, it just that charge will go to your account at the end of the month. So it's like a one-stop shop for all your trash solutions.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

So when you say Uber, so these guys that you're your can runners, are they independent contractors? They're not employees.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

No, so as much as um, you know, I'm talking about the short-term rental industry and the homeowners that pay us for our monthly service. Uh, my other clients are the can runners. The can runners are in the gig

The gig-economy model: 1099 can runners, persistent routes

SPEAKER_03 12:25

economy. So think about Uber Eats, Grubhub, Instacart, individuals who are using their car and working on their time uh to create some extra income. So maybe they do Uber in the morning, they do Grubhub in the evening. That dead hour, the stead time for them is usually around 11 to 4. Well, that's exactly when I need you know the cans taken to the curb and back. So, what we do is provide them persistent and consistent uh schedules for you know our routes. We're all creatures of habit. So if I give you a route this week and you love the schedule on Monday and you love how it went on Tuesday and Thursday, Friday, then you do it again. Uh, and then we give you a uh a schedule like you would if you're a bartender. You know, if you know you have to go to the you know bar tonight from four to eight, and that's your shift. So it kind of almost gets a ship, but is it the same thing? They know that that's gonna be an you know an hour and 20 minute stop, some or a route, it's gonna be 18 stops. It's gonna take you know, drive them, they'll drive three miles. Do you accept it? I accept it, and then they get that route and they use the application to go to each stop, take the pictures, what needs to be taken to the curb and whatnot, and they just follow it. And then next day it's gonna be even easier. Next, you know, um, because you kind of learn it's all the same after that.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Now, I know I know most of it nowadays, most cities have have the you know, the city trash cans that you will out there and you will them back, whatever. But like I said, I mean you're in areas where they also just put the bags on the ground too.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Yeah, well, I mean, there's some areas that have like uh the bear cages because there's bears and raccoons, and you know, so uh in Tucson they have javelina, so we put these you know cages, you know, these little uh cords on them. Um in Kansas City, uh there's you know bags on the ground where you get to get special bags, you know, from the you know local city uh area that are tagged. So, like I said, we're really good instruction takers. So every market that we go into is a little bit different, you know, than the last market. Uh Austin, Texas has recycling every other week. You know, there's not a lot of you know cities that are doing that. You know, a lot of markets in Florida have trash twice a week. Uh so you just kind of learn what the client needs and what they're already doing, and then we just you know don't recreate the wheel, we just do the same thing. Um, and so we just follow the instructions. And so there's some you know uh areas that the cans have to go out early in the morning because of HOA. So we have a route early in the morning, so we just really follow what we're being told to do, and then we do that.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Nice, nice. Now, now I guess I mean it it's it's a business, and and these are independent contractors like an Uber, like you said. Now, I know you uh you had to think of everything, like okay, what happens this dude's wheeling out a cart, twists his ankle, or or he's taken out a bag and he says, Oh, I got stabbed by something. Or I mean what happens in those situations? You mentioned insurance.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Yeah, I mean, honestly, uh, either we're you know, knock on wood, we we don't really have you know any issues. You know, there hasn't been anything that has been like that. Like I said, we're doing 50,000 stops a month right now, 11,000 stops a week. Um, we've seen it all over the last over five and a half years. Um, you know, really there hasn't been any any issues that I can even go back on and say this is what had happened, or you know, maybe the case. Um, but you know, we are have the same kind of insurance like a pool cleaner would have. You know, essentially we're going behind the gate and just taking the can to the curb and then we're just wheeling it, and then we're wheeling it back. Uh, we tell our can runners if they feel um not safe about going in the backyard, maybe they didn't tell us there's a dog and there's a dog back there, just to document it. You know, if um if there's been cases where there's been part, whatever the case may be, we tell our can runners to make sure they're safe at first, you know, and and we'll deal with anything after that. But really, um, you know, it's it's but they go at reasonable times. You most of these properties are short-term rentals, you know. A lot of them are dealing with um different people in and out because there are like a not a private location, it's more of a public. And uh, we have like properties in in Scottsdale are like on mountains, you know, going down a steep hill. And uh we must have really agile can runners that are able to take the can of the curtain back. But we haven't had any, we haven't had any issues um with anything, you know, no, no, no dog bites, nothing. I mean, honestly, it's you know, um yeah. Uh but in Jinxu, sorry. I've been asked the question, I've been asked it before. No, it's been it's one of those things where I just think that's um we're not doing anything crazy, you know. Um and if they feel on you know, they feel like they can't the cans are overflowing and they're too heavy, then we'll schedule one-demand trash removal and we'll remove them that way. Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Now, now how how

$49/month gets you up to 16 stops - the volume play

SPEAKER_02 16:56

much does something like this cost, man? Like to get my my cans taken to and fro. How much does that something like that cost?

