Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Stress Relief On Moving Day; How College H.U.N.K.S. Delivers Peace Of Mind with Anne Smith

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Stress Relief On Moving Day; How College H.U.N.K.S. Delivers Peace Of Mind with Anne Smith · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:28
  Bill Gilliland: Hey there.
• 0:29
  Bill Gilliland: Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:32
  Bill Gilliland: I am Bill Gillilan, your host.
• 0:34
  Bill Gilliland: I am also the principal at Action Coach Business Growth Partners and one of the founders of the Asheville Business Summit.
• 0:42
  Bill Gilliland: A lot of times I am talking to people that I've just met or don't know, but I've got a friend today that we get to talk to.
• 0:49
  Bill Gilliland: So I've got Ann Smith from College Hunks, and I'm going to get the rest of it hauling, junk, and moving.
• 0:55
  Bill Gilliland: So it's College Hunks, Hauling, Junk and Moving.
• 0:58
  Bill Gilliland: That's a good name because it tells you pretty much what they do.
• 1:01
  Bill Gilliland: But Ann, introduce yourself.
• 1:04
  Bill Gilliland: Tell us a little bit about the company and what you do and how you're serving the community.
• 1:09
  Anne Smith: Well, great.
• 1:10
  Anne Smith: Thank you so much, Bill.
• 1:11
  Anne Smith: Appreciate you having us on today.
• 1:12
  Anne Smith: My husband and I are the owner operators of College Hunks, Hauling Junk and Moving here in Asheville.
• 1:19
  Anne Smith: I think we could all agree that moving is stressful.
• 1:22
  Anne Smith: Am I right?
• 1:23
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, 100%.
• 1:24
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 1:24
  Bill Gilliland: There's always there's always some complaining or something going on.
• 1:29
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:30
  Anne Smith: And some heavy stuff too.
• 1:32
  Anne Smith: But yeah, even trying to figure out how to get rid of items can can be stressful.
• 1:35
  Anne Smith: So our goal is to decrease our client stress uh during those transitions so that you can focus on other things.
• 1:42
  Anne Smith: Um HUNCS is an acronym.
• 1:44
  Anne Smith: So our team of HUNCS, which stands for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable, and Service, will come out and uh take care of that moving, junk removal, loading a truck, unloading, whatever the project is, uh they'll take care of that.
• 1:58
  Anne Smith: And again, to to reduce the stress of moving.
• 2:02
  Anne Smith: Uh, we opened this location about five years ago here in Western North Carolina and have just really loved being a part of this community.
• 2:09
  Anne Smith: Um, I'm gonna go ahead and put the cat out of the bag.
• 2:12
  Anne Smith: Everyone asked me if it's uh all about college students, and it's not.
• 2:15
  Anne Smith: The reason college is in the name is because the founder of the overall franchise was at the University of Miami, which is why the colors are orange and green.
• 2:24
  Anne Smith: And so we are all in the University of Stress-Free Service, but doesn't really have anything to do with college at all.
• 2:30
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I understand.
• 2:31
  Bill Gilliland: That that's that's cool.
• 2:32
  Bill Gilliland: Uh yeah, I always ask people like, what business are you really in?
• 2:35
  Bill Gilliland: And you're really in the reducing stress business.
• 2:38
  Bill Gilliland: You know, everybody says, yeah, they're yeah, I love that.
• 2:41
  Bill Gilliland: I love that.
• 2:42
  Bill Gilliland: So let's let me let me um ask a few business related questions.
• 2:47
  Bill Gilliland: You guys, uh, how long have you been in in this business here?
• 2:51
  Anne Smith: We've been doing this for five years.
• 2:53
  Bill Gilliland: So for five years.
• 2:54
  Bill Gilliland: So that's good.
• 2:55
  Bill Gilliland: That it gives us a background.
• 2:56
  Anne Smith: So we moved to mid-pandemic to start this.
• 2:59
  Bill Gilliland: Perfect.
• 3:00
  Bill Gilliland: And then we've had a we had a pandemic and we've had a hurricane, we've had all kinds of cool stuff happen uh around here.
• 3:06
  Bill Gilliland: What but looking back, if you had to start over again, what would you have done differently?
• 3:13
  Anne Smith: That is such a great question.
