If you ever wanted to test the closeness of your friends, ask them to help you move. Chances are you’ll be disappointed with the result BUT if you want to know some of the changes going on in the moving industry we’ll be talking to one CEO who is disrupting that field.
PLUS, you may have heard the phrase “Good fences make good neighbors”. Well, when its applied to the southern US border, that phrase takes on a whole new meaning. We’ll take a look at the current state of immigration into the US and the difficulty of finding a workable solution.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Follow the Profit is a production of ging Which three
sixty and I Heart Radio. So if you ever want
to test the closeness of your friends asked them to
help you move, chances are you'll be disappointed with the result.
But if you want to know some of the changes
going on in the moving industry, we're going to talk
to one of the CEOs who's disrupting that whole industry. Plus,
(00:21):
you may have heard the phrase good fences make good neighbors. Well,
let's think about this on a grand scale, and when
it's applied to the southern U. S. Border with our
neighbor to the south, Machicol, that phrase takes on a
whole new meaning. We'll take a look at the current
state of immigration into the United States and the difficulty
of finding a common sense solution. I'm David Grasso, and
(00:42):
this is Followed the Profit. You're looking to get rich quick, Well,
this isn't your podcast. Move on when you listen to
Follow the Profit, We're going to deconstruct what's going on
in the world around us, economically, politically, and socially so
that you can use your money to help you. So
(01:04):
let's talk about a hot button issue that usually you
get a lot of crazy opinions about the world can
be a complicated place, and there's a lot of issues
that are too complicated to reduce to sound bites. I
think of healthcare often or education. Another one of these
is immigration. Think about it. Throughout history, your identity was
(01:24):
totally wrapped up in where you were born. Your place
of birth determined everything, what country you belong to, social
status and even relationship status between your group and other groups, tribes, lands, nations, religion, race,
There's so much there to unpack, and for most of humankind,
whole people's would just get up and just go somewhere
(01:46):
else and to someone else's land. We're always on the move.
That's part of the human experience. And you know immigration,
The word, if you want to know, funny enough, comes
from Latin and it means wanderer, and from the perspective
of the destination country, these people crossing the border immigrants.
So the US has quite a history in that regard,
after we dumped the royal family, who somehow we still
(02:08):
care about. It was seventeen ninety when Congress defined who
would be a U S citizen, and by eighteen fifteen,
the relations between the UK and the US after the
War of eighteen twelve, of course settled down and the
U s was the go to place for people from
all over Europe at the time and even Asia. By
eighteen fifty a lot of people had caught on that hey,
(02:28):
America is open for business, and many of our ancestors
from Ireland and Germany just showed up. So we got
some crazy politics. The No Nothing political party was formed
because they were outraged by the Irish and German immigrants.
And then by the eighteen eighties we started getting a
lot of Chinese immigrants. And even though Chinese Americans were
(02:50):
doing the hard work working in gold mines, building railroads
and developing really what is modern day agriculture in California,
other people who had arrived earlier found them threatening. And
even though the Chinese made up yet this point zero
zero two percent of the population, Congress passed limits and
said no more Chinese Americans, and that law was eventually
(03:13):
expanded to other groups, and it created a Federal Office
of Immigration. Pretty nasty history there. So over the next
few decades some more rules appeared on limiting immigration. As
a result, we got more illegal immigration, so much that
by the US border patrol came into existence, and that's
what I'd like to focus on. You know, I'm married
(03:34):
to a Mexican national. Half of my mom's family lives
in Mexico, and there's a border between US, and there
are two groups that have formed when it comes to
the US Mexico border. Are one side are those who
believe entry into the US from countries to the south
should be made easier due to historical connections to land
and culture. So, for instance, a lot of people in
Latin America are indigenous to these lands. They're from here.
(03:55):
They didn't immigrate from anywhere, so shouldn't they be treated
differently because before Europeans were here, they were allowed to
roam wherever they want. On the other side, there's a
good fences, good neighbor policy, right, Okay, that's all fine
and dandy, but countries have borders and there should be
respected and controlled. The US has enough problems, and let's
just think about lifeboat ethics. If the world has a
(04:18):
lot of problems and the US is a lifeboat, if
you put too many people in the lifeboat, it sinks.
So a lot of people believe that bringing in more
people will just create more problems. And these are both
valid opinions. The truth is always messier, and a good
example of this phenomenon is how the boundary between the
US and Mexico came to be defined. From the U
(04:38):
s side, the boundary is usually described as the border
or the wall, something tangible to block entry. From the
Mexico side, the boundary is called la linea or the
line as in waiting to cross, or just simply aligned
to step across. And you know, this has always been
attention because managing immigration from the South has been super
all over the place. It started with World War Two
(04:59):
and the US had a shortage of workers in the
agricultural fields. And there's a nasty history there too, with
the Borscero program, which was created to manage the number
of Mexican farm workers needed to pick US crops, and
that lasted until the mid sixties when the US decided
to overhaul its immigration policy. But what ended up happening
is actually not surprising, but something that our policymakers don't
(05:23):
quite understand and still don't. People started settling down. The
US has a much better standard of living and jobs
pay way more here than they do in Mexico. That
still exists today, So the U S employers discovered, here's
a group of skilled, hard working people who accept less
pay than their American counterparts. Plus they'll take many jobs
that Americans wouldn't do. And that reality still exists today.
(05:46):
Our whole food supply is dependent on a lot of
this labor. So going back in time, it used to
be easy to cross into the US from Mexico because
there was really nothing there. We have a two thousand
mile long border and many places just had a simple
chain link fence, tiny little fence. So fast forward to
more recently, a lot of effort and a lot of
(06:09):
money has been spent on, you know, physically shoring up
the US Mexico border. It was the promise of the
Trump campaign build the wall, right, we all know what
that is now, and strong barriers were erected and the
border patrol was expanded with newer gear and newer technology.
But the actual system to process immigrants legally who remains
bureaucratic and convoluted, and any attempt at common sense to
(06:33):
maybe say should we update and streamlined US immigration policy
ends up being a political fiasco. You know, a lot
of people around the world have managed to get a
handle on immigration and do what's right, do what's human,
but also do what's in the best interests of this country.
The US has somehow been beset with an unmanageable problem.
(06:56):
File this under healthcare and education. Same have a problem.
We are unwilling to face the problem. And we have
a lot of people here who deserve status and they're
kind of bundled into everyone else. So not to get
political on you here, but why is common sense not
so common? We know what we need to do. Let
(07:19):
some people in, keep others out. People who are here
and broke the law originally, they need to be legalized
to an extent everyone. I don't know, that's a conversation.
People from all over the world are still seeking to
come to the US, and you know they come for
a variety of reasons, violence, asylum, political persecution, and they
(07:40):
feel like they have opportunities they can't get from their
home country. So in the end, what we need is balance.
We see how both of the past administrations, whether it's
the Biden or the Trump administration, have caused crisis on
the border. We need a reasonable and sensible system needs
to be created and a force because if it's not
(08:00):
being enforced, it doesn't mean anything. In order for US
immigration to be effective, there will be problems to roll
it out, and there will be problematic people who will
get in and take advantage. But we all know that
no matter who's in charge, we keep on kicking the
can down the road. We have certain realities that we
have to confront. We have to do something about people
(08:23):
who are already here and integrated into our society and
deserve help. But we need to make sure there's not
a moral hazard, and that we're not promoting breaking the law,
and that, my friends, is going to be a political
hot button conversation, that it's not going to go away easily.
(08:46):
We're gonna take a quick break here, be right back.
