Some of the strongest businesses start with problems most people try to ignore. David Sauers turned a frustrating festival bathroom experience into Royal Restrooms, a luxury restroom rentals business that changed how people think about portable restroom trailers and brand experience. What began as a personal pain point grew into a scalable service business built on dignity, design, and solving a very real need. Along the way, David faced the kind of chaos every founder eventually meets. Local SEO setbacks, a Google Business Profile shutdown, lost reviews, and hard lessons about who really owns your website and marketing assets forced him to rethink control and growth. His journey reflects the entrepreneurship mindset required to navigate platform risk, franchising challenges, and the shift from working in the business to building a scalable business. The takeaways ahead highlight lessons founders can apply before the chaos finds them.
Key Takeaways:
1️⃣ Build from real frustration
The strongest businesses start by solving a problem you actually lived. David did not chase an idea. He fixed something that bothered him deeply. If the problem hits close to home, your solution will be sharper and more durable.
2️⃣ Own what you build
Platforms can vanish and contracts can trap you. Reviews, websites, images, and data should live where you have control. If you do not own it, you are exposed when chaos hits.
3️⃣ Step back to scale
Staying busy can keep you stuck. Real growth comes from working on the business, not just inside it. Systems, boundaries, and support free founders to build something bigger than themselves.
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome to the Chaos
00:55 The Inspiration Behind Royal Restrooms
02:51 The Importance of Clean Restrooms at Events
05:18 Designing a Unique Product for a Common Problem
07:55 The Rewards of Entrepreneurship
10:30 Myths of Entrepreneurship
13:21 Personal Sacrifices in Business
15:57 Working with a Spouse in Business
16:51 Challenges and 'Oh Shit' Moments
19:33 Navigating Google Business Challenges
22:29 Ownership and Control of Digital Assets
25:00 Franchising and Expansion Challenges
27:52 Surprises in Business Growth
30:21 Advice for Future Entrepreneurs
32:51 Looking Ahead: Growth and Legacy
35:22 Celebrating Wins and Cohesion
37:55 Final Thoughts and Advice
If you want to keep up with David and the work he’s doing at Royal Restrooms, here’s where to connect.
Website: https://royalrestrooms.com/
Personal Website: https://www.davidsauers.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsauers/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsauersjr
Jennifer Sutton (00:13)
Well, hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, the unfiltered podcast for founders in the messy middle. No fairy tales here, just the real grind, the grit and the chaos of what it takes to build a business. Today we have on the show David Sauers calling actually from South Dakota today, but he's out of Savannah, Georgia. He is the co-founder of Royal Restrooms. So excited to have you on the show. Welcome to the chaos, David.
David Sauers (00:43)
Thank you, Jennifer. I'm excited to be here. I don't think that this topic could be any more on point with my business.
Jennifer Sutton (00:45)
you
my goodness, yes. So why don't you start us out. You've been doing this like what 20 plus years. You've been the co-founder of Oreo Restrooms. ⁓ What inspired you to start this business so many years ago and go out on your own and enter the chaos of entrepreneurship?
David Sauers (00:57)
we have.
That's an interesting story. I think so many entrepreneurs like myself start out by trying to solve a problem. excuse me, unlike most businesses, I went to a festival. I had a horrible porta-potty experience with my daughters, which I'll tell you about in a second. And that was the moment of the aha, like, wait a second.
Jennifer Sutton (01:16)
Yeah.
Yes.
David Sauers (01:35)
Why is this accepted? I was taking my daughters, we were at a Shakespeare in the Park festival. My oldest was potty training, had the youngest on my hip and we ventured over to the porta potty. And as you can probably envision, and I'm sure you've had the same thought, you go into a porta potty and you're just like, whoa. Well, yeah, it's dark. I'm trying to figure out how to maneuver inside this thing without touching.
Jennifer Sutton (01:44)
Yeah.
yes, I had four kids. It's like the worst thing, taking kids into things.
David Sauers (02:02)
And I looked down and my daughter's got her hands on the toilet seat, looking down into the toilet. And I'm just like, just grab the back of her dress, hand Cece out to somebody outside. And I am trying to figure out still how to solve this.
Jennifer Sutton (02:08)
yeah.
Right.
David Sauers (02:20)
holding her above the toilet and next thing I know, my leg is just drenched. She has completely missed the toilet because I'm holding her up in the air and I just get peed on. So I go from frantic to just very, very upset. There's nowhere to...
Jennifer Sutton (02:26)
Ugh.
Like, yeah. Well, also you're
like, well, also you're at a festival. It's like, I gotta, where's my car? It's as gross, the sanitation of, and what I didn't like, you know, it's also, like you said, scary, but also dangerous of the doors that snap. I mean, that's where it's like, we've had terrible experience with like little kids of opening the door, getting their fingers.
David Sauers (02:44)
Yes.
Pitched.
Jennifer Sutton (03:04)
you know, bruised and snapped,
yeah, pinched. is, is, with children, it's like one of the, you, but you experience the nightmare experience.
David Sauers (03:13)
Yeah.
