Movers Playbook 004 - Marriage, Move and Secret Sauce
EPISODE: How This Married Couple Built a 4-City Moving Company | BustNMoves Success Story
GUEST: Taylor & Marcela Kerbs
Company: Bust and Moves Moving & Storage
Taylor and Marcela didn’t just build a moving company — they nearly broke their marriage doing it. In 2020, when the industry exploded, Bust and Moves had its best year ever while their relationship hit one of its worst. Constant customer complaints, crew issues, and blurred roles turned every problem into a fight.
Instead of letting the business win and the marriage lose, they hit pause, split roles, and even stepped away from the company for a season. When they came back, they did it differently: clear responsibilities, systems that keep fires off their plates, and non-negotiable rhythms at home. The result? Four locations, four kids, and a partnership they now call their “secret sauce.”
KEY LESSONS FOR MOVERS
Lesson 1 — Culture Makes Hard Jobs Bearable
Squatter homes, filthy couches, cat-urine furniture — your crews see the worst of it. At Bust and Moves, the movers turned one disgusting couch into a running joke and fake Facebook Marketplace ad. That moment wasn’t just funny; it showed how humor and camaraderie protect morale when the work is brutal.
Lesson: For owners, this means you don’t just manage jobs; you manage emotional load. A culture where teams can laugh, share stories, and support each other keeps people from burning out on the hardest days.
Lesson 2 — Marriage Before Metrics
2020 was a record year for revenue and a breaking point for Taylor and Marcela. Customer calls versus crew stories turned into “your customers” vs “your guys.” The business was winning, but their marriage was losing. Marcela chose to step out and start a separate, successful business — not because she didn’t care about the company, but because she cared more about the relationship.
Lesson: If the business grows and your marriage dies, you didn’t actually win. There are seasons where one partner must pull back, reset, and return later in a healthier structure.
Lesson 3 — Systems So the Owner Doesn’t Burn
When a crew member no-shows at Bust and Moves, the dispatcher doesn’t call Taylor to panic — they follow a process. Rotations, replacements, and escalation steps are already in place. Taylor only finds out something went sideways if he can’t reach dispatch, not because every problem is dumped at his feet.
Lesson: Owners who are still the first phone call for every emergency haven’t built a real operational system. You need playbooks that allow your leadership to fix problems without you, so you can work on the company and not live inside every crisis.
Lesson 4 — Home Needs SOPs Too
Bust and Moves is systemized, but so is the Curbs’ home. They have a nanny with a simple but clear process: care for the kids and the house so that when Taylor and Marcela walk in, they’re not facing another disaster zone. That stability is what makes it possible to keep building the business without resenting it.
Lesson: If your home is chaos, your business will either slow down or start to feel like the enemy. Treat your household like another vital department: roles, routines, and expectations that keep everyone sane, especially during growth.
Lesson 5 — Date Night as Core Infrastructure
Weekly date night is non-negotiable for them. Sometimes it’s just Walmart, takeout in the car, or watching a movie on their phone. They flirt, decompress, and sometimes talk about the business — other nights, one of them says, “Not tonight,” and that boundary is respected.
Lesson: In a spouse-run moving company, staying connected isn’t “extra.” It’s infrastructure. Those rhythms prevent resentment, keep vision aligned, and make it possible to fight the problems without fighting each other.
Lesson 6 — Sell the Feeling, Not the Truck
Taylor’s elevator pitch is simple: close your eyes, picture your current place filled with stuff, then picture your dream home… and feel how much it sucks to move everything in between. Then he says, “That’s why we’re here. We take the suck out of moving so you can enjoy the best part.”
Lesson: Your best sales line probably won’t be about trucks, pads, or insurance. It’s about removing pain and unlocking the feeling your customer actually wants: relief, excitement, and a fresh start.
ACTION PLAYBOOK
A. Build a “Hard Jobs, Good Stories” Culture
Start a crew group chat or end-of-day huddle where teams can safely share wild stories, laugh, and decompress (without shaming clients). This normalizes hard jobs and makes movers feel seen. The outcome: stronger morale, lower burnout, and crews who are more willing to take on tough assignments without complaining.
