Happy New Year!
January 18, 2021
As I set out on what is already turning out to be a busy year, I am reflecting on all the individuals, families, and companies I have served in my many years running a professional moving company. This morning I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation and determined I have done over ten thousand moves. Yes. TEN THOUSAND.
Wow.
Paul Genus is in the Genius Zone
Respected human behaviour researcher, Malcolm Gladwell, wrote in his book Outliers that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” So, I’m starting 2021 in the genius zone. I am a humble man, but I cannot help but be proud of the proof by numbers that Inner City Moving & Storage is one of the best moving companies in the Greater Toronto Area.
It is easier to work with companies who are experienced, especially when you are dealing with moving all your belongings from one place to another. You don’t want anything to go wrong in such a transaction. And our expertise came from doing 10,000 moves.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Words of Advice
As Gladwell writes, although it appears that success for some companies, influencers, and/or celebrities, comes overnight, in most cases, what came before is hours and hours of practice. Thus, when they jump on the scene and they become an “overnight success,” if you look at their history, you’ll find that magic 10,000 hours of practice/experience behind them. One of the examples Gladwell uses is the Beatles, one of my favourite bands. Hamburg, Germany had a great music scene, and while there, the Beatles played a countless number of eight-hour gigs, becoming a tight team; they learned to work well together. Before they “invaded” America and became successful beyond imagination, they had already had over 10,000 hours of practice.
Gladwell didn’t base his statement of 10,000 being the “magical number” on just one study. He studied elite performance in a great number of fields, including hockey and technology. Bill Gates and Microsoft’s emergence as leaders in computing are not true miracles. His parents thought his interest in coding was important and they encouraged him to follow his interests through enrolling him in a unique school in his hometown in Seattle. Other towns did not have such a school. He took that opportunity and spent a lot of time becoming the expert he was. You know how much time? Over 10,000 hours. So, when he was ready to take Microsoft to the global stage, he was already an expert. It was not some God-selected one-of-kind miracle. His success was due to his devotion, passion, and the time he dedicated to learning his craft.
Persistence and Process Brings Great Business Results
But becoming an expert requires good business practices. At Innercity Moving, we are definitely good at moving goods in the most safe and efficient way. When you are wondering how to get that odd shaped, huge, couch out of your tiny townhouse living room, we have done the same thing for many other families. You don’t have 10,000 moves behind your belt; that’s why you
rely on our expertise.
I also make sure that I hire people with the stamina to do the job. It is not easy keeping the pace going to ensure your move goes well, then waving good-bye to you, happily ensconced in your new home, to drive to a new client’s home to do the same thing again. But we do.Whether your move takes two hours or eight, we keep going to make sure your move is completed as quickly as possible. And how can we make sure we do it as well as our testimonials say we do it? It is based on our history of having done over 10,000 moves.
Business success also depends on being experienced. Our movers are protected by the right types of insurances, both based on government requirements as well as on the best-practice of the moving industry. You want to trust that if something we’re to go wrong, and hey—over 10,000 moves, unsurprisingly, we’ve had a small percentage which did not go as planned—that you and your movers are protected. Inner City Moving has WSIB and carries over two million in liability insurance. One would hope that newer movers are properly set up, but the reason you know that Inner City Moving is properly run, is that we can boast of lasting over twenty-five years and having conducted 10,000 moves.
A Family Business Built to Last
With a new year, we all set new goals and resolutions. What are yours? If you run a business, I am sure you are also heading into 2021 expecting to do better than you did last year, just as when you are employed, you are looking forward for an annual pay increase. Here at Innercity Moving, we are not only expecting a higher growth rate, but we are also planning to increase both the number of moves we do and to build in efficiencies which will increase our profit. Ours is a business set to last for another twenty-five years.
Inner City Moving and Storage is a family business, and my sons also work with me. I am hoping that one of my daughters, who is only sixteen now, but who intends to study marketing, will know she has a home here with Inner City Moving. As I start 2021, I feel in my heart that one of my descendants will be starting the year with a similarly great message in 2121!
Imagine!
So, when you choose to move with Innercity Moving, you know I am building a business that for my great-great-grandchildren. You don’t do that without having the integrity and desire to serve others so the word spreads. The best form of business is repeat business and business that comes from word of mouth. Thus, we go into each move expecting to bring excellent service. We depend on our good name to keep us busy. And because we have the desire to be around a long time, you can know that we will be there when you need our help again.
As I look back, I can think of small moves and big moves and especially of customers I see again and again. I moved a woman and her son from a lovely home on Bathurst Street back in 2001. Just before Christmas last year, that’s almost 20 years later, she called me to move a couch from her home to a charity to which she had donated it. I remembered her and that surprised her. And that’s because each of those 10,000 moves was as important as the other, whether big or small.
Beatles of the Moving World?
When the Beatles made their first appearance in North America, on the gilded stage of the Ed Sullivan Show in early February, 1964, they burst into the music world with a fire that was never seen before. It’s debatable if anyone else immediately changed the state of music fandom since (although my daughter would state that her favourite band, BTS, is bigger than the Beatles). They learned how to do things the right way and so when they performed so well on the Ed Sullivan show that day, and subsequent shows afterwards, it was not really a surprise that they had found the right mix. They had been working together, perfecting their processes, for 10,000 hours.
And that is the same for us at Innercity Moving and Storage. When we come in and help you through a move, we reduce your stress as we know what we are doing. We’ve done this over 10,000 times. And we value you and your situation as if it were our first and only move. And thus, we treat you, not like you are one of 10,000. We give you the result of our experience. So, it is like having the Beatles serenading you in your living room. But first you have to have the
Beatles of the moving world set that couch up for you.
To all the past and future clients of Inner City Moving, I wish you a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous 2021. We look forward to serving many of you well.
