We've Got 99 Problems But Trash Pickup Ain't One, with CanMonkey CEO Alex Shapiro

[00:00:00] Welcome to Alex and Annie, the real women of Vacation Rentals. I'm Alex and I'm Annie, and we are joined today by another Alex. We have Alex Shapiro, who is the CEO and co founder of Can Monkey. Alex, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you. It's an honor. I'm really glad that we got to connect and and have this conversation.

So why don't you we've had the opportunity to get to know you and have enjoyed every bit of it. We always laugh with you and have great conversation. But for those of people listening who don't know you and know about CanMonkey, why don't you give us a little bit about your background and how you guys got started?

Absolutely. CanMonkey is a marketplace where we connect the vacation rental host owners with our can runners, where we will provide a service, we'll take the cans and curbs to the. Curb, the trash and recycling cans to the curb day before pickup and then return them the following day once they're emptied by the city.

We build routes around the properties that we get and the rest is [00:01:00] history. So it's one of those things where you set it and forget it especially when you're dealing with trash cans on a weekly basis. And it got started by accident here in Scottsdale, Arizona. We're now in Tempe, Arizona.

And it's been a fun ride the last four years just going over the short term rental industry. That's where we really found our niche and where we really saw that there's a real need for it on a larger scale. And once we get into a market with the vacation rentals, we're able to help the individual homeowners, the elderly disabled, people who we wouldn't be able to help essentially just one offs.

But once we were able to build that route, we're able to build on top of that. Wow, that's great. So it's not just short term rentals. You're working with residential areas as well. Okay. Yeah. So a lot of people think it's just short term rentals and really we're bootstrapping company all this is just my business partner just did this no real capital raised and really just took a lot of the money that we made from the company and put it right back into it, built our own application, we're on the app store Google play for our can runners.

So our applications competing with Uber Eats, Grubhub with gig economy drivers who are doing the routes. But for us to get [00:02:00] started and to grow with no real marketing dollars, I know you guys said earlier, you guys like my posts. I'm the marketing guy. I do all the marketing, all. It's, we're, it's us.

We're really, all working five different positions. And where I work smarter, not harder was how do I meet with one person and get 20 properties instead of reaching a hundred people, maybe getting one property. And if I wanted to scale this and make a business and provide for my family and do all those things I had to put some gasoline on it.

So I saw with the short term rental market and especially being in Scottsdale. Unbeknownst to us, it was the Mecca of, short term rentals. Crazy Earth. Exploded. So I thought Costco was just in Arizona. Like I suddenly, I thought I tripped in Arizona. I thought some of these companies that were, Vacas, I thought it was just in Arizona when I first started out.

I didn't realize that they were everywhere. Cause I just wasn't in this business. Like you guys had been, I just stumbled into it. And then when I was looking to scale, it's Oh, I wonder if they're all in Park City or I wonder if they're in this market. So then I start reaching out and building those strategic partnerships.

And then now I'm getting a new market where it may take me two years to get to a hundred properties in [00:03:00] Arizona. I'm getting into a new market with a hundred properties right away. And it's taking that thought process is now duplicating it. So one of the things Alex and I talk about in the show is there's generally when somebody comes up with a piece of technology or a business, there's an aha moment.

There's that moment when you're like, this is what I should be doing. So what was it like? Cause again, I think you've joked about it on LinkedIn, like trash isn't. It's not sexy, it's not something that people are like, I need to work with trash, what was it that you were like, okay, this is what I should be doing.

And you went to your wife and said, this is what I'm going to be doing. It didn't work quite like that. So my background, Heidel and escrow, where I was working with investors buying and selling real estate. And some of my clients were having some long term rentals that were converting to short term rentals.

And at this moment when I had this conversation with my client converting short term rentals, or their long term rentals into short term rentals, I had already known about CanMonkey. So my business partner started CanMonkey and for the first year was just going after homeowners in North Scottsdale, one little market.

And it [00:04:00] wasn't really working out that way that way, just going after homeowners, taking a little bit longer. I think after the first year they had 24 signups. And he asked me if I wanted to invest in Camel and I laughed at it. I was like, I'm not, no, I'm not paying you to do that. Silly.

And then my aha moment was when I had that meeting with my client who was converting his launch rooms into short term rentals. And he was saying he had issues with his trash cans. And that was like the first where I was like, Whoa, 20 properties. That sounds a little bit, more my style. I was working with investors.

I like to work. Multiple properties instead of just one. So yeah I know a company that can take care of that for you. And that's where I first merged the first client of mine to Cammonkey. And I wasn't even a part of Cammonkey. I was like, Hey, here you go. Try this out. And then I slowly was like, no, like I can really build this for you.

