6 REAL Reasons Why You Need A Mobile-Optimized Website
We’ve all heard the saying, “If you build it, they will come.” But what about that other saying: “If you build it right, they&...
Chris Chisholm didn’t come from an agency background. He didn’t study copywriting or digital strategy in school. He came from the firehouse—literally.
A veteran and firefighter turned entrepreneur, Chris started his junk removal company as a side hustle during his fire service days. With five kids, a destroyed home from Hurricane Harvey, and a newborn in tow, he did what most people wouldn’t: he doubled down. Hustling junk removal jobs on his off days, watching marketing videos at night, and showing up relentlessly—Chris built something real.
Eventually, that side hustle became an acquisition target. Chris merged his company with Fire Dawgs Junk Removal and is now the marketing director for Allied Junk Partners—a holding company that owns and operates Fire Dawgs, Joseph’s Junk Removal, Lug Away, and Junk Bear.
His story is about more than junk removal. It’s about grit, leverage, and using strategy to outperform competitors with deeper pockets. Whether you’re in HVAC, lawn care, roofing, or pressure washing, there’s something here for you.
“I had no clue how to run a business… I was just too dumb to quit.” – Chris Chisholm
This show is sponsored by Blue Crocus Solutions, a web design and SEO agency focused on helping home service companies grow.
Chris says the appeal of marketing is simple: one small change can flip your entire lead gen machine. An ad. A subject line. A targeting tweak. He compares it to a quiet sense of pride—like “my ad outperformed yours.” And when you’re operating on tight margins, that inch can mean the difference between profit and loss.
That mindset carried over from his firehouse days. In high-pressure environments, it’s the smallest tactical decisions that create the biggest ripple effects. Chris learned to treat marketing with the same level of precision. He didn’t just throw dollars at Google. He tested, tweaked, and adapted—especially in ultra-competitive markets like Houston.
With thousands of businesses bidding for the same terms, he couldn’t afford to waste money. That meant understanding not just what worked in marketing—but why it worked in that specific market. No cookie-cutter strategies. No copy-paste playbooks. It’s about learning to think like your customer and beat competitors with smarter—not louder—moves.
“One small change can change everything.” – Chris Chisholm
Most startups obsess over their website. Chris recommends getting one up that’s clean, clear, and fast—but don’t get stuck there. A pretty website won’t save your business. It’s a tool, not a traffic source.
He emphasizes that a website is where people go after they’ve already heard about you somewhere else. It’s rarely the first place they discover you. That shift in thinking frees up new entrepreneurs to focus their energy where it actually matters—on being visible in the places people are already paying attention.
Chris tells new business owners to spend more time shaking hands digitally: replying to comments in Facebook groups, texting everyone they know, posting regularly on their personal feeds, and being active in local community threads. The fancy design can wait. Familiarity is the real moneymaker in the early days.
And don’t skip the basics. Old-school methods like yard signs and door hangers still convert. They’re cheap, targeted, and repeatable. When you’re short on budget, you better be long on hustle.
“Your website is where people land—not where they find you.” – Chris Chisholm
Chris sees every job not just as a transaction—but as a seed. That customer isn’t just a one-time revenue line. They’re a potential repeat buyer. A referrer. A source of social proof.
And the best way to keep those seeds alive? Email them.
Chris and his team send out a simple email every Thursday. It’s not fancy. No design-heavy layouts. Just a photo, a few lines, and a call to action. That single habit turns a quiet Thursday into their second-busiest call day of the week.
Most service businesses completely ignore email. They focus on acquisition and forget about re-engagement. But Chris shows that a consistent, low-cost drip of communication can produce compounding results over time. It’s not about open rates—it’s about staying top of mind.
If someone has a garage full of junk and your name pops into their inbox that morning, who do you think they’re going to call?
“We email every Thursday. No fluff. Just a reminder that we exist.” – Chris Chisholm
One of Chris’s most tactical takeaways is how to squeeze every drop of value out of each job. It’s not enough to do great work—you have to make sure people remember who did it.
