This is episode number five of the Coltalt startup podcast. Today's guest is Aaron Stie of Meathead Movers. Hello, everyone. This is Luke Baron.
Welcome to another episode of the Cult of Startup podcast where it is my role to unveil the original startup stories of businesses and that ranges from technology to food products, and in this case, a moving company. Today's guest is Aaron Steed, who in 1997, with the assistance of his brother, helped a family friend move. This led to more moving jobs and they were doing this as a way to make money while still being in school. And athletes.
Aaron and his brother didn't even own a car at that time, so they had a request. The clients would pick him up and drop them off. At the end of each move, they would ask the client to pay them what they thought was most appropriate, which was usually $20 and a pizza. They were clean cut, hardworking and polite student athletes.
And this make an extra buck labor service has become one of the largest privately held moving companies in Californ and is appropriately named Meathead Movers. This episode's really split into two pieces. The first part explores Meathead Movers business and culture. We touch on points of how teamwork and athletics translates to creating a noteworthy business team and how giving back to the community is one of the company's founding principles, which can be seen in how they work with local law enforcement to move victims of domestic violence free of charge.
And in the second piece, we explore innovative ways Aaron marketed the business and did so without spending a dime. Please enjoy our conversation and thank you for listening. How's it going, Aaron? It's going good.
How are you doing? Great. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I'm super excited to get into this meeting and to learn more about your company and where you guys came from and how you essentially establish yourselves as a unique brand here in the central coast and have grown to all over California.
So first and foremost, tell us about Meet the Movers. Meet the Movers is a student athlete moving company. So what we do is we have student athletes working their way through school and we screen to try to, you know, hire and retain and coach and develop student athletes and also provide superior moving services to our clients for moving anywhere locally within California or the west coast United States. Awesome.
It's a really unique brand because Meathead Movers sounds different than your typical moving brand. Why the name Meathead Movers? You know, that's just what we were called growing up. It just kind of stuck.
My brother And I wrestled and played football. So just as jokes, you know, our family and our friends, you know, calls meatheads. And we liked it. We thought it was catchy.
And then before we knew it, the business caught on to a degree where we felt like we really couldn't turn back. In the earlier years, I would say year five, six, seven into the business, I was advised by multiple people. I really respect branding experts who urged me to change the name, but I just didn't feel compelled to do so because every year we kept getting bigger and bigger and now 19 years later, everyone thinks it's genius. So whatever.
What were the branding experts saying about meathead movers being a poor choice of name? Negative connotation will never catch on any new markets. It was clear we wanted to open up offices in new areas. And without the local story and the small town appeal of our hometown San Luis Obispo, how will it work in the orange counties in the Los Angeles and the San Franciscos of the world?
And. And I think, you know, it's catchy. I think people, once they hear it, they don't forget it. And it piques some curiosity.
And when people scratch the surface, whether they talk to us on the phone, check our website, they can tell we're a lot more than just a typical moving company. And last year was our 18th year in business. We grew 43%. So it's.
So it's working something. Yeah. That's incredible. It's easy to grow when you're small.
Right, right. 43%, was it, is it 16 years down the line? 18 years down line. 43% in your 18.
Congratulations for doing it. Thank you. Yeah, no, it takes totally different skill set, different business systems and platforms. But yeah, we're excited and it's a good, exciting time here at MEHT Movers.
Incredible, Incredible. So I love this. When I first heard about meathead movers, the initial concept that I heard was that these are movers that are student athletes. But part of the, I guess you could say almost gag of it was that these are buff guys that are running in and out of your house, moving stuff.
Was that really part of your brand at one point? Oh, absolutely. Well, I think to a degree. Right.
I mean, we've diversified more now. We also have princess packers. We're heavy on the storage business now. But our core, who we are, our roots, the foundation is clean cut student athletes who move heavy things.
And whether or not they run to get more and more, our clients love it because they pass on hourly rates to get the Job done quicker. Our employees love it because they truly are student athletes, are physically fit and drug free and focused and determined. And they view this job much like a sporting event. And there's also a certain amount of peer pressure to keep up and to hold your own and do well on the job.
So, you know, either you're really into the physical fitness, competitive aspect and you love it, or you think we're insane and you think it's way too hard of a work. So it either clicks or it doesn't with people. Definitely understandable. I feel like I kind of got the brand right away.
Cool. Good. You mentioned some unique things there that I remember. Albright High School, I played football.
That seemed like values that you have within that team. Right? You know, playing football. Is that the same core values you try to instill within workers in the first.
