First, welcome to the community. Second, I compliment your initiative you've shown to earn the seed capital for the business you want start after college.
What's your target market for this business? If it is individuals, that may the part of the reason for the slow response. In metro areas, there are usually plenty of organizations that will come haul junk away (Goodwill, churches, and other non-profits that run second-hand stores) -- so the thing that makes your business unique is the clean out service.
The problem is, when someone has "junk" that needs to be cleaned out, they almost always have "stuff" and "priceless keepsakes" piled up in the same place. They want to get rid of all the junk and some of the stuff, but none of the keepsakes -- and only they know which is which. I mean, would you want a 60-year-old woman going through your possessions and deciding what was junk? (She feels the same way about an 18-year-old student.) So what can you do?
My suggestions would be:
(1) Target landlords (they're easy to locate and contact, since they advertise residences and offices that are for rent/lease). It's not uncommon for tenants to leave junk behind when they move, so you could build a regular clientele of landlords who own or manage multiple properties.
(2) Partner or share referrals with one or more residential or commerical cleaning services (ideally, small operations like yours). They are very often the ones who discover (when they come to clean or stage a vacated unit) that junk was left behind -- or that a client has junk they want taken away. A small cleaning enterprise is unlikely to have the equipment or muscle to move it. You could give them a referral fee for recommending you.
(3) Target homeowners who have sold a home and are moving (they're easy to find because the "For Sale" sign on the house will say "Pending" or "Under Contract"). They will have already started separating the trash and treasure, so this is a more viable individual to contact than "regular" homeowners.
(4) Target buyers of upscale new homes that have just sold/closed (again, the realtor's or builder's sign is a giveaway). They always pack, move, and store things they think they'll want in the new home, but they don't once they get there -- and with all the other chores of settling in to a new place, they don't usually want to bother with a garage sale or craigslist.
(5) Be patient. It takes awhile to get customers for a new business, plus it's not like people need your service every day . . . or even every year. So keep marketing to your target (if funds get tight, try to prioritize and narrow the list, but maintain the frequency -- it costs the same to contact 1,200 people once as it does to contact 100 people 12 times -- but if you have identified the right target, you'll get more business from 100 you contact repeatedly.
Hope that helps. Best wishes.