So when you think about technology changing the way of business,
what comes to mind is Uber and how getting a
riot is changed from waiting for a taxi to ordering
up a car ride in a snap of a finger,
or my favorite Amazon. Forget about driving to a store
(09:07):
and trying to find a parking place, just pick what
you want from your phone and voila, it just shows up. Well,
what about moving, That's something a lot of us have
been doing lately. In fact, I did that recently. I
joined the herd and moved to Florida. So yeah, that's
a whole story onto itself. But in the meantime, when
you are moving, you bring stuff right and you would
(09:28):
ask friends and family or call up a moving company.
Well tech is moving that space via bell Hops moving company,
and the CEO of bell Hop is here to tell
us how we built it. Luke Markland, what's up, hey, David?
Thanks for having me. So you were working for Uber,
which is a big signal that you were on the
leading edge of things. How did you transition from your
(09:51):
career with an established or perhaps one of the most
successful Silicon Valley unicorns ever to your own company, Bellhops.
So I joined after the company had some traction and
I was at Uber. Life was good. We had grown
ten x since I started. We were in this huge
(10:12):
multibillion dollar run rate business. So it was all good
and and and man was at a ride. But I
got a call about this opportunity to join a company
called bell Hop that was trying to maybe be the
Uber for moving. And what initially attracted to me to
it is I had been a customer and that's kind
(10:32):
of what lit the spark. And then the more I
learned about the opportunity, the more I realized the moving
industry and the taxi industry have a lot in common.
They're old, they're anequated, and they generally let everybody down.
And the more I learned about the fundamentals of moving,
the more that I learned about what bell Hap was doing,
(10:53):
I realized that I could take a lot of the
playbook and we could supercharge this business and we could
make a similar change, were a fundamental change in the industry,
just like o overdid the transportation. So, Luke, I'll let
you in on a Grosso family secret. We don't move.
So when I came here from New York, I came
with nothing. When I moved to Texas, we are horrified
(11:15):
by moving companies. So in my family, we just buy
all new stuff and then when we leave, we just
sell it all. That's how allergic we are to moving
because we've heard all the horror stories of oh, we
got quoted and it didn't come in time, and then
they held their stuff captive and they damaged stuff. So
we just opt out. So I'm curious, how does Bellhop
work and how can it convince me and my family
(11:39):
to maybe consider actually moving physical things next time, so
you're not alone. And in many ways, the story that
you described is why we have a business. There's study
in the UK that said that moving is actually as
stressful as getting a divorce. Can you believe that something
you do ten times in your lifetimes as stressful as
(12:00):
as getting a divorce. That's kind of crazy. And when
you look at the competitors in our space, some of
these big names, their average YELP rating is like a
two six. So you wouldn't go to a restaurant, you know,
you wouldn't go to a restaurant that it had a
two six, But you will give a company all your stuff, right,
(12:20):
And so we just found that to be crazy. And
so most of the fundamental issues there are that I
don't believe what I'm going to get, and I believe
this company is working against me, and I feel like
they're incentivized to almost work against me. And so everything
that we've had to build at bell Hop needs to
turn that on its head. And so we've built a
(12:43):
tech forward ordering process that has no hidden fees. Everything
is displayed up front. You can instantly online cr pricing,
you can instantly configure your crew, and you can actually
instantly book with us, whereas any moving company other than
us requires you to go through the whole kind of
estimator process, the up cell process, and all of all
(13:06):
we do is trans it's transparent and upfront, and then
after you book, you actually have a dashboard. Believe it
or not, it's the twenty one century, and no other
moving company can actually give you an ind in dashboard.
Here's everything that's happening with my move, and we do that.
So these are kind of table stakes, but for our industry,
very rare, and we move forward with that. But then
(13:27):
the next key pieces, who is going to show up
at your home? That's the other half of our business
where we've spent tons of Yeah, that's a that's a
dumpster fire. Typically it's like just a cast of character
shows up and it's like we're here to move. It's
like it is my stuff gonna make it to its destination. Yeah.
And the reality is for moving it is for many
(13:49):
many companies a day labor thing. People show up in
the morning and are thrown into a truck and said
go do the moves, and that for us is deplorable.
It is sad for both the worker and for the customer,
and really it's setting everybody up for failure. And so
what we've done is we've used technology to build a
process that allows us to background check, that screen develop
(14:14):
people more efficient than any other moving company can and
in a way that seeks higher levels of quality. And
then once you're on the platform, we get data. And
there's no other moving company that has data on the
phone of how fast this person moved, how good were they,
what was the customers say about them, what do the
(14:34):
other moves to say about them? And so we've invested
in that platform, and that's what allows us to make
sure that the people who show up at your door
are not the people that you'd expect, but instead highly vetted,
highly trained, highly performance managed people who are going to
treat you well during a stressful time. Okay, Luke, pitching
hours done. You are an expert. You're obviously a Bay
(14:58):
area of you know this want animals from d C
San Francisco. They have the pitch down so good. Your
pitch was brilliant and I want to get to the
real stuff here. So you know, there's a lot of
businesses like this, by the way, and you're onto something right.
Moving is stuck in the past. Fundamentally, entrepreneurs are in
the business of solving problems. So I imagine that's why
(15:20):
you were attracted to this role, because this is solving
a problem that many of us face. Absolutely, my wife
and I have moved nine times since we've been married
in ten years, and so she said, you're now officially
qualified to run a movie company because you've seen the
crap that we've gone through over the last nine years.
(15:41):
And I'd say that that's probably true for every job
that I've been a part of is throwing myself at
something that doesn't have any obvious solution and obviously answer,
but a big paint point. Honestly, that's what drives you
as an entrepreneur, and then that's what drives you to
kind of get up in the morning because this is
not an easy path, and that problem solving, that's the
(16:03):
key fuel that kind of makes it possible through the
ups and the downs. I want your perspective on something.
You know a lot of these companies in your company
will continue to do well. I hear pitches all day.
I interview entrepreneurs like you for a living. I have
no doubt behind the pitch, and this isn't sponsored content, folks,
This is just we invited Luke because his company stands
(16:23):
on his own merit. But you come from Uber, which
Uber is kind of the typical Silicon Valley unicorn. They're
met with great success and then suddenly, oops, we have
a toxic culture that has completely spun out of control.
It's a pr disaster. It becomes a board issue. How
are you making sure that as the CEO of Bellhop
(16:45):
that you don't have a lot of the same problems
that you had at Uber. You had at so many
different companies, you know Snapchat, You know a lot of
these big unicorns grow too fast and they have systemic issues.
So what are you doing to make sure that your
company is growing sustainably and that your employees feel like
(17:06):
they have a seat at the table and skin in
the game. And I'll say, we're doing our best. There's
always this tension to continue to push faster then you
can support your people. And I saw that at Uber.
I guess early on I said Uber was going great,
and it was, but I did leave right in the
belly of the lead Uber the fall out, the CEO transition,
(17:29):
so I I got to see a lot of that
and obviously Uber has been able to to pivot and
and and and come back, but it was not pretty,
and so I I left saying, all right, I can
never let that happen in our company. And I think
the reasons that it happened at Uber and at other
(17:51):
places generally is, Yeah, it is hard when you're growing
fast to make sure that you're putting in the appropriate
levels of support for your team. I think it Uber
at the time I left, we had like one hr
pp for like five people or something like that. Was
crazy that ratios were off, right, and they fixed that,
But at the time it was off, we said we're
(18:13):
always going to be investing in that team, and that
that's one thing you can do. But the other is
the values that you create for the company. Sometimes the
values around high growth or sometimes at odds with sometimes
a healthy culture. And I think Uber's core company values
(18:33):
when they were rolled out all generally orbited around competitiveness,
right and winning when just win and at all. Yeah,
but that's okay, that's what put them on the map.