Oh, absolutely. You know, so much of what we have learned and where we come from is from our athletics background. So we, we, I feel like I, we understand and are in many ways embody the, you know, the athletic mindset. And now our business is about attracting, retaining, you know, student athletes, male and female, and trying to provide the best possible college job experience for them.
So we, not only the job itself, we work on our school and athletic schedules. They tell us when they can work and give them work around that there's plenty of ways to move up. We make it crystal clear what you need to do in order to move up to the next level. And there isn't a manager authorizing, oh yes, now you get promoted.
How it works is we've defined all of the things you need to know and all the things you need to show that you need to be able to competently perform. And then a supervisor sign off vouching for your competency and then once they have been signed off, then boom, they're promoted. And there are six, six to seven different positions within operations as to how you can get promoted. So the athlete who likes to be competitive, who likes to push themselves, who likes to reach new heights, we're able, I think, to keep them engaged and informed while turning them into, you know, better employees and movers in the process.
I like that. That seems like a fair evaluation of an employee. Like traditionally, most book of, well, ex managers is the one who's giving me permission and all hinges on whether or not he or she likes me. Right.
But you have confidence the core things down and they're completed well, there's no reason to not be promoted. True. Well, in some businesses, if it's not A revenue producing position for, you know, cost reasons may want to limit the amount of promotions. Whereas with us, the more managers we have, the more promotions we have, the more jobs we can do.
So and because we, you know, pay them in charge only when they're at work, it really is a great win. So did you guys eventually come to that conclusion or was that something that a mentor or consultant advised you to do? You know, it was something that I don't, I don't remember the aha moment in regards to setting up the structure of our training promotion system that way, but it just made sense to us. You know, just, it just, it really just made sense to us.
And what it also does is it gives existing managers and leaders in the workforce the opportunity to train and develop others. And that's why instead of a manager, we call all of our, all of our folks who are, you know, they're managers, team captains or mentors because they're really training and mentoring the next wave of meatheads and princesses to get promoted. There's a sense of obligation to do well. I think with that title manager, I think it's controlling the team captain or mentor advisor is a very specific type of person.
That's exactly right. And you know, there's also accountability to it as well. For example, if a refrigerator falls off of the dolly. Yeah.
It creates a horrible situation. Go suddenly down the stairs. We will look back on that person's, on the employee that did that and see who signed them off on securing a fine stally, and then we'll talk to that person and the person that signed them off. Okay, so they're both responsible to some degree.
Absolutely. I really do like that. So you got to train well in order to do well. That's right.
And the more clear you can make your expectations to everybody, to your employees, to your customers, what you need to do to move up and empower them and stay out of the way. I think you really unlock the internal motivation that lies in most of us. But a lot of people are, you know, scared to ask for the promotion. A lot of people are nervous to.
If they're, if they're not clear on what they need to do to get to the next level, they just simply won't do it. But if it is clear and if it's within their reach and you, you are encouraging your people to take the next step and to take a more responsibility and more pay, you can really, you know, that's where the magic happens. And it's, it's really, it's really great to see and I'm really proud of a lot of our people here. That's awesome.
And do most employees that come in, are they motivated through those means? I think so. We ask our employees not only where do you see yourself with this company six months a year from now, but we also ask them, where do you want to see yourself in your life three to five years from now? And our job as leaders is to help them connect the dots.
Where do you want to end up? And then here. And then help advise and coach and mentor them as far as how to actually get there. Awesome.
So we spoke a little bit earlier about a leadership program that movers offers. Is that program or is that a separate piece? No, it's all, it's all part of it. Um, so in short, what we're trying to do is be the ultimate stepping stone job for student athletes.
Okay. So that's your niche right there. Absolutely. And what we have realized is just being a good college job isn't enough in order to really be the best company to have the biggest impact in our employees lives, which we have a unique opportunity to do.
So currently at 340 employees. Why not, why not go? Why not make as big of an impact as possible? So we do a couple things.
Number one, when we hire them, we ask that question, where do you want to see yourself three to five years out and you have two choices. Either your own successful career path or help us open up another meet at mover office. And then we make it clear all the different offices that we want to open up. And then we show them where we're at and what our initial plans are.
And it just turns out about 98% of our employees want to do something outside of meat moveovers. They want to become dentists, firefighters, start their own business, personal trainers, things of that nature. So then we back in. Okay.
How is this job going to help you get there? And it just so happens by working at me time movers, you're gonna be able to manage dozens of people within the first year. You're gonna get excellent practice, problem solving high stress situations, you know, learning how to execute and explain legal contracts, how to operate commercial equipment. You know, we're shooting for the firefighters.