• 3:14
  Anne Smith: You know, there's definitely small things, um, small things that I would probably have done differently.
• 3:20
  Anne Smith: Um, but on a broader level, I probably would have acknowledged that my calendar is going to be chop full of business choices and decisions.
• 3:34
  Anne Smith: And I probably would have been more intentional from the beginning to have probably uh planned fun, planned activities for friends and family, even outside the area, been more intentional.
• 3:45
  Anne Smith: I eventually got to that point when I realized that life was consumed with work, but I think I would have been a little bit more intentional from the beginning and uh just plan get those on the calendar and think a little bit further ahead than just the one year.
• 3:56
  Anne Smith: Um, but yeah, other decisions here, some small things, but overall, not too many things that would change.
• 4:03
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I actually love that.
• 4:04
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, I had to I had to make it one of my major goals to plan fun.
• 4:08
  Bill Gilliland: So, as one of the top three things that that I have to look at every week is like when, you know, when is there fun in the week?
• 4:15
  Bill Gilliland: Otherwise, we just work all the time.
• 4:17
  Bill Gilliland: Exactly.
• 4:18
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:19
  Bill Gilliland: So what are what are some of your biggest learnings as an owner and an employer since you started?
• 4:28
  Anne Smith: I think it's the the importance of having a support network is is invaluable.
• 4:35
  Anne Smith: Um we're being part of a franchise, you know, we've got that network and we ask for the support and we get the support.
• 4:42
  Anne Smith: But gosh, here being a part of the Western North Carolina community, we uh feel so supported and relationships that we've built.
• 4:49
  Anne Smith: I always say, hey, if I can't help you with the problem, I can probably point you in the direction of somebody that can assist you.
• 4:56
  Anne Smith: Um, but really just being uh transparent and and being a part of the community and building those relationships.
• 5:02
  Anne Smith: Uh networking gets a bad rap, but I really believe it's really about just just understanding who people are and getting to know them and their business and being a center for resource, you know, putting people on resources.
• 5:14
  Bill Gilliland: I think I think bad networking might get a bad rap, but good networking gets a good rap.
• 5:20
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, I, you know, I mean, I I'll I'll share.
• 5:23
  Bill Gilliland: We, you know, I'm a client and we um, you know, I mean, that's how my wife is using you today, actually, because of networking.
• 5:32
  Bill Gilliland: I mean, otherwise I would have never known who to call.
• 5:36
  Bill Gilliland: So um, yeah, I think I think networking is basically critical for most of uh uh most businesses and business owners in uh in the thing.
• 5:47
  Bill Gilliland: So uh any learnings as an employer?
• 5:52
  Anne Smith: Oh, as an employer, there's always gonna be surprises, right?
• 5:57
  Anne Smith: Things are gonna happen in your business no matter what your line of business is.
• 6:00
  Anne Smith: Um as an employer, I guess I was surprised to realize that they are always into your team is in tune to what's going on.
• 6:08
  Anne Smith: You know, you gotta be congruent, right?
• 6:10
  Anne Smith: How you're feeling on the inside needs to match how you're expressing yourself on the X outside.
• 6:15
  Anne Smith: And if you and that was a little bit newer to me.
• 6:20
  Anne Smith: Um, but yeah, yeah, I guess that was it's just business is fragile, right?
• 6:25
  Anne Smith: All industries, everything we're doing.
• 6:27
  Anne Smith: Um, it's you've got to control the controllables um and realize what's in your control and what's not.
• 6:34
  Anne Smith: And one of the things that we can control, right, is that mindset.
• 6:37
  Anne Smith: And I think you guys do such a great job at Action Coach.
• 6:40
  Anne Smith: I've learned so much from you, Bill, through our conversations and even just um, you know, allowing me to pick up the phone and ask you some things.
• 6:46
  Anne Smith: Um, just that business relationship.
• 6:48
  Anne Smith: I so appreciate that.
• 6:49
  Anne Smith: But I do believe that mindset is you can't ask your team to uh to have a great mindset if you're you know not taking a step back with a broader perspective and going, okay, hold on a second, is this gonna matter, you know, in five years what I'm talking about for five minutes.
• 7:06
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, no, I love that.