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Well, we start off at $49 a month, and that's for one trash, one recycling can serviced on the same day weekly. Um, there's some excess, you know, uh maybe additional prices if you know you have more than one trash can. Uh if you have a long driveway, um uh those are mainly it for the most part. Long driveway or multiple trash cans might be a five dollar extra charge, but for the most part, majority of our clients are paying $49 a month per property.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

$49 a month, and that gets you four trips for as many as as many as yeah, as it needs.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah. One for weekly service, yeah. So some of our clients have like uh four a week, that's sixteen a month. We're still doing it for $49. Damn, that's a steal right there. Yeah, so we're we're really a volume base, you know. Um, you know, and we've really been able to um been able to you know figure this out at a volume, you know. It didn't really, you know, it wouldn't really make sense if you only had three, four, five hundred properties, but we have about seven thousand properties on the platform now across our platform where you know, Phoenix being our our main market, we have a really dense, you know, uh concentration um that you know we're not in the business of losing money, but to start out a new route, if we go into a new market, sometimes you know we're losing maybe a little bit, but we know if we add two more properties on, four more properties on, we now know those metrics and those numbers of what a good route is, how many stops you need to be stopping in an hour uh for it to make sense. And some of our best routes, you know, are doing anywhere from 75% profit margins to 89% profit margins. Uh, as we're building that route, we're more of a logistical technology company. And that's the difference between us with Uber and whatnot, is that Uber is trying to make as much money as they can on that one job where we're trying to make as you know much money on each route. So if I have a route that has 16 properties on it that a camrunner can do within an hour, how do I get the nearest neighbors and add two, three more stops on that route that now he can do 19 stops in an hour because it's not really adding much more to it because you know he can walk to the next property. So we really game defy this. So we we did a good job of adding a bunch of properties onto our platform, uh getting the service you know brand out there. And then now we're looking at our properties on each one of the markets that we're in and seeing how do we get the nearest neighbors, how do we get these routes a little bit more condensed. And that's where we're kind of gamifying it now to where, okay, if a can runner can you know do 15 stops in an hour, how do we get them to do 20 stops an hour by adding the nearest neighbors? Like, what's our marketing now? Like, are we doing door hangers or you know, or hanging them on the cans? Um, is it phone calls? You know, so a lot of our growth has been me reaching out to property managers or you know, me putting myself out there, um, you know, meeting individuals that then share the brand. But now the next thought process, okay, now how do we go outside of just me doing it, but now having the brand speak for ourselves, actually doing marketing now and and you know, implementing that in a way where um we can really grow our presence.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Hmm, that's smart, man. So so the trash removal, that's that's gotta be that's cost more. That's step, that's something that's something separate than the 49, I'm sure, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Yeah, and that that price, uh, we kind of coined, not coined, but we kind of get our prices around the $49. So with that, it's starting at $49 for the first trash can to be emptied or the first 10 bags on the ground. And then if there's additional trash cans, it'll be another $20 per can after that, or $2 a bag on the ground. So if you're looking for two trash cans to be removed and three bags on the ground, you're looking at $49 plus $20, $69 plus $6, $75. And our clients usually use you know 1-800 junk or some of these other companies because they don't really know what to do, and they're charging you like $150 just for a shoebox. So with us, we're trying to you know figure out how to get that at scale. And then what we do is once again, we partner with local you know, vendors in the area. We say, hey, look, you know, we have 100 properties

From side hustle to 7,000 properties in 23 states

SPEAKER_03 20:52

in this market, we're gonna be you know using you for all of our junk removal. Can you help us help you? And so now we negotiate with them to where we're trying to make anywhere from you know um a 10 to 20% profit margin. We're not trying to make a lot of money on it. It's more, if anything, if I make a mistake taking your can of the curb this week, because I am dealing with humans at the end of the day, I have someone in place that can go empty your cans out to where for you at least you know the cam monkey, no matter what, is it your cans are gonna be emptied, whether it's the city empties them out, or if we make a mistake, I go empty them out for you. So that on a man really had happened as like more like a safety net for us, like a safety blanket to make sure that we had something in place at the same time. What we've found, and what you even said were with trash BNB, your idea was that it happens regardless, right? So even if we miss, that sucks. It but it's good to have that as a you know an insurance policy. But really, what we found is people actually need that in place. And so what's what we've done is built these relationships in place where you know we're able to get this, you know, a lot at a cost, you know, um, because we're telling this guy, hey, we're gonna, you know, give you this many jobs coming in. Um, and if sometimes we don't hit it, we lose money, but at the same time, it's worth us having that as. A as a partner in our business in that market.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah, big time. Um because yeah, I guess you know, when I was thinking about doing this, you know, it never happened, like I said, but I still got the name. But um, I was thinking of something like that. I was like, okay, well, maybe I can get some of these youngsters that are that know how to use these apps and the Ubers and all that stuff, and they they can do their whole block or the couple blocks, you know. I mean it's trash day, and then people start signing up for this and people forget. I forget, you know, it just happens. But if you have like a youngster to go just up and down the block, or and and um here's another idea because like this street might be Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the next street over might be Wednesdays and Fridays. I was like, well, if if the people are checking out on a Wednesday and our trash day was yesterday, then maybe I can get someone from that block to go take it and put it with their trash or something like that. It was just it was just and and I was thinking of the same way, like you said, Uber, not hiring employees to do it, but like the Uber style where they can go pick, oh, trash needs to be picked up here, here, here, and then go hit it.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