Okay. And, and being able to I think, identify the experiences you're gonna get here and know that this is gonna help your future self. Provides a lot in their minds, I think a lot more value to. It's not just college job.
They're gaining experiences that can help them out. And you know, when an Employee has a bad day and they have a customer, it's really difficult. And we know they want to learn business one day. You know, we say, well, when you have your business, you're gonna let their full customers.
Cool. Now's a great time to practice. You know, that's my life. How you identify in the moment that there's more practicality to what's going on, rather than just, hey, you had a bad day, you know, that customer is your fault.
Well, yeah, if you own your business, that you're motivating them towards their future goals, to understand them in more in depth in the long run. Right? That's exactly right. You know, and I think when you think about an internship, you know, people are willing to work for free if they believe the experience that they are obtaining is gonna help their future self.
So this is kind of similar to that, except for they're actually getting paid very well. Yeah. And then just along those lines of the leadership training program, we have dozens and dozens of procedures and videos that we pay them to go through where it has nothing to do with moving. And it's information that they don't learn in school.
It's things that we hope just help them become a better person. You know, for example, so they don't. Teaching school. Yeah, I don't know about it.
Not all things, but, you know, how to balance a checkbook, how to communicate your job experiences on a resume. What is an emotional bank account? What are the top reasons why people get divorced, go bankrupt? What are the top five pillars of leadership?
And then fun, quirky things like how to tie a bow tie. You know, we have don't be a litter bug. That's one of our personal pet peeves. So why not train hundreds of people to not litter?
You know, what is chivalry? Many, you know, millennials, you know. Yeah, it's not a present mind thing for millennials. I'd say that's exactly right.
So, you know, we focus on that as well. And then to kind of wrap it all up, you know, when we have an employee that leaves the company in line with their career goal, you know, they become that firefighter, they become a dentist, they open up their own business, we celebrate them. We have a barbecue in their honor. We recognize them.
And one of the commitments we make for employees is if you are applying for a job that's aligned with your career path, let us know. We will call the hiring manager and try to help you get that job. And I don't think there are too many employers that do that, you know, a lot of times employees have to kind of sneak around and to try to get that next job. Whereas with us, we will actually not just give a letter recommendation, not just give a reference, we will call the hiring manager for that next job that they're trying to get salon good terms with us.
And I'll be honest with you, it sucks to lose great employees. You know, that's what our business is based on, but that's what we're willing to do to truly be the ultimate stepping stone job for our employees. And I believe that allows us to hire and retain a higher caliber person. And you're going to see that quality on the move.
And frankly, it's more enjoyable to work around, you know, folks who are destiny, bigger, better things than just being career mover. Certainly. And that reminds me of a quote, but true leadership is teaching and teaching them how to learn to be leaders as well. That's right.
Is that something that you embody? I hope so. It's something that I'm certainly working on. It's absolutely top of mind.
And one of the, you know, sometimes people say, oh my gosh, I'm moving in this year for 19 years. And they think about it as if, you know, all I'm doing is moving. I don't even look at myself as running a moving business. You know, we are running really a company that tries to tap into the psychology of people and we're trying to provide the most amount of value to our employees, our communities and our.
And our customers. And when you first start a business, so much has to do with how efficient can you be at doing your job, working in the business, doing more with less, you know, begging your employees to work out that much, you know, like all those sort of things. And as the business grows, you do less and less actual work and you have to become a better and better leader. And then eventually you have to become a better leader for leaders.
And you know, and, and, and then, and it is a constant evolution. It's an incredible challenge. It's extremely worthwhile and it has been extremely rewarding. So kind of touching on some of this stuff.
When I heard you speak over this last summer, the accelerator program, you talked about the E. Myth book. Yeah. How does that relate to what you're doing now?
You know, working on the business as opposed to in the business is fundamentally what that book is all about. And then it supports that argument over and over and over and over again. A lot of business owners, they basically have a job they own with autonomy, you know, and then other business owners like myself, they're trying. They look at their business as a giant system and, and with people and products.
And how do you stand back and look at your system objectively and how do you work on the system as opposed to in the system? And you know, but before you answer that question and look at that way, I think it's really important to know where you want to go with your business. What do you want out of your life? Where do you want to see your life three to five years from now?
And, and if it's in the border making board decisions, okay, what do you need to do to get there? If it's actually on the truck moving furniture. Okay, then you probably don't need to change much, you know, or if it's somewhere between your growing. So you want to start with your end all goal and then, you know, and then work backwards.
