Seriously, a Moving Company?

My fourth truck in just my second year of operations. (Norristown, PA)

"Each month propels us closer to our companies goals; guided by our century-long vision for Packhorse Moving's enduring legacy." — Ryan Ferrier, Founder

Packhorse Moving was founded from a passion of helping friends and family move on the weekends. The quest began to turn this hobby into a real business.

Seriously, a moving company?

The story begins as most do, with an eager individual looking to live out their dream — a dream to start a business. Not just any business, but one that many people dread: moving. Moving is, after all, one of the most stressful events in our lives.

Before the moving company had any hooves on the ground, it's important to note that my wife Kati and I spent 3 years paying off all personal debt and started stockpiling cash. Cash that would be used to cover the initial investment costs of the business.

August 2020

October 2020

December 2020

I built the business to operate smoothly while I returned to my day job. Shh — here’s the part of the story I kept from my former employer. It was the winter of 2021, and the work-from-home trend was still strong in corporate America. This allowed me to set up three monitors (two for my day job and one for Packhorse).

There is an entire sub-story here, but in short, I had been asking for more responsibilities at work; to no avail. I needed more of a challenge — well, I was certainly about to get it!

January 2021

February 2021

The 1995 Ford, before we removed the green from our branding. (Client's house + their kid)

I still hadn't figured out the training aspect of the business, but luckily, the crew above were rockstars. We managed to pull off a huge streak of $30k+ months, with 5-star reviews pouring in left and right — all with one crew, one old U-Haul, and a dream.

The story resumes in the summer of 2021, with the goal now set on growing the moving company beyond just one truck. I forgot to mention that throughout this process, nothing I experienced and learned was what I expected. From being a weekend warrior mover who didn't know the first thing about moving, to now moving 30-50 clients a month, the potential to make this a full-time career soon became a reality.

July 2021

Entrepreneurship is a broad term often used for those who create or start a business, but honestly, I don't even consider myself one. I relate more to being a small business owner. I often joke that we didn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to moving. We use a box truck like every other mover and haven’t revolutionized the moving industry with robots that carry couches — though that would be awesome.

We live out our tagline:

When it comes to moving we don't horse around

Our business philosophy is simple — take care of the clients and take care of the crews. I believe one of the main reasons for our initial success was our focus on putting our employees first. For starters, they are actual employees (W-2), not contractors (1099) like some, but not all, moving companies use. The contractor route may be cheaper for the company, but it's worse for the workers.

We exceed industry standards when it comes to wages. We offer bonuses, in addition to the daily tips our movers receive. Most importantly, we genuinely care about them as people and treat them accordingly...crazy concept, right?

However, the next chapter in Packhorse's history will drive any sane person crazy.

March 2022

We had 5 workers, but we were in the process of transitioning 2 of them out, which brought the count down to 3 (not including myself). One of them quit the day before a long-distance move, and the other two quit while I was away on that long-distance haul.

It took awhile to understand how this could actually happen after I did everything in my power to ensure I created the best working environment possible for my crew. As the saying goes...it's just business.

April 2022

I swear, the business roller coaster is powered by stress, resilience, and a bit of luck. Despite incredible odds, I was able to establish solid crews and keep operations running smoothly.

June 2022

In just two months, we doubled our fleet from 2 to 4 trucks. I used the principles I learned from getting out of debt (thanks Dave Ramsey) to finance the purchases of those trucks. It was a tale of two months: in April, we had just 2 trucks and 0 employees, and by June, we had 4 trucks and 12 employees. I was so glad I didn’t quit too early. A quick excerpt from my study of successful business people: 'Not giving up' was a key trait I noticed, not their GPA, IQ, or lineage — just their persistence!

Doesn't the black look sharper than the green? (Norristown, PA)

July 2022

Not only was the company experiencing immense growth, I was able to start training up my replacement. This is one of those top of the world moments as a business owner that inevitability will be short lived, but enjoyable none-to-less.

At this point, I was able to focus on where I wanted to take Packhorse Moving next. I couldn't stop envisioning helping others achieve what I had done in just two short years (short in time, but certainly not in learning). Our revenue had surpassed half a million dollars, we were profitable every month, nothing but 5-star reviews and fantastic crews.