You're absolutely right, Like it's it's two sides of the
same coin. But sometimes the coin is good and sometimes
(18:54):
the coin is better, Right, and as the CEO who
is trying to drive a company high levels of execution
and and take on tough challenges, you want the winning
culture to be alive, but you've got to balance it
with something else. And so you know, we we have
our values are it's like Innovator's mind, winners drive, and
(19:18):
servants heart, and we're trying to balance the three. And
I think if you looked at Uber's, if you look
at Amazon's, if you look at Tesla's, their initial revision
of their values exkews a lot more on the winning
drive and a lot less on like the servants heart.
And so we've made an intentional push to to just
(19:39):
ensure that the people we're going to bring in are
not the brilliant jerks, they're brilliant, nice people. And that's
the best way I I've figured out how to do
that is just make sure that you're surrounding yourself and
your you're intentional about that as far up in the
hiring process as possible. And I'll admit it's harder to
do than it sounds. No, it's it's it's really hard.
(20:02):
And that funny enough, you said it in such a
nice way, and I was going to say, how do
you prevent the douche baggery? How do you prevent the
echo chambers? And this call goes into you know, diversity,
and I'm not just talking about skin color or gender,
but I'm talking about everything, right, like diversity of thought,
diversity of background, diversity of approach. It seems like all
(20:22):
these companies hire a bunch of clones and then like, oops,
we had a problem. Like, of course you had a problem.
You have an echo chamber. What are you doing to
prevent that loop? Well, anybody who says anything other than
the way you build a culture that addresses that, anything
other than making sure that the people that you hire promote,
(20:45):
give raises to and reward. If you're not doing the
things in your culture to make sure that you are
supporting the people with those values, then it doesn't matter
what you say. It doesn't matter if you have it
on the wall, It doesn't matter if you say, I
want to serve its heart. But the people who all
get promoted are the people who are ruthlessly driven and
and don't give it about anybody else, right, And so
(21:07):
it has to start with that. It has to start
with how you make sure that you're hiring funnels and
your performance process match to values that you want to drive,
and so that's number one. I think number two. I
think a lot of times startups tell themselves they kind
of set up with high ambition for for diversity, but
(21:27):
then they give themselves a pass when they say, well,
you know we're moving fast. Yeah, you know fast, right,
exactly right, And so you have to kind of call
your own bs. And we've had to do that where
we've had to say, we have office in the land,
in the office in Chattanooga, and probably for the longest time,
we've said, well, you know, we're gonna play the handward
(21:49):
dealt based in this kind of area, right, And I
think what we've had to do or as we've matured
and grown and as we've said, whoa, we really need
to be more intentional about this and we need to
stop that excuse and we need to say, all right,
what do we need to do at the very tip
top of the funnel, the one be marketable to diversity?
(22:09):
And then too, what are we gonna do to push
to make sure we're gonna gonna enable that? And I
think COVID has really actually kind of helped us in
that where now we're like remote is okay, And that's
allowed us to really widen the recruiting area and now
we can get a funnel that's three or four times
is big and really push not only for a certain
set of hard skills, but the other skills, the other
(22:31):
diversity things that we want to add to that. And
that shift has actually really helped. We're also trying to
make sure that where we're posting our job and how
we're doing it is going to be promoted more diverse places.
There's other things, but like the main thing is stop
giving yourself an excuse and then start doing something about
it good and it helps diversify your customer base, of course,
(22:52):
because it's not just the right thing to do, it's
good business, right because you want to attract customers of
all different backgrounds. Were all urban black. Why anything, The
color of money is green. It doesn't matter what race
or background you are. Most people have to move, and
we need to be a company that can can serve
in anyone who wants to move. So let's talk about
(23:13):
Atlanta versus San Francisco. So you came from the underbelly
of Silicon Valley. Legitimately, Silicon Valley never mind the underbelly,
and you're in now a fairy business friendly state. Atlanta
is one of the best places to do business in
the United States. Everybody knows that. So what is it
(23:35):
like for you, Luke? Do you feel vindicated or you
would still do this in San Francisco. Is there a
reason why bell Hoop is in Atlanta? Is it related
to public policy or is it just a coincidence. I
obviously am biased, but I am definitely a fan of
building a company outside of the Bay Area. I think
(23:57):
there's pros and cons, but certainly, on balance think the
pros are are higher. The Bay Area has certainly, you know,
the deepest talent pool and has a depth that probably
every type of position you're gonna need in your company.
That is true. The cons that we've seen and through
my network and just through kind of pure companies and
(24:18):
in our investor portfolios that I've talked to, the cons
are it's really high cost, and I think the the
missionary versus mercenary is just really really high in the
Bay You really really struggle to get employees in that
environment who are all in versus just on rotation, and
(24:40):
for us, it's so important to have have employees that
are has bought in not only too being excited about
the job, but where this company can, where this company
is going, and the problem that it's solving. And we
just found it to be much easier to find those
folks outside of the Bay Area. How about the regulatory
(25:00):
regime just in general, it's so different right outside of California.
California is like plane at California. And I'm not trying
to be political here, but California's California. And then there's
the rest. We're launching California in like four weeks, and
the amount good. It's the largest market in the United States. Absolutely,
you gotta get it's not it's not in you know,
and if it's a it was a win for us, right,
(25:22):
But the amount of hurdles that we've had to go
through to get the launch plan in place to hit
the button has been words of magnitude. More months more.
We're gonna take a quick break here, be right back.
So Florida was pretty easy as a comparison. For instance,
(25:47):
I think we contemplated and launched within like thirty days
in Florida, and I think it's been over a year
in California, and just to give you a sense of
how different the ironments are. How about other states? Like,
do you have the middle of the road state that
you know, because people don't realize there's you know, there's
(26:08):
fifty states when we recorded this. I'm flying to Hawaii tomorrow.
There's a lot of variability between states. It's California the
extreme one way, in Florida extreme the other. And what
would you say is the middle of the road state.
From entrepreneurial regulatory standpoint, we are operative in Chicago and
so in Illinois, were operative in New York, We're operative
(26:30):
in Washington, in d C. And in California was harder
than New York materially. Yes, really, that's shocking. Everyone's always
dumping on poor New York. You know, it's punch punch
New York in the face time right now because of
all the problems up there. It's really California and then
(26:51):
everywhere else. In our opinion, it's a big problem because
that's the largest market. So for entrepreneurs like you, it's
a must fly no matter what the barriers are. Exactly,
it's not an if than wind. But being in Atlanta
has has had benefits both talent and regulatory and I
think everybody knows that, even the people in the Bay Area.
It's just you're leaving. You're leaving the nest for new
(27:12):
Lands right there. There's nothing like the Bay Area. Like
you said, it's the vibe, it's the It's also perhaps
the most beautiful part of the country. So there's also
that as well. There's definitely a reason that it's that way.
I guess our employees just enjoy being able to buy
a home and and not having to spend a couple
million dollars to do that. Yeah, that might be important, Luke,
(27:33):
Maybe just maybe you know, the whole thing of like
the American dream and all that stuff, and that's the
whole irony of the Bay Area, right Like you're killing yourself,
you're making bank, and you still can't buy a house.
There must be psychologically torturing for all the people out there.
