00:00:00:00 - 00:00:01:06
Speaker 2
We want to sort of
00:00:01:06 - 00:00:02:12
Speaker 2
scale one day to be
00:00:02:12 - 00:00:03:18
Speaker 2
an Uber for moving.
00:00:03:18 - 00:00:05:00
Speaker 1
this is the stuff that you used to like,
00:00:05:00 - 00:00:05:26
Speaker 1
call up your uncle or
00:00:05:26 - 00:00:06:07
Speaker 1
that's got a
00:00:06:07 - 00:00:06:27
Speaker 1
truck, and then
00:00:06:27 - 00:00:07:18
Speaker 1
bribe them with,
00:00:07:18 - 00:00:08:16
Speaker 1
case of beer or pizza,
00:00:08:19 - 00:00:09:08
Speaker 1
that kind of stuff.
00:00:09:11 - 00:00:15:14
Speaker 2
Right.
00:00:15:16 - 00:00:17:18
Speaker 1
Everybody Brian Lee here with Prairie Founders Club.
00:00:17:18 - 00:00:21:27
Speaker 1
And today we have a special guest, the founder of Clean Move in Omaha, Nebraska.
00:00:21:27 - 00:00:23:25
Speaker 1
This is Sloan Nelson. And welcome, Sloan.
00:00:24:00 - 00:00:25:12
Speaker 2
Hello. Thank you for having me.
00:00:25:15 - 00:00:34:03
Speaker 1
The super excited to talk about your business. So let's just start from the top. Like, in general, what's your elevator pitch? What is what is who do you serve and what what do you serve people with.
00:00:34:06 - 00:00:53:00
Speaker 2
All right. Yeah. So we are a moving and decluttering business. So we offer micro moving and junk hauling to the Omaha area, including Council Bluffs and, you know, Papillion, Gretna, etc.. So right now we
00:00:53:02 - 00:01:06:08
Speaker 2
our goal is to offer solutions for people in the area that don't have a large enough vehicle or enough hands to simplify their life, basically.
00:01:06:10 - 00:01:29:19
Speaker 2
So if they want to clean out their basement and don't have a van to throw all that extra junk in, they hire us. We come in and we can either take that stuff to fully dispose of it, or we also offer taking that type of thing to a goodwill or a habitat for humanity. And we do a lot of donations.
00:01:29:21 - 00:01:57:27
Speaker 2
But we also are able to bring it to, let's say, someone's house that you sold your item on, on Facebook. We can deliver that item to them if you don't have the space in your car and your buyer doesn't have a truck either. So those kind of niche jobs that a big box moving company doesn't want to take, because it's not going to make them the buck.
00:01:58:00 - 00:02:01:15
Speaker 2
We step in and we have a solution for that.
00:02:01:18 - 00:02:04:21
Speaker 1
Gotcha. So you guys kind of identified a hole in the market
00:02:04:21 - 00:02:05:20
Speaker 1
to where
00:02:05:23 - 00:02:14:21
Speaker 1
moves that aren't big enough to rent a truck or to get a moving company, but bigger than you could probably do yourself if you don't have a truck. And this is
00:02:14:21 - 00:02:22:28
Speaker 1
this is the stuff that you used to like, call up your uncle or your buddy that's got a truck, and then bribe them with, you know, a case of beer or pizza, that, kind of that kind of stuff.
00:02:23:01 - 00:02:23:17
Speaker 2
Right.
00:02:23:24 - 00:02:29:19
Speaker 1
Gotcha. So, so this is an easy way to do that without having to bother anybody and bribe them. Gotcha.
00:02:29:23 - 00:02:30:25
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:02:30:27 - 00:02:40:18
Speaker 1
So what? Okay, so, where do, like, where did that idea come from? Like, how did you how did you recognize that gap in the market? And what, prompted you to take action?
00:02:40:20 - 00:03:09:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I'm actually a nurse by background and for a couple of years, about three years, I did travel nursing. So I was moving, different apartments every three months as I was relocating for my different travel nurse contracts. And I didn't bring everything with me, just a couple of things. Or I would rent things on Facebook Marketplace or find, you know, little, little buys locally in different areas.
00:03:09:14 - 00:03:37:19
Speaker 2
And it was every three months, you know, that I realized, like, I wish I had a boyfriend to, and so realizing that there was a, a gap in the market, you know, when I don't need to have a truck to drive around daily, but it might be nice to have a larger vehicle to haul things around when I'm moving.
00:03:37:23 - 00:03:43:23
Speaker 2
And I think just chronically moving so many times over a year.
00:03:43:25 - 00:03:45:12
Speaker 1
You feeling.
00:03:45:14 - 00:03:51:10
Speaker 2
It? It definitely opened my eyes to the the gap right there.
00:03:51:13 - 00:03:52:07
Speaker 1
Yes.
00:03:52:10 - 00:04:06:00
Speaker 1
And and there's a your app is a big part of this too. You have a technical component to it. It's sort of sets you apart from, let's just say like a listing in the paper saying, we'll come help you move. So tell us about the app and how that came about.
00:04:06:05 - 00:04:48:26
Speaker 2
Yeah. So the other part of the idea in the launch of Clean Move was there's this business moving business or junk hauling business, but it lacks technology. And so it is difficult for the customers to, let's say, book or to even get an idea about how much something like this might cost them. And so you kind of forget about the idea of even using the company if you're not able to look at it online and get the information that you want.