And I started doing my work, just not free, but just helping them out. Cause he had, it wasn't really going anywhere. And then I was like, no, I'm going to buy in keep it going for the next three months, it was like how I bought in really and then just put a lot of time into it.

And [00:05:00] that was beginning of 2019 and May of 2019, I went a little bit more involved then 2020, the world shut down and I was, out of job and I was like shit, like I had this household that. is, getting some momentum. I think we're at like 200 or 300 properties at that time.

And I just told my wife look going to do Cam Monkey for the rest of the year. We'll see how it happens. I got enough money saved for, our bills, whatever. And she was always very encouraging. And I'm a delusionally optimistic person. So I think whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to be the best at and so I was like, I'm the guy for this business.

And that was, It in a nutshell, I put in the universe, I manifested it and then I reverse engineered what I needed to do from that moment to exactly right now. Wow. That's incredible. So I guess, the main use case is if somebody has a rental property, they, their guests are just not taking the trash out to the street to be picked up by the city, that's the main thing.

And look, they are doing it, right? That's it still helps them, but if you're a [00:06:00] hoaxer owner, like, how do you know it's getting done? Are you texting them? Are you replying to them? Are you reminding every new person every single time you have a new guest? What's your SOP for that?

That's not really how you run a business. If you're really trying to scale, maybe you can do it with one property, but now you have properties. Now you have nine, now you have 12. How are you doing that? And then that's where we really come in and really look at it as I want to be a business partner with you and your business and all I want to handle in your business is just the trash.

That's it. I want you to go get more properties. I want you to do a better job of, whatever you're doing to get more properties. So when you do, you add me on the backend for more trash services. Yes. I'm just a stakeholder in your business and I just manage the trash and that's how I look at it.

Yeah. And it's interesting cause I'm trying to think of in this market. Where that makes sense that in a lot of cases, if somebody checks out, there's still a lot of Saturday to Saturday business and historical vacation destinations that, we would tell our guests to bring trash outside when they leave.

But if they didn't, that house is being turned that same day for the next check in. So the housekeeping would always [00:07:00] do that. But I guess it's, is it more of, it sounds like it's more of an issue in like a Scottsdale market maybe where they're not doing turns on the, on that same day or the housekeepers don't go in or if they have a housekeeping team, are they just not normally partaking and helping with this at all?

But to your point right there, if the housekeepers there on that particular day to take the cans to the curb. They don't do it. Yeah. Yeah. Just taking it back. Oh, true. Yeah. Okay. You're not actually going into a unit to get the trash, right? Like it's already in the can and you're just getting the can to the street and back, right?

That's it. We're just going to take scans from B, wherever they're at the house, whether they're in the garage, around the side of the house we're instruction takers. You tell us exactly how you would tell your housekeeper or whoever where the cans are at where they need to go. Once we do it, we take pictures or timestamps.

So now with short term rental regulations and different HOAs that are getting stricter. Now we have timestamps to let you know that the cans are at a certain time. They're back. We've had several clients already get fines from HOAs where we were able to reverse it because we [00:08:00] had data able to show that the panther actually back at this time.

And so it's, and to your point, yeah, and Scottsdale it was obviously a great market for us to get started and there's tra and each market that we've gone to has different video secrecy. So for Scottsdale, for example, there's one zip code where trash and recycling go out the same day and that's awesome.

But that's one zip code. Every other zip code, trash and recycling go out separate days. So now you're there the day before. Hey, that's four times a week. That's 16 times a month. Yeah, so now that's, if you're really renting out your Airbnb or short term rental, sorry short term rental throughout the whole month, through the whole month, you're gonna have someone go there 16 times.

Yeah. It's, that's really hard to manage. And now you have 10 properties. Now you're gonna have someone go there. A hundred. So it's, just drive around all day long. Yeah. That's what they do. So I'll call someone like, Oh, I'm already getting taken care of. I already have it done. I'm like, Oh who's doing it for you?

They're like, Oh, my maintenance guy. Oh, your maintenance guy is going around the whole town. Don't you think he's more valuable fixing, certain things around your [00:09:00] property or I bet he doesn't like you in that job. Oh, my cleanings are doing it are they, are you making sure they're not there every day?

Yeah, they're there every day. They don't wanna do it either. They're cleaning properties all day long and then they're gonna run back to a property to make sure the can's out. Sometimes they're like, you know what, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. It's where we come in and we're like, we're really a solution.

And so for example, we have opportunities to go into New Hampshire and Maine, some new markets for us and they're way, they don't have real trash solutions, so we'll, or. City is coming or it's a little rural area. So what we're doing right now is we're getting their portfolios and we're going to act as a city for them.

