Paper Shredding Beginnings and More: An Interview With Mark Macmillan

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with franchise owner Mark Macmillan to talk about everything related to PROSHREDⓇ Orlando. We discuss how he got into the paper shredding business, why information protection is important for businesses of any size, what PROSHREDⓇ ‘s most popular service is, and more. We also discuss PROSHREDⓇ Orlando’s values and how it strives to give its customers the best service possible every single day.

To start with something easy and fun, can you describe PROSHREDⓇ Orlando in three words?

Mark: SECURITY, CONVENIENCE, and EFFICIENT.

Great! I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about how you got into the paper shredding business. What made you want to start? Can you tell us a bit about your journey to how you got to be here today?

Mark: In 1989 and 1990, I was working at a car dealership, and records disposal was an annual thing for them. It was a real nuisance every year. Basically, they sent someone to create a bonfire to burn old records since there wasn’t a better way to dispose of old documents. I was living in Alberta at the time and had heard about a franchise operation in Toronto that was offering mobile shredding services. These new services were solving this problem securely, conveniently, and efficiently.

PROSHREDⓇ had just started franchising at that time, and I bought the franchise for Nova Scotia in 1990 and was the first franchisee at the time. It was one of the first paper shredding businesses outside of Toronto in the industry. I grew the business in Nova Scotia over several years to a multimillion-dollar business. Then, I started looking for bigger markets which lead me to starting PROSHREDⓇ Tampa and Orlando in 2004.

Were there any obstacles you faced when you first started PROSHREDⓇ Orlando and Tampa? How did you overcome them?

Mark: I faced multiple obstacles when I first started. I was pretty young and dumb. I was 25. I was raising capital and trying to finance highly specialized equipment with no secondary market for the lender to sell this asset for them to be repaid. I got lots of nos until I finally got a yes for financing and my first customer for the service. At the time, we already had a big competitor that we were up against, and people didn’t trust other people with information protection. People still preferred to use office shredders. But, they were convinced when they heard about our mobile shredding trucks that would come to their doorstep and allow them to have complete control of their information from the cradle to the grave. Many of our clients supervised the whole process, and we welcomed that to help overcome their security concerns.

The other obstacle we faced is that offices didn’t know how much paper they had. They thought they didn’t use as much paper as they did, and so they didn’t think they needed a shredding service. But the reality is that the more people are going paperless and the more digital we become, the more paper seems to be proliferated in the office. We have yet to see the first office that doesn’t have a printer. While long-term storage of information is quickly becoming digital, there seems to be more day-to-day waste in offices now. The way that information storage is going, if you print something it’s important. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be printing it. This means that there’s a new importance of destroying virtually all paper in an office.

Now that we know a bit more about how you got started, can you tell us what your favorite thing is about the paper shredding business? Also, what’s your favorite thing about being a franchise owner?

Mark: My favorite thing about the paper shredding business is the people, the team we’ve built, and the clients we serve. When I do have the chance to get out on the trucks and go do a job, I get to see how excited our customers are to see us because of the paper burden in their offices that we take care of for them. I also love the visual of seeing a tractor-trailer of shredded paper that’s been bailed and compressed getting taken to a pulp mill where it will be turned into other products. That’s one of the things about the business that has changed is the focus on recycling as people have learned how to process paper.

I also have a really cool group of folks that I work with. It’s been fun building something that provides opportunities for growth for our employees.

My favorite part of being a franchise owner is being a part of a team of like-minded individuals who are headed in the same direction. We’re all building something, and I’ve always believed that two heads are better than one. I take something away from every conversation I have with our employees, no matter the level of experience of the person on the other end. I learn from the veterans, but I learn just as much from the folks who are not as experienced because they’re looking at things a little differently than I am.

Can you tell us three things that PROSHREDⓇ Orlando values the most?

Mark: Security. Our employees have more security than any other industry that I can think of. We serve thousands of customers who need us to help them conduct their operations on a day-to-day basis, and they rely on us to handle their documents securely. Convenience is another thing we value. We also value people. We value our employees more than anything else, because they’re the face of the business. If we don’t value them, then the customer doesn’t get what they should be getting. We also value our customers and giving them what they deserve.

In addition to PROSHREDⓇ Orlando’s values, what sets it apart from other shredding companies? Why should people pick PROSHREDⓇ ?

