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Marianne Gariti – Moving Forward Senior Move Managers
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You have found Authentic Business
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Adventures, the business program that brings
you the struggle
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stories and triumphant successes
of business owners across the land.
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And today I am excited to chat
with Marianne Gariti,
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owner of Moving Forward Senior Move Managers
here in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Is that right?
Yes.
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You guys do southern Wisconsin? We stay
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mostly in Dane County, but we can
go around the whole state.
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All right.
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I just had the craziest Wisconsin
accent there didn’t I? Wisconsin.
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So I’ve known you.
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Let’s call it 15 ish years.
It’s been a while.
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It has been a while.
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So you’ve been an entrepreneur
for a long time?
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Yes.
All right.
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So let’s start in the way beginning.
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What did you do right before
you started a business?
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Well, probably we’ve probably owned
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my husband and I, have owned
I think three businesses.
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Before we owned a medical practice,
he was a physician.
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So he owned a medical practice. Ok. And then
we owned storage units for a while.
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I didn’t know that.
Yes, we did.
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We lived in Indiana, so we had the medical
practice and storage units, OK?
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And then we moved and we
sold those two companies.
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And then from there we bought a, we had an
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ink and toner store, which,
you know well, over on University Avenue.
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And so owning that store
for about six years.
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And we started doing some
electronic recycling.
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So I started getting into the recycling
side of things and helping people
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dispose of things correctly.
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And then we sold that company.
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And then I just was looking
for a new adventure.
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And I heard about this industry that I’m
in now, the senior move stuff.
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Yes.
So I want to pause for a second.
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Just ask you about storage units.
Yeah.
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Were those good?
Was it profitable?
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We loved them.
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And I think, you know,
it’s kind of right now we actually where
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our office is located, we would like
to add some storage units, too,
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because although we try to encourage
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people not to save things
and just to downsize and be done with them.
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There are situations where family
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needs to come into town and look at things
or it is just a short period of time.
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Oh, so it would make sense for us to still
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own some storage units so still in our
in our plethora of things we enjoy.
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So we may own them again someday soon
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because that was kind of the golden
ticket, I don’t know, maybe a decade ago.
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They’re pretty big still.
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It’s still a huge growing industry.
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So we went to a conference
once about them, actually.
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Yeah.
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It’s really an interesting
industry, that’s for sure.
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Alright.
I see them popping up everywhere there.
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And my rule has always
been people have junk.
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So whether they store it or not they just and again,
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I’m definitely would prefer I’m
kind of against it overall.
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I just think that people just put things
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in there and they closed the door
and you forget about them.
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So I and I really am very
big into just doing a short term.
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idea like just to get you over a hurdle
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like three months is OK, but thirty
years is not, type of thing.
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So that’s so funny.
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If you have for thirty years in a storage
room, it’s probably not that important.
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We had when we were in Indiana,
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we had a customer in there who honestly,
we never even met him.
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He had three, ten by twenty units
and he had only owned them.
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If there’s somebody owned the storage unit
before us he was one of their first renters.
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So literally he was there like
twenty years, just the same.
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Yeah, it’s pretty.
It’s pretty amazing.
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He come and go.
Come and go but.
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Sure.
Yeah.
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Weird.
Yeah.
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I don’t even want to ask
what’s in that storage.
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Is there are those storage units.
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That’s funny.
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So you got the senior move
thing and senior move
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from what I understand from talking
to other people,
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it’s a fairly new industry or someone
figured out, hey, this is a big deal.
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We got to fix this. Relatively new,
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yeah, I think basically.
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So we’re part of the Association
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of Move Managers and started
basically around twenty years ago.
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Okay. Yeah.
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So it’s been around for a little
longer than most people think.
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Yeah.
I would not have guess that. Alright.
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It’s just been growing.
There’s a thousand
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thousand companies similar to mine,
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although mine’s a little
unique in some aspects.
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But there are about a thousand
of us around the country really.
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It’s part of this association.
Wow.
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And internationally, there’s some
in Australia.
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There’s a bunch in Canada.
So.
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Yeah.
All right.
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Has that number exponentially gone up?
It’s gone up every year.
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We go to conference every year.
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So the number just keeps going up.
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People just, yeah. That’s so cool.
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Yeah, it’s great organization.
I love it.
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So what did people do before
something like this existed?
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Well, now we’ve had you know,
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we’ve had such a change over
the years with baby boomers.
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And so basically back before our industry,
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a lot of people were
not living as long, first of all.
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Oh, so they just die. Justhappens.
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And they live with family members and
their possessions aren’t quite as great.
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Alright.
We’ve moved along the curve of having
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the baby boomers who are
tend to be collectors.
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They have they went through
a lot of hardships.
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They tend to collect a lot of things.
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So as this population has aged and then
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their kids are coming up,
there’s just a whole
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round of people that weren’t around
before, weren’t in need of the service.
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Sure.
As much as it is now.
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Right now.
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The other part is that families
are spread apart much more so.
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A lot of my clients are kids live
in New York or California, and their
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parents needs to move from their family
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home into independent living and
assistive living. Sure.
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So they’re just not as close,
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you know, that they can come and help
them on the weekends or whatever.
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And so they just need
help for their parents.
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So that’s typically what’s
kind of happening now.
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Nice.
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So when you
when you reach out to your husband,
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you’re like, hey,
I want to get in the senior move thing.
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How did he react to that?
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Yeah, I think that he some
degree was working with seniors.
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So I think he’s always known that.
I don’t know that.
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OK, back Becklinyears ago.
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Back in the day.
Back in the day.
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So I really liked working
with seniors a lot.
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And I know and again,
after we sold the store,
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I had a little time where I worked
at St Vincent de Paul and I kind of helped
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them with some of their electronic
recycling for a real short period of time.
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And while I was there, you know,
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they’d get phone calls about people
who needed help getting their belongings.
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They wanted to donate from the attics or.
Oh, really?
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OK, things are in the basement.
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But they weren’t able
to physically go to the basement.
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Sure.
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And so, as I was thinking of my new
new pathway and point is a lot of seniors
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happen to be calling and they just
need some help inside their home.
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Yeah.
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So then I had networked with a gentleman
who worked for Comfort Keepers, actually,
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and I think and I said,
hey, I have this idea.
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What do you think?
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If I start helping seniors downsize
and he’s the one who actually told me
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about this and ask them,
the Association of Managers know there’s
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already like a bunch
of people doing it around the
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world.
You know, you get a good idea, right?
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Yes, there was I knew that this existed.
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I like and it was pretty interesting,
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like I found out about the organization
NASA in January and I called the office
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and I spoke with, you know, the the ladies
in charge of the association.
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We’re having a conference next month.
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Why don’t you come to the conference now?
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So I went to my first conference without
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even owning a company, you know,
and I learned from all these wonderful
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ladies and men around the country who have
been doing this for a few years now.
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And it was just it’s a perfect fit
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for this huge need that seniors
and their families want.
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And then and then we were just
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in a position to be able to kind
of create systems to help them easily.
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Nice.
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I’ve always been curious about this,
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how different business owners do something
like this, because what you guys do
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is pretty capital intensive with the
trucks and labor and stuff like that.
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Like where did you start and where are you
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now from a capital point of view, did
you rent trucks back when you started?
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And I have a small army
or how does that work?
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That’s a good question.
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So now we do own 16.
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We have 16 vehicles in our fleet.
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16 is insane.
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I never saw that coming.
Wow.
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That’s a lot of tires.
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So what we started out I’m
a pretty big Dave Ramsey fan.
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OK, sure.
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I’m like, OK, we’re going
to start an adventure.
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And of course, along our you know,
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my husband and I, of course, you have
different men going into business.
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You have some things that work
and you have a lot of overhead.
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There’s all these potential headaches.
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So like, OK, if I’m going to do another
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business, I really want to make
sure that I’m financially sound.
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I don’t want any debts.
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I just want to go in slowly.
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I don’t I wasn’t eager to, like,
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accumulate a lot of financial risk.
Sure.
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And so I started out and, you know,
we started out it was just me for my one
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of my first jobs and then,
like, was a lot of work.
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So I brought in one employee
and then I kind of saved my money.
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And then as soon as I had enough money
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to buy my first truck,
I bought my first truck.
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And it’s actually been
that system ever since.
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All right.
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To save money, we just buy another vehicle
is the need, you know, comes up all right.
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And then, you know, it it’s definitely
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it costs a lot on to own
vehicles to keep them up.
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And, you know, this guy is working
and I make sure my stuff is safe.
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So you have to be really right where
the insurance maintenance and it is huge.
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And then so
I think that that has been an expense
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that I just been monitoring
and not jumping in over my head.
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And I think some some companies might just
go and lease a truck for, like, you know,
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tens of thousands.
Sure.
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It could be it can be all over the board
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if you really want to jump
in and buy brand new truck.
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So for us, we just really tried.
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My husband’s great
at finding our vehicles.
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Oh, nice.
He goes online and he searches them out
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and he looks for some
that have just what we want.
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We have all white vehicles,
most of our Toyotas.
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So we kind of have the standard.