And that will tell you how much you should work on the business versus in the business. And I'll tell you, making decision to work on the business is very expensive because then you have to hire other people to do it. And at first, usually those people aren't gonna be as good as you. And that's very difficult for an entrepreneur who.
A lot of them tend to be professionals. A lot of them, you know, their, their ego and their personal identity is wrapped up in their business. And it's hard for people to kind of get past that step. Okay, I like this point a lot.
Do you have experience you could possibly share where as you guys were growing, you'd hire somebody on and maybe it wasn't an ideal situation to hire that person on, but you stuck with it. We had, at one point I hired my chop professor, really, to come in to help us. Interesting. Because.
Yeah. And because I just did not have the skills or the experiences to help take to get our. To create a business platform. And that was.
And that was humbling, but it was also really great because I knew it, you know, it was the right decision. And as I get older, the less I feel like I have to own and know everything, really, I'm responsible for the results, and I'll give as much credit to other people I possibly can. Giving credit is free. Giving credit makes other people feel good and makes other people work hard.
So why the hell wouldn't you give other people as much credit as possible? Yeah, and I think a lot of times, because I'm a lot more confident now, a lot more comfortable my own skin at 36 than I was in my own 20s. But along those lines. To answer your original question, when I wasn't out on the jobs then I used to want to work with every single mover before I let them work without me.
And then the business grew to the point where that was just impossible. And then I really had to trust more, you know, and instead of me just giving my blessing and then people being off to go, we then worked on training programs and accountability and how to move up in the company and really focusing on a system like any great franchise. So out of that sort of degree of separation that occurred was the result was this program to some degree? Absolutely, yeah.
Because you can't really scale you very much. You can only work so much. But if you put great systems and great processes in place, that makes sense that people want to be a part of. That's fun and engaging.
That leads people to where they want to go. In our case, you know, once they get done completing a certain amount of training, they get moved up and promoted. Um, it's. It's good stuff.
And you're never there. You know, you. A lot of times people will put a procedure in place like, oh, good, now I'm done with that. Yeah.
No, no, no, no. You're always tweaking. You're always refining. Every single day, we are tweaking our internal wiki program, which is our.
It's kind of like the Encyclopedia Meathead Movers. Okay. And it's a word, is a working. It's a working document.
Yeah. I love that. It makes sense that as a company grows, you need to have those things in place to properly grow. Absolutely.
Grow. You're going to crash and burn. That easily happen. Right.
So I want to really. Let's. Let's backtrack quite a bit to day one when you guys are moving. I want to hear about how you guys marketed yourselves at the very beginning of Meathead Movers.
So was it somewhere around 300 employees now? Yeah, 340. So that's incredible. I mean, it was a handful of guys.
How did you find clients at the very beginning? Yeah. So my brother and I in 1997 were soon athletes at the hospital. High school and parents didn't give us much money, so we needed to kind of.
So we needed to figure it out. And the deal was I would just simply ask my friend's parents, hey, if you ever need any help, if there's anything you don't want to do, let me know and I'll do it. You pay me whatever you think I'm worth. And people were like, really?
I'm like, yeah, absolutely. Just me, whatever you think I'm worth. And then they're like, okay, great, we'll have this work for me. Okay, cool.
Now you'd pick me up at my parents house. We didn't have a car back then and moving became a popular request. We also did construction work, we did hayman work, you know, yard work, whatever, Anything make a buck. Exactly.
And then, and then we started doing more and more moving jobs with clients would run the truck and they'd pick us, and then they would pick us up. And after my third or fourth job is when I realized I really, really liked moving because you so much gratitude. Our clients, they really appreciate a job well done. And most of our clients have had really terrible moving experiences or really costly moving experiences.
And by then, by sure default of trusting us and us having a good attitude and trying to, you know, focus on them and their experience and compliment them in their new home and their items that they have, it went a really long way. And I. And we made more, we got more gratitude than we could have really ever imagined, you know, while in high school. So once I decided, all right, let's hone in on the moving thing, was that your personal decision or was that.
Yeah. Unified between you and your brother? Yeah, no, it was my personal decision. And I know Evan was on board.
I think it was pretty obvious to both of us, you know, but I kind of write on the wall of, hey, this is where the money's at. That's right. Yeah. And not just the money, but also the gratitude.
Because if you, if you clean up someone's yard, you know, or if you rearrange a garage, it's nice. But it's also. But if you move someone's home and they're dreading it and they're scared and the last experiences were terrible and you make that good. It's a totally different level of gratitude.
