Kirk, 22, and Jacob, 21, McKinney are the founders of Junk Teens.
Courtesy of Kirk and Jacob McKinney
Kirk McKinney was riding bikes near his Massachusetts home about six years ago when he came across a goldmine: A dump filled with plenty of junk, sure, but also speakers and electronics."Someone had thrown away this perfectly good pair of speakers," he told Business Insider. "I asked the guy at the dump if I could take them and he said yes. I just couldn't believe that."McKinney, a high schooler at the time, kept returning to the dump in search of more speakers for his collection. Eventually, he built a sound system in his bedroom that "shook the entire house," he said."My mom was not happy about that at all."When his mom told him he needed to get rid of the speakers, he decided to try reselling them."I sold my first radio on Facebook Marketplace for $50," he said. It was the most money he'd ever made for an hour's work. "That's when I discovered what entrepreneurship was."From selling junk to removing itThe more time McKinney spent at the dump, the more he got to know the people who did junk-removal jobs. Eventually, he started working for them. After learning the ropes, he figured he could do the same thing himself.
