103: From Steady Career to Bold Entrepreneur – What It Takes to Build a Business

Behind Their Success: Episode 103

Paden: Hello everybody. Welcome to Behind Their Success Podcast. I am Paden Squires, the

host, and today we have on David Sauers. David is the visionary co-founder and CEO of Royal

restrooms. David termed a simple frustration into a trailblazing business, revolutionizing the

portable restroom industry and scaling it into a national franchise powerhouse.

David, welcome on Behind Their Success.

David: Paden. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to it.

Paden: absolutely David. So, give the listeners a little background of like, okay, you know,

you're the CEO of royal restrooms. Like, what's your background and how, how did you lead to

starting this business and, and making it into what it is today?

David: You got a couple hours there is a lot there. Um. I've always been kind of inquisitive. I've

always have wanted to see things in a different light or how we can make things [00:01:00]

better. And I think like most businesses that, that start out, that really are businesses for change

start by accident.

It starts by some type of problem that you've had and, and you've looked for a solution. And

that's really where Royal restrooms came from. Uh, our origin story, it was, I was taking my girls

to a porta-potty, and Stella was potty training. We go to a portajohn. I completely.

Paden: Yikes.

David: You know, not what she was ex, not what she was expecting from a, from a young child.

And we're, we're all kind of in this porta potty. It's dark. I've got Cece on my hip, can't move

around, and I, I look down and all of a sudden she's got her hands on the toilet seat and she's

looking down and I kind of panic. And I, you know, ob obviously scare her and then she's like.

[00:02:00] What is all this doing in there?

Like, where am I going? What are you doing to

Paden: is this? Yeah.

David: And

Paden: What kind of dungeon have you locked me into?

David: I it goes into this full blown right off the minute from, you know, okay, I've got to go take

my little girl to the bathroom. And now I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, what, where do, how, what am

I doing? So I hand Cece off to somebody that's outside and, you know, that's already a little

nerve wracking.

I'm, I'm nervous about everything going on in here. So I'm holding Stella up and I kind of prop

the door open a little bit to make sure that I can see Cece, and all of a sudden I feel this warm

drizzle on my leg and I am getting now peed on. And so you go from. You know, a little bit of

frustration to almost anger. And I walk back out and I'm looking around at this festival and

[00:03:00] it's, it's pretty nice festival. And you know, they've got the tents, they've got the

chandeliers and the tents, and they've got all of this going on. And then I look back at the porta-

potties and I'm like, man.

How, how does this even balance? How, how does this work? You know, I can't clean up, I can't

do anything, so, and I'm, I've got pee on me. I've got, it was just. Kind of a light bulb went off.

Paden: Terrible experience,

David: be, there's gotta be something better. I mean, how is it that all of these people just

accept this?

And I think that's just it. People accepted it is, you know, we're not gonna think about it. We're

not gonna talk about it. And it's, it's just the one of those necessary evils went back, kind of drew

something out. We sat on it for a while, like most people do. And my business partner, Robert

Glisson, he was kind of the, the catalyst that was like, wow, this is a [00:04:00] really good idea.

You know, let's do this. We can do this here in Savannah. There's a lot of outdoor events and

who doesn't like to go to the bathroom?

Speaker 2: You

David: know, nicely, I mean, we all, it's, it's one of those, it's one of those last private moments

that as human beings that is private still to us in some way. And well, you look at today's time

with phones, I think the average person sits on the toilet now six or seven minutes longer than

they did 10 years ago.

So my business is only getting better because of that, I think, you know. But, uh, yeah, Royal

restrooms, David sos My background is. In banking, I was a banker, but I think I've always been

somewhat of a, an entrepreneur. I think that was always my journey to, to go down and now

we're in our, coming up on our 22nd year of being one of the leading [00:05:00] portable

restroom trailer companies in the us.

Paden: Wow. I think what's so cool about that story is, this is a way a lot of businesses are, are

really founded and come about is that, you know, you saw a problem, you're like, man,

somebody should do about this, you know, do something about this, right? And, and that's

where like 99% of the world's gonna stop, right?

I'm like, yeah, man, somebody should do something about this, right?

Speaker 2: Yeah,

Paden: but you took that and you took some action. Right? And, and you know, kudos to you a

lot. A lot of people wouldn't do that, right? They would've just kinda walked out there, complained

about it and moved on and like, that's me, you know, how many times sporting, I, I go to a lot of

sporting events and you're out there in the parking lot and you, you know, like I'm a huge chief's

Kansas City guy.

