Exceptional Strategic Business Development
We recently met with Billy Malkin, Owner of Portable Restroom Solutions LLC and discussed his company’s products, services, and equipment. We also talked about the PRS marketing, team, development, culture, competitive market, history, growth, short and long-term plans, and other info about his business and entrepreneurial experience.
Billy’s personal and professional history has been like the business management equivalent of living on a thrilling amusement park ride. Here he shares the exciting journey:
Early Rising Star
I come from a poor family. We had nothing when I was little. We were hungry most of the time. When I got old enough, I started doing pizza delivery during the week and bought some rusted up equipment to start grass cutting on the weekends. I hauled it with my 1977 Olds Delta 88, a big boat of a car. One summer I had 70 customers. I had worked labor jobs. Now I had a chance to be in business for myself for the first time, at 19 years old.
Around 1992, my equipment got stolen. About that same time, I saw an ad for a door-to-door sales job selling calculators and kids’ books. I was so good at it that I eventually became largely responsible for operations across the region. I spent 10 years in that business and ended up opening up 10 locations for them, from New York to Maryland. I was only 28 by the time I did all that.
I learned a lot of things in the direct sales business, including how to treat people and why it’s important to know people. By 1993, I was running my own distributorship for the company in Prince George County, Maryland, making $1,000 per week. By age 24, I received an achievement award at Madison Square Garden from one of the VPs. I remember that I was so scared and nervous, but it was also an incredible experience.
Through that company, I also learned that the only way you can get an opportunity is to take advantage of that opportunity when it’s presented to you. I had been asked by the company owner and CEO, Larry Tennenbaum, to shut down my distributorship for several months and participate in a retraining program. He assured me that I would be a “new man,” after the program. When I went back into my distributorship after those months, I was a new man, just like he said I would be.
I soon got an invite in the mail to the company’s Rising Star meeting being held at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. I flew there, and found in my room a velour sweatsuit with my name on the left chest, and Rising Star on the back. Looking back on it, I think the takeaway lesson from it was that it’s all about motivation and what you put into the right people to build your team.
I took the education from those years and have applied it to everything I’ve done in life since then. I worked for and learned directly from Larry Tennenbaum himself from age 22 to 31. His corporation today has maybe 10,000 offices in 50 countries. The way he treated me, the way he made me feel about myself made an enormous impact on me. And, LT’s is still the voice in my ear. It’s all about the people. All success in business is built around the people with you. Invest in the people, and watch the investment pay off.
All the sales, and the money, and the success are the results of the people. It’s about those who’ve got your back. We make sure our customers know us and we know them. You’ve got to have relationships with your suppliers too.
The Startup of Portable Restroom Solutions, LLC
I’ve done a lot of things in my life. I had a couple of restaurants. I was running the restaurants and doing well enough, but I ended up closing them down. It wasn’t for me. The profit margins for restaurants are not very good. I met a guy who had a portable toilet business that was in transition. He hired me to do sales and development. He had maybe 200 pots and a few beat-up trucks. I went to work for him, and within two years we had a thousand toilets and 10 brand-new trucks. But, it looked like my potential was probably too limited with his business.
I went into selling landscape, hardscape, and tree removal services. I was making good money selling patios and outdoor kitchens. I got an email one day asking if I wanted to quote for a 9-station restroom trailer with a 2-year deal. I bid on it and got it, but I didn’t have a business or even a business bank account, or any equipment.
After I won the little contract, I had to backtrack and put all that stuff together. I had another toilet rental company service it for me while I was getting myself together. I found an 2006 Chevy 700 in 2017. It was an old truck, but I found a bank that would finance it for me.
My boss at the landscaping company let me use his mechanics and his yard to keep some of my stuff in. As we grew, we probably moved 5 times, always to a bigger shop each time. Now I have a nice spot and growing room here to get more space adjacent to the property if we need it.
Steady Stream of Creative Business Solutions
I remember the owner of another company in the area. We weren’t friends. But I asked him if he had a 9-station trailer he wanted to sell. He did. I cleaned it all up and sent the photo to my prospective client, and he approved it. I bought it for monthly payments with a large down payment. He held the title and let me make payments. We agreed that I wouldn’t come around trying to take his customers. He sold me the trailer, and then I had another local company servicing it for me.
I flew out to Laverne, Maine to pick up the trailer and drove the old truck back for 31 hours. It broke down every week. Couldn’t even get parts for it anymore. It lasted about 2 years. It gave me the opportunity to learn to work on my own stuff.
I had 24 months to build the business, so that when I lost that first customer — the one customer I could sustain on that fairly long-term contract — I would be ready. There was another company in New York. They would buy toilet companies and sell off their inventory. I bought about 300 Polyportable Integra toilet units from them. Every time I had about $500 dollars I’d drive up there. I went to the WWETT show in Indianapolis and made a lot of contacts, including John Lindstrom.
