We Put Graffiti On Trucks And The Phone Wouldn’t Stop Ringing with Brendan Hogan Asheville Area Movers

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:36hey there and welcome to this week's episode of epic entrepreneurs i am bill gilliland your host i am also the principal at action coach business growth partners and one of the founders of the ashville business summit today i'm super pumped i'm i'm getting to meet a new friend now uh we always that's the one of the cool things about doing these podcasts we get all these new friends around Western North Carolina and the rest of the world. Today, I've got Brendan Hogan of Asheville Area Movers. So, Brendan, welcome to the podcast. Tell us a little bit about you and your business and how you're serving the community.

1:12Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you having me on, and it's a pleasure to meet you. We own Asheville Area Movers. We're the largest locally operated and owned moving company in the Asheville area. So we're not owned, but we're not a franchise. guys. We're not partnering with a van line or anything like that. We're just local guys, you know, moving furniture. I've been doing this now. We're coming up on 10 years next year. So nine years in, you know, we had before the storm, we had 12 trucks and about 45 employees. We're back up to seven trucks and we got about 35 guys working for us. Great guys, great team.

1:51um you know i've loved living here in western north carolina and you know serving the community so so what let's talk about the storm just a bit and then we'll get into some general business stuff so you it sounds like you were pretty heavily impacted by the storm yeah so for the first eight years of our business we were headquartered down along the swananoa river over by Brother Wolf, Biltmore Village area. Unfortunately, we did lose our entire fleet and business in a storm. Nothing we can do about it. Yeah. Pretty crazy experience. But we managed to get some SBA funding and we're such a labor-heavy business that we were able to get back on our feet pretty quickly.

2:40Additionally, there's a lot of moving going on because of the storm. So we got lucky on that front. But we've moved down on Patton Avenue to some dry land, a little higher elevation this time. But we're getting back on our feet. It's been awesome to see, you know, other businesses in the area kind of turn it around around here over the past year. And I'm just hoping, you know, things can slowly get back to where they were before. Yeah, well, well done on responding as opposed to folding, I guess. You know, responding positively to the thing. I mean, if you're in Western North Carolina and a lean hit, then everyone was affected.

3:16It's just a matter of magnitude, I guess. So, yeah, that's super cool. It's good to hear that you responded. Like you said, there's a lot of people that need what you have and have needed it in the last year. So, let me ask you, let's switch gears a little bit and just talk about some general business questions. So, if you had to start over again, what would you do differently? oh god that would be a very very very long list um you know i've made a series of mistakes you know throughout the years running this business and we've learned from every single one of them um you know most recently coming back from the storm we hired a bunch of local artists to graffiti our trucks and do logos on the sides of them and everything um you know i before when we were up to 12 trucks i had no branding on them they were just plain vehicles i had you know our dot numbers on the side of the doors and our logo what was legally required um but didn't want to spend the money to you know put into branding and everything like that i really we really really heavily relied on google for all of our business um and that was something that i was kind of advised from other people to do and you know Since the storm, we've started doing a lot more branding, a lot more advertising, print advertising, outfits, everything like that.

4:41It's made a huge, huge impact. This year will easily be our biggest year ever from a revenue standpoint. Next year is looking like it's headed in a similar direction. I kick myself because nine years ago when we started this thing, we got in so early here and when Asheville was booming. And I think if we would have spent the money and the resources and the time into like more of our branding and I had, you know, almost a decade of 12 trucks driving around with our logos on them, we'd be in a much better position than we were, you know, the couple of years prior to the storm. You know, also about five years into our business, we kind of got on board with the idea of like leveraging technology more to make things more efficient, you know.

5:28So in the moving industry, especially here in North Carolina, because we're regulated, a lot of things are done with paper and pen, you know, bill of ladings and contracts that way. And we five years ago transitioned to a CRM that made things just so much more streamlined for us. We work with Supermove, which is, you know, an app out of San Francisco that a lot of moving companies use. There's several different CRMs that you can use, but using that from a scheduling standpoint, you know, our bill of ladings on their revenue on their customer relationships on there. It's allowed us to be so much more streamlined and it doesn't require, you know, more guys in the office.

6:09So I actually, you know, run this company essentially with me, myself, Kyle, who is, you know, our operations manager. And then, you know, we have some guys that are movers that will fill in routinely to do some of the additional office and, you know, cleric work that's required. But we keep things pretty slim because we leverage technology the way that we do. And, yeah, that's been a game changer for us, honestly. So leveraging technology and branding would have been a couple of things that you would have leaned into a lot heavier, a lot earlier. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're sort of one of the better kept secrets in Nashville, right?

6:51Yeah. So that's an interesting thing. So what are some of the other big learnings you've had as an owner and an employer in the last nine years? You know, the hardest thing that I will ever do as a business owner, and I'm sure a lot of other business owners can relate to this, is just, you know, be a manager of other people and employ people. um you know especially in in our industry um you know a lot of times we have guys that are transitioning in between work um you know we have some guys who this is this is their career and they're amazing at it and they've been great employees and then you know it it is people all over the map right and finding good help and treating good help the way that they need to be treated to stick around is something I think is lost on a lot of bigger companies that is easier for a smaller company like ours.