• 7:07
  Bill Gilliland: And uh thanks for thanks for those.
• 7:08
  Bill Gilliland: You know, it's interesting to me that you know, I you know, I'll talk to anybody.
• 7:12
  Bill Gilliland: If anybody's got a challenge, they can pick up the phone and call me.
• 7:14
  Bill Gilliland: It's not a problem, but life really is a mirror.
• 7:17
  Bill Gilliland: Like if you show up with a good attitude, then that's probably the employees are probably rub off on.
• 7:22
  Bill Gilliland: If you show up in a bad mood, I guarantee you that's gonna show up in your employees.
• 7:26
  Bill Gilliland: So it's an interesting one.
• 7:28
  Bill Gilliland: What what are some of the common misconceptions that that about running a business?
• 7:35
  Anne Smith: Well, everyone thinks that it's you know, you're rolling in money.
• 7:38
  Anne Smith: Uh other than misconceptions, or they I guess they would think that, you know, that it's that it's easy and that time is always in your control.
• 7:46
  Anne Smith: So those things are, you know, there's just challenges with all things that you do.
• 7:51
  Anne Smith: Um, I think as an owner, it's very difficult to have uh boundaries with your time.
• 7:58
  Anne Smith: Maybe it's a it can be a physical barrier barrier that you're a boundary that you're not at the event or you're not at the office, but it's tricky, especially, you know, to stop your conversation, whether it's in your mind or with your spouse as your partner talking about the business.
• 8:12
  Anne Smith: So those are, you know, those can be challenging.
• 8:15
  Bill Gilliland: It's very hard.
• 8:16
  Bill Gilliland: It's very hard.
• 8:17
  Bill Gilliland: What do what do you attribute your growth to?
• 8:21
  Anne Smith: Um, we have again, this points back to Western North Carolina.
• 8:26
  Anne Smith: I think it's just an amazing community.
• 8:27
  Anne Smith: We've built a lot of relationships um here that have been able to advocate for us.
• 8:32
  Anne Smith: Um, one of our both, you know, relationships with it company wide as well as just personal relationships.
• 8:39
  Anne Smith: Um, our mission at College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving is to move the world.
• 8:44
  Anne Smith: Um, but that doesn't mean just moving your things, right?
• 8:46
  Anne Smith: That means being a part and serving in the community is where we provide service.
• 8:51
  Anne Smith: So we work a lot with homeward bound.
• 8:54
  Anne Smith: Any items that we get from junk removal services, we try to uh save those, they'll come pick them up from homeward bound.
• 8:59
  Anne Smith: Obviously, we work with Habitat for Humanity, Asheville Tool Closet, when we get tool weird tools and things like that, we're working with them.
• 9:07
  Anne Smith: Um, and then for the month of October, which is the month for domestic awareness, domestic violence awareness, we do free moves for working with shelters, and that's as a brand.
• 9:19
  Anne Smith: So I think when we're able to build those relationships and and communicate that we're doing more than just moving and junk removal, um, that we're trying to put you know some good things uh in the communities here.
• 9:32
  Anne Smith: I'll put on that.
• 9:33
  Anne Smith: Yeah, I go back to relationships, though.
• 9:35
  Anne Smith: It's all about those relationships that that have been created here.
• 9:39
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I know I love that.
• 9:41
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I mean, yeah, this really is a giving community.
• 9:46
  Bill Gilliland: And I think it shows that you know how we help each other and how we work together, even competitors a lot of times will work together to help, you know, on on things.
• 9:55
  Bill Gilliland: I you know, I was I was at a thing for the builders the other night, and you know, there's a whole room full of builders.
• 10:01
  Bill Gilliland: They're they're technically all competitors, but they're kind of not.
• 10:06
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, it's pretty, yeah, it's pretty interesting.
• 10:09
  Bill Gilliland: So you you you jump you talked about this a minute ago.
• 10:12
  Bill Gilliland: How do you balance like the demands of business and your personal life?
• 10:18
  Anne Smith: Yeah, that's a that's an ongoing question, isn't it, in the world of life.
• 10:21
  Anne Smith: Um, I think again, I think it goes back to that, you know, working with our mindset.
• 10:26
  Anne Smith: What kind of practices can we put in place um to keep that mindset good and keep that energy good?
