History of Grand Slam Garage Sales
Grand Slam Garage Sales is an innovative and successful business which was founded in Houston, Texas in 2004. Started by Ben Weissenstein when he was a freshman in high school, Grand Slam Garage Sales quickly developed from a fresh idea to a booming business, offering services ranging from full-service garage sale operation to pressure washing and item removal services.
Grand Slam Garage Sales (GSGS) prides itself on professionalism, honesty, and a serious work ethic. Founder, Ben Weissenstein, instilled these values into the teenage workers he originally hired from his pool of friends and classmates. Weissenstein’s goal was simple: Help lots of people throughout the country who want to clean up the clutter around their homes while making a little extra money at the same time.
Based in Houston and expanding throughout the country, Grand Slam Garage Sales employs only the most efficient and fully trained workers to ensure that your sale smoothly and effortlessly generates the most money possible. We want our customers to be able to relax knowing that their garage sale is in our capable and experienced hands.
As our business continues to grow and reach new markets, we are always eager to hear your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to contact me directly (ben.weissenstein@GrandSlamGarageSales.com) to let me know how we’re doing!
Timeline
2004
Matt and Ben’s Garage Sale Relief was the first garage sale business. We had red polos and khaki shorts for uniforms. We didn't have a website or any professional documents. Our business cards were designed and printed by Ben's mom. This first version of the garage sale business lasted for about 4 months.
2005
Ben took a hiatus from the garage sale business in 2005 while he focused his time and energy on baseball and school.
2006
Ben started up the business again. This time he put renewed energy and ideas into creating the most successful and professional business possible.
This "new" company, which got off the ground in June of 2006, was called Garage Sale Relief and Ben’s friend Eddie Ackerman came on board as Ben’s business partner. Another high school friend, Matt Halpin, developed an impressive website, and the partners created less than impressive uniforms by writing the GSR name on red t-shirts. Although the uniforms fell apart in the rain due to their poor quality, they were one of the early signs of professionalism and inspired the guys to figure out how to order regular uniform shirts.
At the same time, Weissenstein began creating numerous documents for the business - everything from coupons to scheduling charts to worker training manuals.
In October 2006, they re-named the business B&E Garage Sales because they wanted the name to be catchier and less generic. The B stood for Ben and the E stood for Eddie.
2007
In early November 2007, Ben changed the company name to Grand Slam Garage Sales. Ben's former partner, Eddie Ackerman, left in January because he no longer had the time to work the numerous hours it took to get the company moving forward towards its epic goals. The name was then changed to Grand Slam Garage Sales after Weissenstein spent numerous hours brainstorming with help from his mom and brother. Ben's love of baseball and the catchy appeal of the name were both major contributing reasons for why the name was chosen over the 200 other names that they had considered.
The change to Grand Slam Garage Sales was the final name change, and it marked the beginning of a new era for the company which soon became an LLC with 30 part-time workers in the Houston area. The operations kept getting better in every aspect: very professional uniforms and documents were made, a website was created by a professional web developer, and customer satisfaction kept on rising.
2008
The company kept fine-tuning the operations, hiring more workers, and systemizing the business.
A significant amount of 2008 was spent figuring out and defining the true ins and outs of the garage sale business so that GSGS could make the workers and customers even happier. GSGS also began developing expansion plans and management spent a lot of time and effort figuring out the best ways to prepare the business for its eventual expansion.
Many important people helped GSGS in its beginning stages and onward toward expansion:
Rachel Weissenstein, Ben's loving mother
Chief uniform washer, feeder of all hungry employees, writer of catchy slogans, designer of early business cards and labels and creator of the original garage sale concept when she needed one of her own!
Brian Price - Web developer (bpdesignstudio.com)
brian@bpdesignstudio.com
He always worked very hard, went the extra mile, was extremely nice, and when the company didn’t have money to pay him but needed the job done, he wouldn’t even hesitate to do it!
Charity Bergman - Franchise Expert (teamrennick.com)
charity@teamrennick.com
She was responsible for helping strategize and develop a lot of materials so we could expand nationwide. That included everything from marketing materials to operations manuals and everything in between.
Rod Lowe - Web developer (softnetdata.com)
rlowe@softnetdata.com
He developed the current version of site as an essential step towards automating and systemizing parts of the operation and creating a great corporate professional website. Also, Rod has and is always coming up with great ideas to help improve the business on the technical side.
Kegan Blumenthal - Houston manager/dedicated worker
He is one of the most dedicated workers GSGS has ever had and has been a huge part of the Houston operation. Also, Kegan has helped the overall business with great new ideas and he is someone that the company hopes to have around for a very long time.
Max Tribolet - Houston manager/dedicated worker
He is also one of the most dedicated workers GSGS has ever had and has also been a huge part of the Houston operation. Max has come up with great ideas for the business which he has followed through with by helping to make these ideas happen. He is also someone that the company hopes to have for a very long time.
Amy Halevy – Aunt and Pro Bono Attorney Extraordinaire
She helped write lots of contracts pro bono in the early stages of the business. Amy never complained and was always very willing to help!
Gary Messersmith – Attorney
He helped out a lot sharing his expertise regarding advice and contracts when people began contacting GSGS about investing in the business.
Denise Mosk - Accountant
She helped out a lot on the accounting side with taxes. That is the part of the business that Ben didn’t really understand completely or have the time to do, and Denise offered discounts and helped out greatly. She is still working with the company today.
Justin - Banker
Justin is a banker at Chase that has gladly helped Ben with many banking issues and has known Ben the longest out of many people that Ben came in contact with during the startup/pre-expansion phases of the business.
Dane Hawkins - Banker
Dane is a banker at Chase that gladly helped Ben with many banking issues and has always been fun to go to. Ben would go to Dane to resolve banking issues and not only has Dane always been very helpful but they both became friends through the process.
Jay Dushkin - Attorney
Jay helped set up the LLC for a great discount and was very nice and helpful throughout the process.
Robert Weissenstein - Ben's dad
Robert was a supporting force for Ben throughout the early stages and generously provided small funding when it was needed.