The Heavy Lifting Podcast

Sean Stein has been in the moving business since the early 80s, back when a bread truck and 15 pads was a full operation. Today he runs A Mother's Touch Moving in Melbourne, Florida, a $4M+ company with nothing but 5-star reviews, and he's now franchising the model across the Southeast.In this episode, Sean breaks down everything he's learned across 46 years, from hiring and retaining great movers, to grassroots marketing that still works today, to why bigger isn't always better when it comes to growing your fleet.If you own a moving company and want to know what actually separates the businesses that last from the ones that don't, this is the episode.What we cover:00:00 - The Origin Story06:36 - Building The Team15:51 - Giving Back as a Growth Strategy22:49 - Marketing That Actually Works43:18 - Legacy, Risk and FranchisingConnect with Sean Stein:A Mother's Touch Moving - Melbourne, Floridahttps://www.motouchmovers.com/https://www.facebook.com/AMothersTouchMovers/https://www.facebook.com/people/Boxes-of-Love/61584219412348/Subscribe to the Heavy Lifting Podcast for weekly conversations with moving company owners across the US who are building real businesses and sharing exactly how they do it.📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theheavyliftingmarketing/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571600552571🌐 https://www.heavyliftingmarketing.com/The Heavy Lifting Podcast is brought to you by Heavy Lifting Marketing, the only marketing agency built exclusively for moving companies.

Tukker Watson started The Moving Guys Alabama with $700 and a car that broke down when you put it in reverse. Seven years later he has 400+ Google reviews in one of the smallest markets in the South.This is how he did it.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Tukker Watson and The Moving Guys03:01 The Journey of Starting a Moving Business06:09 The Importance of Customer Experience and Word of Mouth09:08 Systems for Generating Reviews and Referrals12:07 Investing in Equipment for Success17:47 Scaling Smart: Managing Overhead and Growth23:59 Marketing Strategies: Social Media and Local Partnerships29:55 Team Management and Involvement in Daily Operations39:05 The Importance of Leading By Example42:38 Navigating Slow Season46:10 Military Moves and Community Impact49:34 Quality Over Quantity in Business Growth55:24 The Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur59:56 Future Aspirations and Business GoalsHow to connect with Tucker:https://www.instagram.com/the_movinguys/https://www.facebook.com/tukker.watson.2025https://themovingguys.co/Want results like Tukker in your market? Book your free strategy session with us today. https://calendly.com/heavyliftingmarketing/strategy-session

Dan John started Mover Dan Savannah because he needed to pay rent.Three years later he's pulling $760K in annual revenue with two wrapped trucks, a growing crew, and a waiting list of realtors who call his personal cell.In this episode you'll hear how Dan went from odd jobs and furniture assembly to running one of the most trusted moving companies in Savannah, and the exact systems he built along the way to keep his crew, his customers, and his margins intact.What you'll walk away with today:-The group interview method that filters out no-shows before you waste a single hour-A referral bonus structure that turns your best guys into recruiters ($100 at 30 days, $300 at 90)-Why Dan pays above market, runs bi-annual profit-share bonuses, and still keeps his margins healthy-How a $3 yard sign and one cold call to a top realtor changed his revenue trajectory-The Gentle Giant lesson that shapes how Mover Dan hires and trains to this day-Why Dan skipped digital advertising and what he does instead at $760K in revenue-What he took home from the Moving Titan Retreat and implemented the following weekAbout Dan John:Dan John is the owner of Mover Dan Savannah, a local independent moving company he founded three years ago after nearly a decade working with Gentle Giant Moving and Storage in Boston. He built the business from a single truck and a need to pay rent to a $760K operation known for white-glove service, wrapped trucks, and four consecutive Best of Savannah awards.Timestamps:0:00 Introduction to Dan John1:29 What Working at Gentle Giant Actually Teaches You17:07 Branding on a Budget: Wrapped Trucks, Yard Signs, and Looking Legit38:30 The Realtor Cold Call Script That Changed His Revenue47:28 $760K in Year Three: What the Numbers Actually Look LikeConnect with Dan John:Mover Dan Savannah website: https://www.moverdansavannah.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoverDanSavannahInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/moverdansavannah/Google: https://share.google/aIIitMin57cghr7rgConnect with Heavy Lifting Marketing:Website: https://www.heavyliftingmarketing.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theheavyliftingmarketing/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571600552571#LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heavy-lifting-marketing/If you run a moving company and you're still figuring out how to grow without burning through your guys or your margins, this one is worth the full hour.