I only had maybe 30 to 40 toilets then, working for customers cross-country. John said, “I want you to buy your paper, chemicals, and everything from me.” He’d drive down here with 10 cases of toilet paper and a couple of Blues. That was a big help while we were growing.
The shop was so small, it was more like a small storage space. I could pull the front or the back of the truck into the building, but not the whole truck all at the same time. We picked up a new customer here and there. Over the next 3 to 4 years, I bought a few hundred toilets from my boss, Charlie. We had just built his company from 200 to 1000 pots, so I kinda knew what I was doing by that time. I called a leasing company about 6 months in. The lender said they couldn’t finance for me until I had been in business about 2 years.
So I went to the local Ford dealer and bought a Ford 350 4WD. I mounted a 150-300-gallon slide-in tank on it. That meant I had my old truck still in service and now had added a brand new one with the new tank all in the financing deal. I hired a guy to work with me. I kept putting toilets out. I bought a Ford 550 in 2017, then went back soon and bought a F550 with a flatbed on it, and I bought a 300-gallon fresh and 900-gallon waste water tank. Then I had 3 trucks. I put the tanks on and hired another guy.
Throughout these big changes, my 17-year-old daughter was working with me, washing trucks, making repairs, cleaning toilets. I called the leasing guy after the 2-year timeframe he had required, and I bought a 2018 550 Portalogix (portable toilet service truck). It hauls 6 units and an 800-gallon waste tank plus a 350-gallon fresh water tank in the bed. Anyway, I kept buying trucks and toilets and kept hiring people. Of course, it hasn’t been without challenges.
Robinson Vacuum Tanks Support
When it comes to equipment, quality matters — but so does the team standing behind it. Our customer relationship with Robinson began in 2018 when I bought a 150/300 slide-in tank from them. Since then, that first purchase has grown into a fleet of 13 Robinson Vacuum Tank trucks and four slide-in units. That kind of continued partnership speaks to more than just the equipment — it reflects the confidence in them that we have developed due to their reliable products, responsive service, and commitment to supporting us as customers long after delivery.
Robinson’s trucks are some of the best quality units you can put on the road. Between the quality of the equipment and the service behind it, you can’t ask for much more.
As our business grew and operations expanded, RVT became more than a truck supplier — they became a partner. Whether it was lift gate parts, emergency lights, pumps, technical support, or getting a truck delivered on short notice, Matt, my sales rep was there to help keep things moving. Having a knowledgeable sales representative and dependable support team has made all the difference when we’ve needed fast answers and quick turnaround times.
It’s not just about the trucks; it’s about the service you get from them. You need to be able to depend on your truck supplier. Robinson Vacuum Tanks has been indispensable to my operations. They have supported me in every way.
They go above and beyond to do their part and treat it as part of a team effort.
The COVID Factor
COVID was a curse for the country and the world. But it was actually a blessing for the business. OSHA was requiring more hand-washing, and hand-sanitizing stations, and toilets. I bought about 4 more Portalogix and bought more new trucks as they aged. Once we got a little money in the bank, I started buying new toilets from Satellite.
After COVID, business normalized to pre-pandemic rates. By comparison, that felt like things went a little flat. People went back to buying 2 toilets instead of 5, etc. I ended up owing Satellite $80k. It took a few years to pay them back, but I paid them with interest and kept my good name with them.
When everything calmed down after COVID, I had to do some financial restructuring to remain a healthy company. My chemical guy gave me $30k in credit. He took a chance on trusting me, and it paid off very well for both of us.
Portable Restroom Services, LLC Today
We’re a multimillion-dollar company now. We’re 37% ahead of last year and it’s only May. We’re on track to have our biggest year ever. We started with $9k worth of business, now we do that per day. I probably had $20k to my name when we started. By now, I’ve probably bought at least $2-$3 million in trucks from Robinson.
One tank is $150k, and I have 5 of those. We’ve had 6 to 7 Portalogixs, and a couple of million dollars worth of trucks in total, plus the portables inventory. I’ve got strong relationships with the banks, so I can tell them what we want and have no problem financing the equipment we need.
My daughter Leah is now the Administrative Manager of the company. She has a couple of people working under her now. We have about 20 trucks now. The oldest truck in our operation is a 2021 model, and the newest is a 2026. We have a big 10,000 square foot location, with a yard and a fueling station. Now we’re a healthy rental toilet supply business. We have about 12 to 14 employees, including me. We have an in-house mechanic, and a guy who powerwashes the toilet units, and we have about 10 guys on the road.
Unique PRS Marketing & Sales Strategies
We’re big into social media and online marketing. A lady built and does all the maintenance on the website for us. We do all of our social media in-house: Facebook, Instagram, and Tick Tock, and we use Google Ads. And we rely on a lot of word of mouth. Social media is powerful. We’re working on getting on ChatGPT.
We’ve got a good team working in these areas on our branding. Two guys who work on it in the office are brothers. We’ve known them a long time. The right attitude gets the right result, and that’s what we’ve got going for us in this marketing and branding system.