No, you're mil, and that's exactly what is my business partners thought the same thought process. He's like, Look, I can have my son, you know, I can get the neighbors to do it, I can have my son be the can runner, and then I don't have to do cans anymore. And you know, so that was the same thought process, and that's why I'm saying like we're trying to gamify it now, because to your exact point, it's like if you can get a neighbor kid now to go do it for you know uh $16, you know, an hour, you go walk around his block, you know, he doesn't need a car, maybe uses a scooter, uses the app. It's like a modern day paper route, right? And it's the same route every week because it's the same properties on the schedule. Um, so we're trying to make it like a modern day paper route, but for trash cans, but that's exactly what the thought process is.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

That is cool, man. That is cool. Who who designed your logo, by the way? It's a pretty cool logo.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Thank you. My my business partner, you know, uh for me, I I came into you know Cam Monkey already a year in existence. So really, my you know, I'm now the co-founder CEO, and

Joining a year in: the co-founder CEO negotiation

SPEAKER_03 24:01

really my thought process was going after short-term rentals, which my partner didn't want to. He really wanted to go after homeowners and just keep it that way. He didn't really see a need for the the management side. And like I said, I only saw it because I had friends that were converting and saying the same thing you said earlier. Oh my god, I have to go to this property, take the can out on this day, then I have to go back, and then if I forget, it's a $50 fine. He's like, I'd pay someone $100 a month to do it, and that's where my light bulb went off. I was like, Oh my god, I got a buddy that can do this for you. I was like, How many properties do you want to sign on? He goes, I got 20 for you. And I took those 20, and I think Cam Monkey had 19 signups in its first year, so I literally doubled it within one client, and I was like, Look, this is how we're gonna grow, you know, and it's kind of what I did in Title and Escrow. I didn't really go after individual real estate agents, I went after investors who maybe bought 10 homes a month. My fee for file was a little bit lower on the uh Title Nescrow side of it, but I had more volume. So I use that same concept of what I did in Title and Escrow and with you know short-term rentals. You know, why go after 20 people and maybe get you know two homes when you can go after two people and get 20 homes, you know? Um, so it's smarter, not harder, and especially being a bootstrapped company, you know, you have to make your dollar last as you know long as possible and you got to grow your company as fast as possible. So once again, like we're now a logistical technology company, but I have no background in technology, I have no background in software. What we did is my business partner and I actually created a business. We were the ones taking the cans to the curb ourselves to the first hundred properties. We knew what it entailed, what you might see, what the garage codes may look like, what gate codes may look like, you know, what it looks like in general. And then at that point, we knew how to replace, you know, replicate ourselves and get a can runner, what a can runner would be, how much would you pay them? How much could you do? You had to figure out all this. So everything that's built right now out there, you know, in competitors of ours now, and the pricing they have is all based off Can Lonkey because we are the first Canada Curb service provider. They created the category Canada Curb for us. Um, and and there was nothing, no one else doing this yet. So the pricing structure and everything we have was built really around what my business partner and I needed, you know. Um, but now what is just kind of taking its own form, and you know, with thousands and thousands of properties in the platform and helping people across the country, it's now, you know, people are telling their neighbors and it's just now taking uh its own little ecosystem, which is great. But we're really just starting, we're still just getting started. And um, you know, it's been a fun ride, and and you know, I having conversations, conversations like this just keeps helping me like you know, make sure like we know we're on the right path, you know, and it's crazy that you had the idea, like it's nothing crazy, you know, it's just we just did it and then we just kept doing it, and then it was just like the pandemic happened, which was perfect for us, you know, like we didn't know. Um, you know, so it's just like one of those things. Like, I didn't it we just kind of fell into this, and and we're making it work for us now.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Yeah, I I love that and the fact that um so it might start out as something that you know really catered to Airbnb, short-term rentals, but you know, spreading into something else, right? Uh just just like let's just say Uber at first was Uber Black, and it was these supposed to be these big, giant, uh, you know, beautiful SUVs, and then they say, Oh, Uber X, you know, and then all everybody could do it. And it was like it was just turned into something totally different, multi-billionaire billion dollar company. But um, I I love I love that how how it's and I automatically think, you know, there's a lot of old ladies out there living alone, they can't do a lot of stuff. And I'm not saying to go and gouge the old ladies, I'm just saying, but maybe there's someone on the block that does it for them, and they're like, God dang it, I got you know, I'd love to keep doing this for for sweet old lady, but but uh, you know, I got work, I got the you know, I got I got obligations of my own. Oh, I could use this this can monkey thing and I can still help her out, you know, and and and she don't got a lot of money, but I could help her out and and yeah, there you go. Maybe they start a little sweet old lady foundation inside your your go daddy, your uh not go daddy, your can monkey.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