This episode of The Heavy Lifting Podcast is packed with first hand experience from Brian and Vincent of the same common mistakes they see working with moving companies every day and an how you can start fixing them today to see real improvements to your bottom line.Brian and Vincent Moulton co-owned and operated Moulton Brothers Movers in Miami from 2021 to 2024. They now work hand in hand with moving companies across the US and see the same three mistakes come up every single time. What you'll walk away with:-Why your website is probably losing you leads before a customer picks up the phone, and the structural fixes that change that-The exact elements that belong on a high-converting moving company landing page and the ones that quietly kill conversions-How to clean up your Google Business Profile so it ranks for the specific neighborhoods you actually serve-Why posting to your GBP once a week compounds over time in a way most paid ads never will-What speed to lead really means for your LSA performance and the response-time metric Google shows customers that most movers don't know exists-How to automate your first response so no lead goes cold while you're on the jobTimestamps:0:00 Introduction to the Founder of Heavy Lifting Marketing02:48 Mistake #1: Landing Pages15:39 Mistake #2: GBP Profile29:18 Mistake #3: Speed to Lead 37:12 Outro and How We Can HelpConnect with Heavy Lifting Marketing:Website: heavyliftingmarketing.comBook a free strategy call: calendly.com/heavyliftingmarketing/discovery-callFor a free heat map of your local GBP rankings, reach out through the website.If your trucks aren't as busy as they should be, this is where you start.

Paxton Taylor has been running Ready to Move in Macon, Georgia since 2005. Amongst his different marketing funnels, he's an expert in one, direct mail.He does not spray and pray. He sends 40 to 50 highly targeted cards a month and gets roughly half of them calling him back.This episode breaks down exactly how he does it, how he finds the right addresses, what goes on the cards, why he hand-writes every recipient's name, and why sending fewer cards gets him better results than mass mailers ever did. Plus how he fills slow weeks with commercial contracts, why he scaled back from 6 trucks to 3, and how 30% of his volume comes from repeat customers.What you will walk away with:-How to find high-intent homeowners on Zillow before you spend a dollar on postage-Why hand-writing the recipient's name on a postcard changes everything-The case for 50 targeted cards over 5,000 spray-and-pray drops-How to land commercial contracts with hospitals and large buildings that need movers almost every day-Why scaling back from 6 trucks to 3 was the best decision Paxton ever made-The CRM follow-up sequence that brings customers back 11 to 12 months after their last move-The reading list Paxton recommends for anyone trying to growAbout Paxton Taylor:Paxton Taylor founded Ready to Move in Macon, Georgia in 2005. Twenty years in, he runs residential, commercial, and long-distance moves across 48 states. He has built and sold a lawn care company and a flooring business, and is currently developing an AI-powered insurance policy analysis application.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to Paxton and Ready To Move02:50 Using AI in The Moving Industry05:50 Paxton's Tech Stack09:44 Direct Mail: How to Find and Land Clients From Day 118:02 Landing Commercial Contracts22:50 Reading List for Self ImprovementConnect with Paxton Taylor:https://readytomovellc.com/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554272482646https://www.instagram.com/readytomovellc1/If you own a moving company and you have written off direct mail as too old school or too expensive, this episode will change your mind.

Jeremy Thompson has been running Swift Moves in St. Petersburg, Florida for over 10 years. He's never lowered his rates to beat a competitor. He's done it on purpose.When COVID hit and the moving industry got flooded with new entrants, Jeremy watched competitors race each other to the bottom. He went the other direction. He tells it simply, he wants to be the Rolls Royce, not the Toyota. You can drive a Toyota. That's fine. Just don't call him when you want the best.In this episode you'll hear how a 10-year local mover built 650 near-five-star, kept his crew motivated through the slow season by giving them room and not micromanaging the moves, survived Hurricane Milton and the Pinellas County population drop that hit harder than almost anywhere in the country, and is now building realtor relationships one Saturday open house at a time.What you'll walk away with:-Why holding your rate is a long-term business decision, not stubbornness, and what happens to the companies that don't-The three-prong framework he uses to diagnose why his business is slow at any given moment: jobs, employees, trucks. When one is off, the other two don't matter-Why he recommends a dispatcher or ops person as the first office hire over a general manager, and exactly what to look for-The realtor outreach plan he's building for 2026 and why he thinks four open houses every Saturday is the right cadence-What owning a moving company looked like before phone books died, and why he thinks the operators who survive the next five years will be the ones willing to show up in personTimestamps:(00:00) Introduction to Swift Moves(00:57) The Evolution of the Moving Industry(02:56) Competing on Quality, Not Price(08:51) The Reality Behind Storage as a Business Model(15:04) How to Remove Yourself From The Business(24:58) Goal Setting and The 1% Rule(40:24) Future Aspirations and Travel PlansConnect with Jeremy Thompson:https://www.instagram.com/swiftmovesstpete/https://www.facebook.com/swiftmovesllchttps://www.swiftmovesllc.com/Every episode of the Heavy Lifting Podcast is built for moving company owners who want to run a better business, not just a bigger one. If that's you, subscribe.

