It's hard to believe a beat-up pickup truck can turn into $50,000 a month. Yet that's exactly what Matt built with Sonoma Strong Hauling in Sonoma County, California. His path wasn't polished or pretty, but it's a real startup story about doing unglamorous work, pricing it correctly, and getting known in the right local circles.
What makes this business model so interesting is how normal the demand is. People move, tenants leave a mess, someone passes away, a garage becomes a storage unit for "later," and suddenly junk removal becomes urgent.
How Matt went from rock bottom to running a hauling company
Matt doesn't frame his past as a fun backstory. He talks about it like a hard reset. At one point, he says he was "homeless on the streets." Later came jail, rehab, and a fresh start through a Salvation Army program. In that program, he worked on a donation truck and kept hearing the same question from people: "If you can't take this, who can?"
That question matters because it points to a simple gap. Donations get rejected for scratches, stains, pet hair, or wear. Landlords and families still need it gone, fast. So the need was already there, sitting in plain sight.
When he started, he was working at a grocery store for $15 an hour, on a rough schedule (midnight to 8:00 a.m.). After his shift, he'd haul junk for 5 to 6 more hours when jobs came in. It wasn't "quit your job and follow your passion." It was more like, "I'm tired of frying chicken and making sandwiches, and I need my life to change."
A big part of his momentum came from going face-to-face with people who could send repeat work. He walked into real estate offices with business cards (and even candy dishes) and introduced himself. He says he got his first three clients in about 10 minutes that way. No ads, no fancy funnel, just showing up.
That's also where JoJo comes in. Matt met his wife at the grocery store, and she became part of the business engine, especially on the website and local SEO side. Over time, Sonoma Strong Hauling became a real operation with four people, multiple trucks, and a steady stream of jobs.
Why junk hauling can be a low-cost start with real profit potential
Junk removal isn't glamorous. That's the point. A lot of people avoid it, which is exactly why customers pay when they need it handled quickly and cleanly.
Matt's early setup was simple. He saved about $5,000 and bought a pickup truck (he mentions a 2002 Toyota Tundra). After that, many tools came straight off the jobs. He's blunt about what you actually need at the beginning: a dolly, straps, a tarp, and a vehicle.
Just as important, he pushes back on the idea that you need a yard, shop, or commercial space to start. He ran the business from home to keep overhead low. In the beginning, he parked trucks on the street and moved them around when needed. It wasn't convenient, but it worked.
He also makes the business feel more accessible for people who don't own a truck yet. Renting is an option. He suggests renting a U-Haul for about $100 for a day, stacking jobs on that day, knocking them out, then returning the truck. He even mentions doing a job in a Honda Civic at one point, which says a lot about how scrappy the start can be.
Money showed up early, but it was uneven at first. His first customer came from a Craigslist post, and the job paid around $200. The bigger issue was fear: he didn't know if he had enough money in his bank account to cover dump fees. That's a specific kind of stress, the kind only a broke beginner really understands.
Still, his first month goal was $2,000, and he hit it. Compared to his grocery paycheck (he mentions around $549 a week), the side hustle started to feel like the better path pretty fast.
If you want a broader, step-based breakdown of the industry, this junk removal business starter guide lays out the basics, licensing, and early decisions in a straightforward way.
A day of jobs, from $179 curbside pickups to $49,000 hoarder cleanouts
The work range in junk hauling is wild. One day can be mattresses and cardboard. Another day can be a hoarder house that looks like a hazmat scene.
Matt lays out a typical schedule with three jobs: an apartment cleanout, a small pickup, and then a look at a completed hoarder job that paid $49,000.
How he sizes up loads and prices jobs
He prices mainly by volume, using cubic yards. In his area, he says many haulers charge $50 to $70 per cubic yard. So instead of guessing, he looks at how full the truck will be and prices from there.
One apartment cleanout example is especially clear. It's a senior living facility unit where someone passed away. The job includes furniture, couches, mattresses, plus some items that can be donated. He estimates the total as about a load and a quarter and prices it at $1,100 (with a discount because it's a repeat customer).
He also does the quick math out loud: dump fees around $100, labor for four guys for two hours around $100, plus gas. He estimates roughly $850 profit on that job.