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And so we just kind of keep looking
out for what’s working for us.
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Sure.
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And we just save our money and then we
buy the vehicle as we feel we need it.
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I going to say I bought one car brand new
and I’m trying to sell it now.
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It’s five years old
and I knew that I was going to lose money
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on it, but I had no idea that I
was going to lose this much.
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It hurts, doesn’t it?
It’s insane.
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So I can only imagine when you’re talking
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industrial vehicles,
I think it’s even worse.
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Yeah.
It’s like we’ve just we’ve had really good
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luck just buying ones that, you know,
we’re still in really good condition.
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But they were used and it’s just been
it’s actually saved us.
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I think I’ve known other people along
the way have just spent a lot of money.
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Yeah.
And vehicles really.
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And other things too.
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But they can really just
drag you down quickly.
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Yeah, I feel sometimes with the new stuff,
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I guess there’s a pride
that probably comes with it.
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Like, hey, this is mine,
it won’t break down,
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but there’s no guarantee that definitely,
certainly had new cars, right?
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Right.
Didn’t do what they should.
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So interesting.
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Do you do you’re moving trucks like these
new vans and stuff like that or have three
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shots and then we have two
trailers and a pickup truck.
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So we got to the point that you
need Creoles for some of those.
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Nope, we don’t.
Oh, nice.
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OK, our guys have to have
good driving records and.
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Sure.
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No, we don’t have we’re not at the point
where we need cables and we don’t we only
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do our moves within the state of Wisconsin
so we don’t cross state lines.
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So we only work for the
trucks within the state.
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OK,
you know, so interesting you say that good
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driving record because back in the day
we’re talking a long time ago,
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I used to be a lot.
No.
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Yeah, well, speed like a court.
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And so I didn’t have the greatest
driving record in the world.
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No DUI wise or anything,
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like lots of speeding tickets,
plethora of speeding tickets.
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And I went to get a job.
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I don’t own installing fireplaces or
something like this way back when.
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And they gave me the job.
Everything’s cool.
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You’re going to start on Monday,
Friday afternoon.
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They give me a call and they’re like,
dude, you’re driving record is terrible.
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We can’t hire you.
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I’m like, well, that’s that’s unfortunate.
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So the next week I go looking for a job.
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I got a job driving a concrete truck.
Oh, my gosh.
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So that company,
you know, driving concrete truck,
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I just feel
like I can be way more damage with this
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eighty thousand pound concrete truck
than I could ever do with a van.
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But you couldn’t speed of the concrete
trucks without a running start.
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So maybe that was why I was kind of funny.
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Oh, I got I couldn’t
drive advanced it does.
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It haunts you those.
Yeah.
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I guess maybe the size of the company
or something like that.
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Or maybe I don’t know,
I wasn’t on crack so maybe whatever.
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That’s good.
Yeah.
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It’s one of those things.
So let’s talk about employees.
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Sure.
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Because that’s you started with your
one and then you grew from there.
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How many employees you have.
Nothing for about thirty seven.
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Thirty seven.
Thirty seven.
[00:12:02]
And how long have you been doing this.
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I’ll be seven years in February.
Wow.
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That’s cool.
Yeah, it’s been great.
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So has it been challenging
to find employees.
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I’ve been super lucky and most
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of my employees I should say,
they’re not all full time.
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So I have a few that are more full time
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in there, especially
my senior manager ladies.
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They’re more of a part time as needed
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because we do have a little
bit of variation throughout.
[00:12:23]
Sure.
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But, you know, I’ve just
been super fortunate.
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A lot of my staff have come.
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They’re friends of friends who knew
people working with our company.
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Who that sounds really fun.
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I want to come work there, too.
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So that’s happened a lot.
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And then it’s a unique group of folks
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who a lot of them are
my senior manager ladies.
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A lot of them have come from other
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careers, like maybe their
teachers, social workers.
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They work for the state of Wisconsin.
[00:12:48]
Now they’re looking for just
a little part time job.
[00:12:50]
So summer I retire, OK?
Yeah.
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And so so they just kind of they
enjoyed having the flexibility.
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And if they want to go on vacation, they
just tell me they want a month off and I.
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Yeah, no problem.
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So they like the flexibility,
but it still gives them a job that’s very
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rewarding that they really
enjoy doing very cool.
[00:13:08]
And then my guys, I just
I feel really fortunate.
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The gentleman who work for me as my movers
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and hollers and we do a lot of trash
hauling and basement clean out.
[00:13:16]
So they they seem to like the kind
of the variety of it,
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like some days maybe moving furniture
from point A to point B in other times you
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might just be hauling
stuff down from an attic.
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So it’s just very sure they kind
of like that mixture, I believe, too.
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And they’re just they’re wonderful, man.
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So that’s going to be hard work.
It is.
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And I imagine some
basements are just creepy.
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Yeah.
Or just dingy.
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And when I’m interviewing people
for the job, I try to stress I’m like,
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you know, we do work with people
and who have some hoarding tendencies.
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But for the most part,
things are just neglected because maybe
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the client hasn’t even been able to go
downstairs in twenty years or whatnot.
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So.
Sure, just neglected.
[00:13:52]
All right.
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So you got to be able to handle a little
bit of dust, debris, mice, cats.
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You got to be able to you have to be
able to handle it, the nastiness of it.
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And then it’s physical.
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So is one people that you’re
going to go home tired.
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Even if you’re not moving,
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you’re still moving lots of boxes of
books, which is moving endlessly, right?
[00:14:09]
Yeah, you’re just going home.
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But most don’t like it because they
like the physical aspect of it.
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That’s kind of why they they want to just
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be active and that’s what
they’re kind of looking for.
[00:14:18]
So, yeah.
Yeah, that’s fair.
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I used to deliver beer years ago.
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That’s the main reason I miss that job,
because you didn’t have to work out.
[00:14:26]
Right.
That’s what my guys say.
[00:14:27]
You’re the man I was in the best shape of
my life and I didn’t always health club.
[00:14:32]
You just.
Yeah.
[00:14:33]
Tossing kegs around and whatever.
And yeah.
[00:14:35]
Interesting.
Plus everybody loves a beer man.
[00:14:37]
Yeah they do.
And they so happy to see you coming.
[00:14:39]
Yeah.
[00:14:41]
So yeah.
[00:14:42]
Good luck with employees
you’re smart about.
[00:14:44]
You’re the fiscal stuff
and all that kind of stuff.
[00:14:47]
But you guys do a lot of stuff
besides just clean notes.
[00:14:50]
We do.
[00:14:51]
OK, so let’s go through the list
of all that you do for your clients.
[00:14:54]
Sure.
Can do for your clients to imagine some.
[00:14:57]
Yeah.
And choose what they want.
[00:14:58]
They do pick and choose a bit.
[00:15:00]
So basically, when people approach us,
there’s a few different reasons why,
[00:15:04]
so lots of times that will be the children
of the senior who’s in transition
[00:15:08]
who call us to physically go in and sort
through a house, a family home that
[00:15:12]
the parents were living
in for the past 50 years.
[00:15:15]
And then my step would go in.
[00:15:16]
And so you’re kind of going room by room,
door by door, all the closets to identify
[00:15:21]
the items that are still
important to them.
[00:15:23]
All right.
[00:15:23]
And figure out, like,
what they would still like to tag.
[00:15:26]
You have a sticker system tag
and bring to their new space.
[00:15:29]
You’ll fall out and make sure
what they want to bring will fit.
[00:15:32]
And then we try to find ways.
[00:15:34]
And for the items that the family either
[00:15:37]
wants to keep items will ship ship items
to them around the country or wherever.
[00:15:41]
And then we have avenues to sell
and donate items that have some value.
[00:15:45]
We have we have our
partners lined up for that.
[00:15:48]
And then we always do a round of recycling
and trash and then we do clean out.
[00:15:52]
Well, we usually we usually
first clean the house.
[00:15:55]
So it’s prepared to go on the market.
[00:15:56]
So we spent some time with that cleaning
[00:15:58]
phase where we might bring
in a handyman or a painter.
[00:16:02]
We have to pull carpet if there’s like
[00:16:03]
beautiful wood floor under up
and just fixing stuff, OK?
[00:16:07]
Yes, we do a lot of that little handyman
[00:16:08]
work after we kind of have our clients
moved and settled into a new space.
[00:16:14]
With that, though,
when we’re doing the actual move part,
[00:16:17]
we are also doing the packing
and unpacking our client’s items and we’re
[00:16:22]
trying to recreate their
smaller apartment.
[00:16:25]
So it looks similar to how their home was
not kind of a key reason why people will
[00:16:29]
hire us, because they really want
to really we have to really keep and
[00:16:34]
be mindful of the fact that the clients
are losing a lot and they’re really trying
[00:16:38]
to make sure we make that process as
smooth and stress free
[00:16:41]
and by bringing those key items
kind of help with that transition.
[00:16:44]
So it seems like home
to the client, right?
[00:16:47]
Yeah.
[00:16:47]
When they get into their new day,
we try to get things unpacked, settled.
[00:16:50]
So they’re not in transition any
longer than they have to be.