Justin Perez was 21 when he went to prison. He got out on April Fools Day 2020 with a felony record, no industry experience, and nowhere obvious to go. Within two years he was running a 28-person moving company as general manager. Then the owner vanished, the trucks got repossessed, and an eviction notice showed up on the warehouse door.So Justin went home, told his wife they were starting their own company, and went to work with less than $10,000, a rented U-Haul, and two guys he trusted. Perez Moving Co. is now ranked #1 on Google in Valdosta, Georgia, sitting at 4.9 stars across 100 reviews.In this episode, Justin talks about how Gary Palmer, a retired Pepsi regional sales manager turned moving GM, taught him to quote jobs correctly, document everything on the road, and deal with clients who make every move harder than it needs to be. He talks about honoring deposits for eight jobs that belonged to a company that no longer existed. And he talks about what it actually feels like to have everything to lose and know you cannot afford to mess up once.What we cover:-How Justin went from $10 an hour mover to GM of a 28-person company in under two years-What Gary Palmer taught him about quoting, time management, and client handling-How he launched Perez Moving Co. overnight with a U-Haul and under $10k-Why he honored eight deposits from a company that went under before he ever owned it-His plan to franchise into Tallahassee after dominating ValdostaConnect with Justin:https://perezmovingco.com/https://www.facebook.com/p/Perez-Moving-Co-61552582357311/https://www.instagram.com/perezmovingco/Connect with Heavy Lifting Marketing:https://www.heavyliftingmarketing.com0:00 - Intro0:54 - From Trouble to Prison: How It All Started2:57 - Learning the Moving Industry From the Ground Up14:14 - The Company Collapsed Overnight, So He Started His Own28:23 - The Mentor Who Changed Everything37:10 - Where Perez Moving Co. Is Headed Next

John Farrell started his moving company, BC Brothers Moving, out of his dad's lawn care trailer at 17 years old, during COVID, with no experience and no money, and crossed $200k/month in revenue before he even turned 22.This episode covers how John built BC Brothers Moving from a high school side hustle into a legitimate operation with 40 employees and 75% SEO market share in Savannah, Georgia. You will hear why he walked away from a market he had already dominated and relocated to Austin to do it again from scratch.What you will walk away with:- Why LSA changed everything for John at $9K/month, and the one mistake that will tank your LSA ranking overnight.- How he structured his Savannah location to run on two meetings a week so he could leave and build somewhere new.- The exact framework he used to pick Austin: population size, growth rate, SEO competition, and lead cost before spending a dollar.- Why he hires zero-experience movers over experienced ones every time, and what happened when he didn't.- How he embedded an AI agent into Discord that answers SOP questions, tracks VA hours, and generates end-of-day reports through conversation.- The meta ads angle he borrowed from e-commerce brands doing 3,000 new creatives a month, and how he is applying it to moving.- His closing line on goals that will change how you think about your week.About John Farrell: John built BC Brothers Moving starting at 17 out of Savannah, Georgia. In five years he went from two lawn care trailers and a buddy to 40 employees, a second location in Austin, and $2 million in annual revenue. He is 22.Connect with John Farrell: https://www.instagram.com/japemaster/https://www.instagram.com/bcbrothersmoving/https://www.youtube.com/@japemasterhttps://www.bcbrothersmoving.com/

Marvin Williams built a six-truck moving company in Fort Myers without a marketing agency, without a big ad budget, and without waiting until conditions were perfect.You'll hear how Marvin went from 19 years delivering furniture for someone else to running MWR Mover with six trucks, 13 crew members, and over 100 five-star Google reviews. He breaks down exactly how he landed his first commercial contract with Scan Design, how he said yes to Tampa and Fort Myers routes before he had the trucks to cover them, and why he credits yard signs, nursing home coordinators, and a phone call he almost didn't make for building the business he has today.What you'll walk away with:- How to land commercial furniture delivery contracts by leveraging the reputation you've already built at a previous job- The specific moment Marvin knew it was time to buy a second truck, and why $40K in savings is his personal threshold before pulling the trigger- Why nursing home moving coordinators are one of the most overlooked referral sources in this business, and how to get past the front desk to reach the right person- Yard sign strategy: 100 signs for $100, where to place them (storage facilities, US 41, new developments), and why you can't expect the phone to ring the same day- How Marvin prices jobs, hourly vs. flat rate, his two-guy baseline at $195/hour, and how he reads a customer in the first minute to figure out what number will get a yes- Why one bad Google review can undo a hundred good ones, and what Marvin does to keep his team locked in on five-star work- The truck buying framework: start with a GMC Savannah 16-footer, graduate to a Freightliner or International with a Cummins engine, and always bring a mechanic before you sign anythingAbout the guest: Marvin Williams is the owner of MWR Mover and Delivery based in Fort Myers, Florida. He spent 19 years in furniture delivery before starting his company in 2017 with a rusted GMC Savannah he bought off Craigslist, that truck still runs today.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mwrmoverWebsite: https://residentialmovingservicelehighacres.com/00:00 From Delivery Driver to Owner 02:46 Finances and Getting Your First Truck07:31 Going Solo In The Moving World09:29 Rock Bottom Fueled Him To Push Harder17:51 Door Knocking and The Rebel Flag House20:57 Landing Scan Designs: Marvin's First Commercial Contract25:51 Building a 5* Team31:23 What To Pay Your Guys37:12 When To Buy Your Next Truck43:06 Yard Signs, Storage Facilities and Nursing Homes50:48 How To Show Up On The Job51:51 Outro