Like tailgating is everything up there. Those porta potties are awful. And like, if you're there past

like nine 30 in the morning, like you don't want to go into any of them. Um, so it, it's, it's kudos to

you to, to, you know, seeing a [00:06:00] problem, but then thinking, man, there's gotta be a

better way to do this.

And then you actually did something.

Speaker 2: Yeah,

David: well, I mean, that's what I said. I hear it all the time. People have come up with an idea

and then a year later, or two years later, three years later, it's like it's on the market and they're

like, I thought of that three years ago. Why didn't I do this? And I, I think it all comes down to, uh,

time, you know, people.

Are absorbed in their, their own lives. They've got responsibilities. And I think if they had a little

bit more time to put into to their ideas and their their passions, they could do something about it.

But, you know, life kind of gets in the way a little bit. Family, you know, your obligations, your

responsibilities, and so.

To come up with a new product and to start a business. There's a real personal sacrifice there

and you have to give up things to move forward and to break that [00:07:00] mold.

Paden: A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean like, and you know, this is just more generic in,

general, but, I mean, anything you're looking at in your life, whether it's entrepreneurship or, or

anything, it's like the current version of you can't. Go to the next level, right? Like, you gotta

leave some things behind and you know, whether that's, you know, your salary or most likely

different habits and behaviors you do.

that you need to leave those behind to be able to even get to that next level and that, you know,

that's kind of transition to my Next question here, David, for you You were in banking, right? Be

before all this. I'm A-C-P-A-I work with a lot of different bankers and many bankers are non

entrepreneurs at all.

Um, they like to just kind of play with the money and, and gate keep it, and make the decisions

about it. Um, but, but like, they're not out there risking it generally on their own. So like, what,

you know, what kind of beliefs or doubts? Did you have to overcome in that, in that initial period

of really transitioning from David, the banker to David, [00:08:00] the entrepreneur?

David: Well, while I was a banker, I was in a small local community bank and one of the, as a

commercial lender, I dealt with a lot of small local businesses. They were startup businesses. I

worked a lot with SBAI got to here on a daily basis, people's visions. Um, I got to hear their, their

passions.

And so it was almost like a lot of times helping fund this and, and going through that process

with them. I evolved a little bit more because I was able to see what they did. I was able to see

their struggles. I was able to see their, their wins, you know, but at the end of the day, I got to

see very thankful people, you know, they were proud of what they had.

It had done, even if it didn't, uh, turn out the way they wanted to. they [00:09:00] made the effort.

they put themselves out there and they tried. They may have failed this time, but failure is just,

you know, a small setback. It's a, it's a stepping stone. It's a, it's a learning curve onto your next

adventure.

I Every small business that I've seen that has failed, they've come back with something else,

something better or something different. They've just pivoted a little bit. being a banker, I don't, I

don't think I'd always had the mindset of being a banker as in the traditional sense, like you said,

I didn't go to business school.

I didn't go to. You know, finance or accounting. I had a political science degree and an

international relations degree. I wanted to be a politician. I mean, for what reason? I have no

idea back then. But that is, that's what I wanted to do. it was just taking control and taking that

risk and owning it.

Paden: Yeah.

David: That that's what, it wasn't necessarily about the money or, or I, I knew it was gonna be

hard, [00:10:00] but those are the challenges that, you know, hey, I can, I can look forward to,

you know, it's not the same thing day in, day out. I have a new challenge every day and that

challenge, you know, when it's overcome only benefits me and those around me.

Paden: Yep.

David: It doesn't benefit somebody else.

Paden: Yeah, a hundred percent. And you're taking control of that. And like, it's important, like,

you know what David's saying there guys, is that, stepping out and putting yourself out there,

whether it's in a business or even heck, just even on social media spreading, you know,

spreading good stuff, but. it, it's not about like the outcome at all really. It's really about what it

does to you, right. You personally and how it develops you. Right. And, I'm sure you're a way

different person through, through experience now of development, of fighting all these battles for

years and years and how much develop because like.

I know enough about business. I worked with a lot of entrepreneurs. You don't, I mean, we didn't

just [00:11:00] come up. You didn't walk outta that porta potty with an idea and you know, a

month later you were making money, right? Like to develop a product and bring that to market

guys, like, know, listeners, you've never done that.