00:04:48:28 - 00:05:15:11
Speaker 2
So making the website and the app version of it was one of the most important parts of the idea, because there isn't really any other solution like this that you can sign on. You can type in your address, you can type in what you're asking for, and it will instantly give you the exact price that well.
00:05:15:13 - 00:05:15:29
Speaker 1
So
00:05:16:01 - 00:05:18:24
Speaker 1
I could see how that would save you quite a bit of time.
00:05:18:24 - 00:05:19:00
Speaker 1
Well,
00:05:19:00 - 00:05:33:19
Speaker 1
you're actually not giving quotes all the time. So what are some other things, like as the founder or business owner operator, like what are some things that the app, and the technology you have allows that frees you up to be able to do other things, like, like obviously on the quotation.
00:05:33:19 - 00:05:37:16
Speaker 1
But is there anything else that it would kind of help you with?
00:05:37:19 - 00:06:04:12
Speaker 2
The quote is really helpful, and it can give our customer an idea of what they would need to pay. But it's also nice just for someone that is shopping around and learning more about what clean move does or their options in the Omaha area, how they can get something delivered or have their have help getting their garage deed.
00:06:04:14 - 00:06:37:14
Speaker 2
They don't have to book with us, but they're able to explore their options. It gives you all the cost breakdown without you having to enter a credit card. So just being able to get all that information to the customer without them having to talk with us on the phone, I, I love to chat. I can talk with them, for hours, but there are customers and a lot of people right now that don't like to pick up the phone and write or inquire about something.
00:06:37:17 - 00:07:09:11
Speaker 2
So they would almost rather try to do it themselves or ask that uncle, that maybe is a little getting a little too old to help you. Probably not put them in that position. So this is a solution that is really oriented to the generations that are looking for this type of help, right now. So the idea of being able to get on the the website and just do it all in one one, go without having to talk to someone.
00:07:09:14 - 00:07:16:26
Speaker 1
So is it fully automated up to the point of service, or is there a step where you talk to them like before you would perform the service?
00:07:16:29 - 00:07:39:06
Speaker 2
We usually reach out after all the automation is sent just to touch base like human to human. I'll send a message. Hey, it's loan with clean move. We plan on coming at this, this and this time. If we don't hear back, we'll just plan on going a lot of times back and we'll maybe ask for a photo.
00:07:39:08 - 00:07:44:10
Speaker 2
Just so we know what supplies to show up with.
00:07:44:12 - 00:08:19:12
Speaker 2
Or, you know, if someone booked us in our van, we want to make sure that the item will fit in the van or, you know, the lowest those logistics. But really, everything is done automated and we do. And we can follow up after that just to get ourselves prepared. But if in the future we aren't able to follow up with everyone after every booking, it's not necessarily part of the process.
00:08:19:14 - 00:08:28:02
Speaker 2
To follow up. It can just be through that, through the app and we'll be there. And yeah, you can count on us to show up.
00:08:28:04 - 00:08:38:23
Speaker 1
That's fantastic. And then plus, I mean, the app looks so professional. It certainly gives you, some credibility just by walking through the technology. And do they prepay then at this point.
00:08:38:25 - 00:09:07:06
Speaker 2
Yes. So at this point they would prepay. And so assuming that everything goes as planned, the right time frame was booked and everything. Yeah. Oh any more money on the day of but of course we have our conditions in terms that just indicate if any extra time is needed or if the move was booked with just one person, versus it probably needed a second.
00:09:07:06 - 00:09:17:10
Speaker 2
And we had to bring another person, then we can go ahead and and charge an additional amount after just based on what was needed.
00:09:17:12 - 00:09:21:01
Speaker 1
Have you ever showed up and they weren't they weren't ready or they weren't there.
00:09:21:04 - 00:09:42:05
Speaker 2
Not that they weren't there. Oh, but we have shown up to some, some homes where they I don't know if they just were adding more things to the, to the request or it was always in their mind that way. But just a better job that was booked.
00:09:42:07 - 00:09:42:15
Speaker 1
But
00:09:42:15 - 00:09:44:03
Speaker 1
like a little bit scope creep.
00:09:44:06 - 00:09:45:02
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:09:45:05 - 00:09:51:29
Speaker 1
A little bigger. Gotcha. Okay, great. Well, hey, why don't we take a look at the app? Why don't you take us, give us a little tour through it?
00:09:52:02 - 00:09:52:21
Speaker 2
Sure.
00:09:52:24 - 00:09:54:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Take us through. Clean move.
00:09:54:15 - 00:10:25:14
Speaker 2
Okay, so this is our website. It's my clean move.com. It'll take you to our home page, which is the page where you can actually go ahead and book a clean move. So right on front, you can either click moving or junk with moving. Obviously there's going to be two addresses to type in where you live and where you are or where whoever lives and you want us to pick up an item and then where you want it to be delivered,
00:10:25:17 - 00:10:28:26
Speaker 2
or if you have junk, you can just let us know where to pick it
00:10:28:26 - 00:10:32:19
Speaker 2
up and we will take care of it.
00:10:32:22 - 00:10:34:06
Speaker 2
So if
00:10:34:06 - 00:10:35:05
Speaker 2
we just
00:10:35:07 - 00:10:37:01
Speaker 2
type in.
