A Bad Festival Bathroom Sparked A Whole New Industry | David Sauers

What if one awful portable restroom experience turned into a business that completely changed the industry? That's exactly what happened to David Sauers, founder of Royal Restrooms.

Summary:
David Sauers, founder of Royal Restrooms, shares how a miserable experience at an outdoor festival inspired him to reinvent portable restrooms with luxury restroom trailers that deliver a true bathroom experience. We dive into the entrepreneurial journey from idea to industry leader, covering product innovation, branding, marketing, licensing challenges, and what it takes to stand out when competitors begin copying your success.

David explains why targeting wedding planners instead of individual customers became a game-changing marketing strategy, how investing in professional branding helped Royal Restrooms separate itself from imitators, and why staying focused on customer experience continues to fuel growth. Whether you're launching a new business or looking for ways to differentiate an established one, this episode is packed with practical lessons every entrepreneur can use.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheSmallBusinessSafari

💡 GOLD NUGGETS 

• How one bad festival restroom sparked a nationwide business.
• Why selling to wedding planners created exponential growth.
• Building a premium brand in a commodity industry.
• Navigating licensing and franchising regulations.
• Beating copycats through innovation, professionalism, and customer experience.
• Expanding beyond restroom trailers into larger event service opportunities.

🔗 Guest Links

• Website: https://royalrestrooms.com
• Personal Website: https://davidsauers.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsauers/
• Social Media: Royal Restrooms

🌍 Follow The Small Business Safari

• Instagram: @smallbusinesssafaripodcast
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislalomia/
• Website: https://chrislalomia.com

Special thanks to our sponsor, Smart Hire Solutions LLC, for supporting Small Business Safari!

Thanks to our sponsor Smart Hire Solutions LLC!

Transcript

The Mirror Finish Trailer Teaser

SPEAKER_00 0:00

With that polished stainless steel, I can put it wherever I want. It reflects or mirrors the surroundings. You don't even take notice of it when you're at a wedding. I mean, you know what it is, but from a photogenic standpoint, it it's not, you know, staring you straight in the face.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

You know what when they're doing their selfies and the uh the the uh Gen Zs are taking their pics and doing this and doing and they're taking a picture with it, it looks like a drink trailer. It does. Guys, it does go look it up. It looks like a flipping drink tailor. They're like, hey girls, everybody over here. Let's go over here. Over here, everybody buy the shitter, everyone over here, over here, let's take a flip. Welcome

Welcome To Small Business Safari

SPEAKER_02 0:41

to the Small Business Safari, where I help guide you to avoid those traps, pitfalls, and dangers that lurk when navigating the wild world of small business ownership. I'll share those gold nuggets of information and invite guests to help accelerate your ascent to that mountaintop of success. It's a jungle out there, and I want to help you traverse to the levels of owning your own business that can get you bogged down and distract you from hitting your own personal and professional goals. So strap in Adventure Team and let's take a ride through the safari. Alan, I don't care what you're talking about. I love that music. So our guest came on before we got started. He says, I want to know why you call it the small business safari. Are you guys big outdoorsmen? You like safari? I'm like, no, as a matter of fact, um, I'm I'm scared of sh- I'm scared.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

You are so afraid of wildlife. I am like a little deer poop in your yard and you paint like you need to. I came out with a scovel. I'm ready to start people out.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

I'm gonna take shelter because there's a bunny in my bushes. We do this podcast in my in my basement. I can look out the window, and one time Ellen says, What are you doing? And the even the lady said, Squirrel. I'm like, No, it was a rabbit. And she she was she was like, Oh, he's serious. Oh, yeah, he is. He is totally ADD dress. I was. I was like, get out of my yard, man. I saw a deer out there cheer it chewing up my bushes, and I'm in a gated community. I'm like, you're not allowed in here. Security, security, get out of here. I can't do it. In my book for the zoo to the wild. So here I am in the entrepreneurial wild. They're like, Oh, Chris, you must love the safari. You must love going out in the woods. I am sitting here fighting uh poison ivy yet again, and I think it's because I was trying to find a lost golf ball. I really think that's what happened first world, probably.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So that's the extent of the outdoors there.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

David, I am outdoor adjacent. I uh I got a place in the mountains, love going there, go up there, get out there, get on my boat, uh, get in the kayak every once in a while if I want to feel one with nature. And then the minute I see uh like we we have turkey up there, we have deer up there, um, we got bear up there. As soon as I see one, I am running right back into the house and turning the TV on and watching.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

So I gotta say this last weekend. I was up in Blue Ridge. Yeah. De Couffle's neighbor calls, and husband's away in Florida, wife calls, there's a copper head in the garage. And uh, so we're like, okay, we'll we'll swing by. And he chopped the head off with a shovel and held the snake up. I just can't see you doing that. Nope. Yep, blood drip and everything. I I actually We got a whole batch of cookies out of that, though.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

You know what? Uh, as a matter of fact, uh I had to uh I had to scoop out a dead mouse on the foundation of the house when we were up in the mountains this weekend, because we're an hour north of where that was. And uh it had already started to rot, and I as I'm scooping it and throwing it on the other side of the property, I'm gagging like a beast, and my daughter comes on and goes, Dad, what's the problem? Are you are you dying? I'm like, No, I had to scoop a mouse and throw it away. She goes, I could have done that for you. Oh my god. I'm like, I know. I can't be outside.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