And you know, it's one of those things that when you, when you look back on it, and when I talked to so many different people now, everyone's excited to go out to, you know, a football game. They're excited to go to a festival. They're excited to go to a concert. They're, they're excited. The last thing they think about is the bathroom, the porta potties, you know, and even most event planners don't really think about it until the last minute. But when you get there,
Jennifer Sutton (03:32)
is we're.
David Sauers (03:41)
you definitely, you know, it's all of a sudden this, ooh, what's the bathroom gonna be like? You know, you may even ask somebody, do you go to the bathroom yet? Where, you what's it like? You have this all of sudden phobia. And I think that people originally just thought of, you know, this is the necessary evil. It's part of what it is. We're just gonna deal with it and suck it up. Yeah.
Jennifer Sutton (03:46)
Great.
Where is it? Yeah.
We just need to do the bare minimum, right?
Jennifer Sutton (04:06)
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Jennifer Sutton (06:09)
People just need a place to express themselves. But you know, it's interesting as we get older and I worked a lot of events helping clients, and it's interesting as you kind of expand. You stop going to events because of either it's the parking or it's
my gosh, where am I gonna change it? Okay, diaper, okay, I gotta bring my stroller now, because I'll need to have a place to do that, because there's, you But we started to sponsor things on events or to be able to be a VIP purely for the ease of bathroom. Because most times,
in the VIP areas, the VIP tents, or the sections of events that we have like in the upstate or when we travel to like whatever, bourbon and brews or something. We will look to see what's in the VIP and if it says private or VIP like restrooms, we're like, it's worth the ticket. It's worth the extra 50 bucks.
It's worth the extras to get the premium entrance. Yes, there might be some food and drink that's special, but honestly, we look to go, it an easier and nicer restroom experience of why we would get the premium or the VIP?
David Sauers (07:18)
Absolutely.
And it really makes a huge difference. it's hard to wrap your head around the numbers sometimes, but that in itself, what you just said is exactly what we're going for. Going to the bathroom is still one of the most private things that we do. You don't want to feel icky. You don't want to feel dirty. You don't want the anxiety of it. And we found through several different researches, I think it was
Jennifer Sutton (07:35)
yeah.
David Sauers (07:58)
University of South Carolina in Beaufort that did a study that they actually said that from a six hour event people stayed 37 minutes longer with nice restrooms than regular. If you're trying to get somebody there, that's almost 20 % of the time. Exactly, spend more money, they talk about it, they're gonna wanna come back.
Jennifer Sutton (08:14)
Right.
Yeah. And what do they do in that 20 % more of time? That means they're spending more money.
Right. Right.
David Sauers (08:28)
⁓
So it really makes a huge impact even if you don't see it right away.
Jennifer Sutton (08:33)
So
did you design their own porter potties or were you like, okay, this is the business I got, because I see a gap and no one's talking about it and I found these products that I need to market. Like what was that, did you design the product or are you just more of like, nope, I found this and I'm gonna market this?
David Sauers (08:53)
No, so we designed the half bath, the private stall restroom trailers, the ones that you see that are at the small events. There were big trailers out on the market back then for your big golf tournaments, your large events. They were on 53 foot trailers. We made it small. We made that half bath. I actually
Jennifer Sutton (08:59)
Nice. Yes.
Right. Right.
David Sauers (09:18)
the half bath kind of came up, these small private ones, from that experience. I wanted to make sure that I could get in with both of my girls. I measured my house half bath downstairs, and that is the blueprint that we had for the first trailers that we did. But yeah, there wasn't anything out on the market. We were the first to market and pull these out. And it was definitely a troubling
Jennifer Sutton (09:30)
Wow.
Nice.
David Sauers (09:44)
people thought we were crazy when we first started this. They didn't know why we would leave our jobs or we actually didn't leave our jobs. We got fired from them afterwards because the business kind of started to take off. But it's like, why would you want to leave your nice corporate job to go be a porta potty guy?
Jennifer Sutton (09:48)
Hey.
Right?
Great. Great.
with benefits and all that, yeah.
So what's been the most rewarding part?
David Sauers (10:09)
I think being able to kind of write our own path, our own destination, but the freedom that we're able to continue to be innovative in the industry and one of the leaders in it and that in itself, all the people that we've touched has been very gratifying. ⁓ This business, I had a lady
Jennifer Sutton (10:12)
Yeah.
Right.
David Sauers (10:33)
This was probably 15 years ago, but it still touched me so much. I was in, I think it was a Kroger or a Food Lion, and I had my Royal Restroom shirt on with my logo. And she's like, do you work for that company? I was like, I do, I do. And she was like, my grandmother, we went to a festival downtown and she is in a wheelchair.
She started crying. She was like, that was the most thoughtful thing that I've ever seen. It was the most pleasant experience that my grandmother's ever had. We could not believe the thought. It was like the bathroom made the entire event. And I remember walking out and I called my wife and I was just like, you know, I think we are making a difference here. You know, we're not saving lives, but we are touching people. We are making things better.
Jennifer Sutton (11:14)
Yeah.
Right. You make, right.
Yeah.
David Sauers (11:27)
And that's one of those gratifying moments that you don't expect and it sinks in and it just touches you forever.