[00:16:54]
So we try to kind of we work
along those thoughts a lot.
[00:16:58]
Furniture is laid out.
Stuff is hung up.
[00:17:00]
Yeah.
All the pictures are hung up.
[00:17:01]
The beds are made,
coffee pots are plugged in.
[00:17:03]
We kind of work on getting
spectrum hooked up.
[00:17:07]
So we make sure all these little details.
Wow.
[00:17:09]
So that the family just doesn’t have to
think about all these
[00:17:12]
details because usually there’s
always some other part going on.
[00:17:15]
Either lots of clients maybe
had an illness or a fall.
[00:17:19]
So there’s lots of stuff on the health
side the families could be dealing with.
[00:17:23]
So we take away as much as we can
[00:17:25]
on the actual dealing with the physical
side of the items, the house, the move.
[00:17:29]
In that way, the family can kind
of focus on other things that we can’t.
[00:17:34]
So,
yeah, I imagine I’m just trying to picture
[00:17:37]
a checklist for taking care of a parent
that’s in that position.
[00:17:41]
Like, that’s insane, right?
Oh, wow.
[00:17:44]
And I suppose I imagine a lot of this
comes on fairly quickly, right?
[00:17:48]
It does that at a fall or something
like that or stroke or whatever.
[00:17:52]
Right.
[00:17:52]
It’s not like you schedule
that stuff right.
[00:17:54]
And that just happens.
[00:17:56]
I think we’re pretty much
on that that pace that people call us
[00:17:59]
because that rush mode or
something urgent happen.
[00:18:03]
And so we have to be
able to respond quickly.
[00:18:05]
And it’s interesting,
[00:18:06]
with lots of hospitals and rehabs,
if somebody kind of runs out of money,
[00:18:11]
essentially, or Medicare says,
OK, we’re going to stop paying.
[00:18:14]
So, OK, they’re like, oh, my gosh,
[00:18:16]
now we have to move our parents from rehab
to assisted living, like in two days.
[00:18:21]
So that’s not really that fast.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:24]
Because there’s lots of different
[00:18:26]
restrictions when people are in rehab as
far as how long they can stay, OK,
[00:18:30]
and usually they get a notice and usually
it’s a short term that usually
[00:18:34]
they’re not going to tell you
you can get out next week.
[00:18:36]
It’s going to be within a short
amount of time, 48 hours it happens.
[00:18:39]
Yeah.
[00:18:40]
And so then we work within the family, of
course, gets super stressed about that.
[00:18:44]
Sure.
[00:18:45]
So there’s been plenty of situations
where my staff would just say no problem.
[00:18:49]
And we go to and we’re kind
of familiar with this.
[00:18:51]
So we’ll go to the family home and kind
of figure out the items based on just kind
[00:18:56]
of being familiar with what the client
has been using most often.
[00:18:59]
So we identify the bed, the dresser,
the clothing that’s kind of in the center
[00:19:04]
of the closet that they’re
probably wearing.
[00:19:05]
Most can go and they almost
do that stuff independently.
[00:19:08]
So the family doesn’t even need to go
with us and we just pack it up, move it,
[00:19:12]
unpack it and and just take that whole
stress off the family members.
[00:19:16]
Oh, that’s clever.
It’s really great.
[00:19:18]
It helps really.
[00:19:19]
And I imagine that just
comes with experience.
[00:19:21]
Yeah.
[00:19:22]
And again, we do a lot
with pictures and text.
[00:19:23]
And, you know,
[00:19:24]
there’s a lot of communication we’ve
done with the families and a pretty,
[00:19:29]
pretty serious level of what they’re going
through that because we’re just they’re
[00:19:32]
like, whatever you need,
we just we just could go in and do it.
[00:19:35]
Yeah, that’s so how this
is a big question, right?
[00:19:39]
Because with with calls on call,
we have this challenge.
[00:19:42]
We have to build trust with our clients as
[00:19:44]
fast as possible so that we
can do the best job possible.
[00:19:48]
Managing the same thing with you.
[00:19:49]
It is you trying to build trust
with people that you don’t even see.
[00:19:53]
They find you online or whatever.
Well, lots of times we do.
[00:19:56]
A new client visit usually
calls and then calls on.
[00:19:59]
The system that we use for answering
our phones, they do a great job
[00:20:04]
schedule, a new client visit,
and so we’ll go out and meet the family.
[00:20:08]
And it’s always it’s really amazing
[00:20:11]
because like you walk in the room,
you can just feel the tension because
[00:20:13]
there’s so much unknown and oh, my gosh,
I can never move out of this house.
[00:20:17]
And I think it’s not
going to happen for you.
[00:20:19]
They weren’t planning on it happening
soon or they don’t want it to happen.
[00:20:22]
So we just kind of walk through our
[00:20:24]
process with them and we just remind them
that, you know, it seems overwhelming.
[00:20:29]
But honestly, we’ll just go step by step.
[00:20:31]
And by the time we leave that new client
[00:20:33]
visit, you know, they feel like a load
has already been lifted off that.
[00:20:36]
So we kind of walk through
the house and say, it’s no problem.
[00:20:38]
You know, don’t worry,
we’ll find a home for the treadmill.
[00:20:41]
And don’t worry, we’ll take care
of the pool table, you know?
[00:20:44]
Yeah, we’ll move you if you want your
[00:20:45]
queen size bed, we’ll go see if
it fits in the new apartment.
[00:20:47]
So we kind of touch on all these areas
that have really been bothering them.
[00:20:52]
And so that really just seemed that first
[00:20:54]
after that first visit, I think we
connect really well with their clients.
[00:20:57]
And then from there, it’s just, you know,
[00:20:59]
communication and we’re just talking
like you’ve known them forever.
[00:21:02]
So we get
[00:21:04]
this feedback after
[00:21:06]
we’re done because it’s such a short
window that we’re with our families.
[00:21:10]
But this relationship is
just it’s really incredible.
[00:21:12]
They come connected.
You become quickly, right.
[00:21:15]
So like the Wolfe from Pulp Fiction, just
maybe a little more.
[00:21:20]
Less bloody, right.
Yes.
[00:21:21]
But I imagine it’s a little
daunting for people because they’ve been
[00:21:25]
in this house for decades
now in an instant or so.
[00:21:28]
Yeah.
They have to get into a different place.
[00:21:30]
Right.
You know, set up.
[00:21:32]
And it is hard.
[00:21:32]
And sometimes that we feel
that they do want to do the move.
[00:21:35]
They just can’t
they just don’t understand, like,
[00:21:37]
how how how is it going to happen and, you
know, who’s going to get all this stuff.
[00:21:41]
And you just need to get a dumpster.
[00:21:42]
They just overwhelmed like,
oh, my God, I want to move.
[00:21:45]
But who’s going to handle who’s going
to help me through the belongings?
[00:21:49]
So I think we play a really key role.
[00:21:51]
And we’re like, OK, first of all, we don’t
hardly ever order dumpsters because
[00:21:55]
usually we try to find homes
for items by selling and donating.
[00:21:58]
So really?
Yeah.
[00:22:00]
So it’s like we come in with a dumpster,
[00:22:01]
it’s like, you know, around ten, like, OK,
if things can’t find a home, we work,
[00:22:06]
you know, we work without a great donation
sites, OK, if we can’t sell things.
[00:22:10]
But we always, we always start by saying
[00:22:12]
we have some value to sell that so
that money comes back to the family.
[00:22:15]
And then we work like I know
we’re doing a program with them.
[00:22:18]
Salvation Army, OK, that we’re doing
is called Make a House a home.
[00:22:22]
OK, so basically like beds is an example
[00:22:25]
of something that the
Salvation Army families need.
[00:22:29]
And then we tend to get lots of dark
[00:22:31]
and kind of give the beds from our
clients to the Salvation Army.
[00:22:34]
And so it kind of makes that process
[00:22:36]
easier on our clients to know that there
are things OK to a good a good home.
[00:22:41]
Sure.
[00:22:43]
If you can something you just can’t sell.
[00:22:44]
But we could find homes for people
who truly need them, like right now.
[00:22:48]
So that’s just helps get over that hurdle.
Sure.
[00:22:50]
And it just makes the process easier.
[00:22:52]
So I’m just trying to imagine
not getting a dumpster.
[00:22:55]
I helped my son, my great uncle passed
[00:22:58]
away and this is probably
fifteen, twenty years ago.
[00:23:01]
He lived in that house
[00:23:04]
forever as as far as I was concerned,
like before I was born.
[00:23:09]
So decades and decades.
[00:23:12]
And he had this is a weird
I shouldn’t say weird.
[00:23:15]
It’s just the older two story house.
[00:23:17]
We’re in an attic in every corner.
Sure.
[00:23:19]
Yeah.
[00:23:20]
And like the older houses
in and then attic way up top.
[00:23:24]
And there was just stuff.
So much stuff.
[00:23:26]
Right.
All kinds of treasures.
[00:23:27]
Yeah.
Well yeah it was kind of weird.