I've got it it's crazy, I've got a 10 foot two giraffe right when you walk into our foyer. Like real giraffe. What? Oh my god. Well, so that's the whole safari thing because we went on a safari a few years ago. And brought my oldest daughter, my oldest daughter, shot one of the giraffes and brought it home and we we mounted it.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

It was oh my god, David. You have got to send me a picture of that. Um, I'll I'll give you my cell after we're done.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

It's like a museum, it looks like something out of a museum.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Oh, this is crazy, guys. We got to get into this talk. Let's get going. You guys driving around, you're making this thing happen. You did not want to hear about how afraid I am of outdoors.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

But paint a picture, first of all, of what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So if you're not watching this on YouTube, uh you should. Uh, because as uh my video guys are all telling me, videos king. You gotta make videos. I've been making videos. If you're not following my videos, by the way, um, I've re-engaged my old intern, Michael D's, uh, and he's coming back. I'm and as soon as we get this thing rocking and rolling, people, um, we're bringing him back on full time because I'm gonna give him that big boy job and bring him back.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

You're gonna get back to what I just said.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Um can you can you describe what we're looking for? All right. So for my pod list this handsome guy over here. Uh to be honest with you, man, he's got the Beatles haircut, so I want you to picture Mop Top with a full beard.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Big beard.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

And the reason tough. And the reason Alan and I are saying that, and I'm leading with hair, is because neither of us have any, and no facial hair, except Alan has a little Van Dyke going on. Not a goatee. It's a Van Dyke. I know that. Uh, but it's all great. Huh? It's all great. He is all solid stuff. But what's he sitting on? He's sitting on a big purple throne. David Sowers, Royal Restrooms. We got to get into this thing. We got some shit to talk about today. David, let's go, baby. What have you done, man? Tell us what you started.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Oh,

The Awful Festival That Started It

SPEAKER_00 5:45

wow. I tell you what, you know, going back to you, I am a creature of comforts. I like nice things, I like doing things comfortable. And one of those is definitely going to the bathroom. I like it to be perfect. You know, nothing nerdy, nothing dirty, nothing at all. So that's what you're not a big guy. Heck no, man. You know, I am definitely one of those ones that, you know, it says clean restroom, that's where we're going, you know, on the side. But I started royal restrooms 22, almost 23 years ago. We had a bad experience going to an outdoor festival. My daughter was potty training. We went in there, she ended up peeing all over me. I get aggravated, leave, go home, looking at my half bath at the house. I'm like, why can't we do this on a trailer? Why can't we have a real functioning restroom for the outdoors? Why in the heck are we still going to the bathroom like the daggum bromans? Like, come on, it's the 21st century.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Had nobody done this before you came up with this? Were you the first?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

No, no, absolutely not. So they had the we had big trailers, you know, like big semi-trailers that had multi-stalls that were used for golf tournaments and big, huge sporting events and stuff like that. But we were the first ones to come out with a small privatized half bath trailer. Um, and it and it really it it up-ended and started an entire new industry within the portable sanitation side. Um, it started as something small. We had no aspirations of being big or really changing any kind of thing. We just wanted to change our community. We just wanted to make a difference here in Savannah. And before we knew it, it was popping up all over the place. Savannah's a big destination place, and people were like, wow, we're using the bathroom here, we're sitting down here. Like, I am never gonna forget a royal restroom. So I don't want, I don't want to go to back to anything else. Before we knew it, we started hopping up and popping up in different places all across the country.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

I gotta tell you, when you look on his website, they're nice. They're nice. They got mood lighting, they got granite, you know. I mean, all right, let's paint the picture.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

All right, so so you deliver uh uh royal restrooms to uh pop-up places, so concert venues, sporting events, weddings, weddings, weddings, wherever you can go. Uh, and then what you do is you try to elevate what the porta potty experience uh could have been as like a shithole, and we try to make it like a penthouse, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, I mean, in all honesty, what we're providing is not necessarily luxury, but it is compared to the traditional porta potty. I mean, let's let's face it, every one of your listeners, you, yourself, your family, y'all all dreaded going to the a portable toilet or had a bad experience. You know, it's the the smell, you're looking at other people's stuff, you're stepping in other people's teeth, it's overflowing.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

It it's did I mention gagged, uh just trying to kick a mouse out, uh, and it was smelling bad. I've been into porta pies and I had to hold my breath and I swear I was almost I was out of there. And actually, you were with me when I uh when I had one of my episodes when it was downtown at the Mercedes Benz and we had to go to the port-a potty at the at the organ. Yeah, yeah, that was one of them.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yeah, so all of those things right there lead back to you know why we created what we did, um to elevate the whole experience. I mean, you think of all of the events that go on, all of these people putting things together, bringing people there to have a good time, weddings. It's some of these people's most memorable days. Why are you gonna spoil it with something like that? A restroom is a human basic necessity. We all do it, we all have to do it. Why not do it the way that it's supposed to be done, the way that you're accustomed to. When free of anxiety and get on and focus on the event, focus on the reason you're there.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

It sounds to me like it just started off with good old redneck common sense and ingenuity. Let's just put a toilet on a trailer, and then but you had to put a generator on there, you're putting air conditioning on there, you gotta have water on there, you gotta have I mean, and then what if somebody wants to keep it for a few days and you gotta service it? I mean, there was a lot of stuff to figure out. So talk to me about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

There was, but well, all of those things that you said, what we did was I measured out a half bath that was in our

