Charles and Chelsea Mishakis, a young couple in Almont, Michigan, with three kids (ages 3, 5 and 13), always had an interest in entrepreneurship. After Charles was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps, they set about working on their dream.
They tried a few things but nothing felt quite right. But when Charles’ buddy from the service, John Beasley, successfully started a sanitation business called Honorable Discharge in St. Augustine, Florida, he took interest. “I watched him build it, rooted him on and then started picking his brain,” he says.
For a year Charles did research, read reviews, watched videos and attended the WWETT Show before getting licensed. “It finally came time to stop being a chicken about it and pull the trigger,” he says. “It was a big risk, but we were familiar with betting on ourselves.”
They started their company, Rapid Deployment Portable Restrooms, in January 2024 with 24 portable restrooms and a 2017 Ford F-550 with an Imperial Industries 680-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater steel tank and Masport PTO-driven pump. They’re now up to 62 standard units, six wheelchair-accessible units and seven hand-wash stations (all from PolyJohn).
They run the business out of their home and a storage lot, and work within a 30-mile radius. They’re actively looking for an employee after losing two — one returned to school, the other didn’t work out. Their bread and butter is private events such as graduations, weddings and parties, but Charles says they’ll take on any kind of customer.
A big event for them is the Detroit Tigers Opening Day. “We always look forward to it,” Charles says. “It’s spring and everybody’s moving out from the cold winter. And it’s the signal for the start of our busy season.”
EXPLORE FIVE ISSUES THAT AFFECT RAPID DEPLOYMENT PORTABLE RESTROOMS
1. GETTING THE WORD OUT
Social media is the company’s main go-to marketing tool. Chelsea creates all the content. She uses all platforms, but Facebook has been the most effective.
They also rely on word of mouth, which includes Google reviews. “When I drop off a unit, I mention we’re a small business and it would be great if they’d leave a review,” Chelsea says. She also sends follow-up emails asking customers how the company did, requesting them to leave a review.
They work with a local company to handle their website, Google tracking and search engine optimization. But they make their own videos, a couple of which have gone viral, Chelsea says.
2. MAKING THE INVENTORY STAND OUT
To compete as the newbie contractor in town, Charles and Chelsea wanted their portable restrooms to be different.
COLOR: For their units, the couple chose orange and pewter-gray for visibility and attractiveness. “The other companies here use the typical green, blue, red,” Charles says. “We get a lot of compliments.”
AIR FRESHENER: “We put deodorizers in every unit,” Chelsea says. “We use the Walex Deo-Disc and the units always smell fresh.”
LIGHTS: The couple believe it’s important to have lights in all their units — especially for women and children, Chelsea says. “You don’t want to sit down on a toilet that might have pee on it.” The lights (Solar Porta-Light from Walex Products, J-Lights from J&J Portable Sanitation Products) are roof-mounted, motion-activated and solar-powered.
MAINTENANCE: When they find graffiti, carvings or other damage the company takes care of it immediately. “I go off the ‘broken window’ theory from my law enforcement background,” Charles says. “It says that a building with graffiti or broken windows attracts more graffiti and broken windows — and crime.”
“When you’re a startup business you can’t just purchase every single thing that would make everything optimal,” Charles says. “You have to pick your battles and make do for a little bit.”
For example, they chose to buy a used vacuum truck. “There were some things wrong with it,” Charles says. “But I took it apart and rebuilt it, and from doing that I got an understanding of how it works. But I’m still not sure it was the best option in the long run because of the repair costs. You just kind of roll the dice on that. I would still go the same route — but just a word of caution.”
Another challenge was software. In the beginning Chelsea tried to do everything with QuickBooks, but it was tedious and a lot of work. “I actually had to input things into our Outlook calendar every day,” she says. By their second year they were able to switch to ServiceCore software, which was much more streamlined. “I just input everything for invoicing, tracking periods, sites, customers, recurring and on-demand jobs.”
4. WORKING WITH OTHERS
Charles and Chelsea have developed good relationships with the other contractors in the area so when one of them gets a request for more units than they have available they can call on each other. They may also refer jobs or handle different aspects of a job.
One example is restroom trailers. The couple made the decision not to buy one. “My thoughts are that they kind of got TikTok famous,” Charles says. “There are a bunch of them done on side hustles around here, and I think the market is getting a little saturated.” But Chelsea adds that when they get calls for trailers they work with those contractors. “We get a commission,” she says. “And then we also empty them and charge a fee.”
“We try not to step on each other’s toes,” Charles says. “We find it’s easier to just work with people instead of seeing them as competition.”
Carving out family time is difficult for the couple. Plus, Charles still holds down a job in law enforcement working the midnight shift, running the K-9 unit. “People talk about balance,” he says. “But there’s no such thing when you’re starting a business. You sacrifice family time. And your extra dollars go into the business.”
But he finds fulfillment in building something for his family and filling a critical need in society. “And it’s fun to take an idea in your brain and make it a reality,” he says.
Chelsea agrees. “It’s the possibilities — of the future, the growth, building something from nothing. It’s cool to see an idea come to life but it’s also exciting to dream of the future and what could be — how big can we make this, how many lives can we impact.”
Chelsea says she and Charles have little time together but when they do they make the most of it. “You don’t take anything for granted any more. You realize, yes, your nose is to the grind, but you cherish what you’re building. There have been a lot of tears — but a lot of joy, too.”
