The Topsail Island Bellhop Boys

Topsail Insider Intro

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the Topsoil Insider podcast , where locals , vacationers and those looking to relocate to the greater Topsoil area can hear all about the wonderful businesses and events in our beautiful coastal Carolina towns , including Hampstead , topsoil Beach , surf City , north Topsoil , holly Ridge and Sneeds Ferry .

Coming Up!

Speaker 2 0:25

Coming up .

Speaker 1 0:26

This episode is for the wonderful folks that choose Topsoil for their vacation . There is a great service here that allows you to start your vacation as soon as you pull in the driveway of your beautiful beach rental .

Speaker 2 0:38

No more struggling to lug everything from the trunk up those stairs . Let Topsoil Island bellhop boys do the work for you while you check out those ocean views and settle in .

Sponsor - Saltwater Suites

Speaker 2 0:56

Experience a new level of luxury on Topsoil Island at Saltwater Suites in Surf City , north Carolina . With no nightly minimum , you can enjoy short getaways or an extended stay . Each suite features luxury bedding , full kitchens with dining tables and dishwashers , and all suites other than the 3 ADA suites have full-size washers and dryers and , of course , ocean views and 24-7 self-check-in provides a hassle-free and seamless experience . Saltwater Suites is the perfect choice for your next beach getaway . Book your next Topsoil visit at saltwatertopsoilcom or call 910-886-4818 . Saltwater Suites Topsoil Island's premier luxury hospitality experience .

Intro to Damian and Bellhop TI Bellhop Boys

Speaker 2 1:49

Hello everyone and welcome to the Topsoil Insider Podcast . My name is Krista and I am your host . Today I am interviewing Mr Damien Mulcahy . He is the father , he is the leader , he is the mentor . What else could you ? You are .

Speaker 3 2:06

I guess I'm just a guy with a decent idea .

Speaker 2 2:09

You had a very good idea .

Speaker 3 2:11

Krista , thank you for having me .

Speaker 2 2:13

Yeah , welcome . I'm so glad that you're here . He is the man behind the Topsoil Island bellhop boys . No matter what you want to call him , he came up with a really great idea . You saw a need on the island and you found a way to fill it . In my opinion , you also provided a really great gift to your kids and their friends as well , so thank you for joining me today . I think the name of your company explains itself , but let's go ahead and tell the listeners what your business is about .

Speaker 3 2:40

So it's essentially a bellhop service . We greet guests when they arrive to the island . We'll carry in all of their luggage , all of their coolers , all of their groceries , all of their beach gear , Pretty much anything they can bring .

Speaker 2 2:53

we will bring up to the actual room that they're staying in and make sure that they're all set once they arrive , and that's really nice in our beach town because most of the houses , especially right there oceanfront , they're all elevated and there are a ton of stairs and multi-levels , sometimes three , sometimes four levels , and people coming here that are older or have any type of disabilities . I think this is such a great service , even for people who are just tired right .

Speaker 3 3:21

Yeah , it's a long trip to get here . Folks have been in the car for a very long time and they're focused on enjoying their vacation and it's our focus to ensure that , when they show up , that they're comfortable and that all of their stuff gets taken care of . Greeting the guests is probably the best part of it .

How it Got Started

Speaker 2 3:37

Okay , so tell me how you came up with this idea .

Speaker 3 3:41

So we always knew we wanted to be part of this community . When we moved here three years ago from the Raleigh area , we felt like it was a great place to raise our kids and we wanted to be connected to the community . And what we realized is that this community is not just locals , but it's also a tourist destination and there's folks coming in and out of here all the time and we saw this as an opportunity . There's a post on the Topsell TLC page . I'll give a shout out to our first customer , miss Alex . She had asked for this service , asked if this service was available on the island , and I saw the post . I thought to myself I've got two teenagers at home , one young man that's willing and able to work and a daughter who at the time was 13 years old , and we just felt like there was a real need here . So we responded to Miss Alex said yes , we'd do it . We asked how much it would be and we threw a number out there and she said that's not enough , you need to make more .

Speaker 2 4:40

I love her .