Here's the same idea in a simple table, just to make the economics easier to see at a glance:
| Job example | Price charged | Crew and time | Estimated dump fees | Estimated profit (per Matt) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senior apartment cleanout | $1,100 | 4 people, ~2 hours | ~$100 | ~$850 |
The important nuance is what he learned the hard way: not all cubic yards are equal. A job down a hill, a tight staircase, or a longer carry changes the labor. He says you'll mess up pricing a few times, and you learn fast because you don't want to repeat the pain.
The least profitable jobs still have a purpose
Single-item pickups and curbside jobs often pay the least. Matt shares a curbside pickup priced at $179, and it's mostly donatable stuff (dog cages, a propane tank, and other usable items). He calls it a "jackpot," partly because there's value in what people throw out.
Even when these jobs don't pay much, he sometimes treats them like a relationship starter. He'll take a low-margin job to get a customer "on the team," because people often call again later. He even mentions a rough "lifetime value" idea, saying a junk removal customer can be worth thousands over time, since moves, cleanouts, and family situations repeat.
The ugly side: hoarder houses that pay big
Then there's the job most people don't want: hoarder cleanouts. Matt shows a house job that paid $49,000, and he says margins can hit around 70 percent, but the conditions are brutal.
He describes trash stacked near the ceiling. To get inside, they had to crawl over piles. He mentions rats, feces, dirty diapers, holes in the walls from rodents, black mold, and spider webs. He's not trying to shock anyone, he's just honest about the tradeoff. Yes, it pays. No, it's not "easy money."
Dumping vs donating, and why "we recycle" helps close deals
A smart part of Matt's pitch is what happens after the pickup. He doesn't position the company as "we throw everything away." He tells customers they recycle and donate what they can, and he says people love hearing that.
In practice, that looks like a quick sort. Trash goes to the landfill. Donatable furniture goes to donation centers. If there's food, they can drop it at a food bank. He also says they visit donation spots frequently, sometimes about 10 times a week, because it's on their routes and they work with more than one center.
The "why" is simple too. Furniture costs more than it used to, so a decent dresser or couch can help someone who can't afford new items. At the same time, keeping usable items out of the landfill can lower disposal load and fees.
This isn't presented as perfection or saving the world. It's more practical than that. Customers feel better, the business looks more professional, and the hauling team builds a good local reputation.
How he got customers without ads (and why reviews mattered more than anything)
Matt repeats a theme that's easy to underestimate: most early growth came from basic local outreach and consistent online proof.
Real estate offices, Craigslist, and Facebook groups
His fastest customer win came from walking into real estate offices and handing out cards. Those relationships matter because realtors and property managers see the same problems over and over: tenant move-outs, estate cleanouts, listings that need a fast trash-out before photos.
He also used Craigslist heavily at the start, posting in both labor and household services sections. On social, he joined local Facebook groups like yard sale groups, mom groups, and buy/sell communities, then posted regularly. Over time, he began paying for Facebook boosts (around $450 a month) mostly for brand awareness, and he claims that channel now drives serious weekly job volume.
Looking "legit" early, even when it was new
One of the more tactical moves was setting up credibility before having much equipment. He created a Google Business Profile (he calls it Google My Business), got it verified early, built a simple website (his wife handled it), posted photos of him moving furniture in his apartment complex, and collected early reviews.
People assumed the business had been around for years. In reality, it was months. That gap between perception and reality helped the phone ring.
He also shares a very specific local SEO habit: posting photos regularly, and even renaming the image file with the city name and business name, then tagging the zip code. The goal is to rank in the local "map pack" organically, without paying for Google Ads.
For a general overview of getting started in the same industry, this step-by-step junk removal launch guide gives a clear picture of the early setup choices many owners face.
YouTube as proof, not just leads
Matt also runs a YouTube channel, mainly because he couldn't afford advertising early on. Surprisingly, he says it doesn't generate a flood of leads directly (maybe one or two a month). The bigger benefit is reputation and referrals, including other local haulers who watch the content and send jobs when they're booked out.
That's a subtle point: content sometimes works as a trust layer, even when it doesn't work like a direct response ad.
Team, equipment, and the real operating costs behind the scenes
Sonoma Strong Hauling isn't just Matt and a truck anymore. It's a small team by design, because he believes profit margins stay better when the operation stays tight.