Jennifer Sutton (11:35)
Right, that's a fantastic story, because yeah, right. We talk about brand and everyone, you can think of product, but really what shapes a brand is the experiences that people have, the emotions that are tied to seeing that logo, and immediately that's what we love to hear when we talk about branding. It's a shortcut, it's a shorthand. When they see that mark or they hear that name, it conjures up.
all the imagery and we want those images to be as positive as we possibly can hope for. So the fact that she saw the logo and remembered, you know, and then it was a warm and positive experience. That's like, that's what we want as marketers and you know, branding strategies just as like that. Because you also think of when's the last like that
David Sauers (12:17)
out.
Jennifer Sutton (12:27)
It was so thoughtful for her. The experience was so memorable that she took the time to even go, I'm walking into the logo. Like, you know what I mean? mean, when's last time you went to it and then knew the logo of the porta potty that you went to, right?
David Sauers (12:43)
Yeah, that,
you know, when you put it like that, absolutely.
Jennifer Sutton (12:48)
So yeah, I mean, so I think that's just, that's a fantastic story. That's like the best brand story for a small business. I love it. So were there myths, so here you're like, okay, we've got this, we're solving this problem, this is great, we're doing these events, and then you eventually, you you go, okay, well, we're now doing this full time, whether we like it or not. Were there...
myths or like, okay here we're doing this. Were there myths that you thought about running a business, starting a business, building a business that you just want to go let me set the record straight about this is not what people think it is.
David Sauers (13:28)
Well, I have a little bit different background. I was a commercial banker for a local bank in Savannah. So I got to see a lot of small businesses. And that was part of the movement that always felt like I would be an entrepreneur. But I got to see what they built. I got to kind of feel some of that enthusiasm. I got to feel that
Jennifer Sutton (13:33)
⁓ okay.
Yeah.
Right, the joy
that they, yeah. Yeah.
David Sauers (13:53)
that joy, that pride that they had.
I think the biggest, one of the biggest things with running your own business that was a myth is people assume that it's so easy for some reason. And, you know, they see that positive side, oh, you have this, oh, you do this, oh, you've, you know, you've, yeah, I've spent 21 years getting to this point, but you only see
Jennifer Sutton (14:08)
I don't know why they think that.
Right.
David Sauers (14:20)
right now where I'm at and you just think that you can just, it's, so many people think that starting a business is some kind of side hustle, get rich quick, it's easy, it's not, no, you work 24 seven, 365 days a year, it doesn't ever stop. It doesn't stop at five, it doesn't stop at seven, it's, it's.
Jennifer Sutton (14:30)
Right.
Right. No, and all accountability is you. You got to
take all the responsibility. Everything is on you. Yeah, it is that that that pressure and and the hard work. mean, Chandler, who's sitting here, our producer on the side, he's had a couple of friends are like, hey, I want to start this business to exit like in a couple of years like this. that's not how it works. Like, that's the one percent. Like it does happen, but it's such a unicorn.
David Sauers (15:03)
Yeah, it.
Jennifer Sutton (15:09)
thing. It is not the 99 % of the hundreds of thousands of businesses out there. Right, right. Hence why we're telling these stories of like the reality. But yeah, that was, it was a lot harder for me too when I started. 2013 is when I started. It was a lot harder.
David Sauers (15:15)
but they only hear that 1%.
Jennifer Sutton (15:38)
than I thought it was gonna be and the pressure. Yeah.
David Sauers (15:39)
And yeah,
you know, being younger, know, you most all of us entrepreneurs, you know, we have that alpha stubborn gene that we're going to barrel through it. We know, right. We, know, you don't need to teach us anything. We can do it. ⁓ Wow. You know, that's that's crazy. When when I think about what my mentality was 20 years ago and the but the
Jennifer Sutton (15:54)
you
You
David Sauers (16:06)
personal sacrifices that I told myself that, you know, I'm working to do this. I'm working for my family. I'm trying to do this. You know, I lost a lot of time with my kids. I lost a lot of time with my families. It caused me a divorce. And I don't know if that was my pride. You know, I was fooling myself into thinking this will be better for them.
when it maybe really wasn't. And I think that a lot of people get sucked into that instead of finding what really matters in life. Because you can't take back those business. You can continue to do it, but don't sacrifice the things that really are meaning.
Jennifer Sutton (16:28)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Right.
I think that's a great lesson. And I was gonna ask you if the, you you founded it, you know, with your wife, your spouse and how that, because that's a challenge. And we hear that from different, you know, founders who would either works really well or it ends in disaster. And a lot of, I think also kind of will resonate what you're talking about of,
You spend so much time focused in the business that you kind of lose. And yeah, you kind of tell yourself of, I'm doing it for my kids or I'm doing it for the family, but you lose time.
David Sauers (17:19)
You do. you know, not to, we're just becoming fast friends here. But when my first wife, my business partner, Robert Glisson, is my co-founder, my wife and his wife at the time, they were a little involved, but not really. My current wife, can you even say current wife? But my wife,
Jennifer Sutton (17:31)
Hmm.
David Sauers (17:42)
Christy is very involved with the business with me. She has been for a long time and we work extremely well together. We compliment each other. We build on each other. ⁓ It's more of a strength through that partnership that keeps us moving forward. ⁓ And so we work exceptionally well together. When we go home, it's a different dynamic. We make sure to try to turn that off.
