A Fresh Perspective: Fresh Bloom Bins

Ruby.

Some of the best business ideas come from an unserved need. You have a problem and you come up with a solution. For Tia Johnson, that problem was dirty trash cans in her house and her struggle to get her teenagers to clean them. She realized that if she had that problem, everyone else did too.

And I get outside and the trash can is discussing it as all of the flies, the maggots, and the odors.

She knew she could fix the problem, so she contacted her local representative and pitched a pilot program. The city liked the idea and offered her a contract to begin cleaning trash cans and dumpsters all over the city in the spring.

I would honestly say, after getting that contract, I absolutely thought the company would be successful. How can you lose?

So winter ended, the weather was warming up, and Tia was waiting for a from the city and she got it. But when it came, it wasn't the update she expected.

So we eventually schedule a zoom call and that's when I received the devastating news. Just thinking about it makes me relive that moment, and all I could think about is I can't let them see me cry. And I said okay, and I got off the zoom and I boughted my eyes out because I had no idea where our next dollar would come from. It was the only contract that I had at that time, and it was just taken away.

Welcome to The Unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby Studio from iHeart Media. I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business. On the Unshakeables, we're sharing the daring moments of small business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories of how they got through it. This week, we're in Ohio with two incredible folks. Tia Johnson, founder and CEO of Fresh bloom Bins, is joining us today.

Dez Hi, Ben, how you doing.

Thank you for being on the show, and thanks for having this conversation with us today. He's helping small businesses every day, supporting them as they navigate opportunities within the community, and advocating for policy changes that will support them as they grow. On today's episode, Fresh bloom Bins from Columbus, Ohio, I just got to say I have a soft spot

Thank you for having me. It's awesome to be here.

The name of Tia's company is Fresh bloom Bins, and I'm not ashamed to say I did practice saying it before we spoke. I'm gonna just see if I can say it three times fast, Fresh Bloom Bins, Fresh bloom Bins, Fresh bloom Bins. All Right, it's a little bit of a tongue twister. The core of Tia's business is cleaning dumpsters and trash cans, and we dove into the conversation how she first got into sanitation, what excites her, But it was the numbers that caught my attention.

It's the unsexy part about business, right Like it's when you know all the cans are cleaned and you're going through the numbers.

I love this. I mean, this is what's beautiful about this podcast. One of our clients just said to a banker, the un sexy part of business of the business, all the numbers, The sexy part is cleaning the trash cans. Now no one's ever said that before. So that's great.

That is the fun and sexy part.

It's not every day someone thinks clean trash cans is sexy, but Tia does. It's also not every day that inspiration for a business like this just pops into someone's head. But that's what happened to Tia in twenty nineteen.

It's all started on a hot summer day. I went to go take the trash out and it was filled with flies, maggots and odors.

M yum.

So I know, right. I told my teenage son that he had to clean the trash can when he came home from school, and of course he gave me all of the teenage attitudes. Don't nobody want to clean no trash can as he stumped down the hallway.

I mean, he's kind of right. I mean, I know, I'm like, I don't want to clean a trash can.

Nobody does, but it has to get done every now and then, and I'm like, shrug shoulders, my mom card has been pulled, and you're cleaning this right. Like I was sitting on the couch and I'm like, nobody wants to clean the trash can, but it's one of those things that just have to be done. And I'm like, I'm gonna I solved this problem. So I stay up all night researching on the internet how to build a trash cleaning machine and trash can cleaning.

Not that many people actually clean trash cans, and at the same time, neither did Tia. Her career up to that point had nothing to do with sanitation at all. She'd worked it for Riizon Wireless for ten years, then taught personal finance to girls and young women in schools. It was around that time that she had the initial spark of inspiration for Fresh bloom Bins. She kept exploring the concept in her downtime.

As I was talking to more people, I was like, oh, wait, this is bigger than what I thought. It was like, this is a real business and I could do this.

So she started to tell people she knew about the idea.

And it was going into that like telling people about it right like, Hey, I think I want to do this trash bin cleaning thing, and they're like, what, You're crazy? Who cleans trash?

But Tia had a woman she called her entrepreneur mom, who she knew would support her no matter what. And Tia was right. Her entrepreneur mom loved the idea.