Mark: Our certifications like the ISO 9001 certification from NSF-ISR and NAID certifications are important and help set us apart. Our customer service also sets us apart. We have more Google 5-star reviews than any other shred service in the country, which shows the kind of care that we give our customers and how we execute our services. We also prioritize security in every part of the paper shredding process.

Which of your shredding services are the most popular, and why?

Mark: Our scheduled shredding service is the backbone of our services. It’s not just for large facilities or medical offices but any sized business that has an office shredder that they use for their day-to-day waste. If they’re using an office shredder, PROSHREDⓇ Orlando can come along and offer a better solution, so we’re essentially competing with an office shredder. For example, after paper goes through a little office shredder, it has to go in the garbage, because it’s so small that it can’t be recycled. Even if you put it in the recycling bin, they’ll end up throwing it away.

When we work with businesses using our scheduled shredding service, we offer the larger ones an audit to help get a sense of what their specific paper shredding needs are. For businesses of any size, we help them come up with their definition of confidential information. In most cases, it’s anything with a customer or employee name, number, financial information, or prospect information, which actually covers most paper generated within an office.

Most companies spend lots of time, effort, and money on IT security, cybersecurity, insurance, firewalls, and more, but only a little time on paper disposal, and that’s where PROSHREDⓇ Orlando comes in. If a company does a one-time purge, we will always give them an opportunity to try out our regularly scheduled service. It can be once a month, every other month, or more frequently, and everything gets shredded then and there. Then, they get a certificate of destruction that makes it compliant with federal privacy laws that dictate all businesses must destroy documents with private customer information. This certificate gives proof and a paper trail in case of an event that these businesses are disposing of client information securely. In fact, compliance for businesses is one of the main reasons why people use our scheduled shredding service. It provides them with reassurance and comfort.

You touched on this already, but can you expand more on why it’s important for businesses and individuals to utilize your services and regularly shred their documents?

Mark: One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the convenience for staff. Without our services, then any piece of paper generated needs to go through an office shredder. But there’s a reason that nearly all of our customers are regularly scheduled shredding customers. Think of all of the pain points that you have when you rely on a small office shredder – it’s loud, messy, you’re not able to recycle it, and things that need to be shredded may not always get shredded. After all, security has to be convenient or it doesn’t get followed. While shredding is really important, it’s often thought of as a chore and a low-priority task. But is that really the way people want to operate, by giving such an important task such low priority?

I know one thing that PROSHREDⓇ Orlando values a lot is protecting your customers’ security. How does PROSHREDⓇ Orlando ensure that people’s information stays secure, and why does that matter to you in the first place?

Mark: We have policies and procedures that clearly outline how to keep customer information secure throughout the entire paper shredding process. All of our onboarding and training has a big emphasis on security. Our certifications (NAID and ISO 9001) also have regular audits that hold us accountable and ensure that we are holding ourselves to the highest standards. During these audits, an auditor will come and follow one of our trucks around without us knowing beforehand that they’ll be there. The auditor will document everything that our workers do, and ensure that everything we do and all of our processes are up to standards. They also validate our employee’s background checks and more to ensure that everything is safe and secure.

This matters to us, because (in addition to valuing our customers’ privacy) secure information is our entire business. Because of this, if we make a mistake, our whole business is destroyed.

Before we wrap up, is there anything going on with PROSHREDⓇ Orlando right now that you’re excited about?

Mark: Last year was our 18th year in the Tampa/Orlando/Sarasota area. We’re still seeing double-digit growth eighteen years into the business. Now we’re seeing the growth of SME (small-medium-sized enterprises) businesses using our services. Our client base is diversifying, and we’re setting up shredding on a regular basis for clients we never would have dreamed of shredding for before. This is because smaller offices are opening their eyes to the importance of shredding.

One great thing about these services is that once you start using them, you don’t go back to shredding your own paper. It just doesn’t make sense. The longer we’re around, the more dependent our customers become on us. Which provides them with security. I think the thing that gets me excited about business right now is the number of small businesses we have the opportunity to work with compared to the number of large businesses. This means more opportunities for us while providing more businesses with secure paper shredding.

Contact PROSHREDⓇ Orlando for Your Paper Shredding Needs

Whether you are looking for one-time shredding or regularly scheduled shredding, PROSHREDⓇ is here to help you. With quality customer service, a dedication to your security, and workers who care, we are the best option when it comes to information security. No matter if you own a large business, small business, or are a resident, we can assist you with any of your paper shredding needs. To learn more about our services and how we can help, contact us today.