00:10:37:03 - 00:10:40:00
Speaker 2
Two addresses.
00:10:40:03 - 00:10:42:20
Speaker 2
it will give you our availability.
00:10:42:22 - 00:10:43:18
Speaker 2
So I
00:10:43:20 - 00:11:04:18
Speaker 2
can check right here. First step is select a vehicle. Do I just need a pickup truck or do I need something bigger, like the van? Let's say I want to book the van. And I have a pretty big couch that I don't think just me and clean move could pick up.
00:11:04:18 - 00:11:30:01
Speaker 2
I might need an extra person. I can add the extra muscle, and then I go ahead and click a date and time. Let's say I need it, you know, a couple of weeks from now on Friday, I want 1030 in the morning just moving one thing down the road. So I'm going to click an hour and it will automatically tell me how much
00:11:30:04 - 00:11:33:10
Speaker 1
what's the logic behind that? Is it calculating I guess the mileage.
00:11:33:15 - 00:12:15:00
Speaker 2
Yes. So it's calculating the vehicle. So we do have a little bit of a price difference between the pickup, the van and a big moving truck. And then we don't have any discrepancy on price for date or time. So weekends versus weekdays, those all cost the same. If you need to book an extra laborer that that does charge extra and it, it does tell you if you click click through, it tells you how that price is changed.
00:12:15:02 - 00:12:21:08
Speaker 2
And then we charge for duration of time and distance.
00:12:21:10 - 00:12:22:03
Speaker 1
Gotcha.
00:12:22:05 - 00:12:28:00
Speaker 1
Are people generally good about their estimates or how often do you are they are they off? I know you kind of mentioned that just a second ago.
00:12:28:07 - 00:13:05:27
Speaker 2
Yeah. Not often. Are they off? I think a lot of the people that work with Clean Move are, you know, there as, at least for this business, we ask that unless you want to hire, you know, two helpers, that you are the extra helper. So I think that most people understand in their head, like, okay, how long would it take me and my uncle to move this couch upstairs, you know, so they're thinking of it in terms of them being involved.
00:13:05:29 - 00:13:29:14
Speaker 2
So it's easy for people to kind of realize how long something like that might take. So we haven't had a lot of problems with the time, but that's another thing that people will reach out and ask for just any guidance on the time duration that they should book. And we can obviously offer assistance with that.
00:13:29:16 - 00:13:30:14
Speaker 1
Nice.
00:13:30:16 - 00:14:05:26
Speaker 2
Yeah. So you can get that whole price breakdown and it will take you right to, your confirmation details and everything. And then you would have the ability to pay. But before we ask you for any payment or any in your information, you can figure out exactly the cost breakdown and what you might. Oh, so makes that makes that really nice for the customer to figure out, you know, with their budget, what they can afford and how easy we can make it for for them to get some help.
00:14:05:28 - 00:14:20:02
Speaker 1
So I've got some questions for you about the, about your pricing. Like, how how hard did you have to think about it? How often have you changed it? Have you? Is it on the nose? Is it still a still work in progress like, that's, business owners are office obviously obsess over pricing.
00:14:20:08 - 00:14:51:18
Speaker 2
Yes. And we started off low, because we wanted to bring in customers. And that's what really helped calculate what we wanted to charge. Right in the beginning was like, how can we be the lowest cost in the area by far? So we to look at, you know, how much does it cost to rent a U-Haul? Obviously, you don't get someone to help you when you're renting a U-Haul.
00:14:51:21 - 00:15:15:16
Speaker 2
So even if we charge the same amount, if we were, you know, offering our service as well as the van, we're already a better deal. But we were like, let's go a little less. So just wanting to be able to, shout from the mountaintops like we have an affordable solution. So that's what we started with.
00:15:15:16 - 00:15:33:10
Speaker 2
And we have, I believe it was only one time increase. Our prices just because. While we love to offer the solution for that type of price, even our customers were very surprised. Our affordable price.
00:15:33:13 - 00:15:34:29
Speaker 1
And that's always a good sign.
00:15:35:01 - 00:16:02:04
Speaker 2
Yes it is. And they're like, oh well. And you know, a lot of our customers have hired us in multiple times. And then even seeing the increase in price, there were more than happy to pay for it because our current prices still reflect something lower than what you would probably find any, any other day that we got any other business.
00:16:02:07 - 00:16:39:11
Speaker 2
So what we really want to do, especially in this first year of reaching out to potential customers, is being able to offer them an affordable price. Then we can really gain a lot of their trust and have them tell more people about clean move. And as we are able to scale the business, hopefully able to increase prices as, as needed, just for the, the business itself, but keep, keep everything really low for the customer.
00:16:39:14 - 00:16:47:06
Speaker 1
Gotcha. So you're comfortable, right now with where it's at. But obviously everyone loves to would love the opportunity to be able to make more money in the future.
00:16:47:08 - 00:17:15:24
Speaker 2
Right? I mean, the number one way to raise revenue for a business is to raise the the price of your product. You know, you can cut costs elsewhere, but the the easiest and most effective way to have more revenue is to raise your price. So but we like I said, we've only done that once. And it was because we realized we were grossly under charging.