It's a big deal and it takes often years to even, to even get to that point, You'll have a hundred

different stop points along the way and all the reasons at every single one of those stop points to

quit. Right? Like, and, and that's, that's what most people do. in entrepreneurship and, and

podcasting is a great example.

It's like the people that win, they just outweighed everybody. Or they're just willing, I mean, it's

like every day they just wake up and they're like, Hey, we're gonna take another step here and

then tomorrow we'll take another step. you didn't start this business and it just went straight to

the moon right away.

Like, can you describe, you know, maybe a time of like, early on of failure or rejection or, you

know, I'm sure people were like, oh yeah, I'm, I'm ready to get in the restroom business. Like a

time of like rejection and, what you did to kind of push through [00:12:00] that.

David: Right. So Paden, a lot of the, we are disruptors in the industry. When you set out to

change the traditional mold, uh, it, it takes three or four times longer to build that trust and, and

build that mindset change. Sure. We had tons. I mean, I, I can remember back then, I can't

believe you're going into the porta potty business.

I can't believe you're doing this. Like it's this, all of a sudden like, I'm some nasty person or

something, you know? Because that's

Paden: I'm associated to Porta potties.

David: Like, like really? No, this is, you know, this is like necessary. You know, like, it, it is, we're

elevating it. Um.

Paden: Yeah. We're trying to make it

David: So there, there were huge challenges, huge challenges, from going from a porta-potty,

that experience, but then also because the [00:13:00] price point, I mean, our, our price was,

you know.

Five, sometimes 10 times more. So we had to figure out first and foremost, who is going to be

our target audience at the very beginning? Who's gonna be willing to step up to pay this? So we

went after weddings, you know that that is, that is one expense where it's like, okay, we can

Paden: cost don't matter.

David: probably make this happen.

And then because Robert and I were. Part of the community, and we have been, you know,

focus driven within the community. We started working on boards that, uh, that were doing

community events. Your, your March dimes, your your buddy walks, your, you know, your

veteran day parades and, and type stuff like that, where we wanted to provide an elevated

experience through nonprofit because what we thought is, you know, what?[00:14:00]

If we can get people to sit down on our toilet, we've changed their lives and we have changed

the, the mindset and we've got a client hook for life it took several years. People, you know,

said, we're never gonna pay that price. We're never gonna do this, we're never gonna do this.

We're, you know,

Paden: Yeah.

David: it's fine.

A couple years later, this is the greatest thing I've ever, I can't believe I didn't think of this. The

same person that was the doubter, that that pushed you. You know? And that, that's another

thing is when you start a business, most everybody around you, they'll say, oh, good luck. You

know, whatever. But those, those around you will, they are your negative naysayers.

You know, they'll, they'll tell you that it doesn't work. That it's not gonna work. They'll give you

every reason in the book. To set you up and, and fear is definitely contagious. You, you know,

your, your mind starts swimming with all these things and it's hard to remain positive, and

[00:15:00] that's, you, you have to be steadfast in your belief that what you are doing is right.

It is, it is a new and better option for not just you, but for everybody that you're trying to, to, to

market to.

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. I, I love you talked about, you know, kind of the naysayers and, and, and,

you know, some of the negativity effect, you know, you face there and, and you know, some of

that, some of that is just like haters, right? And, and, and some of that is, you know, even. It

could be even people with great intentions, right?

Like they, they, you know, it could be your mom that's like, man, I see how, how treacherous this

is, and maybe you shouldn't do that. And, and your mom has the best intentions, right? Like,

she's trying to protect you. Um, but your mom's never built a porta-potty business and she

doesn't necessarily know what she's talking about.

man, I, I had this thought, a few weeks ago and I posted on social media, but like. pessimists

are right, like 95% of the time, [00:16:00] right? Like 95% of the time. They are absolutely right in

their evaluation, but the problem is with pessimism is like you're a hundred percent wrong, and

all the times it actually matter.

Um, and, and David's story is an, a perfect example of that, that, yeah, you know, from the very

beginning of David walking outta that bathroom with the idea to getting to where he is today, the

percentage chance of that is probably less than 1%, right? but. if you always sat there on the

sidelines, always shoot everything down.

Well, you're just never gonna go anywhere anyway. Right. So it's like the pessimism just drives

me nuts where it's just like, well, yeah, that's really easy to say and do well, you know, from the

safety of the sidelines and the safety of where you're at right now. you'll just never have

anything.

