December 12, 2008 12:40 PM
DC Metro/Virginia/Maryland - truck and mover available
When I announced last spring that financial problems and our inability to sell had led us to the foreclosure of our home and move to a rental home, I was blessed to receive an offer of help with our move from a reader I'd never heard from before.
Although we didn't take him up on his offer, I recognized his name when I received this email a couple days ago. I'm passing it on for a couple reasons:
1) If you live in the metro area, I would recommend bookmarking TruckBud for times when you - or a friend or neighbor - need this kind of service.
2) There are some important themes here about resiliency, entrepreneurship, how a family changes us, and making the best of adversity. Please read my notes at the end to see why.
Dear friends and colleagues,
As most of you know, I've been running a little business on the side called Truck Bud, LLC. For those of you who don't know what that is, in short, it's a small moving and delivery assistance company. You know how if you need to move a couch and you've got a "buddy with a truck" - or maybe you have been that buddy with a truck? That's me. However, instead of pizza and beer as compensation, I get paid to help people with their "small moves."
I started it to help pay the bills once we knew we were going to have a child, but it's actually turned into a real opportunity. In fact, last week I laid out a plan to replicate the business in every major urban area in the country by May. I gave myself five months to build the new site, take care of all the red tape, and recruit "Truck Buddies" in every major market. It was an ambitious goal, but entirely do-able. This ain't rocket science - it's just lifting stuff. And I've got someone helping me in every important category - franchising, marketing, Web design, etc.
However, on Monday the president of the organization I worked for called an all-staff meeting and gave us the bad news: A few of our major donors had been hit hard by the market collapse - some losing up to 60% of their wealth or business - and therefore wouldn't be able to follow through on their commitments to the organization. All told, it added up to a nearly $2 million shortfall. The president sadly announced the first round of layoffs. I was one of about a dozen people to lose their jobs yesterday.
So, now that little side business is my only source of income. By helping people with their small moves on nights and weekends, we were doing alright. However, that's not going to be enough now - I need to radically increase the amount of business I do, and that's why I'm writing to ask for your help. (No, I'm not asking for a hand-out or a bail-out - at least not from you. I hear Congress is the place to go for bail-outs these days. ;-)).
I'm asking you to tell all your friends in the D.C. area about www.MyTruckBud.com. A simple e-mail will do. Most probably won't need my service right now, but at some point, unless they have the means to transport sofas and mattresses and armoires themselves, my service comes in handy. I have a ton of good references (and as far as I know, no one has been disappointed). My customers have included the whole range of people - from those facing foreclosure to people living in mansions around Georgetown.
Needless to say, my situation isn't ideal, but on the other hand, I'm excited to see how far I can take this idea. I know it's viable, and a great opportunity, and I've been frustrated by very little time to expand on it. Now, however, I have the time to accomplish in a few weeks what would have taken months. In the very short-term, we'll rely on this business to pay the bills. In the long-term (which actually isn't very long at all), I may be able to turn this into quite a profitable endeavor.
I just need a little help. Please tell everyone you know about www.MyTruckBud.com. I wish I could offer you free moves for your assistance, but my rates are very reasonable (even negotiable, but don't tell everyone that!), and I'll be happy to give you an even better deal than my "retail" rates.
Thanks much! I truly appreciate it. And if you're so inclined, please send up a prayer or two for my family and all those who lost their jobs this year.
Thank you much,
Chris Jolma
Rather than just referring TruckBud, I wanted to talk about Chris Jolma and what we can learn from his letter. If I were a betting person, I'd lay odds that in a few years, if we check back in with Chris we will find a successful American businessman. That's because I see in his response to adversity all the ingredients necessary for success.
Money doesn't lead to success. We can see that with all the billion-dollar industries failing and flailing and hollering for bailout money. Even as we our tax dollars floating away like billions of helium balloons, the sad thing is knowing that most of the time when people are rescued they seldom fix what got them in trouble in the first place.
By contrast, I see a laid-off husband and father not even taking the time to bewail his fate, but getting to work to make the most of what he has - including his time - and to present himself in the most professional way he can.
This story-in-the-making resonates with me. When Tripp married me in 1983, he took on a ready-made family with my two daughters - plus we were expecting a baby of our own. What else would you expect of counter-culture types like we were? The saving grace was that we got married - God had his plans :)
Tripp was working as a manger of a tug and barge company on the San Francisco Bay, a job which he loved, but which proved incompatible with our family needs. Knowing he needed to be his own boss, he quit and began trying to put together a company of his own - but the banks laughed in his face at the size of the loans he would need to get started.
Still, his responsibility to keep bread on the table and a roof over our heads was a powerful motivator - just like Chris's. To tide us over until his "real" ship came in, Tripp picked up an old skill in which he'd been trained earlier - arboriculture. He created a flyer and distributed it in the neighborhood he'd grown up in in San Rafael, CA - which was where we were living. In between bank appointments, he'd take his climbing saddle and chainsaw and go trim someone's trees - shoving all the branches into the truck of our Nissan Sentra. Then he'd bring home $50 and I'd go to the grocery store.
Those were the days!
By word of mouth, he ended up with so much work that he had to hire an assistant - and being a smart guy, he chose someone with a pick-up truck, paying him a little extra for the use of his truck as well.
Soon it was clear that as much as Tripp longed to work on the Bay, it was just not God's plan. He saved up enough for a down payment on a truck, borrowed 4,000. from an aunt and uncle to buy a chipper, got insurance, sent out advertising (which I designed) - and began to watch a Local Boy Makes Good story grow before our very eyes.
Within a few years we had 25 employees and were named one of the Inc. 500 fastest-growing businesses in the U.S. Plus the best tree service in our county.
See why Chris's email resonated with me? I've seen what can happen when you work hard and try to present yourself professionally. When you don't give up and when you're not waiting for a rescue. When you allow yourself to stretch and grow.
This is a wonderfully American phenomenon. And one of the reasons I'm a conservative - because I believe in the strength of the individual and in individual achievement. I know there are others out there who are facing changes in their living and working situations because of the economic forces. Kinda reminds me of getting caught in the undertow at the beach. Yeah, it happens, but usually people fight their way out of it.
And it sure doesn't take away the joy of being at the beach.
That's the long story. The short story is that it might be a good time to think of supporting the entrepreneurial spirit. So if you live in the DC area, keep TruckBud in mind. And no matter where you live, thank God that He never stops looking out for us. Because we are made in His image, we have the gift of creativity - and so when times are tough, we need to remember to use it.
You just never know what will happen - how different things might look in a few years.
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Comments
Barbara,
Thanks for posting this! I loved your story (more than just this snippet of it). So many American stories start just like that -- a little ambition, a little risk, a little self-reliance (in the good sense--not to take away from God's help in things), and one thing leads to another. There are few guarantees in life, but this one is sure: if you don't DO something, nothing will happen.
Business is really picking up, relatively speaking. And my wife says she's never seen me happier, even considering our dire circumstances. Truth be told, I haven't been this stressless for years.
Thanks again for posting my note. It's a bit wordy, in retrospect, but I hope people think of me the next time they have a "small move."
Best,
Chris
www.MyTruckBud.com
Posted by: Chris | December 12, 2008 11:36 PM