00:17:15:26 - 00:17:30:08
Speaker 2
And this is a labor laborers job. And so not only are people willing to pay for the help, they, they want to pay a fair price. So, yeah.
00:17:30:10 - 00:17:45:20
Speaker 1
I noticed you have a tipping option on there. I'm curious from the business standpoint, do you, do you factor that in or is that like a nice icing on the cake? Like, do you need the tip to cover expenses or like, how does that fit in and what percentage of people you typically do.
00:17:45:22 - 00:18:09:11
Speaker 2
Yeah. So we didn't have that on the website to begin with. And our customers were asking about it. So like I have after should I have cash. Do you have a Venmo? So we just decided to add it as an option on online. We don't expect it. We don't count on it. We don't calculate it into our budget.
00:18:09:14 - 00:18:18:18
Speaker 2
It was just something that our customers kind of pointed out to us. And so it it was added.
00:18:18:21 - 00:18:22:14
Speaker 1
And do you find that's a significant source of revenue to most people tip or like,
00:18:22:14 - 00:18:23:04
Speaker 1
no.
00:18:23:04 - 00:18:56:01
Speaker 2
And I don't really expect it, especially before the service. Because when you pay on online it, it's before you have the clean moved on. Anyway. So sometimes after the job you know that they'll hand they'll hand us the 20 or something. But we don't count on that. It's not something I really expect or we will see maybe someone adding 10 or 15% when they pay on the website.
00:18:56:03 - 00:19:07:05
Speaker 2
But since the cost is so low and the jobs are typically pretty quick and easy, that 10 or 15% is like $6 or something.
00:19:07:13 - 00:19:07:25
Speaker 2
Sure.
00:19:07:28 - 00:19:13:23
Speaker 2
So less than you would probably have a a mover anyway.
00:19:13:26 - 00:19:25:04
Speaker 1
Gotcha. So, once they go through all that, what kind of automations or on the back end, do they get automated emails like immediately and then before the move, or what kind of infrastructure do you have for that between?
00:19:25:06 - 00:19:25:23
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:19:25:26 - 00:19:27:07
Speaker 1
So the move.
00:19:27:09 - 00:19:58:20
Speaker 2
Right now on the back end, since we're starting off slow and just getting everything out there, we prefer to send out those emails manually just so that we can keep track of everything and have a more personal chat, potentially, with whomever we are serving. So right now, when we get a booking, the backend will email, we move.
00:19:58:22 - 00:20:20:25
Speaker 2
And I obviously have that that email and I will look at that. It shows me the date and time that they booked the duration if they have or how much they paid. It tells me everything that the website told the customer, and then I prefer to go in and send them either a text message or an email myself.
00:20:20:25 - 00:20:27:28
Speaker 2
Just myself, and confirm the details.
00:20:28:01 - 00:20:43:21
Speaker 1
How about customer acquisition? I know you guys. I see you on social media. What other ways have you used to get customers? And I know referrals are a big part of it, but but getting people in the door in the first place, like, what do you do to get people in the door?
00:20:43:23 - 00:21:08:07
Speaker 2
I have such great friends, I think. I don't know how I how, but so many of our customers have been referrals, not even just from other customers, but just in the mind that they'll be sitting at their, you know, breakroom lunch table. And someone will be like, yeah, like I found this large chest on Facebook, but like, I have no idea how I would get it at home.
00:21:08:07 - 00:21:33:04
Speaker 2
And they're like, wait, I do those calls. They'll send us, they'll send their friend the link, and then I'll usually get a text like, hey, you might get an employee or a, a booking from someone named this. And so I really appreciate those as well. But yeah, so we've had a lot of word of mouth.
00:21:33:06 - 00:21:53:21
Speaker 2
Use and then also using Instagram, Facebook and just chatter I suppose around Omaha I've got a big you've got a big group of friends. So just making that community smaller by, by spreading that word around Omaha.
00:21:53:24 - 00:21:59:11
Speaker 1
Have you had any luck with SEO or showing up on search results, or is that a tough game nowadays?
00:21:59:13 - 00:22:47:12
Speaker 2
So currently not putting any of our budget towards that we have dabbled in it didn't seem to boost any of, bookings. Maybe we got a little bit more, visibility online, but it didn't pan out. So, at least right now when especially in the winter, we see a little bit less traffic for moving. It's not something we're spending or allocating our budget towards, especially since we see such so much better of a result from sharing Instagram stories or posting on Facebook.
00:22:47:15 - 00:22:58:22
Speaker 2
That that's really what is bringing in our customers versus when we had the, the Google search ads.
00:22:58:24 - 00:23:19:20
Speaker 1
So if I'm thinking, you know, if I was thinking about setting up a business like this, the biggest roadblock in my head would be that app that seems like that's fairly complex. And I know you've got some good connections, you've got some people around you to help build it. But tell us about, the challenges and how you executed coming up with that really slick app.
00:23:19:28 - 00:23:52:23
Speaker 2
Yeah. So we are coming up on a year sort of of of clean move and the, the pre-birth. So the idea and then the building of the app, that part really took a lot of, a lot of hours. So troubleshooting trying out like, you know, pretending to book something, checking the emails, seeing how all the automation and that stuff worked.
00:23:52:26 - 00:24:22:24
Speaker 2
Luckily I do have family and friends that are in the tech world, and they did a lot of that work and did countless hours after work just, to dedicate to creating clean move because like I said, there wasn't going to be a clean move without the technology because we all have the uncle or the the friends boyfriend that can come pick something up.