Building A Bathroom That Travels

SPEAKER_00 11:23

that was in my house, and that's the that's the blueprint that we got. A six by four space was the first stall size that we used. And then we just took it from there. We looked at how do RVs do it, how is it done in a marine, what are the holding tanks, what are the sizes, what can how can we make this? What do we need to put in there? What are the basic functions that I want, that you want, that other people are going to expect? You know, we thought about space, if you're bringing family in there, if you're bringing, you know, kids in there, or if two women, you know, how they'd like to go to the ask somebody else to go to the bathroom with them. Um those are all the things that we started to consider. And then it was usage. How long do we need it for? How long is an event? How many times can somebody go to the bathroom? It's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

There's a little bit of math to it. We got 200 people, you know, and Allen Ps six times an hour.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

At least uh, but seriously, you're right, you're right with the volume and the math thing, you know, liquid versus solid. How much is this? How much is that? And you're like, Oh my god, you had to figure all that shit out. Oh my, I mean, I'm not meaning that as a pun, but I am kind of I'll be like, oh my god. But but you guys are figuring out the math already. I I'm gonna go back to just basic old starting a business. You you know, you gotta have a customer to

Selling Through Wedding Planner Gate Openers

SPEAKER_02 12:43

have a business, you gotta have revenue to have a business. Cash is king, but revenue is queen. So, how do you market this? I mean, let take me back through that part. I want to hear about the branding part before I get into the shit and what you do when you're doing it.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

You know, at the beginning, this was just kind of a side hustle. It was something that in all honesty, like I said, Robert and I just were like, you know what? We go to a lot of events, we do a lot of things. Um we can we can somewhat promote this from within our kind of inner circle, you know. But if not, we know that Savannah is a high destination wedding place. We can sell this to the wedding planners. Um, if we can't sell it to anybody else, I we know that we can do it there.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

Key point right there. I didn't sell it to the bride, I didn't sell it to the groom, I didn't tell it to the people coming for the destination. I sold it to the gate opener, the wedding planners. I think that is genius right there. As people are thinking about starting a business, or right now, if you're sitting here listening to this, he hit the people that see more of your potential clients than you do. That's called a gate opener. And man, that's key. Oh, that's such a big gold nugget.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Great one. All right, keep going. Sorry. And but that's what we did. So we didn't have a whole lot of marketing. We did exactly what we did. We focused in on our key targets. There's only so many wedding planners. And of course, back then we did other things. You know, we made it a little more personal. Back then, there was the newspaper that had announcements. We would send out little handwritten letters, say, congratulations on getting engaged. You know, if you need us, we're here. It was a lot of those small things. We got involved more heavily with the boards that we were on, community involvement, you know, like the buddy walk, the march of dimes, the, you know, those types of events that were community driven, but also needed what we provided. So it was getting in front of people and it was hands-on experience from the beginning. We weren't just throwing marketing dollars out. We were actually doing the work, talking to the people, listening to them, and understanding what people needed. A lot of people, you know, they didn't understand what we had until they sat down on our trailer and came back and they were like, best experience of my life. Yeah, people taking pictures of a portable toilet and posting it and sending it.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

That's solid. Are you doing this all as a side hustle as you're getting started? Before we get into the science of what you did, uh, this is all side hustle. What was your first job? What were you doing? And then, and then tell us how that played into how you were able to develop this.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

How far do you want to go back? First job wise.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Come on. I want the first job. Hit me. First job.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

First job. I was a range boy at a golf course, and then

Side Hustles, Golf, Then Commercial Banking

SPEAKER_00 15:35

I went and worked at a popcorn store on River Street.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

All right, stop right there. First, so here's the guy out there on the cart that we all try to hit every freaking time, big guy. Especially if I was his buddy. I really went after you. I'm from Michigan, grew up uh playing golf, and uh, we had a uh a great golf environment where I was at, but my buddies went to work at the range, and we used to all line up to go up there just so we could just pepper it when he's out there. So he's a range boy. Then he goes down to Savannah River Street. If you've never been to Savannah, that is the popping number one place for Savannah tourism, and that's where you're gonna meet all kinds of people who are coming in who aren't from Savannah. All right, so you're there, keep going.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

And you know, that I kind of think started my entrepreneur journey, I guess. Because seeing different people there, talking with all the different uh folks that came in and seeing the needs. And excuse me, one of the things that I saw early on was so many people like, oh, I love your fresh lemonade. It would be so great if it was out there. I bought a tricycle and started selling fresh squeezed lemonade to all the uh all the trolley tours and at the at the drops and stuff like that. That's an entrepreneur. That's one of the thories.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

You know what? Entrepreneur versus hustler, right there, baby. I love it. How old were you?

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Oh gosh, 17. Nice, you know, four dollars and fifteen cents an hour versus all of a sudden I'm making three or four hundred dollars in a few hours. Um better than a server and everything else. Um, but yeah, from there, college worked different restaurants, worked construction crews, um, a couple different industrial um plants, and uh came back and I actually became a professional golfer for a little while. Played on uh got the got to hit one on the buy.com tour. My uncle is Gene Sowers, he's on the senior tour now. He sure is, my friends.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Oh my god, David, you are a golfer, brother. I love that. You gave it a shot on the buy.com. Talk about chasing your dream early on and doing that. That is such uh, I think we talked with another uh guest who came on with podcast guests, and we're talking about what forms you. I mean, that time on the buy.com, trunk slamming and trying to do that and have that mental fortitude to make the cut every single week. I think that's something people don't really understand. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Well, I only got to play on one of them. I played on the majority of them. That was my that was the highest level that I ever got to. Most of the ones I played on was like the teardrop tour and the Hooters Tour and stuff like that. But I I was still out there trying it. I was one of the playing professionals out from the landings golf club here in Savannah. Um, and then I got in a car accident and had several surgeries on my shoulder. Didn't get to play golf. Really, I haven't played much at all anymore since then. But went into banking.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