She calls me and she's like, I want to invest in this. Let's sit down and talk about it, and like tears just start blowing from my eyes because I'm like, I can't believe she believes in me, like this we go over, we have this meeting, or like, you know what I want to do with my plans. She's like, okay, I want to think about it, and I'm going to get back to you, and I'm like okay. She gets back to me and she says I love the concept,

So does I want to bring you in here? What a pivotal moment in TIA's journey, you know, one that lots of entrepreneur's face. She believes in an idea, but others around her don't talk to me a little bit about ment I mean you work for the Chamber of Commerce. Is that somewhere small business owners can go for support and where else can they go?

So when a small business owner has this seed of an idea, it's important they seek out as much advice and mentorship as they can. But it has to be the right advice and the right mentor. You want to find your yes people who are going to be realistic but supportive of your idea. It's unfortunate Tia's Mentor didn't see the opportunity in her idea, But maybe it comes down to timing and in a twist, maybe Tia's time

Okay, So back to Tia's story. With her trash dreams dashed, she went back to her day job working in schools and that was that until something unexpected happened and her business took a.

Hit twenty twenty hits right, school shut down and I lose sixty percent of my revenue because it was all in person.

Now, with nothing left to lose, she jumped headfirst back into that brilliant idea.

And I said, everybody's talking about cleaning and sanitation right now. I will never let anyone kill my dreams again.

From that point on, in TIA's own words, it was pedal to the metal. She dredged up all that research from her all nighter, and in order to literally put the pedal to the metal, she needed to get her hands on a truck.

I was talking to the builders on timelines getting the truck, and of course there was a lot of unknowns at that time, and they were like, oh, we can probably get your truck in like six to eight weeks. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to start selling for the next six to eight weeks. And I had really thought about doing single family homes, so going to individual homeowners with like a door to door sales model.

But again, this was during the big COVID lockdowns.

And I'm like, I don't think that that's the best market for me right now. So I quickly switched to government. I said, wait, I'm going to go after corporate and government clients. Like they are getting fun. They're looking for ways to clean stuff. Trash cans are nasty, everybody's throwing away all this ppe gear. So I started to pitch to some of the city council members. I eventually get in front of the director of trash and he's like,

First of all, just for everybody's benefit. You don't have a truck, you've never done this before, and you go out and you get a not so small US municipal organization to give you a contract.

How I always tell everyone now that I can look back on it, the trash Gods was in my favor. One of the skills that I really tried to lean on, to lean into as a small business owner was sales. And part of that was the relationships. So I had a lot of healthy relationships in the community that supported me, put me in the right direction, was able to get me in front of the right people or give me feedback so that I could really make this thing come

Well, you know, you take help from anywhere. So you land this contract, you place an order for this truck. Where's the truck in Arizona, which is, as I'm sure you've realized by now, not Ohio. And now I'd like to share a short story with you. It's called How I Got the Truck by Tia Johnson, how I.

Got the truck. I'm telling you, my belief system has been a whole different place. So I had never been in trucking before. Right, each truck is about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. They deny me financing for this truck and said, based on your background, I don't think.

This is a good bet.

So I get connected to an investor and I tell him I have the contract, the truck is being built. I just need to be able to get the trucks and he said, well, that's easy. He's been in the box trucking industry for ten plus years. So he actually gets my truck finance. I go to Arizona, catch a flight. I have a CDL driver come out here with me. But yes, we drive this truck from Phoenix, Arizona to Ohio in like November.

Now that the truck was back in Ohio, Tian now had to use the truck to make her deadline before her contract was up.

So we were expecting to start around like August or September, and that was cool. We started at the end of the year. So it's November, the temperatures are starting to drop. We had a three man crew. We have to buy all the gear for the staff. We were able to get the routes. We initially start by following the trash trucks after the trash is collected, and we just started rocking and rolling and we killed it like they loved it. Admins came out from the Department of Refuge seeing it,

In case you didn't know, you can't powerwash when the temperature is below freezing. So this was November of twenty twenty and the clock was ticking. Tia ended her first year with a huge win, and based on the pilot program's success, she also had a new contract in hand that would resume work with the City of Columbus in the spring when it was warmer.

Well, the weather starts to break, we're asking about, you know, like next steps, and oh, you know, we have a lot going on right now. Yes, we're still moving forward. We're just looking at how to move forward. So now we're right around like April May and haven't heard from AM in a while. And it's always been a good quality conversation, and now it's just starting to get very very weird. There's this conversation that is scheduled for a meeting,

And my guess is, in your head, you'd spent some of the money, right, like you were counting on that revenue.

I was counting on that revenue. That was like the base I was naive to believe, like, oh, I got this government contract and we can scale from here.

Right.

I really had thought. I thought it out, but it didn't work out like that.

Yeah, and then the rug got pulled out.