[00:23:30]
Like he had blue books like
[00:23:31]
Wisconsin Blue Books,
he had blue books from eighteen whatever
[00:23:36]
up until I want to say two
thousand, whatever it was.
[00:23:39]
Right.
So just dozens of these blue books.
[00:23:42]
I’m sure somebody one of these from like
[00:23:46]
I don’t know who because
we have Internet now.
[00:23:49]
Right.
Right.
[00:23:50]
I don’t know if we have any use for these
or who would ever use for these UNAMSIL.
[00:23:54]
And those are giving them
away to an attorney.
[00:23:56]
I think after a decade of them sitting
[00:23:57]
in my basement anyways, he had newspapers
from every major event.
[00:24:04]
So like Kennedy assassination,
challenger exploding,
[00:24:08]
Reagan getting shot, or if you’re shot or
somebody try to shoot him, whatever.
[00:24:13]
All this stuff, whether
from Wisconsin Rapids newspaper.
[00:24:17]
So it wasn’t like the The Washington Post
or something like that.
[00:24:20]
It was just a little tiny
newspaper supercool.
[00:24:23]
Very interesting.
Right.
[00:24:25]
But I don’t know if really had any value.
[00:24:28]
And I didn’t know, like,
[00:24:30]
what do we do this it feels bad to throw
out a newspaper of JFK, get shot.
[00:24:33]
No, it doesn’t.
That’s hard, but it’s kind of is weird.
[00:24:36]
So it’s just stuff like that.
Right.
[00:24:39]
Did I mention you guys
come across every day?
[00:24:41]
Do we have.
Yeah, all the time.
[00:24:42]
So we have rooms full and we have we walk
[00:24:44]
into three thousand square foot house
floor to ceiling packed.
[00:24:48]
So we’ve gone through really.
Really.
[00:24:50]
Yeah.
They’re really fun.
[00:24:51]
A lot of fun.
Yeah.
[00:24:54]
So again,
[00:24:55]
we also work with attorneys and they have
a states where we’ve had houses that I.
[00:24:59]
Nobody has been in the property for years
because the families like I just can’t
[00:25:02]
deal with it, I just can’t deal
with it before you know it.
[00:25:04]
Three years have passed
and so we just get in there.
[00:25:08]
And and we were pretty quickly
when there’s especially like if it’s
[00:25:11]
a cleanup situation with a client has
passed on or already we can have,
[00:25:16]
like the House, like ready to go on the
market within two weeks, as are typical.
[00:25:19]
Wow.
He just kind of go in there.
[00:25:20]
And again, we have our partners.
[00:25:22]
So if we find things of interest again,
we work with auctioneers,
[00:25:26]
consignment shops, antique dealers,
selling things online.
[00:25:28]
We have these avenues to sell things.
[00:25:30]
So, again, we really spent some time,
[00:25:32]
you know, picking out the items
that have some value like that.
[00:25:35]
All right.
But we send things out so, you know,
[00:25:38]
some move management companies might have
a lot more estate sales in the home.
[00:25:43]
And so the way that we have worked it out
is we just instead of having an estate
[00:25:46]
sale in the house, although
if we need one, we could go that route.
[00:25:50]
But it doesn’t happen that there’s
that much valuable items in one house.
[00:25:54]
So for us, it works out best just to take
[00:25:56]
the valuable items and send them off
site to be sold at an auction house.
[00:26:01]
Gotcha.
And so we have you in your job.
[00:26:03]
Yes.
[00:26:03]
And that way, the housing
on the market sooner.
[00:26:05]
Sure.
So that’s kind of that’s kind of why we’re
[00:26:08]
able to go through
that stuff pretty quickly.
[00:26:11]
And then again,
that is not trash or things like that.
[00:26:14]
But we really try to maximize our donation
sites for things that are usable.
[00:26:18]
And then if we have things that can be
[00:26:20]
recycled, we can try to use the curb,
pick up, you know,
[00:26:23]
instead of giving it getting a dumpster
to save some resources for our clients.
[00:26:28]
You know, I do have a dumpster
at my office and I will just take loads
[00:26:30]
back to my office,
sometimes having a dumpster on sites,
[00:26:33]
especially when the client
is still living there.
[00:26:36]
We feel like that could
pose a lot of negative.
[00:26:39]
Oh, that’s fair.
That’s only fair.
[00:26:41]
Yes.
[00:26:41]
We really we really try to be really
mindful of trying to make it as soon as
[00:26:45]
possible with, you know, not create
any more any negative feelings.
[00:26:50]
So we approach it with that tone.
[00:26:52]
So we try to really just zone in on that.
[00:26:56]
I just say know all your belongings are
[00:26:57]
gone in a dumpster because
that’s really sad.
[00:26:59]
And we’ve had families who said,
[00:27:01]
I wish I would have called you two
years ago because we got a dumpster.
[00:27:04]
We just threw everything away.
[00:27:05]
So they’re like, that’s like
the worst thing out here.
[00:27:08]
And I think I’ve heard it so often
that I’m like, oh, my gosh, you know, I
[00:27:13]
I would love to be able to reach out
to all these families before they just
[00:27:16]
rent a dumpster and just throw everything
away, because it’s really it’s really sad.
[00:27:21]
So how did you set up all those contacts?
It did take some time.
[00:27:24]
It just happened.
They just evolved, honestly, just
[00:27:27]
almost like my employees, like, you know,
people started kind of approaching us.
[00:27:30]
We would just have these connections.
[00:27:32]
And now it’s it’s so wonderful because
[00:27:33]
I’ve been using the same group
of partners for five years now.
[00:27:37]
So I feel like we’ve kind of we know each
[00:27:39]
other really well with each
other really well.
[00:27:42]
So it’s just taken some time to kind
[00:27:44]
of have that have that set
up for my company.
[00:27:47]
That is cool.
Yeah, well, that’s a huge part.
[00:27:49]
Like if I didn’t if we didn’t have them,
[00:27:51]
like, at our fingertips, then it would
make this much harder because I know it.
[00:27:55]
Like, even this morning I had to call one
[00:27:57]
of my guys and I’m like, hey,
we really need you at this house,
[00:28:00]
you know, Oconomowoc tomorrow because
the is in town just for a couple of days.
[00:28:03]
And these really cool things
where you come look at.
[00:28:06]
So, you know, he worked it out.
[00:28:07]
So he just he’s right there.
He just wow.
[00:28:10]
We need that’s cool.
[00:28:11]
So it’s really that relationship has
[00:28:13]
actually been a huge part,
I think, of our success.
[00:28:15]
OK, so why bad?
[00:28:17]
Because then you’re getting I guess,
[00:28:19]
you know that someone else is using
whatever the stuff is.
[00:28:23]
Right.
And then it’s going on instead of just
[00:28:26]
ending up in some landfill
or a storage unit.
[00:28:28]
Yeah, we’re starting next year.
That’s the worst thing.
[00:28:32]
That is exactly interesting.
Yeah, that’s cool.
[00:28:35]
So, yeah.
[00:28:36]
So do you guys sell the house
or do you work with
[00:28:39]
so of our staff are realtors.
[00:28:42]
So basically we again we’re
called in by a lot of realtors.
[00:28:45]
So we developed a lot
of relationships over the years.
[00:28:48]
There are situations where clients may
[00:28:50]
come in, they just they don’t know any
realtors and that I could refer out
[00:28:53]
of my little network of realtors
that I know for sure.
[00:28:56]
I feel like it would be a good
match for the house or the client.
[00:28:59]
So we do work with a lot of realtors
[00:29:01]
and usually, again,
they’re the one kind of calling us in
[00:29:03]
because it’s like, oh, my God, Marion, we
got to get this house in the market and
[00:29:07]
get rid of the stuff.
[00:29:08]
So they call us in to kind
of really help with that stuff.
[00:29:11]
So do they.
[00:29:13]
So you guys do so much stuff that
[00:29:16]
I imagine your niche is with seniors,
but do you ever work outside of that?
[00:29:20]
Definitely.
And so we do work with senior association.
[00:29:24]
Origin was created because,
like I mentioned,
[00:29:26]
all the baby boomers this year,
but they actually even went through
[00:29:29]
the grind of going through a name change
right now because they want to make sure
[00:29:33]
that people do realize that although we
were set up for seniors because it’s
[00:29:37]
a move, they’re hard at any age,
they’re super happy when you’re ninety.
[00:29:39]
Right.
[00:29:40]
But they’re also hard for a divorce
situation or a mother with two kids.
[00:29:44]
All these transitions we have in life.
[00:29:46]
So we still use our same processes.
[00:29:49]
And it doesn’t matter if the you know,
our clients are 30 or 80.
[00:29:52]
In the end of the day,
they’re still going through some
[00:29:54]
transition or they’re just busy
professionals and they just don’t want
[00:29:57]
to pack up their house
and they just don’t want to.
[00:29:58]
I want somebody to come in and handle it,
yeah, so there’s a mixture of busy
[00:30:02]
professionals, these, you know,
diverse situations is one that is so much
[00:30:07]
stress and maybe the husband and wife
can’t even be in the same room.
[00:30:10]
So there’s all these little components
of any of these big transitions.