No, and that's a good point. We actually have now like adult children paying for their parents. Um, you know, the elderly parents, they don't want them to fall, you know, taking the cans to the curb, so they hire a service like us, you know, uh to make sure that their parents' cans are getting taken to the curb and back and they don't have to worry about it. So um like that wasn't a thought process of a you know, uh an avatar of you know, people who we could go after. And now it's like a no-brainer. It's like, yeah, you're right. Like we should be going after every 55 and older community. Um, one of my neighbors is the you know, fire chief of um our city, and he says majority of the calls they get for these 55 and older communities are like falls, you know, not necessarily taking trash cans to the curb, but like, you know, they they fall. There's these, you know, and so it's like if we can help maybe even get with these insurance companies and say, hey, you know, we can help with you know these elderly by taking the cans to the curb, you know, help mitigate a fall from you know, taking the trash can. Um, maybe Medicaid can get involved and you know, and then that's where, you know, so we've had all these thoughts of of how to definitely go after um these other you know sphere. And for right now, just being a bootstrap company and and just trying to build out a concept and see if it's profitable and see if it's scalable and see if it's sustainable, which we have now. It's the low-hanging fruit was a short-term rental. But now knowing where we're at now and now we want to add and gamify it, it's you know, it's endless of all the different you know criteria, people that we can go after um and get on our platform.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Now you mentioned something really important earlier. You said that you came in after it's already been a year in existence, and you came in as a co-founder CEO. Now, uh how how did that dynamic work? What brought you? Yeah, I guess you saw it was a good idea, and you thought you could add something to this. And how did that work? And then and then how did you minimize you know uh potential conflicts and stuff like that as a partnership would have?

SPEAKER_03 29:48

That's a good and that doesn't get asked a lot, that question. And I feel like it's it's a good point because I get asked a lot, like you are you did earlier, like how'd you come with the logo? And you know, it's really it's it's not my baby, you know. I came into this afterwards, almost like a step, you know, parent. You know, it's it's not my baby, but I'm raising this baby, it has my last name now. You know, it's like it's like I you know, I adopted it. Um, but you know, in the beginning, I my business partner was one of my first mentors. Uh, he had started this. When he first told me about it, I laughed at his face that that's a silly idea. It wasn't until I found out my buddy who had the short-term rentals, you know, and he would pay $100. That was the first time I was like, oh my gosh, maybe he's on to something. And and really, I had just started watching this show called Billions, um, you know, Bobby Axelrod, you know, invest in these companies. And I had a really good W-2 in title in escrow, and I just thought I could be like a Bobby Axelrod. Like maybe I'll you know, help my buddy out, invest some money in this and and see if I can manipulate it and you know, whatever. That was it. You know, I was really content with my company where I was at. Uh, that was in 2018 when I invested in Cam Monkey. So all of 2019, I was just uh a partner in it, just invested, um, helped you know Cam Monkey grow by just giving my insights and some sales and marketing aspects. 2020, the world shut down. I lost my job at my W-2 uh May 2020, and I was really at this crossroads where I could go and get another job at you know in Title and Escrow or I could go all in in Cam Monkey. So I went all in in Cam Monkey. And it wasn't really until like 2020, 2021 where I started having these conversations with my business partner who was the founder, where it's like, hey, like I want to be the CEO. And he's like, Oh, you don't know how to be the CEO. Like, you know, how could you be? I'm like, who knows this better than I do? What are you talking about? You know, so like definitely was that like butting heads or you know, what I've had studied afterwards, you know, you know, founders' guilt, or you know, you know, founders think they should be a certain way. So someone else is coming in and saying it should be a different way, they you know, despise it. And and there's definitely some of those things that had happened. And I think with me, I'm just very uh persistent. And you know, if I feel fair about something and then I'm gonna stick to it. And and Mark and I, my business partner had a back, you know, we had a uh a history together. Like he's was one of my first mentors. Um, yeah, he's 12, 13 years old or 15 years older than me. So I look at him as you know, more um, you know, not as a peer, but you know, as like a mentor. Uh, but I think with that, he looked at me as a mentee. So I think when I now coming him saying, like, hey, I know how to do something, it's like uh like I know how to build businesses. So it definitely was that, you know, um friction. But I think with me keep showing that I was committed to the company, I was doing what anyone would do for their stepchild or you know, for the child, and I was treating it like a child, and I put my own money in it when I we needed to. Like I did everything that he was doing.

