Have we printed your name or photos of your crew in PRO during 2023? If so, thanks for participating in the editorial content of the portable sanitation industry publication in the past year. If not, we hope to see your comments and/or your smiling faces in our pages in 2024.

Back in the olden days when I was a young weekly newspaper editor in a rural community, my wily, sharp-witted publisher sat me down one day and said, “If we’re doing our job, everyone in town will be mentioned in the paper once a year. It could be in the ladies’ social column or in a caption of a high school sports photo. What matters is that we involve as many people as we can in the pages of our product. That’s our job and what keeps folks interested in reading the paper.”

The publisher’s message was clear: The success of any publication is in the community of readers it serves. Without the stories about all of our neighbors in that small town, the newspaper would be a bunch of empty pages, and then who would want to read it? The people brought life to the paper, and all of those names and photos made subscribers look forward to retrieving it from their mailboxes every Wednesday.

So many years later, I like to take the same approach to this magazine.

Our industry is its own small town of sorts. Many of you know each other so well that you might as well be neighbors. Those familiar backyard over-the-fence visits are happening at the WWETT Show, events of the Portable Sanitation Association International, or at local industry-related training sessions. The internet, Zoom, FaceTime and social media draw us closer so we can share best practices or help each other out of a jam when necessary.

IN THIS ISSUE

As much as we currently try to involve all of you in the monthly issues of PRO, we can and should always look to do more. This month, for example, we introduce you to a young woman in our Business Incubator feature, Hannah Baker, who is taking an unusual career path from the lucrative field of software development to running her own restroom trailer rental business. In the story by writer Stormy Shafer, Baker shares her technology expertise to help other PROs better market their businesses.

In our PROfile feature, we return after almost 11 years to see all the progress Scott and Lisa Weld have made with their business, Buck’s Sanitary Service, in Eugene, Oregon. When we first featured the company in February 2013, Scott and the couple’s then-12-year-old daughter and helper Milah posed for a cover photo. We were lucky enough to recreate that photo for the updated story, as Milah is now a college graduate and working in the company office. In writer Betty Dageforde’s story, we learn the Welds proudly represent the industry as a successful multigenerational company.

We have so much to learn from the experiences of our featured PROs. And I know each of you has important small business and portable sanitation lessons to share. So as 2023 comes to a close, I want to renew my invitation for you to reach out and introduce your family, your hardworking crew and your restroom business. We’d love to consider you for one of our monthly feature stories to run over the next year.

IT’S PAINLESS

Some PROs are reluctant to share their stories. Why? They might be shy to stand in front of the camera or talk with one of our writers in a phone interview. They may think it’s boastful to talk about their businesses or they may feel like their stories don’t offer any value to our community of business owners. And every so often, PROs tell me they feel like a story about their company will share “trade secrets” with their competitors and they don’t want to risk that.

I’d like to address these concerns:

We don’t bite: There’s no need to worry about working with our writers and photographers. They’re normal people doing a job just like you. Our writers strive to understand the challenges of portable sanitation and successfully maintaining a small family business. They know PROs; they know the lingo and have worked with dozens of contractors over the years. And our photographers are schooled to look for the shots that place your technicians in a positive light.

Everyone has an interesting story: It doesn’t matter if you have 50 restrooms and a pickup truck, or 5,000 units and a fleet of new service trucks. You have faced interesting challenges and found ways to overcome them. The best small business advice comes from both the newly minted PRO or the CEO of the largest service provider. I am constantly amazed at the problem-solving stories of PROs of all shapes, sizes and levels of experience. None of us should sell ourselves short. 

You can’t keep secrets: I have to chuckle when I occasionally hear contractors say they don’t want to share their trade secrets with the local competition. Don’t worry, your competitors already know everything about you. They see where you place your units. They know who your best customers are. They know what products you buy, how much you charge for service, and who works for you. You know the same things about them, too. If you take away a valuable piece of business advice from one of our featured contractors, consider returning the favor for the benefit of the entire industry.

THE BENEFITS

Consider the benefits your company can derive from being featured in our national magazine:

Recognize your crew: I’m happy whenever we can run a team photo of one of our PRO companies. The technicians, drivers, yard and office staff are the backbone of your business and the portable sanitation industry. They work hard doing a job most folks aren’t willing to do. So it’s important to recognize their important contributions to your bottom line, the comfort they provide to the general public and construction workers, and how they help create a cleaner environment. Showcasing your team in the magazine is a big thank you they will enjoy and share with family and friends. 

Gain a marketing edge: While PRO is a business-to-business trade magazine and our subscribers are others in the portable sanitation industry, the media exposure can still be turned to your advantage with potential customers. Our stories are posted on the PRO website and social media channels where you can share them with your followers. And we make digital copies of the stories available for featured contractors to post on their websites and send out on customer email blasts. These efforts extend the reach of the content and show your company is worthy of being featured in a national publication received by its peers.

Shout out to your vendors: In our editorial features, we always review the restrooms and service equipment PROs use. This spotlights the latest and greatest tools of the trade both in the text of the stories and in the photo layouts. When you have a great relationship with your vendors, these mentions provide a nice pat on the back for the customer service and reliable products they provide to your company. I know our advertisers appreciate seeing their loyal customers featured in the magazine.

Jump-start networking: Being featured in PRO is a great conversation starter. I often hear from our PROs that readers reach out after a story to offer their congratulations. This is unexpected and sometimes marks the beginning of friendships that can last a lifetime. Say you’re a company in Maryland and another PRO in Nevada noticed he or she is facing the same challenges and reaches out to discuss solutions. There is great value in establishing these networking relationships with PROs outside your territory. 

ARE YOU READY?

So, are you ready to share your story with the rest of the portable sanitation industry? If so, drop me a line at editor@promonthly.com and we can talk about a contractor profile or one of our other standing features: On Location covering your event service; Take 5 covering five topics that impact your business; and Business Incubator introducing an industry newcomer. Here’s hoping to meet you in 2024.