Speaker 3 4:42

So we agreed that she would pay the initial fee and if she felt like we did a good job we would accept the rest in tips . Nice , and yeah , she showed up . I think there was probably about nine people in her party her parents , her husband , her in-laws and we were a little apprehensive at first . We didn't really know how much stuff they were going to bring .

Speaker 3 5:03

I think we had a lot of faith in my son and I showed up and we went to work . We knocked it out probably in about 40 minutes . It was a three-story house and she was just over the moon with service and we were happy to help . So we created a Facebook page . We started just putting the word out there that we existed and it's really just snowballed , kind of gone viral .

Speaker 2 5:22

That's cool . How quickly did you launch the business on Facebook after that initial ?

Speaker 3 5:27

job . After the first appointment we had the confidence level that we could actually do this . I think it was probably within a week or so . We launched the Facebook page . We used the Facebook business suite to schedule all of our appointments . We do all of the communications through Facebook business suite and I think after we started the page we probably had our next appointment within two or three days , I think the first weekend where we had actually scheduled appointments . We probably had six or seven by then .

Speaker 2 5:58

That's amazing . That's so crazy that it went that fast .

Scheduling

Speaker 2 6:01

Tell me how busy you are during the peak of the season .

Speaker 3 6:04

During peak season , we probably schedule anywhere from four or five appointments in the morning and four or five appointments in the afternoon .

Speaker 2 6:15

You said scheduling your appointments on Facebook , and I didn't even know that was a possibility until you mentioned that in our pre-interview and I went and checked it out last night . It's a really cool feature . I do want to point this out to our listeners . You go to their Facebook page and you can reserve your time slot for the bill hop service right there . But you're going to have to go to the page . You're going to click on Services and then you're going to click on the Personal Bill Hop Service button and you're going to choose your date and your time right there . I love that .

Speaker 3 6:43

You can schedule an appointment on our Facebook page or you can just send us a message directly . Typically , when we receive an appointment request , we'll respond with some information as far as our rates and the details how to schedule us , how it works and finding a time , and gathering the information as far as address , total number of guests and time of arrival .

Speaker 2 7:07

So on there . I know it's 30 minute intervals that you're booking , but what if you have like a party of 10 or 15 people ? Can you do stretch that out based on the number of people Sometimes .

Speaker 3 7:18

So I think the bigger challenge is the distance . If we have an appointment all the way on the south end and the next appointment all the way on the north end , plus traffic , we may space them out in our piece , but typically our appointments are scheduled every 30 minutes , beginning at 4 o'clock all the way until we're done in the evening . The following Saturday we'll typically start at 7 am and go until 10 am , which is checkout time , but you'd be surprised how quickly we can load in and load out . We're running when our hands are free and we're taking as many bags as possible .

Speaker 3 7:53

That's a workout . It certainly is a workout . I think I track my flights of stairs on my watch . Yeah , I think my highest was 71 flights of stairs . Oh my gosh . And bear in mind , you're climbing all of those stairs typically with luggage in your hands . Yeah , as an example , a party of 10 . We can load them in probably in about 20 minutes . That would give us another 10 minutes to make it to the next job .

Speaker 2 8:17

Okay , that's really fast

Check-ins, Check-outs and Traffic

Speaker 2 8:19

. You just mentioned that the Saturdays there's a check in and a check out time . That's generally consistent on the island with these beach house rentals . But what about other hotels ? Or are you working on Sundays or any other day of the week , or is it just Saturdays primarily ?

Speaker 3 8:37

So we do work at the C Vista Motel quite often and Topsell Dunes where there's condo rentals . And yeah , most of the rentals on Topsell Island are Saturday to Saturday , although they do schedule some Sunday to Sunday visits on the south end to alleviate a little bit of the traffic on the Surf City Bridge .

Speaker 2 8:57

Okay , that's good . The traffic is really bad .

Speaker 3 9:00

Yeah , and that's one of the biggest challenges we have is we sit in traffic all the time . I bet you did . Yeah , it's really challenging when we try to get onto the island by around three o'clock in the afternoon . It's the day tripping traffic that usually holds us up on the way off the island .