Founder equity talks and proving yourself

SPEAKER_03 32:42

So when it got to the point where we were really taking this side hustle into and creating it a startup, you know, it went from a side hustle to a startup, a startup to a company, now it's going from like a company to a business. Uh, and as we were growing it and then looking at cap tables and looking at some of these things, it's like, hey, I should be X, you know, I should I should have this. And that's definitely some conversations, and but I made valid points, and I I think that the value was there, and I think that he realized that what I brought to the table, and it's um I can definitely see from both uh angles, but you know, I think just from what I had helped get it to um was undeniable, and it was just one of those things he I think he was like, no what I'd rather have you with me than without. Uh and at the end of the day, taking cans of the curb is not really, you know, it does there's no startup to it, you know, like anyone can do it. You have a car, you have a body, you know, go do it. So um it's like look, I I can compete with you if you want, you know. And he's like, No, no, no. You know, so it's like I didn't want to do that either. So it's one of those things like we were better together. Um, and you just kind of over, you know, it takes trust on both sides, you know. But I give him his credit when credit's due. I always say he's the founder. Um, you know, I don't take anything away from that, even though I came in at 19 properties, which is very, you know, infant stages. Um, but he, you know, he also did a lot to help us get to this point too. Like there's both sacrifices on both ends. Like I would never come into something if he didn't put that money and effort and everything in the beginning, you know, so I can't I can't overlook that either. So I think it just takes maturity on both sides and just understanding.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

That's yeah, that's really it's really big of you to notice that you could bring that to the table. And it's really big on him, you know, to to trust you with that, to to put the ego aside, you know, because that's a that's a big deal, man. And and realize, okay, you've got a skill set that could take us to another level. If I keep in this role, we might not get there. And that that's I mean, that's it. Every great, you know, team, every great band, or whatever it is, with a group of people coming together for uh, you know, a for a common cause for it for a common goal, and then you put those egos as egos aside, man. And it's hard to do. You gotta have some tough conversations, but you know, yeah, you know, okay, hey man, dude, I sing better than you, man. I I gotta be the lead singer. Oh, all right, man. I gotta be quarterback. I can, you know, I'm Patrick Mahomes, I'm gonna be quarterback.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Yeah, no, you're right. You kind of have to shoot your shot sometimes, you know. And like, not that he wanted to put me down, but you kind of have to like I can do it. And it's like, are you sure? I can do it. Like, let me show you. And if I if you find someone better than me, then I'll be the first to say, you're right, bring them on. Um, but until that moment, let me let me see what I can do, you know. And I had to prove myself, and then not just to him, but to myself and to the company itself, and it's like, you know, like, am I leading the company the right way? Am I doing the right things? And like at first, it's kind of silly when you're you're starting your own company and you're like, I'm gonna make myself the CEO. It's like, what? Like, you're you know, it's kind of fake almost, you know, like you know, you make but then you start and I then I start, you know, going to these conferences, I start make meeting other uh CEOs and and co-founders, and and I start learning, you know, what they've done. And I'm like, oh my god, I've done that. I'm like, oh my god, maybe I am a CEO, maybe I am doing those qualities. And it's like, oh my gosh, I was made for this position. And it's kind of crazy because I go back to that very beginning when I said like I thought maybe I could be a Bobby Axelrod, and then like I actually was a I did do it, you know, just maybe a different route. I wasn't, you know, not a billionaire, but and I had to actually work in the company and and now just manipulate on that sidelines, but like I still manifested exactly what I wanted. Um, you know, and now I have a business where I've been able to hire some of my best friends to come work and help me build something where, you know, we're we have always gotten the short end of the stick of these other corporate American companies, but now we have you know a chance to write our own check. You know, we have our chance to um you know work hard, not just for someone else, but for ourselves. And then creating those opportunities is really something that I like to, you know, I've always been a part, you know, creating win-wins and helping my, you know, my people um in whatever aspect it is, whether it's directly they work with me or we're partners, and I, you know, my clients are their clients, and how do I help you grow? And and I just know I have an abundance mindset and it'll come back, you know, and um so I think all those things are fine.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

So so what are some of those uh CE qual CEO qualities that you that you feel that you had that you could really contribute to the company?

SPEAKER_03 37:12

I've always been a connector, uh and I had no idea that you know, just my my my the way I can pattern recognize, um, where I can you know see the uh remember what this person had done and how that could apply to us, and then you know, having them come in and it's always like the right timing. Um, how we've been able to bring in our chief technology officer who built our application. If I really look back on all the things at Cam Monkey and some of the pivotal moments, I'm not saying it's me directly, but it's been something where like I can go back to like, oh my God, if I didn't have that conversation, or if I didn't meet that person, or if I didn't do that, it's always been me going out of my comfort zone and being that connector of having that conversation and just knowing how that person can apply themselves and their their strengths, and that is our weakness, and how that could work. And I remember the story when I was really young where um you know Henry, uh Henry Ford, you know, someone was you know kind of calling him out and you know, you never went to school for this. And how do you know how you know combustion works? And how do you know how a radiator works and this and that? And he just turned his phone around and said, Look, I know if I hit number eight, it calls the guy who knows about the radiator. If I call number two, it calls the guy that knows about the engineering. He goes, I just know the guy who knows, you know, and that's kind of how I am. You know, I don't know how to build software, I don't know how to build technology, but look at my team. You know, look who my advisor is, you know, who came from you know Turnkey, who, you know, was you know the C the CFO of turnkey. So I've been able to build these relationships um where it it's been able to create win-wins for everyone in a way where it also behooves Cam Monkey.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Yo, yo, yo, Stevie Stacks

The connector CEO: knowing who knows

SPEAKER_02 38:44

again. One more quick shout out to themusecoffee.co. That's the musecoffee.co. Get you a freshly roasted bag of coffee today. Go to the musecoffee.co, use code LLT, and get you 20% off of a bag of the best coffee you'll ever have in your life.co. Yeah, I like that, man. That's uh the connector quality. I feel I have that too. You know, I got my company over here, Argus Reynolds. Yeah, uh, I feel I feel kind of the same way. Um yeah, you gotta have uh uh a lot of patience, I think, in in in my eyes, you know, in the way I I feel about the CEO role. I'm not saying I'm I'm a reluctant CEO, but I kind of know how to put the people in the right places in a way. That's just a a gift of mine, and you know, and I'm sure you you got that quality too. So so it's it's it's definitely the the connector I feel makes a really good uh CEO.