Jennifer Sutton (17:53)
Yeah.
Right.
All right.
David Sauers (18:09)
especially right before we go to bed so that one of us doesn't get stressed out about something or we try to.
Jennifer Sutton (18:15)
Right, yeah,
because that's what we've heard of setting those boundaries inside the home. Work doesn't infuse there. It's keeping in the office. As far as healthy boundaries and stuff that we've heard from other founders. So yeah, it's fascinating to see the dynamic of that. But you gotta really work on that. You gotta make those.
priorities. This is how we're going to show up for each other in the business and at home. ⁓
David Sauers (18:43)
Right. And because it's
so hard, so quickly to take something personal, if you have a small disagreement, like it's, I can see it in the office right now, Christie and I disagree with something in the other people in the office are like, know, and it's like, we're not having a spat. No one's taken any of this personal. We are disagreeing and somebody has got to make the final decision and
Jennifer Sutton (19:09)
Right.
David Sauers (19:09)
Somebody's
gonna be right or wrong. We don't know, it doesn't matter. The point is is that, you know, we're backing each other and we're going with this. This is the course that we're taking.
Jennifer Sutton (19:13)
Right.
Right, and then once that decision's made, 100 % support, it's done. We're moving on. That's so good. What other, I wanna call it challenges, or what I call the oh shit moments that you've had as you've grown the business. I mean, you're designing these products too, so that's a whole, I'm sure there's a whole slew of challenges around.
David Sauers (19:23)
It's done.
Jennifer Sutton (19:50)
just that, but like what was the biggest kind of like, shit moment?
David Sauers (19:54)
Wow, there has been so many in the last 21 years of this from
Jennifer Sutton (20:01)
I'm like, yeah, I have one about
once or twice a year.
David Sauers (20:05)
well, you know, we're, having an shit moment right now with Google, my business or Google business profile. ⁓ Google. Yes. We lost all of our local listings for all of our offices across the U S so we lost like 40. Yes. And there is no magic button to call Google. is.
Jennifer Sutton (20:12)
Really?
⁓ there's
no support. There's not like same with Facebook. Like there is nobody customer service at all. So what happened?
David Sauers (20:30)
No. yes.
So we still don't know enough. Google is one of those things and that's when you become an entrepreneur, you all of a sudden become an expert in whatever the ailing chaos is that is happening at the time. Google kind of wants you to self-diagnose. There we went through experts, we have done deep dives, we couldn't figure it out.
Jennifer Sutton (20:47)
Great.
David Sauers (20:58)
haphazardly chance that I guess somebody in Pakistan or India slipped up because I'm arguing on the phone, what deceptive content violations do we have? I'm like, how can we be deceptive? We've had these since y'all started Google Business Profiles. Like, I don't understand. And the lady said, well, you have had multiple user feedback.
Jennifer Sutton (21:13)
Right.
Right.
David Sauers (21:25)
that you do not offer the product in your primary service category. And I'm like, we only have one service category, portable Tollwood service, that's all you allow us. We, and this is my assumption because they would not elaborate, they do not elaborate, they do not go off script at all. But my assumption is because we do not do any of the traditional portal bodies that when we have shown up under portable Tollwood search, that
Jennifer Sutton (21:39)
No, uh-uh. ⁓
David Sauers (21:51)
people have been reported, they don't have porta potties. Because we only offer the restroom trailers and that sort of stuff. And that is the only thing I can think of. And they're still down today. It's going on seven weeks now, seven, eight weeks. But we just were approved for a multi-organizational chart, a new direction that we're trying to steer down towards.
Jennifer Sutton (21:58)
Yeah.
Wow.
David Sauers (22:17)
We don't want to lose all of our reviews for the past 15, 20 years on all of these offices. Yes. Sadly, you know, we do have those reviews, but even photos. I mean, we've got photos from 15, 20 years that we don't have ourselves anymore. They were on the profile settings. So it's cost us. There's no telling the amount of money that it is
Jennifer Sutton (22:19)
Right. Well, and all that SEO and everything. Yeah. And all your local.
My goodness, cause yeah.
Wow.
David Sauers (22:47)
cost us revenue-wise across the country.
Jennifer Sutton (22:50)
yeah, yeah. That's so, well that is an shit moment. You were in it. Yeah. And you do when you're like, is that because the image, like some AI algorithm that's like, this image does not match this image in this category, and so we've rejected it. It's like nothing, and there's no human oversight at Google, right? There's nobody kinda, like you said, it's very,
David Sauers (22:54)
Yeah, we have them all the time.
Jennifer Sutton (23:17)
It's not like a customer service person that's looking at stuff from a a critical thinking. It's all algorithm and rules and scripts and yeah. ⁓
David Sauers (23:18)
Yes.
Yeah, and
it's crazy. They don't follow the same rules that they expect us to follow for them. I I understand that it's their platform, but it's like, okay, you know, they want the most up-to-date user information, but yet all of your categories, when you go back and look, they're all outdated. They're all from 25 years ago, phone book style rated. But yeah, it's...