We like to say, you can have your cake and
eat it too. Here a little less psychological torture, that's
(27:54):
for sure. So I want to talk about one of
the viral stories that happened to you all. So you
bought one of your employees at Harror, but it wasn't
just any employee. Can you tell me that story. Yeah,
that's probably the best moment so far of this journey.
We had a bellhop who on the night before his
first move. His name was Walter. He didn't have a
(28:15):
car and he depended on others for rides. His ride
informed him the night before that he couldn't make it,
and so Walter basically had two choices go to sleep,
wake up, try to find a ride the next day
for an eight am move, or he could walk. The
challenge was he was twenty miles away from the destination.
So he went to bed and set his alarm for midnight,
(28:38):
got up and started walking because he said he was
not going to miss that move. This job was too
important for him and the customer needed to move, and
so he he walked. He got almost the full way.
He actually got picked up by the police, and this
is where you think the story is gonna go poorly,
but fortunately they kind of heard the stories from him.
(28:58):
They bought him some breakfast, and then they drove him
the rest of the way to get to the customer's
house on time. And once she figured out what he did,
she posted in the story went viral. You know what, Luke,
I saw that story. Now that you're explaining it to me.
I remember when this happened. I remember what Walter looks
like and everything. So I saw that story. It got
(29:19):
picked up by the wire. I think I saw it
on my local news station in New York at the time.
Got you guys, a lot of press didn't it. Well,
it did. We won't lie. That was a good byproduct
of all of this. But I think to focus on,
like why, it's a couple of things. A twenty mile
walk is really far, and people don't know how far
(29:40):
that is, and it's like that's like lunacy. You'd be
so tired by the time you got there, and then
to do physical labor all day as well. Yeah, and
I think people can identify with those like twenty while
walks in their life that are like obstacles to getting
to doing things. And to see someone who just didn't
let that be an eye sicle and said I'm going
(30:01):
to do this because this job is so important to
me is really cool. And obviously when we were moved
and like, like I'm the CEO of the company, my job,
as we kind of as we talked about some of
our values is to set that servants heart bar like
winning drive. We're never gonna let somebody down bar and
Walter blew it away. Like I had a question if
(30:22):
I would even do that, and so I don't think
I would, honestly, I think I'm too entitled. I think
Walter is a better man than I think pre Walter. Yeah,
I I didn't think I would either, And so he
taught us saw something and so it just made a
lot of sense that we needed to do something big
for him because he really fundamentally changed what our culture
(30:43):
meant and what are like what showing up for a
customer meant. And so when we did that, I think
the other that that that piece too, just kind of
locked it in and and the story got real big,
and that was cool. I think the thing that was
really cool though, Walter, in the span of a month
went from no money, no car, and kind of having
to put himself through school too. He had a go
(31:07):
fund me that had a hundred thousand dollars in it,
he had a car, and he had scholarships now all
the way through school, and so that that was just fantastic.
Oh that's I was. That was my next question, Luke,
what happened to Mr Carr Walter? Car because he finishing
his education and he got his associates. He's he's about
to be complete with his full bachelor as he wants
(31:28):
to go in occupational therapy. He's been working with us
through school and yeah, I mean he's still continues to
be an inspiration for all of us. And that wasn't Birmingham,
wasn't it? Did that happen? Correct? Yeah? I have friends
who live right by where Walter was walking, my friends
Terror and Richard, and they live over in Pelham, Alabama,
(31:50):
And I think Walter was traversing those lands. He was
walking from Pelham to Birmingham. That's right exactly. That's why
I remember the story. I didn't make the connection that
this was you. You know a lot of times when
we see stories, Luke, we kind of get the gist
of it and can just kind of bury it. Walter
is the hero, and so I'm very happy that that
(32:11):
you remember his face and that that's great. Where can
we find out more about you, Luke? Like who you are?
And you know, I'm also a CEO, so I understand
the CEO thing, like you are bell hops right now? Yeah?
Who are you? Who's Luke? Who's who's normal? Luke. Well, uh,
normal Luke is generally uh chasing some independent around his household,
(32:36):
trying to keep them from hurting themselves or or or
our property. I have we're father or a father? Yes,
my wife and I we have three boys. We're goodness,
three boys five and under. We have a poorly trained
sheep doodle that is one year old as well for punishment,
(32:59):
I guess, and that is study household. Yeah, you know,
living in a in a Atlanta suburb, just kind of
living the dream. It sounds like the dream slash, but
it's somewhat of a challenge sometimes they're Luke, Yeah, has
shown by me calling you from my closet, where the
only places where we can hide. I actually think being
(33:20):
a parent has helped other things in my life, helped
my career. It's kind of crazy to think back when
I wasn't a parent, I felt like I was busy,
and I'm like, oh wow, I'm I'm very busy now.
But it's just helped me kind of stay focused. And
actually it's interesting that a lot of the lessons you
learn about being a good parents are actually the same
(33:42):
as being a good CEO and being a good boss.
Well that's good to know, because I think I'm busy
right now, but we don't have children, and you're like,
oh my god, it gets busier, like kill me and
I and I. That's not a dis to anybody. I
think it's more of just looking introspectively and thinking, wow,
I I didn't even think this was possible to do
(34:03):
this much work, but um, you find a way to
do it well. One of one of our EPs executive
producers is expecting a baby next month, so Scott, good
luck with that. Yeah, Genie's out of the bottle now,
too late, but good luck well. Jennie's in the bottles,
coming out of the bottle soon, you know. Congrats on
(34:25):
practicing what you preach, you know, living the American dream.
I know it's not easy every day people, but people
like you make it look easy. So take the compliment
and all the best to you. The three boys, the wife,
and the poorly trained sheep doodle in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you, David, Thanks for having me appreciate it. Thanks
(34:50):
to all of you for joining me as we follow
the prophet. A big thanks to Luke Markland. That was
real time with the CEO of Bell hoops, and he
shared what it takes to disrupt an archaic industry with
new technology like Uber did, like a million different companies
are doing right now, and it's God's work. It helps
solves problems, and it's also changing the way America works.
(35:14):
I want to take a moment to thank our team
of producers Emi Leonore Lemon, Scott Handler, Cheyenne Reid, and
our executive producers New Gingrich and Debbie Myers. I'm your host,
David Grosso. If you're enjoying the show, give us five
stars and give us a review so that others can
figure out what the show is all about. Follow The
profit is a production of ging Rich three sixty and
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,
(35:36):
visit die Heart Radio, app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. All opinions expressed by David Grasso and
his guests on the show are solely their opinions and
do not reflect the opinions of ging Riich three sixty
or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by David
(35:58):
Grasso on this podcast, television, radio, internet, or another medium.
You should not treat any opinion expressed by David grass
so as a specific inducement to make a particular investment
or follow in particular strategy, but only as an expression
of his opinion. David Grass's opinions are based upon information
he considers reliable, but neither ging Rich Productions nor its
(36:18):
affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and
it should not be relied upon as such. David Grasso,
ging Rich Productions, its affiliates, and or subsidiaries are not
under any obligation to update or correct any information provided
on this website. David Grasslo's statements and opinions are subject
to change without notice. No part of David Grasslo's compensation
(36:39):
from ging Rich Productions is related to the specific opinions
he expresses. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Neither David Grasso nor ging Rich three sixty guarantees any
specific outcome or profit. You should be aware of the
real risk of loss in following any strategy or investment
discussed on this website or on the show. Strategies or
investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value. Investors may
(37:03):
get back less than invested investments or strategies mentioned on
this website or on the show may not be suitable
for you. This material does not take into account your
particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not
intended as recommendations appropriate for you. You must take an
independent decision regarding investments or strategies mentioned on this website
or on the show. Before acting on information on this
(37:25):
website or on the show, you should consider whether it
is suitable for your particular circumstances, and strongly consider seeking
advice from your own financial or investment advisor.