SPEAKER_03 39:42

A thousand percent. I think knowing your strengths and knowing your weaknesses and knowing that you know this person is better than you. Um, back to the whole ego thing, I think that's you know, is huge. You know, I I feel like I'm a delusionally optimistic person. I feel like I could I could do the best of at everything, but I also know my my limitations. I know that um what you know I don't like doing and and making sure that I find someone that you know does the opposite of that, you know, that likes doing something I don't like. That's and then I get along with that person, then perfect, you know, and that's exactly my whole team around me is a bunch of people who are way smarter than I am at the things that they're doing. And you hear this, and then you're like, how do you know, and then you just kind of do it subconsciously, and that's where you're like, oh my gosh, I'm just doing this naturally. I'm just putting people in places that they need to be in, and I'm getting credit, but it's like really I'm not doing anything, it's my team, you know. I just make sure I give my team the credit and just make sure that like all I'm doing is just giving them the space and then giving them the environment to succeed in. And I'm the first one to take blame. If they fail, it's because of me. What did I not give you? I didn't give you the best directions. Okay, uh, I'm gonna get you in front of someone that knows way more than this. Here, let's have a meeting. And once again, I'm just connecting my people with someone else. And like, hey, can you share all that knowledge you you talk you talk about to my guy? And and what I found is that people, especially CEOs, you know, everyone like everyone wants to help everyone. And I have some CEO, you know, part uh friends of mine at other companies where if I've asked for, like, hey, what was that documentation you asked for when you, you know, were talking to an advisor, or what you know, what would you do at this position, you know, at this point? They're open books, you know. Um, kind of like what I said in the beginning, like I'm an open book, like I want to help people because once again, I know the more people I help, it just comes back to me one way or another. The worst thing you can say about me is that, oh, well, you know, he did help me do this thing, but you know, whatever else, like I'm okay with that. Um so as long as I, you know, can leave a good lasting impression and it doesn't have to be that that our service or anything, that's just an added bonus. Um, I know eventually down the road, you know, if someone does need a trash uh service or uh a solution, then hopefully the thing about Cam Monkey. But for the most part, if you already have the system and solution in place, cool. You know, best of luck, you know, and if you need someone, then let me know and I'd be happy to help. But it's really like you just an abundance mindset.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

One of my favorite quotes, uh a patent, uh, you know, general patent quote, and and I'm sure I'm gonna butcher it. Was like, don't tell a soldier how to do something, tell them what you need accomplished and let them amaze you. I thought that was a cool. I was like, wow, that that is pretty neat, man.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, just let them.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

I mean yeah, go ahead. No, uh, you're right. Like, you know, you don't want to show someone how to do something, you want to, you know, maybe let them know, let them figure out themselves. And now they you know take ownership of it because they figured out, you know, themselves. And uh that's exact that's probably the one of the worst things I do, you know, maybe is I give people too much autonomy. Uh, but then again, and when they succeed, they own it and it's it's theirs, you know, and it's that's what I want. I don't want to tell them how to do it. I want them to figure out themselves and make it even better than what I could do.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

I and and for the most part, that works great. I've what I've noticed. But every now and then, let's just say you know, something in my business that I needed something accomplished, and I said, Hey, this is what I need to accomplish, you know, you know how to do it, you can figure it out. Doesn't get done exactly, you know, how up to par. And I'll and I won't I won't get mad at somebody or nothing. I'll say, okay, let me let me examine this and I'll go, I'll dive into it and look at all the moving pieces and and I'll make a uh a crap ton of looms or whatever videos, and I'll just I'll walk through it with the loom, see what's going on. I was oh okay, here's the issue. Boom, boom, boom. I'll figure it out, loom it, send it to them. There we go. We figured it out, you know. That's you can give a lot of autonomy, that's cool, but it doesn't work 100% of the time. But when that does that rare occasion, I'll dive into it myself and see what's going on and then hand it back to them. Oh, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

That's perfect. No, loom's great. We just started using that not too long ago, and uh I love it. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Yeah, man. There's there's so many, there's so many different um needs out there for for not just you know the cans and the trash removal. And and I it just I mean, it it's there's so many different ideas. And for example, what comes to mind here in in North Texas, every single year the uh we get a deep freeze, right? For a few days or a few weeks. It doesn't matter. We get we get a little bit of it, you know. And but we're not an up north state where their pipes can handle that crap. So everybody, you know, a lot of we you know, plumbers love it because they get you know they make a crap ton of money, but people don't cover their spigots outside. That's a that's a thing that that that needs to be done, and people don't do it, or there's a big rush on those the day before, and there's none left. And so if yeah, I mean just ideas come to me like, well, you hey uh I'm gonna do your cans tomorrow. Hey, it's gonna it's gonna freeze. You wanna you wanna buy a couple of these spigots from us, you know, and we'll put them on for you, and everything will be good, your pipes will be good. I don't know. I just I just think of all these ideas because you can save thousands of dollars just by doing something like putting these 99 cent things on their spigots, dude.

