Letting Career Go To Waste

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A burned-out Ed Young retired from his job as a manager at Merrill Lynch when he was only 45. But after six months of golf, he was back in the financial services industry, working in the L.A. office of another financial institution – only to realize he’d made a mistake.

So Young looked at several franchise opportunities. He believed he could ultimately make the same money or more, and he liked the idea of getting to decide for himself what was best for clients.

“I wanted my independence,” he said. “I’ve always believed you do the right thing for people. (But) when you’re involved in the corporate world, it doesn’t always work out that way.”

But the decision he made was a surprising one: Young went with Junk King, a San Carlos refuse-hauling company that competes with the likes of Vancouver, British Columbia’s 1-800-GOT-JUNK LLC. He opened Los Angeles County’s first Junk King in Duarte in April.

Young charges at least $99 to haul junk – everything from carpet to furniture – from homes and businesses. About 60 percent of the stuff goes to recycling centers and the rest to landfills. He already has two trucks and five employees, and harbors plans of expanding to seven trucks and 25 employees.

“I went from a six-figure, sit-behind-a-desk-in-an-air-conditioned-office, don’t-worry-about-your-fingers job to manual labor,” he said. “But I love it. I love being out in the open air and I love interacting with people.”

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