He breaks the roles down simply:
- Matt handles marketing, estimates, invoices, and operations.
- Julio leads the second truck.
- Jared helps (and got nicknamed "Hot Tub" after a stretch of hot tub removals).
- JoJo handles website and SEO, plus community-focused marketing ideas.
Hiring was one of the hardest parts. He says he went through a lot of people, including some who were unsafe on jobs. Over time, he built a more dependable crew, and that shows up in reviews and even tips (he mentions a $700 tip in one case).
Upgrading from hand-unloading to dump trucks
Equipment changed everything. He started with an old pickup, then a utility trailer, then upgraded into dump trailers and eventually Isuzu NPR-style dump trucks. He calls the dump mechanism (the button that unloads) one of the smartest moves because it saves time and labor. More speed means more jobs per day, which changes the whole math.
He also mentions something funny but true: on cleanouts, you find tools. Brooms, rakes, dollies, and basic gear show up in the piles, and some of it becomes part of the business.
Monthly expenses are real, even when margins look high
Matt doesn't pretend the business is pure profit. He shares some real expenses: about $15,000 in payroll, around $8,000 in truck insurance (for two trucks), plus gas, liability insurance, dump fees, and some advertising.
At the same time, he claims strong margins on certain work, especially when the crew is tight and the jobs are priced correctly. He also shares a milestone: by around six months in, working part-time, he was doing roughly $10,000 to $12,000 a month as a side hustle.
This is also where organization starts to matter. He eventually adopted a CRM for contact tracking and text/email blasts, after doing everything with paper and pen for years. He resisted it at first, then changed his mind once he saw the order it created.
If you like business models that start lean, this internal piece on starting a business with $0 in 2026 fits the same scrappy spirit of testing fast, then building systems later.
Mindset, mistakes, and what kept him going in slow seasons
Matt's advice is messy in a useful way. It doesn't sound like it came from a textbook.
He admits he lowballed early jobs. He also took work he shouldn't have taken, like dirt jobs, and says he'll never do that again. In the beginning, hunger makes you say yes to everything. Later, you learn that not every job is worth it, and not every customer is your customer.
The trap is becoming "the cheap guy." Once that label sticks, it's hard to charge what you need to run a real operation.
Seasonality also tested him, especially winter months when the phone rang less. Doubt showed up. He pushed through by focusing on what he calls the "triple Rs": reviews, repeats, and referrals. He says a hoarder job worth $49,000 came from a referral, not an ad.
He also talks about changing his environment completely. New county, new circle, fewer "knuckleheads," more people who want to build something. That's not a business tactic, but it affects everything. Energy, consistency, and choices all shift when your circle shifts.
For more examples of how others built in the same space, these junk removal business success stories show how different operators grow, even though their tactics vary.
What I learned from this (and what I'd steal for my own work)
A few parts of Matt's story stuck with me longer than the big revenue number.
First, the "walk into the real estate office" move feels almost too simple, and that's why it works. It's awkward, it's human, and it cuts through the noise. I've noticed the same pattern in my own work. When I stop hiding behind screens and actually talk to people, the path gets clearer. Not easier, just clearer.
Second, I didn't expect the "post pictures every day" habit to matter so much. It sounds small, almost annoying, but it's a real signal. If someone sees steady proof, they relax. They trust faster. That's true for local services, and honestly, it's true for almost anything online.
Third, the way he treats low-profit curbside pickups as relationship-building made me rethink what "worth it" means. Sometimes the money is average, but the customer becomes the repeat caller who later needs a full cleanout. That's not magic, it's patience with a plan.
Finally, the hoarder house part was a gut check. It reminded me that high-margin work often exists where most people refuse to look. Not everyone should do those jobs, but it's useful to admit the truth: comfort costs money.
Conclusion
Matt's startup story is proof that a service business can grow from almost nothing, as long as you price with discipline and market with consistency. He didn't start with a shop, staff, or ad budget, he started with a truck, a few tools, and a willingness to do the work other people avoid.
If there's one theme that keeps repeating, it's momentum: keep showing up, keep posting proof, and keep building relationships that bring repeat calls. If you had to pick just one move to copy this week, make it the simplest one, go meet the people who already control the referrals in your area.