Jennifer Sutton (23:34)
I
Great.
David Sauers (23:54)
I'm hoping that we can resolve this issue now as soon as possible and that we can get back on track.
Jennifer Sutton (23:58)
Yeah, get that.
Yeah, well also I think you also bring up a good point too of, know, we take for granted I think when we have images in here and we're just thinking, hey, it's safe in this platform. That, you know, we see that a lot with businesses that are using Facebook instead of their own website. They're just using Facebook as kind of their digital front. yeah, a friend of mine.
David Sauers (24:23)
to be taken down in a
second.
Jennifer Sutton (24:25)
take it down a second and it was something that she's a business owner, small business owner, has all of her, but she was helping like a cousin or somebody set up theirs and it, because it was under her name or whatever, but it was, there was a keyword or whatever they did like, and they shut down all of hers because it was attached to, she can't get it reinstated and she's trying to do different.
David Sauers (24:47)
Yes.
Jennifer Sutton (24:51)
email addresses and phone numbers, they, it's weird. Facebook knows that it's still attached to her. So they've been, she's been, she's like, I don't know how to recover this. And I was like, I don't know what to help you with, because it's a loop. There's no person. There's not a customer service. She was like, how did they, and she was like, can't even find another loop unless I literally get another phone number. Like a whole.
separate phone that's not even attached to me to start everything. But she was like, I had all like photos, images of my business. And I said, and she goes, I didn't even think I should have been downloading that in another, you know, on a server that I own that, you know. And I was like, yeah, that's so made me kind of question that too. like, ooh, we need to make sure we we own all of our assets for, you know.
David Sauers (25:45)
It really is. ⁓ Even just recently, we changed some of our websites over because we just integrated a new CRM system. And we have state websites as well as our national website. And we try to do that to more localize the office so that we can promote somebody that's in Washington and Oregon or Utah and that their pictures are different rather than just the state page because
Jennifer Sutton (25:47)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
David Sauers (26:12)
Let's face it, some offices contribute a whole lot more or they may take better pictures or they may be more socially active. So we did those state pages and it's like, all right, we're moving to the CRM. Squareface doesn't interface with it. ⁓ goodness, okay. So we need to take these to a WordPress site. then the website designer, it's like, no, I own the design background of this, you can't.
Jennifer Sutton (26:17)
Right.
Yeah. Yeah.
David Sauers (26:37)
copy this website and it's like, wait a second, I wrote all this, these are all my pictures. I did the design layout, like you built it, but I'm like, wait a second, so sure enough, I went back and read the contract and it's like, she owns the layout. And I'm like, wow. And.
Jennifer Sutton (26:38)
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, she owns
the template. We work with clients and we, it is something that's, I'm glad you're bringing this up, because I think it's for small businesses who kind of get caught up in the like, who owns what? And some business don't even know to ask the question, right? To be clear, I was just having the conversation with an attorney yesterday for, he comes on my show a lot and goes, he was like,
People don't ask who owns this. And we try to coach it like in the web space because we can build custom websites. And our premise is we've always been this way of, know, we're contract, we're work for hire, right? You're paying us, it's your code, it's your stuff. But I know we've lost jobs to other agencies who either have a proprietary, you know, CMS or a template or,
They're a front for a Squarespace or a Web.com or Wix, where even that agency, they might be building it in that platform, but they don't own it either. That is a Squarespace property, that is a Wix property, that's a Web.com property, and you don't own the code. You don't own the template. And sometimes we have to build into those platforms because it's...
It's easy, it's inexpensive relative to like building a custom site, but we make sure it's really clear to the client of like, hey, just so you know, like we don't own this either. Like we can transfer the account to you, which we would rather have that so that it's on, it's your accountability. We're just building it for you. But if you don't like this framework and you want to go, you know, over here,
because this platform is too rigid, you can't transfer it. There is no, like it is owned by them. And they're like, I didn't know that. And we're fighting, helping a client fight through an agency, their previous agency who built the site into a Squarespace. But their contract read of you own it, of course you own it. And we were like, they don't.
Like the agency doesn't own it. They don't have the authority to give it over. And so then they were like, OK, well, we're going off the contract. Well, you said we own it. And now that agency is like, no, we own it. It's our proprietary template. And it's like, it's in Squarespace. You don't own it. And I was like, helping the client go, you can go fight it? Is it worth it?
do we just need to kind of duplicate it and get it into a account that you own? Because they won't transfer the account over. And it's your credit card that's on file. So anything that they do, it's going to ping your credit card, but you don't own the account. kind of working through, we've been working through that transition for a year, but it's kind of been an aha for us from an agency perspective, knowing the landscape of
David Sauers (29:32)
Yeah, see that.
Jennifer Sutton (29:53)
how other agencies might be a predator on smaller businesses or business owners don't know what questions to ask. And so we're trying to be more informative in that, educate so that people don't get caught in that trap. ⁓
David Sauers (30:10)
Yeah. Well, and I think that
to your, to your point, most business owners have got so much because they are running their business that it's often easier for them to set things up. no, just do it for me. Like that, our, our old website designer, she, she set up the Google drive or the drop box or whatever. had thousands of pictures all labeled from each state, from each office. And then
Jennifer Sutton (30:18)
Yeah, they don't know.
