The local entrepreneur who founded Two Maids and a Mop now has sights set on growing his newest endeavor that aims to shake up the local moving industry.
In late 2021, that entrepreneur, Ron Holt, sold Two Maids & A Mop, which he grew from a dream in a 250-square-foot office space to a top residential cleaning brand. The company was sold to Home Franchise Concepts, a division of JM Family Enterprises, for an undisclosed amount. The deal represented a major franchise-related transaction for Birmingham.
"I made the decision to sell the business after recognizing an opportunity to disrupt a similar home services industry: local moving," Holt said. "After selling Two Maids, I spent the next 18 months building Pink Zebra Moving into a business model that could be replicated and scaled across the country. Our local branch served as an incubator of ideas by experimenting with hundreds of customer and employee experience processes."
Pink Zebra Moving is a company that aims to make moving fun for its customers.
"We entertain. We surprise. We create laughter," Holt said. "Basically, we put on a show while loading and unloading heavy stuff. We think moving should be theater, not just a boring transaction between strangers."
Pink Zebra Moving grew rapidly after launching in 2020, and once the local branch reached $100,000 in monthly revenue, Holt began franchising the brand across the country.
The Birmingham territory was recently sold to a local group of entrepreneurs, who previously built a similar home service franchise into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. They took the reins Feb. 2.
But before Pink Zebra Moving became a company that earned nearly $750,000 in revenue in 2021 after being open for nine months, it was an idea born from a bad experience that Holt felt he could improve.
It began when Holt's mother-in-law hired a local moving company.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong," Holt said. "Damaged furniture, scuffed walls, rude comments from the movers and worst of all, the final bill exceeded her original estimate by nearly 300%. It was an awful experience to say the least. So awful that it made me put on my entrepreneurial cap and start reading reviews from other markets across the country. I read hundreds of negative reviews from Seattle to Omaha to Miami. It was the same message time after time. Almost no one enjoyed their experience with a moving company."
Leveraging unique offerings such as delivering a surprise complimentary meal to customers the night before the move, Holt sought out to make moving a more positive experience for customers.
"We had to publish a 400-page operations manual comprised of systems and processes," Holt said. "We've had to hire hungry people who want to help build a disruptive franchise brand. And once all of that was finished, we had to figure out how to sell a new brand to franchise candidates in markets outside of Alabama. We're in six markets right now, with three additional locations set to open this quarter. It's already been a wild ride and we're still in the first inning of the story."
The business ended 2022 with 15 movers on staff and three to four trucks running every day.
"Our local growth was fun to experience, but we also had to begin staffing for our franchise growth too. We needed trainers, business coaches, accountants, customer service people, call center agents and C-level executives to help us build the infrastructure to properly manage the future franchise growth," Holt said.
As for what is next for Holt, he said after living the American Dream and experiencing a "generational exit," he wants his lasting legacy to be Pink Zebra Moving.
"I want to do more than just grow a business," Holt said. "I want to build a national brand that disrupts an entire industry. I want to create a new category of moving companies that is known for delivering a better, more positive customer experience. I believe this kind of disruption takes time, and I'm prepared to see it through as we scale across the nation. We have an opportunity to open more than 300 franchise locations and it'll take us several years to pull off that kind of growth. So I don't believe they'll be a third act for me."
Holt added that Birmingham is a place that offers a young, educated workforce who enjoy big challenges, and that he "wouldn't trade markets with any franchiser."