Additional if you're not willing to actually step out and do anything and be, you know, like Teddy

Roosevelt calls it the man in the arena, right? All the credit belongs to the person actually out

there in the middle [00:17:00] of it swinging every day just trying to move the stuff forward, and

the guy complaining and stuff on the sidelines and hating on you and, and whatever, um, It's

pointless.

David: you have a lot of entrepreneurs on your show.

They're all grateful. They are all excited about what they do. They are all, you know, they have

their struggles, but they, there's an enthusiasm there. How can you say that about truly the, just

the American worker that works in a business, they're not, most people that day in, day out go to

a job, go to work.

They're not, they're not real happy with it. It's just, it's just what they have to do. And, you know,

so being, uh, an entrepreneur, it, definitely has more of that stress. But you, you also get,

there's, there's more that comes back to you. You, as long as you keep. [00:18:00] Growing. You

keep learning, you keep looking for new things to, it remains exciting and it keeps the

challenges in front of you and it makes you want to remain sharp and inventive and it's, it's just a

more fulfilling life to me.

I, it, it would be hard to go back the other

Paden: Yeah, I've, I've told, I've said that so many times to, it's just like, you know, I could never

be an employee again. I mean, you know, if I had to feed my family or something, you know, I, I

would just grin and bear it and do it. But like, um, no, no one, no one should hire me as an

employee. Um, just generally speaking because I would not last I promise.

Like I would be a good employee. Like you would think, oh man, Payton executes and all this

stuff. And I would do well, but then I'd be like, Hey guys. I can't handle you telling me what to do,

um, because I'm over here like, no, we should do this, that, that this, you know, and disagreeing

the whole time along of what, what they're telling me to do.

Um, so, and, and you're right, like the the fulfilling [00:19:00] aspect is, is way stronger in the

entrepreneurship world, right? Like it's, it's, you know, you are doing something, you are being

creative, you are building something, and, and yes, the stresses and whatever, like there's,

there's a lot of day, I don't wanna say a lot of days there, there's definitely days where I'm like.

Man, wouldn't it be nice to just shut off my computer at 4:00 PM every day and never, and I'm

just, well, I'm just not responsible for anything until 8:00 AM tomorrow. Right. Um, that's not my

life. Right. Like, um, it, it, it's a 24 7 thing. Um,

David: can, I can totally agree with you on that.

Paden: yeah.

David: very much. I would love to just be able to shut it off every once in a while. Um, but it, it is,

it's a full-time 24 7 job.

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, speaking of that, You know, we talk a lot about here of like,

okay, you know, protecting, you know, I don't really like the term work-life balance, but like how

do you, how do you maintain that, David? Like how do [00:20:00] you, how do you separate or,

you know, attempt to, okay, you know, I have my business life, but you know, obviously I got a

whole lot of other areas.

You, you have, you know, was it, we were talking all fair, three or four children, you know, you

have I'm sure a million responsibilities over there. How do you, how do you manage all that? Or

What kind of, you know, processes you put in place or, or things you do to do that?

David: When I first started the business, I sacrificed my family time a whole lot more than I do

now. I thought that. Building this business was going to be better for them in the future because

it would be me more stable.

I, I wouldn't necessarily say that's correct. I, I sacrificed a little too much time with my more adult

children. Uh, 'cause I, I have five children, four of them are in their twenties, and then I have an

8-year-old. My. Work-life balance now is a lot more controlled. [00:21:00] I understand that. I

need that reset and I need that family time.

I have to have that family time because that's, that's where you get creative, that when you slow

down and you recap and you rethink, uh, you're able to, you know, come back energized. You

know, one of the things that I do with my son every morning. It's, it's pretty funny. I guess we

don't do it every morning, but we open the back door and we both yell, good morning.

Good morning. And it kind of, it's almost like getting you pumped. It's kinda like, you know, the,

the, the eye of the tiger, you know, fight song. It's like, alright, we're gonna get jazzed for the, for

this morning.

Paden: Yeah.

David: I, you know, I was so work focused. It was like, just walk out the door 10 years ago. You

know, kiss 'em on the head, have a good day.

Bye. Um, may make it home for [00:22:00] dinner, may not, you know, may make the

occasional, you know, swim practice or, or whatever. Now I try to make sure that I make that

time because I, I did, I lost it with, I lost it with my older kids. Um, so now to answer your

question more, I go, I go camping. I go out in the woods, where I'm not able to necessarily have

complete service where I, I don't feel like I need to look at my phone.