00:24:22:27 - 00:24:31:23
Speaker 2
But it's it's the gap in the market where there's no way to do that online, basically. Right.
00:24:31:26 - 00:24:37:04
Speaker 2
We want to sort of scale one day to be an Uber for moving.
00:24:37:07 - 00:24:51:24
Speaker 2
Yeah, you can hop on the app. You can book someone and they'll show up. So that part of creating the technology for Kane was really the basis of the idea.
00:24:51:24 - 00:25:19:27
Speaker 2
And so it was important for us to get something really slick and really easy for the customer to, to use for our first year, where we're really just trying to get the word out, we're trying to get to business, but most importantly, we want people to come to the website and see how easy it is and know, like, oh, I'm not moving right now, and I don't have any, you know, antiques to sell right now.
00:25:19:27 - 00:25:48:11
Speaker 2
But when I do, I already know this really easy, awesome app clean move that I can use. So that was one of the most important parts before launching. So that took about two and a half, three months to really work on every single day. And that in May we we had what we call a MVP, minimal viable product.
00:25:48:13 - 00:26:11:17
Speaker 2
And we just we launched that, made this and been really working on tweaking things and finding our like niche market ever since. But having that product and pushing it out there to the customer was really important to us to be able to get the information we need to make it better.
00:26:11:19 - 00:26:13:27
Speaker 1
Two months sounds really fast to me.
00:26:13:27 - 00:26:14:22
Speaker 2
Yeah,
00:26:14:25 - 00:26:16:13
Speaker 2
I didn't feel like it.
00:26:16:16 - 00:26:17:10
Speaker 1
It didn't feel like it.
00:26:17:10 - 00:26:17:20
Speaker 1
No.
00:26:17:21 - 00:26:24:25
Speaker 1
So how much time was between the concept and then starting to design it?
00:26:24:27 - 00:26:26:16
Speaker 2
Oh, not a lot.
00:26:26:18 - 00:26:29:09
Speaker 1
So this all kind of came together last year.
00:26:29:12 - 00:26:54:04
Speaker 2
The idea was like, oh, this, this isn't needed. It's the Omaha. I know in some big cities you can find, you know, a lot of users on something like TaskRabbit or those, those types of apps. But especially in Omaha, we don't see a lot of.
00:26:54:06 - 00:27:18:03
Speaker 2
People using those apps, or even the laborers using the apps that'll offer the labor. So there is definitely a gap around the area. So once the idea popped up, it was like, okay, we're starting. We're starting to build. Yeah. We're not waiting to think of a new idea for a random business one day, you know, it was this is a good idea.
00:27:18:03 - 00:27:20:28
Speaker 2
Let's let's run after it.
00:27:21:01 - 00:27:41:01
Speaker 1
What? I love to know what other technology, what technologies business owners use. Obviously, you've got your main app, but what other, like, third party, applications do you use, whether that be CRM, even just general email? AWS like what are some what are some services that you use technology wise to help you run the business
00:27:41:04 - 00:27:43:29
Speaker 1
right now?
00:27:44:01 - 00:28:20:25
Speaker 2
Obviously we hope to grow, and I'm sure we'll need more and more technology to help us run the business. But as such, a labor intensive business, like the the outer end, really all it all it took or all it requires is the technology we needed to automate the website, and then we like to log things just in, in Excel right now and trying to think if there's anything else we use, stripe for payment.
00:28:20:27 - 00:28:33:19
Speaker 2
And so that right now is what we use for credit card payments on the website. So the technology there is integrated with the McLean move.com.
00:28:33:22 - 00:28:35:00
Speaker 1
Gotcha.
00:28:35:02 - 00:28:41:04
Speaker 2
But other than that we we are mostly manual labor.
00:28:41:07 - 00:28:56:13
Speaker 1
Well, keeping it lean is smart too. Yeah, I know a lot of people overwhelm themselves with too much at the beginning. What are some of the regulatory things you have to do like to, for example, do you collect taxes? Is that a taxable business? What are some things you have to do that are kind of the boring.
00:28:56:16 - 00:28:56:21
Speaker 1
Yeah,
00:28:56:25 - 00:28:58:24
Speaker 1
stuff with the state and all that.
00:28:58:28 - 00:29:37:24
Speaker 2
Yeah. So that's what we we've been using Excel to keep track of all of our, our our bookings. And you know, we have all of our customers information that we'll need for the move. But we'll, we'll keep track of payments including taxes. So the website does estimate tax for us. And we'll charge the customer. And so any time that we have money come in, we make sure that we in our spreadsheet have, you know, the cost breakdown.
00:29:37:24 - 00:30:09:02
Speaker 2
And we have the tax that is separated. So we know what it's going to be used for taxes come the spring. So even the second clock struck midnight. Not for 2026. We're like okay, we have to really start thinking about our taxes and make sure we have everything lined up. We've kept a really good log of everything, and that is really the boring part is just logging everything.
00:30:09:04 - 00:30:39:18
Speaker 2
But obviously we know that's going to come in handy. Come 20, 26. We have some friends that have small businesses as well. And so we have had some coffee dates and whatnot just to talk about what tax season will look like for a small business owner and. Talked talk to those other business owners about, you know, what things we might want to be logging and saving.