And, and we're doing this in Orlando and some other markets where we're not just a trash to curb or can to curb, I'm a vacation rental trash solutions, a plural. So whether I can't take your cans to the curb, cause it doesn't pertain to you. I'll come with the on demand trash removal, where we'll come every week on a scheduled time, take the trash, remove it for you.

Or we'll connect to different APIs with different PMS systems. We're partnering with a couple. Where we can get your departure dates and arrival dates and we have [00:10:00] algorithms that say if a departure and arrival are within 24 hours, 72 hours away from the trash coming, we'll automatically go and pick up your trash for you.

And we're doing that with some specific clients, a little bit more of a beta testing, but it's working and some people don't want to do that. So we have solutions for everyone. So some people only want to pay 49 a month. That's it. That's all they have in their budget. And then there's some people like, you know what?

I'll take care of every single turn I have. Just come and remove all the trash cans. I don't care about the cost. I just wanna make sure that every single can is empty for the guests. And there's a lot more than, our 49, but they have a different solution for that property. So we like I said, again, we're instruction takers.

We really learn what they're already doing their business. If we have a solution that we think that would help, then we provide it. They have a solution that works and we just take that away from them and apply it. And then at the end of the day, they're not worrying about trash and recyclings.

Yeah, there's, it's awesome. You're kinda like a logistics company. You, I mean you really, so have you written software or is there software to help you do this? Cuz again, to your point, like I was thinking [00:11:00] just in my neighborhood, our trash comes twice a week. , but then I know my parents live a mile from me and there's comes once a week and it's a different day.

And so trying to make sure that, that like certain streets get at certain times and certain streets get at others. That's gotta be a pretty daunting schedule, especially in an area like, Just in Scottsdale, but Orlando, I can't even imagine. And now we're like in Marcos Island and we're in those areas have different, regulations and different structures where we have the cans out at 16 and return at a certain time.

So to your point, when we started this, there was nothing built for us. We are using off the shelf apps that they were just on the app store that for like courier companies. That was the closest thing to us. I can't go down Uber app and use it, I can't download. So that's where, when we got to a point where I'm like, I'm really want to scale this.

I want to be, a big company. Like, how do I do that? I have to have my own technology. So that's where a lot of our money has gone into the first four or five years has gone into our own technology. So we are on the app store and on Google play from our own application that we built. So it's can't run or buy [00:12:00] cam monkey on the app store that we built.

It's pretty cool that we really think about is that it's pertain to us. So to your point, exactly. Like I like priority lists on there. So I get a new property. If you're on a priority list, I want them to know that this is a new property. Make sure you have special eyes on it. We give them the extra time.

There's no application out there that I could do that for. So and then while we grow, what worked in Scottsdale is not going to work in Orlando. Scottsdale is not going to work in Sedona. So while we grow and learn these different idiosyncrasies of the markets, we applied for applications. So that's what I'm saying.

Now that we go to these new markets and see something, yeah, New Hampshire and Maine, that's new to me. But. Thank you. We're doing that in Orlando, or we're doing that also in Austin Park City. It's I know how to do the on demand. I know how to do the pickup. I know how the, it works. I know how to now leverage our national brand.

So when I talk to these local companies that we're partnering with. Not that I'm in the business of losing money, but I'm looking at it at a large scale. I'm not looking at it like I'm just a hamster, I'm looking at it like I'm in, I don't know, 15 states, I don't know what's going on, and I'm not looking at it just from an independent bit.

I'm local, but I'm not. [00:13:00] So I'm essentially like 10 people, but I'm also local by using those people that are actually there. Yeah. And it sounds just like what we do. Yeah. And that's what I really like. I really connect to that because it's true when people are like, what? I want to keep it local, it is local I'm, like

when I went to when I went to Park City, I was like, I don't even like snow, I don't even know how someone's going to do this in the snow, and I'm like, they like live there, so they know what to do, they know what to do, so it's I had to get out of that mindset of Oh, they know that market, they know best.

Exactly. And that's what I'm not recreating the wheel. I'm just taking people who are in that area who already like to work in gig economies or gig jobs, or they like to use their car, had the flexibility of, working a couple hours a day. Yeah. Plus we're a little bit more persistent and consistent.

We give them the same route, like a paper route, full route, where you know what your route is. And the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. And everyone likes, we're all creatures of habit. So get into that habit of now doing it on your way home from work or doing it on like after. If someone does, it takes her kid to gymnastics for three hours and she does it when her kid's in gymnastics it's perfect.

