My name is Stoil Andreev and I am a mover. In fact, I was born a mover. I help people move their lives for living and I love reaching new places. And, my company, Xpress Movers LLC, is a small business company by virtue of law, small only by virtue of law.
Once Upon a Time…
It all started in February, 2006 when I established Xpress Movers. It was very hard in the beginning and I was counting on no one else but myself. I used to do everything on my own – finding and completing jobs, accounting, and bookkeeping, just about everything. It was tough, but I did not give up. And, by the end of 2006 I had already bought my first 18’ boxed truck. I still remember that feeling. At that time, being young and confident gave me the strength to take the risk. I would do research on trucks for months. Trying to figure out how to afford the truck, I had too many questions and not enough answers. Buying that truck was a huge gamble, but the outcome was more than rewarding.
The Middle Years
In just a few years, Xpress Movers had its own fleet of trucks and a warehouse, and its own office and full time employees. How I managed to do it? I put everything I had into it. Sometimes the road was bumpy, recession was a hard time, but we survived because we were united, we believed and we still believe that overcoming challenges makes us only better.
Over the years I heard terrible stories from our customers – drastic increase in pricing, hidden fees, stolen items, damages to property and furniture, and many more tales of woe. Doing In-House Estimates, sometimes we were dealing with customers’ prejudice and distrust due to their previous bad experience. However, at the end of the day, seeing customers’ happy faces was what motivated me to continue doing my best each time. We listened to our customers not with the only intent to respond, but with the intent to understand their needs, so we could fulfill their requirements. And that paid off. I started getting more and more calls – referrals from satisfied customers.
Learning Responsibility
Having such a big network of happy customers made me realize how far I had gone. It felt great. It also made me realize that I should be more responsible with every decision I would make.
Next, I contacted the Better Business Bureau because I wanted to become a member and be a part of the BBB family of trustworthy businesses. Fulfilling the BBB’s requirements and their Standards for Trust was an overwhelming experience. Xpress Movers started with an A+ rating – the highest rating that BBB could give you. I was really happy. I knew I was going into the right direction.
So, years flew by and I put through, achieving sustainable growth and prosperity. I have always found my work at Xpress Movers exciting and I have always faced up challenges with enthusiasm. In August, 2012 I became a member of the American Moving and Storage Association, and in the beginning of November, 2013 my company was promoted to a ProMover. That was a real long shot for a small business company like mine. Abiding AMSA’s Code of Ethics with every job we would perform was another endeavor my team eagerly anticipated. Attending AMSA conference on March, 2013 was another step forward. Sharing business insights with colleagues, discussing industry’s issues and trends with government officers, meeting interesting key people in our industry has helped many of my achievements during the year so far.
Serving our Community
However, following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rules and regulations to provide safe transportation of our customers’ household goods and being a part of the most credible moving association, trying to do its best to improve standards in the moving industry through innovation and education was not enough for me. I have always wanted to be valuable to the community.
Earlier this year, I discovered a program for people in need – Move for Hunger, a nonprofit organization, and I loved the idea to support their mission and serve my community. The satisfaction of helping someone else out there who is in need, throughout our generous and willing to donate their food customers is incomparable. Becoming missionaries of Move for Hunger and helping fight against hunger is another milestone we are all proud of.
Accomplishing all those credentials and accolades felt rewarding, but what really motivates us to go that extra mile, to be innovative and creative is our aim to meet customer’s requirements each time. Many of our clients are actually referrals. As each customer is different and has unique concerns and demands, we learned that we have to be versatile.
Along with creating a mobile version of our website and a blog section where our customers can find essential information to prepare for the upcoming move, we started communicating with our community through the social networks.
We were honored to serve businesses such as Flemming’s Steak House, Underwriters Laboratories and government agencies like the Embassy of Cape Verde, who trusted us to make our team part of their life.
Receiving so many letters of gratitude and positive feedback is what encourages me and my team to provide outstanding service every single time. Every call is a new challenge! Every difficulty is an opportunity to exceed our limits.
Thank You!
Without our customers and employees my company wouldn’t have achieved that success. I’m grateful every day for the given opportunity to work with them and thank them. At Xpress Movers, we find our work to be challenging, fun, exciting and straightforward. We prosper with every mile we run because we are not afraid to adopt new practices so we can serve our community the best possible way.