7:47But, you know, one mistake in hiring can can lead to, you know, catastrophic outcomes in our business, unfortunately. And we've made a lot of mistakes before, I think we've gotten a lot better at it, where we're sourcing our employees, everything along those lines, the relationships we have with our employees, we feel very strong strongly that we, we, we, our work is very hard moving people's furniture. There's a reason they pay us to do it, right? It's, it's a, yeah, it's a hard, it's heavy, it's hard, it's hard work. It's rough on your body. It's the whole, you know, it's tough. Absolutely. So, you know, rewarding guys and paying guys accordingly for that has been kind of our motto, especially, you know, from the day we started, we've always paid more than everyone else, but, you know, recently finding ways to compensate our employees for, you know, upselling, you know, whether it's insurance, materials, things along that path so that we're getting revenue along with being able to generate and pass back those profits to our employees has really helped build a more positive and, you know, happy workforce over the last three years, especially.

9:02we've gotten so much better at that and we have such good relationships with our employees these days so um speaking of employees what qualities do you look for in employees uh first and foremost is punctuality right um i can't tell you how many interviews we set up and people end up not showing up or they're lazy it's crazy isn't it it's unbelievable yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. If you do that, we're just immediately we know it's not going to work out. Right. If you don't value this job, you don't value other people's time. That says a lot about who you are as an employee. I'm often blown away at the amount of people who we set up interviews for and they don't come along.

9:50You know, recently we've done a lot more to kind of pay more for people who have come from other van lines and bigger businesses that are faster for us to train in. It doesn't require as much, you know, headway. But if we can get someone in here who has a good attitude, shows up on time, is respectful, anyone could be trained to do this job. And, you know, competently people can do it really, really quickly. um and i guess those are the main qualities we look for is just respect you know not getting flushed i guess under pressure because a lot of things can go wrong on a moving day and kind of just maintaining a good attitude with a customer and just caring about your job right um you know we have wonderful wonderful guys right now who really care about people and care about their jobs and care about their community and you're not going to cut corners when you feel that way Um, and that's been really important to find.

10:48Yeah. Yeah. I think, I don't think you can say that. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business?

10:57Ooh, um, that there's so much better work-life balance, I guess. Um, you know, a lot of people think that I have a lot of free time on my hands because Because, especially nowadays, I can play golf on a Tuesday. But that doesn't mean that I'm not in my car headed out somewhere on a Friday night in the middle of dinner with my wife. And I got to go take care of something. It's just, it's a grind, right? Like, it's constant. The stress is constant. I think in the first several years of my business, I didn't like who being a business owner made me become because I was so stressed out and anxious all the time when things would go wrong or you're trying to lay your head to rest at night and you're thinking about a damage that was caused or a payroll coming up or anything along those lines.

11:53And, you know, I guess the conception is that it's all rainbows and butterflies from people that don't do it. But it is a lot of hard work. And managing that stress is really, really, really important. Yeah. There's a lot of people counting on you. So, yeah, it's a good thing. So what do you attribute your growth to? Yeah. So in our early years, we tried to hire a bunch of guys that were like us, right? They're fun. They're positive. They could joke around with customers. They had good attitudes. And that really showed in the amount of repeat customers that we had. I think that's a huge part of it.

12:33And to this day, we're very careful about the kind of vibe we're trying to curate around here. We want people who are having one of the most stressful days of their year to have a good and positive experience when our guys show up with smiles on their face and they're cracking jokes and everybody's having a good time. Um, you know, beyond that, yeah, that's probably where I'm at. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I like it. I like it. You've created a culture where it's hard work, but it's, you know, they have a good time. I mean, you know, enjoy being there. I like it. Absolutely. I like it. So you talk, you hit on the challenges earlier, but how do you balance personal life and your business, the demands of running a business?

13:19Yeah. So, um, I have a gentleman who's our operations manager and we're kind of, uh, you know, the one, two, we work together very, very well. And I think, you know, he just had a baby actually a week after the storm, um, which was pretty, pretty stressful time, obviously. But, um, having him kind of, you know, go through that process over the last year um i actually got married last weekend so i've had a lot going on over the last couple of months yeah yeah but just knowing where each other is at and uh being able to fill in when the other person is you know not available i also you know my wife has been great about you know just just helping me through stressful times i think i used to get so hyper focused on things that would go wrong in the early days you know with customer damage somebody side swipes a car and a vehicle all things that can go wrong and happen on moving days and you know after nine years so much has happened that when these things happen anymore you start to realize like hey this isn't the end of the world we're gonna wake up tomorrow we're still in business we're protected by our insurance um you know all things that start to become easier as the years go on for sure.

