Four summers ago, two brothers from Marblehead began a commonly
sought-after business venture of doing the dirty work. Adam and Ben Zamansky have kept themselves busy throughout previous summers and winters by helping people move, doing dump runs, landscaping, shoveling, power washing, and any other odd job their clients could think of.
It all began the year of COVID-19, 2020. Adam was a senior in high school at the time, working as a busboy for a yacht club that he wasn’t too interested in staying at. While working at the yacht club, he was also taking extra trash to the dump because Swampscott has a restriction on the amount of trash they take.
“I was taking his extra trash bags to the dump for him and he was giving me a little bit of money for that,” Adam mentioned, referring to someone he used to know. After doing it for some time he thought to himself that there must be others who are looking to have their extra trash taken care of as well. Adam had discovered the market for jobs similar to trash dumping and was able to start immersing himself in the business.
Adam and his brother Ben started receiving requests after a friend of their mother posted to Facebook. “But I felt like we could reach more people,” Adam said. Soon after he created the name North Shore Helpers and began posting in different Facebook groups about the business. He recalls taking the first picture which he would post to Facebook groups, stating “the picture would tell one hundred words about what we’re doing.”
That was the moment the boys started to gain traction, with jobs happening on a more frequent basis. Every day the boys were tasked with new jobs, and they would have to figure out how to fit in as many jobs as they could in one day.
“We never didn’t have work to do,” Ben said in reference to the high volume of jobs they received. The two almost never turned down a job, finding any avenue to complete the tasks at hand.
From there it was mainly word of mouth that kept the business going and maintained the high frequency of jobs. “The referrals would carry the business for as long as we wanted to,” Adam said. Their Facebook posts received many comments and reposts, which helped keep the business running.
Adam reflected on the business he created and expressed that he had learned many things throughout the experience. The ability to time manage and speak with clients efficiently were just two of the skills he acquired. As a recent college graduate, he carries those skills with him to all future endeavors.
The two also expressed their gratitude towards the communities they worked in over the last four years, thanking them for their kind words and constant referrals that kept business booming.
When Adam left to attend Penn State four years ago, he left the business for Ben to continue. Adam praises his brother, “he’s done a really good job of running it in my absence, and I’m proud of him for the work that he’s done on it.” Currently Adam resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Ben is a senior at Marblehead High School.