• 10:31
  Anne Smith: You know, personally, I I believe in and gratitude is a is a big thing.
• 10:35
  Anne Smith: Gratitude journal and really starting off my day looking at that.
• 10:40
  Anne Smith: Um and you know, exercise and and again, those relationships.
• 10:45
  Anne Smith: Okay, if I'm feeling a certain way with some certain challenges, well, who what's what's a positive thing that I can do?
• 10:52
  Anne Smith: Who can I reach out to and encourage them?
• 10:55
  Anne Smith: What can I do to kind of flip the script, if you will, in my brain at that moment?
• 10:59
  Anne Smith: So yeah, I just try to put some routines and things in place um to keep the the mindset good and the energy good.
• 11:06
  Bill Gilliland: I like it.
• 11:07
  Bill Gilliland: I like it a lot.
• 11:08
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I I uh I actually got an out that includes like you can a journal and you can put in the gratitudes.
• 11:17
  Bill Gilliland: And I, you know, I kind of tried it for a while, didn't do it.
• 11:19
  Bill Gilliland: Now I've got a pretty good habit on it.
• 11:21
  Bill Gilliland: It is it's interesting.
• 11:22
  Bill Gilliland: It just it kind of does set the day for you, doesn't it?
• 11:25
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, it does.
• 11:26
  Anne Smith: And I think it's it's so funny because our brain will will do what we want.
• 11:30
  Anne Smith: You know, if we want to solve a problem, we're gonna keep looking for those problems.
• 11:33
  Anne Smith: But if we start identifying what the good thing, what the what happened that day, then we're gonna keep finding those good things.
• 11:40
  Anne Smith: Yeah, we're all one of our our uh core values is building leaders.
• 11:44
  Anne Smith: And so I love talking, you know, we're we're helping folks put different types of skills in that are transferable to whatever they're gonna do in life, uh, beyond college hunks, hauling, junk, and moving, but uh that that skill, you know, to being able to look at things um through a different lens and really uh especially when you're working with folks that are stressed out, right?
• 12:06
  Anne Smith: Moving is really hard.
• 12:08
  Anne Smith: It's very, very difficult.
• 12:09
  Anne Smith: So the folks that are working for us have got the ability to be compassionate, to say, hey, I understand this is stressful, you're in good hands, you know, let's let's work through this.
• 12:19
  Anne Smith: Um, I hear you, you're you've got we're you're in good hands.
• 12:22
  Anne Smith: Um, so that's that's really important to the line of work that we do is really find make sure that we've got the right team to have that customer experience.
• 12:32
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love that.
• 12:33
  Bill Gilliland: So how so what qualities do you look for when you're looking for employees?
• 12:38
  Anne Smith: That's a good question.
• 12:39
  Anne Smith: My background is career development.
• 12:41
  Anne Smith: Uh, so interestingly, that kind of can can leap over into this realm.
• 12:47
  Anne Smith: Um and I'm not necessarily looking for so much for experience, but I I like to get a foundation of who someone is.
• 12:54
  Anne Smith: Um I'm not looking for a laborer.
• 12:57
  Anne Smith: I'm looking for someone that's got a positive mindset, someone that's coachable, someone that can think critically.
• 13:03
  Anne Smith: And and when I say, hey, what do you want out of this experience if we're to bring you on the team?
• 13:07
  Anne Smith: I'm I'm hoping that they can, you know, come up with something.
• 13:11
  Anne Smith: I want to learn more from a business sense, or I want to, you know, work in a good positive environment, or I want to decrease someone's stress, you know, those kinds of things.
• 13:19
  Anne Smith: So yeah, that coachability, that positive mindset, uh, you know, being able to play well in the sandbox, get along with other people, and uh problem solve.
• 13:30
  Bill Gilliland: When they do come up with something into the answer to that question, what do you want out of this job essentially is what you I think what you just said.
• 13:37
  Bill Gilliland: Sure.
• 13:38
  Bill Gilliland: Well, what kind of I mean, just I'm just curious.
• 13:41
  Bill Gilliland: This is uh, you know, what where do you what kind of answers do you get?
• 13:45
  Anne Smith: Yeah, I get everything under the sun.