Follow the Profit is a production of ging Which three
sixty and I Heart Radio. So if you ever want
to test the closeness of your friends asked them to
help you move, chances are you'll be disappointed with the result.
But if you want to know some of the changes
going on in the moving industry, we're going to talk
to one of the CEOs who's disrupting that whole industry. Plus,
(00:21):
you may have heard the phrase good fences make good neighbors. Well,
let's think about this on a grand scale, and when
it's applied to the southern U. S. Border with our
neighbor to the south, Machicol, that phrase takes on a
whole new meaning. We'll take a look at the current
state of immigration into the United States and the difficulty
of finding a common sense solution. I'm David Grasso, and
(00:42):
this is Followed the Profit. You're looking to get rich quick, Well,
this isn't your podcast. Move on when you listen to
Follow the Profit, We're going to deconstruct what's going on
in the world around us, economically, politically, and socially so
that you can use your money to help you. So
(01:04):
let's talk about a hot button issue that usually you
get a lot of crazy opinions about the world can
be a complicated place, and there's a lot of issues
that are too complicated to reduce to sound bites. I
think of healthcare often or education. Another one of these
is immigration. Think about it. Throughout history, your identity was
(01:24):
totally wrapped up in where you were born. Your place
of birth determined everything, what country you belong to, social
status and even relationship status between your group and other groups, tribes, lands, nations, religion, race,
There's so much there to unpack, and for most of humankind,
whole people's would just get up and just go somewhere
(01:46):
else and to someone else's land. We're always on the move.
That's part of the human experience. And you know immigration,
The word, if you want to know, funny enough, comes
from Latin and it means wanderer, and from the perspective
of the destination country, these people crossing the border immigrants.
So the US has quite a history in that regard,
after we dumped the royal family, who somehow we still
(02:08):
care about. It was seventeen ninety when Congress defined who
would be a U S citizen, and by eighteen fifteen,
the relations between the UK and the US after the
War of eighteen twelve, of course settled down and the
U s was the go to place for people from
all over Europe at the time and even Asia. By
eighteen fifty a lot of people had caught on that hey,
(02:28):
America is open for business, and many of our ancestors
from Ireland and Germany just showed up. So we got
some crazy politics. The No Nothing political party was formed
because they were outraged by the Irish and German immigrants.
And then by the eighteen eighties we started getting a
lot of Chinese immigrants. And even though Chinese Americans were
(02:50):
doing the hard work working in gold mines, building railroads
and developing really what is modern day agriculture in California,
other people who had arrived earlier found them threatening. And
even though the Chinese made up yet this point zero
zero two percent of the population, Congress passed limits and
said no more Chinese Americans, and that law was eventually
(03:13):
expanded to other groups, and it created a Federal Office
of Immigration. Pretty nasty history there. So over the next
few decades some more rules appeared on limiting immigration. As
a result, we got more illegal immigration, so much that
by the US border patrol came into existence, and that's
what I'd like to focus on. You know, I'm married
(03:34):
to a Mexican national. Half of my mom's family lives
in Mexico, and there's a border between US, and there
are two groups that have formed when it comes to
the US Mexico border. Are one side are those who
believe entry into the US from countries to the south
should be made easier due to historical connections to land
and culture. So, for instance, a lot of people in
Latin America are indigenous to these lands. They're from here.
(03:55):
They didn't immigrate from anywhere, so shouldn't they be treated
differently because before Europeans were here, they were allowed to
roam wherever they want. On the other side, there's a
good fences, good neighbor policy, right, Okay, that's all fine
and dandy, but countries have borders and there should be
respected and controlled. The US has enough problems, and let's
just think about lifeboat ethics. If the world has a
(04:18):
lot of problems and the US is a lifeboat, if
you put too many people in the lifeboat, it sinks.
So a lot of people believe that bringing in more
people will just create more problems. And these are both
valid opinions. The truth is always messier, and a good
example of this phenomenon is how the boundary between the
US and Mexico came to be defined. From the U
(04:38):
s side, the boundary is usually described as the border
or the wall, something tangible to block entry. From the
Mexico side, the boundary is called la linea or the
line as in waiting to cross, or just simply aligned
to step across. And you know, this has always been
attention because managing immigration from the South has been super
all over the place. It started with World War Two
(04:59):
and the US had a shortage of workers in the
agricultural fields. And there's a nasty history there too, with
the Borscero program, which was created to manage the number
of Mexican farm workers needed to pick US crops, and
that lasted until the mid sixties when the US decided
to overhaul its immigration policy. But what ended up happening
is actually not surprising, but something that our policymakers don't
(05:23):
quite understand and still don't. People started settling down. The
US has a much better standard of living and jobs
pay way more here than they do in Mexico. That
still exists today, So the U S employers discovered, here's
a group of skilled, hard working people who accept less
pay than their American counterparts. Plus they'll take many jobs
that Americans wouldn't do. And that reality still exists today.
(05:46):
Our whole food supply is dependent on a lot of
this labor. So going back in time, it used to
be easy to cross into the US from Mexico because
there was really nothing there. We have a two thousand
mile long border and many places just had a simple
chain link fence, tiny little fence. So fast forward to
more recently, a lot of effort and a lot of
(06:09):
money has been spent on, you know, physically shoring up
the US Mexico border. It was the promise of the
Trump campaign build the wall, right, we all know what
that is now, and strong barriers were erected and the
border patrol was expanded with newer gear and newer technology.
But the actual system to process immigrants legally who remains
bureaucratic and convoluted, and any attempt at common sense to
(06:33):
maybe say should we update and streamlined US immigration policy
ends up being a political fiasco. You know, a lot
of people around the world have managed to get a
handle on immigration and do what's right, do what's human,
but also do what's in the best interests of this country.
The US has somehow been beset with an unmanageable problem.
(06:56):
File this under healthcare and education. Same have a problem.
We are unwilling to face the problem. And we have
a lot of people here who deserve status and they're
kind of bundled into everyone else. So not to get
political on you here, but why is common sense not
so common? We know what we need to do. Let
(07:19):
some people in, keep others out. People who are here
and broke the law originally, they need to be legalized
to an extent everyone. I don't know, that's a conversation.
People from all over the world are still seeking to
come to the US, and you know they come for
a variety of reasons, violence, asylum, political persecution, and they
(07:40):
feel like they have opportunities they can't get from their
home country. So in the end, what we need is balance.
We see how both of the past administrations, whether it's
the Biden or the Trump administration, have caused crisis on
the border. We need a reasonable and sensible system needs
to be created and a force because if it's not
(08:00):
being enforced, it doesn't mean anything. In order for US
immigration to be effective, there will be problems to roll
it out, and there will be problematic people who will
get in and take advantage. But we all know that
no matter who's in charge, we keep on kicking the
can down the road. We have certain realities that we
have to confront. We have to do something about people
(08:23):
who are already here and integrated into our society and
deserve help. But we need to make sure there's not
a moral hazard, and that we're not promoting breaking the law,
and that, my friends, is going to be a political
hot button conversation, that it's not going to go away easily.
(08:46):
We're gonna take a quick break here, be right back.