I have to disconnect myself from that business world, um, to, to make sure that I have some

quality time with my wife and my my children.

Paden: Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I appreciate you being, you know, so vulnerable there and sharing,

some of the mistakes, you know, you believe you made, you know, years ago. And, and I think

that's a common, very common story of, of entrepreneurs and at least the entrepreneurs I know

really well.

My, close [00:23:00] friends is like, we all went down that same road, right? Like, especially in

the beginning, we go down that road where it's like, no, I mean, the, the family needs me

building the business so I can. Provide and build this thing and they'll have this amazing life and

whatever. And then you quickly get reminded.

Your kids don't care about any of that. They want their dad, right. And me and my wife have

personally been making moves and I, I'm lucky enough to be around great entrepreneurs like

you that remind me of this. Um, you know, at a, at maybe an earlier age than most, and, um,

we've made a lot of moves to.

Absolutely do those things. Um, you know, we've made a lot of moves for, i, I I work so much

more remotely now and, and to be able to, disconnect and, I can be here working on my

computer all day long and I can just shut it off and walk away and. I got the beautiful, beautiful

lake of the Ozarks, 19 mile marker right here, over over my computer.

And, and, um, you know, I got to take my kids to school this morning, but like, you know, all this

summer [00:24:00] long it's, it's me and my kids and it's like, I'll do a few hours of work. We'll go

to the pool for a couple hours, I'll come back and do some more work. And it's, I'm not saying

that to brag or anything.

It's, just it's a new mindset of like. This is way more important and, and, and both are important.

Like I love business and I'm the kind of guy and most entrepreneurs are that will just work all

day long because they enjoy it or they enjoy the fight or, whatever. But it can't come at the cost

of everything else in your life because you're gonna get 20 years down the road and you could

have.

A hundred million dollar business, but the rest of your life is gonna be falling apart and you will

trade every dollar you have to get that back. And, and the problem is you can't. Um, so it's just

so important to, you know, entrepreneurs earlier in their career to, to really understand that, um,

because it's, it's not a trade, it's a trade that feels good in the moment, but you're going to regret

it later.

Uh, I guarantee it.

David: Yeah, I, I think a lot of that is, you know, [00:25:00] one, you're, you're kind of fooling

yourself. Uh, but I think a little bit of that is you've got something to approve to others. When

Paden: Yeah.

David: other, it doesn't matter to the others, it matters to the ones that. That that are home.

Paden: Yeah, I think it was a year ago, maybe tax season of 2024. my young daughter drew a

picture of a bunch of sad faces and wrote tax season on it that you wanna talk about stab me in

the heart. and so yeah, it's, it's something that we've really tried to focus on and, and change

ourselves.

David: Yeah, I, I can completely relate to that. Uh, I, I Google my business wherein like Google

Jail, it's been suspended all over the country and we've been working tirelessly to try to

Paden: That can be like impossible. Believe I, I've been down that road to Google too. I

understand that.

David: And, um, you know, I, I've got a, another [00:26:00] thing to add about the Google my

business, but I'm on the phone trying to solve this. My son walks in and he has built me some

Lego thing and I'm like, I can't now.

Paden: Yeah.

David: You know, go away, get out. I've got to finish this meeting. And he built me a Lego toilet.

And it's like when I finally stopped and looked at it, I was just like, get off the phone.

You know, here, here he is bringing me a Lego to that he's made. And it does, it just kind of

snaps back into perspective of what's going, you know this is what the life is about. You know,

seeing this like this. but yeah, it's crazy. And Google my business, this, this can probably relate

talking to disrupting

Paden: Google sucks. I mean, it's awesome, but like, if they're not doing what they need to do

for you, it's, it's, yeah. It can be pulling your hair out to get something fixed.

David: I mean, we, it has been the biggest [00:27:00] mess and the last week. We were on, the

Google help, whatever they finally called and you know, it's this unknown number so you think

it's spam and then you miss it. And anyways, I'm talking to this somebody and I just said, I, I'm

so frustrated at this point 'cause I'm getting no information, no real advice.

And I'm like, what is it that is deceptive content that we are providing.

Paden: Yeah,

David: And I don't know if she made a mistake by saying this, and she said, well, you've had

multiple user feedback that says that you don't offer this product. And I'm like, what? Our

primary category is portable to toilet service.

