Epic Entrepreneurs

We Put Graffiti On Trucks And The Phone Wouldn’t Stop Ringing with Brendan Hogan Asheville Area Movers

• Bill Gilliland

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What does it take to come back from losing every single truck overnight? We sit down with Brendan Hogan of Asheville Area Movers to unpack a hard-won playbook for rebuilding stronger: bold branding that makes phones ring, smart technology that shrinks overhead, and a people-first culture that turns stressful move days into positive stories customers tell their friends.

Brendan shares the moment he saw water over the trucks, the three-day low that followed, and the switch that flipped when he realized the crisis could be a reset. From commissioning local artists to turn each truck into a rolling landmark to moving the yard to higher ground, the strategy blended community roots with pragmatic risk control. We dig into Google Local Services Ads, why they’re expensive yet indispensable, and how consistent offline visibility—yard signs, print, uniforms—keeps the brand top of mind long after a search ad disappears.

On the operations side, we break down how a mover-specific CRM handles scheduling, bill of lading, payments, and customer history, enabling a two-person office to coordinate 35 movers without drowning in paper. Brendan is candid about hiring in a tough labor market: punctuality trumps everything, attitude beats experience, and paying above market plus clear upsell incentives creates buy-in. We talk stress management, the myth of entrepreneurial free time, and the power of an operations partner who can swap in when life happens.

Looking ahead, Brendan explains the decision to expand into Atlanta with a trusted team member at the helm and the plan to centralize support in Asheville to create better local jobs. If you’re a founder navigating setbacks, wondering whether to invest in brand, or debating the ROI of LSAs and industry-specific software, this story delivers practical steps you can apply this week. Enjoy the conversation, then subscribe, share with a builder who needs a boost, and drop a review with your top takeaway.

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!

Bill

Bill Gilliland:

Hey there and welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Bill Gillilan, your host. I am also the principal at Action Coach Business Growth Partners and one of the founders of the Asheville Business Summit. Today I'm super pumped. I'm getting to meet a new friend now. Uh we always that's the one of the cool things about doing these podcasts. We get all these new friends around Western North Carolina and the rest of the world. Uh today I've got Brendan Hogan of Asheville Area Mover. So, Brendan, welcome to the podcast. Tell us a little bit about you and your business and how you're serving the community.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you having me on, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Um we own, I own Asheville Area Movers. Uh, we're the largest locally operated and owned moving company in the Asheville area. Um, you say we're not owned, but we're not a franchise, we're not partnering with a van line or anything like that. We're just local guys um, you know, moving furniture. Uh I've been doing this now. We're coming up on 10 years next year. Um, so nine years in. Um, you know, we had before the storm, we had 12 trucks and about 45 employees. Uh we're back up to seven trucks, and we got about 35 guys working for us. Uh great guys, great team. Um, you know, I've loved living here in Western North Carolina and, you know, serving the community.

Bill Gilliland:

So so what? Let's talk about the storm just a bit and then we'll get into some general business stuff. So you it sounds like you were pretty heavily impacted by the storm.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, so for the first eight years of our business, we were headquartered down along the Swannanoa River over by Brother Wolf, um Biltmore Village area. So um unfortunately, we did lose our entire fleet and business in the storm. Um, and you know, nothing we could do about it. Uh pretty, pretty, pretty crazy experience. But we were managed to get some SBA funding, and you know, we're such a labor-heavy business that we were able to get back on our feet pretty quickly. Um additionally, you know, there's a lot of moving going on because of the storm. So we got lucky on that front. But we've moved down on Patton Avenue to some dry land, a little higher elevation this time. Um, but we're getting back on our feet. It's been awesome to see, you know, other businesses in the area kind of turn it around around here over the past year. And I'm just hoping, you know, things can slowly get back to where they were before.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, well, well done on responding as opposed to folding, I guess. Uh, you know, responding positively to the to the thing. I mean, you know, if if you're in western North Carolina and the lean hit, then you everyone was affected. It's just a matter of uh magnitude, I guess. So uh Yeah, that's that's super cool. It's good to hear that uh you responded. You're like you said, there's a lot of people that need need what you have uh and have needed it in the last year. So let me uh ask you, let's switch gears a little bit and just talking about some general business questions. So if you had to start over again, what would you do differently?

