TEN Magazine | Winter 2010
Laboring to Recover
Although John-Paul Maxfield lost his job at a private equity firm during the most severe economic recession of his lifetime, the 29-year- old has a different view than most who have also been looking for work in the midst of escalating unemployment.
This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Maxfield (pictured left) says. “In this recession, I saw an opportunity.”
After weeks of scouring a “dismal job market” in the fall of 2008 didn’t turn up any interviews, Maxfield tried a new approach: “I was writing my business plan at night and searching for work during the day.”
He was told he was crazy to start a business in such an economy, but Maxfield cashed in his retirement fund; traded his Volvo for a truck; and, by February ’09, opened Waste Farmers, a commercial recycling and composting business in Denver.
So far the operations are small—just Maxfield; his wife, Carrie, who is a third- grade teacher; and his business partner. Clients include hospitals, hotels, schools and the like. Maxfield not only wants to expand the business, but also change the way companies handle their waste, which often can be recycled rather than dumped in a landfill. He wants to make a difference.
Still, with Waste Farmers less than a year old, Maxfield’s entrepreneurial vision is lined with a little self-doubt about being his own boss.