And it was the first time I really felt respect as a young man or, you know, young adult. And I was really addicting for me. Okay, I have a side question here on that subject. Do you value love or respect more?
It depends on the person. It depends on. It depends on the person. And ultimately what I'm trying to get, you know, for when I'm trying to get a relationship with family or close friends, very different though.
I'm trying to get out of my vendors or my investors. So, yeah, sorry to give you a bad answer to that. I've always heard, just, I'd rather be respected than loved. Yeah, I'm just Curious if you have any thoughts on that.
I think outwardly in the business, you know, with, as it pertains to business in this interview, I would say respected. Yeah. You know, I think, I think there's an element. I think it's important for people to know that there are repercussions and consequences if they try to do something unethical to you, you know, but I'd rather, instead of lead that communication relationship through fear, I'd rather try to pull, you know, but if that doesn't work and someone's willing to step over the lines and do something, take advantage of, you know, be my family business, you know, they're, you know, there are gonna be repercussions, you know, so, so we're, we're as we are.
If one spectrum is what's in my best interest, another spectrum, what's another person's best interest. And then there's a line in the middle which is totally fair. I'm willing to bend willingly and knowingfully a little bit their way. But once it becomes apparent that they're trying to take advantage of my good nature or you know, or being seemingly young and having name like meathead movers, you know, there eventually comes a point where you need to defend, where you need to defend you and your company's interests as well.
And we have no problem doing that. Yeah. So. And I think that's very respectable to do as a whole.
And it's a testament to you as leader that you're willing to bend a little bit, but you're not gonna break. Right. I feel like another great saying, like it's easy to get bent out of shape if you're not flexible, right? No, absolutely, absolutely.
You know, 19 years, you know, we have successfully sued multi billion dollar companies. I can't say who they are publicly, but in one. Really? Yeah.
That's awesome. And you know, we have another speed right now that is, that is kind of similar to that. And that is, and that is part of it. If you can't, if you can't be diplomatic and negotiate in good faith and if there isn't a commonality of both people mind what's best for each other, making a good win win deal.
And there's almost always a way to find a win win. There really, really is. But if you're dealing with someone who's a win lose and they're being real sick in the mud and they're unwilling to compromise and if you can't get away from it hard being business, you have to know when to Fight. You know, Apple at any one point has an average of 50 lawsuits going on.
It's incredible. I know, I know. So it's. And you know, it's not enjoyable.
I don't like it, but it is part of doing business. Absolutely. All right, so let's shoot back to where we were talking about growing the business. You and your brother had made that choice to start doing, moving as a priority because you felt that there was significantly more gratitude.
Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, the best, the best type of business you can get is word of mouth. So we always try to do things to blow our clients away. That's where the jogging came in.
That's where, you know, from early on, if the customer was happy, I'd pay for everyone to go fire stone and get some effective sandwiches. That was how I incentivize. And we would talk, hey, here's how you make customer happy. Compliment them on the things that they're proud about.
For example, when walking to the home, usually the thing that's on display right when we walk into home is the thing that they're the most proud about. You know, and compliment that. You know, if. Compliment.
If someone's moving up, you know, try to compliment on that. If someone's going through a hard time, they're downsizing for, you know, unfortunate situations where there's a death in the family or someone's got struck by illness, Try to empathize with them, really care. Be genuinely interested in them and what they're going through. You know, what's made me head movers, what it is isn't necessarily how we move dressers and boxes and refrigerators.
It's how we make our clients feel. And it's. It's how our big part of that is who we are because of how higher standards for who we employ. And we never lost that.
Also, as far as marketing, we would do all kinds of crazy things. For example, we would at the computer lab at our high school, we print out, you know, meathead movers. We'll do anything, just call us and we have those flyers and we would, you know, staple them all over the community, tape them all over. We would not ask for permission.
We'd ask for forg at Farmer's Market, which is our. They shut down the main street sounds. So as you know, we would start at firestone, we'd take two broomsticks to, you know, an eight foot banner like that. For $10, you could go to Staples, you can get a thousand business cards, and 20 guys would show up.
I wouldn't pay them to show up. I would just say, hey, this is what we do is party a meathead mover. And one guy would say meathead and then 20 other guys would say movers. And then we would hand out cards until the thousand cards were gone.
Everyone get a giant stack. And then one of our guys was a really good singer and whenever we saw pretty broad circle around her and then he'd like bust out and just start serenading her. Sing some Michael Bolton or something super cheesy like that. And everyone just loved.