I'm like, awesome. You know [00:14:00] when she's not setting idle, right? Yeah. No. And she's it's like now paying for my kid's gymnastics. I'm like, yeah. Wow. That's awesome. So I learned all, so when at the beginning people are like, who's gonna do this for you? I'm like, I don't know. . Oh, I'll tell you exactly who w2, employees, people who are gig, stay at home moms.

There's a whole like college kids college grads People get their masters. It's it's everyone. Sometimes people just like it. Cause it's like therapeutic, they don't have anyone. They don't have to have anyone in their car. They're just going doing a route. They don't really think about it.

After the. And so it's been a really fun ride and that's why now it's like I get even more excited because all the limitations I had before, I've already covered them. I'm like, okay, there's no limitations now. Now it's just myself and seeing, and it's just time now. So now we're just taking our time, even though it looks like we're going fast.

It's being very methodical still. It definitely seems like you've gotten amazing traction. I can say that it's like all of a sudden we see you everywhere and that's how the world of LinkedIn and social media work, but you're doing a great job with it. I think, doing the marketing plus all running the businesses, it's gotta be a lot, [00:15:00] but you're making it work.

It is, but at the same time, it's like, it's nice for me to be a part of every single thing, even though you know everything about the business and it's nice and it's really it's hard in the aspect of I can't really find someone off the street to help me learn this, because I'm learning the business.

So like now I'm at a point now where I understand what the marketing needs a little bit more than now I can go a better direction. Yeah. To a mark in part before I was like, Oh, just do whatever you want. And then I didn't setting them up for failure. Cause they're like what are you guys junk removal?

I'm like, no, we're not junk removal or can occur. Yeah. What is that? I'm like, I know. So I don't know. So now I have a better understanding of, My client audience, or who to go after or what is working from doing it, not that I want to do. I appreciate the kind of words. I don't want to do it much longer as a lot.

So I wanted to ask you about the marketing because I think one of the things I've absolutely enjoyed is one. I had no idea that there were so many videos that you could find on social that people had done on tick tock or Instagram. About trash cans. Like I had no idea that there was just so many things out there and you've used them in very clever ways.

And so I'm sitting here, all [00:16:00] these things running through my mind. Do you have big stickers that you could stick on the trash can? So when they're sitting out on the side of the road, they see canned monkey when they drive by. Like you were talking about your New Hampshire are you going to have like hand monkey trash?

Tracks, there's so many things you could do with it. So I like, when you're just, when you're deciding, is it very much about what's the need in the market that you design your marketing around? Are you just doing things again? I think your stuff is clever and it's engaging and it's a lot of fun to watch.

And I just, I love them. I love to engage with all your posts, but what is it that, do you have a big plan or is it just something that starts to developed over time? So a little bit of both, there is a big plan, but at the same time, it's like, Sometimes when the plan's working, I want to stay with it, and then sometimes I, so to answer your question, we do have stickers that have camlucky.

com, and there's a little, our logo, and we did it all on, on all the first probably 500 properties in Scott, Seal, Phoenix, and then we got in trouble in Mesa, they said that's vandalism, and that, we're destroying their property, the trash can, so we got scared, but at the same [00:17:00] time, it's still working in all the other areas, no one else told us to, so it's like, Why do we stop that?

We should keep going and doing it because it didn't work. People are still saying, I see your logo on the trash can. So we tried it and then we stopped, but we should keep doing it. Cause I think that it's, we, now I know I'm not breaking the law. I know it's vandalism, sorry. But at the same time, it's ask for forgiveness, not permission.

That was Mesa, Maine didn't tell me that. Another state didn't tell me that. And then we have a dump truck here in the Phoenix market because we were outsourcing everything to partnerships that we were building. And at the end of the day, it's I didn't know what the margins I was receiving or what I was getting or those good, and is that horrible?

Am I getting ripped off? Is he, I didn't know. So I'm like, no, I want to figure this out. So at first I was very like delusionally optimistic, blindly Hey, I'm going to do this, and this is what we're going to do, and my business partner's complete opposite. He, the definition of entrepreneurs the definition of opportune entrepreneurship is jumping off a clip and building the plane while you're falling.

Exactly. Yeah. He is like the guy that's still on the cliff saying, what are you doing? And I'm like, we have a rope tied to each other. I'm like, you're coming with me. Yeah. [00:18:00] I'm dragging you down. Yeah. So he's holding back as long as possible, but at the same time, I've already figured out the, here we go.

And then I give it to him where it's sloppy, it's scrappy. But to your point earlier it's going to work and I just did it. So you make it look nicer and make it look actually, so that's what we do is our wellnour, our partnership is I'm out here. I'm the creative, the post, the marketing.

