What Most Avoid, They Solved: Turning Overlooked Problems into Profits with David Sauers

What if your next breakthrough business idea is hidden in plain sight… where no one else wants to look?

🎙️ What’s covered in this episode:

• How to identify and monetise overlooked markets—even in “unglamorous” industries
• Why your product-market fit might be hiding in plain sight (and how to spot it early)
• The hard lessons from licensing gone wrong—and how to pivot into franchising successfully
• What it really takes to build a premium brand in a saturated or low-trust category
• How to turn business setbacks into growth strategies without losing momentum

David Sauers is the co-founder and CEO of Royal Restrooms, the gold standard in luxury portable restroom rentals for events, weddings, and commercial applications. Founded in 2004, Royal Restrooms has grown into a nationally recognised brand with over 50 office locations across the country.

David also leads Kruger Bush Campers, an overland lifestyle brand inspired by his travels through South Africa and beyond. He’s an expert in business growth, franchising, and customer experience. 

Simple & strategic marketing solutions for the busy coach and consultant. Visit www.reinventingperspectives.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] how Dave Sauers built luxury from the least glamorous industry on earth. What do restrooms, tailgate TVs and Bush campus have in common? One visionary who saw what others ignored. In this episode, I sit down with Dave Sauers, founder of Royal Restrooms and Serial Entrepreneur, to unpack how he's built thriving businesses in the most unexpected industries.

We talk product, market fit mindset of a modern founder, and why your next big idea might be hiding in plain sight.

Priscilla Shumba: Welcome to the Lessons of Entrepreneurship, the journey of reinvention, and as always, I have a very interesting guest for you today. I read Dave's story and I said, Dave, we need to talk. Dave, please let me know who you [00:01:00] are and what's your mission.

David Sauers: Sure. My name's David Sauers. I'm from Savannah, Georgia. I am probably more of a. Entrepreneur, kind of jack of all trades. I like creating stuff. And my main business was Royal Restrooms. I'm the co-founder of that, which we've been in business for 22 years providing executive luxury restroom trailers for events and weddings and stuff like that.

And then I've got several other businesses that kind of. Feed into the events business and then also own a recreation camper company called Kruger Bush Campers.

Priscilla Shumba: this is gonna be interesting, Dave. It seems you have a knack for identifying opportunity that we all walk over. I can imagine everyone complaining about a restroom situation everywhere where they go, but no one actually doing anything about it.

How do you filter through identifying, business opportunities in these overlooked markets?

David Sauers: it's exactly what you said. When we started Royal Restrooms. It was a market that [00:02:00] is something that you don't necessarily want to have to deal with. You don't want to think about it anymore. It's still very private. And so when you go out to an event or when you even leave the comforts of your home, going to the restroom is always a little bit, people are on edge.

It is kinda ooh, what's it gonna be like and. It's just one of those things that people want to put it out of their mind. They don't go past that step. It wasn't that the technology and the resources were not there. It's just that. Nobody thought to change the norm because they didn't really want to deal with it.

And all we did was provide real functioning restrooms on trailers and it was a big disruptor within the events organization and now pretty much worldwide. Everybody wants , a nice functioning restroom facility.

Priscilla Shumba: that's so true. People often talk about find your customer's pain point, talk about pain that no one wants to look at. I love your approach to business and it's a perspective that people don't [00:03:00] hear about because everyone is looking for these, shiny influencer businesses and talk about practical solution to a pain that someone really has.

Now, what led you to creating a premium brand? Because I can understand that maybe you'd have wanted to solve that pain but what made you say, okay, we're gonna go luxury. The story behind that.

David Sauers: absolutely. Going back to your previous question and this one, it leads into it, there are problems every day that people see. They just. Have to look beyond what the problem is and try to find a solution, and that is inherent in, every day-to-day business. You see it all the time.

But when it came to the restrooms, we looked at who would accept this first, at what expense? At what level would you want to pay for this service, even though it's not technically. A premium service. It really was a premium service, but it was the same service that you're used to every day.

And so we targeted weddings [00:04:00] and high-end events first to see about, what they would think about it. And what happened was every time somebody sat down on that toilet, they weren't going back. So all of a sudden it started to, feed into this is what we want for everything else. The second thing is Robert and I are huge parts of the community.

We want to see our community prosper. We want to help out and there are so many nonprofits and events that are outdoors that support such great things from March of Dimes to, down Syndrome. We are able to be a part of those events by providing a restroom trailer, which elevates that event.