00:30:39:18 - 00:30:43:13
Speaker 2
So our friends have been really helpful to.
00:30:43:16 - 00:31:02:29
Speaker 1
And so what are some of the things that you discovered after you got into it as a founder business owner that you, that you have to do on a weekly or monthly basis that maybe you weren't expecting or I don't know, that aren't as fun. I mean, the thing that comes to my mind is probably all that data collection and
00:31:03:01 - 00:31:03:08
Speaker 1
stuff
00:31:03:08 - 00:31:05:28
Speaker 1
that you having to do, but tell me more.
00:31:06:01 - 00:31:38:19
Speaker 2
The data collection is it's one thing that we is boring, but we don't want to ever get behind on. So instead of doing that on, let's say like a weekly or monthly basis, we do that, you know, immediately after each move. So just staying on top of that in time. So we don't forget any details we might need with clean move the things that are more labor intensive or boring or things I didn't expect to be doing.
00:31:38:19 - 00:32:09:00
Speaker 2
So often those are more things like, oh, I'm like driving from my home in East Omaha to the Bennington, Waste Management, site. And, you know, just those right now, I don't have any employees. I'm doing this by myself or with and friends that are willing to just hang out with me and help me. So it's it's a muscle business as much it is.
00:32:09:03 - 00:32:34:27
Speaker 2
It is the tech side that was the original vision. But until we reach a scale that makes sense to start having a payroll or, or employees, it's it's a self run business. So it includes everything, including the gross part or the heavy lifting.
00:32:34:29 - 00:32:57:19
Speaker 1
Well, I think it's a real inspiration. I mean, especially since you did this while having a full time job. And a lot of our listeners, have a full time job and they're thinking about starting a business. And so what kind of advice could you give to them? Like, how did you, how did you segment off enough time and how do you structure your days and weeks so that you keep things moving forward?
00:32:57:22 - 00:33:26:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. So after work every single day, allocating one hour and one hour to either your pitch that you want to pitch to your, friends or family asking that, you know, how they think of your idea, accepting a lot of feedback from them and being able to take that to basically make what we referred to as an MVP.
00:33:26:07 - 00:34:01:26
Speaker 2
And once you have something, just get out there and do it because you're never going to know from your customer what they want or what they need if you don't have the product out there. So, and it might sound silly, but I think my advice would be to not wait. Don't sit on on your idea. Just start building the product, get it out there and then see what see what you need to do to refine the product by by using it or by having it available for the customer.
00:34:01:26 - 00:34:02:15
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:34:02:17 - 00:34:03:23
Speaker 1
So in the wild.
00:34:03:25 - 00:34:27:19
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Just being able to allocate, let's say an hour every night, you're going to sit down and you're going to spend that hour and you're going to want to keep going. So, it's time consuming, but you're going to start spending maybe 2 or 3 hours at night after work working on something. Once you get a groove and then next thing you know, you've put like 80 hours into this.
00:34:27:22 - 00:34:30:22
Speaker 1
And you don't you don't necessarily have a type of job where you can, like, sneak away.
00:34:30:22 - 00:34:31:16
Speaker 2
And I don't.
00:34:31:21 - 00:34:32:12
Speaker 1
Work on the side.
00:34:32:12 - 00:34:58:17
Speaker 2
Either. It's not something I can do at the hospital, and I don't even have my own computer there. You know, I can get on email there, but that's about it. I'm. I'm boots on the ground working with patients. So it is a different a nice change of pace when I go home and, and can just sit down at a computer and do work, because it doesn't feel like my usual work.
00:34:58:19 - 00:35:18:15
Speaker 2
So I do understand with people that already have a technology job or a job that they're sitting at a computer, it might take more motivation to sit down for an hour after work. But like I said, once you have an idea that you're really excited about, I think that one hour will come pretty easily.
00:35:18:17 - 00:35:34:02
Speaker 1
I find that too. It's like if it's something you're excited about, you kind of that gives you energy, but it's a matter of just getting started. And I like what you said. We're just to tell you, just to tell yourself an hour that may end up being three, but just at least an hour
00:35:34:05 - 00:35:51:15
Speaker 1
going on it. Yeah. Tell me about, what are some of your inspirations, whether that be books or other business leaders or podcasts or friends or like, what are some, what were some places you went for inspiration and also just some knowledge to get something off the ground?
00:35:51:17 - 00:36:19:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So my sister is actually a small business owner. She was able to quit her real job, corporate job in 2020, and has been her own boss for now, six years. And that's great. Yeah. I love her jokes about, you know, like, let me see if my my boss will give me PTO for that. Or, you know, she's always making jokes about being her own boss, right.
00:36:19:17 - 00:36:46:05
Speaker 2
That's really it's been inspirational to watch her grow and watch, you know, her creativity take over because she's she's in charge of what comes through the door. Really. So just seeing the kind of autonomy that she has in her life because of the business that she started and that she runs on a day to day, she was also able to hire some help.
00:36:46:05 - 00:37:14:17
Speaker 2
She has an assistant, and she was really able to find a niche in the market. And so, like I said, when the idea for Quinn move with the app came up, it was like, okay, how can I almost think of this? Like my sister's business where, you know, I was able to kind of use her as a an outline.