In addition to regular sales and marketing for our primary business, we work through other channels to add revenues:
Third-Party Vendors
We have been having great success working with third-party vendors. When they call me here in Maryland, I give them the same price I give anyone. I welcome third-party companies. You can call me to deliver for you any day of the week. We do very well with the third-party vendors. You get a phone call and are asked if you can deliver for them. We manage a lot of those. We get a few calls, maybe 2 to 3, every day. It can be $10k to $20k per month in revenues. They’re good for people who need emergency services in a distant area, or who need something someplace remotely last-minute.
PRS Launches Its Own Third-Party Service
We also have our own third-party service for toilet rental. It’s portabletoiletdelivery.com. We’ve done all the infrastructure, set up bank accounts, purchased Google Ads. We rely on companies around the country to do the servicing for us. We work through about 10 third-party vendors ourselves in our business. It works great. They get a call for service in Maryland and they have us do the work. So we’re looking forward to doing that.
We’re just working out all the little bugs and are hopeful that we will be able to get our first customer any day now. A lot of the third-party companies have never been in the industry and they don’t know how it works. We’re in the industry, and that knowledge benefits the customers and the local suppliers we work with.
Other Side-Income Sources
Another little related side business I have is locating used equipment and selling it online. I do tremendously well with that. For example, a toilet company with about 500 toilets in rough condition went out of business about 40 minutes away from here. I bought a 100, another 100, and a third 100, reconditioned them and sold them online. My company is my priority, but I’m about making some money where it can be made.
The Stuff of Success
We started with $137k in revenues in the first year. It’s amazing to me that we’ve grown from that to our annual revenue levels now. After COVID, we started looking for more customers. My daughter and I hit the road looking for customers and built the business up that way. You’ve gotta believe in yourself and you can’t be lazy. Now we have people working here, but in the beginning, my daughter and I did it all.
Once a customer needed a restroom trailer when we were new, so we drove to the JAG facility in Indiana. We drove 14 hours there and 14 back to get the trailer. We drove to Atlanta to LWI to get a truck from Polyportables (bought out by Satellite). We drove long-distance through a typhoon to pick up toilets. Now we pay somebody else to travel to get what we need, but we did it ourselves during the early times, at $2000 a trip.
If you perform at a high level for people, they see that. Next March will be 10 years in business for us. We’ve grown. Life is good. No complaints. It’s work, of course. But we started this company out of my driveway at my house. If you believe in yourself and can see a clear path toward where you’re going, it’s really just a matter of time before you start charging down that path.
PRS Internal Culture
First, I’m a strong believer that a person needs to be able to live off their paycheck from their job. We start at $25 per hour, and they can often get 5 to 10 hours of overtime per week. When someone can live off their paycheck they respect their job, and that makes you a better company. The guy who is cheap with his people is not going to retain anyone. They’re not going to have any loyalty from them. They’re not getting the commitment. The commitment is what gets good service for the customer. We treat our staff with respect, and we expect it in return. I think that has a lot to do with our success.
If a person comes into work in a good atmosphere, gets treated with respect, is paid well, and knows his auto deposit is already in the bank every Friday morning, he feels stability, security. Also, if you help people when there’s a problem, it comes back to you. You’re going to develop the right relationships. When you start treating people a certain way, you can expect them to start acting a certain way.
You have to deserve to work here too. We’ve got real work to do here. There’s a certain pace that we keep here. There’s a certain feeling in the air. And, I only hire quality people. I try to run this place like it’s a privilege to work here.
All the inventory of rental products and the fleet are the results of having good people. People are what make all those numbers happen. Here, we provide them with a nice place to work, that is clean, and with equipment and trucks that are all very nice, mostly brand new. And, we create a good workplace atmosphere. We teach the drivers to deliver trailers, install waste and water systems, set up events, and other key skills they need for success in the industry.
Sometimes my daughter brings donuts, and we occasionally bring in guys with grills to cook for everybody. We have a restaurant come up and cook for us. We tell everybody to bring their families. We have an annual holiday party, etc.
But, again, it’s about how you treat people from day to day. There’s a time to push. You have to know how to push people and care about them at the same time. You teach, coach, motivate, repeat. When people feel their intelligence is being respected, appreciated, and accepted, they can grow.
Advice for Industry Newcomers from Billy Malkin, Owner PRS, LLC, Baltimore, MD
“The right attitude gets the right result.”
How you look at things, honor commitments, and how you treat people — employees, customers, and vendors — are all relevant to success. When you don’t have to be good to people, but you do, they see that. The business culture you create around you is the one you live with. Of course, none of it is without sacrifice. You make bad decisions — you eat it. The foundation of success is people. If you’re a leader, you deal with everything that comes, and you treat people working for you well along the way. That’s the formula.
For information about Portable Restroom Solutions, LLC, Middle River, MD, you can call 410-800-8823 or 410-804-1274, or visit restroomsonthego.com anytime. We’re available 24/7.