Why did I decide to found The College Moving Company (now called Lift It https://liftitmovingco.com/)? When I was asked to write on the topic, I had to ponder the question as many days have come and gone since. In search for how I could possibly summarize this into anything less than a novel presents quite the challenge, but here is my most noble attempt.
How We Were Born
The College Moving Company was founded on one premise: There are a ton of people that need to move and even more that hate doing it. In my opinion, I just saw an opportunity. Having been blessed with a very acute eye for doing so, I chose to seize it. What I perceived was an industry that was outdated, inconsistent, unglamorous and all but forgotten. Where I once previously held this notion that entrepreneurs were all about coming up with only the BIGGEST of ideas now amazes me to find how time and again I give the same advice to younger entrepreneurs to simply find a NEED and fill it. If you make it that simple, you are already on the right track. Fundamentally, even Google is a very basic idea that just so happens to fill a monstrosity of a need for almost every last human being on this planet.
Roll Up Your Sleeves
What you will find is so much of what makes up our “why” is only defined once you roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Consider it this way, it’s Iike asking someone what they enjoy about something they have never done. Maybe they could tell you it’s appealing but the specifics and emotions are deeply embedded in the experience of actually doing it. What I found was that I had a passion for many things I would have never previously known prior to jumping in and starting my business. So much in life is unexpected and unpredictable, yet it seems we all try to define our own destinies and want to have an answer for every last twist and turn along the way. Ask yourself how boring would it be if we could just sit down, take a 10 minute water break and draw up the course of the rest of our existence? We become the honorable/noteworthy men and women we strive to be by how we respond to life, it’s times of adversity, the impact we make on others and overcoming challenges, not by how well we had control over every minute detail. What you find may not be what you initially thought or intended but can define who you ultimately become.
Business and Faith
In it’s simplest form, my dream was to follow God’s will, creating something of my own and having the freedom to do things in a way that I deemed best suited for whatever the situation. I remember asking myself what would happen if I just listened to my Creator and what He had in store for me and disregarded everything else? What if I set aside what people thought, the money required to start a business, how long it would take, how I would become an effective leader and just listened to the God of the Universe?
Fear and Courage and the Future
Now, I obviously have my fears that ultimately and unfortunately prevail at times and I cannot honestly sit here and tell you that I ALWAYS had or have that kind of clear perspective but I sincerely believe it is why I continued on and did not wind up like most startup businesses that are here and gone by tomorrow. It takes a different kind of crazy courage to believe in something when everyone and everything in the world is pointing elsewhere. For it is not how OR why we start but how AND why we finish that is most important.
So here is my dream for the Wish Dish and to all followers of this platform … listen to your heart and soul, ignoring the semantics and the noise. If your life is defined by the decisions that you make, let them be bold. Take advantage of the opportunity presented by this wonderful country we live in that allows us to be whatever we want to be and choose to be great. You, and only you, are all that stands in your own way. God bless and keep dreaming…
Chris M Harris
President/CEO