I didn't mean to I didn't mean to bring that up. Oh my god, banking. Let's talk, big boy. That's where I came from to start this thing.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Well, I went into I went into banking, uh, a guy by the name of Pinky Butler that I used to play golf with.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

That's a banking name right there. Pinky Butler from Savannah. He definitely worked for Sun Trust. Which bank? He did.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

He did.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Because that's where I came from, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

That's where I was. And he came to me and he just said, you know what? I can teach you how to be a banker, but I can't teach you what you already got. And he's like, I want you to come and work under me and and learn how to be a commercial lender. And from that standpoint, I kind of hit the I started moving, started working, started seeing people in different small businesses, helping them out, started seeing the transitions, the lifestyle. And it wasn't all about money. Some of them did, you know, just barely skimmed by, but they had control of their life. They got, you know, they were responsible for what they did. They made, you know, the buck stopped with them. They couldn't complain about it with anybody else. The responsibility was theirs. And like I said, I felt like I'd always kind of had that entrepreneurial spirit in me. Both my grandparents were owned small businesses. One was a drug store, one was a TV appliance store. So I always felt like I would be headed towards that direction at one time in my at some point in my life.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

So you uh did it, you were in commercial banking, and that was so that was your primary job as you're working the side hustle. I again, uh near and dear to my heart, uh, because while I'm an engineer and then I got into banking, that's where bankers get to see people. And if you're the right spirit for that, if you're the right heart for that, it's great for you. Um, one of the things I was going to start before I started the Trusted Toolbox as a handyman remodeling company in 2008 was a community bank. But it wasn't because I was a good banker, it was because I knew how to merge and acquire banks, but it just the that that market and that appetite in 2007 had died. But I uh was at Sun Trust and I worked with all the commercial bankers, and that's one thing you get to see, right? You get to see what what small business looks like and what the needs are and what the wants are and what the drivers are and what the pains are, and you get to see all of that. Um before and now you're running a side hustle, but you had this great benefit behind you. I just think that's an incredible experience that a lot of people don't take uh lightly. I don't think they get it. I don't think you get what you just got. I think that really helped you as well. Do you think that? I mean, that's my my my thought.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Oh, oh, absolutely. Because you know, I didn't I didn't go to school to have I didn't have a business background. I graduated with a political science degree and an international relations degree. Um, and so having those basic, you know, fundamentals, it was you know, it was new to me. So I I was absorbing everything around me as much as I could. Um, and I was seeing what other people were doing, what was good, what was bad, but I was also you know sharing that information to help them better from what I learned from somebody else that was successful, that was another relationship of mine. Um, so it was I mean, it was great, but just the the whole experience, listening to people's ideas and dreams and how they thought about things was, you know, I mean, it was inspiring. It made you feel good to hear these people's aspirations. Uh, and you wanted to see it through. You wanted to see their success. And for some, you know, even though it wasn't me that did it, I had a small piece to to play in there and their success.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

All right. Now I'm gonna let back I'm Ellen, I'm letting you back in. I know you want to talk about how much uh shit do you have to hold and how do you pump it? And where do you put it? And where do you put it? I mean he is He is the he's the operations guy. He's gonna get into this. So let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

I'm like, you know, you get into it and it's like, well, what about ADA and what all the other government restrictions are?

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Oh, for the love. Can we just go to how'd they get how do you figure

Capacity Math And Industry “Rules”

SPEAKER_02 23:03

out how to build a trailer that could hold this much? Because um, if everybody doesn't know this, one thing I do know, how much does a gallon of water weigh? It's like seven, eight gallons, uh eight pounds. Eight pounds. Like eight point six. Eight point six pounds. But but who's who who's the guy calculating shit? You know what I'm saying? Huh? So he's got to know how to carry all that, and plus it sloshes, moves, walks. So you got to build a trailer that can handle all this. You got to build the this thing that's got to work out in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

So it's there for three days, you probably gotta send people in to kind of touch it up and all. I mean, there's a lot to there.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

There there is, but you know, when you provide something nice, it tends to stay a little bit nicer. You know, when when it's elevated like that, it's it tends to stay a little bit better. People respect it a little bit more. Um, but you know, getting back to some of the stuff that you said, Alan, yet that, you know, we Robert and I, we drank a lot, try to figure out how much our bladders could hold and how fast we would pee and how fast we could fill up stuff, you know, and and it's those interesting things that you find out that you know your bladder can only really hold about a cup, you know, maybe two uh at a time before you have to go. So it's it you you start to learn these kind of weird things and how fast how long does it take somebody to actually go to the bathroom? So how many people can actually go to a bathroom, you know, during uh the course of one hour? And a lot of people, it's so funny, and I'm I'm jumping well ahead of everything, but you see, there's a lot of different people out there that have restroom trailers now. There's a lot of different businesses. Um, you know, they all tell you, oh, 200 people, you need a two-stall, 300 people, you need, you know, that it can hold up to 450 people. And seriously, we made all that stuff up. Ah, now we're talking. And everybody, the everybody uses that, those numbers. But we made all that stuff up. I mean, seriously, we have a three-stall restroom that has a 460-gallon holding tank, and you tell somebody that that's good for 300 people. Man, that is good for like 300 people for like two days, two or three days, not for four hours. You know, it's just if it's an arbitrary number because we didn't know what we were doing way back when. Um, and it still does work and it still does function, it still serves as a guideline. But there are other things that really come into play now that we know about. Uh unfortunately, that is kind of the standard norm now across the entire industry.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

