We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David Marling. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David below.
David , so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
I grew up before 2000 when we had to talk to people even face to face. So I guess you could say I learned it when I was little. I have always been a people person.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In 2014, after retiring from the family company, Kurt set out to rediscover himself. I would find him tinkering around with his little trash-hauling project and I would quietly chuckle to myself. After a couple of prototypes, he decided he was going to patent his invention. Smiling, I just shook my head and walked away. I should have known better than to doubt him. Here we are a year later and his tinkering has turned into a growing business. The demand for a small garbage-hauling device has truly surprised me. Even my son was questioning how successful this endeavor could be. All I can say is that I guess the sky is the limit! I’m so proud of my father for all of his accomplishments and everything he has taught me in this life. I decided that the least I could do was help him with some FREE social media. This is our business, our family, our story.
Below is his story.
We have a long steep driveway, and getting the larger trash bins to the road was very time-consuming, physical, and dangerous, especially in bad weather. I would have to either lift the cans onto a trailer or try to bungee the handle around the ball of my receiver hitch to get them out. After spilling garbage and a couple of falls and getting the trash out for pickup, I started to think of an easier way to get the job done. I first worked on a low-profile towable wagon that worked great but I still had to fasten to make sure they didn’t tip off. After several prototypes, I started working on using an extended hook that would act as a retainer, holding the handle in place during transportation. The Hook and swiveling top rail is key to making a smooth trouble-free way to get trash down a winding steep driveway. The final design is patented and comes in two different mounting methods, a receiver style and ball mounted model. The receiver-style simply installs into a standard 2” receiver hitch, if you have a 1-1/4” hitch we offer a reducer to convert from the standard 2” to 1-1/4” receivers. The ball-mounted style is great for anyone who already has a ball hitch or wants to leave their trailer hitch in place. The unit simply slips under a standard 1-7/8” or 2” ball hitch and is pined in place still allowing the cans to pivot around turns during transportation.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Running a family business and wearing many hats
Customer Service
Standing behind your word
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Overseas companies ignoring the patent we have and Amazon not doing anything about it.
We are pushing for/about American Made Products
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.garbagecommander.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garbagecommander/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garbagecommander1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/garbage-commander/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8UXa1PlzjukDaA15eijUA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Myself, they are all my pictures
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