• 13:46
  Anne Smith: Um, and you know, I've got one person in mind, and he said, because we go through that, what I mentioned, you're gonna learn skills and marketing and sales and critical thinking and positivity and coaching other people, um, which is more than just picking up heavy stuff, right?
• 14:02
  Anne Smith: You think it's just picking up stuff, but there's so much beyond that.
• 14:04
  Anne Smith: And Nazir said to me, I want to improve my communication.
• 14:07
  Anne Smith: I said, okay.
• 14:08
  Anne Smith: So I wrote that down.
• 14:09
  Anne Smith: And he's been with us for almost two years.
• 14:12
  Anne Smith: And let me tell you, he's just got, he just made junior captain, his communication, his desire to believe in himself to and to, you know, to lead.
• 14:22
  Anne Smith: That that's really impressive.
• 14:23
  Anne Smith: We've got a structure where you come in as a junior wingman, then you go wingman, captain, senior captain.
• 14:30
  Anne Smith: There's a junior captain in there too.
• 14:31
  Anne Smith: But point being, you can just stay at the basic level if you choose to.
• 14:35
  Anne Smith: We want people that want that desire more.
• 14:37
  Anne Smith: But that one always stood out to me because I saw it.
• 14:39
  Anne Smith: I saw his communication improve.
• 14:41
  Anne Smith: I've seen his confidence grow.
• 14:43
  Anne Smith: And um, yeah, I love that.
• 14:46
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, so you're also in the people development business.
• 14:50
  Anne Smith: 100%.
• 14:50
  Anne Smith: Yeah.
• 14:51
  Anne Smith: We are building lead building leaders is our main, our number one core value.
• 14:55
  Anne Smith: And we are living that core value every day.
• 14:57
  Anne Smith: We start our mornings with a huddle.
• 14:59
  Anne Smith: So we've got someone that's kicking off that, and then uh we're sharing what you know moments that our team has seen each other in regarding those core values.
• 15:08
  Anne Smith: And it kind of goes back to that gratitude, Bill, when you start highlighting things that someone on your team has done, then you start to look for those, right?
• 15:16
  Anne Smith: And then you get to bring that to the team, and then person standing next to you is like, oh, I've got something too.
• 15:21
  Anne Smith: Oh, yeah, that reminds me of how they did this for that customer or how this worked.
• 15:26
  Bill Gilliland: So Yeah, yeah, no, it's yeah, it's uh it's infectious.
• 15:30
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, it has to be intentional, but it's infectious once it is.
• 15:34
  Bill Gilliland: So all right.
• 15:35
  Bill Gilliland: So P Epic is one of my taglines, and I'm gonna, it's an acronym, and I'm gonna ask you to do like a quick fire around.
• 15:44
  Bill Gilliland: Give me uh just a couple of thoughts about or sentences or words about each one.
• 15:49
  Bill Gilliland: So and I I kind of um jumping around for um um for the acronym, but uh yeah, I I I I took a license really with the B.
• 16:07
  Bill Gilliland: So the B is the B stands for bring the energy.
• 16:10
  Bill Gilliland: So give me some thoughts about bringing energy.
• 16:12
  Anne Smith: Yeah, bringing that energy kind of goes back to what I was saying was just starting the day with that huddle, having that having that morning energy, getting that going at whatever time it happens, and really getting that communication and understanding that it goes beyond what we're doing.
• 16:27
  Anne Smith: We're helping someone else.
• 16:29
  Anne Smith: So trying to relay that.
• 16:31
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, I love that.
• 16:32
  Bill Gilliland: How about the E and Epic stands for education?
• 16:36
  Anne Smith: Education.
• 16:36
  Anne Smith: I think it goes back to that building leaders.
• 16:38
  Anne Smith: We're always reading, we're always encouraging our team to read.
• 16:41
  Anne Smith: You know, what can we?
• 16:42
  Anne Smith: Is it a quote?
• 16:43
  Anne Smith: Is it a book?
• 16:44
  Anne Smith: What can we do?
• 16:45
  Anne Smith: We've uh brought three team members to a virtual three-day summit for Building Leaders Summit.
• 16:51
  Anne Smith: It was put on by corporate, and we paid for their time to be there, their walk away, they had breakout sessions.
