How MTB came to be...
Hello! My name is Chris Jolma, and I'm the founder of this little DC area based moving company, MyTruckBuddy.com. Thanks for visiting! Because you're
probably looking for a guy you can trust, I think it's
fair to tell you a little bit about me.
The creation of MyTruckBuddy.com was a most unexpected development. In the spring of 2007, my wife and I learned of the impending arrival of a little bundle of joy. This was a joyous occasion, but it led to certain complications. For one, my wife was a wine consultant. Part of her job involved testing new vintages every day, sometimes several times per day. (Tough gig, huh?). I was a proposal writer for a small non-profit in Old Town, Alexandria. I had a nice corner office, worked with lots of fun, interesting people, and had a fantastic health care plan.
I was also bored out of my mind.
Anyway, together we made enough to pay the bills, but my wife couldn't continue the wine job with a baby on board. This meant that we had to scramble to find a new source of income. On top of that, we began to realize that we had bought our home in the worst possible market. It's value was plummeting, and we couldn't get rid of the thing. (This is where I give an impolitic hand gesture to all those people who insisted to us real estate newbies that home ownership is an essential part of the American dream, and real estate values in the area can't help but go up, Up, UP!)
I had to think fast -- how was I going to ensure that we could keep our home when it was suddenly worth less than what we owed, provide for my growing family, and maintain the flexibility to be a good (and available) husband and father?
I quickly took inventory of our assets and liabilities. One thing stood out--as a guy with a pickup truck, I was always in demand with my friends to help them with this or that item to be picked up and moved. I was just doing it for pizza and beer, but what if people would pay me for the convenience of having a buddy with a truck?
So, I put an ad on Craigslist just to see what would happen. From that one post, I received more than ten phone calls. That's when it hit me -- in the D.C. metro area, people need a buddy with a truck!
More than a thousand moves later, I now have an official company looking to
expand with more "buddies" with trucks around the country. So far, it's a modest business with
modest income, but I enjoy the work very much, and I enjoy helping people who
don't want (or can't afford) the outrageous expense
of hiring big, professional moving companies. As anyone who's ever used one
knows, they rack up the costs pretty fast. A simple move across town can end up cost
ing thousands of dollars! This is
ridiculous. All you need is a buddy with a truck, with affordable rates, no hidden
fees or deceptive advertising. With me, you get a very fair rate and the absolute assurance that you'll never pay more than you agreed to -- guaranteed.
As it happened, starting MyTruckBuddy.com was providential. In early December 2008, the market meltdown hit the non-profit I was working for very hard. A few of its top donors had lost a lot of their wealth and business, leading to a shortfall of about $2 million for our organization. Hard choices had to be made, and the president announced the first layoffs. I was one of about a dozen people who lost their jobs just a few weeks before Christmas.
Naturally, this was inconvenient, to say the least. However, I was one of the lucky ones because I had MyTruckBuddy.com. And now, my side business is my only business. It's hard to consider this bad luck when I love the work so much!
My wife and I now have a beautiful two-year-old boy -- and another baby boy on the way. We couldn't be happier with our lives together. What started as a potential crisis has turned into pure joy. (Joseph just turned two, btw, but I made a little video highlighting a lot of his "firsts" over his first year. Check out my Pictures page to see it if you'd like.)So, that's where I'm coming from. Thank you once again for visiting my site, and if you're interested in my services, please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. I'll get back to you promptly, and we'll figure out a great price for your move or delivery that everyone's happy with.
All the best,Chris Jolma
President
Truck Bud, LLC