[00:30:13]
Make sure that although we started out as
an association for just,
[00:30:17]
you know, focused on seniors,
it’s definitely developed into help,
[00:30:21]
you know, just other people
who need our services.
[00:30:24]
Nice.
I want to talk about marketing because
[00:30:26]
it’s always a cool thing
for any business, right?
[00:30:29]
Yes.
[00:30:29]
So how do people find you and what
do you do to promote your business?
[00:30:33]
Sure.
So I think that over the years we’ve done
[00:30:36]
networking events have been huge for us,
especially in the beginning.
[00:30:40]
OK, just letting people
know we’re out there.
[00:30:42]
We work, like I mentioned,
we do work with realtors.
[00:30:45]
So we just try to connect with realtors
[00:30:46]
and just kind of make sure that they
if if they need help with their families
[00:30:51]
and clients, needs help,
that they can reach out to us.
[00:30:53]
We try to keep a relationship with
realtors, and I love working with them.
[00:30:57]
Our senior communities like the Jefferson.
[00:31:00]
I don’t know if you ever networked
with Tony at the Jefferson
[00:31:04]
worker.
You are.
[00:31:05]
Yes, she’s great.
And I always have to give her kudos
[00:31:07]
because she was one of the first ones I
approached when I
[00:31:10]
when I started this business
and marketing lady for the Jefferson.
[00:31:13]
The Jefferson is the senior.
[00:31:15]
It’s an independent living community
in your community over to apologize.
[00:31:18]
I’m not familiar.
[00:31:19]
I’m not good in some of the networking
group that she does Tuesday morning.
[00:31:23]
Oh, really?
Yes, she’s a great lady.
[00:31:25]
And so she kind of helped me
in the beginning and she just would share
[00:31:28]
my information with the families
moving into the Jefferson.
[00:31:31]
And so that that really
just jumpstarted me.
[00:31:33]
And I again, I owe her my life because
[00:31:35]
that was a key that was
a key starting point.
[00:31:38]
Was that big of an influence.
[00:31:39]
And then from there, then the other senior
communities, you know, with capital lakes,
[00:31:44]
parks, identifiers of all these
communities around that we work with,
[00:31:47]
who again, when people are moving
into their communities,
[00:31:50]
then they’ll you say
they’ll kind of offer our flyers in case
[00:31:53]
because the conversation might come up
like, so who’s going to pick your mother?
[00:31:57]
So it’s in your communities, like, I
can’t imagine having those conversations.
[00:32:01]
Yeah, there is.
[00:32:03]
I mean, kudos to them for having them.
They have to have them.
[00:32:06]
But I can’t imagine being like, hey, your
mom had a stroke or fell or whatever.
[00:32:11]
Now we have to go through all these
[00:32:12]
changes and oh, what are you going
do with all your mom’s junk?
[00:32:15]
Yeah, it’s like, oh, exactly.
[00:32:18]
It is challenging.
Totally.
[00:32:20]
And then again, if the sandwich generation
[00:32:22]
where again, they’re dealing with their
own life, maybe their own profession,
[00:32:25]
their own kids,
and they get the phone call that,
[00:32:27]
you know, your mom fell
and what are you going to do?
[00:32:29]
So, yeah.
[00:32:30]
So I think that the the marketing people
having our information kind of has really
[00:32:35]
helped us a lot because it’s something the
families and the families are thrilled.
[00:32:38]
Like once they hear we exist, like,
oh my gosh, you’re going to do what?
[00:32:44]
That’s exactly right.
[00:32:45]
So that’s helped those two points.
[00:32:47]
And attorney attorneys just again,
getting to know attorneys because they’re
[00:32:50]
the ones that people are sometimes
coming to, like, affiliated this estate.
[00:32:53]
So I think just by sheer knowing,
[00:32:55]
the attorney is helping
them know that we’re here.
[00:32:57]
Been our biggest source of marketing.
[00:32:59]
I would saygo to a website.
[00:33:02]
We we just kind of revamped our
website and we just tried to
[00:33:07]
have information on there so
people can kind of go there.
[00:33:10]
But mostly it’s mostly it’s word of mouth
[00:33:12]
and friends of friends is
a very that kind of sure.
[00:33:15]
Marketing right now.
[00:33:17]
But I imagine what you’re doing.
[00:33:18]
Do people know what to search for?
Well, they know it’s a search.
[00:33:21]
Some people say,
like just downsizing or moving.
[00:33:24]
Some people think of us sometimes as
[00:33:27]
a moving company and they’ll say,
OK, we need to move some furniture.
[00:33:30]
And then once after they say that line,
[00:33:32]
then our next question to them is, OK,
so did you need some help packing or do
[00:33:36]
you know that we can kind of help
with unpacking your mom in so they might
[00:33:40]
call us thinking we’re
just a moving company.
[00:33:42]
And really the way that I,
I see us is actually we’re more
[00:33:45]
of a downsizing company and moving
is just one little part of us.
[00:33:48]
So I feel like I feel like we’re
really not a moving company.
[00:33:52]
It’s just one part in
[00:33:55]
the cleanup and one I packing and one
floor layout and design and he pictures.
[00:33:59]
So there’s all these little spokes.
All right.
[00:34:02]
And so moving is just one part, but people
[00:34:05]
generally will think of us possibly as
[00:34:08]
more of a mover until they
until they know us.
[00:34:10]
And then, sure, I think they think
it was more of a downsizing.
[00:34:12]
Right.
I guess that makes sense.
[00:34:14]
A lot of businesses, I feel,
do a lot of stuff related.
[00:34:17]
Yeah.
[00:34:17]
But they don’t it’s tough
to market everything right.
[00:34:20]
To try to market what people are looking
[00:34:21]
for and then say, by the way, yes,
we can do all this other stuff.
[00:34:26]
Exactly.
I get that.
[00:34:27]
And that’s the part they need us more for,
is they the moving is kind of
[00:34:32]
it’s pretty cut and dry,
you know what I mean?
[00:34:33]
Sure.
That’s kind of hard to be.
[00:34:35]
Yeah.
[00:34:35]
I don’t have it easy
because it’s not easy.
[00:34:37]
But
[00:34:38]
but seriously, that is that deciding what
[00:34:41]
to keep, what you’re emotionally tied to,
how you’re going to let things go
[00:34:45]
and having that try not to lose that sense
of independence like those are all like
[00:34:49]
this whole emotional side is probably what
separates us as a company,
[00:34:53]
more so than any of this
physical stuff that’s going on.
[00:34:56]
Sure.
That makes sense.
[00:34:58]
That makes sense, though.
[00:34:59]
Tell me about the name,
how did you come up with a name?
[00:35:02]
It’s a fantastic name.
[00:35:05]
So it’s funny, I mentioned that first
[00:35:07]
conference I went on and I had to have
a name because you register with a name so
[00:35:11]
funny debating a name and I call it
maybe he’ll call it a little help.
[00:35:15]
And so I go there.
I just put out these little business guys
[00:35:17]
just to get me through the weekend,
like, oh, a little hope.
[00:35:20]
It’s an interesting name.
And like, nobody like everyone.
[00:35:22]
Just like this weird look on them.
Yeah.
[00:35:26]
And again, I go back home like I don’t
[00:35:27]
know that I don’t know what that name
it just didn’t seem to like the work.
[00:35:31]
And then again,
[00:35:31]
I did that first job and I’m like,
oh my God, it’s not just a little help.
[00:35:34]
It’s like a lot this was an incredible,
incredible amount of help.
[00:35:39]
So then I just started.
[00:35:42]
Yeah.
[00:35:43]
Just kind of thinking of names
that I felt would work.
[00:35:45]
And I just kind of like this name a lot.
[00:35:48]
Kind of we kind of started writing out
the list of names you got running lists.
[00:35:50]
And can you keep scratching on some
[00:35:52]
of the different list of, like,
twenty five different names?
[00:35:54]
Sure.
[00:35:55]
And I kept thinking of them and
these genius like it is fantastic.
[00:36:00]
Yeah.
[00:36:00]
I mean, it’s a it’s a phrase that it’s
interesting because it’s calls on call.
[00:36:05]
Sometimes I will use the phrase moving
forward and I have to be like, OK,
[00:36:09]
I can’t use that phrase
because then they give me.
[00:36:12]
Well, no, just like I don’t
want to confuse the crew.
[00:36:16]
Yeah.
[00:36:16]
Sort of like because moving
forward is a common phrase.
[00:36:19]
It is.
It is.
[00:36:19]
Yeah.
Right.
[00:36:20]
Because we’ll get to this
moving forward like.
[00:36:22]
No, that seems weird.
[00:36:26]
It’s kind of funny and it happens, it just
comes up in your general conversation.
[00:36:30]
Yeah.
But that’s why it’s so cool.
[00:36:31]
Yeah.
[00:36:32]
So it’s just a common
phrase that’s top of mind.
[00:36:34]
Super easy.
Yeah.
[00:36:35]
You can latch onto that little chunk
[00:36:37]
of the brain that write
that people already have in there.
[00:36:40]
So that’s super awesome.
I’m glad you like it.