14:35Well, I mean, you lost your whole fleet. I mean, it can't get much worse than that. So, you know, there's, yeah, life, this too shall pass, right? Yeah. So, yeah, it's good. So I have an acronym called BEPIC, and I'm going to tell you what the acronym is. And I just want sort of be a quick fire round, maybe like one or two words or sentences about each, just your thoughts on it. So the B in B Epic stands for bring energy. So what are your thoughts around energy? Kind of what we hit on earlier. I think it's the most important part of the business, you know, the vibe and energy that you bring on a daily basis.

15:12Love that. How about education? The E is education. Yeah, I think properly training your employees and guys to handle the scenarios that are going to arise is core to any company culture, right? Love it. How about P for planning? Uh, being organized, prepared, kind of like we were hitting on with the CRM earlier makes life so much easier. If you can do one thing today that you didn't want to do to prepare for something in the future, you're going to save yourself a huge headache in the long run. Love it. How about I for inspiration? Yeah, just dealing with people every day, right? I mean, that's inspiring in itself.

15:51um you know getting a getting a phone call that things have gone well or somebody praising your business or your guys um you know that's enough to keep things going all the time love it and c stands for commitment i reckon if you weren't committed you wouldn't have opened back up but let's uh let's talk about commitment yeah i you know i'll be honest it was a pretty emotional period for me to be honest um i couldn't get to my lot after the storm hit and you know the the water was at like 14 feet where oh yeah it was crazy yeah yeah it was up over our trucks and you know i i told my who was my fiance at the time now my wife you know i need to get down there i need to see what's going on by the time we got down there to park my car like a mile and a half away and walked across these train tracks and i got up there and i looked down into our lot and And I think I looked at my wife, my now wife, and I was like, ah, my life is over.

16:51And, you know, I think I just woke up like three days later after sulking to just say, I don't really have a choice, but to turn this thing around, I got a bunch of people depending on me. um you know at one point someone had called us to do a massive contract to one of the apartment complexes i was actually next to us that needed like 300 units moved out um that was getting covered by insurance and i had to tell this guy on the phone like hey we we can't do this you know i don't have any trucks either i'm really sorry um and i think something sprung at me at that point like hey like maybe i'm looking at this you know terrible terrible situation this horrible thing that's happened to us and i'm not realizing that this is actually a huge opportunity to build back stronger and build back better um and that's you know why we got the artist to graffiti our trucks and everything like that we wanted to build back as like a part of the community and honestly it was kind of a blessing in disguise because i feel like we were getting really complacent our fleet was getting really old um we needed a good reset i wish it didn't happen the way that it did, obviously, and it was a horrible, horrible thing.

18:00But, you know, I have never felt better about our business and where we're at and the people we're working with and the job we're putting forward for our clients. Well, you know, what I would say is congratulations on finding the gift. There's always, there's a gift in just about everything. And yeah, well done. Well done on that. So what words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow? who you know keep it simple probably um we like there are little incremental changes that you can make that will make a massive massive difference i think another big lesson that i've learned is spend the money to to do things right right um you know recently google did a change to their advertising platform and they added something called LSAs.

18:53And if we didn't discover those, I truly believe our revenue would be probably 30 % less than what it is. And they're expensive. And it's been, you know, it's a huge expense, but the turnaround in business that we've got from, from spending the money, the turnaround in business that we've got from branding our trucks and going all in and spending the money and, you know, really, you know, yard signs and print advertising and all those things. I think it comes back to you tenfold if you're willing to fully commit, you know, no half measures for sure. Yeah, no, I love that. So what's the next big thing for you and for your company?

19:35Yeah, so we recently just opened a branch in Atlanta. Uh, we had a gentleman who worked for us for a long time, um, who did an amazing job. We really respect and trust who moved down to Atlanta to be closer to family. And so we've purchased a truck down there. We started setting up shop down there. We're going to expand into Atlanta area movers. So AM as well. Um, and hopefully, you know, if things start going well there, we can start to, to vertically integrate, you know, different branches across the Southeast is the goal. um and you know if we do that we're hopeful that we can set up you know some type of call center here and run everything out of ashville where we can provide you know better jobs and opportunities to people in this area love that love that love that so what's the best way for someone to get in touch with you yeah through our website or through our phone number i mean we love to talk to people on the phone we get a lot of emails too but um you know just pick up the phone and call us Our number is right on our websites, on all of our branding and our signs around town.

20:39And your truck's now too, huh? Yeah, and your truck's now too. We love talking to people. I would much rather book a move with you on the phone than email back and forth with you. You're going to have to get on the phone eventually because you're going to have to meet in person one, probably both. So you might as well pick up the phone and call. I love that. I love that. That's great. Well, fantastic. This has been great. Really appreciate you guys being part of the community and all you're doing and all you're changing and your attitude towards growth. I love that. So, yeah, I know you're going to continue to be successful.

21:17Well, yeah, I really appreciate you having me on. This has been great. And I look forward to listening to this episode and more episodes and appreciate what you're doing for the community. Yeah. Well, and until next time, all the best. Yeah, you as well. hey thanks for listening to the epic entrepreneurs podcast here's three things that you can do number one remember to subscribe to the podcast it takes very little effort on your part it's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs plus you you guys know how it works the more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach.

22:03It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.