And, giving back to the community there's a sense of pride, there's a sense of gratitude there. There's grace. So many of us were blessed with so many things that we don't realize until something bad [00:05:00] happens to us. And there are a lot of people in this world that. I haven't gotten a hundred percent.

And when you are a part of that many different nonprofits, you start to understand it and you start to become more thankful for who you are and what you're doing. And you can sleep a little better

Priscilla Shumba: To be a part of community and to give back. I think that's a message that a lot of business owners need to hear. 'cause sometimes. Of course, you've got to get to the money first. So you've gotta have a model that you've verified.

And once you get to the money, then you have the opportunity to give back and to really, make a difference in your community. Dave, something that you said earlier, which I think it's the definition of disruption, is when people experience something and they're not going back, that is what it means to disrupt an industry.

So you'll get this concept and you think, okay, who can we sell it to? Who will be willing to pay money for this? And how does it go from concept to your first sale? What was that like?

David Sauers: when we first targeted the market, [00:06:00] like I said, we went after high-end events, weddings we went for those one percenters, the place where people were gonna spend a little extra. And weddings, you're trying to make such a memorable day and make it, just magnificent.

You want it to be that Cinderella story, so people are willing to spend a little bit more money for those conveniences. And if we're all in nice suits and dresses and it's a huge celebration. Nobody wants to go into a porta-potty. Nobody wants to. Feel that you want to go into something that is, Hey, wow, you know what?

Let's get back out on the dance floor. Let's grab another, slice of cake. I can do this. It doesn't mess up the rhythm of your event. And by providing nice facilities like that, we were able to sell it. And it wasn't that hard of a pitch.

Priscilla Shumba: as entrepreneurs you have this concept and then. You try to sell it and you get feedback that leads you to [00:07:00] where you should go. Was This initially, between you and your partner I'm guessing you mentioned your partner. Was this something that you initially said, you know what, let's go to weddings, or did you try to sell it somewhere else and then you realized the feedback maybe you needed to rethink about it that process, that someone who may be in that space may be thinking about.

David Sauers: So I think that goes back to a little bit of the origin stories of royal restrooms. I was taking my two daughters, we were at a Shakespeare and a Park fam festival, and the oldest was potty training. The youngest was, just a few months old, to be honest with you. We went to a porta-potty, and I try to go in there, it's tight, it's dark.

I turn around, she's touching the porta-potty. She's looking down in the hole. I go to panic mode. What do I do? Where do I clean? , Just pure pandemonium, you can visualize this, you can think about it and. I open the door, I pass Cecc off to patron [00:08:00] outside, and I'm, nervous about that.

But I've got Stella, I'm holding her up. I've kicked the door open a little bit so I can see what's going on to make sure the other one, and all of a sudden I get a warm sensation on my leg. , I go from nervous to very upset because I'm now getting peed on. Okay. And here we are.

There's tents, there's chandeliers, there's lights in the trees, there's all this huge festival. Why are we just relegated to a bucket? And I left the festival immediately. I was upset. And I spent about a year sitting on it. I talked about it with my wife. She was okay, but it was still out of the norm.

And it wasn't really until I met my business partner, Robert Glisten, we were out on his back porch and we were talking about it and he's let's do it. This is a great idea. Who doesn't want. [00:09:00] A nice restroom experience. It really changes everything in what you do. And from there, we launched it.

We were nervous. We were without a playbook, I would say, but we had faith that other people felt like us, that there needed to be a change. And so we went with it. It takes a lot of guts, but if you have passion and you have a purposeful meaning you can market it, 

Priscilla Shumba: . I know that a lot of people will hear that story and will be able to see themselves in that, Dave thank you for sharing that. Now, I think you've made a switch to franchise, if that's correct, Dave?

David Sauers: Yes,

Priscilla Shumba: Yes. Now, why did you decide, or how did you decide that franchising would be the right model for your business at this point?

Because I know a lot of entrepreneurs who may be thinking through this, and I'd love to hear your thought process through this as well.

David Sauers: absolutely. So franchising was more or less forced upon us. [00:10:00] If you are an entrepreneur, you seriously need to listen to the pros on this because franchising is entirely separate from the model that you're actually trying to sell. It's a different business, it's a different animal, and so many people try to run it as the same, and we made that mistake, it's a hard one to swallow, but.

We knew it was a marketable business when other people from around the country said, we need this in our city. We want to do this. People in Las Vegas in New York, they were ordering our restroom trailers out of Savannah, Georgia. The delivery was five times what we were renting it for. So the market people saw the need it allowed the movement of I guess continuity and continual process. In other words, , if a business had to [00:11:00] be shut down because they didn't have a restroom facility for their clients. All of a sudden our facilities provided that we had handicap accessible restroom trailers. So the entire model was evolving continuously.