Speaker 2 9:14

Yeah

Strange and Funny

Speaker 2 9:15

, okay , tell me some of the Drain , just things that you've had to take up those stairs .

Speaker 3 9:21

We carry all sorts of stuff . I'd have to say the strangest thing we've ever carried in is a sewing machine . You'd be quite surprised that a lot of folks come to the island to relax , and there's a few that find relaxation in sewing .

Speaker 2 9:34

Whatever makes your vacation better , bring it on . Do you have any like really Funny or unusual stories that you could share with us while you've been doing the service ?

Speaker 3 9:44

I don't know that there's that many funny things , but I can't tell you that quite often We'll bring things into the house that the guests didn't intend for us to bring in the house . Bear in mind . We go there and we bring everything up , and when we say everything , we mean everything . Oh my gosh there's been a few times where we've had to bring things back down that we shouldn't have brought in . We've literally carried somebody's ice scraper up to the kitchen tools . Roadside repair kits .

Speaker 2 10:12

Oh , that's funny .

Entrepreneurial Experience

Speaker 2 10:16

Okay , I just think that this is such a gift . This is something that you have created for your children and I think it's so important . You've given them a good learning tool and it's giving them so much , and so much so , that my kids 8 and 11 and I'm sitting here like I got to do something like this . I've got to come up with a way , because you're teaching them about entrepreneurship , you're teaching them how to manage their money . On the money topic , all the money goes to the kids , right ? They're ?

Speaker 2 10:44

correct at the time of putting the stuff away or loading it back into the car and its tips , and it's their money that's so important . Kids today , I think , could learn a lot from something like this and how to save up their money and how to have Goals and priorities and how not to spend . Mine are terrible already just spending that cash . I really I got to do this . So tell me about some of the other benefits that your children have gained by doing this with you .

Speaker 3 11:13

Yeah , I'll start from the beginning . I will say when , when we first started this , that cash was burning holes in their pockets .

Speaker 2 11:20

Oh , it was okay good .

Speaker 3 11:22

Wait to get out and go out and spend that money in that's normal , yeah absolutely , and they've both done really well with it .

Speaker 3 11:30

My son , Ethan . He's 17 years old . He's a student at Topsell High School . He's gonna be a rising senior this year . He's done an amazing job with this . He not only goes on these jobs with me , but he also will take on jobs on his own . His friend Wesley helps him out as well . They do an amazing job . They've been very responsible . They're kind to the guests , they greet them with smiles , they're courteous , they're respectful and they're good kids .

Speaker 2 11:57

And if you read the reviews online , oh , I read them , by the way , and they are Glowing . I'm gonna read some in a little bit . I want people to know about these reviews .

Speaker 3 12:07

Yeah , the overwhelming amount of positivity has come from our visitors . We've gone viral on Facebook . We've even been contacted by Facebook asking if we're creators . Oh , really , yeah , because our page has grown so quickly that it must have fallen into some sort of Facebook algorithm . They recognize us as creators . We're really . We're a service provider . Yeah , we just share really positive feedback that we get from our customers .

Speaker 2 12:33

That's great . How has this affected his confidence level ?

Speaker 3 12:37

I think it's been incredible for his confidence level . He's really good with adults . He's respectful . He does an amazing job . When we greet guests , when we show up , we're typically there five minutes before they arrive . I'll normally take the lead . Hello , my name is Damien . This is my son , ethan . We're your bell hops today . Go in , relax , choose your bedroom , make a drink . We'll take care of everything . Nice , now it's to the point where Ethan is taking the lead .

Speaker 2 13:04

Oh really .

Speaker 3 13:04

Introducing himself , introducing his dad and explaining our service to everybody .

Speaker 2 13:09

That's great . I

The Future of The TI Bellhop Boys

Speaker 2 13:10

really like that . Are you hiring because I've got a son coming up ?

Speaker 3 13:13

No , no , I know the answer already we're not necessarily hiring . But I have asked myself is what happens to this business after my kids are grown ?

Speaker 2 13:23

I was asking myself that last night and I was talking to my husband , I'm like it'd be great , like his son is gonna graduate , and then what are they gonna do ? I ?

