The successful entrepreneur had to hastily explain his business operation as he was just an hour away from his final exams.
20-year-old Kirk McKinney and his 18-year-old brother and business partner Jacob McKinney have turned junk into treasure. Jacob, fresh out of high school, lives in Needham, Massachusetts, and together they own three dump trucks worth $80,000, managing a dynamic young team that tackles about 30 jobs per week. The McKinney brothers profit from handling waste.
It all started with a trip to a junkyard in 2019.
“I sold my first radio for $50,” Kirk McKinney told Epoch Times.
At 15, he found that working at a local grocery store wasn’t paying off. One day, he found valuable audio equipment at the junkyard, and despite his mother complaining about high-end speakers scattered in his room that were still in good working condition, she told him to throw them away. He began selling them and turned it into his own business. And that’s how it all began.
“I didn’t like working in the grocery store,” he told the newspaper. “I realized I could keep doing (junk handling) and make more money than at the grocery store, so I gave my notice two weeks early and started handling waste full-time.”
He found joy in every second of working for himself. About two years later, he recruited his younger brother as his business partner. At 17, his brother joined, while Jacob was only 15.
Encountering professionals who taught them waste removal techniques on-site, the McKinney brothers seized a bigger opportunity, acquiring their first truck, a used pickup truck priced at $4,000. Through word of mouth, orders started flooding in.
The tax season of 2022 brought an epiphany to the brothers. “We looked at all the money we made and realized we should reinvest all the money back into our business,” Kirk McKinney said. “And it was then that we bought our first dump truck.” It was a brand-new Isuzu priced at $80,000.
For the brothers, there is no limit to their business. Initially having high schoolers as temporary helpers, they began hiring employees in 2023 (mostly still school friends); accounting and some marketing duties were outsourced. Later, a new structure was adopted, with the brothers taking higher positions, reducing the heavy workload and assuming more responsibilities within the company. Their company is named “Junk Teens Junk Removal.”
As they grew, the brothers naturally displayed entrepreneurial instincts.
Videos like these helped their business grow on social media. (Provided by Junk Teens Junk Removal)
“The key to making all this run smoothly is proper delegation,” the older brother said. “Who are the talents you have and how you make them help you. Ultimately, it all comes down to your team.”
They deliberately hire young people like themselves to instill new professional ethics and inspiration. Having succeeded on their own, the brothers aim to give back to society by helping teenagers enter the workforce and learn essential life skills.
As for academics? The brothers have not completed their studies. Not yet. While running the company, they pursue knowledge to become better businessmen.
Studying business courses at Babson College, Kirk juggles various tasks. He is a visionary. As a long-term marketing investment, he takes the risk of creating indirect value for the company on social media.
After Jacob graduates from high school this year, he will attend the same college as his brother while taking on more practical roles in the business – managing employees, setting schedules, contacting clients, and acquiring quotes.
“Strategically solving problems is what I excel at,” Kirk McKinney said. “I enjoy helping these partners and working with them, being involved in operations. We didn’t slack off or manage the business in a vacation-like manner.”
Looking to the future, they have invested in a third dump truck this year and plan to further expand the business. Today, the question before them is: How big can they go?
“We’ve always focused on expanding the business,” Kirk McKinney said. “It’s a different kind of work, different from our initial focus. Back then, we only worked with our hands because that was the scale of our company.”
Rushing off to take their end-of-semester exams, he added, “But now our business has grown bigger, with more tasks and more responsibilities in different areas.”
“Our business has no limits.”