The next business book we're reading ...

We saw a review for this title today and can't wait to read it:

"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change It" (Charles Duhigg)

What especially drew our attention was the mixing of psychology and business perspectives that explain why bad habits persist and how good habits can be formed. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

Lowe's Inman News Service Review

Bloomberg Business Week Review

This review sealed the deal: "For those who truly crave to change their habits, their teams' routines and their lives, this book offers well-founded hope and simple, concrete tools that have been proven to work, over and over again."

One more good one on the shelf .. Next to some perennial favorites from Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino and newer stuff like Jim Collins, Michael Gerber or the Heath Brothers. What's on your bookshelf?

PS - I realize that this post is a little ironic given the last one "Why We're in this Business" ... But actually it fits right in because we see the methods and success stories the author uses for "good examples" as being very much in keeping with how we have been able to achieve our high standards ... It's all habit!

Why we're in this business

An estimate we did this week reminded us of why we're in this business. The client we visited said that his friend booked a mover he was planning to use and while their estimate was $400, when they walked through the door they immediately said "this is going to be closer to $1,000."

Ouch! Needless to say he called and cancelled his reservation with them.

This story reminded me of why I started this business four years ago. Besides the usual reasons to go into business like being your own boss, we began Stronger to do moving the RIGHT way. As industry insiders, we had seen too much of the "ugly" side of this business: bait-and-switch estimates, sloppy work, overbooking, tardiness ...

Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them. — Stephen R. Covey

Rather than dwell on the negative though, we are focused on how positive our crews are on every job. Consistently for the past four years, we have been able to stick to our standards of estimating as fairly and accurately as possible, training crews well, delivering excellent customer service and constantly monitoring quality.

So not that we like to "toot our own horn" but we think this commitment speaks for itself:

• positive customer testimonials
• repeat customers and referrals
• accreditation by the Better Business Bureau

Our hope is that we can set a positive example of movers for everyone we come into contact with and they leave saying "I have heard a lot of nightmare stories, but this move was a dream." At the end of the day, that's what makes it worth it.