Speaker 3 13:30

think that the most important thing for the guests and the spirit of the topsoil and bell hop boys Mm-hmm , would probably be to pass this on to somebody else that can take this work on and Continue the tradition of the customer experience .

Speaker 2 13:47

I hope somebody does so . How is he gonna continue doing this through its in your year ?

Speaker 3 13:52

He will he will will continue . We work on season off season . Off season is a bit slower than the on season , but he'll be leaving for college after his senior year you poor thing . He'll be home for summers . We'll continue to keep him busy .

Speaker 2 14:07

So school's going to start and I was wondering what happened to the business . So he just keeps working on the weekends doing this .

Speaker 3 14:13

That's right , that's right and we get a lot of weekday requests for people that are staying for short term . It's a bit challenging once the boys go back to school to continue to schedule appointments during the week . So once school starts , we'll primarily be working weekends only . Both of the boys run track for topsoil high school ethans and cross country as well .

Speaker 2 14:34

Yeah , that's right . Yeah , so the extracurricular is going to kick in , Okay .

Speaker 3 14:39

And studies first for us . It should never impact their ability to get what they have to do done at school 100% .

Speaker 2 14:45

I was wondering if it had impacted his grades . Not at all .

Speaker 3 14:50

Not at all , but I do think that there's an opportunity for him to include his experience with the topsoil and bellhop boys in his college applications .

Speaker 2 15:00

Oh my gosh , yeah , 100% he should

Folks, Weather and Elevators

Speaker 2 15:02

. I'm assuming that you're meeting people from all over the state , for sure , all over the country , perhaps .

Speaker 3 15:08

Yeah , a lot of folks from the northeast visit the island , a lot of folks from western North Carolina , charlotte West . We get a lot of folks from central Virginia , some folks from central South Carolina . We meet folks from everywhere . We've had folks all the way from Alaska .

Speaker 2 15:25

Oh wow , visit the topsoil island . All right , I'm sure they appreciated the weather here . Yeah , without a doubt .

Speaker 3 15:30

Without a doubt , speaking of the weather , it gets so hot .

Speaker 2 15:34

It has been this year too , incredibly hot . How does that impact you guys ? Running up and down those stairs .

Speaker 3 15:40

It's important that we stay hydrated . The stairwells are narrow , they're hot .

Speaker 2 15:44

Yeah .

Speaker 3 15:45

We always enjoy doing load ins and load outs where the stairwells are on the outside versus the inside .

Speaker 2 15:51

Oh , yeah , I bet .

Speaker 3 15:53

Makes it much easier for us .

Speaker 2 15:54

A lot of the new builds have elevators in those things .

Speaker 3 15:57

Yeah , we have a job coming up and it's a party of 21 . And this home we did a little bit of research before we took it on , just to ensure that we had enough boys with us . And it does have an

Customer Service and Reviews

Speaker 3 16:13

overwhelming .

Speaker 2 16:16

We talked about the reviews earlier and your reviews are incredible . I want to talk about the customer service factor for Bill Hop Boys , because you do get great reviews regarding your customer service . Tell me about some of the things that you employ to make sure that they're getting just a really great customer experience .

Speaker 3 16:36

That's what it's all about . It's about the experience of using the Topsoil Island , bill Hop Boys . We greet the guests with smiles where they're on time . We're flexible when they're late and we really want them to come to this island and get the best impression that they possibly can when they first show up . We want to represent Topsoil Island to the best of everything it is . We want to be friendly , want to make them feel welcomed . We want them to feel at ease and we want them to be able to relax . It's the beach .

Speaker 2 17:07

Yeah , absolutely so . Let's talk about some of those reviews . Let me just rave here for a minute . Here's a couple of reviews that I pulled down from your Facebook page . So the Topsoil Island Bill Hop Boys will get your vacation off to a great start . Save your back , your legs and your energy because they do all the work . It's such a nice luxury after packing it all and driving for eight hours and realizing there are 30 steps in our condo . They were so friendly , punctual , speedy and very accommodating to our late arrival . So just speaking about that late arrival , damien , sometimes I'm assuming if you're driving you run into issues . I know I have when I'm taking long road trips . What happens if they aren't there when they're supposed to be there ? Do you go home and then come back later ? What's your plan ?