I thought — what if I could show others how to do this? Had I known then what I know now, I would have started this before going to college and accumulating a lot of debt. I really started moving (pun intended) towards building a franchise model.

October 2022

✔️ Started developing a franchise model

✔️ Hired a franchise attorney to build out the model

The research phase of exploring moving franchises made it clear that franchising (from the franchisee's perspective) is extremely expensive. To carve out my own path in the moving franchise space, I knew I had to build something different. Given my limited capital compared to the big players, no franchise experience, and no proven track record, I needed to find a way to differentiate myself in the marketplace.

Thus was born...

The Most Affordable Moving Franchise

Much can be said about franchising, and it may seem obvious, but franchising is a completely different game compared to running your own business. While you can learn more about our franchising opportunities, let's stay focused on the main story.

Remember when I said being on top of the world always fades in business. That certainly was true for the start of 2023.

February 2023

Apart from losing our entire team (each for different reasons), the moving industry also experienced a significant decline, with sales decreasing around 35%. This drop was primarily driven by the spike in interest rates and the rise in housing prices.

The growth had certainly stagnated, making it an ideal time to get creative with marketing and continue focusing on the long-term strategy of building a trustworthy brand. If my goal was to create a company that could last 100 years, then a few bumps in the road were to be expected.

April 2023

June 2023

Although a rough start to the year overall, the franchisee prospects were jockeying in (horse pun). Our first location (Norristown, PA) was our headquarters and was the model we wanted to duplicate across the United States. I found our first franchisee, ironically enough, right in our backyard in New Jersey.

This turned out to be a godsend, as we were close enough to assist with operations, which is critical when first starting out.

August 2023

Jacee Carter with his first truck (Burlington, NJ)

We hit the ground running! It was as if we took the past two years of learning how to start, run and grow a moving company and condensed it into just two months. I guess that's what a franchise model is supposed to do.

It still took me by surprise and was certainly reassuring that the 'secret sauce' wasn't just my personal hard work and sacrifice. There was something special about our business philosophy, branding, and differentiators in a crowded marketplace.

I say 'crowded' because any Chuck with a truck thinks they can operate a moving company. Someone I look up to, Wade Swikle (Owner — 2 College Brothers) has this to say about the moving industry...

"The barrier to entry is low; but the barrier to success is high" — Wade Swikle

Wade would know, as he has been running a successful company for over a decade and has also franchised his brand.

As mentioned, I want to keep the story focused on the main branch (Norristown, PA), but I'll briefly cover the events that occurred at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 that certainly did not go as planned.

August 2023

September 2023

November 2023

December 2023

April 2024

June 2024

After just one month of servicing moves in Delaware and never actually starting in Florida and Georgia, the franchising model was not going according to plan. This was especially surprising given the immense success we experienced with our first franchise operation in New Jersey, where we grossed over half a million dollars in revenue in year one.

When I originally started moving operations in December 2020, I was naïve in thinking that everyone knew how to move furniture, treat clients properly, and function as a normal employee. That same naivety was beginning to show in my operations as a franchisor. I failed in many ways to ensure that my franchisees could experience the same success I had.

I've never experienced higher highs in business than the thrill of expanding into a new state; but the low hits ten times harder when that operation has to be shut down.

Though it feels like I've been doing this my whole life, in reality, it's only been four years (2020-2024). The original idea that was born in the fall of 2020 looks completely different from what we have now in 2024. I often reflect on the past to gain insight into where we might be in 2028.

As mentioned at the start of this article, each month brings its own set of highs and lows, and when spread across years, this journey shapes a successful small business. The story yet to be told is what happens when we stack up decades.

So, to answer the question: Yes, we’re serious about this moving company!

Decade 1 - Processing ⏳

Decade 2 - Pending

Decade 3 - Pending

Decade 4 - Pending

Decade 5 - Pending

Decade 6 - Pending

Decade 7 - Pending

Decade 8 - Pending

Decade 9 - Pending

Decade 10 - Pending