So you just said industry, but for most of us, we didn't even know this shit was an industry. So um you did this 22 years ago and you're franchising the idea of royal restrooms.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

But what I know that you might not know

When Licensing Became Franchising Overnight

SPEAKER_01 26:00

is he started licensing. So he's licensing, not just franchising. And then he kind of got forced into franchising, which I think is super interesting when we talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

So you have read a little bit off on it. Yes, I have.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Okay, smarty pants.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

You're in Savannah, you're doing your thing. Everybody in Savannah is happy when they go to a festival, but then obviously people are like, Well, I want this in Texas or I want this in Alabama. And you're like, All right, and you figure out how to license it, and you just kind of give them the name and then how it works. But then somewhere, some ugly bureaucrat raised their head, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:38

That's right. Up in up in Maryland. Oh, Maryland, I was gonna guess California, Massachusetts, one or the other, but yeah. It was, I think I'm pretty sure that it was Maryland. We did something at the uh governor's mansion or something like that, and on the back of our trailer, we had a bumper sticker that said, for business opportunities, call this number. Damn you. And lo and behold, they called and requested our information, and they told us that we were a franchise and we were in violation of their laws. And the next thing you know, we get letters from like 14 different states all within seven or eight days. Wow. Unless that we are in violation, and they shut us down, and we're not even able to respond to anybody until we get a franchise. They wouldn't allow us to respond to an email, a phone call, nothing to even tell them that we couldn't offer it right now.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Um Yeah, because you can't just wiggle your nose and become a franchise, you gotta set up the whole documents and yeah, unbelievable amount of work.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

You know, all of the people that we had in Savannah is great as knowledge and expertise that we had. It's still a small town. It's still it's still small. And they we were one of the I think we were the first franchise to come out of Savannah. Um either we were the first franchise to come out, or it was either um oh my goodness, now I can't remember the it's the it's the alcoholic slushy drink. What is it called? What what will we say? They may have been the first, but if not, we were within the same year. Uh but yeah, they they stopped us and it it was so you got to stop.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

How'd you respond? Yeah, talk about that. Because for a lot of us, I think we we you got into business. Still a side hustle, or has this become at this point, was this you you had quit and you said, I'm gonna go pull on.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Well, I didn't quit. I got I got Robert and I, Robert was an environmental engineer. Um, I got let go first. I got asked, do you want to be in the porta potty industry or do you want to be a banker? And at that point, I had met my goals far exceeding everything that I thought. And I'm like, wow, okay, well, if you know, all of a sudden it's an image thing, I feel I can. So I said, Well, if you're I guess if you're asking me this, I guess I will, I guess I am fired, you know. Uh, and it was maybe a couple months later that uh that Robert got kind of asked the same question. So on the licensing scene, we went. We didn't mean to license, it just happened. Somebody used our restroom, they loved it. His name was Andy Christian. Um, and before he went back to Florida, he said that he wanted to do this. And we sat, I sat on the road, on the side of the road with him at Ronnie's and talked to him for about two and a half hours. And he said, I want to do it exactly how you guys are doing it. I love the name, and I want to be able to share trailers with you. And so that's how we that was our first office was in Gainesville, Florida.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

All right. So you're in Gainesville, and then you're rocking and rolling, and you uh you're quote unquote licensing, and then somebody slaps you with this. Did you cease and desist? I mean, tell me how you worked your way through it. And by the way, the the uh government's not listening to this. Okay, they probably are. So um you we can redact whatever you want. You just skip the high spots.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

They're the government, they're here to help.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Shit balls.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Yeah, you know, well, that that's that's just it. We went through uh uh legal counsel, you know, which they hired out to offices in Atlanta and then DC and Chicago to get advice on how we're gonna do this. We spent thousands of dollars all to come up with the same conclusion that we have to be a franchise. There's no point in really trying to find being a license. Oh, it was a lot of thousands.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

It's a lot of thousands.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

It was a lot of thousands.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Or more than ten. I gotta ask you this though. So just as much as we all love the government's help, when you look back on it, aren't you in a better place as a result of what happened? Because now you've got this big organization, you get the you know, the annual meetings, you're getting together, you're kind of the big deal of all the franchisees, you know, you got your giraffe in the lobby. You know, that wouldn't happen if you were just a licensee.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Yeah, maybe so. I don't know. I don't I don't feel like we run it a whole lot different, except for a reporting stance, than than we did before. You know, we're still very much a um kind of family run operation. I mean, we're we're still figuring our way out with a national CRM uh system. And it and it's hard to get all these people to transition properly to something that because a lot of these people have been doing it for a long time. We've had a lot of operators, you know, some for 20 years uh in this business. Um so those those old habits are hard to change. Um and but that's another reason why we've never had a real expansive growth. We've never put any money into trying to market to sell this. We've never gone with private uh brokers or marketers or even investors really to build this business. We've put all of our money that we've earned right back into it and to our owners. I like that one.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Uh we've had a lot of uh franchise people on, either franchise brokers, franchisors, franchisees. Had uh we've had them all after four and a half years, David. We have a lot. You're telling us uh that today you don't hire uh brokers to go out there and sell your franchises for you and pay them to do it, and you don't market uh to to get people to buy in.

unknown 33:03

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

He uh just for the record, this is a podcast, David. I don't think he knows this, but he was shaking his head and then he hit the word nope. So that's a big flipping nope. Wow, that's an amazing franchise. How many different franchisees do you have today? How many numbers? What's the number?