Exactly. And then afterwards we'd go to Firestone and eat more Tritip sandwiches. Obviously we ate a lot of Chaitz sandwiches and that was fun. It was great for our culture.
If we really got the word out, you know, 20 guys showed up and it's a seven. It's a seven dollar sandwich. It's 140 bucks plus tax for food. $10 on the business cards.
And you know, even though he had a thousand cards, I know we made impressions of many, many thousands. It's not just an ad. You're actually seeing us. Yeah, yeah.
And you're establishing a brand, but at the same time, you've got a handful of clients out of just one session at public market. Your ROI is pretty good on that. Absolutely. And we've always, you know, most of the companies try to hire their employees.
We put them first and foremost. You know, part of our estimate process is clients get to choose which move they want on their job. Oh, really? Yeah.
Their pictures and their profile. They said select like an Amazon checkout. And then when we to the move, our clients get a text message with pictures and names of their guys. So kind of like Uber a little bit.
And therefore they know who's going to show up if they forget the name, they can look down their text messages and know, yeah, we're proud of our employees. Yeah, I like that a lot. If I imagine if I myself was moving, I would not think of, oh, I'm going to know whoever the guys are or girls are coming move. Right.
But having that, if that information was just provided to me as a customer, I'd be happy about it. Right? I'd be very happy. Okay.
Well, turns out so and so likes baseball and he's a doggers fan. I'd probably relate to that person a little bit more overall than maybe somebody else. Exactly. Interesting, Interesting.
So edit Farmers market. DIY was pretty good on doing something like that. What other unconventional means of marketing did you do at the very beginning? So I couldn't afford to advertise I haven't thought about this in a long time.
I couldn't afford to advertise in the local paper. But I did the math and I realized if you bought a full page ad for a thousand bucks and then chopped it up and resold ads to my friends still at a lower price than they could get, then I would be able to get a quarter page ad for free. Oh, okay. So I called it Slow Select Stainless of Esports Premier service providers.
So you were providing the ad space for other people and it was my ad and I called it Slow select and I had like seven or eight ads on it and they all got a good deal. The newspaper got their full page ad rate and I got, I got a quarter page ad for free. So that worked out for about a year and a half until people caught on and realized I wasn't paying any money. And it like I didn't feel jacked or ripped off at all.
But they're also kind of like, hey, come on man, like what? You're getting less, you're paying less, you're paying less. And I'm the one who organized it so you know, like I'm the one cropping their artwork. You aren't designed by trade, but then you were.
Exactly. That's extremely clever to do and very scrappy to do. Not many people think of like, well, how can I leverage this ad, save myself money, but also get my marketing out there? Yeah, well, you know, you don't come up with things like that when you're comfortable.
Yeah, I mean, you know, we, we absolutely felt the pressure of. I felt I had to answer to all of my employees to get them work. I feel like when I hire someone, I feel like I fail them if I can't provide them enough work. So I mean, I'll do anything, I'll do anything within my like legal and ethical parameters.
And you know, a couple other things that we used to do back in the day is for 35 bucks we'd be able to get these little steak signs, like kind of like what the small like four lease signs are. You know, you stick it down to the ground, it goes up like three feet, it's like two feet by three feet. You know what I'm talking about? Like election science.
That's exactly right. Yeah, like that size. So because we didn't have very good branding because our clients were using and renting trucks for the first three, four years of our business, we'd have these sizes meht movers at work and we'd stake in the front lawn. Okay.
So that way they realized this wasn't just a do it yourself move. This was meathead movers doing a move over the client. You haul the registrar truck. I think that helped out a little bit.
I probably didn't get like too much raining because it depended on who saw it in the neighborhood. And taking a sign out of the country, no, it's going to do too much. Yeah, yeah. And we did things with the same sort of sign, but it was a disposable, you know, like the political signs or said you had movers welcomes the Blank family to the neighborhood.
And we would handwrite the last name of the family. Yeah. And then at the end of the move, we'd stick that in their front lawn and then take off. So that way people knew, hey, the, you know, we were here.
That's right, the C Family. Yeah, whatever. And that we move them. So that was kind of.
That was kind of fun. Clever. What about the Best of Slow? Oh, gosh, this is my Amazon.
I really like this one. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, so the, the New Times and Meat had just a great history together.
I was, I was close to those guys. And we have the New Times Best of Slow awards where it's a local community weekly where people in the community vote who is the best auto mechanic, you know, most romantic restaurant, best barbecue, best hamburger, best local politician. All those things. And what I realized one year, and you see those little awards everywhere.
