LOVE + RELO: Lior Oren | Move Happy Group

This episode of LOVE + RELO features Lior Oren, founder and CEO of Move Happy.

Lior shares his incredible journey from an accidental start in the moving business to building an industry-leading company.

Lior’s story begins with a moving crew after his military service and a backpacking trip. This start on the trucks led him to an entrepreneurial path in the moving industry.

His candid recollection of overcoming failures, such as starting from scratch in 2014 after a major setback, offers a raw and inspiring glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of building a business.

Learn the moving business strategies behind Move Happy’s rapid growth, including Lior’s emphasis on culture, fast decision-making, and innovative branding. We delve into how he navigates acquisitions, diversifies into senior living and international logistics, and builds a unique company culture rooted in humility.

If you’re seeking practical advice on turning setbacks into opportunities, this episode provides a fresh perspective on what it means to build a “happy” business.

Welcome to Love and Relo, the voice of the relocation industry.

I’m here with my good friend Lior Oren, the founder and CEO of Move Happy. Uh, we’re here in beautiful LA.

How’s it going? Lior doing well?

Yeah. It’s another day in the moving business, huh?

Yay.

Yeah, LA’s beautiful, man.

I wouldn’t say that, but you got.

Beaches, you got mountains, you got everything out here.

We took you to the right places.

You know, Hollywood, West Hollywood. Is there a big difference between West Hollywood, North Hollywood? Is there a South Hollywood?

No. South Hollywood? No, no, we’re not going south.

Okay.

But, yeah, huge difference. It’s different cities. Uh, West Hollywood is like where, uh, all the fun goes. Hollywood is a big mess, as we know. And, uh, most Hollywood is just like, uh, where we are right now, which is a so, so place. Yeah.

As people, like, people work out here, you know, we’ve got some industrial going on out here. We’re here at the Move Happy HQ office right here, where everything goes down, you know, you kind of see a little bit behind me what’s going on. You’re good. Lyric, do the L again one time.

Put the, put the, yeah, there you go. We’re zoom in there. Perfect. Beautiful. Get in the comments here. I want to hear your questions, your thoughts. Just put some love in there for Lior. Hit that, like, button. Right now. We got people checking in for us. We’ll be talking about everything from Ironman triathlons and ultra marathons that Lior gets into to.

To growing this business and his story. You know, starting out in Israel and just kind of growing it and traveling the world. It’s an amazing story, this entrepreneurial journey. It’s really the American dream. Honestly, I’ve, uh, had a really, uh, wonderful time hanging out the last couple days here at Move Happy, and, uh, seeing what these guys got cooking, it’s incredible.

The size and scale, frankly, of this business that you guys have grown here. It’s truly remarkable. So get in the comments. Everybody want to hear from you. Adrian Grimes, checking in from Glomo HQ in Dallas. Not happy that I didn’t get an invite. Ready to hear more about Move Happy.

Well, thanks, Adrian.

Next time.

Next time, buddy. Next time. They’re already getting tired of me. They’re ready for Adrian. They’re ready for glomo 2.0 out here. Um, let’s see here. We got Karen Sanborn. Hello, Ben. Hello, Karen. Good to see you. Hit that, like, button. Hope you’re doing well out there. Very good.

Okay, cool.

We had a little camera staff who get in the comments here, y’all. Appreciate you, Leo. I want to ask you, though, tell us a little bit about your story. Your story is incredible, man. How did you get started? I mean, before Move Happy was even a thing? Like, how did you even kind of get into the business?

So it was an accident. Never planned.

The best things are.

Yeah, but I never heard, uh, of anyone that got into this industry by, uh, uh, intention. So you didn’t like to get a.

Master’S in moving m Household goods?

Exactly. I mean, you’re not waking up, um, in dreaming that one day you’re gonna be a mover or something like that. So. Yeah, so it was an accident. I was, uh, in my early 20s, and I was, uh, traveling in South America, and I, uh, ran out of money, so I called my parents and told I wasn’t Venezuela.

What brought you to South America? Like, why did you even go to South America? I’ve never even been to South America. Shout out to John on the team from Brazil. Yeah, yeah.

So, um, I’m Israeli, as you mentioned, and I did a military service over there. And it’s a thing that, uh, when you’re done with military service in Israel, a lot of people go just to travel. After, uh, you know, 21, 22 years of being in places, uh, that everybody tells you what to do.

You just want to go, uh, away. So, uh, when I finished my military service, I, uh, traveled to South America. Uh, been there a little bit over a year. Uh, ran out of money.

What were you doing down there?

Just, you know, backpacking. Uh, started in Ecuador, went south to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, uh, Brazil.

Did you have, like, a lot of money to do all this?

No, no, no.

How are you getting around?

So it’s backpacking, but did you, like.

Walk or hitchhike or, like, all of that? All of it.

We walked, we hitchhiked, we even rent a, uh, car in, uh, Chile and Argentina. We did it with, like, a big, uh, van, five friends, um, you know, and just living, uh, out of, I don’t know, something like equal to 6, $700 a month. So it was easy. But eventually I ran out of money.

A little bit over a year, uh, since, uh, I started, it was in Venezuela. And I called my parents, dear parents in Israel, Told them, guys, I have no money. And they said, what?

They said, deal with it.

They said, come back home. So I was planning to go back home. I was already registered to start, uh, studying in a university in Israel. Um, the mistake that they did that they bought me a ticket via New York with a stop in New York. Was it like a layover.

Two days layover. So I said, you know, if I’m going to stop in New York, let me see the city. So never been there.

One last hurrah. Go back to Israel.

Exactly. And that was a big mistake for them.

Um, so, of course, uh, I got to New York. I was impressed. I met some, uh, other Israeli people that were living over there. Uh, stayed with them, loved it, didn’t want to.

Just never got on the flight.

I got on the flight to New York. I never got on the flight back to Tel Aviv to Israel. Didn’t happen.

And were they like,

we already do?

Yeah. So no cell phones back then? I mean, it was all done, uh, by collect calls and like, uh, you know those boxes that we had back then on the street?

Yeah.

No cell phones.

Yeah.

So calling cards. Yeah, calling cards, exactly. So I just called them, told them, listen, I’m not coming back. I’m staying here.

What was their reaction?

You better put your cats on that flight. Yeah, we’re not gonna. I mean, they were cool. Eventually they didn’t. They didn’t have a choice. They didn’t have a choice. Uh, they took care of all my things over there. I, um, mean, canceled the registration with the university. Um, they were upset.

They’re both teachers, so for them, for me not to come back and go to, uh, college or, um, university was a big thing. They were probably a little bit upset, but they’re cool. Until today, super cool.

So they valued education and they kind of were excited about you going to university. And you said, no, I’m gonna figure this thing out in the US but did you have any idea of what you were going to do in the US or were you just kind of trying to keep the.

Keep the party going, keep the lifestyle, keep the adventure going, or were you already starting to think about what you were going to do for work?

So I really saw that, uh, a few of my friends that, uh, also Israelis that lived there for a while, uh, some of them worked in the moving industry companies, Israeli companies.

It’s a big thing.

It’s a big.

It used to be a big thing back then. And, um, we’re talking about the late 90s, 1990s. So, um, yeah, I got there a big community of Israelis that, you know, uh, lived in either Brooklyn or queens. Getting up 5am, going in a subway to somewhere, getting to, like, a shady office or whatever, you know, in the dark outside, building offices in Manhattan or Bronx or Brooklyn.

Brooklyn.

Back then, most of them were in Brooklyn, some in the Bronx, some in Queens.

Not you can’t afford real, like a warehouse or a yard.

Uh, no, no. Today it’s completely impossible. Back then, I think there were, like, maybe one company that had a warehouse in Manhattan. Anyway, I said, you know, I had a free day over there, so I said, why won’t I join you? So I have on the. On the subway, 5am in the morning, we got into that moving company.

So you just said, I’ll just. I’ll come along.

Yeah, I’ll come along, join you guys. We’ll see what’s going on.

I did that, too.

Yeah? What did you do?

I did the same thing. My buddy had a job at the time, Life Building, okay. And he was in the music industry, and he had graduated from college. My buddy here, he lives in Hollywood. He had graduated from college. And I was a club promoter. He was a club promoter.

And I wanted to get into the music industry. I’m like, what? I seemed like a natural progression. He was already working there full time. I said, hey, I’ll intern, right? You know, we all heard the stories. These music industry interns just showing up, uh, and trying hard and getting a job, and all of a sudden they run A record label one day, right.

And so I started Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I started tagging along with him into the city. I was still enrolled in school, upstate New York and Albany. But I came down, I crashed on his parents couch. I went in with him on the train in the morning and I just went to work with him.

Just sat the desk and said, what can I help you? Can I stuff a box? Can I make a phone call? Can I do whatever. It was the promotions department for Atlantic Records.

How old were you?

I was 22, you know. Yeah. And um, about three, about six, ah, weeks in, I was like, um, you know, I’m promoting these records to the radio station. I was like, it would really help if I had a phone to call these people and maybe a computer, write some emails.

And they said, yeah, sure, no problem, we’ll work on that for you. And then they came back to me a couple hours later and they’re like, um, do you work here? Because I can’t find you in the employee registration. I went to sign you, sign you a phone and you’re not even on the rolls here, you know, what are you doing?

And they’re like, you’ve got to leave. You can’t be here if you don’t work here. And I’m like, but I’m interning. They’re like, we don’t even know who you are. I think I took a couple Mike Jones T shirts on the way out of Paul Wall poster or something like that.

But yeah, that was my short stint working at a record label.

So I know all about what you’re talking about.

Just tagging along, trying to. Trying to get a foot in the door, right?

Yeah. So yeah, there’s actually, when you say trying to get a foot in the door, it’s very approximately what happened. So I just got there and back then, I mean we were a cruise of, I don’t know, five, six people. So they opened the back of the truck, they throw you inside the back of the truck.