Paden: we offer toilets.

David: I'm like, okay.

So we are showing up on Google, on the local, Google My Business. For a portable toilet

search, [00:28:00] and then people call us. We don't actually have portable, the traditional

portable toilets, the little plastic ones. We have restroom trailers, so people have gone on and

said that we don't provide the service that Google is

Paden: Oh, okay.

David: say.

At least

Paden: Well, like of course not, we, we've designed a new service.

David: Yeah, so we are, we are getting penalized for being in their category, which we are in the

correct category. We just don't have it in the sense that they are registering it. So I don't know

how to get around that now.

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, man, the last couple years, you know, I've gone through, I've

gone through rebranding and trying to switch over my Google page to the new branding. Um,

you know, without losing my, you know, 105 star reviews, which I lost 'em all, um, because just

Google couldn't make any of that happen. Um, I couldn't just change the name on anything.

Um, and so we had to do a [00:29:00] new page, but I mean, man, that was four months of just

frustration of like. Google's like, nah, you gotta verify the business. Go, go outside and shoot a

video of your building and walking into the stuff. And I'm like, I've done this seven times. Every

time you say it doesn't work and like it just, I just gave up and opened up a new page because it

just, I mean, it was like a form of thing and it nothing was ever happening.

David: I'm, I'm like you, we don't want to give up 21 years, 20 years worth of, of, you know,

photos and comments and reviews and. Um, but we can't even get to that stage. They're saying

that we have deceptive content. I'm like, how?

Paden: now you're just getting, yeah, you're just getting flagged and you know, even at this

point it's like. It's just some algorithm, AI something where it's like, oh, two customers said this

boom band. You know what I mean? Like, and nobody, I mean, nobody's actually there looking

at anything or making any kind of decisions or [00:30:00] anything.

Um, and that's, that's the most frustrating part because it's all this machine and then you call in

or you know, even try to get, talk to a human being and good luck there.

David: Exactly. It's, it's crazy. But, uh, you know, that's why I said

Paden: the joys of entrepreneurship,

Speaker: Are you looking for a new tax experience, looking for an advisor that actually brings

you high level ideas and proactively plan so you aren't overpaying your taxes? Or how about

one that even just responds and communicates in a timely fashion? If any of that resonates with

you, you probably just have a tax preparer and not a tax planner.

And it is through the tax planning process where all the value is found. And when Tax Planning's

done right, it has a positive return on investment. I'm Paden Squires, I'm a CPA and owner of

Squires Tax Planning. We work alongside entrepreneurs and high income earners, helping them

pay the least amount of income taxes, both legally and ethically.

We have saved our clients hundreds of [00:31:00] thousands of dollars through specific

strategies, and we guarantee we can find multiple tax strategies that your current tax preparer

hasn't told you about. If that interests you, head over to squire's tax planning.com. There you

can take our free assessment to see how likely it is that you are overpaying on your income

taxes.

From there, you can also book a free tax discovery call with our team to see what it would look

like to have us working for you.

Paden: so, you know, kind of turn it, to you David, a little bit more like, are there any like daily

routines or practices or anything you do that really helps you stay focused, um, you know,

focused on growth or even, you know, self-development?

David: there's quite a few things. You know, one, one of the things that I have really tried to

focus on in the last couple years is. Being more grateful I've always kind of had these highs and

lows and where I kind of fall into that self pity mode sometimes,

Paden: Yeah.

David: but my wife Christie has, [00:32:00] has always been.

So positive on everything. any kind of problem there is, she's always like, well, it could have

been worse or Nobody's hurt. You know, let's just be grateful for that. So that's what I focus on

primarily In the morning, I try to be grateful, I try to be positive. I try to say the things that I'm

grateful for, but then I go into, you know, I want to.

Be around other positive people. So I try to find inspirational things to keep me uplifted, but also

I want to be better myself. I want to be a better speaker. I want to be a better podcaster. I want

to be a better leader. I want to be better at understanding. So I read different books. I listen to

podcasts that.

Try to enlighten me so that I can pass my knowledge on and I can pass the things that, that I've

learned to my other franchisees who are [00:33:00] entrepreneurs. I, I feel like it's my job to

continue to push and teach, even though that is not. You know, what they think that my role

should be. That is where I feel like I can be most beneficial.