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Uh I think there's 26 different 26 different uh individual owners, and we they operate about 50 different offices. Um we just uh we've got a new franchisee, Chris Clark. He is out in Salt Lake City. He just bought one of our uh from another office. Amazing guy. I'm super excited. The system is is is doing great. I'm I'm excited to have some new blood. Um Brian Odell came on a couple years ago in Mobile, Alabama, Brian Waller in Marietta, Ohio. Um, and we just opened another office in Albuquerque, New Mexico last year as well. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

Wow. So how how about the manufacturing now? So obviously you came up with the prototype and and I'm sure the the uh could I mean they look amazing on your

Manufacturing Costs And A New Trailer Look

SPEAKER_01 34:18

website, but I'm sure that first one 22 years ago didn't look like the one today. So do you I mean, do you have a manufacturer and so your franchisees have to source from this particular entity?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

No, not not really. So to back up, going going all the way back then, we there was a there's a company called Wells Cargo. Um that not Wells Fargo, Wells Cargo Cargo. Okay and yes. Uh when we started talking about producing this trail, we went to a lot of different manufacturers and they all pretty much laughed. They didn't take it seriously. But the the guys at Wells Cargo, the owner, they're up in Elkhart, Indiana.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Oh, big RB manufacturing, yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

They were producing a tailgate trailer for the owner of there. And this tailgate trailer had they were putting a bathroom in it, and that really gave us a solid ground for what we were gonna, what how we were gonna do it. Uh, and that that's that was our first two trailers that came out of that, was from that experience. Now we have there's a bunch of different manufacturers out there. You've got satellite industries, you've got JAG, uh, you have Alpha Mobile, you have AOI that that build all these trailers. Um, you know, it's an expensive, it's an expensive process. Uh we're talking that some of these trailers now, you know, uh a three or four stall, they're fifty, sixty thousand dollars a trailer. Um so it's a it's a big, it's a big overall expense. We've tried building our trailers a few times, and I have actually got one of my companies, Aerie Transit, I've built a couple different restroom trailers. If you noticed on our website, some of our newer models, that the the polished stainless steel one, the silver, when did you see that one on there? I like it. That's that's the one that I that that's the one that I built and designed. Um and I did that because so many places are looking, you know, they still look the same from 20 years ago. It's a big white cargo-looking trailer box. I mean, nobody wants to see that at a wedding, you know, so they're constantly, they're still putting us at a distance. With that polished stainless steel, I can put it wherever I want. It reflects or mirrors the surroundings. You don't even take notice of it when you're at a wedding. I mean, you know what it is, but from a photogenic standpoint, it it's not, you know, staring you straight in the face.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

You know what when when they're doing their selfies and the uh the the uh Gen Zs are taking their pics and doing this and doing and they're taking a picture with it, it looks like a drink trailer. It does, guys. It does go look it up. It looks like a flipping drink tailor. They're like, hey girls, everybody over here.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

Let's take away by the shitter, everyone over here, over here, let's take a picture. You ought to see them all. It's so funny because we'll go and there'll be 10 people standing around the trailer, most of them all girls, and they're all looking at themselves in the in the trailer.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Man, this is I mean, this is awesome. Genie, genius idea. Uh love how you've grown this thing. Um, in fact, Al and I are sitting here in Atlanta, and uh one of the things we were doing while you were talking was like, hey, we should buy this franchise, but shit, somebody's already here. I'm like, damn it. So why not? Because they're here, because why? One of the and this is where I think the business starts to really get creative. Um, when you start thinking about your model and what you did and how you built it, who's your gate opener? I'm gonna go back to that again because I love it, man. I think again, Cash King, Revenues Queen. You guys are talking about the the operational part of this and building the trailers. I like the idea of the branding, and who is my target market? Who is an opportunity for me to diversify my portfolio? Here in Atlanta, we have the film industry. And uh there's more filming going on now in Georgia than in the state of California. I mean, it's like a stupid stat or whatever it is. Uh, I'm not in that world. If you want to hit me up, Chris at the Trust Toolbox, tell me I'm wrong. I'd love it, especially you guys from the country of California, uh, which is no longer part of the United States. Uh, we'll talk to you some other day. But back to this, what are you doing to help people diversify their ideas? Because uh as a franchisor, I think your job is to give them the system. Your job is not to help them find the leads. A lot of times the franchisees think, oh, you gotta find me the leads. Well, every market's different. So what are you doing to help them develop their markets?