Yes, the rug up pulled out.

Does you heard TIA's story? She was participating in a pilot program and she counted on that revenue as the basis for her business, and then that pilot was canceled and that revenue evaporated. Is there a specific lesson in that or is that something people should always be aware of.

Yeah, I'm glad that you asked me that.

In TIA situation, I'm happy that she was able to acquire that contract. But I think the lesson that should be learned from her particular journey is when it comes to the government, their budgets fluctuate. Let's be honest, budgets

They believe and they're utilizing my service.

You should too, and a lot of folks will say, well, heck, yeah, the city said you're good, then yeah, let's talk business. Because you never know with the government's going to happen with their budgets or their spending, or their desire to continue to do business with you. Or you might have someone competing with you and they might outbid you.

Yep. So those are all types of things that can happen.

I think a lot of our listeners either do business with governments or would like to. How should small businesses think about working with particularly state and local governments. The federal government's a whole different animal, but state and local governments, where do you even start.

Most of your larger municipalities and even smaller have a procurement office that handle the purchasing of various products, supplies, whatever it may be, and even services. So when you're thinking about cleaning services, when you're thinking about supplies like office supplies, things as simple as that, there is someone within those agencies that are purchasing things from companies like TIS. That's where you want to start now, prior to engaging

Can I trust them?

And if I can trust them, I can more likely trust the product or services that they're providing.

So Tea's story in that way was unusual, right because her first contract was with the government that is not what most people should expect.

And that's why it was a pilot program, right, because they wanted to ensure what she was offering was quality. Right, And so I look at that pilot program that they offered her as just a test. Hey, let's see if what service you're providing is applicable, is it successful?

Can it work? And I trust you, I trust your business, and.

So we're going to give you a temporary placement to do some business and we're going to see how well you do.

And in her case, she did well.

But a pilot is far from a guarantee, is what you're saying?

Oh, absolutely absolutely got it.

So does how should people think about the actual process? Sometimes there's RFPs, sometimes there's open calls for vendors. I'm guessing that it can be a bit paperwork heavy, a bit process heavy, but maybe I'm wrong, or does it depend?

It depends, However, it can be a bit of a lengthy process. It's accountability more unlikely, this government agency is going to purchase your products and or services with tax dollars, so they have to ensure that what you say you are and who you say you are, and the product and or service that you're providing is what it is. And so when it comes to landing a contract with the government, yeah, they're going to ask you from various questions.

So it's interesting you mentioned programs that lots of governments have for minority entrepreneurs or women owned businesses. One of the things I've heard from clients over time is you still got to put your best foot forward and you still have to deliver a compelling value proposition for the government. They're not going to hire you just because you're a minority or women own. You got to be good at what you do.

That is absolutely right. And at the end of the day, you have to deliver your products on time. You have to do good work, and you have to be patient as well. And so I'm encouraging folks large and small, mid sized businesses that are out there. If this is your first contract with the government, whether it's a small contract, a subcontract, the opportunity take it. And I'm telling you, if they enjoy or they like the product that you're providing,

It was now April of twenty twenty one, and Tia is pretty leveraged at this point. She was losing money and she'd put everything she had into this company. She didn't have a backup plan. She had to find something, anything to keep moving.

At the time, there was a wastehauler that was here that was getting some really bad press. So I had reached out to their marketing department. I sent them an email and I was like, hey, we need a feel good story. You know, like you guys are getting some terrible reviews. Can we work together in some capacity? Maybe you offer a free cleaning service and they said no, but they were interested enough that they invited one of the executives from another city to come here to Columbus

If that seems like overkill. Remember, Tia hasn't had income for almost six months at this point, she's supporting her staff living off the little bit of money she made on the first pilot program contract. There was no way she was going to mess up this demo.

So we go out, we do the demonstration. We even have a hiccup at the demonstration and it's like, oh, I seen enough. So he says, will you guys travel? And I'm like, yeah, we travel. He says, I have about three thousand trash cans two hours from here. It need to be clean. I said, heck yes, like today, and we cleaned over three thousand containers that year with that particular wastehauler. We were able then to renegotiate our

Wow. So you you basically like, just when you thought, how am I going to do this, a whole bunch of stuff starts to come through.

Just when I thought I was going to die and the guy was going to have to like just take me away.

And so do you still work with that trash? Holler?

I do. So.

Now the business starts to really scale right now that you've gotten over that hump and you start have to really hire people and build it out right.

