Ridgewood Moving Moments

June 2005 was a very busy season. Typically, June, July and August are the busiest months in the moving industry.  The housing market was at an all time high, so we were slammed with moves.  I worked 6 days a week along with the movers.  I came in on Saturday’s with a baseball cap on and dispatched the crews.  Many times the movers would come in late or not at all.  I soon realized that pay day on Friday lead to too much play Friday night.  I shortly changed pay day to Saturday.

July 2005 our landlord informed us that he sold the building and we had to move out by the end of the year.  One month running a business, with no resources and I have to find a new place.  I called the one person I knew in commercial real estate in NYC.  He referred me to a colleague in NJ and the search began.

This is a staff letter I sent out that time: I scanned the letter in two pages, RMS 1 RMS 2

Meanwhile, I am trying to run a business that is having serious cash flow issues.  I received a call one day from a consulting firm out of Massachusetts who assured me that they could assist me with structure and financial planning.  I hired them and a team came in and observed, talked to the staff and took a lot of notes.  The one comment they said to me that sticks to mind is “Most people call us for help to make the phones ring, your phones are ringing but from there you need help”.  Ok, that’s why you are here!  So, they came in day after day, dollar after dollar for a couple of weeks.  At the end of the day all I gained were some job descriptions and a shrinking bank account.

I began to have weekly meetings with the staff and movers.  I hired my brother to go out on estimates and our “Foreman” went out as well.

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When my husband died I didn’t think twice about taking over the moving business. It was a matter of pride.  Ridgewood Moving meant so much to so many people.  The reputation was there, the people that worked for the company were there and my family’s livelihood was there.

I had no experience in running a moving business.  My background was in Fashion, as a buyer.  However, I had the will to survive and some acquired leadership skills from my roles within the community.  Ok simple enough………not!

As great as Rob was at building this company, he kept much information to himself.  He was Sales, Operations and so much more.  The day to day operations were handled but much piled on his desk waiting for answers.  I give him so much credit for building this company from a “two man and a truck” operation to a Moving and Storage Company.  He worked very hard, was very persistent, charming, extremely generous, and could sell a job like no other……….but was a one man show.

When I took over the helm, it was a very difficult culture on many levels.  The company just lost their leader, the staff was resistant to change and Ridgewood Moving’s Sales person just died. I was not embraced as someone keeping the company going but viewed as Rob’s wife “who had no idea what she was doing”.

One of the first orders of business I felt, was to send a message out to the community and industry that Ridgewood Moving suffered a great loss; however, Ridgewood Moving would move forward.  I wanted it known to the competitors who may seek opportunity, clients that knew our name and reputation, as well as to the employees who could still in vision a future;

Immediately following Rob’s death I addressed the Movers.  There was indeed, a feeling of “moving forward” and I felt pretty good about the support from the crew.  The main “foreman” was someone that had been with the company for 17 years, basically growing up at Ridgewood Moving Services.  Rob and I assisted him in purchasing his first house, so there was a level of trust and comfort knowing that he was leading the pack.

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