Great.
Ugh.
David Sauers (30:37)
When we said that we were gonna have to, okay, we're gonna need to build all these, she cut the link. We lost all of those pictures and now we're having to go back to each office, say we need this picture, we need these pictures, oh, we already gave, and every single one of them wants an explanation, even if you've given them the full explanation. And you try not to bad, you don't want to bad mouth anybody, don't, that's her business. You know, she had every right to do that. That's an error on my part because
Jennifer Sutton (30:41)
Right.
Yeah.
David Sauers (31:06)
I was looking for the, you know, the path, the simplest path when I should have made sure that I owned it.
Jennifer Sutton (31:10)
Well, it should have been,
yeah. And even if it's in the, but I think that's also you elevating that to say, look, don't ask the question. if they're, because here's my perspective from an agency owner and in the creative space. Legit agencies, I'm gonna say that, legit agencies, your work for hire.
the client owns the work. The client owns it. And so if your business is in not handing over, now it's like sometimes we don't give like working files because it doesn't translate. We give finished files, the images are theirs, whatever they purchase, you know, we hand over but it is,
David Sauers (31:37)
That's how I've always done it.
Jennifer Sutton (31:58)
To me, would rate, that's a red flag for me to, that a person would not open the link back up and go absolutely download these things. Like these are your images. That's just, that's a bad business practice. Whether you have, that's just not good business and it feels predatory.
David Sauers (32:20)
It is, but I think, know, one, we're not, you know, when you do work closely with people, you begin to understand it. I didn't see this from, you know, our relationship because we've had a relationship for five, six years. And you had the opportunity to make the change. You knew that we were going to a CRM system. You knew that it didn't work. What is there else to offer?
Jennifer Sutton (32:32)
Great.
Right.
David Sauers (32:41)
rather than try to stick me with huge bills when I'm backed into a hole here. ⁓ You know, that's not good business practice. She did a great job in what she did for us. And, you know, her work was great. But, you know, the intern, I think overall, we were probably a gravy train. She's a small business. And I said she does a great job. She did a great job for us. But
Jennifer Sutton (32:49)
Right.
That's right.
David Sauers (33:09)
You know, we were easy now because we had a system down.
Jennifer Sutton (33:13)
Right, Well, if there's, I would say, not rewind, but if there's anything that has surprised you other than Google messing you up, but did, you know, through your journey and building the company, what has been the biggest surprise?
David Sauers (33:28)
There's been a couple things. of the, our biggest surprise was when we started to sell, we started to sell licenses of our business. People wanted to duplicate what we were doing.
Jennifer Sutton (33:39)
So like a franchise model. Okay.
David Sauers (33:41)
So yes, ⁓
a franchise is an entirely different business. So many people assume that, you know, hey, I've replicated this here, we can do it over here. A franchise is a separate business. The operations of it is a separate business. We tried to do it kind of in-house, slow growth, but all of a sudden there are
Jennifer Sutton (33:47)
Sorry.
David Sauers (34:02)
there are rules and regulations to expansion, especially across state lines. That's why there's the federal document disclosure, the FDD. They wanna make sure that what you are selling is an actual profitable business idea solution. It can make money, it's not a pyramid scheme or it's not something that is...
Jennifer Sutton (34:06)
Hmm. Yeah.
All
David Sauers (34:27)
people are gonna buy into and you're gonna get rich, but they're gonna lose everything. And even there are states that go further from a state regulation that are past the federal codes. Those were...
Jennifer Sutton (34:32)
Right.
David Sauers (34:41)
That was a huge aha moment because we got hit with a lot of fines from attorney generals and states. had cease and desist orders. And because we were the forefront in the industry, didn't just, we changed the industry going to a restroom trailer. And for, I don't know, 16, 17 months, were not even allowed to respond to an email or a phone call.
Jennifer Sutton (34:59)
Yeah. Right.
David Sauers (35:09)
when someone inquired about opening a business. So a lot of people that are in this space now, we were the model that they took and that's flattering. We're glad to see that this industry has changed, which at one time in my life, it was something that bothered me, that upset me, but now it's the...
Jennifer Sutton (35:23)
Yeah.
David Sauers (35:32)
It's the space, you know, the more that it's out there, the better we are. The more knowledgeable we are. It's, it's almost like advertising for us. No, because more people understand the benefits of it. And besides the mom and pops are able to do something for on a weekend here or there, we get the benefit of their marketing as well, because we actually have a legit business operation. We're not operating as a side hustle or.
Jennifer Sutton (35:34)
Yeah.
Right.
It's not a hard sell, right? Yeah.
Right.
David Sauers (36:02)
a know just a side business. So we're able to do the bigger festivals, we're able to do the the weddings, we're able to do disaster response, we're able to mobilize for commercial renovations and stuff. And we have the the know-how and the knowledge to perform those duties adequately.
Jennifer Sutton (36:15)
Yeah.
So if you had a magic wand and could change two things about the business, whether it's the business or the market or whatever, what two things would you change?
