Margaritas have likely inspired more bad ideas than good ones, but for Brooke Reed, the tequila helped spark a business plan. 

In September 2022, Reed and a friend were discussing potential restroom solutions for a river property the Reeds live at on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri. They’ve struggled to find a company willing to dig a well at their off-grid retreat in the Ozarks due to its remote location and granite-laden soil. Venting about the problem, a potential solution came to mind.

“What we need is a camper that is just a bathroom and a shower,” Reed recalls saying. “We should build one. We should make it cute like a tiny home.” Her next thought was that if the bathroom on wheels were cute, people would want to rent it for weddings and outdoor events.

Reed woke up the next morning, excited about this potential business. She and her husband Nathen Reed always dreamed of being entrepreneurs. With full-time jobs and three children, the timing was never right. Plus, Reed, a third-generation health care professional, loved her job in the nursing industry. That was until the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, Reed worked with patients in a COVID ICU unit and in overflow tents. She contracted COVID in August 2020. She suffers from long-term complications. Illness and burnout led her to quit her career of 20 years.

Reed wasn’t sure of her next step. With all three of her children now grown, starting a business seemed like a possibility for the first time. However, she didn’t have an industry in mind. Operating a portable restroom trailer was the first idea that stuck. She began looking into the market and putting together a business plan.

CHOOSING A TRAILER

The couple wanted to see restroom trailer options in person before making a purchase. Ultimately, they decided to purchase a trailer from Comforts of Home in Aurora, Illinois. 

Comforts of Home custom-built a restroom trailer 15 feet long and 8 feet wide. The Reeds requested a double-axle to more easily take it to rural venues. “We wanted a beefy underside and they were able to do that for us,” Reed says. 

The trailer has a 450-gallon wastewater tank and a 225-gallon freshwater capacity tank. The trailer has five restroom stations. The women’s side has two private stalls and a sink with a touchless faucet. The men’s side has a sink, two urinals separated by a partition and a private stall. A 2018 Chevy Silverado crew cab pickup pulls the trailer.   

Comforts of Home finished Reed’s trailer in February 2023 and she picked it up in March. 

PICTURE PERFECT

Reed’s idea wasn’t just to own a portable restroom trailer, it was about creating one that was “picture perfect.” 

“It’s the Picture Perfect Potty Company so that it could be in the background of the pictures no matter what kind of event you are having or what your décor is like or what the setting is. It’s going to fit in,” Reed says.   

Reed selected from the Comforts of Home flooring options and used one of the company’s vanities. She went bargain-hunting for many of the finishes, shopping for deals on Amazon, Wayfair, Overstock and Home Depot. She purchased items like door and cabinet knobs, sconces and mirrors before sending them to Comforts of Home to install. She worked with a designer to create a white and black-themed vinyl wrap for the exterior. 

“I dove into it from a female perspective which is what our business model is too,” Reed says. “Men don’t care about cute bathrooms that are stylish and well-designed.”

GROWING PAINS

Picture Perfect Potty Company served its first clients in June 2023 at two outdoor events. Reed was just getting up and running when she experienced a major setback: Google removed her website from its search engine. While she’s never received an explanation from Google, she believes it was because of several positive reviews.

“I wish I knew why,” Reed says. “I think there was a flood of five-star reviews and I think Google thought it was a scam or fraud, and so they shut it down.” 

Reed filed a report with Google Business, which is done through artificial intelligence. She had to wait an entire month for the initial report to expire before filing another one. That report eventually resolved the problem and the company’s website returned to Google’s search engine. In the meantime, she put her business on Bing, Yelp and Nextdoor in an effort to generate business.

OBSERVATIONS

Surprises: The Picture Perfect Potty Company is back on Google’s search engine. However, the positive reviews never returned. Reed installed QR codes in the trailer to make it easy for users to leave a review. She used the program Flowcode. She’s surprised by the lack of follow-through. “It’s hard to get people to leave reviews. I get a lot of scans on the QR code in the bathroom. People scan it all the time but they don’t complete the task,” Reed says.

What Would She Do Different? Despite the challenges she faced on Google, she still believes it’s her most valuable marketing tool. For example, she bought booth space at a couple of wedding shows, but they didn’t generate any leads. “If I had to do it all over again I think I’d put all my money into Google advertising,” Reed says. “This is not a product that you are going to convince someone that they need to buy. I’m not selling a sweater. When they need a bathroom, they are going to Google it.”

Best Thing About It: Entrepreneurship suits Reed. She enjoys the learning curve. From website optimization tricks to writing a business plan, she’s learned the majority of her business from scratch. She credits her nursing background for giving her the skills. “Nursing is a jack of all trades, [master] of none,” Reed says. “I have to know enough about everything to keep it going and then if something becomes critical, I need to call in a specialist.”

Advice: Reed believes the portable restroom industry is only going to grow. “I feel like post-pandemic we are going to see a change in the way that outdoor sanitation at events is handled,” she says. Reed encourages other women to get involved in the industry. She says women are often the ones making the decisions about outdoor events like weddings and parties. “You just have to commit and go for it because you won’t have any idea until you do,” Reed says. “But once you commit and go for it, the sky is the limit because women can bring a totally different perspective.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Picture Perfect Potty Company is set to grow. Reed is pricing a second, smaller restroom trailer. The company dumps the wastewater at campgrounds and truck stops. However, once the company has three trailers, Reed plans to purchase a piece of property for trailer storage and to create an on-site dump station with a concrete holding tank that would be pumped out. Reed’s husband still works full time as a lineman for the local power company. Most of the company’s events are on the weekends, so he’s able to help drop off and set up the trailer. Reed says as the company grows she may have to consider hiring additional help.

In less than a year, Reed took an idea and turned it into a successful business. Despite a few learning curves, she’s excited about the potential for a picture-perfect future.