Like I actually do like it cause like I see something and my creativeness goes in and I'm like, Oh, I can say this and it stems from conversations I have with clients from being in the business so much. So I hear the things are like or I have all these stories that I'll go home and tell my wife.

And then she's Oh, that's funny. I'm like, I think other people think that's funny, right? I think that's a good thing to share that so many things I held internally. Cause I'm like, I don't think anyone's gonna care about that. And then the more I put myself out there, it was vulnerable and just putting it out there, even the good and bad, I got good, feedback back.

There's some people that. Here locally in Scottsdale, I don't know what I did, but they, every time I post something, they don't, there's some people that just hate me. I don't know why, but for the money, yeah. [00:19:00] But I don't, but at the same time, it's it's I'm, it is what it is, it's like one of those things that people do, but.

It is what it is, maybe because I'm talking bad about them saying like why are you having your, why have your guests take the trash cans out and they're actually having their guests take the trash cans out so they get offended by my pose. So maybe I'm wiping them all in the mouth.

Yeah, true. Or, and and I'm not being argumentative, I'm just, they got I asked questions from what I see, saying that's not, that would never happen. I'm like, but it does happen. I'm like, I think I would know. I have 4, 000 plus properties on subscription and I see it all the time. I think people do this.

I think this does happen. I don't even, and I've been told I don't even get involved. Like I want to get involved. Like I want, I've been flow of, there's some very, it's very personal. It's my baby, but at the same time, like I understand when there's flaws and I understand when make a mess ups and I'll be the first one to admit it and I'll make it right, but just to arbitrarily say some things about, I don't like that part, but there's a lot of good things about the marketing and being on social media and that I really do enjoy it.

The haters are [00:20:00] always going to come for you just,

you just, you stay silent. So I'm trying to learn that right now. So I feel like you're like the spirit animal of Alex and Annie, because we are too delusionally optimistic. I like that so much better than saying you're crazy. Yeah, so I, I think that's great. And you said you put it out there and you just.

You in your heart of hearts it's gonna work and maybe it doesn't, but do you learn something from it and you just make it better the next time? Yeah. De mantra a do like a doer. And that's how I, like I'm a doer. Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes I pivot and then I say, okay doesn't work, and then I'll go this way.

Cause I at least initiated something. . Yeah. Yeah. Go from there. Yeah. You can't get attached to the outcome because, There's always going to be things you can do better, and you're definitely going to learn from it, and, you talked about that before we hit play just a few minutes ago about how, just putting yourself out there, just just going for it that's so important and having faith that it's going to happen, right?

Telling the universe and just expecting it then, but I think you're definitely an [00:21:00] aspirational and an inspirational CEO for our industry to have, I appreciate that. I know. And it's like that saying where you have to burn the ship, and it's I had, I got. I'm forced to do it from the pandemic.

And it's look at it right now. What I've done full time. I probably wouldn't have, if it wasn't from this. So it's one of the worst things that could happen to you actually turns out to be one of the best things. And so that's where now I look back on it and it's I wouldn't be in this position talking to you guys right now if I didn't go full time, because I just wouldn't have cared as much, quite frankly, but when it's your only thing and you have to work, you'll make it work.

What was your job before that? You said you, did you say you sold your business before you got so No, so I worked for like Fortune 500 companies in title in escrow. So fidelity National title okay. The national title. Lennar big home Builder. I worked for all those companies and really helping with the investor side of business and helping bring it new revenue.

And I did that for like from 22 to 32. So all my formative years of business, just working at the highest level of business. So I came from starting a business, but [00:22:00] I thought you just had cashflow. I just thought you had billions of dollars and I'd never, you said a lot of this is very new to me.

And sometimes I have that imposter syndrome or syndrome where I gave myself the position of CEO. So when I'm speaking to other companies that have raised a lot of money and they're like, yo, is my mind. I'm like, I don't really know how I'm talking to you right now. It's it's fun when like you have these good conversations and I'm really impressed with what you're doing.

I'm like, oh my God, you are like, you even know who I am? And you haven't raised any, you haven't raised any money, you said. No I got a loan from a family member that kind of help with the the application right now. Yeah. But this has been bootstrap. It's, yeah, nothing we will, we had some meetings with venture capitalists and some good meetings and just we were too young at the time.

And then, now I'm not saying we're big, but now it's it's like now it's like they don't know who we are yet. It's hard. They don't know what to compare us to. I just, I found out yesterday I'm a marketplace. I didn't know what I was. I used to say we're sass that handles your trash.