• 16:56
  Anne Smith: So I love that.
• 16:57
  Anne Smith: They they did have a book that went with it, but they got to interact in a small group.
• 17:01
  Anne Smith: Um, and what another one of our team members has been on, Christian's been on a podcast before.
• 17:05
  Anne Smith: So yeah, it's just always learning and growing.
• 17:07
  Anne Smith: And I think uh gaining skills outside your comfort zone, that that's what the E is about to me.
• 17:12
  Bill Gilliland: I love it.
• 17:13
  Bill Gilliland: P E stands for planning.
• 17:14
  Bill Gilliland: What are your thoughts around planning?
• 17:17
  Anne Smith: You gotta plan.
• 17:18
  Anne Smith: Everything you do needs to be planned.
• 17:20
  Anne Smith: However, the caveat moving and junk removal, everything here, you know, it can be an ebb and a flow.
• 17:25
  Anne Smith: Things can, it's not always the industry where you can plan and things go exactly to plan.
• 17:30
  Anne Smith: So that would lead me to the P might be pivot.
• 17:33
  Anne Smith: It might be make the best decision that you can in that moment and get support if you need to make a I might add that.
• 17:39
  Bill Gilliland: Plan and pivot.
• 17:40
  Bill Gilliland: I like it.
• 17:40
  Bill Gilliland: The I stands for inspiration.
• 17:44
  Anne Smith: Um, our inspiration again goes back to that mission is to move the world.
• 17:47
  Anne Smith: And we just love being a part of the community and and working with that.
• 17:51
  Anne Smith: Um we were honored by our franchise meeting last year, and they due to some of the hurricane relief work that we did amongst all the other businesses here, right?
• 18:04
  Anne Smith: Everybody here in Western North Carolina was doing their thing, but it was such an honor to be gathered around other teammates and be recognized with that.
• 18:10
  Anne Smith: Um, and it was called the Move the World Award.
• 18:13
  Bill Gilliland: I love it.
• 18:13
  Bill Gilliland: Congratulations.
• 18:14
  Bill Gilliland: Congratulations on that.
• 18:16
  Bill Gilliland: So, yeah, I love that.
• 18:17
  Bill Gilliland: How about the sea is commitment?
• 18:21
  Anne Smith: Commitment goes back to those core values.
• 18:23
  Anne Smith: We live our core values, and it and it sounds corny.
• 18:26
  Anne Smith: Um, that's what we've done when we first got started in this business.
• 18:29
  Anne Smith: People said, moving and junk removal.
• 18:31
  Anne Smith: Wow, you coming from corporate.
• 18:33
  Anne Smith: That's what you're doing now.
• 18:34
  Anne Smith: That's interesting, with a little bit of a smile in their voice.
• 18:37
  Anne Smith: Like, what is going on?
• 18:38
  Anne Smith: But when you're living your core values daily, you're realizing that we're pouring into people, helping with their the skills that are building them, not only to provide excellent customer service, but will provide transferable skills, you know, with whatever they're choosing to do next.
• 18:52
  Anne Smith: So I think that's goes back to that, those core values.
• 18:57
  Bill Gilliland: Well, I, you know, anybody who would poo-poo the core values doesn't understand the process.
• 19:03
  Bill Gilliland: And a lot of people don't know that there's no way you would have invested in this business and its core values if you didn't believe in them and and were willing to go a hundred percent into them.
• 19:13
  Bill Gilliland: Otherwise, why would you why would you invest?
• 19:15
  Bill Gilliland: And and so that's yeah, that I think that's uh super important.
• 19:19
  Bill Gilliland: So I one of the things I've always liked about a a great franchise organization is that they did have systems and core values and things that you could buy into.
• 19:29
  Bill Gilliland: So I yeah, so if the core values align with you and then why wouldn't you buy into them and be a hundred percent and live them?
• 19:37
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah.
• 19:38
  Anne Smith: And we we expect our employees to live too.
• 19:40
  Anne Smith: And when that doesn't happen, then they're not the right fit.
• 19:43
  Anne Smith: And that's okay.
• 19:45
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, 100%, yeah, 100%.
• 19:46
  Bill Gilliland: Yeah, we actually have 14 core values, and we I go over them with my team, one uh one of them every week, and we dive into it and what does it mean?
