From Snowboarding to Junk Removal: How Barry Hartman Built a Multi-Million Dollar Business

Introduction

In a recent episode of The Nathan Newberry Show, I sat down with Barry Hartman, a remarkable entrepreneur who transformed from professional snowboarder to junk removal industry leader. Barry's journey reveals how vision, strategic planning, and marketing expertise can turn a simple blue-collar business into a thriving enterprise. After doubling revenue for five consecutive years, Barry now runs a multi-million dollar junk removal business while coaching others in the industry. This article explores the key insights from our conversation about high performance, entrepreneurial mindset, and building a sustainable business from scratch.

Defining High Performance Through Vision

For Barry Hartman, high performance isn't about short-term wins—it's about clarity of vision and becoming the person who can achieve that vision today.

"The way I look at high performance is you get really clear on the vision for yourself or where you want your company to be. We usually look about three years out and are really writing that in present day form," Barry explained during our conversation.

This three-year vision approach has been instrumental to Barry's success. He emphasizes that entrepreneurs often "overestimate what we can accomplish in 12 months but really underestimate what we can do in three years." This insight helped him maintain perspective through the challenging early days of his business.

Barry adopted this vision-focused approach from Brian Scudamore, founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, who developed the "painted picture" concept with Cameron Harold (detailed in the book "Vivid Vision"). By creating a clear picture of what success looks like three years out, Barry and his team have consistently achieved remarkable growth.

From Professional Snowboarding to Entrepreneurship

Barry's entrepreneurial journey began unexpectedly. As a teenager, he started with simple door-knocking services before pursuing his dream of becoming a professional snowboarder—a career path that his high school teacher dismissed.

"When my teacher looked at me and said, 'Why don't you submit this project when you're ready to take on a real job,' I remember thinking that didn't feel right," Barry recalled. This moment sparked his realization that he might need to forge his own path.

After moving to Whistler at 17 and working as a night janitor to support himself, Barry eventually achieved his goal of becoming a professional snowboarder. His career allowed him to travel the world with sponsorships until a broken ankle sidelined him.

This setback became the catalyst for his next chapter. While recovering at his parents' home, Barry enrolled in college to study marketing. It was there that he discovered 1-800-GOT-JUNK's success story and recognized the potential in the junk removal industry.

Starting with Almost Nothing

With just $1,000 to his name and $4,000 in credit card debt, Barry launched his junk removal business alongside his co-founder Scott. They secured bank financing for their first pickup truck and purchased a trailer for $800.

"I was doing construction labor in the day and delivering pizza in the evening," Barry shared, highlighting the hustle required during those early days.

The pivotal moment came when they received their first customer call. "We kind of scrambled and we're like '505 junk, Barry speaking, how can I help you?' and someone's like 'hey I need some junk removal' and we could not contain ourselves."

Marketing Strategies That Drove Exponential Growth

What sets Barry's story apart from many other entrepreneurs is his immediate focus on marketing and lead generation from day one. This strategic approach helped his company double revenue for five consecutive years.

"We built our own website initially on WordPress. We set up all our Google My Business profiles. My business partner learned a lot about PPC advertising, so we actually launched pay-per-click on Google within the first few weeks," Barry explained.

The company also leveraged platforms like Groupon, offering half-off deals for the first 200 pounds of junk removal to acquire customers, recognizing the long-term value in customer retention and upsell opportunities.

Additional marketing strategies included:

• Outbound calls to commercial clients
• Partnerships with organizations like the Salvation Army for donations
• Focus on sustainability by keeping materials out of landfills

Barry's background in marketing combined with his partner's sales expertise created a powerful foundation for growth. "We just had faith that if we combine those two elements, we would figure out the rest of the details later on," he noted.

Scaling Challenges at Different Revenue Stages

Through his coaching business, Barry now helps other entrepreneurs navigate the specific challenges that emerge at different revenue milestones:

$0-$500,000

"You can typically do it all on your own—you can take the inbound calls, you can run the marketing, you can oversee your operations," Barry explained. The key challenge here is often the founder's reluctance to delegate.

$500,000-$1 Million

At this stage, "you definitely need to start being able to outsource and delegate." This includes getting support with marketing and production operations. The main challenge is often poor people management leading to staff turnover.

$1-$2 Million

This stage requires "one or two managers to be able to actually oversee the team that you've hired."

$2-$5 Million

This is when companies "start putting senior leadership in place."

Barry emphasizes that each stage comes with specific risks and challenges. His coaching provides a roadmap to help others avoid the mistakes he made along the way.

Balancing Obsession with Family Life

One of the most relatable aspects of our conversation was Barry's insights on managing entrepreneurial obsession while building a family life. After getting married and welcoming a daughter (now 14 months old), Barry has had to establish boundaries while maintaining his passion for business.

"The obsession hasn't left—I think about business all the time, I think about entrepreneurship. I've just had to set up the team and the boundaries in my life to make sure that I'm not sacrificing one over the other," he shared.

Barry implemented the Traction business model, clearly separating roles between himself as the Visionary and his co-founder as the Implementor. Working with his executive assistant to structure his calendar has also been crucial in maintaining these boundaries.

"The obsession is actually turning into my daughter now," Barry noted, highlighting how his intensity has found a new, healthy outlet in fatherhood.

Strategic Planning for Long-Term Success

Perhaps the most valuable lesson from Barry's journey is the importance of strategic planning from the very beginning. A week before launching their business, a mentor named Mike Drever sat down with Barry and his partner to discuss strategic planning.

"He walked us through how to build a one-page strategic plan and we could look at our revenue target, our gross profit margin, our overhead, our net profit, and therefore our cash flow," Barry explained.

This early focus on metrics and planning gave them a significant advantage. Now, Barry and his team conduct annual strategic planning retreats to map out their goals, KPIs, tech stack, and marketing strategies for the coming year.

For entrepreneurs looking to avoid common pitfalls, Barry recommends focusing on:

1. Tracking key metrics like leads, sales conversion rates, and revenue
2. Understanding the difference between marketing qualified leads and sales qualified leads
3. Creating and revisiting a three-year vision regularly
4. Developing quarterly and annual strategic plans
5. Identifying business weaknesses and focusing learning efforts in those areas

Conclusion

Barry Hartman's evolution from professional snowboarder to junk removal entrepreneur offers valuable lessons for business owners at any stage. His story demonstrates how vision, strategic planning, marketing expertise, and the right partnerships can transform a simple idea into a thriving enterprise.

The key takeaway is clear: successful entrepreneurship requires both big-picture vision and detailed execution. By planning three years ahead while mastering the day-to-day operations, Barry has built not one but two successful businesses—his junk removal company and his coaching practice.

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