00:37:14:19 - 00:37:26:27
Speaker 2
And she definitely has inspired a lot of the growth, of clean growth, but also been spending a lot of time reading books.
00:37:27:00 - 00:37:27:13
Speaker 1
Do
00:37:27:16 - 00:37:29:14
Speaker 1
you have any you can share?
00:37:29:16 - 00:38:13:13
Speaker 2
Creating a storyboard, has really been helpful because that book, I'm not in marketing, I don't know, I don't know those things. I'm a nurse and, you know. Although nursing is like, a customer service related industry as well. Like the communication side of what building a business looks like. So being able to read up on how businesses become successful or how businesses bring customers in the door, those have been really helpful, and I plan on continuing to do that.
00:38:13:13 - 00:38:33:11
Speaker 2
You know, it's not like, oh, now I started the business, so I know everything. So continuing to learn about, branding and building the business as well as, of course, we want to continue to grow the technology.
00:38:33:13 - 00:38:43:01
Speaker 1
What are, what are some of the struggles you went through, or were there moments that you doubted or thought about quitting or like what? What are some of the hurdles you had to pass through this last year?
00:38:43:04 - 00:38:58:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. Really, it's just like the back and forth of is this going to be successful? You know, the internal like, oh my gosh, is this is this a terrible idea? But.
00:38:58:11 - 00:38:59:07
Speaker 1
We've all felt that.
00:38:59:09 - 00:38:59:19
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:38:59:21 - 00:39:29:27
Speaker 2
So, the investment in the business financially was mostly put towards purchasing, a moving van to be able to offer that, service to the area. So that was a good chunk of money to put down on a van. We're talking, like, probably put down around $10,000 and then monthly having a payment going towards the van, as well.
00:39:29:27 - 00:39:56:24
Speaker 2
So am I going to be able to make enough money to basically cover that monthly, monthly? Bill. And then. Yeah, towards the $10,000 investment. So just first of all, being smart about it and calculating what I need to do to reach that goal every single month. And how much do I have to charge to be able to reach that goal?
00:39:56:24 - 00:40:21:18
Speaker 2
How many moves or calls need to be done to be able to reach that goal? So I think a hurdle might have just been like confidence. Sure. Confidence entering the space of like, can I make this worth it? Right. And so of course, ten times I was like, no, I need to this is bad. We should we should back out.
00:40:21:18 - 00:40:46:28
Speaker 2
We should wait. We should, you know, do this, this and that. But ultimately, the the advice that I have is just to start because, you know, one day you're, you're going to wonder why you never did. And you don't want to be sitting there when you're 75 wondering why you never. Yeah. Put that idea out there that you that you had when you were 30.
00:40:47:02 - 00:40:48:08
Speaker 2
So.
00:40:48:11 - 00:40:55:17
Speaker 1
Well, the smart thing for you is, is, you know, the investment was locked up mainly in the vehicle, which is an asset that you could sell.
00:40:55:17 - 00:40:55:24
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:40:56:01 - 00:40:58:26
Speaker 1
Not you know, not it won't be you won't sell bought it for
00:40:59:01 - 00:40:59:10
Speaker 1
00:40:59:12 - 00:41:07:05
Speaker 1
so you could sell that. And then the software investment was a lot lower than it would have been if you were to, you know, to pay for that fully in full.
00:41:07:12 - 00:41:07:20
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:41:07:20 - 00:41:23:03
Speaker 1
So, so that's smart. And you've made it eight months, so it sounds like, yeah, things are going fairly well. And when you were, when you were mapping that out, that math, you know, how much do I need to make? Was that on, like a napkin. Was that on the Excel or, like, how did you go about doing that?
00:41:23:06 - 00:41:59:09
Speaker 2
It started on a napkin, for sure. Paper towel actually. Right. Yeah. And then really, honestly, using the website, that Mike Lee movie.com to be able to see like, okay, how much will we make on this type of move? Because, each job that we book pays different amount. So just being able to see and estimate and and predict, you know, if we do this many moves or this many calls, we might get this much.
00:41:59:09 - 00:42:26:04
Speaker 2
It but we know that there's going to be small jobs and large jobs. So using the website to help us calculate what a small, medium and large job might bring in, and then how many of those we can reach for, or a combination of like, okay, maybe like this many large jobs and this many small jobs, just estimating or predicting.
00:42:26:07 - 00:42:34:24
Speaker 2
So yeah, it's all it's all rough. It's not anything concrete that we have formulas for, is just.
00:42:34:26 - 00:42:42:03
Speaker 1
But how how close to your expectations has it unfolded over the eight months? Is it how far off or how close to your expectations was?
00:42:42:03 - 00:42:42:14
Speaker 2
Is it
00:42:42:22 - 00:43:21:17
Speaker 2
honestly not terribly far off? Month to month we might see different, different variations of revenue. And one might be exceeding our monthly expectation and one might not make the, the goal. But overall, like, let's say at a glance for these past eight months, we are we are feeling like we're getting the amount that we expected are projected, income.
00:43:21:20 - 00:43:40:18
Speaker 1
Has it got to where I know you're at your seasonal right now? You're in the down season. Yeah. Are you sensing some sort of consistency? You mentioned you have you have have had some repeat customers and then I'm sure you're referrals probably grow as you add customers. So are you are you, experiencing any consistency yet?
