CANTON, Ohio — A Canton man and his family are getting creative and not letting the setbacks of COVID-19 hold them back. They’ve started a family business investing in roll-off dumpsters.
Using a device, Ryan Stertsbach raises a dumpster and unloads it for a delivery.
“Right now, the bins going to go up, which is going to create the amount of gravity it requires to slide off the back of the system. Right now, what I’m doing is getting it up to its highest point, that way when the bin comes down, the wind system then grabs the front of the bin and then very gently drops it down to the ground.”
After dropping the bin to the ground, Stertsbach climbs into his truck, also known as one of his offices.
“This is my mobile office. I have about three offices: At my house, one at my friend’s house, which is the location of the bins, and my mobile office here in my truck.”
As he hits the road, he explains why he started the company.
“It’s a service that everybody will need no matter what the market does. If you have junk, you gotta get rid of it.”
We arrive at Zeigler Diesel Performance, where he meets with Justin Zeigler, who works on his trucks.
Zeigler allows Stertsbach to store the bins on the property to help out.
“I’ve been there, I started a business. I started this from nothing, I mean, it started from a little 25-by-25 garage when I still worked a day job. I know how the growing pains feel, so if I can help somebody I try to do that.”
Back on the road, Stertzbach talks about his family and how starting a business can be a challenge, especially with a newborn at home.
“I’m my employee, I have to work essentially for free, 24/7. So, if my phone rings in the middle of the night, I have to answer it. It’s potential business, and it’s hard to have that balance. But on a good flip side, with a wife that works at a hospital overnight, gives me plenty of time through the night to spend that quality time doing homework with my 7-year-old, getting that extra time to snuggle up with my 5-month-old baby,” Stertzbach said.
He said COVID has hurt his family in ways much worse than their finances.
Stertzbach’s wife was in the ICU for several days while pregnant with his newborn, and both of his grandparents passed away from COVID not long after.
“It’s really been a big setback mentally to be able to start a business,” said Stertzbach. “It’s hard to do. It was hard to think about it back then, and it’s hard to do right now.”
Stertzbach had another source of income that he’s not able to do anymore because of COVID, he used to be able to turn his backyard into a parking lot for Pro Football Hall of Hame events.
That didn’t happen this year.
“And everybody started to worry, ‘what are we going to do for the extra little income that we accounted for that we do year to year, whether it’s home projects, renovations or either simply taking the family on a vacation that is very hard to do.”
But through it all, Sterzbach and his family were determined to invest their savings into the TRS Roll-Offs LLC. business – named after the three founders – to make it a success.
“It’s more or less creating a legacy, for not only me, my brother and my father, but something that my kids and his kids and future generations will be able to grow and build,” he said. “If I could do it all over again, I would rather work with my family just because family is what you got. Family is there for you no matter what direction you look. If you guys work together you will be successful.”