Bestest Slow. And what I realized one year is that they didn't have a moving company category. So I went over there and knocked on the door and said, hey, why do you have a moving company category? I don't know.
I'm not sure if that really matters. And I said, oh, I disagree. If you hire a bad moving company, things could go actually, really, really wrong. And here's some examples of Tilsia.
Like, you're right. Yeah, let's add the moving company category. So in 2001, the first year, when we actually had our license five years down the line doing business, we were doing a labor service. And then the license to have our own trucks and transport our clients items on household.
On public roads, they, they, they put that little line item in their Best Mover. And you know, of course we stuff about as much as possible employees. All our employees, you know, friends and girlfriends and boyfriends are, you know, parents and family. And, you know, we did everything we could to try to ensure that we won.
And the first year of the, you know, of us being in having trucks and Being able to do transport items in our own trucks. And the moving company category being available. We have the original best moving company in San Francisco County. And I remember that many moving companies in San Francisco, like four or five at least.
You know, it was a while ago, but none of them were thinking, let's be best of slow for this. That's right. Yeah. I think we totally caught them off guard.
And we leveraged that to the gills being a new moving company and now have a lot more expenses and trucks and be a little office that was paying like 950 bucks a month for, you know, we changed how he answered the phone. They found one moving company. How can we help you? We put the logos on our shirts, on our trucks.
Now when we do the meathead march downtown, you know, we would hold the bestest slow logo. Yeah, you know, it's like that thing went everywhere to me as the most prized possession we had. And whenever a client would compare us to another moving company, we say, yeah, but we're the number one moving about the community. Exactly.
Number one. We are the best. Like, the community has recognized us as the number one moving company in San Luis. Absolutely.
Love leveraging your brain in that way. Oh, totally. And I don't think other people really do that with the New Times fast and slow. But, you know, at that point, we were a licensed for one year.
The New Times was in business for 20 years. So we leverage the credibility and the recognition of the new Times and the best slow award and put a turbocharger on it. And I don't think anyone. And I think the lesson is, you know, reality is perception.
And as a leader in your business, you're able to really control the different touch points your employees and community and customer sees. You know, if I want to, I can make this office smell like pine cones. If I want to, I can change the paint and make it hot pink. You know, I could.
I can do whatever I want to have to create impressions on people. And we leverage the highest degree we possibly could to tell the community to our employees and our customers that we were the best moving company in the county. And we ran with that, and we really. We really haven't stopped.
What would be your advice? Entrepreneurs who are in a similar position to that, trying to market themselves. I would. I would say look to leverage, you know, like.
Look to leverage, like, how we. Like how we do with the. With the new times. Try to create the most amount of value you possibly can for your employees.
Try to create the most amount of value you possibly can with your philanthropic efforts, try to create the most amount of wow factor. Yeah. And value. You can't for your customers.
You know, with moving and it's kind of dark and it's unfortunate, but I believe we have found a way to make the biggest impact film tropically with our moving services. We donate free moving services to victims of domestic violence who are fleeing their homes of abuse for free. We've been doing that since the beginning. Do that in each community we serve.
I cannot think of a more impactful way than living company utilize their services than literally hoping they can domestic violence flee their abuser. I think that speaks volumes to where you guys are now. I think a certain amount of success when you get to that point, a piece of that is getting back totally as a leader. I think that's an attribute that's very admirable and should be part of anybody who makes success.
I completely agree. And it's not just, you know, oh, you know, give back because you're a good person. But it is the right thing to do for your employees. You know, Gen X and Y millennials, they want to have a higher call and higher purpose than just making money and doing their job.
And when you do something philanthropically for your business, you give your employees the opportunity to give back. That's special, that's natural. That's what they talk about at the dinner table, you know, with their, with their friends and family. Also, you know, during our 19 years of existence, we have had a couple of times where I wasn't so sure we were going to make it.
We've had seemingly insurmountable cash flow issues at times for. For different reasons. And I think once any business has grown like we have or has been around as long as we have, unless you have a never ending checkbook, you'll find yourself in some very, very daunting, scary times eventually. And being able to call upon the importance of the philanthropic services that you're doing, the importance of the value you're bringing to your employees and to your customers.
Like, we really feel like we're saving the day for our customers because we know what a typical moving experience is like. That has helped us drive that. That gave us the grit we needed to get through times where for three years we weren't making any money, we're losing money. And it was, you know, and it was really, really scary.