That’s why they use a five-touchpoint system:
A yard sign on-site
Door hangers to five homes in each direction
A follow-up sequence of postcards
Retargeting via social and Google
Weekly email reminders
This creates a “halo effect” around each job. Neighbors see the truck. They get the flyers. They spot your ads online. Then they get a card in the mail. Suddenly, your brand isn’t just another logo—it’s a local presence they can’t ignore.
The genius of this system is that it lowers acquisition cost over time. Each job becomes its own little marketing engine. It multiplies itself. And when repeated consistently, it begins to snowball.
“Every job is an opportunity for five touchpoints. Use them.” – Chris Chisholm
The goal isn’t to rank for “junk removal near me.” The goal is for people to search your company name. That’s branding. And it’s what Chris is building across every Allied Junk Partner location.
Brand traffic is cheaper, converts better, and is far less volatile. But you don’t get it overnight. That’s why Chris is willing to invest in long-term plays like TV ads, email consistency, truck wraps, and neighborhood impressions.
They want “Fire Dawgs,” “Joseph’s Junk,” and “Junk Bear” to be household names—not just keyword matches. And that only happens when you show up consistently with value, professionalism, and trust.
In a world where most service businesses chase short-term clicks, Chris is focused on memorability. Because the brand that’s remembered gets called first—and pays less to get the job.
“If they Google your name, you’ve already won.” – Chris Chisholm
Chris didn’t stop with customer emails. He applied the same philosophy to cold outreach. Especially early on, he went after local realtors, property managers, and business owners—anyone who might need recurring junk removal.
Here’s how he did it:
Find agents on real estate websites and LinkedIn
Use naming conventions to guess their email address
Keep the message short and helpful
Focus on staying top of mind, not closing immediately
The key is frequency and consistency. Not every email needs a reply. But if they remember your name when the need arises, it worked.
This kind of prospecting costs time—not money. And when you’re starting out, that’s the most abundant resource you have.
“Email isn’t just marketing. It’s memory.” – Chris Chisholm
Franchise or mom-and-pop? Chris and the Allied team are creating a third option.
They’re merging strong local operators under one streamlined backend. Centralized call centers. Unified branding. Shared systems and SOPs. But every brand still feels local, personal, and community-driven.
This gives them the scale of a national company—but the soul of a local one.
The customer doesn’t feel like they’re dealing with a giant corporation. But behind the scenes, Chris is running coordinated marketing campaigns, optimizing ad spend, and increasing efficiency across all locations.
It’s not just smart. It’s the future of service business expansion.
“We’re creating the third option: local heart with national horsepower.” – Chris Chisholm
Chris isn’t slowing down. The plan is to keep acquiring, keep scaling, and prepare for another major exit.
But they’re not doing it through brute force. They’re doing it through smart marketing. Better brand recall. Higher retention. Lower acquisition costs. And a willingness to play the long game in a world of short attention spans.
AI is the next frontier. As search behavior shifts from keywords to conversations, Chris is already thinking about how their content and site copy needs to adapt.
He’s not waiting to get left behind. He’s adapting now.
“If your content doesn’t sound like your customer, AI won’t find you.” – Chris Chisholm
Chris Chisholm didn’t scale because he had a secret formula. He scaled because he refused to quit, refused to cut corners, and refused to disappear when things got tough.
He built something lasting—not by being the loudest voice, but by being the most consistent one. From email to yard signs, from cold outreach to brand building, Chris understands that marketing isn’t about flash. It’s about familiarity.
Show up enough times, in enough places, with enough care—and your community won’t forget you.
“The winner isn’t the loudest. It’s the most remembered.” – Chris Chisholm
Want to keep following Chris and see how he’s marketing his junk removal companies? Check out his pages.
Lug Away Junk Removal & Demolition
This Podcast is sponsored by Blue Crocus Solutions, a marketing agency offering website design, branding, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services for Home Service businesses.
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