David Sauers (36:32)
First one I would change would have probably been myself. I would have looked a little harder into myself and I maybe would not have been so stubborn that I'm gonna push through this, I'm determined to do it my way. I think that self-reliance and vision that I had helped a lot, but I would be in a lot
different position if I would have had the, if I would have allowed the assistance from people that were smarter or more knowledgeable than me. But it was that fear of they're going to take something away or they're, you know, they're just feeding off of what I developed and they're going to try to make money off of me.
Jennifer Sutton (37:08)
Right.
Right.
David Sauers (37:13)
you got to look at the big picture. And I think a lot of that has to do with just where I was from a business maturity level.
Jennifer Sutton (37:21)
Yeah, yeah. And then what'd be the second thing?
David Sauers (37:24)
From a franchise standpoint, I would have hired it off to an organization that knew what they were doing. As much as I wanted it to be a family run, I wanted that connection. A franchise is not a marriage like I used to think. It is more of a partnership because we are mutually benefiting each other. Whereas originally I thought from a franchise standpoint that, I'm married to this person.
Jennifer Sutton (37:31)
Hmm.
Right.
David Sauers (37:51)
I'm not really married to them. We need to set those boundaries stronger. And that's something that a direction on my part, and I should have gone with a franchise company, more of an advice from a numbers figure, from a financial standpoint, from an expansion process as well, because it's a lot of work.
Jennifer Sutton (37:53)
Yeah. You're just setting boundaries for them to play in. Yeah.
David Sauers (38:17)
It's a lot of work to try to run a company. You know, even today, most of my offices, I'll sometimes ask them, what is it that you expect me to do? You still call me sometimes to fix your email. That is not what I'm here to do. I am here to run a company. I am here to expand the company. I'm here to make you more money because when you make more money, I make more money. I'm also here to protect.
Jennifer Sutton (38:36)
Right.
That's right.
David Sauers (38:46)
you from you. We need to continue to be innovative. I understand what you like to do, what you want to do, but is that what the customer wants to do? Is that the best way for your business operation? You know, what is your exit strategy? ⁓ You have to do things that are inconvenient for you so that you can benefit in the long run. And so many people want to
Jennifer Sutton (38:55)
Right.
Right.
Right.
David Sauers (39:12)
work in their business instead of building their business. So it's almost like they create a job for themselves and they are an employee of their own small business rather than the one running the small business.
Jennifer Sutton (39:26)
Right, right, that's, we talk about that and I coach different, and accelerators and incubators for small business and that's the goal. like, you're either in the business or, but you need to be working towards the path to be working on the business. And not just be completely in the weeds. And it's a struggle. And I love what you said about, you know, the self-reflection of
your own personal growth, because I think that's where, and I know I've had to go through the journey, but we hear that. I think as founders, we learn more about ourselves, and I think most people recognize the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I think those that really thrive and become more business builders and scalable businesses are ones that have really been more humble.
and recognize, yeah, I've got strengths, but sometimes those strengths can be weaknesses. And then you have like actual weaknesses. And how do you work through those? So the fact that you even recognize that, I was gonna ask like, do you like most about yourself through your journey that you wish other people recognized more?
David Sauers (40:36)
you
I feel like a lot of people think that I am.
maybe some ego driven rather than I am trying to be positive on everything from, you know, the outlook in the morning when you get up. It's like my son and I, it's like every morning when we get up, it's like we yell out the street, good morning. You know, it's like, we're going to get pumped for the morning because, you know, it's, it's, it's going to be, you know, every day is a, is a challenge, but let's try to be grateful for where we are.
but I think a lot of people don't see that because I had a lot of it. I have worked really hard the last few years to be grateful, no matter what the outcome is and to try to stay positive. And that in itself is a tiring effort. mean, it is mentally exhausting sometimes to always, you know, look at the mass chaos and it's like, okay, how can we
Jennifer Sutton (41:21)
Yeah.
David Sauers (41:35)
turn this into something positive? How can I change this around? How can I stay upbeat when I am literally bitched at every day? It's like with the Google. It's like, what did you do? It's like, I had nothing to do with this. But it's like, we're doing it. And I got to put on a smile. it's, how can I spin this? How can I get anything out of this to stay positive? And it's just...
Jennifer Sutton (41:44)
Yeah.
Right?
word.
Mmm.
Right.
David Sauers (42:01)
get out there and be somebody and kind of just, yeah. It's like when I go to these shows, I dress up, I have all these purple suits and it's like I get out there and I joke around and it's like, I can't do that. It's like, you're not doing it for you. You're doing it for them. You want them to remember you. You want there to be a reason. yes, we're not exciting. We're not an exciting business, but we are.
Jennifer Sutton (42:01)
I think.
Smile through it.
David Sauers (42:28)
very important and when people, every time someone sits down on my toilet, I've got a new customer.
Jennifer Sutton (42:35)
That's right. That's right. Well, also you're making an impact. can tell people are amending remembering your logo and in stopping you in a grocery store. So, you know, you are creating an impact. So if you had to sum up your journey in one word, you found a journey, what word would you use to describe it?
David Sauers (42:54)
I would say determination or grit. I have, you know, a lot of naysayers, you know, starting this industry, starting this business in a different industry. You know, people think it's dirty. It's not. It's a part of life and we're elevating that.