Oh my gosh, Yes, the business started to scale. We had our project going with cleaning trash cans. By twenty twenty two, we got into delivering trash cans and then still had to run my operations here in Columbus with the band cleaning and the trash can removal services.

Wow.

So I was stretched. I've learned so much about myself during that time. I got to know me personally.

And what did you learn about yourself? What did you discover?

I jumped into an industry slightly blind, slightly what's the best word I can use?

Naive?

Maybe naive, very very naive, thinking I could do this, but there was a lot more to the industry that I needed to learn. There was a lot more skill sets as a leader.

One of the things you said is that you were a little naive when you got into this industry. I mean, you're out there trying to sell. You're honest about that, but you know nobody's going to buy from someone who says, well, I don't know what I'm doing, so tell me more about that.

Some of it's borrow confidence. I borrow confidence all the time. Other people are already doing it. What are you so afraid of? I'm very comfortable with sales and asking my customers what is it that they want for me. They weren't looking for experts, they were just looking for people who could show up. Also partnering with other people that are really good at what I'm not good at. I don't need to know everything. I need to know enough that I can get the job done and then just

Beyond trash. Tia is now involved in composting. She acquired a composting company.

We work with London Correctional here where the inmates actually take the material that we bring to them and turn it into composts, and then we take that material and we actually sell it to the community for community gardens and things like that.

Tia mentioned London Career Actional specifically here, but she often works with folks who were formerly incarcerated from all over the city.

I decided, I want to make this bigger than trash can cleaning. I had to sell the bigger picture. So I was really selling this idea of supporting a female business owner and how they can help grow and be part of something. I want to ask how we can show up for our community. So when we started cleaning trash cans, we actually started cleaning in some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods. So we were retaining talent from the neighborhood saying hey, we're going to be out here, We're

Q from our last episode also makes it a point to hire formerly incarcerated individuals, So I wanted to ask Tia a little bit more about that. What makes it challenging at times but also makes it rewarding.

So there's a level of compassion that just in me and wanted to be able to become an employer that recognized that at some point in our life, we all can have made a bad decision and that decision for others looks different. And how can we offer an employment where we didn't have that stereotype or stigma of this is who you are simply because this is what you've done. Is there an opportunity to show that I can do something different and I can do something better and I can be part of something.

It would be helpful, does if you could talk to us a little bit about Ohio itself. I mean, are you a native?

I am a native Akron Ohio. I want to raise an Akron Ohio home of Lebron James. You got to say that it's like a laws.

On way right now. It is a lot, but that's okay. Someday he'll come home again for the third time. So can you talk a little bit about why Ohio is a great place to do business, what you love about doing business there, and why small business owners should consider Ohio.

I would say Ohio is a continuously growing state. We have companies like Intel Amjin, we have you know, Aws, Amazon, Meta. We have all of these folks that are coming to this state, so that is additional jobs.

Right.

We have some of the best institutions, universities here, some of the best primary secondary school districts in this state. And so when you're talking about the new workforce folks that are graduating from these wonderful universities, they need a place to work. And so if you're a business owner, you got some talent coming out of these amazing, you know, universities and colleges, So that should be.

Appealing to you.

When it comes to land use and the availability of land, the costs associated with that particular land.

Resources, talent, land, Yeah, I mean, we have it all. I want to end with a question that I ask of all of our guests on this show, which is a lot of people who listen to the show are either small business owners or aspiring small business owners. What's one piece of advice you would give them?

Oh my gosh, be a little naive, but not blind naive, right, maybe do you know a little bit more research. I think once you get excited about an idea, like you just want to take off with it, do a little homework, a little bit of that digging to you know, make sure that you can build something and that you can be proud of. I have like ten Like wait.

I'll give you a bonus one. You can have one more.

Okay, so a bonus one. Know your numbers. I don't care how passionate you are about the cookies, the cakes, the pies, the trash can cleaning. We all get into business for a reason, and that's to generate revenue. Get you a good CPA, a bookkeeper, and understand what questions to asks. I focus a lot on revenue, and that's why our business struggle with profits, because we weren't necessarily doing it the right way.

Yeah. A mentor of mine once taught me that revenue is vanity, but profit is sanity. And yes, it doesn't matter how big the revenue number is. If it's not profitable, it's just not going to work. Tia, thank you very much. It was terrific to meet you.

Yes, thank you so much.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Unshakables, and to Tia Johnson and Des Bryant for speaking with us today. If you liked this episode, please rate and review it. They'll help us find more listeners. This is usually where we mentioned what our next episode will be today, though I have an update. We'll be back in early