But they're like, you're not a tax company. And I was like, all right, we're not. Yeah. [00:23:00] Yeah. That's interesting. I like that. We're a marketplace, and that's why I said it earlier, I'm going to try to get used to it, but we're a marketplace where it like Uber is and Airbnb is and Amazon is, we're connecting hosts and owners with the jewels that will do a task for them.

So it's like a marketplace. So yeah, that's cool to understand my identity. I've heard it. This all happened by an accident. We were the first cam to curb service provider in the country that actually made it a business. I'm sure there's other people who had done it. It's such a brilliant, like no, I hate to say no brainer.

Cause it sounds like that, like anybody could have done it, but you had to have the, you had to have the ability and the thought to put behind it. But you mentioned that you do this for and I had. Actually thought about because my father had had some surgery recently and my mom's not able to do a lot of things.

I was like, Oh, that might be good for them. But you mentioned that you do some seniors do you, have you thought about like partnering with like Margaritaville for their retirement communities or gosh, breaking into the villages down in central Florida? You're talking 60, 70, 000 homes just down there, but these retirement communities are popping up everywhere.

And [00:24:00] they're like the, absolutely the, to me, like that would be just a great. The great market for you to be in. Thousand percent. We just very minimally gotten with visiting angels which is. Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, wow. We have them here. Yeah. And you're helping them. It's just a little bit different than when you're working with a vacation rental that's given you, consistent. Yeah. And so I'm not, you're a million percent right. And there's a whole market that I'm not going after. It's once again, if I'm looking at it from a bootstrap position of what's the lowest hanging fruit that I can build? It's a short term. But to your investors now, it's Hey, look, to your point, it's can you go after homeowners?

Yeah. Can you go after elderly? Yeah. Yeah. Why aren't you? Cause it's me. Alex, you don't need to sleep. Come on. I got, I just heard this week about hour early, every day you get like an extra 48 days a year. So wow.

Wow. There we go. I'll just do it. My extra 48 days now. I don't know if I can handle 48 more days of work every year. That's true. But no, I [00:25:00] think there's a solid, that's a valid point. And you're right. It's just, I spent the time in the marketing dollars of going after that. And I'm sure if I did, you're right.

I get a huge contract. Yeah. Yeah. You slammed on. So like what we're doing right now with is we're getting a lot more like adult children like yourself who has a parent that are like, oh my gosh I don't want them doing this during when it was snowing in the park city. We got a a couple people do it as a parents in Park City that live on hills and snowy now we get in Arizona right now So it's weird.

We've been here for five years. It's never happened. But now all of a sudden it's like now it's I don't know people now know Scan monkey and they know what we do now, and now it's just happening. But now it's like A universe now it's just saying here it is. And we getting, put it out there gas more, it's a lot more than it's been before where people are just saying Hey, I have a parent and can you take care of it for them?

I'm like, sure. So yeah, I've got Minnesota and Orlando. I've got it like everywhere, which is really cool. So I love that side of it too. Now I gotta make a marketing piece for that. Yeah. It's, it almost seems like there's unlimited potential because again it's one of those things.

Everyone has trash. Everybody has [00:26:00] trash. Yeah. There's no people. Even the people that what are the, what does it, they compost their stuff. They still have trash. Yeah. It's still stuff that has to happen. It's over. It's overwhelming when I really look at it. Yeah. And that's why I just stay in that short term mental niche right now.

It's easier just to okay, I can gra and even that is huge, but even that kind of grasp the understanding the layouts and then once they get to a certain point okay, let's go after the villages. Let's go after, these, these departments. Yeah. But it's, we really, and this is what happens.

You're right. It's not, trash is not sexy, but now you hear about it and now you start thinking, oh my god that's interesting. That's Yeah. And that's what happens. It starts like dripping and then you're Yeah. Just keeps hitting you with all, and then you're going to drive. It's an earwig now. I've got a vacuum monkey in my ear.

I can't. Yes. And now you're going to drive home and you're going to see all these trash cans out. You're like, Oh, they need a cam monkey. I was thinking my son is going back to nursing school in September. And so I was thinking like, he needs a part time gig. He could go and he likes to work in a scenario where he doesn't have to deal with people.

Like this would be the perfect thing. He put his earbuds in and walk around and put trash cans out. So that's it. And they get paid every [00:27:00] day of the week. And so it's, it's convenient for them. Like I said, it's consistent. Persistent. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they get a paycheck. It's just enough to keep them going, cause there's things like, it's just extra money for them.

They're only working like an hour, two, three, we're starting out at 20 an hour.

I'm telling you it is a workout. Here's this cam back and forth and, but it's been a really fun fun ride so far. And the cool thing where I like being the bootstrap mindset is, or worry, not the mindset because we got to do it. Is that if I had capital, I would just be throwing problem or money at all the problems and don't have money to throw at problems.

