Rob Miller liked the 1980s TV show Moonlighting so much he named his portable restroom business Blue Moon Satellites — in a nod to the program’s Blue Moon Detective Agency.
But now, 14 years after he started his Coralville, Iowa, business, he works so much, he feels like he’s moonlighting … for himself.
“Hard work has never been an issue for me,” he says. “I knew what I was getting into.” Still, the 41-year-old is hoping his one-man business can soon expand, offering him the manpower he needs and the free time he desires to spend with his wife and two small children.
“Hard work and determination can take you places, but they can only take you so far … I think I’ve reached that point. I need to grow. I’ve come to where I can’t expand anymore without help,” says Miller, who runs the day-to-day operations at Blue Moon. His wife, Cindy, handles administrative work while at home with their son Peyton, 8, and daughter Ainsley, 4.
GETTING STARTED
Miller purchased the restroom business in 1994 from his previous employer. He was operations manager for a firm that offered both trash pickup and portable restroom services; Miller purchased the latter, which then included just over 100 units.
“When I bought the business,” he says, “I had them sign a (10-year) non-compete (clause).” Now, however, his former employer has returned to the restroom business. “It rubbed me wrong when I found out,” he admits, but shrugs it off saying, “I have more than held my own.”
Today, he’s tripled the number of restrooms he started with, running a 350-unit concern; about half are Satellite Industries Inc. Tufways, the others are PolyJohn Enterprises Corp. PJ3 models, in addition to eight PolyJohn ADA units. He maintains a fleet with one 2003 Ford F-350 pickup, a 2002 Ford F-350 with Satellite Industries MD950 steel tank (650-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater) and a 1994 Chevrolet GMC 3500HD with Satellite Industries MD850 steel tank (600 waste/250 freshwater). Both trucks are equipped with Conde pumps.
But with a rising number of units and growing commitments, Miller finds himself making deliveries and cleaning runs for 60 to 70 hours a week in the busy summertime, with that dropping to a more manageable 40 hours in winter.
Working that many hours has helped Miller familiarize himself with the routes. And since he’s the only driver, he’s learned to streamline routes, seeing no current need to use GPS technology. “I know where I’m going, and I pay attention to street signs.
“Iowa City is a fairly compact city; I can get around pretty well. Over the years, I’ve learned traffic patterns. I’ve learned to adapt to what I need to get done.”
BIG TEN CITY
Miller estimates that close to 70 percent of his business is construction, which slows down during Iowa’s cold and snowy winters. “Construction pays the bills, and where I make my money is special events,” he says.
The nearby thriving metropolis of Iowa City (home to the Big Ten’s University of Iowa) has been a business boon for Blue Moon. “Probably our biggest special event client is the city of Iowa City (population 62,000),” Miller says. “They have quite a few art fairs during the summer months. We supply all the restrooms for them.” Blue Moon services about five major city events. That visibility, coupled with top-notch units reserved for special events, has proven to be excellent word-of-mouth advertising.
“Everything that we take out for special events is fairly new and has never seen a construction site,” says Miller. His all-blue units are readily visible, sporting his company’s logo — a smiling gold crescent moon.
Some of Blue Moon’s highest visibility comes from its units — decked out with the familiar little gold crescent moon logo — dotting Iowa City on Iowa Hawkeye football weekends. While Blue Moon does not supply units to the university, Miller does supply restrooms to the surrounding residential areas.
“The football stadium sits in a residential area, and parking is fairly limited,” Miller says. Homeowners often rent out their yards for fans to park, and many of them rent Miller’s units as well. During the season, he supplies about 50 units to such venues.
The University of Iowa does bid out portable restrooms for their parking lot every year, but Miller says, “I haven’t bid on it for six or seven years. If I won, I’d have to purchase another 100 units, and then I’d have to have bigger equipment. Just being by myself, it would be way too much for me to handle.”
HIRING DILEMMA
Miller would bid on the Big Ten contract if he were able to hire another worker. Such a goal is just part of Miller’s bigger picture — to grow his business wisely, maintain visibility and reserve some time for himself. “I don’t even think about goals so much,” he admits, but adds, “I do have goals, though … I would like to have two or three trucks on the road all the time and sit in the office a bit more. My goal is to maybe expand to another city,” he says. The latter, he adds, could include nearby Cedar Rapids; the second largest city in the state is only about 40 minutes away.
Right now, however, even Miller’s fairly modest 30-mile radius keeps him hopping.
“I’m at overload most of the time,” he admits. “I have turned customers away because I can only go so far; most of my customers understand that I’m a one-man show.”
To that end, Miller realizes that for his business to continue growing, he likely will have to add staff. But that’s a bit of a tough pill for him to swallow. “I have a hard time turning loose somebody … it’s my name on the door,” he says. “It’s just a matter of finding the right person. Right now, we’re coming into our slow period; I’ll be actively looking in the spring.”
Another big decision Miller may face sooner than later is a home for his business — and space for those 350 units. Blue Moon currently rents a shop in Coralville, where Miller keeps about one-third of his units. The rest are stored nearby on a friend’s farm.
ON THE MOVE
But the city of Coralville is actively buying properties and acreage around his shop for development along the Iowa River. Miller views that prospect, however, not as a threat, but rather an opportunity.
“If they came in and bought the place tomorrow, I have a shop at my house, which is about 16 miles from town,” he says. “Ideally, I’d like to build a place. Property values were pretty high, but they’re starting to come down a bit.”
Miller is actually anticipating the city will buy out his long-term lease, allowing him to move forward with those goals.
Until then, Miller remains busy, yet upbeat. And he says he has no regrets about taking on the business.
“I knew that I could make really good money at what I was doing,” he says. “It’s afforded me a nice lifestyle, and it’s made money for us. That was my main objective.”
Having that positive attitude seems to be a trademark of Blue Moon — right down to that smiling crescent on the door. But Miller credits a quote he recalls from his childhood with keeping him grounded, even amid chaos.
“My grandmother used to have a saying hanging in her kitchen. It said, ‘Today is the tomorrow that I worried about yesterday, and all is well.’
“It is what it is,” he adds, “and I do what I can do.”