You just. Sounds kind of sketch. Yeah, that’s what it was. Open the truck, you’re sitting on the uh, moving pads. You know, just sitting job in the.

Back of the truck. Yes. You’re not even in the cab. You sitting on the chair. No, you’re sitting on moving pads. Ads in the back. Hey, get in the comments right now. I want to hear what your thoughts are. What was the crazy story you had getting started in your career or traveling.

Or trying to get your foot in the door?

Did you ever do anything crazy to try to get an opportunity. Put it in the comments. I want to hear from you. Um, we’re gonna hear the rest of your story here. We got people, uh, checking in here. Jillian Guzza saying such a cool story. That’s, uh, all. Yeah.

Karen Sanborn saying shout out. Hello from Flower Mound. What’s up, Karen? Anthony Ship says Aloha, Ben and Lior. What’s that?

He’s a good friend. Anthony Ship. Anthony.

Shout out to Anthony. We love everything. Aloha, Anthony. Loving the energy and insights on Loving. Real mahalo for all of you do to bring our industry together. Keep rocking. Hey, Anthony. Shout out to the Hawaiian Mover association as well. Congrats on your appointment, Mr. President. Um, John is saying, happy Thursday, everyone.

Really looking forward to knowing more about Leor. Move Happy. And she says, yeah, because South Americans are amazing. South America.

She’s right.

She is, yeah.

Uh, she’s especially Brazilians.

Wow.

Very happy people.

Nice, Nice. All right, so. So you’re in the back of this moving truck and you’re going to a job. Do you even know where you’re going? Do you know what you’re.

No idea. No idea. They never told us. It wasn’t really matter. It can take an hour, an hour and a half, 30 minutes. You don’t know where you’re going. Suddenly the doors are open. They stop. Doors are open. You see sunlight and you’re in front of the house.

That’s maybe the sketchy part, but the.

Good part is, uh, by the end of the day, um, I mean, after you, you know, you worked hard, you sweat, you did whatever you had to do at the end of the day. And that’s a good shout out for the New York people. Super generous. Um, so back then, I think you’re getting $7 an hour or whatever.

That wasn’t the thing. You know, you get a tip usually. New job, new workers, good tips, super good tippers. Um, I remember that the first day I went back home with a bill of, I don’t know, I think about somewhere between 150 to $200 just from the tips.

Just a tip. What?

I could live in South America for almost a month.

That was the plan. That was the plan, really.

So you’re going to make a little money, go back to South America.

And I actually did it also. So it wasn’t my only trip to, uh, Central and South America. So, uh, yeah, you were getting the tips.

Were they paying you cash, too?

No, the. The mover. Yeah, the movers play paid cash. And also the, the tips from the, from the customers, uh, at the end of everything.

And where were you living when you were doing this?

So at the beginning, I joined my friends in Brooklyn. I think it was, like, somewhere in Avenue T. And, uh, I forgot the area. Like, deep, deep inside Brooklyn.

You just like sleeping on a couch? Yeah.

Oh, yeah, on a couch. Definitely couch. Four, five, six guys in one little apartment. Yeah.

I wish you would say one couch,

but how long were you doing that for?

Um, so in that specific arrangement, about two months.

Yeah. Wow.

Saved a lot of money. Um, told my parents I’m not coming back.

What did they say?

Don’t ask.

Yeah. Um, a lot of silence. Um, but it was cool.

Did you know in that moment that this is going to be a career for you? No, it was just a hustle. Yeah.

To get some cash and keep on the.

Keep the lifestyle adventure going.

Yes. So.

And then.

But then they offered me, uh, that company or people from the company. Um, uh, you’re doing really well. And we want you to be a driver and to drive long distance with those yellow Rider trucks. And I said, well, why not? I mean, that’s fine. I mean, it was rude to me to drive a truck.

You know, in Israel, I used to drive, like, a little mini, little car, and suddenly I’m going to drive a 24, 26 foot truck. It was a little bit, uh, intimidating.

Sure. In the country that you just got into.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah. I don’t know the road. I don’t know the rules, but I was adventurous enough to say yes. And I think the first trip that I had is. Was to San Francisco.

Wow. It just gave me from New York to San Francisco. Your first trip?

Yeah. So they told me to stop in a gas station and. And, uh, uh, buy the, uh, Ron McKinley maps.

The Grand McNally Atlas.

Yeah. This is incredible. Get in the comments here, y’all. I. I’m dying to know what you’re thinking in this right now.

Would you do this?

Would you hop in a truck, being from another country for here for two months and drive to freaking San Francisco? You talking about going over the Rocky Mountains? Yeah. You talking about, like, in questionable equipment here. This is a rental truck. People beat the brakes off this thing.

I remember it was a gmc.

Um, everybody remembers their casket. They’re like, it was a gmc.

So.

Yeah. So, you know, I bought all those little maps. Uh, they loaded my truck, so it was fully loaded. I drove all the way to San Francisco.

This is before gps.

So you have gps, only maps and, uh, phone cards. You know, if you need to call the office to ask them anything. 1-800-number from a box. Yeah, we’re talking about, uh, 1998 right now. Uh, so, yeah, no, no cell phones yet.

Incredible. Yeah.

So, you know, I did that trip. They left me in San Francisco for almost a month. Uh, San Carlos area.

What do you m Mean, they left you there?

I mean, they had plenty of stuff for me to do over there. Pickups, deliveries. Like put it on from a little storage unit here to take it to a customer’s house, pick up from here, get it there, stay there for almost a month. And then I drove back to New York, New Jersey.

Where did you stay for a month in San Francisco while you.

Motel 6 in San Carlos. I remember this place.

Motel 6 in San Carlos. Uh, incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I liked it. I made good money back then. And I actually called some of my friends from Israel and told them, guys, come on here, we can do some money over here and save. And they came. My brother also came, and we walked together.

We did groups of two. Uh, we rented an apartment in Brooklyn, uh, for us. So we were six friends staying in one apartment, saving, and going out for trips all over the country. I got to know the U.S. and the U.S. road and the U.S. town so good. So in some places, I didn’t even use the maps.

I just know where I’m going. Yeah, I knew all the interstate. I really got to know. I think I’ve been in all 48 states driving. Uh, so I did it for a while, uh, saved enough. And, um, at some point I met m a guy from, uh, the company that used to run the warehouse for them.

And he asked me, I want to open my own place. Where should I go? So I told them about all the places that I visited as a driver, and we got to speak about Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a very fresh place developing, um.

Booming at that point.

Uh, prices are very low still. And, uh, I told him, Phoenix, Arizona. And he said, you know what? He was much older than me. He was in his, uh, 50s, I believe, back then. Now I was in my early 20s. So would you fly with me over there to take a look for a few days?

And I said, yeah, why not? I was more or less enough with all these trucks and everything. I said, yeah, I’ll go with you. We flew there. Uh, he had some meetings. I came with him to the meetings. He liked the place, decided that he wanted to do it.

It was February of 99, and I decided that I want to travel again. So from Phoenix, Arizona, I took a bus down to the border with Mexico, Nogales, and I just crossed the border and started my second trip. I took, like, it, uh, was a long trip, 10, uh, or 11 months.

So I started in Mexico and I started traveling south by myself. I stayed in Mexico for quite some time. Then I did Guatemala, El Salvador, and then I went to Honduras. And in Honduras, I heard about few, uh, Israelis that went to the, um, Caribbean side, the north side of Honduras.

A couple of islands that, uh, people are diving over there, Utila and, uh, Roatan. And I really wanted Roatan.

Yeah, My dad has dived in Roatan. He loves it.

Amazing.

Because you love to dive.

I love to dive.

Was that your first diving experience there?

Yes. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, uh, I got to Watan, um, uh, and, um, I went to one of the diving schools over there and started to do my, uh, open water, my advance. Then I did my, uh, rescue, and then the dive master. And I become, uh, not an instructor, but I had the ability to take groups into diving and teach them stuff.

So I stayed there for about eight to nine months. Little islands, uh, no electricity. Like, generator. There’s a generator, uh, five, six restaurants. Very small place. I had, like, a small, little house on the beach. $50 a month. So, you know, life was super cheap over there. The diving school paid me a little bit of money, so I stayed there.

I did hundreds of dives. Amazing experience. Had no m. Clothes, like, you know.

You didn’t even need me. So you just worked as a diving whatever instructor you worked at. Dive for a while. But how did you come back around and get in the common shops? This story is riveting to me. Um, I’m loving the story. Let me know if you’re liking it too.

Hit that like button. I want to know Here. Um, sorry. This thing is very touchy with the hands. My bad. Anthony says those were the good old days. Thomas Guide. Road tripping but making money. Yeah, for sure, man. Uh, hit that like button, Tia says. And just like that, we now have one of the most amazing places to work and the most amazing, adventurous boss to work for and work with.

Thank you, Tia.

That’s awesome, Tia. It’s good. Good meeting you here too. Hit that like button. Get in the comments here. I want to know your thoughts. Ask us questions if you’ve got questions for lior, uh, ask, uh, them. I’ve got him here. He’s captive. He can’t go anywhere. It’s like he’s in the back of the truck with doors Closed right now.

Okay. He’s not going anywhere. We’re going to ask him any questions we want to ask him. But help me now.

Flash forward from.

You’re diving in, you know, Central America. How did you get. You get back into the moving biz?

Okay, so from South America, I flew. From Central America, from Watan, I flew back eventually to Israel, where the money.

Run out or something.

The money run out.

Homesick?

Yeah. I mean, my parents are always there, you know, very dominant mother m. And they, on their own decision, decided to register me again for studying in Israel.

Yeah. So.

And it was, I think 10-99-when it started. So I came back, I think, uh, September 99, went, uh, back to Israel and went directly to that, uh, course of studying. So I did my bachelor degree over there, um, from 99 until 2002. But all this time in summers and other vacations, I flew to the US to my friend in Phoenix, Arizona, that already opened a company, an established company, and I, uh, just drove trucks for him for two months.