Speaker 3 17:57

Because we schedule these appointments every 30 minutes , we actually have a little bit of flexibility . If a guest is running late , we can always shift them to the end of the line . Most are understanding if they're running late . We don't leave the island until everybody's loaded in . There may be some downtime in between appointments if somebody's going to be late , but we'll typically try to fill it in with the next available appointment .

Speaker 2 18:19

Okay , honestly , it's not that bad of a place to have some downtime . I'll just go for a walk on the beach .

Speaker 3 18:24

Yeah , really we're usually just sweating really badly very thirsty and sitting in the truck and just wait for them to show up .

Speaker 2 18:33

Yeah . Okay , here's another one . Where have you been all these years ? I love that one my knees . Thank you Very polite and fast . I love that one . I know a lot of people . Just the fact that who was the lady that reached out the very first one ? Miss Alex , miss Alex , the fact that she reached out I'm just shocked that someone else hadn't reached out prior to that . But , yeah , I'll say where have you been all these years ? And here's the last one . If you and this is not the last one I found on your site , but I had to limit myself If you have a bad back having these guys take care of all your unpacking is an absolute blessing . They're super friendly and you're in good hands . I will use this service from now on . So I'm assuming you get a lot of repeat clients .

Speaker 3 19:20

We do . I'd say probably 65 to 70% of our current business is repeat business . Nice , it's challenging at times because we only have so many 30 minute slots . One of the hardest parts of what I do in the scheduling and the interaction with the guests is having to say no .

Speaker 2 19:39

If we don't have them ? Have you had to do that ?

Speaker 3 19:40

quite a bit , we have we have had to say no in the past and it's always disappointing . I always , if we have to say no , I'll typically ask for a phone number , make a phone call and explain to them that we simply don't have availability .

Speaker 2 19:53

So

Final Thoughts

Speaker 2 19:54

in my podcast , I always like to finish off with final thoughts . What is it that you just really want the listeners to know about the Topsaw Island , bill Hop Boys or perhaps it's just you , damien , and your family what is it that you just you really want everyone to know ?

Speaker 3 20:12

We are so grateful and appreciative and our hearts are full of love for all of our customers . We like to represent the Topsoil community in the best way possible . We make booking on Facebook easy . You can schedule your appointments right on our Facebook page and send us a message with any questions .

Contact Information

Speaker 2 20:30

I am going to give out the contact information for the Topsoil Island Bellhop Boys . You can find and follow the Topsoil Island Bellhop Boys on Facebook . It's at wwwfacebookcom , but you can just do a search and you'll find them quite easily . You don't have a website . You use the Facebook page as your website .

Speaker 3 20:53

That's correct . All of our business is done through Facebook .

Speaker 2 20:56

There's not an actual email address . They do all of their electronic messaging through that same Facebook page and their phone number is 919-791-7953 . Is there anything else ? Did I miss anything ?

Speaker 3 21:11

No , you covered it all . Thank you , Christa .

Speaker 2 21:13

Awesome ,

Thank you! Please Follow and Subscribe

Speaker 2 21:14

all right . So thank you , listeners , for joining us today . Thank you , damien , for joining me . I appreciate it .

Speaker 3 21:19

Thank you for having me .

Speaker 2 21:21

It's been a pleasure speaking with you today , and I wish you and your family the very best .

Speaker 3 21:26

Thank you .

Speaker 1 21:27

Hey , thank you for joining me today on Topsoil Insider .

Speaker 2 21:30

If you liked today's episode , please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsoil Insider podcast delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on .

Speaker 1 21:41

And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre-interview or you want to advertise .

Speaker 2 21:46

Please email me at TopsoilInsider at gmailcom . Please also find and like the Topsoil Insider .

Speaker 1 21:53

Facebook page . I provide links to the new podcast there each week , as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting , along with any of their upcoming events .

Speaker 2 22:02

So , hey , let's do this again next week . I'll see you around Topsoil .