00:43:40:20 - 00:44:13:11
Speaker 2
That's hard to answer, especially with like, the expected kind of role in business in the colder months. But I definitely think just as, as we are consistent with our marketing and our just talking about move, we see a correlation back. So as long as we are staying active in the community and online, we see activity on the website.
00:44:13:13 - 00:44:24:06
Speaker 1
Nice. And then are you how do you track that activity? Are you using Google Analytics or some other tracking tool or mainly just like responses on your website?
00:44:24:08 - 00:44:29:23
Speaker 2
Yeah, responses on gotcha. Activity just through or.
00:44:29:25 - 00:44:32:07
Speaker 1
You could tell if someone's searched for a price or.
00:44:32:07 - 00:44:32:20
Speaker 2
Whatever.
00:44:32:25 - 00:44:47:28
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yep. We actually do get, automated, the same automated emails that we would get if fully booked us. Yeah. If they even put in their information.
00:44:48:01 - 00:44:55:14
Speaker 1
Do you know what your, what percentage of people that look up a quote end up buying.
00:44:55:17 - 00:45:09:28
Speaker 2
Since since I use it so much to as well. Like, I don't have a so my, my number is going to be a total estimation, but I would say it's a high amount.
00:45:10:01 - 00:45:11:10
Speaker 1
Like over half or like, oh.
00:45:11:10 - 00:45:13:28
Speaker 2
Yeah, I was going to say 80. Okay. Hi.
00:45:14:00 - 00:45:14:15
Speaker 1
Nice.
00:45:14:20 - 00:45:38:26
Speaker 2
Yeah. Which is nice because, I mean, the people that know to come to clean, move, likely to come are usually someone that heard about us through a friend or, you know, they're pretty much ready to book. Yeah. And if you come on our website and you type in your information, you're getting a price that you're going to be excited about.
00:45:38:28 - 00:45:44:29
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Most of the people that come to the website do end up having a booking.
00:45:45:01 - 00:45:55:10
Speaker 1
That's great. Well, it sounds like, you know, you've got really good validation on the business so that it's really just a matter of traffic at this point. You can get a lot more people on that site. You'll get a lot more business.
00:45:55:12 - 00:45:58:02
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:45:58:04 - 00:46:11:27
Speaker 1
What is some advice you would give to someone else that is working in 9 to 5 that has the dream, like you and your sister, of being able to leave out on their own? What's some advice you could you would give to them?
00:46:11:29 - 00:46:42:16
Speaker 2
My advice is to take that idea, write it all down, make sure you have a solid plan, but then to take that and turn it into something because you never want to, to see your ideas out there in in use. And it was someone else's execution. So just go ahead, write your idea down and start the process.
00:46:42:18 - 00:47:21:06
Speaker 2
Starting a business is obviously a, a big deal. But it can happen over time in little pieces. And don't let it overwhelm you. There are a lot of people that can help you out there. We've got YouTube videos, TikToks, you know, podcasts that can, really walk you through the steps of what building a business looks like, how you can set up an LLC, making sure you're doing everything by the books, and then really, it's your idea that's going to carry carry the the business.
00:47:21:08 - 00:47:27:27
Speaker 1
And finally, what do you look what do you look forward to? What does the future hold for you and clean move over the next 1 to 5 years?
00:47:28:02 - 00:48:04:26
Speaker 2
Okay, one year, one year. Really excited just to see growth in our customers, our business. You know, right now we're running with our current vehicles, the cargo van. But being able to see, you know well our community need money and how can we scale this to what the community is needing. But closer to that five year, I'm really excited to see almost a bird's eye view.
00:48:04:29 - 00:48:29:28
Speaker 2
What does the brand look like? How have we evolved from, you know, what we started with and our idea like, okay, our clean move colors, you know, we're going to we're going to stick to like a blue and green palette because those are clean. And I will inspire, you know, decluttering and and keeping a clean way of living.
00:48:29:28 - 00:49:01:11
Speaker 2
So seeing how our brand can become it into its, into itself and what kind of the community sees clean move as and how we can reflect that back in what we present to the customer. So hoping in the next year to see a lot of growth in our website activity and our bookings and, you know, being our services to the community.
00:49:01:13 - 00:49:07:02
Speaker 2
And then really in five years, being able to see clean move, just.
00:49:07:04 - 00:49:13:09
Speaker 2
From another point of view, like how how the brand has evolved.
00:49:13:11 - 00:49:32:28
Speaker 1
That's exciting. And I'm really impressed. I feel like you've done it the right way. You've, you've taken calculated risk, but you took action. You acted quickly. It's really impressive how quickly it moves. And so I'm excited to keep following the story and definitely be rooting for you and, referring customers to you and maybe using you guys myself.
00:49:33:00 - 00:49:34:27
Speaker 2
Was happy to.
00:49:34:29 - 00:49:39:25
Speaker 1
Well, I appreciate you sharing your story with our group. And, thank you so much. We'll have to bring you back sometime soon.
00:49:40:01 - 00:49:42:08
Speaker 2
Okay. Great. Thank you so much, Brian.
00:49:42:10 - 00:49:51:08
Speaker 1
Thanks for listening. If you'd like to trade your 9 to 5 for your side venture or scale your existing business, grab the Founders Starter Kit for free at Pro Founders club.com.