During the summer. Yeah, during the summer summers in Phoenix.

Yeah. Absolutely. Saved some money, went back to Israel. And the day I finished, uh, I completed my bachelor degree, I knew what I’m gonna do. Took a plane. The day I think it was May 1st of 2002, took a plane, flew to the U.S. uh, Phoenix, Arizona, and it was all ready for me.

He told me, listen, the company is yours, uh, not ownership, but manage it. It’s all yours. Let’s do whatever we can do. So, um, and at that time also, uh, in Israel, I forgot to mention, I met Anat, which is my wife. So we flew together. We came here together as, uh, just.

We just, uh, two, uh, young, uh, people, uh, with a bachelor degree and $200 in our pocket. Really, we have no money.

Yeah.

And, uh, yeah. So it was, uh, 2002, we got to the U.S. started, uh, working over there. You know, we arranged all the working visa and everything. So it was all, uh, fine with that. And, uh, you know, started my life over there.

Yeah. How long did you work there? At that. At that shop. Running that shop.

Yeah. Uh, so, uh, I worked there for a little bit over five years.

Wow. Uh, five years running.

Five years running.

Uh, a location in Phoenix.

Yes. Yes. I mean, we grew a little bit. So he had, uh, really the company while we. I’ve been there and really grew big. It become, um, um, nice. Ah, nice operation. Um, I stayed five and a half years mainly because, um, he did my papers. And, um, we had some kind of an agreement that until I get my green card, um, I’ll stay there.

And that’s what I did.

Sure.

Um, when we finish, uh, those five and a half years, I got my green card. And of course I had very good relationship with the person. And I told them that I will. I want to move forward in my life. I want to be a, uh, business owner myself.

Right.

Because at that point you’ve done everything. You’ve worked on the trucks, you’ve run the location, you’d made money and built business businesses for other people. And now you felt like it was time to do it for yourself. And how old were you at that point?

That point, I was 30. Um, 32, I believe.

32, yeah. And so what did you decide to do? Where’d you go?

So I looked for opportunities outside of, uh, Arizona because I didn’t want to share it with him. Yeah, I still had, uh, a lot of respect to the person. And I found a little company that was in distress,

about to close or go bankrupt. Where is it? Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, Right here in la.

And I said, okay, that’s a good opportunity. I remember I really liked Phoenix, Arizona, back then. I lived in Scottsdale, really loved that area. We didn’t want to leave, really. And I thought maybe I’d be able to do it somehow, stay in Arizona and manage the company in, uh, Los Angeles.

And it worked exactly for about six months, with me sometimes flying early in the morning to LA and coming back on the last flight just to be home. Um, so it didn’t last much. And I think that was January of 2008 when I decided that I need to move to, uh, California, to Los Angeles.

Why was it important? Why do you think it’s important for you to be here managing the business? Um, because we, we talk about this all the time nowadays, right. With this whole return to office thing.

Right.

You know, remote versus not remote. Yeah. And things like that. I mean, isn’t as, as a business owner in your experience? I mean, you could have stayed in Scottsdale, you had a life there, you know, and run the business remotely. Why did you think it was important to be back in la?

So I, I felt that every time that I’m going there, staying for a day or two, good things are happening. Um, people told me that they want me to be there. People felt safe, things were moving, literally moving. Uh, when I was there, I think they needed really the leadership because the old owners just left a mess over there.

They really needed a person, somebody to lead them, you know.

I totally agree with you. And shout out, max Lowy. I see you there. I love the story so far. He’s saying, um, shout out to Max. Get in the comments here, y’all. I want to hear your thoughts as well. But, you know, it’s funny when we talk about remote work and we talk, wow, I like working remotely, and I can.

I’m more effective from home. And that is true. And I think about this a lot because, you know, you hear business owners with one concept and managers another, and accountants and other people and coordinators, and everyone kind of has their own opinion about this. And I think. I think it’s different based on what your job function is.

Right. Like a driver cannot do his job remotely ever. Right. Um, an accountant might be very good remotely. Right. Just working through spreadsheets, doing billing and invoicing, whatever. Right. I think when you talk about leaders and CEOs, that is a job that is very hard to do remotely. It is important for us to be in the room, to be learning from our people, influencing our people, constantly communicating vision.

I heard one time somebody said that the CEO’s job is really the Chief Repeating officer, the person that just continues to repeat the vision, the standards, the values of the company so that everyone knows what we’re all doing and how to get there. Um, and I just find that that’s something that’s very important.

Important to be present for. Has that changed? I mean, your business has grown quite a bit. I don’t mean to get ahead of ourselves, but you grow quite a bit. You have so many locations, you have so many things you’re doing now. Um, I know. And we’re going to talk a little bit about, you know, your family, and we’re going to talk a little bit about your.

Your sports and everything that you’re doing, which is super crazy impressive. But, you know, do you think it’s still important, or have you set up systems and you have people in place that you trust? You don’t have to be present as much. How do you navigate that? I’m just curious.

So you do have, uh, we have in that company about 19, uh, managers. Some of them are remote, and some of them are together. But I can tell you that every time that they come into that office and I’m coming and, uh, meeting, uh, my managers, uh, face to face and actually being here, just being here, even sometimes without doing anything, there’s, uh, a huge effect to that.

It’s the dynamic, the energy, uh, the security, um, the fact that they see that I’m involved, I’m Interested. I care. Means a lot to people. Um, and, um, when you interact with people face to face, things are happening. Things are always happening. When I stay, if I be home, it won’t happen over the phone.

The dynamic is not good enough. So I will be here as much as I can, being with the people, uh, movers, helpers, drivers, managers, as much as I can. Um, and things will happen. Things will evolve that way.

It was funny because we were right before we got on camera here, we were having lunch in the break room. Right. And, um, it was funny. I was sitting there, it was you, uh, another gentleman that works with you who’s probably in the background some. Yeah. Um, a couple of them.

Right. We’re just, like, talking. Like, just, just, you know, a couple guys talking. Right. And, um. And I felt like the camaraderie and I think that there’s a certain type of, um, if you don’t mind me saying so, a certain type of humility in the way that you lead.

And you’re just, you’re, you’re, you’re kind of. You’re kind of one of the guys. You’re kind of one of the people.

Yeah.

You know, I mean, obviously, everyone respects that. You see on. You built this incredible movie company that’s really pretty substantial. We’re going to get into some of the things people may not know about Move happy. Um, it’s really impressive. But you’re very much just one of the guys, too.

Yeah. So I try to keep it that way. Um, in my day to day, of course, I’m a simple person. I’m nobody. So I’m not gonna drive a fancy car and I’m not gonna wear, uh, a fancy close. And it’s, it’s, it’s just the way I live. Um, I don’t believe in flashing or anything like it.

Um, that’s not who I am. And I actually like to be, uh, in the same level with my people over here. Because first, we are in the same level. There’s no difference between us. And second, I’m having a lot more fun with them being my friend than for them to be my employees.

That’s how I see it.

Yeah. But I also see, you know, I also noticed about you over the last couple days that we’ve been around each other is you make decisions quickly.

Yes.

You, you know, I mean, obviously you have great relationships, everything. But I mean, it is very clear. I mean, you are the decision maker. You make the decisions and you move quickly. Um, what y’all have accomplished since, uh, the Firm was founded in 2008, you said? Yeah, 2008. So 16 years in now.

Yeah.

You got how many locations now?

So we have, uh, two locations in Hawaii, one in the Big island, and one in, uh, um, Oahu, which is our main location. Uh, we have two locations in New Jersey, one in the north, one in the south. We have three locations in California, one here in la, not including the corporate office, of course.

One, uh, in la, one in Palm Desert, and one in the Bay Area. So those are all locations. Uh, in between we have our, uh, trailers and all the equipment.

Sure.

About 100, uh, probably trucks and trailers.

Seven locations, 100 trucks, you know, doing international forwarding as well. You do a significant amount of that business as well. I’ve noticed, you know, that’s, that’s pretty impressive growth. I’ve been, I’ve talked to, you know, I know owners of moving companies that, whose families have been doing this 100 years and they haven’t accomplished, frankly, the things that you guys have accomplished in the last, you know, you know, 16 years.

Um, how do you, how do you grow a business like that? I’m really just curious.

The first rule is, uh, not to be afraid to take, uh, to. And that’s what you said about me making decision fast. I really don’t afraid to fail. And I failed so many times, probably more than I succeeded. Um, and I’m not afraid to from the consequences. Uh, you know, it’s affecting everybody.

It’s affecting my people, it’s affecting my family, it’s affecting me. And I learn how to live with it. So I’m making decisions. I don’t afraid to make m mistakes. I make m mistakes, I fix it, and I try not to make mistake m the same mistake again. So that’s a big thing about my think, my personality and my way.

Um, I’m trying, I’m trying. Everything sounds interesting. I’ll do it. Um, there’s an opportunity in a different state, in a different country. I look into it. I’m gonna go there myself, I’m gonna explore, I’m gonna make a fast decision. And uh, I can say that there were really good deals that I made throughout the years.

Acquisitions, if it’s companies, if it’s, ah, real estate, buildings, warehouses, office buildings. Um, and there were really bad ones that really got me behind. I can say that in 2014, I started all over again because of a big mistake that I made.

Wow.

All over again.

So 2008 you started, but then 2014 you basically started all over again, all.

Over from zero from minus money to people.

So really, in a way, this company that we’re looking at now move happy and everything you’ve accomplished. And I mean, this is a large company. I mean, I don’t necessarily want to share revenue numbers or anything like that, but I mean, this is a very large company for, uh, the moving industry.

And it’s really been built since 2014, you’re telling me.

Yes.

So really 10 years about that.

Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

The current structure and all of the, um, assets are from 2014 and on. I lost everything before that. I had before everything, including personal stuff, including selling my house in order to keep the company.

What did that do? Like, what was that like, going through that personally?

I mean, I mean, it was. It’s. It’s also built me. So that’s a good part me and made me who I am today.

