Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonah Hoffmaister.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jonah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I did 2 years of volunteer work with my church after high school and came to Texas afterward to go to college and be close to family. I had to pay my own way through college and was avoiding student loans. After my first year at Lone Star College it became evident that I needed to make more money. I was also looking for an adventure and a challenge. I was studying business and figured there would be no better way to learn more about business than to start one. I had worked as a mover that year and the opportunity came up to do some contract moving a delivery for a company as long as I had my own truck and crew. After 4 months of working under this other company and paying commissions for jobs, the owner closed the business and we were left with a truck and no work. For the remainder of that year (2014) and 2015 I was in a position where I was a student full time, almost out of money, and no foreseeable work. We began asking realtors and storage units if they would recommend a couple well-mannered college students to their clients. The ball started rolling. We became licensed, insured, made a website, business cards, and printed shirts. That happened in 2015. For a short time we were so broke I took a job at home depot working night shifts to pay for the company expenses and we did whatever moves came in during the day. There were days I would go to work at night from 9 pm to 6 am, go do a moving job at 8 am, and go back to work at night again without sleeping. During the summer of 2015 we began to see the work pick up and typically the work slows down around September when the housing market also slows. We were seeing revenue growth in an upward trajectory through the offseason when the opposite was supposed to be happening. In 2016 we started to realize that this was a viable business and that we were providing a service with great feedback. We currently have around 80 reviews online and not a single one is less than 5 stars. We found that being a 5 star company in the moving industry was not about how perfect every move turned out to be, but how we handled our clients when they were stressed, worried, angry, etc. Moving is stressful and I tell the movers to view themselves as movers, but also as therapists for our clients who need some kindness and for someone to walk with them. By 2017 we had 3 trucks paid in cash and 8 employees. At times, it has been exciting, painful, sad, fun, freeing, and limiting to own a business.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Many of the obstacles are explained in the previous section. It was definitely very difficult to start without money, or business experience. We built our own websites and did our own marketing. We learned mostly everything as we went along. Going to school, going to moving jobs, and then doing payroll, estimates, emails, phone calls, and other admin responsibilities at the same time was pretty intense.
Jonah’s Movers – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our favorite clients are the ones who have had a bad experience in the past and are willing to trust us. Basically I have compiled a series of points that I have heard as complaints when our clients have hired movers in the past. ‘The movers took forever,’ ‘they broke a couple things,’ they scratched my walls and door,’ ‘they didn’t speak English,’ ‘they weren’t on time,’ ‘there were hidden fees,’ ‘they demanded payment before unloading,’ ‘the movers took smoke breaks and charged me for it.’
We have heard all these complaints many times from customers who have had a bad experience in the past. Some of these things are unique to us only, some things we are in the minority, and others are more common.
1. If our movers are slow or we get a complaint about one of our guys moving slowly (it could be sickness, dehydration, etc) we make an adjustment of the time so that the client is not left paying the price for it.
2. We blanket all of the furniture and then wrap the furniture with shrink wrap. The furniture is protected with blanket and shrink from top to bottom. This prevents a lot of damages and scratches to walls and furniture. If we do break something we work with the client to fix the item and offer a discount that would meet their satisfaction. Officially the client is paying for the minimum required coverage, but the reason we have 5 star reviews across the board is because we go further to ensure a happy customer.
3. Most moving companies pay cash under the table or 1099 (subcontract) their employees. We have all W2 employees. It’s more expensive, but is less risk for our clients.
4. We do not allow any smoking from the time they show up in the morning to the time they get back to the office.
5. We have no hidden/extra fees. We literally do not charge any extra fees for boxes, shrink wrap, tape, safes, packing paper, stairs, pianos, etc. We have an hourly rate and a trip fee and everything is included in those costs. Just simple and straight forward!
I also believe in paying high wages to those movers who are all-stars. Those are the guys who have good attitudes, care about the customer, and work hard. Being a small company, we are able to have a team of top talent. We also pay about 20-30% higher than the average hourly pay rate for a mover. Some of our guys are off the chart when looking at the range of hourly pay rate for movers. We have no problem paying top dollar to guys who are excellent movers. That model has worked very well so far and we will continue to do that.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think success is accomplishing goals that are placed on your heart. Mostly, I measure success in my business by how happy my employees are and how satisfied are my clients. If those two things are good but I haven’t made much money, I can sleep just fine. I can’t sleep when the opposite is true. I think as time goes on those goals change. Today it’s the business, but in a couple years when I have kids, it will be to be a loving mentor and father. My success will also be defined by how I use my talents, gifts, and resources to accomplish those goals that are on my heart. I think it really takes time, quiet, and patience to dig deep into your heart and really see what people are longing for. What gives us meaning and purpose? How can we fill a need in the lives of people around us? And in the end, success is only achieved if you can let go of your shortcomings and accept that you are human and the good you have done was good enough. If we get too focused on accomplishments, it will be like an addiction that never satisfies us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jonahsmovers.com
- Phone: 832-728-6675
- Email: jonahsmovers@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonahsmovers/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jonahs-movers-conroe
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