I can, I can look out from a broad spectrum and see where the business is going and make

subtle changes, whereas they can focus on their business in the day-to-day routine. So I, I'm

constantly, looking from a broad perspective, I, I look in books. I attend different mastermind

classes every once in a while.

Um, and then I push that information back to my entrepreneurs be, and most of the time, you

know, I, I, well, I would say 99% of the time, they don't like any change. They want to keep the

things the way they are. They don't have time for this. They're, it's like, guys, we have to put

systems in process. We have to be.[00:34:00]

You know, we have to get with the times AI is coming, you have to do social. We have to

maintain the authority in our industry or else we will get swallowed

Paden: You will get eaten alive. Yep.

David: and trying to tell them these things or teach them these, you know, you get major

pushback. Oh, well so and so says I don't have to do this, or so and so said, and it's like, guys.

I'm, I'm telling you, you know, we have to do this. We, we have to do, uh, we've got a new CRM

that's rolling out. That has been a huge pushback. But it's like, guys, these are the things that

you've asked for. These are the things that we need to, to move forward, and now that we're

showing it to you, you.

There's all this fear and pushback and it's like,

Paden: Yeah, because it's

David: you want.

Paden: Yeah.

David: and this is gonna take us to the next, [00:35:00] uh, to the next level. I was like, this will

push us into the next 10 years where every other company is gonna be playing catch up

because they are all, you know, mom and pop buildups. Our industry is a lot of mom and pops.

Paden: Yeah, I bet.

David: Um, and there's, there's nothing wrong with that. They do a great job. But for us as a

national brand, we need to stay on top. And um, you know, the other thing is, it's like, guys, your

exit plan is to sell to somebody else. Most of these other portable sanitation companies, this is

family owned, this is generational owned.

We have to have systems in place because otherwise you are not gonna be, you're the value of

the company. So,

Paden: Yeah, there's nothing to sell if you don't have systems. It's just a job,

David: but you know, a lot of them, they like that ownership and they like that, that notoriety of it.

And it's like, guys, I'm here to, you know, [00:36:00] make sure that you work on your business,

not work in your business. I want you to build these things so that you can step away and that

you can actually have a life, you know, that things get done when you're not there.

Paden: Yeah. It's stuff I've been building in my businesses the last couple years. but you know,

a couple things there, right? Like one, the CRM thing, I knew when you said we got a new CRM

and in my head I'm like, oh, I bet everybody hates it.

Everybody complains about it. I knew you were gonna. Say that. Um, and because it's new,

right? Like, and, and people need to realize, okay, we're bringing in this great new tool. Like in

the beginning, it's gonna make us less efficient, right? Because like, there's this learning curve

and like, we gotta learn all these new things and, and, and, but you gotta, as soon as you get

over that learning curve, all, you know, this is gonna take us to the next level.

But you gotta be willing to, you know, take a little bit, step back to be able to. and the other thing

about, you know, you just talking about reading and, books and, podcasts and different things.

that is kind of part of the journey, right? Like you, you know, you've built a [00:37:00] business,

you were in the business, in the business, fighting, doing all the operations, and now you kind of

set on top of the business and, and, and like your most important role is to be the leader and to

lead by example and to disseminate all these good things that you learn.

so people have somebody to follow, right? that's where I see my role. Not, not that I'm not still, I

do a lot of operational things still, but like I want to be a great leader for my team. The more I

grow, the more they can. I mean the more space they have to grow up underneath me and um.

I've used this analogy a bunch and it's, I stolen from a friend of mine, but it's really moving from

like being a warrior, right? Fighting in the battles to, to becoming the king, right? Where you're,

you're standing on top of it and you're moving the chess pieces around, right?

that's kind of the ultimate place to get as the entrepreneurship is, Hey, I get paid to make

decisions like that, that is what I get paid for, right? not to. Quote, do anything right. I'm here to

make [00:38:00] decisions to make this business, as you know, as good as it can be, right?

David: absolutely. You know that, and that's the other thing with. I struggle with consistency. You

know? I will, I'll be hyper-focused for a few weeks and then it's like I missed that week and then

it, and it drags out. And that I would say one of the most, I guess. Most criticism that I get from

my offices is more communication.