Yeah.

Ah, a lot, uh, tougher with thick skin, uh, and being able to. To, uh, take, uh, failures and uh, in a way, did it make you.

Less afraid to fail or more afraid to fail? Less. Isn’t that funny? Because what you’re talking about going, resetting the 0 or minus is that’s probably one of my biggest fears. Right. I mean, I think anybody that owns a business or even has a career, right. Whatever you’ve built up, uh, over time, the idea that all that can be taken away from you in a moment.

Right. Like Whether it’s your 401k or it’s your career, your reputation or your family, you know, I mean, that’s our biggest fear. One of our biggest years is going back to zero. And then you did it. And so in some ways, was there like a freedom that comes with that or like a.

You can say a freedom? I can tell you that until not long ago, I didn’t even thought to secure all those assets that we have over here in a trust or in, you know, all these LLCs and a, uh, Wyoming company and all this stuff.

Yeah.

Um, because I was pretty sure that I’m doing the right way and I wasn’t afraid to lose it at no point. So, um, yeah, it gave me some kind of freedom. No fear. And in places that maybe people or competitors or other, uh, uh, peers from the industry didn’t took a stand.

I did and I stepped forward. And uh, there were some deals that I wanted to take and I couldn’t, and I wish I could. Great deals on the table, but I was really, uh, interested in anything.

Does it make you more aggressive or more conservative now?

More aggressive.

More aggressive. That’s Wild to me, man, because it’s like, intuitively. Intuitively you would think it would make you, like, okay, I learned my lesson. I’m going to be careful about doing this again, or I don’t want to end up like that again, you know? But. But you also, on the other hand, I could see, like, well, shoot, I lost and built it once.

I built it once. I lost. I built it again. Yeah. Maybe learn some of the ways to protect yourself and cover your downside a little bit.

Yeah, I. I learned about myself, uh, in that big failure of 2013, 2014. And as I mentioned, I’m not doing the same mistakes again and again and again. So, uh, I was pretty sure, and I’m still pretty sure that I’m not going to make that kind of mistake ever again and put this whole thing that we built over here, and my employees, also, everybody that works here, which is a second family to me, uh, in risk.

Yeah, I’m not going to do it.

I love that. And I think that. I think our failure. And I love that you’re so open about it. Right? Because I think our failures, a. They’re so much more interesting. Right? Nobody wants to hear you sit here and talk about all your successes. I mean, let’s be honest.

It’s boring. Right? You know, but I think we can all relate to our failures. And I fail. I tell my team I fail every day. I mean, I don’t mean to shake their confidence in my leadership, but I’ll be honest with you guys. I fail every day. And I’m.

Sometimes I’m just making it up, and I’m hoping that it’s going to work out and I’m going to learn from it. Like you said.

Give me an example for your last failure or one of your last failures.

Last. I mean, last. I mean, what time is. Oh, my God. You know, I mean, um, Last year. Last year. Last, uh, year was a great example. I mean, gosh, the last two years have been just. Just difficult as I’ll get out for movers, for relocation, whatever. Right. Last year, um.

There was a point last year where I felt like I was gonna go out of business. I was like, am I gonna. Am I gonna run this thing into the ground? Am I gonna. Am I gonna. Am I gonna ruin this? I mean, I built this nice little business.

I’m so proud of it. You know, we got this cool brand. We got great momentum, people love us, client base. I mean, am I going to run? And what happened was that the. Our overhead was too much, you know, Our overhead with our rent was too much. We had folks on the team that weren’t, weren’t productive, frankly.

Let’s just be honest, right? Weren’t paying for themselves. Um, had a lot of variable revenue with a lot of fixed cost. And I realized I need to flip that around. I need to have fixed revenue and variable cost. And so I did and I flipped it. You know, um, we had way too.

We were spending, uh, you know, our little company was probably spending about $65,000 in software expense. You know, we’re a million dollar company spending $65,000 software expense. Right. We were probably spending, you know, $50,000 plus in travel. Right. So I mean, that’s a significant percentage of our total gross revenue.

Right. Um, and so, and so. And then we were just hemorrhaging cash because. Because, um, our revenue was so lumpy, you know, it was like kind of how movers have peak season, except we had like, uh, like months where we killed and then several months where we just sucked.

How do you fix it? How long?

Well, no, you have, you have great people, right? And so, so I have a really fantastic shout out to Monica, our, um, financial planning and analysis person, Right? So she’s more than a bookkeeper, she’s more than accountant. Um, she’s an FP and a person. So she came in, she took a look at it, she said, wow, your consulting business is really nice.

She’s like, you have this steady revenue, but it’s been going down. I was like, yeah, ah, we haven’t been focusing on as much. We’ve been focusing more on the recruiting business. Well, the recruiting business is great. It’s home runs when you hit them. But if you keep striking out because the job market is tough and it’s just, you know, it’s not there for you.

You’re gonna go out of business chasing that project work of recruitment. And so we turned it around by focusing on our consulting business, which was recurring revenue every month. And we built that up and shout out to Jama, who’s probably watching right now. But we built that business up and we probably, since this time last year, we probably 5x that business, maybe 4x that business.

And that gave us a really nice baseline of revenue to cover our overhead expenses. So we weren’t really. So no matter what happened with the recruiting, we were always kind of there covering our nut. And then when recruiting was hitting, we were boom. Now we were making gravy. So that was a big thing that I think really changed for me.

But I mean, that was A major lesson, you know, that I learned. Um, and so it was a. Yeah. And there was a moment where I was like, I feel like I’m two weeks away.

Really.

Yeah. And the other thing I went out is I secured a line of credit. And that line of credit makes me sleep so much easier because even though you never want to use it, it’s there if you need it. Yeah.

That’s good. It’s a good thing to have.

Yeah.

So, same thing. You know, I remember the mornings, uh, when I look for the bank account at that time, uh, and I see there’s nothing there and I have payroll to do.

Yeah.

And I started to move stuff from here to there. Then I had to sell my home. So we sold home and moved into a rental. Um, yeah, it was. It shaped me the way I am right now. My wife as well, she was very much involved. And, uh, we learned so much from that experience that it made us much better and got us to this place.

I’m not sure without those failures, I’ll get to where I am right now. So.

Yeah. Yeah. And you gotta do it in that moment. I mean, what was that like, selling your house?

Uh, it’s a house that I built myself. So it was a big. We love the house. You know, back then I had already, um, three kids, three girls, and we love the house. Uh, but, uh, it was. I felt like a failure, of course.

Yeah, you feel like a fit. You feel like, oh, I built this wonderful home for my family. I have these neighbors, I have this community. I have, let’s be honest, I have some standing in the community. Right. And then all of a sudden I have to sell my home.

You know, for me, we had to move from offices. We had this one office that was like, kind of new. And then we had to kind of in some ways downgrade. Although in a lot of ways it’s an upgrade. Now we have more space, but it’s just about as nice of a neighborhood, things like that.

I was renting a home. M. I couldn’t even afford to buy a house for three years because I was taking everything put into the business. And, um.

Yeah.

And yeah, it’s hard because you’re embarrassed. You’re just like, you feel like a failure. But you. You have to take that step backwards to take two steps forward. And now you positioned yourself beautifully, it looks like.

Yeah, it took time. Um, but, um, yeah, we also downsized to. I mean, we all moved to the warehouse in downtown. Um, I mean, I got like a wake up call that I need to be more involved in the business. Because some of the reasons that it happened is that I was becoming less involved and I started to do other stuff.

You know, I felt like on top of the Olympus, I did good and I left the business in the wrong hands. And then I understood that I have to get back fully into the business. Waking up every day at 4.30am, driving all the way to downtown, walking in dispatch, talking, uh, to customers, going out of trucks if I have to, doing, uh, everything from the beginning.

Getting back to basics.

A little bit about it. Getting back to the basics.

This is awesome. Get in the comments here, let us know, know what you’re thinking out there. Hit that like, button. Um, Lior. People are loving your story here, Anthony. Ships and lior. I’m really feeling the fail fast and risk taking energy you bring. It’s inspiring and such a great reminder to stay bold.

Thanks for sharing the mindset.

Thank you, Anthony.

Uh, Max Lowey, diversify services. Yeah, yeah, Max. We’ll talk a little bit about diversification too, because y’all win a lot of businesses. Johnna, checking in. Still watching. Yeah. Johnna, what’s up? Um, Anthony saying, Ben, you’re giving us a masterclass on the pivot game. Seriously impressive stuff. Nice work with Glomo.

You’re a true champ. Thanks, Anthony. Appreciate you so much. Uh, Charles Beatty saying great stuff, Ben. Sharing many things that all business owners feel and making the tough decisions. Yeah, it’s easy, right? To sit back and like, oh, you know, the boss has it easy. The boss making so much money, blah, blah, blah.

And when you don’t realize, like, you know, we gotta make sure payroll funds before we even bring anything home, you know, and

it was all jet black.

And now it’s all white, right?

No, but I think, you know, obviously you guys are making some really great stuff happen. You’ve been on the acquisitions, uh, trail, you know, lately. You’ve, uh, acquired several businesses this year. Um, why is acquisitions important for you? Talk about your strategy a little bit. Because it’s really impressive what building here.

Okay, so, um, getting into a new, let’s say, for example, if I want to get into the international business or, uh, military, um, starting to learn it from scratch means that you need to hire people that did it because you don’t know how to do it. And build it from scratch may and probably will take years, if it will.

Yeah. If it will even, uh, make it. So, uh, I found out already in the early years, I think 2014 actually, um, that it will be much easier to Penetrate new, uh, industries, new. Ah. Um, um, if you’re talking about international, local, different states, uh, military, um, gsa, whatever.

Much m. Easier to acquire somebody that’s already doing it successfully or not successfully. And, um, get the manpower and the knowledge and maybe some assets out of it and use, uh, it, Improve it and move forward. So, yeah, we started, uh, doing it, uh, the early days. Uh, and now, for example, I wanted to go into cod, um, COD International.

