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At 20 years previous, Voyo Popovic, now the founder and CEO of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage, immigrated to the U.S. from Montenegro and took a job at a McDonald's to make ends meet.
Nonetheless, just some months in, Popovic was already searching for his subsequent alternative, one that will enable him to work longer hours, have extra management and earn more money. However he was nonetheless bettering his English and had "no particular skill set" on the time, so his choices have been restricted, he says — till a buddy and fellow countryman advised him shifting corporations have been at all times in want of additional assist.
So Popovic started working as a mover in New York Metropolis. "I fell in love with the job straight away," Popovic tells Entrepreneur. "It was simply so energetic, and from the attitude of a mover, you could possibly see all these completely different existence in New York Metropolis, which for somebody coming from overseas, and I believe for anybody actually, is fascinating."
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After a yr on the job, Popovic turned a driver and crew chief; he loved caring for his group and the place total. However, finally, he grew "too comfy" and needed one other problem. So Popovic moved into the corporate's sales division. He learn books, watched YouTube movies and labored on his English to achieve the position, which he additionally loved.
"I beloved the truth that I used to be in a position to actually push myself. There was no restrict."
"I beloved the truth that I used to be in a position to actually push myself," Popovic says. "There was no limit. There have been no particular hours. It wasn't like an eight-hour shift, and also you're completed. Just about it was such as you work so long as you want, and also you're answerable for outcomes."
Nonetheless, after a few years in gross sales, Popovic felt a well-known restlessness; it was time to set one other purpose. By that time, Popovic's years of expertise within the shifting trade had given him an inside look into a few of its inefficiencies. He knew he might do it higher. "The trade was very outdated, from communication to emails, customer service experience, operations — all the pieces," Popovic explains. "There was a lot room for enchancment. I noticed my probability there."
So in 2018, at 24 years previous, Popovic purchased a single shifting truck for $20,000 and started working creating a model that will stand out from the competitors — in additional methods than one. That started with the corporate's title and branding: "Piece of Cake" alongside sizzling pink and purple. The title "was not like the rest out there on the time," Popovic remembers, and the brilliant colours would make sure the enterprise's vans captured consideration "in a line of 100 vans."
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Piece of Cake Shifting & Storage
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"Having each single buyer blissful has at all times been on the core of our enterprise."
Popovic was additionally dedicated to doing issues otherwise when it got here to customer support, nicely conscious that blissful purchasers have been key to word-of-mouth referrals and new enterprise. "So each contact level is thoughtfully completed," Popovic says, "from the primary time a consumer calls to the e-mail correspondence, to the shifting day, to the precise follow-up after the transfer, having each single buyer blissful has at all times been on the core of our enterprise."
Piece of Cake additionally leverages knowledge, like customer feedback, to enhance its operations and assist with decision-making. For instance, if clients report extra broken TVs than traditional, Piece of Cake schedules additional coaching for crew members. Moreover, the corporate pays shut consideration to which zip codes see probably the most purchasers, analyzing why some might need decrease numbers so it might tackle the discrepancy.
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The innovative method has paid off. At the moment, Piece of Cake is a quickly rising firm with headquarters in New York and hubs in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas. The corporate does greater than 100,000 strikes yearly throughout all 50 states and boasts 800 staff and 350 vans — and it nonetheless hasn't taken any outdoors funding.
"Seeing that one thing that we began so small with one truck and few staff 1718326587 residing and supporting a whole lot and seeing that model that we sketched in a pocket book in each main metropolis of the U.S. — that is undoubtedly one thing that excites me and conjures up me to get up day by day and to serve the corporate the most effective I can," Popovic says.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Piece of Cake Shifting & Storage
"How do we have now sufficient information to deal with the following section of the corporate?"
Nonetheless, Piece of Cake's flourishing success hasn't been with out some challenges, Popovic says, particularly, discovering sufficient staff to assist its enlargement and fast-tracking their progress throughout the firm, as most leaders within the trade work their means into senior roles from the bottom up. "How can we velocity up the method?" Popovic says. "How do we have now sufficient information to deal with the following section of the corporate? Together with me, how do I be taught and develop to have the ability to do my place of CEO the most effective I can?"
The secret is to give people plenty of opportunities to be taught and degree up, Popovic says — and to verify they've these possibilities early on.
"So not not ready till somebody says, 'Hey, I have been on this place. I really feel caught. I am searching for enchancment,'" Popovic explains. "We method the individual and say, 'Hey, you are doing a very good job. Why do not we sort out one other problem?' [We're] always pushing folks out of their comfort zone, and other people [are] proving us proper."
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Repeatedly getting out of his personal comfort zone is what allowed Popovic to remodel his dream right into a actuality — and he suggests all aspiring entrepreneurs do the identical.
"Think big and do not put any limitations in your dream as a result of it is attainable when you have a superb product and a superb service," Popovic says. "When you have some worth that you simply're offering to customers, it is [just] a matter of time [before] it will choose up. It will get to the proper folks, after which when all of it will get rolling, it might develop into actually huge. So suppose huge. Dream huge."
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