SPEAKER_00 39:25

That's a great question. So, Chris, you're exactly right. What 90% of the people from a franchise

Why Franchisees Must Create Local Demand

SPEAKER_00 39:32

standpoint look for is they're expecting you to provide them with a lead. You know, I get on calls all the time and it's just like, oh, the website's not giving us a lead. The web, you know, we didn't, we haven't, we're not converting. Okay, what are you doing? We we have we have established what we know works, but you're not you're not doing it. You know, are you out in the community? What are you doing? How are you contributing? You know, the the thing is, is within our business, it's not something that you can just throw money at. Somebody is not whoever's looking for our product, our main clients are repeat customers. They're not gonna find you on the web because they already they already know you. Whoever finds you on the web is a one-off. That that's it. It's a it's a one-off. If they find you on social, that's great. And people there's a lot of people that do social media a whole lot better than we can. But it's it's something that's hard to do and hard to maintain, and you you have that's a facet of your business that you have to do. Somebody from corporate can't do it. You know, your digital platform requires a lot of hands-on from the local offices. Um, you know, things that we do, we require, you know, we want that office. Send me the pictures. I don't want a picture of just the trailer from setup. I want to know that you went to the event. Send me the picture where there's a bunch of people outside, you know, not in it, but around it. People don't want to just see a trailer that can be staged anywhere if you if you want. But now everything is geocoded, everything is timestamped. Google wants that. They don't want a picture from 10 years ago. You know, you have to be involved. And that's something that's very hard to explain. And I know, you know, a lot of different franchise oars have the same problem with franchisees. And there's a very, you know, distinct relationship that that transpires. And it's it's always one of, hey, everything's great, and then it slows down, and then it kind of picks back up, and there's a little bit of back and forth. But the thing is, is the franchisee has to do their part within their market. They cannot rely on the franchise or to do everything for them.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

I 100% agree. That's uh that's why I was asking that question. It just reminds me, uh, Alan and I are really big on networking. Uh, we're here in Johns Creek, Georgia, which is outside of Atlanta. Um, that's the uh number five best city in the nation, by the way. Number one. No, it's number five, no. And we were number one two years in a row. Did we slip? We did. We're not number five. We're still great though. But it just reminded me of um, you know what? You you got we have so many festivals here. If you just went and said, hey, look, I'll donate my trailer for the weekend, just think of how many people use that. You put your sign out there, and how many business owners who go, you know, I'm gonna have an event for my my my team, I'm gonna do something. You know, I want this experience. I don't want to stick out some Portageon where it's a plastic thing that drops off in Porta Potty City. You know, I just think that's the kind of way you market yourself because I think with with your uh product, when you look at the website, and everybody go out there and look at it, Royal Rustrum's, um, it's it's different. And people go, well, it's just a toilet. Sure, it is. But but it's not. If you're talking about dignity, you're talking about that story, you put your story on the website. I think that's great. And if you want to show your your team that you're about them and their families and their dignity, I mean, I think that's just gonna go a long way. It's not something everybody's gonna go, oh my god, I went to the best toilet ever at that concert. Oh, I went to the best toilet ever there. But what do you get?

SPEAKER_01 43:27

They might. They might they're really nice. And I remember like when I went, and you said you don't do you didn't do golf tournaments, but I went to the uh the tour championship, and we were in a suite. Yes, you were, and uh, and I of course and I'm like, I had to use the restroom, and I'm like, of course. Oh, they got one of those trailers that are really nice, and I would say that made me really happy.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

All of a sudden you can drink a little bit more, you're gonna eat a little bit more, a little bit more, you're gonna enjoy, you know, you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna walk out there may or may not be a five-year band with me in the PGA tour um because I didn't want to go in that thing. May or may not. I'm just saying, but I'm like, if I'm golfing, bro, I I'm at a tree, which is why I got poison Ivy on my leg. But or I was looking for that lost golf ball.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

Okay, I got I got a question now. All right, go. Yeah, okay. So you you you you start you basically started this industry, and you

Competing With Copycats Through Branding

SPEAKER_01 44:21

are not trying to scale aggressively, but whenever somebody does something right, you got a bunch of copycats, pricks, they come along and they steal your idea, and they may be trying to grow faster. How do you how do you keep your competitive advantage? Especially when you've probably got other people trying to outgrow you.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

You know, I I will say, you know, they always say, Oh, flattery is the is the best I can't remember the saying. Uh, what is it?

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Flattery is the uh uh oh my god. We're all dumbfounded. I know what he was trying to say. When you copy imitation is the best form of flattery.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Thank you, Alan. That's it. We're unblocked. We now can flush. That's BS.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

That that that that is that is total BS. It's it it is so aggravating, you know, to to see so many different copycats and and say the exact same thing that you've put out there and trying to make yourself different all the time. They suck so bad when they do that. It makes me mad. But you know, well, true, truth be, the competition, it doesn't, it it doesn't affect me like I guess it it does others, because the more awareness that's out there, the more our product is found. I mean, we continue to grow year after year. And it's because of the exposure, not just from us, but from from other people in the industry. I mean, look at all the different coff uh coffee shops that are out there, look at all the different hamburger joints that are out there. I mean, the more that things are out there, the better it is. Um, the the more knowledge there is about it. My thing goes back to branding, you know, make it make it memorable, make it professional, do it, continue to be innovative and uh, you know, make this not about a portable toilet, but make it about the professional service, the service side of it, that you are reliable, that you can be counted on, that your assets are properly maintained. Those things are what has carried us for the last 22 years. How many other businesses can you say that about? Most of them don't last but a few years, you know, and a large part of our businesses, they are small side hustles. They're not made to be able to handle anything large scale like long-term business because they still have another job. They don't want to be called out at midnight because there's a clogged toilet somewhere. They can't go fix or deliver a trailer during the middle of a workday week because they're at another job. This is what we do. We have the insurance that we can go, we have the credentials, we have the history and the knowledge of how to make it right so that there are not the mistakes that so many of these other companies do tend to make.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

All right, we're coming to the end of this thing. I got one more question. All right, but we can't come to the end without Alan asking just one more of his famous fucking questions. Please, Alan, enlighten us.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

Uh, how do I fix my collapsing left elbow on my golf swing?