So I looked for not such a big company, so it won’t be a huge expense, but a smaller, uh, company that already doing it, found one, talked to the owner, uh, got into some kind of an agreement, and he’s walking right here. So we bought the company. He’s working for the company and it’s doing well.

Uh, same thing that we did, um, with uh, Twin Oaks this year. I mean, it’s a long deal. It’s been going for almost two years. But, uh, and thank, uh, you again for the. For the sellers, the owners, the old owners, uh, the corners, uh, John and Mike, uh, they were great.

It took a lot of time due to, um, bureaucracy or whatever.

A lot of bureaucracy in that space.

But, yeah, we ended up buying the, uh, Southern Jersey, uh, warehouse and the whole operation closing was in April of this year. Uh, yeah, we love that business. Uh, we wanted to get into the Southern basis of, um, Jersey.

And, uh, how do you tell if a deal is a good deal? I know you make decisions quickly. You’ve been doing this for a while. You’ve done it really great. You’ve had mistakes, you’ve learned from. So now you’re at a point where I’m sure these things kind of add up a lot quicker in your head.

How do you know if a deal is a good deal?

Okay, so I have a few factors. Um, first, I like to meet. If you’re talking about a business and not a building or new thing, um, I like to meet the owners. Uh, why is that important? Because the culture. If the culture is not there, it’s not going to work.

But some people say, well, screw it, I’m buying the business. I’ll change the culture. You know, I don’t care necessarily about the owner. I’m going to be the new owner. Why does it matter what?

I learned from my experience? That culture is one of the hardest things, if even possible, to change. Uh, we’re talking about a big group of employees, 30, 40, sometimes more, coming and changing their culture remotely. I’m, um, in California, for example, New Jersey, Hawaii, wherever they are is impossible.

It’s just not gonna work. So if the culture is not closed, that’s, uh, already something. That’s a, uh, red flag for me. Usually I’m not going to touch it. Um, and with John and Mike, I immediately saw that, uh, it’s not only that the culture is okay, it’s good.

The people themselves, when they told me that, I mean, um, um, that they’re going to be there for me, doesn’t matter until when. And I really, I mean, it was a handshake kind of deal. I mean, everything was on paper.

But I love that you said something about handshake deal. Right. And I know you have contracts. I know you’ve, you’ve. You’ve formalized everything, but I have a philosophy and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. But I don’t do business with anybody that I can’t. That I wouldn’t feel comfortable shaking hands and calling it.

Good. Right?

Yeah.

Mazal. Right. It’s like, you know, we got a deal, you know, and the paperwork is important. We’ll have a contract just in case, God forbid. Or maybe it helps to, uh, clarify finer points, maybe that we just didn’t understand. But if I can’t feel like I could just shake hands with you and feel like I trust you enough that it’s good, then no amount of paperwork and contract is ever going to make it good either.

100%.

Yeah.

So I’m there. Exactly. That’s why I like to meet the owners or the sellers or you name it. Uh, that’s the first thing I do. And then you can start negotiating the deal. Um, so, yeah, that’s, that’s about culture and the people. It’s, you know, in our industry, we’re not a technology company or anything like it.

It’s all about that.

Well, and really, what is a business anyway? I mean, yeah, you have hard assets in this business, right? So you. Definitely real estate, obviously. But even without real estate, you have the trucks. But after that, you’ve got. You’ve got people you’re buying the employees and the client, customer relationships, more people.

Right. And so that’s really important. So looking at the culture and things like that and the ownership and the vibe there and the trust there, um, what else is important in an acquisition for you?

So we’re looking always for the added value, what value that acquisition will give us. So it can be new market, it can be, um, the real estate, which is a big thing for me. Uh, it can be, um, knowledge, uh, database data, um, many things. Um, so we’re looking for all those, um, aspects.

But more than that, um, I’m trying to see, I mean, if the business is doing everything that it can and I cannot bring myself value to that business, what did they do over here? I probably want to buy it in a prime price. And there is no. It’s not going to be.

It’s not going to get better.

Yeah, it’s only going to get worse. Right. It’s already running as good as it can run. You know, and so then you come in, really, you might mess it up, you know, who knows? Right? So is there like, um, you know, do you look for owners that, uh, maybe are at a point of retirement or maybe they’ve been kind of relaxing for a while and kind of doing less and less and things like that?

So I’ll give you two examples. Um, two businesses that we purchased. One is Acme Moving and Storage out of, uh, Palm Desert, California, which has a great reputation. Great reputation. But they were like single m. I mean they had no advertising over there. All they did are, ah, um, like some, some, some accounts like uh, the Home Depot, Lowe’s, some resorts, uh, in the area.

And all the jobs came from there. They did great charities as well, which we are continuing right now. Um, but all the work came from there. They are not so far away from 29 palms. They never touched, uh, military, uh, jobs. They, uh, didn’t do long distance, mainly locals.

They didn’t do international. Um, there were a lot on the table over there that they never, ever touched. Um, so over there it was pretty obvious to me that me stepping in immediately, getting a lot of value into that company and make it a much valuable, um, um, assets for myself.

We also purchased the warehouse over there, which is an amazing warehouse. And the price was right. So that was during COVID And you.

Like real estate as part of your deals? Generally speaking, yeah.

Yeah.

So people hate real estate, so you’ll love it. Why do you love it?

I love real estate because, um, first, it’s a fact that I, uh, had many real estate transactions during my life over here in the US And I never failed a single one of them. Each and every one of the real estate deals that I had did good to me.

I’m not selling real estate. This is like a philosophy for me. I’m keeping everything. And the appreciation in value that happened to, uh, all those, uh, assets in my personal houses or the, uh, commercial and industrial ones, warehouses, office buildings, did amazing.

Now can you also leverage the equity for purchases?

Yes.

See, that’s also nice. Too. So you hold it. You’re paying, you know, paying towards equity. Right. When you pay your mortgage. But it also appreciates, which is also equity you didn’t have to pay in, but now you can draw on to leverage for future acquisitions. So it’s like you can.

I mean, that’s kind of beautiful.

Yeah. So I think that’s what a lot of businessmen, uh, are doing. You’re leveraging out of other people’s money or banks for that purpose. You’re investing a down payment. Uh, m. And they are bringing all the money and you’re the only one that. Enjoying the appreciation in value. So it’s.

I believe, I mean, uh, that’s a strategy, uh, using other people’s money and enjoy all the benefits coming from.

So what are areas. And shout out to everybody watching right now. Get in the comments here. Uh, TIA is saying, Leo, we the employees have never felt these failures. Um, I guess that’s a testament to. Yeah, they’re so nice and insulating people from. From the challenges. Right. Um, but, uh, I wanted to.

I wanted to. So. So you kind of outlined your acquisition strategy and everything. And, you know, do you think you have more acquisitions to come? Is that going to continue the mo.

Oh, yeah, yeah, all the time.

Where do you see. Where do you see move. Happy being in. I say five years. Five years too long. Three years.

I’m not sure if I want to share it.

That’s fine.

Yeah. Uh, m. Well, we have this big, uh, dark cloud of, uh, GHC on our heads which is affecting also us. I don’t know where it’s going. Um, you know, I have my own tsps, uh, international and domestic. Um, most of my Hawaii operations based on our, uh, TSP and some other TSPs that I’m service over there.

So I’m not sure what is going to happen. So it’s really hard to predict. Um, but, uh, m. I’m looking to get into, um, new, um, adventures that are not only household goods, uh, like freight, uh, forwarding, uh, logistics. And we’re doing it right now, uh, senior living.

Yeah. Where do you think the growth is right now? Because we’re going through our second straight year where the general resident residential moving industry has just been depressed. Right. Home sales are at a very, you know, at a low for a decade or more now, uh, for two years in a row.

Uh, a lot of people think that, uh, it’s going to be energized next year, uh, with interest rates continuing to drop. And just, you know, people are excited, cautiously optimistic about that. But I mean, you know, now’s the time where everybody’s looking around and thinking about where the growth opportunities are.

Where do you see. Where do you see growth opportunities?

Okay, so I agree with you regarding the COD business. What was, uh, probably the lowest year that 2024 that uh, we had since a long time ago. Um, and I’m not really 100% optimistic about where it’s going next year. I’m not sure if, um, the uh, new President Trump, um, the fact that you want to have, uh, custom fees, uh, it’s probably going to increase, uh, prices over here in the US for everything.

Because everything, almost everything comes from, uh, outside China, Mexico.

Ah, those are the two countries targeted. Yeah.

So if prices goes up, uh, we’re talking about inflation. And when we have inflation, usually interest rates goes up in order to depress the. Suppress the, uh, uh, inflation. So. And if interest rate will keep going up, the housing market goes hand in hand with, uh, interest rates. So I’m m.

I don’t know what to expect. So I can’t put all. I mean, I can’t even, uh, plan on that market to, uh, get better. So my plans specifically is, uh, as I mentioned before, um, doing commodities. Not. Not only, uh, um, household goods, other commodities. Uh, hospitality is a big thing for us already, and we’re trying to.

You want to expand it a little bit.

The hotel projects and FF&E projects. O. And I work. Yep.

Yeah. Senior living, which, uh, you know, uh, we all become, uh, senior at some point. And it’s a big thing over here. Yeah. So getting in that, inside that, uh, move management, maybe. Uh, we’re looking on a lot of avenues over here. I hired new people. We’re looking into whatever we can do not to be like, fully dependent on household goods.

Yeah. Residential COD work. I mean, I think the senior moving thing is a really interesting opportunity. I think it’s. I think it’s not as easy as people think because people think, oh, just moving old people.

Well, there’s a lot of organizing.

There’s a lot of packing. There’s a lot of, um, understanding how to maneuver in these senior living facilities. There’s just a lot of, um, care that goes into it, I guess, and different services maybe than we’ve, you know, traditionally done. I mean, so often movers are like, you know, I don’t touch that.