If you run a moving company and every job feels like a one-time transaction, this episode is for you.Fernando Levario with Pro Movers of Cape Coral has built something most moving company owners think is impossible, a moving business where customers actually come back. 16% of his active clients are repeat customers, and that number only grows the longer he's in business.You can find Fernando and his team here.https://www.instagram.com/promoversofcapecoral/https://www.facebook.com/1ProMovers/https://promoversofcapecoral.com/In this episode we get into exactly how he does it:- How he closes customers in a way that builds loyalty from the first phone call- The $99 Wednesday delivery program that keeps his crew busy and his brand top of mind- How he locks in repeat rates at the close so customers have no reason to call anyone else- Why his 4,000-person client database is his most valuable business asset- The email blast strategy that stays in front of past customers without annoying them- How sending the same crew back to the same customers drives retentionWhether you're a moving company owner, operator, or just getting started in the moving industry, this episode will change the way you think about customer retention.🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts — The Heavy Lifting Podcast📞 Want more moving leads? Visit heavyliftingmarketing.com00:00 Introduction00:46 Fernando's Story04:59 Google Ads Momentum07:51 Sales Approach for Movers21:42 Hiring and Keeping A Players36:05 Maximizing Repeat Business50:33 Aspirations for The Future

In today's episode I sit with Anthony Amato, owner of Happy Ending Movers out of NJ. Having worked his own way up at a local moving company to become the general manager, he's learnt all the tricks of the trade and applied them to his own moving company. Now boasting over 200+ 5* reviews only being in business for a little over 6 months, there's a lot to learn!If you’re a moving company owner (or thinking of becoming one), this episode is packed with practical insights on:-Landing your first clients-How to constantly improve your crew-Finding your first truck & decal-The playbook for generating consistent 5-star reviews-Keeping your crew motivated-And what Anthony has planned for the next 3 years of Happy Ending MoversAt Heavy Lifting Marketing we've made turning moving companies into 7 figure business' our reality. Reach out to us today to see how we could do the same for your moving company!https://www.instagram.com/theheavyliftingmarketing/https://heavyliftingmarketing.com/Anthony with Happy Ending Movershttps://www.instagram.com/happy_ending_movers_llc/https://njhappyendingmovers.com/00:00 Introduction04:02 Review Incentives16:35 Happy Ending Movers25:36 Getting The Best Deal on Your First Truck31:36 Decaling The Truck39:40 What The Next 3 Years Look Like44:00 How Heavy Lifting Marketing Can Help You

In this episode, I sit down with Alejandro Pinto, owner of Prime Movers, to break down his journey from humble beginnings to running a 6-Figure moving business. We dive into the challenges, the lessons, and the exact steps that helped him grow Prime Movers into a trusted brand in the industry.If you’re a moving company owner (or thinking of becoming one), this episode is packed with practical insights on:-How to get your first truck and first jobs-Hiring & keeping the best crews-The playbook for generating consistent 5-star reviews-Which marketing strategies are actually working in 2025-The hard lessons most movers overlook-And where Alejandro wants to take Prime Movers nextAt Heavy Lifting Marketing we've made turning moving companies into 7 figure business' our reality. Reach out to us today to see how we could do the same for your moving company!https://www.instagram.com/theheavyliftingmarketing/https://heavyliftingmarketing.com/Alejandro with Prime Movershttps://www.instagram.com/primemoversmiami/https://primemovers.pro/00:00 Introduction 01:06 Pinto's Story 07:03 The Start of Prime Movers 11:15 First 6 Months 14:05 Paid Marketing (Google Ads, SEO, LSA)21:55 Getting Your First Truck 27:58 5* Reviews 32:38 Finding and Keeping A+ Players 39:00 Prime Movers in 5 Years Time 44:10 Thanks and Outro