What Nearly 30 Years in Business Has Taught Me About Leadership

When I started Meathead Movers at 17 years old, I didn’t just build a company, I grew up inside one. Over the past 29 years, I’ve learned more about leadership, resilience, and people than I could have ever imagined. Looking back, I can honestly say that the biggest lessons didn’t come from our greatest success. They came from our biggest mistakes, our hardest seasons, and the moments that felt like everything we’d worked so hard to build, might disappear. We’ve come dangerously close to losing this company four different times. Sometimes it was overwhelming cash flow challenges. Sometimes it was economic uncertainty, like the 2008 recession. Other times it was legal battles, including our years-long EEOC lawsuit. Each challenge felt enormous while we were living through it.

But looking back, one lesson stands above the rest: a survivor’s state of mind.

Instead of spending our energy debating exit strategies, we spent it solving problems. Once we committed to finding a way through, every decision became clearer. The breakthrough didn’t happen when our circumstances changed. It happened the moment we stopped asking ourselves if we were going to survive and started deciding that we would. We became more resourceful, more creative, and more resilient than we thought possible. That mindset changed everything. What I’ve learned is that determination often comes before the solution.

Passion Gets You Through the Hard Seasons

People often say you should find your passion and do what you love. I agree, not because loving your work makes it easy. It doesn’t. Every career has difficult seasons. Every business owner will eventually face moments of uncertainty, exhaustion, disappointment, and fear. The difference is this:  When you genuinely love what you’re building, you find the energy to keep going when logic alone says you should quit.

Those four close calls could have ended us. Each time, we’ve emerged stronger. Each challenge forced us to build better systems. Each setback taught us lessons we couldn’t have learned any other way. Each difficult season made us more resilient. Looking back, I wouldn’t choose those hardships, but I also wouldn’t trade the wisdom they gave us.

Your “Why” Has to Be Bigger Than Money

From day one, Meathead Movers has never been just about making money. It’s been about building something we’re proud of. There were years when closing our doors might have seemed like the practical decision. During the recession, during legal battles, and during periods of severe financial strain, there were plenty of reasons to quit. But our customers kept reminding us why our work mattered. Their gratitude reminded us that what we were building was bigger than ourselves.

I believe our love for the work has been one of our greatest competitive advantages. It’s about helping families during one of the most stressful days of their lives. It’s about giving athletes meaningful work that keeps them active while helping them pursue their own dreams. It’s about serving our communities, exploring new places, and creating careers that develop leaders both inside and outside our company. When your purpose is bigger than your paycheck, you find strength you didn’t know you had.

Never Compromise What Makes You Different

During some of our most difficult financial periods, we had hard conversations. Our labor costs are the single biggest expense at Meathead Movers. We pay premium wages and intentionally hire W-2 employees, many of whom are athletes who have high standards and expectations. There are certainly less expensive ways to staff moving jobs. Unfortunately, it’s common in our industry to rely on under-the-table labor or cut corners.

From a purely financial perspective, making that change might have looked attractive, short term. But we kept coming back to one question: If we stopped investing in our unique athletic culture, what would make us different?

Without our Meatheads, we’d simply be another moving company with a funny name. Our athletes, our culture, our professionalism, and our commitment to doing things the right way are what separate us from everyone else. Sometimes protecting your competitive advantage is expensive.

It’s almost always worth it.

Growth Creates Opportunity

One of the most rewarding lessons I’ve learned is how powerful growth can be for a team. When people understand where the company is headed, how they contribute to getting there, and how they’ll personally benefit from that growth, something incredible happens. People become energized. They become more engaged. They begin thinking like owners instead of employees.

I don’t believe businesses should grow recklessly. But I do believe standing still is often a bigger risk than growing thoughtfully. We’ve been in business for 29 years and have expanded to nine offices across California.  Many people tell us we’ve grown quickly. I actually think we’ve grown slowly. And that’s been intentional. Steady, sustainable growth has allowed us to protect our culture while creating new opportunities for the people who helped build this company.

Leadership Is Different Than Management

I’ve become increasingly passionate about the difference between managing people and leading them. Managers push.  Leaders pull. Managing is telling someone what to do. Leadership is helping someone understand why something matters so they know what to do the next time without needing you. The goal isn’t to create dependence. The goal is to create more leaders.  That’s why one of our core values at Meathead Movers is Building Leaders.

Some of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had are with former employees who tell me how lessons they learned here helped them become better business owners, parents, spouses, managers, or leaders in entirely different careers.  Those moments mean more to me than they’ll probably ever know.  At the same time, I have to acknowledge something equally important. As much as I’ve taught others, I’ve learned just as much from our employees.  Leadership isn’t about having all the answers.  It’s about being humble enough to keep learning from the people around you. Most of our procedures come from our employees. One of them being that we set up a director’s chair for the customer when we arrive. That was a mover’s idea.

The Journey Continues

After 29 years, I still don’t consider myself an expert.  I’m still learning, I’m still making mistakes, I’m still growing alongside the incredible people who make Meathead Movers what it is today. Leadership isn’t a destination you eventually arrive at.  It’s a lifelong process of learning, serving, adapting, and staying committed to your values especially when they’re tested.

If there’s one lesson these past 29 years have taught me, it’s this: Decide what you stand for. Love the work enough to endure the difficult seasons. Never compromise what makes you different. And when life or business knocks you down, don’t waste time deciding whether you’ll keep going. Decide that you will, and then get to work finding a way forward. That’s the mindset that built Meathead Movers.  And it’s the mindset that will carry us into the next three decades.