Brendon Hogan:

Oh God, that would be a very, very, very long list. Um, you know, I've made a series of mistakes, you know, throughout the years running this business, and we've learned from every single one of them. Um, you know, most recently coming back from the storm, we hired a bunch of local artists to graffiti our trucks and do logos on the sides of them and everything. Um, you know, I I before when we were up to 12 trucks, I had no branding on them. They were just plain vehicles. I had, you know, our DOT numbers on the side of the doors and our logo, what was legally required, um, but didn't want to spend the money to, you know, put into branding and everything like that. I really, we really, really heavily relied on Google for all of our business. Um, and that was something that I was kind of advised from other people to do. And, you know, since the storm, we've started doing a lot more branding, a lot more advertising, uh, print advertising, you know, outfits, everything like that. It's made a huge, huge impact. We're coming off. I mean, this year will easily be our biggest year ever from a revenue standpoint. Um, and next year is looking like it's it's headed in a similar direction. Um, I just I kick myself because, you know, nine years ago when we started this thing, we got in so early here and when Asheville was booming. And I think if we would have spent the money and the resources and the time into like more of our branding, and I had, you know, almost a decade of 12 trucks driving around with our logos on them, we'd be in a much better position than we were, you know, the couple years prior to the storm. Um, you know, also about five years into our business, we kind of got on board with the idea of like leveraging technology more to make things more efficient, you know, in the moving industry, especially here in North Carolina, because we're regulated, a lot of things are done with paper and pen, um, you know, bill of ladings and contracts that way. And we five years ago transitioned to a CRM that made things just so much more streamlined for us. Um, we work with Supermove, which is uh you know an app out of San Francisco that a lot of moving companies use. There's several different CRMs that you can use, but using that from a scheduling standpoint, um, you know, our bill of ladings on there, revenue on there, customer relationships on there. It's allowed us to be so much more streamlined and it doesn't require more guys in the office. So I actually, you know, run this company essentially with me, myself, Kyle, who is um, you know, our operations manager. And then, you know, we have some guys that are movers that will fill in routinely to do some of the additional office and you know clerical work that's required. But we keep keep things pretty slim um because we leverage technology the way that we do. Um, and yeah, that's been a game changer for us, honestly.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, so leveraging technology and branding would have been a couple of things that you would have leaned into a lot heavy lot heavier, a lot earlier. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're sort of one of the better kept secrets in Nashville, right? Uh you know, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's a that's an interesting thing. So uh what are some of the other big learnings you've had as an owner and an employer in the last nine years?

Brendon Hogan:

You know, the hardest thing that I will ever do as a business owner, and I'm sure a lot of other business owners can relate to this, is just you know, be a manager of other people and employ people. Um, you know, especially in in our industry. Um, you know, a lot of times we have guys that are transitioning in between work. Um, you know, we have some guys who this is this is their career and they're amazing at it, and they've been great employees, and then, you know, it it is people all over the map, right? And finding good help and treating good help the way that they need to be treated to stick around is something I think is lost on a lot of bigger companies that is easier for a smaller company like ours. But, you know, one mistake in hiring can can lead to you know catastrophic outcomes in our business, unfortunately. Um and uh we've made a lot of mistakes before. I think we've gotten a lot better at it where we're sourcing our employees, um, everything along those lines, the relationships we have with our employees. We feel very strongly that we we we our work is very hard. Moving people's furniture, there's a reason they pay us to do it, right? It's it's a yeah, it's a hard not paying.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, it's a hard time. It's heavy, it's hard, it's hard work, it's rough on your body, it's the whole thing, you know, it's tough.

Brendon Hogan:

Absolutely. So, you know, rewarding guys and paying guys accordingly for that has been kind of our motto. Oh, especially, you know, from the day we started, we've always paid more than everyone else, but you know, recently finding ways to compensate our employees for, you know, upselling, you know, whether it's insurance, materials, things along that path so that we're getting revenue along with being able to generate and pass back those profits to our employees has really helped build a more positive and you know happy workforce over the last three years, especially. Um we've gotten so much better at that, and we have such good relationships with our employees these days.

Bill Gilliland:

So um speaking of employees, what qualities do you look for in employees?

