Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Hind.
Hi Kathy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Australia and have been in the US since 1994 and in Austin since 2015. I grew up in a very small town in a rural area of Australia. Growing up, my mom never worked and a small town was very limiting in terms of opportunities, especially for women/girls. This fed an insatiable ambition to want more, more, more! Most of my friends wanted to graduate high school, get married and start a family straight away. That’s perfectly fine, but I wanted so much more than that. I wanted to travel, explore other career options, live in another country, be my own boss. It still blows my mind that I basically did all of that. Oh, and I managed to have four kids along the way as well.
Austin Bin Wash is the company I run and was actually the brainchild of my husband, Darren. Even though the service didn’t exist, he was convinced that people wanted, in fact needed their trash bins cleaned, that they would value such a service offering and be willing to pay for it. I may have needed some convincing since this was something that had no proof of concept. After extensive research, we decided to take a leap of faith. We’re go-big-or-go-home type people so it was all in! It was helpful that we had prior business experience but it was still something that was incredibly risky.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a small business is never easy and the road to success has many obstacles. We especially had challenges around crafting a new service offering that didn’t exist. It wasn’t just about reaching potential clients and trying to sell to them, it was educating them about the service and convincing them that it was actually “a thing”. Previously, when a client had a dirty trash bin no-one thought to reach out to a service to take care of it. It was DIY or nothing, baby. No-one was looking for us. The first couple of years was spent building awareness and a client base one hard won client at a time.
And then…hello…worldwide pandemic! As if being invisible wasn’t challenging enough, we had to navigate COVID and quarantine and lockdowns. Thankfully, our model is such that our employees have limited contact with each other or with clients and operate their own designated equipment so we had more flexibility than most businesses.
During late 2019 we also discovered my husband, Darren had a brain tumor. That started off a grueling period of treatment and surgeries all while in the midst of the pandemic and still growing a new emerging business. He passed away right at the end of 2020. Keeping the business going during that period was incredibly difficult. Looking back now, I honestly don’t know how I did it because despite all that, we were still growing.
2021 has been about taking my husband’s brainchild, crafting it into my own image and trying to be the best kick butt lady boss I can. These days we are incredibly busy and growing rapidly. With every new client we onboard, I can hear Darren in my head saying, “See?”. He was right.
As you know, we’re big fans of Austin Bin Wash. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We clean trash, recycle and compost bins curbside with hot, high-pressure water. It’s not rocket science and has to be one of the simplest business models there is. Our equipment is incredibly sophisticated however. Our trucks carry clean water and have a system of spinning heads to clean bins that are raised into the back of the truck. We also recover the dirty water for proper disposal. Our goal is to blow our client’s minds with that first clean because in most cases the bins look as if they were brand new. What I love about our offering is that now more and more clients are willing to start composting because they have a way to keep these bins clean and manageable. The most common reason I hear from people that aren’t composting is that the bins get disgusting, they stink, attract bugs, etc. and they don’t want to have to deal with that. We provide a solution for that.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I’ve traveled extensively and lived all over the US, but I simply love Austin. I love that it has the offerings of a city but still has the feel of someplace smaller. I love the weird, off-beat vibe in the more eclectic areas and the restaurant choices here are phenomenal.
What do I like least? The heat, the traffic and scorpions!! Would I have moved to Austin if I knew about the scorpions? Guess we’ll never know.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://austinbinwash.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AustinBinWash