SPEAKER_03 44:43

You must be in our conversations. I I swear everything you're saying. So this is what we're implementing right now is that you're so what we've turned ourselves into with our technology is a logistical technology company. So, like I said, we're really good at building routes.

Platform vision: spigot covers to pest control

SPEAKER_03 44:55

I already have the can runners in place, I have all the properties there. We're adding in these other services that our clients are asking us for. Uh, you know, clean the propane or check the propane tanks, you know, make sure that the the water pump is on for the pool, it's heated. Uh, do inspections for properties, make sure that the the code works, make sure the lights are on, make sure the Wi-Fi, you know, password works, make sure the air conditioning is set, uh, little things like that. You know, we've been asked in um, but the water, the uh making sure the water doesn't freeze, turn the water on at the house. Like so, all these things you're saying are things that we've been asked over time. We're now finally with our technology and applications in place that we could add these other services. So, can the curb is our foot in the door, it's our one thing, but from there it's gonna open up all these other services. And that's where where our advisor, Jen Ford, who came came from Turnkey, really sees Can Monkey down the road. It's not just a Can to Curb service provider, which is what we are, but really like a platform for our uh short-term rentals for all their one-offs. You know, a lot of our clients live in different states and have properties there, so they need help with pools. So we have pool monkey in Arizona, you know, power washing, window cleaning, um, you know, gate, all these different things we've been asked to do that we've been thinking about you know adding in, just like we had with the on-demand trash removal and the can cleaning, but really being a one-stop shop for any um checking your mailbox, bringing your packages in the garage, uh, things that we are going to be doing anyways, because we're at your property, we could do these other services for and just add on maybe some extra charges.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

I and it's funny because I I you know listen to a lot of entrepreneurial type shows and stuff like that. And one thing I hear uh a lot from like successful people, you know, of course their days are filled, they're they're busy. They even if they had to reach a set a level of success, they keep going, they want more and more, whatever. Is they're a lot of man, I just need what I really need right now. Is a is a home manager just to do all these things that I and they I can never get to, you know. The garden, the you know, the like you said, like you mentioned the trash, the power washing this and that. They want like some kind of home manager to do all these small things for them because they can never get to them.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

Yeah, it's like a we're like an Angie's list without like actually outsourcing different companies. We're the ones doing it. And so we would have vendors on our platform that are already vetted, that are already ready to go. That now our clients would just go in the platform and say, All right, yep, I'm having family over this weekend. I need you know, power washing done in the backyard, I need my windows cleaned, and then a schedule trash removal on Sunday because I'm definitely gonna have trash after this party on Saturday, and really we're just collecting all that data from them and then just scheduling it for them when they need it.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

Pest control, pest control is big, pest control, all of it.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

That's what I'm saying. Like anything that is already getting done on a property, we can add all those services on and then have vendors of ours, you know, ready to go on the scheduled days.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Just pay one monthly fee, I don't have to worry about crap anymore. This house is gonna be running smooth. Oh, it's a beautiful thing. Yep, yep, yep. That's the plan. Well, cool, man. This is uh this is a great, uh, great conversation because and and and you you answered a lot. I was gonna ask you, I guess a little a lot of our listeners are entrepreneurs, right? And and so the A to B, how do you just

Just jump - reverse engineer from revenue, not the website

SPEAKER_02 48:00

get this out of your head, like an idea and turn it into a real business? I mean, is there steps you should take? What would you have done different? Stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