Brendon Hogan:

Uh first and foremost is punctuality, right? Um I can't tell you how many interviews we set up and people end up not showing up or they're lazy. It's crazy, isn't it? It's unbelievable. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If you do that, we're just immediately we know it's not gonna work out, right? If you don't value this job, you don't value other people's time. That says a lot about who you are as an employee. I'm often blown away at the amount of people who you know we set up interviews for and they don't come along. You know, uh recently we've done a lot more to kind of pay more for people who have come from other van lines and bigger businesses that are faster for us to train in. It doesn't require as much you know, headway. But if we can get someone in here who has a good attitude, uh shows up on time, is respectful, anyone could be trained to do this job. And, you know, confidently people can do it really, really quickly. Um and I guess those are the main qualities we look for is just respect, you know, not getting flustered, I guess, under pressure, because a lot of things can go wrong on a moving day and kind of just maintaining a good attitude with a customer and just caring about your job, right? Um you know, we have wonderful, wonderful guys right now who really care about people and care about their jobs and care about their community, and you're not gonna cut corners when you feel that way. Um, and that's been really important to find. Yeah. Yeah, I think I don't think you can say that.

Bill Gilliland:

So, what are some common misconceptions about running a business?

Brendon Hogan:

Um that there's so much better work-life balance, I guess. Um, you know, a lot of people think that I have a lot of free time on my hands because especially nowadays, I can play golf on a Tuesday, but that doesn't mean that I'm not in my car headed out somewhere on a Friday night in the middle of dinner with my wife, and I gotta go take care of something. It's just it's a grind, right? Like it's it's constant. Um the stress is is constant. I think in the first several years of my business, I didn't like who being a business owner made me become because I was so stressed out and anxious all the time when things would go wrong, or you're trying to lay your head, you know, to rest at night and you're thinking about a damage that was caused or a payroll coming up or anything along those lines. And um, you know, I I guess the conception is that it's all rainbows and butterflies for people that don't do it, but it it is a lot of hard work and managing that stress is really, really, really important.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of people counting on you. So yeah, it's uh it's a it's a good thing. So what do you attribute your growth to?

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, so in our early years, I we tried to hire a bunch of guys that were were like us, right? They're they're fun, they're positive, they could joke around with customers, they had good attitudes, and that really showed in the amount of repeat customers that we had. Um, I think that's a huge part of it. And to this day, we're very careful about the kind of vibe we're trying to curate around here. Um, we want people who are having one of the most stressful days of their year to have a good and positive experience when our guys show up with smiles on their face and they're cracking jokes and everybody's having a good time. Um you know, beyond that, uh yeah, that's probably where Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Gilliland:

No, I like it. I like it. You you've you've you've you've created a culture where it's hard work, but it's you know, they have a good time. I mean, you know, enjoy being there. I like it. Absolutely. I like it. So you talk you you you hit on the challenges earlier, but how how do you balance personal life and your business, the the demands of running a business?

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, so um I have a gentleman who's our operations manager, and we're kind of uh, you know, the one two, and we work together very, very well. And I think, you know, he just had a baby actually a week after the storm, um, which was pretty, pretty stressful time, obviously. But um having him kind of you know go through that process over the last year. Um, I actually got married last weekend, so I've had a lot going on over the last couple of weeks as well. Yeah. Yeah, but just knowing where each other is at and uh being able to fill in when the other person is, you know, not available. I also, you know, my wife has been great about you know just helping me through stressful times. I think I used to get so hyper-focused on things that would go wrong in the early days, you know, but customer damage, somebody sideswags a car in a vehicle, all things that can go wrong and have it on moving days. And, you know, after nine years, so much has happened that when these things happen anymore, you start to realize like, hey, this isn't the end of the world. We're gonna wake up tomorrow, we're still in business, we're protected by our insurance. Um, you know, all things that start to become easier as the years go on for sure.

Bill Gilliland:

Well, I mean, you lost your whole fleet. I mean, it's that can't get much worse than that. So I mean, you know, you know, I you know, there's yeah, life this too shall pass, right? Yeah. So yeah, it's good. So um I have an acronym called B EPIC, and I'm gonna tell you what the acronym is, and I I just want uh sort of be a quick fire around, maybe like one or two words or sentences about each, just your thoughts on it. So the B and B Epic stands for bring energy. So what are your thoughts around energy?

Brendon Hogan:

Kind of what we hit on earlier. I think it's the most important part of the business, you know, the vibe and and energy that you bring on a daily basis.

Bill Gilliland:

Love that. How about education? The E is education.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, I think properly training your employees and guys to handle the scenarios that are going to arise is core to any company culture, right? Love it. How about P for planning? Uh being organized, prepared, kind of like we were hitting on with the CRM earlier, makes life so much easier. If you can do one thing today that you didn't want to do to prepare for something in the future, you're gonna save yourself a huge headache in the long run.

Bill Gilliland:

Love it. How about I for inspiration?