So when you think about technology changing the way of business,
what comes to mind is Uber and how getting a
riot is changed from waiting for a taxi to ordering
up a car ride in a snap of a finger,
or my favorite Amazon. Forget about driving to a store
(09:07):
and trying to find a parking place, just pick what
you want from your phone and voila, it just shows up. Well,
what about moving, That's something a lot of us have
been doing lately. In fact, I did that recently. I
joined the herd and moved to Florida. So yeah, that's
a whole story onto itself. But in the meantime, when
you are moving, you bring stuff right and you would
(09:28):
ask friends and family or call up a moving company.
Well tech is moving that space via bell Hops moving company,
and the CEO of bell Hop is here to tell
us how we built it. Luke Markland, what's up, hey, David?
Thanks for having me. So you were working for Uber,
which is a big signal that you were on the
leading edge of things. How did you transition from your
(09:51):
career with an established or perhaps one of the most
successful Silicon Valley unicorns ever to your own company, Bellhops.
So I joined after the company had some traction and
I was at Uber. Life was good. We had grown
ten x since I started. We were in this huge
(10:12):
multibillion dollar run rate business. So it was all good
and and and man was at a ride. But I
got a call about this opportunity to join a company
called bell Hop that was trying to maybe be the
Uber for moving. And what initially attracted to me to
it is I had been a customer and that's kind
(10:32):
of what lit the spark. And then the more I
learned about the opportunity, the more I realized the moving
industry and the taxi industry have a lot in common.
They're old, they're anequated, and they generally let everybody down.
And the more I learned about the fundamentals of moving,
the more that I learned about what bell Hap was doing,
(10:53):
I realized that I could take a lot of the
playbook and we could supercharge this business and we could
make a similar change, were a fundamental change in the industry,
just like o overdid the transportation. So, Luke, I'll let
you in on a Grosso family secret. We don't move.
So when I came here from New York, I came
with nothing. When I moved to Texas, we are horrified
(11:15):
by moving companies. So in my family, we just buy
all new stuff and then when we leave, we just
sell it all. That's how allergic we are to moving
because we've heard all the horror stories of oh, we
got quoted and it didn't come in time, and then
they held their stuff captive and they damaged stuff. So
we just opt out. So I'm curious, how does Bellhop
work and how can it convince me and my family
(11:39):
to maybe consider actually moving physical things next time, so
you're not alone. And in many ways, the story that
you described is why we have a business. There's study
in the UK that said that moving is actually as
stressful as getting a divorce. Can you believe that something
you do ten times in your lifetimes as stressful as
(12:00):
as getting a divorce. That's kind of crazy. And when
you look at the competitors in our space, some of
these big names, their average YELP rating is like a
two six. So you wouldn't go to a restaurant, you know,
you wouldn't go to a restaurant that it had a
two six, But you will give a company all your stuff, right,
(12:20):
And so we just found that to be crazy. And
so most of the fundamental issues there are that I
don't believe what I'm going to get, and I believe
this company is working against me, and I feel like
they're incentivized to almost work against me. And so everything
that we've had to build at bell Hop needs to
turn that on its head. And so we've built a
(12:43):
tech forward ordering process that has no hidden fees. Everything
is displayed up front. You can instantly online cr pricing,
you can instantly configure your crew, and you can actually
instantly book with us, whereas any moving company other than
us requires you to go through the whole kind of
estimator process, the up cell process, and all of all
(13:06):
we do is trans it's transparent and upfront, and then
after you book, you actually have a dashboard. Believe it
or not, it's the twenty one century, and no other
moving company can actually give you an ind in dashboard.
Here's everything that's happening with my move, and we do that.
So these are kind of table stakes, but for our industry,
very rare, and we move forward with that. But then
(13:27):
the next key pieces, who is going to show up
at your home? That's the other half of our business
where we've spent tons of Yeah, that's a that's a
dumpster fire. Typically it's like just a cast of character
shows up and it's like we're here to move. It's
like it is my stuff gonna make it to its destination. Yeah.
And the reality is for moving it is for many
(13:49):
many companies a day labor thing. People show up in
the morning and are thrown into a truck and said
go do the moves, and that for us is deplorable.
It is sad for both the worker and for the customer,
and really it's setting everybody up for failure. And so
what we've done is we've used technology to build a
process that allows us to background check, that screen develop
(14:14):
people more efficient than any other moving company can and
in a way that seeks higher levels of quality. And
then once you're on the platform, we get data. And
there's no other moving company that has data on the
phone of how fast this person moved, how good were they,
what was the customers say about them, what do the
(14:34):
other moves to say about them? And so we've invested
in that platform, and that's what allows us to make
sure that the people who show up at your door
are not the people that you'd expect, but instead highly vetted,
highly trained, highly performance managed people who are going to
treat you well during a stressful time. Okay, Luke, pitching
hours done. You are an expert. You're obviously a Bay
(14:58):
area of you know this want animals from d C
San Francisco. They have the pitch down so good. Your
pitch was brilliant and I want to get to the
real stuff here. So you know, there's a lot of
businesses like this, by the way, and you're onto something right.
Moving is stuck in the past. Fundamentally, entrepreneurs are in
the business of solving problems. So I imagine that's why
(15:20):
you were attracted to this role, because this is solving
a problem that many of us face. Absolutely, my wife
and I have moved nine times since we've been married
in ten years, and so she said, you're now officially
qualified to run a movie company because you've seen the
crap that we've gone through over the last nine years.
(15:41):
And I'd say that that's probably true for every job
that I've been a part of is throwing myself at
something that doesn't have any obvious solution and obviously answer,
but a big paint point. Honestly, that's what drives you
as an entrepreneur, and then that's what drives you to
kind of get up in the morning because this is
not an easy path, and that problem solving, that's the
(16:03):
key fuel that kind of makes it possible through the
ups and the downs. I want your perspective on something.
You know a lot of these companies in your company
will continue to do well. I hear pitches all day.
I interview entrepreneurs like you for a living. I have
no doubt behind the pitch, and this isn't sponsored content, folks,
This is just we invited Luke because his company stands
(16:23):
on his own merit. But you come from Uber, which
Uber is kind of the typical Silicon Valley unicorn. They're
met with great success and then suddenly, oops, we have
a toxic culture that has completely spun out of control.
It's a pr disaster. It becomes a board issue. How
are you making sure that as the CEO of Bellhop
(16:45):
that you don't have a lot of the same problems
that you had at Uber. You had at so many
different companies, you know Snapchat, You know a lot of
these big unicorns grow too fast and they have systemic issues.
So what are you doing to make sure that your
company is growing sustainably and that your employees feel like
(17:06):
they have a seat at the table and skin in
the game. And I'll say, we're doing our best. There's
always this tension to continue to push faster then you
can support your people. And I saw that at Uber.
I guess early on I said Uber was going great,
and it was, but I did leave right in the
belly of the lead Uber the fall out, the CEO transition,
(17:29):
so I I got to see a lot of that
and obviously Uber has been able to to pivot and
and and and come back, but it was not pretty,
and so I I left saying, all right, I can
never let that happen in our company. And I think
the reasons that it happened at Uber and at other
(17:51):
places generally is, Yeah, it is hard when you're growing
fast to make sure that you're putting in the appropriate
levels of support for your team. I think it Uber
at the time I left, we had like one hr
pp for like five people or something like that. Was
crazy that ratios were off, right, and they fixed that,
But at the time it was off, we said we're
(18:13):
always going to be investing in that team, and that
that's one thing you can do. But the other is
the values that you create for the company. Sometimes the
values around high growth or sometimes at odds with sometimes
a healthy culture. And I think Uber's core company values
(18:33):
when they were rolled out all generally orbited around competitiveness,
right and winning when just win and at all. Yeah,
but that's okay, that's what put them on the map.