But we sold licenses first, and then we got in trouble that said that we were a franchise because we were not technically a license. We were telling people that you had to maintain a certain business model. You had to rent the restrooms. They had to be clean, they had to have two ply toilet paper.

And so the we were forced them to becoming a franchise, and that was a hard process.

Priscilla Shumba: Very interesting. Now, just I'm gonna be really nosy,

David Sauers: oh.

Priscilla Shumba: Dave. When you said you got into trouble and that initially you were thinking that you were gonna license the model what happened exactly, like how did you get into trouble for that? And maybe you can distinguish for us, what would be licensing and then what would [00:12:00] be actually franchise.

Because probably a lot of people also wouldn't know that as well. 

David Sauers: A license is I give you permission to use my name, or I give you permission to use my logo. Franchising is a proven model that works. If you follow the steps, doesn't mean that you're gonna be, that it's out of the box. I'm gonna, Hey, buy a business. You still have to put in the work.

There's still a lot of work, but if you do what we've said to do. It will take traction. It will work if you operate it the way we have laid out. And that's very appealing. That's why a lot of banks, , it's easier than just a regular or traditional startup because there is a helping hand and there is a proven model if you do it.

But going back to licensing, how we started, , as I said, people wanted to. Rent our trailers in other places. They wanted to bring the same type business to their markets and they [00:13:00] wanted to use what we had already set up our logos. They wanted to use our marketing materials. They wanted that shared help.

And in that process we charged a monthly royalty fee or licensing fee, and that's how we got in trouble. We started marketing the business as an opportunity. And when you start doing that, there are of course a lot of scams and regulations across the United States and it's just a regulated business, and we had to prove that we were a worthy business opportunity.

Priscilla Shumba: Wow. Yeah. That sounds like a really big obstacle opportunity. Would you say, looking back now that things had to be switched the way they were, would you say it was more of an opportunity or you, let me not lead you. Let me hear what you have to say. 

David Sauers: Sure. When we got stopped we had tremendous momentum. We were booming. We had [00:14:00]people everywhere wanting to open up offices, and all of a sudden when we get hit by the attorney General out of Maryland. That said, cease and desist halt. We were not allowed to answer any emails. We were not allowed to discuss anything.

We couldn't even respond to anybody that inquired about opening a business. So it really killed our forward momentum in progress and. When we did become a franchise, we had spent a lot of money trying to prepare and trying to do this organically when we should have probably gone to a franchise development company that does this, that specializes in this.

But we tried to do it organically. One, we're stubborn. We had all of that momentum before we felt like we could pick it back up. The problem was, is that we never actually picked it back up. There were a lot of people that copycatted that [00:15:00] opened their own small business, and it made it difficult for us to gain traction again.

Over the years though we've continued to build and reinvest in our company, which has allowed us to stay ahead of the competition and really. For us to continue to be the premier leaders in the industry. So many people look to see what we are doing, what are we changing with our website?

What are we doing with our marketing? How can they incorporate it into theirs? And that's flattering. They tell you that's the most flattering thing is when someone copies you. But it's a hard uphill battle.

Priscilla Shumba: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that Dave. I think a lot of entrepreneurs when they do face challenges and setbacks, can know that because you are the premier leader, such things will happen. And just to wonder like how personally you deal with those setbacks. Because , when I thought about your business, I thought about the time of [00:16:00] COVID where there were no outdoor events, and then now with the franchise thing, like how do you get back up after so many setbacks?

Soon we'll go into your new business, which I'm interested in talking about as well.

David Sauers: From a personal standpoint, you always have to stay as positive as you can or else you can crawl down a rabbit hole really quickly. COVID was trying for everyone, yeah, everything shut down. Events were shut down. But the positive side that came from all of that is it benefited our business because of the attention to more sanitary conditions.

The need for our product our business has. Exploded in the us. There are so many government agencies, cities that are saying, no, you have to have this type of facility now to move forward. We're not gonna let you use a porta potty. You've got to have sinks,

there's just a lot of different causing and effect I [00:17:00] guess, when something knocks you in the face. If you just try to continue to feel that without looking at, okay, what can come out of this? How can we survive this? What can we continue to be thankful for? It's one of the things that my wife is so good at that I desperately try to, get into something bad happens.

I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this happening. She's you're not hurt. If no one else was hurt, nothing happened, we can move on. And I think you have to stay graceful and positive , to see even when there's a bad outcome, there can be a good outcome as well.

Priscilla Shumba: Yeah. Your wife sounds like an amazing person.