[00:36:42]
So moving forward.
Yes sir.
[00:36:45]
Into the future.
[00:36:46]
What do you see.
[00:36:48]
I guess let’s call it five years.
Sure.
[00:36:51]
I mean, it’s
tough to say in twenty twenty.
[00:36:54]
What’s going to happen.
Right.
[00:36:55]
Five years.
Who knows.
[00:36:56]
My best guess.
Right.
[00:36:57]
People will keep, you know, be optimistic.
[00:37:00]
Right.
Yeah.
[00:37:02]
So again, I love I of I really enjoy
just kind of growing this company.
[00:37:06]
It’s really enjoyable.
[00:37:07]
Like it’s really like I love I love
[00:37:10]
the fact that I have staff
who that a great staff.
[00:37:12]
They work with my clients well they bond
[00:37:14]
with my clients and I love giving them
I love being able to provide them jobs.
[00:37:18]
Yeah.
I love that side of it.
[00:37:20]
I think I really like owning this company.
[00:37:22]
And there are there are two companies
that I met early on in the beginning.
[00:37:27]
They have actually called gentle,
[00:37:29]
gentle transitions,
ones in Minnesota and ones in California.
[00:37:33]
OK, and basically his mom,
the current owner,
[00:37:35]
his mom with like a pioneer in the back,
she on the first move management company.
[00:37:39]
Oh, I love this company.
[00:37:41]
Like from day one.
[00:37:42]
And they the one gentleman in California,
he actually has a bunch of general
[00:37:47]
changes, transition companies
around the state of California.
[00:37:52]
OK, so basically, you know,
he has a little pod set up and he just
[00:37:55]
kind of goes there and it works
along the whole state of California.
[00:37:58]
Wow.
Minnesota.
[00:37:59]
The gentleman there who and his wife
who run that company again,
[00:38:02]
they’re just they they serve the whole
area and they’re just they’re really
[00:38:08]
they’re wonderful company and they’ve
been growing their whole time, too.
[00:38:11]
So in my perfect world,
I just love the idea to be able to grow
[00:38:15]
outside of Dane County like going
to Oconomowoc would be awesome.
[00:38:19]
I like that idea of being able to grow.
[00:38:21]
Yeah, keep growing the company keep adding
to my staff
[00:38:25]
again just because it’s such a rewarding
business to own and there’s such a need.
[00:38:29]
And I feel like it’s still going to be
a need for a bunch more years here.
[00:38:33]
So I still feel like we have
a lot of potential to grow.
[00:38:35]
Still saying definitely.
[00:38:37]
Yeah, there’s one thing that we can
guarantee is that people will get old.
[00:38:41]
And I suppose another thing on top of that
is they will have junk they know well.
[00:38:45]
Although, again, part of the problem now,
though, is like people in my son’s age
[00:38:49]
at twenty five when
they are more minimalist.
[00:38:52]
So they’re not wanting
all this other stuff.
[00:38:54]
So it’s going to come to a point where
people are going to stop keeping in story.
[00:38:59]
I think so.
[00:39:01]
I do, because a lot of people are going
[00:39:02]
towards minimalism as opposed
to collecting things because of,
[00:39:07]
you know, their childhood of being
brought up in the Depression.
[00:39:10]
So I think this it’s going
to be a different time.
[00:39:12]
All right.
I don’t think it’s going to last forever.
[00:39:15]
OK, so.
Yeah, all right.
[00:39:16]
But I think for another twenty years,
I think he’ll be around.
[00:39:19]
So all of that, all of it.
[00:39:21]
I’m just kind of like I’m thinking
of the twenty somethings that I know.
[00:39:25]
Most of them still live at home,
so they don’t know.
[00:39:28]
Yeah, they’ve never lived on their own,
so they don’t know what they need or.
[00:39:31]
Right.
[00:39:31]
Or even what they want because it’s all
the parents are supplying it for them.
[00:39:35]
Yeah, it’s different.
[00:39:36]
So interesting
[00:39:38]
I suppose in twenty years we wanted
to care so that maybe I can only be
[00:39:43]
seventy so I don’t know, maybe we should,
maybe we should stay longer.
[00:39:46]
It’ll be another forty years.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:39:49]
I always have junk.
[00:39:51]
I look at the volume of stuff.
[00:39:55]
My wife doesn’t listen to this but the.
[00:39:58]
Stuff that one wife just buys from
Marketplace or Craigslist or Amazon.
[00:40:05]
Like this is your garage sale season.
[00:40:08]
Back when they had garage sales.
Right.
[00:40:10]
Just like you’re buying
somebody else’s junk.
[00:40:12]
Right.
So that we can have it at a garage sale.
[00:40:15]
Yeah.
So I don’t see that going away.
[00:40:16]
No.
[00:40:18]
And I really tried
to encourage people, really.
[00:40:20]
So one of my favorite authors is
Peter Walsh, and he has a big downsizing.
[00:40:25]
All right.
It’s really that just trying to really
[00:40:27]
focus your attention on just keeping
people what you love and need and all this
[00:40:32]
other stuff is actually
just it just really
[00:40:36]
bothers you, really,
[00:40:37]
because you have all this stuff and you’re
just spending so much of your time
[00:40:41]
figuring out where to store all your
stuff and not be able to get rid of it.
[00:40:44]
And the emotional guilt you feel because
[00:40:47]
like I can’t get rid of this couch because
it was my mom’s only reason why keeping it
[00:40:51]
is because it’s your mom’s or
some emotional attachment.
[00:40:54]
So I feel like I really loved listening
[00:40:57]
to him all the time because he really
motivates me just to help me remember,
[00:41:01]
just to kind of try to really
express that to my clients.
[00:41:04]
Sometimes it is
[00:41:05]
just these items are really causing you
a lot of stress because it’s just, yeah,
[00:41:10]
having them and dealing
with them is just so stressful.
[00:41:13]
All right.
And so when we clean out a closet and sing
[00:41:15]
like an empty space,
there’s like nothing better.
[00:41:18]
It just it is whole relief check.
Oh, my God.
[00:41:20]
I see the wall.
[00:41:21]
I see the whole new world.
[00:41:23]
It really feels good.
Yeah.
[00:41:24]
So that’s like a a huge thing that I think
we work through with people is just.
[00:41:30]
Yeah.
[00:41:30]
Just letting go of the stuff to let go
of the stress that it’s causing you
[00:41:33]
and really just keeping items that you
sure need and stop buying stuff.
[00:41:38]
Just get it right.
Look at all the money.
[00:41:41]
We say it’s not a good thing.
No.
[00:41:45]
You know, I take the time at night
to clean up our kitchen,
[00:41:47]
make sure the tables clear and counters
are clear and all that jazz,
[00:41:51]
because if I wake up,
come downstairs and there’s just clutter.
[00:41:55]
Yeah, it’s like, oh, yes, that starts
the day and that’s just the kitchen.
[00:42:00]
It’s good you feel that way.
It really is.
[00:42:01]
I think that that happens
to a lot of people and it does.
[00:42:04]
It’s like a suffocating feeling.
Yeah.
[00:42:07]
It’s just one more way like.
Right.
[00:42:09]
So it’s a whole new.
Yeah.
[00:42:12]
It’s good to be cognizant of.
[00:42:14]
It will take some time.
Yes.
[00:42:16]
But I feel like you’re much more efficient
[00:42:18]
when you actually want
to do something in there.
[00:42:20]
Right.
And this is guilt that people just carry
[00:42:22]
around them, like even treasures of things
from their past or their kids past.
[00:42:27]
The only time they pull it out from under
[00:42:29]
the bed is to look and say, oh,
my God, what should I do with this?
[00:42:32]
And they close it back up
and tuck it back under your bed.
[00:42:34]
And it’s just it’s just but as long
as it’s there, it’s just stressful.
[00:42:38]
And then again,
having a closet full of clothes, some,
[00:42:40]
you know, you used to fit into it,
but you don’t anymore.
[00:42:44]
You wish you could wear it,
but they don’t look good on you.
[00:42:46]
Like just letting go anything is like
a negative feeling is really powerful.
[00:42:49]
So you don’t use everything we get really
things that just create that negative.
[00:42:53]
Sure.
Feel for you.
[00:42:55]
I imagine you have to think about it
[00:42:56]
to realize if it’s giving you a negative
feeling that it’s interesting.
[00:42:59]
If you’re one, you’re kind of there are
[00:43:01]
some things that are easy,
like if you went through your house right
[00:43:02]
now, there are some things like, yeah,
this definitely means a lot to me.
[00:43:06]
Like I have, you know, one necklace,
[00:43:08]
you know, that’s really like I love this
necklace and I wear it and I, I love it.
[00:43:12]
Then you look at like a whole
drawer full of earrings.
[00:43:14]
And every time I look at it, like I
haven’t worn these in twenty years.
[00:43:17]
So I think you kind of if
you think about it, sure.
[00:43:19]
There are some things that are super easy
[00:43:20]
and you just start with those layers
and you’re like, oh, I got it.
[00:43:23]
This is my my keeping that every time I
[00:43:25]
look at it, I remember this old
girlfriend I had or whatever you mean.