I don’t touch that. I need to create that. I don’t. I want. I’m not taking the TV off. I get a third party for that. I’m not uh, you know, and uh, and the senior folks just want one person to do everything and not really have to think about it.

And so I think, um, but when you, when you figure out how to do it, uh, I think it’s going to be very lucrative. You know, you’re in Palm Desert, you know, which I think a lot of people retire from Bay Area also, you know.

Yeah.

Right. And so, and I think it’s interesting because, you know, folks are, um, generally have been living longer, although we may have, we may have peaked there. Um, but generally are living longer and I feel like we’re getting older faster but we’re living longer. So like people aren’t in as good a shape.

So they’re getting old.

Not you.

You’ve been amazing. Me, me, I’m talking about myself. Are getting old fashioned. I’m not moving myself. I’m not passing.

Gosh, I’m 42 years old and I.

Couldn’T, I couldn’t load all you right now if I wanted to. Right. And um, you know, so we’re getting older faster but we’re living longer because medicine is just keeping us alive even though we’re not, you know.

And so I think we’re old for.

A lot more of our life than we were in the past 20.

Going to that direction.

I’m really old for half my life. I’m busy starting now. I’m an old male for half my life if I’m lucky. And so, um, I think there’s a lot of opportunity there. So I think that’s really. And to think about. And I love the branding too with this Move Happy stuff.

I mean, talk to me a little about the branding because I work for some companies where branding is so important and I believe that you can get about a 10 to 20% premium on service when you have a very strong brand, a household name, because you’re getting the call first.

And if you get the call first, you’re going to look 70% of those off the bat. And it’s not going to come down to price because the brand is so strong. Why is the branding been so important? Talk to me about this Move Happy because it wasn’t always Move Happy, was it?

No, City Moving before City Movie.

Not a bad name. Yeah.

But it’s really generic. There’s nothing special about it.

Yeah, it’s like.

Yeah, yeah. So, uh, first, a lot of people are mistaken and still call us happy movers and the movers are happy guys.

But what about you?

Yeah, I mean, it was an intention of saying it the other way around. Um, actually it came from one of, uh, the managers over here, Arnon. He came up with, uh, a name. And even in the times of city.

Moving, this is ironic, by the way. Can we talk about Arnon?

Okay.

So this guy’s the least happy looking guy I know. Okay.

And he got moved. Happy.

Where’s Arnan? Can we get his face real quick over here for a second?

No, I love this guy. He’s great.

We’ve been riding around in a pickup truck for two days with this guy. I love him, but I just think it’s funny. Move happy, right? We do have a question real quick, though. Okay. We always prioritize your questions, so get them in the comments here, let us know what you think.

Um, we’ll get back to the discussion. But Anthony Shipp’s got a question. He says, great discussion. Guys, quick question. How do you approach shifting operations teams to embrace a white glove empathy driven style for moving senior living gloves? Clients would love to hear your thoughts. I mean, it’s, it’s got a great point.

Yeah, you can’t just say, oh, I want to do this. Like you got to shift over operationally.

So, yeah, uh, we started it, and we started it really small with one crew which we trained especially for that. Uh, we call all those moves vip. So that’s special handling. There’s a specific vehicle that they’re going to drive that they’re driving to do all those jobs.

Why is the vehicle important?

You know, it’s, it’s a part of the branding. Uh, if you look on the walls over here, you’ll see all our vehicles are branding. Branded. Yeah, the pink ones, um, and darker.

The zoom out’s helping me right now.

The pink vans that you see over there, uh, next to the Sofi stadium, uh, these are the ones that we’re using for.

Let me see if I can zoom in here. Let’s see if we can do this here. Zoom in. I’m gonna see if I can show you guys this, this pink chunk over here. Can you guys get this here? Look at this. Look at the beauty. I don’t even see that.

Beautiful. I see different colors too. Most people just pick a color.

Tell me what my problem was. If you look on those trail, like.

Your van of white over here. You got me running over here. Can you see this? Can you see where’s. Keep going, keep going. Over here. Can you see this here? Let me see if I can go this way. You see the trucks over here? I don’t know if this is working.

Guys, There we go. I don’t know. But yeah, so there’s a lot of different colors, but what’s the thought there?

So we, we started with that blue color, uh, at the beginning. I love this color. Uh, and just to follow me right now, I can bring that.

See here, guys. All right, here we go. Uh, look at me. These cameras are like AI, but sometimes it goes wrong, you know. Anyway, sorry, go ahead. You were saying.

So just for Anthony’s question.

Yeah.

We started very small, uh, and training one crew to do not only that, but to be really get specialized and get really good in what they’re doing. And, uh, as it will grow and right now it’s still small. That kind of business, uh, will train more and more people to do the.

It’s not going to be like a full transition all at once. It’s going to be very gradually.

Yeah. And there’s certifications to actually talk to a gentleman at your Palm Desert location, Doug. And he was, he, um, was telling me about he was, um, getting certified through nasm, the national association of Senior Move Management. And so I think that helps a lot too, when your operations staff get certified.

Yeah, um, conventions and stuff like that. Like the same we’re doing over here. There’s a whole world of the senior living that, that is out there, and you need to just learn how to, how to, how to get there. So.

Yeah.

And back to the trucks. So, yeah, we started with the blue and, um, and everybody were telling us that we look like Amazon.

Is that a bad thing or a good thing? I don’t know.

Listen, you want to be unique, you want to be special. We invested a lot in that brand and branding. And then you have like, I don’t know what, uh, we already, uh, uh, had wrapped, uh, eight or ten of our trailers. We have about 20 or 20 something of them.

Ten were already completely wrapped. As with that blue and Pinot telling you, oh, here’s your trailer and I’m looking into Amazon and I said, okay, I did all that work, uh, and everybody thinks that I’m Amazon, so nobody going to see me.

Talk about failures. Right? Talk about things that you like. Shoot, I should have thought about that for a second. But you know what? Now you had 10 like that. You got 100 trucks, you got 80, 80, 90 more. You can go another cup. And then I see you got blue, but then you got some purple.

We have purple, we have red, we have camouflage, we have.

You know what I like here. You’re testing them all. You’re like, you know What?

Why make a decision?

Let’s just test them all out and see what’s up.

You know, the pink sticked really hard. Really good. Uh, all of our vehicles in Hawaii are pink.

Okay.

Yeah, all of them are pink. Uh, very, uh, distinguished from all the rest of the companies over there. We pretty much, uh. Very. For Hawaii. It’s very special.

Yeah.

But.

Yeah. Is pink going to be the color now, you think going forward, or. We’re not committing.

I’m not committing. What about yellow?

I don’t see any yellow.

No yellow. You’re right.

Yellow. I don’t like light yellow. And there’s a lot of, like, you know, rider trucks, pencil trucks are yellow. Right. But maybe like a pale yellow, like a happy. Like a happy yellow. But maybe I swap one.

Only for me.

All right, well, it’s got a truck, guys. And you did a camo one, too, for, like, the military. Yeah. That’s kind of cool.

Yeah.

Seriously fun.

Yeah, I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying it.

And then Arnon’s over here. He’s got a T shirt line going on. So you’re over here painting trucks colors. He’s over here making T shirts.

Yeah. Like, do you feel like, I mean.

You guys are doing stuff that most movie companies are playing with? Yeah. Most of you. We’ve been a blue truck for 100 years, and you’re over here playing this stuff.

I’m playing. I’m not sure which way is the right way. A lot of consultants are telling me you need to stick to one color, to one way. I know there’s a lot of truth behind it and a lot of knowledge m behind it, but I’m choosing right now the other way.

Um, and, you know, another figure.

99 people go this way with one color, and you go the other way. I mean, who knows, right? I mean, something distinctive. Yeah.

Ah.

Oh, man, I love it. Let’s see here. Um, Max is kind of happy. Yeah. You know, kind of Anthony Ship, shout out to Arnold and Booth. Happy. Super nice guy with that happy face. But don’t let it fool you. There’s a mastermind behind this smile. Adrian says smile. Arnon.

Yes.

Uh, we love Arnon. We’re just giving a hard time. Um, yeah, it’s. It’s interesting. I love the branding. I think it’s really cool. I think. I think it plays well in the, uh, in the consumer space as well. But I also know, you know, corporate relocation is an area that you.

That you want to get into, and you’re talking little bit about, um, you know, that’s. That’s an industry that’s very mature, you know, and some people that are in it would say it’s kind of, you know, maybe it’s best days are behind it, you know, but yet, you know, you feel like there’s opportunity there.

That’s. I feel that it’s the same thing that they told me about military back in, uh, 2014, when I wanted to start with the military.

Yeah.

Uh, I’m not listening to all these things. I’m trying.

Yeah.

And I can allow myself to try things. And if it will work, I did amazing. And if it didn’t work, another failure to the failure, uh, cabinet.

Yeah. But you should try. I’m like that too. I’m the type of person that somebody tells me that I shouldn’t do something, I’ll be like, but why? Like. Well, let me go find out. Because I don’t know if it was a bad idea or if it was your bad execution.

So I’m gonna go find out myself.

Always the right way. Uh, you should just pick that all the time.

You have a lot of scars doing it that way, but it’s a lot more interesting and, you know.

And you know why scars are sexy.

Yes. You know.

Here we go.

Max got a question. He says, was the branding and positioning all done in house or did you use an outside agency for it?

So we did use an outside agency. Um, we’re using one right now, Impact. But, um, the one that came up with the logo and, uh, the current design, um, it’s actually a Hollywood one that doing, like, movies. And, uh, they’re working really hard with Disney. Um, I think the name was Midnight Oil.

They came up with the idea it was super expensive. And we sat with, like, they just.

Ripped off the Amazon a bunch of money for it. This thing works.

Trust me. I’ve seen it. With that smirk that goes to the side so we don’t have the arrow. And it’s not like a complete round thing. It’s like a smirk. But I love it. I mean, when they showed us, of course, a lot of, uh, things, and they kept that one for last.

