In 2009, an entrepreneur invested $10,000 in a moving business; 13 years later, it generated $26 million in revenue

Brian Slater did not begin with a business plan, a large loan or years of experience in the moving industry. He began with $10,000 and a used truck. Thirteen years later, his company, New City Moving, had 375 employees, 130 trucks and about $26 million in revenue. The path between those two points was built slowly, one move and one customer at a time.

Slater’s first encounter with the industry came almost by accident. After leaving high school, he answered a Chicago newspaper advertisement for a moving sales job because the promise of unlimited earnings caught his attention. He knew little about moving when he started. Within a few years, though, he had learned enough about sales to start a call center that sold moving jobs for other companies.

Why did Slater decide to build the whole moving operation himself?

By his mid-20s, Slater had become frustrated with how moving estimates were handled. He felt customers were sometimes getting inconsistent prices and that the sales process did not give him enough control over the final experience. Instead of continuing to sell jobs for other movers, he decided to own the operation from start to finish.


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The money was limited. Slater took $10,000 from his savings and spent half of it on a truck. He used the remaining $5,000 for rent and the first week of payroll. The truck itself came from a business owner who needed money for a hip replacement. Slater had less money than the truck was worth, but the seller agreed to the deal.

New City Moving started in August 2009. The early days were not polished. On the company’s first move, the crew backed into a garage and knocked out part of its brickwork. Slater also avoided heavy borrowing, using money from existing trucks to help finance additional ones. It was slower than using bank or SBA financing, but it kept the company’s growth tied closely to its own cash flow.

What did Slater understand about customers that competitors missed?

New City initially handled many moves for college students at DePaul and Northwestern. Slater did not see those customers as one-time jobs. He saw a longer relationship. A student moving into an apartment could later need help moving after college, getting married or moving into a larger home.

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That idea influenced how the company presented itself. Slater paid attention to details that might look minor from outside, including uniforms and how crews appeared when they arrived at a customer's home.

Why did relationships become part of New City’s growth strategy?

Slater applied the same long-term thinking to vendors. He would compare prices, but he did not believe the cheapest supplier was always the best business decision. A vendor who could answer the phone and solve an urgent problem had value that was difficult to capture on a spreadsheet.

Leadership changed as the company became larger. Slater spent roughly a decade working deep inside the operation before realizing he needed to focus more on the business itself. His CFO challenged him to stop spending time on small decisions and concentrate on the larger direction of the company.

Profit-sharing helped with that shift. Key managers received a stake in the company’s performance, giving them a reason to think about costs and decisions beyond their own departments. For Slater, the first truck created the opportunity. Understanding the business kept it moving.