David Sauers: She is very much.

Priscilla Shumba: Oh, wonderful. Dave, you've now moved on to having. Kruger Bush campers. It seems like you have a knack for the outdoors, or you love the outdoors.

Am I right in thinking that

David Sauers: I do, I like doing things outside. I don't like being confined and [00:18:00] being outdoors in the events. You get to see. How creative people can be and inventive. I've seen some incredible events , that you would never dream of. And yet I've seen some of them and so

outdoor spaces is what I enjoy most. And Kruger Bush campers is one of those things I like to be where others maybe haven't been. I like to see things , that are in pictures and I like to experience them firsthand and by starting Kruger Bush campers. I'm able to achieve that 'cause it's a more off grid marine style RV camper.

So you don't just go to a traditional campground, you camp wherever you camp and camping. To me, it's I'm able to bond and connect with my children. My family, they're not occupied by their [00:19:00] phones. We all of a sudden become a team again? If that makes sense.

Priscilla Shumba: that's wonderful. I can see that even for people who are not so into camping, nature has a restoring a healing, a bringing people together effect I can see why that would be a very successful venture. I wanted to ask you, from a point of leadership, you've been in a lot of businesses.

You've started a lot of businesses. What have sort been your biggest lessons or things you had to really work on as a leader and that you think , have been transformative for you?

David Sauers: I'm probably more of an entrepreneur than a true leader, but I think it's recognition that you didn't do this by yourself. There are others that helped you along the way, and it's that appreciation. That you need for how you got to where you are because you didn't just magically happen like so many people do now.

They're looking for that instant fame or they're looking for that instant lottery ticket in their business. It doesn't work like that. It is a process [00:20:00] that is continued failures, but they're not failures, they're lessons. And how do you go to the next level? What did you learn from it and how can you pivot?

And employees, they are your family, they're your backbone, and there's gotta be trust. And they have to see your vision. They have to see what you're thinking to be able to follow the direction that you want to take the company.

Priscilla Shumba: Powerful. , What is exciting you in your space as you look out into the future? I think you'd probably have a unique perspective. 'cause a lot of people are thinking ai, robotics and blah blah blah, and that's where everyone is looking. But I'm sure that you are probably looking somewhere else.

I may be wrong. And I'm interested to know what's exciting to you and what are you looking forward to in the future?

David Sauers: Yeah, so like you said, AI , that's on everybody's plate right now. It's still hard to figure out exactly where that's going to play into everybody's world, but it will continue to play [00:21:00] into that. In all of my businesses, it is the fact that we make so many different memories.

We see so many things. There's nothing monotonous about what we do. We could be at someone's wedding, we could be at a feature film, or we could be at a disaster response. It's coming up on 20 years of Hurricane Katrina and that is something that will never leave me. That was a traumatic experience and I didn't even go through it.

I just witnessed part of it. So the things that excite me are the fact that I get to continue to make new memories now with my campers. I'm able to reflect. I'm able to take some personal time. I'm able to be with my son and my kids, and enjoy. Enjoy life, but I'm still able to be inventive and that's what's so great right now with my life.

Priscilla Shumba: that's wonderful Dave. I had another guest on the podcast who was talking about AI and he said, we're gonna [00:22:00] have more free time. That's what AI is gonna do for people. We are finally gonna have. Work life balance and people are gonna have more free time. So hey, go camping, there's Kruger bush campers, and get to reflect and reconnect with yourself, dave, is there something or a message that you wanna share with the audience or something I didn't ask that you feel I should have asked?

David Sauers: Lean on your partner. The ones who love you, the ones who trust you and believe in you. You don't have to hold everything inside. Talk to 'em. Let 'em know where you feel.

They'll surprise you. And the more you talk about it , with your loved ones and your trusted friends, the easier the solutions that come out of it.

Priscilla Shumba: Oh, wonderful. Thank you for that Dave. Dave, I think I totally butchered your last name in the beginning 'cause I said something and then I heard you say something else and we didn't sound the same.

David Sauers: Yeah, it's Sauers,

Priscilla Shumba: co-founder and CEO of Royal Restaurants and of Kruger Bush [00:23:00] campers. It's been a pleasure. Dave, where can people follow your work and they learn more about what you do?

David Sauers: Sure you can follow us on any of our social links under Royal restrooms and we would love to be a part of any event or memorable experience outdoors under royal restrooms.com. You can find me personally on LinkedIn under David Sauers and if you have a knack for a little adventure, Kruger Busch campers.

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much, Dave. It's been a pleasure.

David Sauers: My pleasure. Thank you so much.