PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Running a Porta Potty Business

The Owner's Weekly Routine for Running a Porta Potty Business

A year-end review sets the direction. A weekly routine is what actually moves the business there. Owners who run their week on purpose, instead of reacting to whatever the phone brings, get more done in fewer hours and catch problems early. Here is a routine that works for many portable toilet companies, whether the owner still drives part-time or runs things from the office.

From the Year Plan to the Week

The goals you set in A Year-End Review for Your Porta Potty Business only matter if they show up in your week. Put the one growth goal and the three things to fix where you will see them every Monday. Each week, ask what you did toward them. If the answer is nothing for three weeks in a row, either the goal is wrong or the week is too full of work someone else should be doing.

Monday: Plan the Week

Start the week by looking at what is coming. On the Waiting List, check which weekly service sites are due or overdue, and which deliveries, extra pump-outs and pickups are waiting. On the dispatch board, look at each truck's days for the week ahead. Are any days overloaded? Is a big event delivery coming Friday that will push service work earlier in the week?

Check skipped stops from the weekend and last week. Each one should be rescheduled or explained. Then look at the people: who is off, who is new, and whether any truck needs maintenance.

Every Morning: Fifteen Minutes

A short daily check keeps small problems small:

• Overdue pins on the Waiting List
• Any job a tech skipped yesterday, and the reason
• New website requests and sign-ups in Form Responses
• Unanswered texts from customers
• Crew GPS on the office map once trucks roll, to see the day start on time

If you have office help, they do most of this. You just look at the results. If you do not, this is the part of the office work worth keeping even on days you drive.

Midweek: Sell and Follow Up

The middle of the week is a good time for the work that grows the business. Visit one or two active job sites and talk to supers. Follow up on estimates that were sent but not approved. Reach out to event organizers ahead of their usual booking time. Call a contractor whose job is wrapping up and ask about the next one. Send a few review requests to customers who just had a good experience.

Block the time on your calendar. Selling is the first thing that gets dropped when the week gets busy, and it is the thing that fills next season.

Thursday: Look at Billing

Before the week ends, look at money. Are there completed jobs that have not been invoiced or charged? Did extra rental days and extra pump-outs land on the right invoices? Which past-due balances need a personal call instead of another reminder? Are monthly account statements ready for the end of the month? Ten minutes here prevents the end-of-month pile-up.

Friday: The Numbers and the Crew

Friday is a good day for the weekly review: overdue sites, rentals past their included days, past-due invoices, work per truck, skipped stops and new requests. Write the key numbers in your log and pick one thing to fix next week.

Then talk to the crew. Thank the techs for the week. Pass along any compliments from customers. Ask what got in the way. Many of the best fixes in a porta potty business come from a tech mentioning a gate that never opens on time, or a site that would be easier on a different day.

Protect One Block for the Owner's Work

Somewhere in the week, set aside a few hours for work only the owner can do: pricing, hiring, planning trucks and units, and thinking about the year goal. If that block keeps getting filled with routes and phone calls, it is a sign to hand off more of the daily work. From Owner-Operator to Manager: Getting Out of the Truck in a Porta Potty Business covers how.

Keep It Light

The routine should take a few hours a week, not take over your life. Once it is a habit, most of it runs on its own: the Waiting List shows what is due, the driver app reports what is done, alerts tell customers the truck is coming, and billing goes out with the work. Your job is to look, decide and keep the business pointed where you want it to go.

To see the tools that support each part of the week, visit the Porta Potty Business Software page, or start with the Running a Porta Potty Business: The Complete Guide to Software, Systems and Growth.