And when it came and you know, it was a whole presentation that they did to us.

That was the right.

Yeah. And I really didn’t think about Amazon back then. Um.

Yeah, no, it’s good. I like it. And you know what else I like about it too? I feel like that’s logo and an ethos and a brand that you could send somebody a T shirt in the mail and they might Actually wear it. Like, you could send like a relocation manager somewhere, that T shirt with a card saying, hey, thought you might like this, and they might wear it on a Saturday, you know, so maybe you.

Remember in the last Iam and actually in few Iams, um, before the giveaway that we give away that we came with a thousand T shirts. It’s different designs. Are you doing that one?

No. Oh, my God. Listen, I don’t just pick up T shirts from anybody. First of all, you gotta understand it. Well, the odds that it’s gonna fit me are very low. Okay? You gotta understand, like, I’m gonna look like a sausage and your shirt is not gonna look good on me.

Okay? You don’t want me to wear your shirt. I’m not. I’m not a T shirt model. Okay? I’m a scarf model. Right. We get to go ahead and gave away a thousand T shirts at the im. Yeah.

And, uh, I think, uh, almost all of them were gone by the end of the convention. So a lot of people are wearing them. Some people. I remember a guy from Panama that came and told us that he still have a T shirt from the Iam five years before that.

We gave.

He kept it. So, uh, yeah, we’re doing the cool designs. Always, uh, something different with a lot of colors. Uh, I’m sure some. Some people that visit our booth over there remember those T shirts. So, yeah, just being creative.

Very cool. Anthony says the pink Move Happy trucks in Hawaii are awesome. They totally stand out and remind me of the bold T mobile magnets.

Right?

Uh, vibe.

Uh, yeah.

Lior. I love how you embrace innovation and aren’t afraid to shake things up. An industry full of opinions, trying new things is how we grow. Keep leading the way. Yeah, man, for sure. 100. You know what? Let’s. Let’s play a little game. We’ve been talking for a while. You’ve been really gracious with your time.

Can we play a game? Playing games. I know you’re an athlete and we never even talked about. About your. Your athletics. Oh, look at this, Eileen. I’m a scarf model, but I’m going to use that all the time now, you know? Shout out to Eileen. Love you, Eileen. Um, yeah, I’m a scarf model.

This is my fall look. This is my fall sexy over here look. Okay, this is what I do now. It’s not an ascot. It’s a scarf, baby. I got my pink, though. Shout out to the move happy folks.

Yeah, one of my managers, Yuval, came, uh, to him today and told him, listen, I’M not sure what is your position, but one thing is for sure, you need to teach all of us how to dress.

Yeah, I can teach you, but I don’t think you’ve listened. I think it’s very much a part of the culture that we don’t wear suits around here. We’d rather get things done than look like we’re getting things done. I, uh, know. But yeah, I stand out a little bit with the jacket here.

I don’t mean to scare the movers, but, uh, you know, I gotta listen. You know what I tell people? I say, listen, if I had your build, I wouldn’t wear all this. Okay? I wear as little as possible if I look like this guy, but I don’t. So, yeah, that was a funny moment.

Let’s see here. We’re going to get into overweight underwater. You guys have been amazing. Hit that, like, button. Stick with us. But I have to ask you before I get into it, you’re running an ultra marathon in a few months. You’re training for.

Yes. What is an ultra marathon?

For those that don’t know.

So a Marathon is a 26 mile competition. Usually, uh, is getting done on a flat, uh, uh, with no elevation, uh, surface.

Like a road race?

Yeah, like a road race. It’s 26.2 miles, uh, 42 kilometers. Um, that’s a marathon.

And that’s also a marathon.

Is whatever that is more than a marathon. Uh, it can go anywhere from, uh, 50 kilometers to few hundred kilometers.

So what are you doing?

I’m doing, uh, 100 miler.

100 mile race.

Yeah. Which is, which is a little bit less than 100 miles, but who’s counting?

Where are you doing this?

I’m doing it in, uh, Tuscany.

Why are you doing this?

My mom’s asking me this question. My wife is asking me this question. I have no idea. It’s, uh, I have to. That’s what keeps m. My energy flow, that keeps me motivated. Um, uh, I have to do it.

And this race is in Italy? Yeah. Oh my gosh.

In March 22nd.

Beautiful. How do you train to run 100 miles?

I train a lot. Um, I run six days a week. Um, an average right now of about 40 to 50 miles a week. And it’s growing as long as close as I get to the competition, it can get to 70, 80 miles a week. Um, doing a lot of weightlifting just to get stronger, get the joints, get all the muscles in place.

Uh, of course we need to take, uh, uh, big consideration about what we eat. But, um, you Know, it’s um. The um, um ultra marathon is new to me. This is, this will be the second one. I did one in Arizona last March in Antelope Canyon. It was a 50 miler all on sand.

So it was a really tough one.

Oh my gosh.

But before that we did. I did triathlons. And I think that um, most of the um, um, um. My abilities right now are coming from those few years that I did um, Ironman competitions.

Ironman. And you’ve done how many Ironmans?

Six.

Six. Oh my gosh. And for people that maybe aren’t aware what it goes into an ironman triathlon.

One so full ironman is uh, uh, um. 4 kilometers of swim usually in the ocean. And then comes 112 miles or 180 kilometers of um, bike riding. And then comes a marathon.

And then a marathon. Of the three categories, the swim, the bike, the marathon, which is the hardest.

It really depends on you. I mean what you’re good at. Not everybody can.

Easiest would be the swim because I would float on my back. I would just float, let the tide carry me. Maybe with a pina colada perhaps.

Yeah.

What’s hardest for you?

So in the last race that I did in Nice, France, the bike ride was uh, really hot for me. The weather was really bad. It was like over 90 uh, degrees of heat.

Oh wow.

And the elevations were really tough over there. It was over 8,000ft of uh, climbing.

And it was in France.

It was in France.

But the Tour de France, where they go like up these mountains and around.

Yeah, yeah. Same places. Yeah. So it was world championship. So I also had to. I mean I was invited to participate so it was like all the best in the world were there. So it was more challenging for me.

You were invited to the world Championships of Ironman? Yeah.

Last year.

And you competed in that? Yeah. I mean how did you do? I mean I. Listen, it’s an honor to even be invited and compete at that stage. I shouldn’t even ask because it’s not even. Doesn’t even matter I guess, you know. Did you finished?

Of course, of course.

Of course. I mean dead. I’d be dead like on the first leg.

All my family came there. My parents and my brother and sister and their kids came from Israel. My friends from here came, uh, my wife and kids, I have four kids, all came over there. So do you really think I cannot finish? It’s, it’s like it’s not an option.

Yeah.

Ah. What did that feel like? Crossing the finish line?

That probably Was the pinnacle of, uh, my life. All the things you’ve done, all the things.

Building the company twice over, four kids, marrying a wonderful wife. Iron man. The number one.

That specific competition was so hard, and I worked so hard to participate and to get invited. You get invited only if you did another one and your score was good enough in order to be invited. So I actually felt that I worked for two complete years, uh, thousands of hours of practicing and having my family over there, everything squeezed into that moment.

That was the finish line, which was dark, of course. It was already 8pm after almost 13 hours of racing. It was the pinnacle of it was, uh.

That’s amazing, man. Congratulations. That’s inspiring. How do you balance. How do you balance the building a company? You’re incredible at competing at such a high level in sport. You know, having a family of four kids and a wife and being a dad and a husband. How do you do all that?

So if you ask my wife, she said, I’m not balancing.

To the whole family.

Um, so I look at my life that I have really four main pillars, which are, uh, family and not, um, in that order necessarily. Family, friends, work and family. And sport.

Yeah, and sport.

So those are the things that I’m trying to get, uh, um, in a smart way. And I need all these four things to work for me and to be involved in those things in order to live normal life for myself. So I need to do my sport in the morning.

I need to be with my kids in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening, vacations, my wife. Um, work is super important for me. Um, I’m addicted to work. I love this company. I’m in love with that company and that industry, as odd as it sounds, and the sport keep me sane.

So, uh, somehow I found the balance. Sometimes I don’t.

Well, maybe balance is the wrong word. Right position. This, like, do we frame this incorrectly? You know, where it’s got to be balanced? Where it’s like, okay, you know, because balance implies, all right, friends, two hours, families, two hours work, two hours, exercise, two hours. You know, it’s like it.

It doesn’t work that way.

Yeah, you need to find a way. And it’s changing all the time. It’s shifting. Because if you feel that you did too much of one thing, for example, getting prepared to a competition. So after the competition is over, you’re gonna be more with your family, more with your friends, more at work.

So that’s how it’s happening. It’s always there’s something that is more important that is more current, and that’s how I do it. So I believe that, uh, preparing to that ultra marathon, I’m gonna put thousands of hours to get prepared, to get ready. And it will come, uh, from family time, office time, and some friends time.

And I’m gonna make up to them later.

Yeah, man, I’ll make it up later. I’ll make it up later. I’ll make it up later. Daisy saying, Mr. Iron man, so impressed with the dedication and endurance you have, both professionally and personally. Truly inspiring. Daisy. You gonna run a marathon soon, Daisy? Is that what I’m hearing here?

Uh, Max saying, I call it work, life, integration. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I call it make it up later. I’ll make it up to you later. Anthony saying, Ben’s Fashion Games on point. Your Runway material. Um. Thank you. It’s like a plane Runway, perhaps. This is great. All right, let’s play a game.

You want to play a game?

We’re going along here.

We’re gonna play a game.

All right, let’s do it over. Underrated. This game is very straightforward. Do you know the rules of this game? No. Okay. No. There’s two rules. One, I will give you a topic. You will tell me if it is either underrated or overrated. Those are your two answers. You can’t deviate from those, but you can explain yourself.

Two, I will tell you if you are correct. All right, let’s play number one. GHC’s impact on relocation. Is that, uh, underrated or overrated?