• 19:54
  Bill Gilliland: And we try to make that our core value of the week.
• 19:56
  Bill Gilliland: And you know, it it were it works out great.
• 19:59
  Bill Gilliland: So so what words of advice would you give to other business owners who are looking to grow?
• 20:05
  Anne Smith: That's a great, great question.
• 20:06
  Anne Smith: I'm gonna throw one more thing in there, going back to that C, if I may.
• 20:09
  Anne Smith: Just as an example of commitment, um, we've got two employees that have been with us for five years.
• 20:16
  Anne Smith: So they joined not too long after we first got started.
• 20:18
  Anne Smith: We're bringing them to our annual conference that's called reunions.
• 20:22
  Anne Smith: They'll go down to Tampa with us.
• 20:23
  Anne Smith: We'll all get our five-year jackets uh this February.
• 20:27
  Anne Smith: So that's pretty exciting.
• 20:28
  Anne Smith: And I think that again goes to show that they're they're not what supervisor managerial roles, they've gone up the to lose, use all the variety of skills and and they're leading.
• 20:37
  Anne Smith: And so that's that's a really cool thing to see the commitment and to see what's going on there.
• 20:42
  Bill Gilliland: Well, they've bought into the core values too, or they wouldn't still be there.
• 20:45
  Bill Gilliland: And it's easy to be committed when your values align.
• 20:50
  Bill Gilliland: So yeah, that's that's awesome.
• 20:53
  Bill Gilliland: So back to the advice you'd give business owners looking to grow.
• 20:58
  Anne Smith: Looking to grow, I would say again, goes back to those relationships.
• 21:02
  Anne Smith: Um looking short-term and long term um at the different things that you can do.
• 21:07
  Anne Smith: Because obviously, business ownership can get you uh tied up in the weeds of the detail, but you need to make sure you've got that strategic view as well.
• 21:15
  Anne Smith: And the you know, the realization that energy is your most precious resource.
• 21:19
  Anne Smith: So you can waste it in those weeds or you can try to protect it and deal with what you need to deal with, and then focus on some of the things that maybe are going to be more fruitful.
• 21:30
  Bill Gilliland: Love it.
• 21:31
  Bill Gilliland: Love that.
• 21:31
  Bill Gilliland: So, what's the next big thing for college hunks in Asheville?
• 21:41
  Anne Smith: Well, we've got that big event.
• 21:43
  Anne Smith: We're taking them in a few, what is a couple months down to the reunion?
• 21:47
  Anne Smith: Um, but yeah, so things things are going well.
• 21:49
  Anne Smith: We've done a little expansion into some of the territories, expanded our fleet.
• 21:53
  Anne Smith: So um we're happy to be rocking and rolling.
• 21:57
  Bill Gilliland: Congratulations.
• 21:58
  Bill Gilliland: Congratulations on all that.
• 22:00
  Bill Gilliland: So, what's the best way for someone to get in touch with if they need some hauling, some junk removal, or some moving?
• 22:10
  Anne Smith: They can call our local office in Arden at 828-483-6054.
• 22:17
  Anne Smith: If you Google us, you'll go to our call center and we'll still be able to catch you that way.
• 22:21
  Anne Smith: That will be just fine as well.
• 22:23
  Anne Smith: They can always email me.
• 22:25
  Bill Gilliland: Love it, love it, love it, love it.
• 22:27
  Bill Gilliland: So, hey, look, thanks.
• 22:29
  Bill Gilliland: Really appreciate you being on, man.
• 22:31
  Bill Gilliland: I think this has been a great interview.
• 22:34
  Bill Gilliland: And uh, there is a lot of great that you're doing in the community.
• 22:37
  Bill Gilliland: I really appreciate all you're doing.
• 22:39
  Bill Gilliland: Congratulations on your success so far.
• 22:41
  Bill Gilliland: And I'm sure you're gonna continue that that success on and into the future.
• 22:45
  Bill Gilliland: So thank you so much, Bill.
• 22:47
  Anne Smith: Well, thank you for letting us be a part of this.
• 22:49
  Anne Smith: Appreciate that.
• 22:50
  Bill Gilliland: And until next time, all the best.