B. Redraw Roles When You Work With Your Spouse
Sit down and split responsibilities into clear lanes: sales, operations, hiring, finances, marketing, home logistics, childcare. Decide who owns what and what decisions require both of you. This reduces “your customer vs your guys” friction and lowers daily conflict.
C. Remove Yourself From First-Line Fires
Write a simple no-show and problem-job process for dispatch and crew leads: who they call, what options they try, and when it’s acceptable to escalate to you. Train them, role-play the script, and make it policy. The result: your phone rings less, your leadership grows more, and you regain thinking time.
D. Systemize the House Like a Department
Whether it’s a nanny, partner, older kids, or extended family, define what “home running well” looks like: basic cleaning, meals, bedtime routines, school logistics. Put it in a short checklist and align with whoever helps you. A stable home base gives you more bandwidth to scale the business without constant guilt or mental overload.
E. Make Date Night a Recurring Appointment
Pick one night per week and protect it like a VIP client job. No moves booked, no late-night quoting, no distractions. Use it to connect, laugh, talk about dreams — and sometimes about nothing at all. This builds long-term relational equity that carries you through busy seasons.
CHECKLISTS & MICRO-SYSTEMS
The No-Show Playbook (3 Steps)
- Confirm — Dispatcher calls the missing mover twice and sends one text.
- Replace — Go down the backup list: on-call movers, flex staff, or owner-operators.
- Escalate — Only if options are exhausted does it reach you.
Use this anytime someone doesn’t show. It creates predictable behavior and reduces chaos.
Home Support Checklist
Create a one-page checklist for your home helper or partner: school times, meals, basic cleaning zones, laundry rhythm, and “house ready by” standard (e.g., living room and kitchen reset by 8 p.m.). Use it daily. This keeps your home from becoming an unseen energy drain.
Date Night Rule of Two
Two rules:
- It happens every week.
- Either of you can call a “no business talk” night.
Use this to prevent resentment. It creates safe emotional space while still respecting that, as entrepreneurs, you do love talking about the business sometimes.
Eyes-Closed Elevator Pitch Script
Train your team on a version of Taylor’s pitch:
“Close your eyes. Picture everything in your current place — every box, every piece of furniture. Now picture your dream home. The worst part is getting everything from here to there. That’s what we do. We take the worst part off your plate so you can enjoy the best part.”
Use this at networking events, chamber meetings, and in sales training. It sells the feeling, not just the service.
90-DAY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
This Week
- Write your no-show playbook and walk your dispatcher through it. Schedule one date night and put it in both calendars. Start a crew group chat or end-of-day circle where teams can share one “crazy job moment” and one win.
Next 30 Days
- Map roles between you and your spouse: who owns what, where you collaborate, and what gets delegated. Train dispatch and leads on the new problem-solving expectations and run at least three mock scenarios. Create the home support checklist and align it with whoever supports the household.
Next 90 Days
- Stabilize your new rhythms. You should no longer be the first call on basic fires, your date night should feel natural, and your leadership team should be solving problems before they hit you. Refine your elevator pitch and have your sales reps and lead movers memorize and personalize it. Document what’s working so you can use this as your “Marriage & Moves Playbook” as you grow.
HOW YOU KNOW YOU’RE WINNING
You’ll know this playbook is working when you’re less exhausted by emergencies, your spouse feels like a partner instead of a competitor, and your crews are laughing with each other even on the gross jobs. You’ll notice fewer blow-ups over customer complaints, more proactive solutions from your team, and a home life that feels calmer even as the business grows. Reviews will mention “professional, positive crews” and you’ll feel less guilty about stepping away.
Conclusion
Most movers think scaling is all about more trucks, more leads, and more jobs. Taylor and Marcela show a different truth: real scale happens when you protect the relationship at the center and build systems around it — at work and at home.
You don’t need four locations and four kids to start. You just need one decision: to stop letting the business run your life and start designing the way you and your partner build it together. Take one piece from this playbook — the no-show system, the date night, the home checklist, or the pitch — and implement it this week. The marriages that survive moving season aren’t lucky. They’re operational on purpose.
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