Finding Joy In The Journey

JUNK JUNK JUNK JUNK

Finding Joy In The Journey

Story By Kendyl Hollingsworth Photos Contributed By JDog Junk Removal

Nick Bain is an Army veteran, a family man and the owner of two JDog Junk Removal & Hauling franchises: one in Columbus, Georgia, and the other in Auburn. His military service has taken him all over the U.S. — from Texas to D.C. to Alaska — before bringing him to nearby Fort Benning.

“I’ve recently passed 20 years with the United States Army,” he said. “I did my first 14 years active duty, and then transitioned into the Reserves, and I’ve been in the Reserves a little over six years now.”

Although Bain’s father had served in the Navy for “a brief time,” following in his footsteps and joining the military was not part of Bain’s initial plan.

Then, the nation was rocked by terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I joined the military in 2002, which was 11 months after 9/11, and I am from New York,” Bain explained. “… When I was in high school, I definitely [had the plan of] I’m going to college, I’m wanting to be a doctor; 9/11 happened, and I knew that I was joining the military.”

It was a spark shared by many others at the time. The sense of responsibility, of needing to help in some way, drove many men and women to do the only thing they felt they could do: enlist.

“There’s not a whole lot that we can do as people, outside of joining the service and help prevent it from happening again,” he said.

Bain served as a medical laboratory technician in the Army, but again, he said he felt a pull to take a different path once he finished.

“Being in the medical field in the military, I learned that it was something that I really didn’t want to do when I got done,” Bain said. “I’ve always kind of had a long-term, I-would-liketo-own-a-business-one-day kind of mentality, and some of the positions I was in in the military kind of helped develop and mentor, like from an operational standpoint, how to do it successfully.”

So, Bain and his business partner, Ryan Struck, started brainstorming and researching business ideas. That led them to JDog, a company founded by Army veteran Jerry Flanagan that exclusively sells franchises to veterans and family members of veterans.

“When he started the company, it was during the recession, and he just wanted to find something that was recession-proof that he could do because he got laid off from his retail job,” Bain said. “Then he found out it worked, so he wanted to put some more veterans back to work, so he hired veterans, found out that the model was functional and started to franchise with the hopes of getting the veteran unemployment rate below 1%.”

Bain said he and Struck “definitely connected” with the brand because of its veteran ties, military values and goal of helping veterans find work. While it hadn’t been difficult for Bain to find work following his military service, he said he has friends with physical disabilities or PTSD-related issues that struggled rejoining the civilian workforce.

“It’s definitely something I can relate to through some of my close friends,” he said.

During those months of searching for a business opportunity, Bain was working as a contractor on Fort Benning. When he switched gears to start up his first JDog franchise in 2017, it involved a lot of hard, physical labor just to make ends meet. But he said he “wouldn’t trade it” for anything.

That hard work and dedication led to the expansion of service into the Auburn-Opelika area in 2019, and the JDog team is still going strong.

“When we started, my wife was working full time at the hospital to try to help make sure we could pay bills because we didn’t know what was going to happen, and we went from that to owning and operating two locations, so being able to see that blossom the way it did — very rewarding,” Bain recalled. “… When we first opened back in 2017 in Columbus — long days, late nights, phone calls at 7 o’clock on a Sunday evening that get answered — just to see all the energy that’s been invested

come to fruition with a successful business, and then being able to expand that business model to a different service area — it’s still awe-inspiring to me. And the fact that we’re doing better than well enough for me to provide for my family is a huge relief.”

And Bain still acknowledges the support from his family to keep moving forward.

Whether it be his son and daughter picking up slack during slow periods, his wife continuing to support the venture since its humble beginnings or even the care shown by extended family, Bain said having that type of support system goes a long way.

Building strong working relationships with mentors and customers has also been rewarding, Bain said. A few veteran business owners helped “show him the ropes” as he worked to get his franchise off the ground, and from there he has been able to cultivate a strong customer base in both service areas.

Several veterans, in fact, have become repeat customers based on a positive first experience.

“We’ll go to their house and get rid of all their ‘junk’ that they have, [and] they’re calling us three or four months later because they said we did such a wonderful job they had to find something else to get rid of,” Bain mused.

He said his franchises operate from the top down “the military way” — with respect, integrity and trust. And it helps that most of his employees have ties to the military as well.

In all jobs they carry out, the JDog employees aim to respect the customers and their belongings, be

transparent about price and availability and gain the customers’ trust based on the quality of work they do.

Overall, Bain said he counts himself blessed to experience such success in a place he has come to love.

“My favorite thing about the Columbus area has got to be the people,” he said. “The fact that everybody is so welcoming — you don’t meet strangers here. A lot of people just kind of come up and start talking to you about anything and everything. It’s like a huge extended family.

“My wife and I bought a house here about six years ago, and we intend to make this our forever home. … It’s been nothing but blessing after blessing.”

To learn more about Bain’s JDog franchises and services, look up the locations at www. jdogjunkremoval.com/locations/ or visit on Facebook at “JDog Junk Removal & Hauling Auburn Alabama” and “JDog Junk Removal & Hauling Columbus”.

Friday, December 2 7:30 p.m. Woltosz Theatre