And if it was just about the money, I don't, you know, I don't think we would have. I don't think we would have made it. I don't think we would have had the desire, willpower to get through those really, really difficult times. Yeah.
And I sit back now where we're at. I'm like, oh, thank, thank God. You know, thank God we didn't, we didn't throw in the towel. Yeah, yeah.
So I absolutely love that. All right, we're coming towards sort of the conclusion of our interview here, so I've got some rapid fire questions for you. What's your definition of entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is someone who sees a problem and is willing to bet on themselves to fix it, and someone who's also comfortable going into unknown territory and relying on their ability to react and win.
I love that. Is it better to ask for permission or ask for forgiveness? I. It depends.
It depends on the situation. So long as forgiveness doesn't include jail time or permanent damage to your reputation. Yeah, I'd say ask for forgiveness. Absolutely.
I like that. The way you say that is like, as long as you're not gonna get thrown in jail for it, Try it out, give it a shot. No permanent damage to your reputation. What if it goes on the front page of the newspaper and if you're not gonna get thrown into jail and there's a lot, there's a lot you can ask for.
And that's actually one of the benefits of being younger and having a people give you a little bit more flexibility. Whereas if I was, you know, a student high attorney. What, you know, the difference? Yeah, sorry, what do you expect?
Any favorite movie for documentaries that you recommend somebody. Oh, gosh, their autobiography, Autobiographies are great. There's so many, there's so many unbelievable podcasts. I love the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people.
The book drive is just absolutely fantastic. Thinking grow rich is, you know, is epic. And just talking surrounding, surrounding yourself with the right people. So much of you really are who you hang out with.
That's who you compare yourself to. You people really are contagious with one another. And I think, you know, the environment you choose to be around, the people you choose to spend your weekends with and your evenings with, who your significant other is, has a huge, huge. Is a huge variable as to who you and your business ultimately inevitably become to be.
I love that. I think that that's a testament to a lot of people that those who you surround yourself with will, in the long term define who you are. Totally. I know that having a good relationship, if you don't have that positive relationship around you all the time, you're likely not going to be as positive.
Right. Without having Those people around you. Yeah. Any additional words of advice that you offer to anybody who is an entrepreneur just starting a company or has kind of got some traction going and is running with what they've got?
Yeah, I would say be true to yourself. Be true to yourself throughout the entire process. Listen. Listen to your gut and listen to your conscience and really just go all in.
You know, I see some of these guys who, yeah, I'm working right now. I'm doing this on the weekend, and when I feel totally safe and sure, you know, you're never going to be totally safe and sure, You. You get yourself in trouble. When you dig your way, you get yourself in trouble, you dig your way out.
That's. That's what running. I think that's what my experience has been running a business really has been like. And, you know, and be confident.
And if. And if you really, really want it bad enough, if you are really. If there's a problem that you're just dying to fix it, there's an opportunity that you're dying to achieve. If there is a type of life that you want and you hate every day that you're not working towards that, you are going to be haunted by that feeling until you take action.
And the more all in you go, the better you're gonna feel. And that's where you're, I think, discover your potential. And that's where. And that's where you're gonna grow.
And is it gonna be easy as it can be guaranteed. Is it gonna be fun at all times? Absolutely not. But it's awesome.
Yeah, I love that. And I feel like the victory is going to come to those who endure through those things. Totally. Yeah.
Be comfortable with suffering, you know, and I think that's where being an athlete, you know, especially. Yeah, it's not an easy thing to do. No, it's just like, you know, I feel totally comfortable suffering. I feel comfortable absolutely working my butt off.
That's exactly what it felt like in high school. Yeah, exactly. And the best shape of my life. Totally.
But it was very uncomfortable all the time. That's exactly right. And if you. If you want to do that in business, guess who won't?
Unless your competitors. Yeah, exactly. And if you do it, your employees are gonna see you do it, and then they're expecting themselves to do it. So that's pretty cool.
Awesome. Aaron, once again, thank you for your time. It is sincerely appreciated, as always. Called startup fans, you live.
There you have it, guys. That was Aaron Steed of Meathead Movers. Thank you again. So much for tuning in.
But before you head out, one quick thing. Reach out to me on social media. I'm on Snapchat a lot. I'm also on Instagram and I'm also on Twitter and I'm also on Anger.
If you search cultastartup, I am under all of those labels for all of those channels. And eventually I'll have my site for [email protected] and if you wish to reach out to me, hit Moveovers. I will include their contact information for you in the show notes. Take care guys and love you all.