Words by Neal Lally: Growing up, I knew that I always wanted a career that left me feeling proud at the end of every day. Throughout most of my life, I have been pretty lucky to say that I have always managed to find this, but after years of working for some amazing companies in the extreme sports industry, I needed to try a different pace of life. At the age of 23, I decided to move to Vancouver Island where I would spend all of my free time outside photographing the beautiful oceans and forests that the west coast has to offer.
When the time came for me to move back to Vancouver and settle down, I knew that I wanted to do something that was not only going to give me the time to still get out and photograph these places, but that would allow me to do my part in helping to protect them. That’s why I did my research before reaching out to the team at 505-Junk. I had been following 505-Junk since it started in 2011 and their growth in the past few years got me excited. It’s a group of young people that all have a similar mindset to mine: work hard and play hard.
After joining the team in May of 2017, I started to notice the massive potential that they had while I was working in the trucks. Not just for the growth of my own personal goals but for helping the cities that they operate in to stay beautiful and clean. Being the first company to install an onboard weighing system into their trucks allows to them to be able to track the number of different things more accurately, such as recyclable metrics for green-friendly projects like L.E.E.D. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This is huge as Canada strives to become leader in green-friendly buildings and construction projects.
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With a passion for many different fields including photography, web/graphic design and digital marketing I was able to grow quickly as the team was willing to let me voice my opinions and listen to my ideas. As 505-Junk grew and is starting to launch franchises, I saw an opportunity to grow into a role in the office that was more focused on my passions. They knew that I may not have a resume or a portfolio for the role that I wished to pursue but were willing to take a risk on me. In my short 6 months working in the office, the management team has given me a number of responsibilities including Sales Representative and working alongside the Marketing Team in many different avenues. We are currently working on building our Instagram account as well.
I can’t wait to continually grow professionally and personally with this group; they push me to be a better person every day. I have to give a big shout-out to the management team, the franchises and all the truck team employees. We are all one family and that’s what makes the 505-Junk experience so unique! I’ll end it here with one of my favourite quotes.
“I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.” ~ Elon Musk
Check out our latest posts from World Earth Day, written by Neal Lally, and our shoreline clean-up, where we recycled 5,200 pounds of material.