[00:43:28]
So like, you just get rid of it and you
[00:43:29]
know, the negative feeling,
it’s get rid of that layer right away.
[00:43:33]
Any negative feeling associated with it.
[00:43:35]
I keep looking at my class ring.
Yeah.
[00:43:38]
I’m like I don’t even
know I got a class ring.
[00:43:40]
But that was the thing
right back in the day.
[00:43:42]
I don’t know if they still do not.
I don’t usually do either.
[00:43:44]
My kids didn’t buy one, not to mention it,
[00:43:45]
but I’m like, what am I
supposed to do with this?
[00:43:48]
Because I’m saving up all this money
to buy the stupid ring that I whatever.
[00:43:52]
Yeah.
[00:43:52]
So it’s going to be kept
in your jaw until your son.
[00:43:55]
Your son, right.
Yeah.
[00:43:57]
You have to deal with it some day.
Yeah.
[00:43:58]
He’s going to be like what does this
otherwise, you know,
[00:44:00]
I would just take it and sell it
and know somebody is going to enjoy it.
[00:44:03]
Love it.
Because I collect things like that.
[00:44:05]
There are people really.
Yeah.
[00:44:07]
People collecting.
So.
[00:44:08]
All right.
I would just recommend just selling it
[00:44:10]
to somebody who in that world
of a class ring collecting.
[00:44:15]
Yes.
What a crazy world.
[00:44:17]
All right.
Let’s have a look at everything.
[00:44:19]
So there’s historians who, you know,
like certain things that people think are
[00:44:23]
trash, but they just like
for different reasons.
[00:44:26]
All right.
[00:44:27]
For you, if that doesn’t have any meaning
and you’re pretty sure your wife doesn’t
[00:44:30]
want it and your son totally sure,
OK, let it go, then.
[00:44:33]
You just have an empty spot.
[00:44:36]
I can’t even imagine explaining
to my son what a class ring is
[00:44:41]
like.
Son, this is for you.
[00:44:43]
What is it my husband gave me once I had
[00:44:45]
his ring for like two years
in high school and Gorev.
[00:44:48]
Oh, no, it’s all right.
Yeah.
[00:44:50]
Did you keep that one?
I have it.
[00:44:51]
So.
All right.
[00:44:52]
They do.
So this little trinket that’s meaningful,
[00:44:56]
I probably.
[00:44:59]
I’ve ignored it.
I haven’t even looked at sure.
[00:45:01]
Well, luckily it’s not huge or it’s like
a car or something like that,
[00:45:05]
but it would be something in my layer that
I feel like, OK, I don’t I don’t love it.
[00:45:09]
I don’t have an attachment to it.
I let it go.
[00:45:12]
It doesn’t create a negative feeling.
[00:45:13]
Obviously, I still sure love
my husband and it was his ring.
[00:45:16]
But it doesn’t mean I don’t have any.
[00:45:19]
It doesn’t mean any significant value.
[00:45:20]
It doesn’t prove
I don’t feel like I want to use it.
[00:45:23]
So if you don’t feel like you’re going
to use it, honestly, just let it go.
[00:45:26]
That’s like if you’re not using it,
you don’t love it.
[00:45:29]
All right.
Try to go.
[00:45:30]
Just just started.
Really.
[00:45:31]
It’s just a good feeling.
It’s just such a good feeling.
[00:45:33]
Oh, my gosh.
Liberating.
[00:45:35]
It really is so liberating.
Yeah.
[00:45:37]
Yeah.
It’s a whole new world.
[00:45:38]
Yeah.
I have
[00:45:40]
a terribly messy garage and I constantly
try to work on that thing to clean it up.
[00:45:45]
And I just have to come
over James Hall kind of
[00:45:50]
I have so many projects
that I know it’s worth.
[00:45:53]
It’s not that I love the individual part,
but I also know how tough it is to find
[00:45:56]
parts for projects, cars that you’re
working on and those kind of stuff.
[00:46:00]
So.
Right.
[00:46:01]
But it’s funny.
My wife makes fun of me because I had this
[00:46:03]
car that is seventy nine Malibu
that I did a lot of work on.
[00:46:06]
And she’s like, you still have Malibu
[00:46:08]
parts and I like those
are valuable to somebody.
[00:46:11]
I just haven’t taken
the time to find out who.
[00:46:13]
Right.
[00:46:14]
We probably give them to the person
and just get them out of there.
[00:46:17]
But yeah, I don’t know, whatever.
[00:46:19]
So then that happens because and I think
that happens to lots of people were there,
[00:46:23]
they just ignored things for a while
until they have to deal with them.
[00:46:26]
And so last night we come in when
that that’s the end of the day.
[00:46:30]
You have to deal with it now.
So, yeah.
[00:46:31]
And sometimes we just really we really
like people to deal with their own stuff
[00:46:35]
as opposed to leaving it
for your kids to deal with.
[00:46:37]
Yeah.
[00:46:37]
So it’s like an I think right now,
even the generations we’re working with,
[00:46:41]
lots of 60 year olds, you know, helping
their 80 year old parents right now.
[00:46:45]
So I think for the most part,
[00:46:46]
a lot of these six year olds are now
seeing what’s going on with their mom,
[00:46:50]
that they’re actually trying
to downsize themselves.
[00:46:52]
That’s fairly regular basis because, like,
[00:46:54]
I can’t you know, I just
can’t do this to my kids.
[00:46:56]
So they’re trying to not do what they’re
[00:46:58]
dealing with because they they see
the enormous task it is in front of them.
[00:47:03]
Yeah.
So it is it’s it is really fascinating.
[00:47:07]
But I think they’re trying to downsize
themselves more and they don’t want
[00:47:10]
to leave it for their kids because
they’re sure they’re in that right now.
[00:47:13]
All right.
Yeah, that’s fair.
[00:47:15]
That’s totally fair.
Yeah.
[00:47:16]
Interesting.
So you you mentioned Peter Walsh.
[00:47:19]
Is he an author?
He’s not there yet.
[00:47:22]
Downsizing?
[00:47:22]
Yeah, he has a bunch
of great YouTube videos.
[00:47:24]
In fact, I was watching him this
weekend just because I love him.
[00:47:27]
So, yeah, he goes through,
he does some organizing.
[00:47:30]
He just kind of goes through these
emotions that go through downsizing.
[00:47:33]
OK, I think he just explains
things really well.
[00:47:36]
He has some interesting books that kind
of put the correlation between like
[00:47:40]
financial like sometimes people have
financial issues related to downsizing.
[00:47:44]
They have weight
[00:47:46]
issues dealing with kind of it all kind
[00:47:49]
of falls within downsizing and
trying to deal with stuff in some light.
[00:47:54]
So he kind of wraps those points together.
All right.
[00:47:58]
He’s really interesting.
Very cool.
[00:48:00]
I want to ask you really quick about
the systems that you came up with.
[00:48:03]
It sounds like my role is a systematise
[00:48:05]
everything, because I you know,
what’s supposed to happen next.
[00:48:09]
And I feel like we have to do
that with all of our clients to a point.
[00:48:14]
And you definitely have to do that.
[00:48:16]
How did you come up with the system?
[00:48:17]
Well, we have a system,
but I have to say that another thing I,
[00:48:21]
I should mention,
when I interview my staff.
[00:48:24]
Yeah, I always warm.
[00:48:25]
They have to be flexible
and it’s very fluid.
[00:48:28]
So it changes all the time.
[00:48:30]
So they have to be able
to adapt to change.
[00:48:33]
So even if we we have our systems in line.
[00:48:35]
So basically, you know,
[00:48:36]
we kind of we have a couple
of project managers who work with us.
[00:48:39]
So they’ll go and work with the clients
and decide kind of which of our partners
[00:48:43]
we want to bring in, like people
to buy items or donation sites.
[00:48:47]
So they kind of we have a kind
of a checklist basically for that.
[00:48:50]
But then things could just totally
change overnight like we had.
[00:48:54]
I have this case story actually one
of my clients that he was a hoarding
[00:48:58]
situation and he only had one
relative who was in Minnesota.
[00:49:03]
OK, so basically we were called in just
[00:49:04]
to downsize them, to stay in the house
because they didn’t want to move.
[00:49:07]
So we literally just were there like
[00:49:09]
for one shift, like getting my girls were
there for two hours and then he fell.
[00:49:13]
And so then the whole plan of, OK,
[00:49:15]
we’re going to downsize to make his
home safe till he went out the window.
[00:49:19]
And now, OK, we have to get this.
[00:49:20]
We have to get him move to he was going
to assisted living.
[00:49:24]
So then you have to be able
to in an instant,
[00:49:27]
even though you have a plan, you have
to be able to alter plans right away.
[00:49:31]
So that shifting gears.
Yeah.
[00:49:33]
Yeah.
[00:49:33]
So my step has to be really good at being
having our systems in line,
[00:49:37]
but being able to just turn on a dime
just instantly trigger fair.
[00:49:41]
But the systems for knowing
[00:49:43]
what’s going to go where,
what’s keeping, what’s getting.