That’s a strong one. The weight, the rate positioned right now, the ghc, it’s overrated because it’s hardly touched anything yet.

Yeah. And they move like 80 shipments. They’re all locals.

Yeah. Yeah. So it’s. It’s highly overrated.

Yeah.

But if things will go according to their plans, it will be probably underrated. So, uh, right now.

Right now, you know what I think you make? I think you’re 100% spot on there. One point for Leo. All right, let’s go. Next one up over the underrated independent movers.

Underrated?

Yeah. Why?

Um, I think that being an independent mover is, uh. I mean, it’s so much harder than being belong to, let’s say, a, uh, big organization Van Line franchise that gives you all the guidelines, all the knowledge, uh, maybe some even financial support, uh, you name it. And being like, uh, single mover with no, uh, connection, starting from nothing, taking a huge risk, using your own or your family’s money, uh, is, uh, a big thing.

And not everybody can do it. So definitely underrated.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I think that’s where the innovation comes from. Right. You know, whereas you have a hundred agents that might belong to a Vanline and all basically rely on the van line for marketing and branding and billing and claims and safety and all that stuff. Right.

You know, if you look at, if you take 100 independent movers, they’re going to have 50 different ways to do customer acquisition, they’re going to have 50 different brandings and you’re going to start to see innovation. Right. Like, you know, people doing wild stuff and trying different things. And I just feel like it’s so much more interesting, you know, what the independents are doing and there’s so much more nimble and I just love it.

Right. And more aggressive. They’re out there just turning on over all these rocks and playing with different business models. You see a lot more employee based companies which I think honestly the margins can be better and you can be even more nimble. I’ve creativity also.

You see a lot of character, different characters. I mean, if you’re going to send you one way, you’re going to look that way. That’s how you’re going to look, that’s how your trucks are going to look, that’s how your people are going to look. You have more option for creativity.

I think it’s different kind of people will go to that direction and the other direction.

Yeah. And I think the challenge is getting buyers to understand the beauty and the value in the difference and the differences and the diversity in the independent movie community. Um, because I think large buyers have been conditioned to look for van line affiliation and they see, oh, you’re an agent of this van line, oh, you must be good and therefore I can do business with you.

And oh, you’re an independent mover. I’ve never heard of you, it must be bad. And I think that that is a, I think that’s a fallacy. I think that’s a really dangerous assumption that people jump to. So independent movers have the, um, responsibility and also the opportunity to brand themselves and raise their profile.

And frankly I enjoy working with independent movers because, you know, we get an opportunity to tell that story, you know, so it’s pretty cool. I think independent movers have becoming, are becoming a lot more sophisticated too. I mean, you’re seeing a lot more independent movers that are in the uh, military game, which has kind of gotten people used to dealing with bureaucracy and all the requirements.

You’re seeing them get into the corporate space more, you’re seeing them do a lot more on the O and I commercial space. So I think the sophistication of independent movers, it’s not just local moving anymore. I mean, you have some independent movers of some serious size and scale now.

All right, two points. All right, here we go. Anthony’s, uh, chime in. Leo, I love your philosophy on family, work, sports, and friends. It’s not about perfect balance, but finding what makes you happy. Yeah, Move Happy. Uh, how fitting that your company is called Move Happy. Happiness really is at the heart of it all.

Yeah, for sure. Um, John is saying, uh, balance is the guarantee you’re investing more time in what gives your energy and what gives you energy to everything else you need to do the changes that changes constantly. And. Interesting. Um, all right, two points. Let’s go. Number three. Overrated. Underrated.

Tel Aviv.

Underrated.

Amazing.

For me, it’s. I’m. It’s not overrated. It’s just rated where it is. For me, it’s a wild, wild place.

What’s it like to give us an example?

It’s like, um, Miami and New York combined together on steroids.

Wow.

It’s. It’s 24 7, really. The ocean, the lifestyle, the food, the Emmy of the people. Uh, you have people from. I mean, people that feel. I’m talking about, like, the, uh, LGBT community. Well, I mean, it’s. Everything is free and open. Everything is correct. Everything is right over there.

It’s crazy. I love Tel Aviv. It’s, uh, probably one of my favorite place in the world.

Should I go visit?

100%.

100%. What should I do if I go to Tel Aviv?

Uh.

I love it. All right, all right.

You know what?

I’m going to. I’m going to. I’ve been hearing that a lot. Well, it’s funny for people that have been there. I hear it’s amazing. You got to go. But when you talk to a lot of people have never even been there. It’s not even on their radar, their top 10 things they’re gonna go do.

So I gotta think it’s. I gotta think it’s underrated. Yes, I think it’s underrated. Yeah. I’m checking for Tel Aviv right now. All right, next one up over. Underrated. The Lakers.

That’s. That’s hurting. Overrated. And, uh, the thing that LeBron did with his son is just the Bronny thing.

You don’t like, you know, playing the bronny move, man.

It’s. It’s. It’s horrible. It’s Just a disgrace to them. I mean, you have probably the best player in the history of the game or the second best. Yeah. Uh, um, with an amazing legacy that is still ongoing, getting his son in order to get another new record on the book of records that he already have as the, uh, only player that played with his son.

And his son is not for this league. He’s far away from this league. And I don’t. I hated it, so I don’t know. I didn’t even went to this year. I usually go into many games. This year, I haven’t went to a single game.

You know, I haven’t been watching Bronny this season. I watched him a little bit in the preseason, but do you think some of this is just being a rookie and he’s going to grow out of it and he’s going to get better? Maybe year two? I think he’ll never, uh, be good enough to play.

I don’t think you have what it gets. I mean, I. I wish he’ll surprise me. I don’t think he got it.

Yeah. You know, Lakers are like the Cowboys. I’m a Dallas Cowboys football fan. Right. Everybody says we’re over eight all the time, and frankly, we are because we get so much publicity, and our product is, um, you know, I’d say, you know, above average. Right. And Lakers, you know, it’s like, did they make the playoffs last year?

Not sure if they did. Okay, maybe they did, but it’s like the Lakers. Yeah, man. Like, I mean, the best brand in basketball, you might argue. New York Knicks fans would argue that, but, I mean, at least the Lakers have won more recently.

Anthony, Celtics photography.

That’s exactly. Anthony Ships and Laker Nation in the house. Anthony, what do you think? Overrated. Underrated. Lakers, huh? Uh, uh, I think they’re overrated. Yeah, they are.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Highly overrated.

Sorry.

I wish.

We gotta go to the Laker game, though. I want to check it out. Next time, maybe they can play my Mavs. My Mavs team. That’s an underrated squad right there, Luca. All right, last one up here. Overrated. Underrated. Hawaii.

Underrated.

Underrated.

Well, doubt the best place in the world.

The best place in the world. Why is that?

For me, personally, uh, since my footsteps on Hawaii land and since I started to do business in Hawaii, everything went for the good for me. Only good things came out of Hawaii. I love the weather. Uh, no doubt. The best in the world. But also business. If you’re talking about business, um, is.

It a good business environment? Hawaii.

That’s a hard question if you’re talking about employees. No, it’s pretty tough. Um, the mentality over there is more laid back. Um, you know, they don’t usually like working on Sundays extra hours. Um, and I don’t want to be sound like complaining or anything like it. We have great employees over there.

Over 50 to 60 employees, uh, that we have for years. And I can’t really complain because they’re doing everything. Uh, but it’s not the same like here. I can have like guys from here perform well.

The work ethic in the United States, I mean, is known kind of globally. Right. I mean, we take less vacation than anybody else in the world. It seems like we work more hours than most people. I mean, maybe there’s some countries obviously that exceptions, but you know, their American work ethic is historically been pretty, pretty high here on the continental United States conus.

Right. Um, so, so not, not surprising. I always find this, this, this, this, you know, sorry y’all, um, you know, sorry about. I don’t mean to upset anybody out there, but you know, I always feel like wherever the, like when the weather is really good somewhere, people are a little more chill.

When the weather’s crap, you know, people are just like, well, I’m just going to work again.

You know, maybe they rise and we are wrong.

It might be right.

Yeah, maybe that’s the way we all should be. I’m just used to something else, so I’m a little bit critical about it. But still, for me, Hawaii is the best place in the world.

Wow.

Uh, everything I ever touched in the Hawaii land did good to me. I love going there. We own a condo over there. So we’re visiting a lot. I just came back last week from there. We have a warehouse, we have a company, we have the lifestyle. Uh, I’m a diver.

Three of my girls are diving. Just dove with me in Hawaii. It was an amazing thing. Hawaii is the best place.

It’s your happy place.

Yes. It’s surely a happy place.

Oh, that’s beautiful. That’s wonderful. I’ve never been to Hawaii. Shoot. Yeah. What do I do when I go to Hawaii?

Go to my condo’s place.

It’ll be a good time. I know, I love it. Um, that might be the only place I blend in by the beach, you know, you know, hang out with my friends over there. But, you know, this has been a lot of fun, everybody. Thanks for hanging in there. Hit that like, button.

Um, throw some love in the comments for lior. This has been a really special conversation. You love the transparency of the passion for the business, and thank you. And just being just so open and honest with us and sharing your story has been incredible. I’m, um, loving the move.

Happy vibes I’m getting here in the office. You got a wonderful team here. The camaraderie and the passion and the purpose for the business as a parent. And I think you guys are doing some really special things, and it’s really cool to kind of get to be a part of it.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, everybody, for being here. Uh, tune in next week. We got some cool shows for you. Hope you enjoy the new camera angles, some new graphics we got going on. Shout out to everybody in the comments. You know, Max and Anthony, M and Daisy and Jill and Adrian and Johnna.

And everybody here chiming in over here as well. Been phenomenal. Tia.

What’s up?

Tia, Karen. Thanks, everybody, for getting in here. Hit that, like, button one more time, and we will see y’all, uh, next week. Shout out to Samara also. Great job producing this today. Take care, y’all.