Jennifer Sutton (42:59)
I grint, yeah.
David Sauers (43:16)
and getting people to believe that and understand it. Once they do, it's their soul. They don't want to go back. Now I would probably say it's more gratitude. I want to be grateful. something that my wife is a master at. She can always recognize and be, she's always positive. And that infuriates me because it's like, will,
Jennifer Sutton (43:22)
That's right.
Hmm.
She's finding all the joy moments, right?
Which is great.
David Sauers (43:41)
Yes, I
will dip down and then I just look at her. It's funny. She used to always say when we would have a disagreement or something, she'd be like, well, have a great day. And I was like, wow. You know, get off the phone with her. Like, man, how does she just do that? She just totally, you know, just killed that. I can't be angry at her. She just told me to have a great day. And it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I...
Jennifer Sutton (44:04)
Yeah.
David Sauers (44:07)
heard her say that to somebody else and I was like, wow, you're being sarcastic and you're like, it's like a, kind of like screw you moment. And I'm just like, all these years out here, I am thinking it's this and you were, it was really, it was kind of.
Jennifer Sutton (44:20)
It
was her way of being passive aggressive.
David Sauers (44:23)
Yes, and I was just like,
wait a second, all these years and this is, my gosh. So.
Jennifer Sutton (44:30)
So if you look ahead to the next chapter in your journey, what word would you like to define that journey or that next chapter?
David Sauers (44:40)
I would like it to be more.
I want to grow through teaching and knowledge. I want to continue to innovate and change people's perspective in lives.
Jennifer Sutton (44:53)
Yeah,
build that legacy. Yeah, that is.
David Sauers (44:56)
I do. I want to continue
to build that, but I think that's where I'm growing more in what I enjoy doing. I enjoy helping others. I get more personal satisfaction by being able to help others. And that's one thing that's really made a lot more of an impact. Of course, it makes a little bit of a difference when you're not struggling in your day-to-day lives either.
Jennifer Sutton (45:06)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it gives you something to look forward to, right? ⁓ Yeah. So what's the best advice that you've received or maybe that you've like lesson learned that you can tell our listeners of, know, here's the best advice.
David Sauers (45:24)
It does, yes, absolutely.
There's a lot of different directions that you can go on this. I think from an entrepreneur, a self motivator, and you often feel like you're doing it yourself. You often feel like you're the only one that can do it. There are people behind you that help you a long way. There are tools that can help that stress. Listen, listen to your gut and
Jennifer Sutton (45:47)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
David Sauers (46:02)
Make sure that you have the right people behind you. The ones that tell you the truth, that don't just tell you what you want to hear, but absorb what they tell you and don't try to go against it. Use that support staff because no matter how much you think that you're doing, there are other people helping you. you just, you don't have to do it all on your own. ⁓ Listen to those that...
Jennifer Sutton (46:11)
Yeah.
See ya.
Right. That's right.
David Sauers (46:30)
that are there to try to offer that wisdom because there's a reason that they're offering it. They know.
Jennifer Sutton (46:37)
That's right.
They know. That's a great piece of advice. Okay, so if we met a year from now, I come down to Savannah and we do a little celebration. What are we celebrating? What's the win?
David Sauers (46:49)
The win for me would be.
guess, really taken in all of my offices and have that unity of one goal and being back all on the same page. I don't like being disheveled. I don't like being unorganized. I don't like not being on the same plane. And I think right now, especially with the Google My Business stuff and
Jennifer Sutton (47:06)
Yeah.
David Sauers (47:16)
rolling out a new CRM, I really want, it's very chaotic and I want that togetherness again and not that feeling of we're working against each other, but I want to bring the business back together so that we can grow more, so that we can expand because we have a great product, we have a great system. And, you know, I just,
Jennifer Sutton (47:18)
Right? Feels a little chaotic. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
David Sauers (47:42)
I want everybody to get on board and understand that what we're doing is building not, we're building a brand legacy, not anything it's bigger than all of us.
Jennifer Sutton (47:50)
Yeah.
That's right. So we wanna, we're gonna celebrate cohesion and brand clarity and collaboration, right? There we go. David, this has been a fantastic conversation. We did become best friends real quick, but before we go, where can people get ahold of you, find out more information on what you're doing to support you?
David Sauers (47:57)
Yes.
See, you had the words right there.
Yeah, Royal Restrooms, we're on royalrestroom.com. We're on all the different social links from Twitter to LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. I can be found under LinkedIn under David Sauers, as well as my other businesses. And as always, we are happy to serve you in one of our local offices and help you elevate your next event through Royal Restrooms.
Jennifer Sutton (48:37)
Excellent. that's a wrap on today's chaos. But the journey doesn't stop here. If you found yourself nodding along and, you know, shouting out from the rooftops of I agree with you to to myself or to David, make sure to subscribe, share and leave us that five star review on Spotify. You can dig deeper into founder resources or tools or more episodes over at orangewip.com
and that's orange WIP.com. Until next time, stay curious, stay scrappy, and remember, we are all a WIP, a WIP, a work in progress. We will see you again next week.