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, just dealing with people every day, right? I mean, that's inspiring in itself. Um, you know, getting a getting a phone call that things have gone well, or somebody praising your business or your guys, um, you know, that's enough to keep things going all the time.

Bill Gilliland:

Love it. And C stands for commitment. I reckon if you weren't committed, you wouldn't have opened back up, but let's uh let's talk about commitment.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, I, you know, I'll be honest, it was a pretty emotional period for me, to be honest. Um I couldn't get to my lot after the storm hit, and you know, the the water was at like 14 feet where I was crazy.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, it was up over our trucks, and you know, I I told my who was my fiance at the time, not my wife, uh, you know, I need to get down there, I need to see what's going on. By the time we got down there, we had parked my car like a mile and a half away and walked across these train tracks. And I got up there and I looked down into our lot, and I think I looked at my wife, my not wife, and I was like, ah, my life is over. Um, and you know, I think I just woke up like three days later after sulking to just say, I don't really have a choice but to turn this thing around. I got a bunch of people depending on me. Um, you know, at one point someone had called us to do a massive contract to one of the apartment complexes that was actually next to us that needed like 300 units moved out that was getting covered by insurance. And I had to tell this guy on the phone, like, hey, we we can't do this. You know, I don't have any trucks either. I'm really sorry. Um and I think something sprung in me at that point like, hey, like maybe I'm looking at this, you know, terrible, terrible situation, this horrible thing that's happened to us, and I'm not realizing that this is actually a huge opportunity to build back stronger and build back better. Um, and that's you know why we got the artists to graffiti our trucks and everything like that. We wanted to build back as like a part of the community. And honestly, it it was kind of a blessing in disguise because I feel like we were getting really complacent, our fleet was getting really old. Um, we needed a good reset. I wish it didn't happen the way that it did, obviously. And it was a horrible, horrible thing. But, you know, I've have never felt better about our business and where we're at and the people we're working with and the job we're putting forward for our clients.

Bill Gilliland:

Well, you know, what I would say is congratulations on finding the gift. There's always a gift in just about everything. And uh yeah, well done. Well done on that. So what words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow?

Brendon Hogan:

You know, keep it simple, probably. Um we like there are little incremental changes that you can make that will make a massive massive difference. I think another big lesson that I've learned is spend the money to to do things right, right? Um, you know, recently Google did a change to their um advertising platform and they added something called LSAs. And if we didn't discover those, I truly believe our revenue would be probably 30% less than what it is, and they're expensive, and it's been, you know, it's it's a huge expense. But the turnaround in business that we've got from from spending the money, the turnaround in business that we've got from branding our trucks and going all in and spending the money, and you know, really, you know, yard signs and print advertising and all those things, I think it it comes back to you tenfold um if you're willing to fully commit, you know, no half measures for sure.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah, no, I love that. So what's the next big thing for you and for your company?

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, so we recently just opened a branch in Atlanta. Uh, we had a gentleman who worked for us for a long time who did an amazing job. We really respect and trust, who moved down to Atlanta to be closer to family. And so we've purchased a truck down there, we started setting up shop down there. We're gonna expand into Atlanta area movers, so AAM as well. Um, and hopefully, you know, if things start going well there, we can start to vertically integrate, you know, different branches across the southeast is the goal. Um, and you know, if we do that, we're hopeful that we can set up, you know, some type of call center here and run everything out of Asheville where we can provide, you know, better jobs and opportunities to people in this area. Love that.

Bill Gilliland:

Love that. Love that. So, what's the best way for someone to get in touch with you?

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, through our website or through our phone number. I mean, we love to talk to people on the phone. We get a lot of emails too, but um, you know, just pick up the phone and call us. Our number is right on our website on all of our branding and our signs around town. Um and your trucks now too, huh? Yeah, no, trucks now too. Yeah, we we love talking to people. I would much rather book and move with you on the phone than email back and forth with you.

Bill Gilliland:

You're gonna have to get on the phone eventually because you gotta, you know, or you're gonna have to meet in person one, probably both. So uh you might as well might as well pick up the phone and call. I love that. I love that. That's great. Well, fantastic. This has been great. Really appreciate you guys being part of the community and all you're doing and all you're changing and your uh attitude towards growth. I love that. So uh yeah, I know you're gonna continue to be successful.

Brendon Hogan:

So well, yeah, I really appreciate you having me on. This has been great, and uh I look forward to listening to this episode and more episodes and appreciate what you're doing for the community.

Bill Gilliland:

Yeah. Well, and until next time, all the best.

Brendon Hogan:

Yeah, you as well.