You're absolutely right, Like it's it's two sides of the
same coin. But sometimes the coin is good and sometimes
(18:54):
the coin is better, Right, and as the CEO who
is trying to drive a company high levels of execution
and and take on tough challenges, you want the winning
culture to be alive, but you've got to balance it
with something else. And so you know, we we have
our values are it's like Innovator's mind, winners drive, and
(19:18):
servants heart, and we're trying to balance the three. And
I think if you looked at Uber's, if you look
at Amazon's, if you look at Tesla's, their initial revision
of their values exkews a lot more on the winning
drive and a lot less on like the servants heart.
And so we've made an intentional push to to just
(19:39):
ensure that the people we're going to bring in are
not the brilliant jerks, they're brilliant, nice people. And that's
the best way I I've figured out how to do
that is just make sure that you're surrounding yourself and
your you're intentional about that as far up in the
hiring process as possible. And I'll admit it's harder to
do than it sounds. No, it's it's it's really hard.
(20:02):
And that funny enough, you said it in such a
nice way, and I was going to say, how do
you prevent the douche baggery? How do you prevent the
echo chambers? And this call goes into you know, diversity,
and I'm not just talking about skin color or gender,
but I'm talking about everything, right, like diversity of thought,
diversity of background, diversity of approach. It seems like all
(20:22):
these companies hire a bunch of clones and then like, oops,
we had a problem. Like, of course you had a problem.
You have an echo chamber. What are you doing to
prevent that loop? Well, anybody who says anything other than
the way you build a culture that addresses that, anything
other than making sure that the people that you hire promote,
(20:45):
give raises to and reward. If you're not doing the
things in your culture to make sure that you are
supporting the people with those values, then it doesn't matter
what you say. It doesn't matter if you have it
on the wall, It doesn't matter if you say, I
want to serve its heart. But the people who all
get promoted are the people who are ruthlessly driven and
and don't give it about anybody else, right, And so
(21:07):
it has to start with that. It has to start
with how you make sure that you're hiring funnels and
your performance process match to values that you want to drive,
and so that's number one. I think number two. I
think a lot of times startups tell themselves they kind
of set up with high ambition for for diversity, but
(21:27):
then they give themselves a pass when they say, well,
you know we're moving fast. Yeah, you know fast, right,
exactly right, And so you have to kind of call
your own bs. And we've had to do that where
we've had to say, we have office in the land,
in the office in Chattanooga, and probably for the longest time,
we've said, well, you know, we're gonna play the handward
(21:49):
dealt based in this kind of area, right, And I
think what we've had to do or as we've matured
and grown and as we've said, whoa, we really need
to be more intentional about this and we need to
stop that excuse and we need to say, all right,
what do we need to do at the very tip
top of the funnel, the one be marketable to diversity?
(22:09):
And then too, what are we gonna do to push
to make sure we're gonna gonna enable that? And I
think COVID has really actually kind of helped us in
that where now we're like remote is okay, And that's
allowed us to really widen the recruiting area and now
we can get a funnel that's three or four times
is big and really push not only for a certain
set of hard skills, but the other skills, the other
(22:31):
diversity things that we want to add to that. And
that shift has actually really helped. We're also trying to
make sure that where we're posting our job and how
we're doing it is going to be promoted more diverse places.
There's other things, but like the main thing is stop
giving yourself an excuse and then start doing something about
it good and it helps diversify your customer base, of course,
(22:52):
because it's not just the right thing to do, it's
good business, right because you want to attract customers of
all different backgrounds. Were all urban black. Why anything, The
color of money is green. It doesn't matter what race
or background you are. Most people have to move, and
we need to be a company that can can serve
in anyone who wants to move. So let's talk about
(23:13):
Atlanta versus San Francisco. So you came from the underbelly
of Silicon Valley. Legitimately, Silicon Valley never mind the underbelly,
and you're in now a fairy business friendly state. Atlanta
is one of the best places to do business in
the United States. Everybody knows that. So what is it
(23:35):
like for you, Luke? Do you feel vindicated or you
would still do this in San Francisco. Is there a
reason why bell Hoop is in Atlanta? Is it related
to public policy or is it just a coincidence. I
obviously am biased, but I am definitely a fan of
building a company outside of the Bay Area. I think
(23:57):
there's pros and cons, but certainly, on balance think the
pros are are higher. The Bay Area has certainly, you know,
the deepest talent pool and has a depth that probably
every type of position you're gonna need in your company.
That is true. The cons that we've seen and through
my network and just through kind of pure companies and
(24:18):
in our investor portfolios that I've talked to, the cons
are it's really high cost, and I think the the
missionary versus mercenary is just really really high in the
Bay You really really struggle to get employees in that
environment who are all in versus just on rotation, and
(24:40):
for us, it's so important to have have employees that
are has bought in not only too being excited about
the job, but where this company can, where this company
is going, and the problem that it's solving. And we
just found it to be much easier to find those
folks outside of the Bay Area. How about the regulatory
(25:00):
regime just in general, it's so different right outside of California.
California is like plane at California. And I'm not trying
to be political here, but California's California. And then there's
the rest. We're launching California in like four weeks, and
the amount good. It's the largest market in the United States. Absolutely,
you gotta get it's not it's not in you know,
and if it's a it was a win for us, right,
(25:22):
But the amount of hurdles that we've had to go
through to get the launch plan in place to hit
the button has been words of magnitude. More months more.
We're gonna take a quick break here, be right back.
So Florida was pretty easy as a comparison. For instance,
(25:47):
I think we contemplated and launched within like thirty days
in Florida, and I think it's been over a year
in California, and just to give you a sense of
how different the ironments are. How about other states? Like,
do you have the middle of the road state that
you know, because people don't realize there's you know, there's
(26:08):
fifty states when we recorded this. I'm flying to Hawaii tomorrow.
There's a lot of variability between states. It's California the
extreme one way, in Florida extreme the other. And what
would you say is the middle of the road state.
From entrepreneurial regulatory standpoint, we are operative in Chicago and
so in Illinois, were operative in New York, We're operative
(26:30):
in Washington, in d C. And in California was harder
than New York materially. Yes, really, that's shocking. Everyone's always
dumping on poor New York. You know, it's punch punch
New York in the face time right now because of
all the problems up there. It's really California and then
(26:51):
everywhere else. In our opinion, it's a big problem because
that's the largest market. So for entrepreneurs like you, it's
a must fly no matter what the barriers are. Exactly,
it's not an if than wind. But being in Atlanta
has has had benefits both talent and regulatory and I
think everybody knows that, even the people in the Bay Area.
It's just you're leaving. You're leaving the nest for new
(27:12):
Lands right there. There's nothing like the Bay Area. Like
you said, it's the vibe, it's the It's also perhaps
the most beautiful part of the country. So there's also
that as well. There's definitely a reason that it's that way.
I guess our employees just enjoy being able to buy
a home and and not having to spend a couple
million dollars to do that. Yeah, that might be important, Luke,
(27:33):
Maybe just maybe you know, the whole thing of like
the American dream and all that stuff, and that's the
whole irony of the Bay Area, right Like you're killing yourself,
you're making bank, and you still can't buy a house.
There must be psychologically torturing for all the people out there.
We like to say, you can have your cake and
eat it too. Here a little less psychological torture, that's
(27:54):
for sure. So I want to talk about one of
the viral stories that happened to you all. So you
bought one of your employees at Harror, but it wasn't
just any employee. Can you tell me that story. Yeah,
that's probably the best moment so far of this journey.