Well, I've learned now is you just gotta do it. Um, you know, I my business partner, I he uh is a complete opposite of me. Like I said before, I'm a delusionally optimistic person. Um, entrepreneurship definition is jumping off the cliff and building the airplane while you're falling. And so, in that in that analogy, you know, I'm jumping off the cliff, building the airplane while I'm falling. I'm tied, you know, with the bungee cord to my business partner who's still on that cliff waiting, reading the instructions, looking for every single tool. And I'm saying, dude, screw it. We're like, just come on. He's like and he's hesitating. So like you can sit and wait all day long until the timing's right. The timing's never gonna be right. You just gotta jump into it. And what I found is just do one thing, and once you get your foot like what one thing started, then you do the next thing, and then you just do the next thing, and then it'll it'll happen for you. So I hate saying that, but it's like there's a saying when you commit, the universe will assist, and you just gotta commit to whatever is in your mind and just put it on paper, reverse engineer it. What's the last thing that you would wish that you know would happen? And okay, this is it. Okay, now how does that you know, reverse engineer that? How to get to that point, what do you need to do at before that? Before that, before that, before that, till you get to the point where like start. And some people are like, Well, I need a website and I need this, and I've done companies without even having a website. I'm more of a revenue covers all sins. I'd rather have revenue coming in, knowing that I have a service that people want, and then go worry about uh email and website and all that. I think so many people are that paralysis by analysis where they like don't even do anything because it's so overwhelming of oh, I gotta get an LLC, I gotta get EIN number, I gotta do dude. No, you don't. I just screw it. Like, you know, get a client, and if you have someone that's gonna pay you a thousand whatever, then go get what you need, but just see if you have something first, you know. Like, and that's my thoughts process in the businesses that I have built, like can occur, like you didn't need anything, so like luckily, you know, but you want to do power washing? Okay, cool. Why do you go get a power washer? It's three hundred dollars. Okay, cool. You're gonna go get that off crazelist for $300. Okay, but what jobs do you have? Uh well, nothing yet. Well, how about you go ask your aunt and your uncle and and friends and see if you can get like five jobs scheduled for this Sunday? Okay, wow, you got three jobs for this Sunday, each one's three hundred dollars. You're gonna make 900, you know, like now. Go buy it, and then now you know you have six hundred dollars left over on Sunday, you know, like do reverse engineer it. A lot of people are like try to get all the stuff first and then do it, and it's just like you have so many more things that can go wrong. And if like you just got the business and ready to go, then that's easier.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Yeah, you're a lot like me, man. I think the same way. Just I don't know, just do it. He goes, Well, didn't you look uh uh for that property? What didn't you study air DNA and all this things and what the market for? No, I just got the property and I just put furniture in it. Let's go. Let's what are we gonna do here?

SPEAKER_03 51:01

My mom used to tell me when I was younger, and I thought it was a compliment. It was like ignorance is bliss, you know, and that's how I've always just kind of like you know, I don't know. I I just never like let myself like think things are too hard. I was always ignorant, you know, ignorance is bliss, you know. Like I because then once you start realizing holy shit, I should have like done all these other things first, you would never have done it. But if you just did it, you just will figure it out because you will, you've you know if I don't know if you read it already, you need to read that Elon Musk book.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

But he's the same, he just like, I don't know, uh, electric cars, no one wants those. Uh some someone will buy it, and he goes and makes you know, the biggest car company in the world, richest man in the world, didn't do one shred of market research or advertising or anything. He just wanted to make a great electric car, and then now everybody on the planet wants one. It's it's like he didn't he wasn't looking at all the all that outside peripheral stuff. He just wanted to do one thing and do it great.

SPEAKER_03 51:57

And that's literally what you have to do, and especially if you want to, you know, be someone that's building a business. You you can't look at all the outside stuff, you know. You have to have someone that you know, I would say, like, you know, there's like a you know 10-foot wall of snow, and I'm just going right through the snow, and and then the people behind me are carving it out a little bit bigger, but you have to have that person that just goes through the snow first, and it doesn't look pretty, it's like it's not you know the biggest hole, you know, but you're you're getting through and you're making inches, you're making treadway. You got the team behind you to curve, you know, carve it out and make a big tunnel. You know, you don't need a big tunnel if it's just you, just do what you need to do, just get in, make the dent, and then everything else will take care of it from there.

SPEAKER_02 52:34

Just plow through the snow, Alex Shapiro. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

And then you get then you get snow monkey, you know.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

So I think I think that one might already exist, right? The the website snow monkey.

SPEAKER_03 52:47

Yeah, that what that's what I realized now. Like monkey in any name, just you pay for the monkey names. It's like that's silly, you know. Like pool monkey, we bought pool monkey, and it was like, I'm like, why am I paying this much for pool monkey? It's not even a thing, but just because it had monkey and pool in it, and it's just like you gotta pay for it.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

So monkey sales, baby. That's right. Well, thank you so much for hopping on, man. Inspiring episode. Uh, who would have thought talking about taking trash cans of the curb would be such an inspiring episode? But it's entrepreneurism, it's it's everything, man. It's all it's all together. Um, where can people find you, Alex?

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Uh, LinkedIn. Uh, I'm K period Alexander Shapiro on LinkedIn. Uh, you can find me on Instagram, Alexander Shapiro, Facebook, uh, same same name on all of them. Uh, cammonkey.com is our website. Check us out. Uh, we're like I said, we're in over 100 cities, over 23 states. We're almost every major you know, short-term rental market. If we're not in your market, reach out for us. We can get there within 15 to 20 properties on a route. Uh, can get started within five to seven business days as well. So uh we're always looking to expand, we're always going to the next city where we get asked to go. Um, so we don't know where we're going next. You know, our clients will let us know. And so we're uh just taking care of our clients right now, taking care of our route, making sure that we're getting better every day and uh looking for an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

Cool, brother. Keep on, keep it on. Thanks, man. I really appreciate you. All right, take care, live let thrive out.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Live Let Thrive. Be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails. Bye bye.