Young Entrepreneur Gains Wealth Of Business Knowledge On “The Blox”

During his junior year at Severna Park High School, Emory Jernigan would make an occasional “junk run” with his sturdy pickup truck, hauling other people’s discards to Anne Arundel County’s landfill in Severn for a contractor. The jobs often required some heavy lifting, but the pay was good and there was always work to be done.

Following his 2020 graduation and a two-year religious mission, Jernigan contemplated studying a trade or going to college for business or marketing, but he ultimately decided to start his own junk removal business, Junk Knights. Last year, he learned of “The Blox,” an Amazon Prime Video reality television show focused on small businesses and startups, and he decided to apply. After a weeks-long interview process last August, Jernigan learned that he was selected for Season 20. Filming took place from January 12–19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The creators of “The Blox” consider the program to be an incubator for small business startups in a gameshow-style friendly competition where the goal isn’t to earn capital but to learn aspects of business from people who have succeeded and failed in their own startup endeavors.

Unlike the popular ABC series “Shark Tank,” where small-business owners pitch their inventions and businesses for investment cash, “The Blox” brings 100 entrepreneurs of young businesses together for one week of intensive workshops and small groups where business-owner competitors learn as much as they can in short periods of time and use that knowledge to create “pitches” that are scored by the presenters and business mentors.

“I really learned a lot! We had to go from paper to mouth and pitch in a very short amount of time,” Jernigan shared while reflecting on the 45 pages of handwritten notes he continues to study. “The scoring rubric not only included how much a contestant learned from that particular session and how well we incorporated that into our pitch but also scored things like our stage presence. Following each session competition, we each had 20 minutes of one-on-one time with the judges where we could ask specific questions.”

Throughout the week, daily winners were announced and on the final day the top three competitors with the highest cumulative scores were announced. The top scorer earned $10,000, second place $3,000 and third place $2,000.

Jernigan learned from the judges that he was the youngest business owner in the competition for Season 20. He also learned he ended up in the top 25% and perhaps as high as top 15% for the season.

Through the process, Jernigan met many business owners who have gone through similar experiences and have become friends. Since the friendly competition is about networking and expanding your circle to get and share ideas on how to grow a business, that makes Jernigan a winner regardless of his final rank.

“I am going to grow the business as long as it lets me. I want people to work with me because they have heard about me or have a relationship with me,” he said. “If someone Googles ‘junk removal’ and sees me in a list, that’s great, but I really want to be known for my professionalism, quality of work, and the relationships I’ve made.”

The show’s creators have not announced when Season 20 will air, but because Jernigan won a round in a small group and he was interviewed and filmed, he knows he will be on the broadcast.

“The Blox” can be viewed on www.amazon.com for Amazon Prime members, or via “The Blox” website at www.betablox.com or via the app. The producer expects Jernigan’s appearance will be available in 2025.

To contact Junk Knights or to learn about the services provided, visit www.junkknightsmd.com or contact Jernigan directly at junkknightsllc@gmail.com or 443-802-4747.