We had a bellhop who on the night before his
first move. His name was Walter. He didn't have a
(28:15):
car and he depended on others for rides. His ride
informed him the night before that he couldn't make it,
and so Walter basically had two choices go to sleep,
wake up, try to find a ride the next day
for an eight am move, or he could walk. The
challenge was he was twenty miles away from the destination.
So he went to bed and set his alarm for midnight,
(28:38):
got up and started walking because he said he was
not going to miss that move. This job was too
important for him and the customer needed to move, and
so he he walked. He got almost the full way.
He actually got picked up by the police, and this
is where you think the story is gonna go poorly,
but fortunately they kind of heard the stories from him.
(28:58):
They bought him some breakfast, and then they drove him
the rest of the way to get to the customer's
house on time. And once she figured out what he did,
she posted in the story went viral. You know what, Luke,
I saw that story. Now that you're explaining it to me.
I remember when this happened. I remember what Walter looks
like and everything. So I saw that story. It got
(29:19):
picked up by the wire. I think I saw it
on my local news station in New York at the time.
Got you guys, a lot of press didn't it. Well,
it did. We won't lie. That was a good byproduct
of all of this. But I think to focus on,
like why, it's a couple of things. A twenty mile
walk is really far, and people don't know how far
(29:40):
that is, and it's like that's like lunacy. You'd be
so tired by the time you got there, and then
to do physical labor all day as well. Yeah, and
I think people can identify with those like twenty while
walks in their life that are like obstacles to getting
to doing things. And to see someone who just didn't
let that be an eye sicle and said I'm going
(30:01):
to do this because this job is so important to
me is really cool. And obviously when we were moved
and like, like I'm the CEO of the company, my job,
as we kind of as we talked about some of
our values is to set that servants heart bar like
winning drive. We're never gonna let somebody down bar and
Walter blew it away. Like I had a question if
(30:22):
I would even do that, and so I don't think
I would, honestly, I think I'm too entitled. I think
Walter is a better man than I think pre Walter. Yeah,
I I didn't think I would either, And so he
taught us saw something and so it just made a
lot of sense that we needed to do something big
for him because he really fundamentally changed what our culture
(30:43):
meant and what are like what showing up for a
customer meant. And so when we did that, I think
the other that that that piece too, just kind of
locked it in and and the story got real big,
and that was cool. I think the thing that was
really cool though, Walter, in the span of a month
went from no money, no car, and kind of having
to put himself through school too. He had a go
(31:07):
fund me that had a hundred thousand dollars in it,
he had a car, and he had scholarships now all
the way through school, and so that that was just fantastic.
Oh that's I was. That was my next question, Luke,
what happened to Mr Carr Walter? Car because he finishing
his education and he got his associates. He's he's about
to be complete with his full bachelor as he wants
(31:28):
to go in occupational therapy. He's been working with us
through school and yeah, I mean he's still continues to
be an inspiration for all of us. And that wasn't Birmingham,
wasn't it? Did that happen? Correct? Yeah? I have friends
who live right by where Walter was walking, my friends
Terror and Richard, and they live over in Pelham, Alabama,
(31:50):
And I think Walter was traversing those lands. He was
walking from Pelham to Birmingham. That's right exactly. That's why
I remember the story. I didn't make the connection that
this was you. You know a lot of times when
we see stories, Luke, we kind of get the gist
of it and can just kind of bury it. Walter
is the hero, and so I'm very happy that that
(32:11):
you remember his face and that that's great. Where can
we find out more about you, Luke? Like who you are?
And you know, I'm also a CEO, so I understand
the CEO thing, like you are bell hops right now? Yeah?
Who are you? Who's Luke? Who's who's normal? Luke. Well, uh,
normal Luke is generally uh chasing some independent around his household,
(32:36):
trying to keep them from hurting themselves or or or
our property. I have we're father or a father? Yes,
my wife and I we have three boys. We're goodness,
three boys five and under. We have a poorly trained
sheep doodle that is one year old as well for punishment,
(32:59):
I guess, and that is study household. Yeah, you know,
living in a in a Atlanta suburb, just kind of
living the dream. It sounds like the dream slash, but
it's somewhat of a challenge sometimes they're Luke, Yeah, has
shown by me calling you from my closet, where the
only places where we can hide. I actually think being
(33:20):
a parent has helped other things in my life, helped
my career. It's kind of crazy to think back when
I wasn't a parent, I felt like I was busy,
and I'm like, oh wow, I'm I'm very busy now.
But it's just helped me kind of stay focused. And
actually it's interesting that a lot of the lessons you
learn about being a good parents are actually the same
(33:42):
as being a good CEO and being a good boss.
Well that's good to know, because I think I'm busy
right now, but we don't have children, and you're like,
oh my god, it gets busier, like kill me and
I and I. That's not a dis to anybody. I
think it's more of just looking introspectively and thinking, wow,
I I didn't even think this was possible to do
(34:03):
this much work, but um, you find a way to
do it well. One of one of our EPs executive
producers is expecting a baby next month, so Scott, good
luck with that. Yeah, Genie's out of the bottle now,
too late, but good luck well. Jennie's in the bottles,
coming out of the bottle soon, you know. Congrats on
(34:25):
practicing what you preach, you know, living the American dream.
I know it's not easy every day people, but people
like you make it look easy. So take the compliment
and all the best to you. The three boys, the wife,
and the poorly trained sheep doodle in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you, David, Thanks for having me appreciate it. Thanks
(34:50):
to all of you for joining me as we follow
the prophet. A big thanks to Luke Markland. That was
real time with the CEO of Bell hoops, and he
shared what it takes to disrupt an archaic industry with
new technology like Uber did, like a million different companies
are doing right now, and it's God's work. It helps
solves problems, and it's also changing the way America works.
(35:14):
I want to take a moment to thank our team
of producers Emi Leonore Lemon, Scott Handler, Cheyenne Reid, and
our executive producers New Gingrich and Debbie Myers. I'm your host,
David Grosso. If you're enjoying the show, give us five
stars and give us a review so that others can
figure out what the show is all about. Follow The
profit is a production of ging Rich three sixty and
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,
(35:36):
visit die Heart Radio, app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts. All opinions expressed by David Grasso and
his guests on the show are solely their opinions and
do not reflect the opinions of ging Riich three sixty
or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by David
(35:58):
Grasso on this podcast, television, radio, internet, or another medium.
You should not treat any opinion expressed by David grass
so as a specific inducement to make a particular investment
or follow in particular strategy, but only as an expression
of his opinion. David Grass's opinions are based upon information
he considers reliable, but neither ging Rich Productions nor its
(36:18):
affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy, and
it should not be relied upon as such. David Grasso,
ging Rich Productions, its affiliates, and or subsidiaries are not
under any obligation to update or correct any information provided
on this website. David Grasslo's statements and opinions are subject
to change without notice. No part of David Grasslo's compensation
(36:39):
from ging Rich Productions is related to the specific opinions
he expresses. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Neither David Grasso nor ging Rich three sixty guarantees any
specific outcome or profit. You should be aware of the
real risk of loss in following any strategy or investment
discussed on this website or on the show. Strategies or
investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value. Investors may
(37:03):
get back less than invested investments or strategies mentioned on
this website or on the show may not be suitable
for you. This material does not take into account your
particular investment objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not
intended as recommendations appropriate for you. You must take an
independent decision regarding investments or strategies mentioned on this website
or on the show. Before acting on information on this
(37:25):
website or on the show, you should consider whether it
is suitable for your particular circumstances, and strongly consider seeking
advice from your own financial or investment advisor.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.