SPEAKER_00 47:40

He just told you you can't golf as much. Hey, all yeah, he can't just it's just backhand it. Just just backhand like you're playing tennis. Just slap like you're slapping it with the back of your back of your hand.

unknown 47:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Slap the back. All right. Slap the back. Can we get back to shit now?

unknown 47:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

David, this has been amazing. Uh talking about everything you've done to scale. What what's in store? What are you planning to do? Tell

New Service Lines And Where To Find Them

SPEAKER_02 48:06

us how you're trying to grow. As entrepreneurs, we all love, you know, for a lot of us, you know, I started the trusted toolbox in 2008. People always ask me, Did you franchise? How come you haven't franchised? Boy, what a great name, man. Is it a franchise? No, it's not. I didn't do it. So uh I chose not to go that path. You did. Um, what's the plan for Royal Restrooms going forward?

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Well, of course, I would like to continue to grow, but our main focus is still our core-based clientele. What I would like to see within our industry is starting to be expand a little bit past just restrooms. We're a professional events service. That's what we do. So there are other aspects within our business that we can completely move into. I've started test marketing some uh I've got Pitch Perfect TVs, which are some LED screen TVs, got Savannah Bar carts, which is some mobile beverage trailers. Now, these are just assets, but I'm also testing some mobile office trailers that are basically um it's an office space. I'm gonna call it quick space so that it's you know, it doesn't need power, but it's got a little bathroom, it's got a little kitchenette, and it's got an open area. But we're also testing some refrigeration trailers as well, because we do do a lot of different events that need refrigeration, that need offices, that need beverage trailers. Um, even from stated showers too, right? Yes, we do showers and laundry trailers as well, and we have some sink trailers.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Holy cow! So so tell me, what tickles you every day? When you wake up every morning, what is it? Is it helping the franchisees? Obviously it is. No, it's not. It's not talking to us. You wish you had a you know, I'm pissed right now. In fact, I actually, the whole time we've been talking, I'm Googling how can I get a throne and make Alan sit at my foot? Uh hey, here's Chris and Alan of the small business safari. And I'm gonna have this leopard skin. I've already got the whole thing designed as we've been talking. You got a big you're out there helping your franchisees. We already can tell you are, but you're thinking about things. What's exciting you about the future?

SPEAKER_00 50:19

It's it's all the different possibilities. The thing is, is what is what happens today is gonna be different tomorrow. I mean, what I thought our business would be back in 2004, 2006, 2010, 2015, it's all changed. We're finding new ways to to do things. It's I I would have never in my life thought that the business would have been anything more than weddings and events. Now, a large part of our business is long-term. It is helping out uh businesses and industries with OSHA and staying compliant, being um, you know, making things handicap accessible, but providing something that is you know nice, something that is memorable, something that is still, we still have people that are like, wow, that was amazing. You know, uh talking about your comment earlier, um there was some kind of, I think like a kid rock, rock the rock the park concert that just happened at Ottawa Farms. Pull into the gas station and the ladies like your bathrooms were not at the concert. No way. What are you talking about? She's like, I know who you, I know who you are. I know that you're royal restrooms and your bathrooms were not at the concert. That's it. She's like, I was so mad. And I'm just like, I have no idea who you are, but thank you. You know, you need to tell that person, you need to tell them, not me, that we should have been there.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

All right, David Sauer, tell everybody how they can find out about you and your company. If this is something that tickles your interest, everybody. Uh, Alan and I just figured out we're shut out of the Atlanta market, but don't worry, after this, we're gonna talk to them about how we um muscle our way in. How can everybody find you?

SPEAKER_00 52:11

Right. Well, as y'all have said, my business is Royal Restrooms. It's Royal Restrooms.com. You can find us on all the social media applications, and we are in states basically nationwide from the East Coast to the West Coast. Um, you can find me personally at davidsours.com or on LinkedIn under David Sours, and like I said, we ready to go international to help.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

You ready to go?

SPEAKER_00 52:38

So I went to We're going to Australia.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

They flushed a different direction. Does that change the physics a little bit? It goes up the water goes the other direction.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

You know, I still haven't seen it flush the different direction, but I did go to China to help Beijing with the Beijing Olympics help westernize their toilets. And I even went to Tokyo and did the same thing when the Tokyo No Way! Oh, that's dude. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

So a little cool fact. David Sowers, you did not disappoint everybody. If you didn't learn something on this episode, that's on you because it doesn't matter what industry you're in, it's all about being unique, being different, but also being a hustler, man. This guy started as a hustler, figured out how to hustle, always had a side hustle going. Learn the trades, put the skills in your toolbox, get those tools built up, and then you have a chance to go make some success, man. You got a chance to do some really cool things. And I think this one is a great niche industry that a lot of people don't think about. That's really cool. Royal Restrooms, go figure it out. David Sowers, you're awesome. Next time, we're doing this in person.

SPEAKER_00 53:40

Absolutely. Hey, we I would love to. I will make sure that happens for sure. All right. We gotta get out of here, man.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Cheers, gotta keep making money. We gotta go, Alan. Let's hit the road. Cheers. See you guys. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Small Business Department. Remember, your positive attitude will help you achieve that higher altitude you're looking for in the wild world small business ownership. And until next time, make it a great day.