[00:49:46]
Yeah.
Dumpster fire or whatever.
[00:49:48]
Yeah.
[00:49:48]
So that we have, we do a lot of,
we have some, we have different areas.
[00:49:52]
We have a sticker system that we use
[00:49:53]
to identify, keep the ship
to a family member donates.
[00:49:58]
We kind of have a lot of secret systems
[00:49:59]
in place and then we got
a signs that we use.
[00:50:01]
All right.
And then my staff just basically
[00:50:04]
knows which items are going
towards which of our partners.
[00:50:08]
So we start organizing so we kinda
[00:50:10]
reorganize the house as we’re
doing that sorting stage.
[00:50:12]
And so then my staff just knows
who to call for which item.
[00:50:16]
That’s so cool.
That makes sense.
[00:50:17]
So that totally that’s kind of our system
it’s not very fancy just kind of works
[00:50:20]
that everyone. Doesn’t have to be
right as long as there’s a system.
[00:50:23]
Right.
Instead of just sending an employee
[00:50:25]
in there and just be like, hey,
worked this out. Yeah,
[00:50:27]
and they kind of go room by room and we
usually start if they’re having a hard
[00:50:30]
time, which starts out like
one on one with a client.
[00:50:32]
Like we just let’s just
do focus on one area.
[00:50:35]
And then as people get used to us being
there, then we might have to send in,
[00:50:39]
like more staff just to kind of get
things finished in a period.
[00:50:43]
That’s super cool, man.
[00:50:45]
That’s impressive.
[00:50:47]
And you I feel like you’re more empathetic
[00:50:50]
than I am, so I don’t know
if I could do what you do.
[00:50:51]
You have to be nice.
[00:50:53]
Yeah. I think you would do fine.
[00:50:55]
I feel like I’m nice, but it’s so.
[00:50:59]
I don’t know, it’s just challenging.
[00:51:01]
I can’t imagine.
[00:51:03]
Well, I guess I’ll probably run
[00:51:04]
into the situation with my
parents eventually, right?
[00:51:07]
Yes, I think people get old
[00:51:09]
and everybody’s going
to have to deal with it.
[00:51:11]
And then again,
[00:51:11]
I think that a lot of my staff are
dementia train, dementia friendly trained.
[00:51:15]
Oh.
[00:51:15]
So, again, there’s a whole other level
that we didn’t even get into about when
[00:51:18]
people actually have, like, are working
through this when they have dementia.
[00:51:21]
Yeah.
And so, again, you can’t have these
[00:51:23]
conversations, like you can’t ask the kind
what they want, what clothes they wear
[00:51:26]
most often because they’re
already beyond that.
[00:51:28]
They can’t answer you.
[00:51:29]
So then the children are trying to like
[00:51:32]
respect their moms wishes,
but also getting frustrated because maybe
[00:51:34]
their mom doesn’t recognize
them or they just lost their communication skills.
[00:51:38]
OK. So when people kind of are
in that frame of mind,
[00:51:42]
I think my step is actually super
good in that role of, you know what?
[00:51:46]
It’s you know,
it it’s just helping the family realize
[00:51:50]
that this is the path they’re going down
and there’s different levels of dementia
[00:51:54]
and they’re not going to be
able to handle the sorting.
[00:51:55]
They’re not going
to answer your questions.
[00:51:57]
So, you know, it’s probably better not
to ask them, you know, this. Gotcha.
[00:52:01]
So there’s a lot of that that goes
[00:52:02]
on to say definitely sympathy
is being sympathetic is huge.
[00:52:07]
And there’s some guidance, it sounds like.
Definitely.
[00:52:09]
All right.
Lots of guidance.
[00:52:10]
Yeah.
All right.
[00:52:11]
Yeah.
I just be like, burn the place down.
[00:52:16]
Oh, so tough.
That would be so tough.
[00:52:19]
It’s really it’s super rewarding.
[00:52:20]
It really it’s such a rewarding
profession to be part of.
[00:52:23]
So, you know, so you and I were talking
before we started about your reviews,
[00:52:29]
fifty five 5 star reviews just blows
my mind, blows my mind.
[00:52:34]
Yeah, it’s incredible on a whole other level
[00:52:36]
and they’re intense reviews, like in fact,
like if you read them,
[00:52:39]
there’s like paragraphs and each review, I don’t know
if you went into them. I
[00:52:43]
just saw really briefly, I was like,
how are you not even at four point nine,
[00:52:46]
like from some
like I saw this truck cut me off that I
[00:52:51]
happened to get the name
on or something. Thank god.
[00:52:54]
Yeah.
[00:52:54]
Again, I owe it to my staff because
they’re just they’re wonderful.
[00:52:57]
But these reviews are so intense that it’s
it’s not it’s not a simple line like.
[00:53:02]
Yeah, great job.
Yeah.
[00:53:03]
Like paragraphs like I could not have gone
[00:53:05]
through this without you type
of situations. Super cool.
[00:53:08]
Yeah.
So it’s there because it’s again
[00:53:10]
the the time we’re working with these
families, it’s such an intense time
[00:53:13]
and we just come in and we say
no problem to anything that comes up.
[00:53:18]
Like it’s fine, we can totally help you with that. It’s
all good, we’ll do it.
[00:53:22]
And we just try to relieve that those
[00:53:24]
tasks and the stress from them and just
builds this interesting dynamic.
[00:53:29]
So that’s cool.
That’s super cool.
[00:53:31]
Yeah, I love doing that.
[00:53:32]
I guess with our clients was
just different level. Yours are
[00:53:36]
just crazy emotional because it’s
[00:53:38]
all this work in a very
short amount of time.
[00:53:41]
Exactly right.
Yeah.
[00:53:42]
And they might not even be living here.
Right.
[00:53:44]
It could be across the country.
[00:53:46]
Oh it’s surreal. Super cool.
[00:53:47]
It’s really wonderful.
It’s impressive.
[00:53:49]
How can people find you.
[00:53:51]
So basically if they can call, Calls
On Call answers our phone.
[00:53:55]
Sure.
Yeah.
[00:53:59]
608-395-1821
[00:53:59]
is our number that
goes straight to you.
[00:54:02]
Otherwise you can go to our website.
We have a contact us form that way.
[00:54:05]
So.
Yep.
[00:54:05]
Email.
Yeah.
[00:54:07]
Very cool.
[00:54:08]
Oh I’m trying to think is there anything
[00:54:11]
that I should have asked
you before we close up.
[00:54:14]
No, I think you did a great job.
[00:54:16]
I think you did a better job.
[00:54:17]
So
[00:54:19]
I just ask a few questions.
Right.
[00:54:20]
I wasn’t sure what you’re going to ask me.
[00:54:21]
I was kind of nervous and like he might give me a tough one.
No, it’s just authentic.
[00:54:25]
Just easy.
Yeah, easy peasy, man.
[00:54:28]
This has been Authentic.
[00:54:29]
Business Adventures, the business program
that brings you the struggle
[00:54:32]
stories and triumphant successes
of business owners across the land. Coming
[00:54:36]
to you in a sweet, sweet studio
and with video now. Great. Super cool.
[00:54:42]
My name is James Kademan
[00:54:43]
and Authentic Business Adventures is
brought to you by Calls On Call, offering
[00:54:47]
answering and receptionist services for
service businesses across the country,
[00:54:51]
on the Web, at CallsOnCall.com. As
[00:54:53]
well as Draw In Customers Business
Coaching, offering business coaching
[00:54:56]
services for entrepreneurs,
looking for growth, on the web at
[00:55:00]
DrawInCustomers.com. And of course,
The BOLD Business Book,
[00:55:04]
a book for the entrepreneur in all of us
[00:55:06]
available on Amazon and wherever
fine books are sold.
[00:55:09]
We’d like to thank you, our wonderful
listeners, as well as our guest,
[00:55:12]
Marianne Gariti, owner
of Moving Forward Senior Move Managers.
[00:55:15]
I love that.
I love that name.
[00:55:18]
Thanks for having me too. Oh, I want to ask
you really quick, who did your logo?
[00:55:23]
A friend of ours actually did it.
Yeah.
[00:55:25]
So she her husband plays
racquetball with my husband.
[00:55:27]
Oh, nice.
OK, small world.
[00:55:30]
Terry Breeze is her name.
All right. Terry Breeze.
[00:55:31]
Super cool.
Yeah.
[00:55:33]
The name.
The logo.
[00:55:34]
Super awesome.
That’s awesome, thanks.
[00:55:35]
Man, you guys could
franchise across the world.
[00:55:37]
I tell you, let’s do it.
[00:55:38]
Nice! Find us airing on
[00:55:40]
103.5 FM
Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m..
[00:55:42]
Sundays at 2:00 p.m., as well as at
SunPrairieMediaCenter.com.
[00:55:46]
Past episodes can be found morning,
[00:55:47]
noon, and night at the podcast
link found on DrawInCustomers.com.
[00:55:51]
Thank you for listening.
We will see you next week.
[00:55:53]
I want you to stay awesome.
[00:55:55]
And if you do nothing else,
enjoy your business.