From that consistency. They want more communication. Uh, and it's, and it's hard to relate every

single thing that's going on all the time, putting it out there. Um, and, and I lose, I lose track of

that because things in my world are fast. You know? I am, I am. Constantly moving onto the next

thing. Because once it's, once I'm done with it, I'm like, okay, what's the next thing we have to

do?[00:39:00]

And I forget that follow up sometimes to, to, well, to communicate. I,

Paden: So David, I got one last question for you. I want you to take me back to, okay, you're

standing in that porta potty, your daughter just peed on you. Um, so, so from your perspective

today, you know, if you can go back to talk to that guy that's got pee all over his pants.

if you can give him one piece of advice, you know, you've been through a million battles

between, you know, there and here. what would that one piece of advice be?

David: The advice that you hear or the advice that you learn put into action. Don't, don't test it

your way. It's kind of what I said earlier a little bit. You know, somebody will tell you, Hey, the

stove is hot. Don't touch it. Almost all of us will touch to see how hot it is. Some of us will touch

two and three times.

Listen

Paden: Some of us are that dumb, aren't we?

David: you know? Yeah. Listen to that advice. I'm, I, I [00:40:00] touched the stove, so if I know

the right path, I still feel like I've got to figure it out my myself, because I feel like for some

reason that I am smart enough and there are, there's, there's a lot smarter people out there, and

you need to learn.

Or you need to listen to the people who have already been down that path. It is a gift that you

are given this, these little golden nuggets. So put it into, put it into practice, but learn it. You

know, don't just take it for granted. learn it. and it will, it will solve a lot of problems that you

have.

Uh, another thing like. I should have gone to people that know, knew franchises and understood

franchises rather than trying to grow it organically or my way,

Paden: Yeah.

David: know, own. Being a franchise business is not like owning a portable restroom company.

It is a separate, complete, and total different business.

And I think a lot of franchises fail [00:41:00] because, just because they're good at opening a

restaurant or they've got this. great concept. Doesn't mean that it's going to, that they're gonna

be able to run it the same way that they've grown their first business. It's a, it's a completely

different mindset and a completely different set of, of rules that you need to follow.

So I, I would say the most important thing for me is to listen to those people that you admire and

take their advice. you don't necessarily have to listen or try to find something wrong in what they,

what they're saying you, it's, they've been there, they've done it, they've already burned their

hand, so

Paden: Yeah,

no need to do it again. Right? I think maybe yesterday or the day before, I was talking to another

entrepreneur friend of mine and, and we had this exact conversation where it's like you can give

someone the exact blueprint on how to do something, and as soon as they hear that. Their

head, they're already [00:42:00] adjusting it and modifying it of like, how well I'm gonna do it this

way.

Like the second you tell 'em. And, and I'm sure that's a, you know, a thing you probably struggle

with constantly in the franchising mode, right? Like, you guys have built out this beautiful

franchise and system and it's like, guys follow the system. Quit making it your, you know, quit

tweaking. We know this works, right?

Follow the system.

David: Exactly. You know, it, it was, you know, just yesterday we were on one of the CRM calls.

Oh, well, we found that, you know, everybody likes a personal touch, you know, rather than a

text message or an email. They like that. It's like we understand that, but you have to

consistently answer the phone and return the call.

The CRM will do that a hundred percent of the time. You may miss something, You can still have

that personal touch, but if you're busy, if you're away, this does it. This, this provides it.

Paden: [00:43:00] Yeah. Yeah. That's great stuff. David. David, you know, this has been a great

conversation. I appreciate you coming on. anything you want to leave for the listeners before

you go?

David: Yeah. You know, I appreciate what you're doing. You know, I think that, you know, this is

a great sounding board, and what you, you're stepping out in the, the education behind the, the

business. so I appreciate you allowing me to be on and share some of my insights. And please

take a look.

We are happy to be a part of your next event here at royalrestrooms.com.

Paden: any other way they can follow you or connect with you or

David: Yeah. Uh, I'm on LinkedIn under David Sauers. we have local state sites as well, but, uh,

the main, our main site is royal restrooms.com, and then we're on all the social media platforms

as well under Royal restrooms.

Paden: Awesome, David, appreciate you so much, and, uh, listeners, we'll catch you next time.

Speaker 3: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you found it valuable, [00:44:00]

please rate, review, and share it. That is the best way to help us build this and reach more

people as we're trying to accomplish our goal of help creating more healthy, wealthy, and wise

entrepreneurs. You can follow us on social media by searching for me Paden Squires.

Or going to padensquires.com on the website and social media. We're always sharing tips of

personal growth and there we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks guys.