You have to come up with actual solutions. So for us, and so we came up with solutions and we were profitable until we started raising now we're building an application. So to show that we are profitable and that we can scale and that we are sustainable is such a good feeling. Cause there's a lot of people are like, we can be profitable if we get to this number and we inbox a bunch of money.

And it's yeah, but you're still hoping we're now showing that we can be at this rate. So now that's why we're just building the routes that we build them. Cause we know if we build a route at this rate. This is [00:28:00] what you'll get from it. So it's it's really neat to see that in the Scottsdale market where we have a lot of properties and a lot of routes and you can see how dense they are.

And it's okay could we get the routes even more dense? We can get this kind of, and it's the same thing. You just take that same, thought process and you put it in another market. It's just routes. Yeah. So do you do you have a stat on how many cans a week you move? The last month it was 42, 000 stops in May.

And we're doing about anywhere from 15 to 2000 stops a day. Oh my gosh. So how many actual people do you have on, they're your can runners, workers, can runners. Yeah. We have about we have over a hundred routes a day. So a hundred routes doing like a thousand stops. So with a hundred routes, we have over 525 active can runners at all time with over 3000 in our.

Like our network and once we get the can runner and they're consistent, like sometimes they don't come off a route because they get the, they'll get first dibs. And we have a whole algorithm in place now that if someone [00:29:00] drops off or the time it's all getting tech our technology is now taking advanced or taking over now a year ago, it was a whole like Excel sheet and it was, oh my gosh.

And then now it's click. And it's like getting really, I'd make a joke that we were in the Flintstones era and then we get Jetsons era. So now it's what was really difficult is now getting a lot easier. You tell me you're using the barrel of monkeys in your marketing, like to go get people.

That's you need to give people a little bit game of barrel of monkeys. Yeah. I think good idea. No, I just, I was picturing all these, that's a lot of people to have to manage around in all these markets. It is. And then it's not funny, but it's funny because like in the markets that we're newer in, it's almost easier because we only have one or two can runners you really have to manage.

Like in the Phoenix market, we have a hundred routes a day, just in the Phoenix market that, that's a lot of movement, but it's also easier because if one person falls off, you already have routes in the area. Backup. And then that's how you get, maybe give them a bonus because now they're taking that extra route on.

[00:30:00] But it's just, it gets easier. It was a lot harder when we had a hundred properties than it is now. And I think it, I don't, I'm not saying it's going to keep getting easier, but it's just, we get the systems and processes, and you just, you fine tune it a little bit here and there, but it's not, it's, you're not recreating the wheel, it's already made, so once you just.

And then, like I said, you go to some markets that are a little bit different, like Marcos Island, and, a little bit different time structures, you have to do it a little bit different, but we incentivize the can runners differently now. Now we found a little happy hour time, that if they do it in this time frame, they get a little bit more money.

So now we're training them that yeah, it's an independent contractor, you can do whatever you want, but... If you do it in this time frame, you can make an extra, dollar per stop or 50 cents per stop or whatever it is. And now we're trying that out and it's really working. So now it's oh, let's try this in Phoenix.

Let's see if we can start this time. And then maybe, so we just try new things while we go out. But we have a full time recruiter who's talking to you. All the can runners, I have a person that works for him that, also talks to them. I have another person that helps talk. So I have three people managing all those can runners and it's just really in a large marketplace of just can, it just, [00:31:00] it it's easy once you get them set.

It's like you set it, they schedule it. Like you almost like a restaurant. This is my schedule for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. This is what I want. Okay. They accept it. And then that's what it is. And if they fall off, we get alerted right away and the rest is history. Yeah. Oh, that's great. That's awesome.

What is next on the horizon, Alex? What's the future of canned monkey and where do you want to go in the next six months of this year? I want to finish the year. Continuing the growth that we have right now. If I'm saying I don't really have a clear roadmap, I don't. It's like at the same time, I want to grow.

This is my, my, my year. I want to just keep growing next year. I think we'll look at a little bit more fine tune and kind of see, okay, where are 10 markets that we just want to really find, dive deeper in. But I don't want to say no to a lot of anything. I'm really like, I'm saying, I'm looking at things and providing solutions without saying no, but if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.

And then now I'm still trying to figure out the business model. Not business [00:32:00] model, but the growth plan of it. But finishing this year, we're already at, and I just watched a video from March where it said that we are in nine states and now we're in 17. So it's like this from two months ago. So I don't, I can't tell you like.

Because I would have told you earlier this year I just want to be at 15 properties and I would already have shot, so I gotta take what Andy said earlier and gives us like a year plan and give us like a halfway mark because I already shot ourselves like short, so Yeah. Yeah. Very long-winded answer.

I don't have reach for the brass ring. Just, put out that giant, put that giant goal out there and you'll blow right past. That's, yeah, I don't wanna, I don't wanna put any Roblox on us. If I can get in a new market and I can do it, then I wanna do it. And I wanna try it out. Yeah.

And if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. At least we tried. Are you trying to do it more regionally though, or it sounds like if you're doing New Hampshire, Florida, Arizona, you're spread out, but. I'm getting called with like a hundred properties in New Hampshire, so it's like hard to say no about that.

So it's like, how do I say no to a hundred properties? If I got called for a hundred blocks of property in New Hampshire, I'm going to say no all day long. Yeah. And that was a property manager that did that, that reached out? [00:33:00] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. that says, I actually have another client or I have a competitor, that would need your services too.

So he just brought me someone. Oh, nice. Okay. Where else can you get to a new market with someone giving you a hundred properties and someone else that has property, so it's that's what that's just shows how much of a solution that people are looking for. And now they're like, and he even said in his email, we can't do it.

If you can help us, it'd be better than what we're doing right now. Yeah. And then recognize the benefit of having everybody be consistent with the service too, because if they've got a house, rental house next to them that's being run by their competitor and the trash isn't, it muddies up the water for everybody.

And yes, a million percent. And what's good also for us, the more properties, it's easier to, route and schedule. So it's awesome. And then that competitor is not going to give the properties to the other guy to, put on his route. So we're more like, and this goes back to my title in escrow days, I'm like a third party.

Ancillary, company where people are giving me the properties, it's, we keep the data, we don't share, and then we just get all the properties routed together. We don't know who's who, we do, but we just put them all together, and if you're right, [00:34:00] there's a competitor and a competitor right next to each other, to us, it's just a property, and we're just routing it, we're getting it together.

And then we'll go after the other people that have maybe one or two properties in that area, because now we're marketing to them, and then we'll add on from those. But back to your question Alex, if anything, I'd look at, I'd like to look at the 10 properties that, or 10 states that we're in, or 10 best states, and also just really dive into those and get those all to where Arizona is.

So if Arizona has 2, 500 properties, I'd like to get, 9 other states at 2, 500 properties. Now I have 25, 000 properties. And then, So that's so part of me is that's what I'm going to figure out this year. Am I going to keep going to all these different states or am I going to cut back and just focus on the markets that make sense?

It's going to be super exciting to track your growth over the next six months and beyond. And as I've, all roads lead to Scottsdale lately for me, I feel like I'm everyone I meet now in the business that I worked for a class ago is based in Scottsdale. Hopefully I get to see you out there sometime.

Absolutely. All right. You have to come see our headquarters, it's right there on Lavenue, so you'll like it. So it's still coming together, [00:35:00] but. Yeah, but we hope that anyone that comes to the Phoenix market will, stop by and say hi to Cam Monkey and. Yeah. Check us out. Congratulations on all your success.

It's been fun to, it's been fun to watch it and it's been fun to get to know you and I just, my brain is spinning because I just see so much potential for you. So I think like by the time we see you at Burma in Orlando, I imagine you're going to be closer to that 25, 000 mark than you thought you could ever be.

You're right. I hope, I know hope's not a strategy, so we're going to keep, we're going to keep working on that. And, no, I really appreciate it. If this doesn't be on this podcast with you guys, I'm glad it happened. So I appreciate the opportunity and always a pleasure talking to you guys and looking forward to see you guys at this Orlando next or maybe somewhere else, but definitely see you guys.

We will definitely be there and look forward to see, are you going to be set up with a booth there as well? Awesome. Yeah. This was our first year that we did like we did a bronze sponsorship with like VRMAs. Like this was like our coming out year. Nice. Last year we did the [00:36:00] Vegas. That was our first conference.

And this was like our year of really traveling, going to these different conferences, seeing what works, seeing which ones we wanted. This is really we're still new. A lot of people think that we've really been around for a long time. It's it's been really exciting to see that we're still trying to test the waters out and see what's going on.

So it's been a really blessed year and I'm way past my expectations. And and I'm glad that we're running halfway through it. So keep it up. Yeah. If anybody wants to get in touch with you, Alex, what's the best way for them to reach out? alex@cammonkey.com is my email. I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram, Facebook.

Reach out to me one way or another and I'll get back to you. Awesome. And if anybody wants to contact Annie and I, you can go to Alex and annie podcast.com. And until next time, everybody, thank you for tuning in.