Female entrepreneurs call on Dude
THE STORY
Two dynamic and talented women — Aimee Jett and Torrey Monnich — started a redecorating and staging company called Alchemy Interiors in 2015. Based in Santa Barbara, California, the company was an immediate hit due to the founders’ talents in staging homes, as well as its relationships with key real estate agents in the marketplace who routinely praised their work.
But starting a business — even a successful one — is not without its share of trials and tribulations. One of the pesky pain points? Getting sample pieces from the company’s warehouse to homes the women were redecorating. According to Monnich, she and her partner “could not depend on traditional moving companies for punctuality, for consistent professional presence in front of clients, or for helping them do anything “extra” but drop off the furniture.”
That all changed when Alchemy Interiors discovered Dude, I Need A Truck (Dude), an on-call moving service that’s setting a new standard for the industry. Often called the “Uber of moving,” Dude accommodates micro moves that can be arranged by mobile and is designed to be faster, more flexible, and friendly.
THE CHALLENGE
Alchemy Interiors’ complaints about service providers echoed a common refrain the Dude team has heard more than a few times.
“One of our pain points,” Jett explained, was that moving companies the partners had utilized prior to Dude were “somewhat inflexible with their scheduling.” But that wasn’t the worst of it. The women also did not feel comfortable with the movers arriving at a client’s home without the Alchemy team present. Why? It was, said Jett, a matter of professionalism, agreeableness, and a willingness to be helpful instead of just “dropping things off as quickly as possible and moving on.”
THE SOLUTION
Now that Alchemy Interiors has signed on with Dude, the women feel “we have more of a partnership, and we trust the Dudes to represent us in the best light to our customers and home owners.”
“Dude met our needs, so that we could begin to expand our business,” explained Torrey. “After we partnered with Dude, the delivery people became an extension of Alchemy Interiors and they serve us well. We have increased our revenue as well as our ability to scale.”
Both interior designers praise Dude’s dependability and trustworthiness, as well as the ease of using Dude — accomplished with a simple click on the Dude App (now available on both iOS and Android).
“The Dudes have ‘gone beyond call of duty’ by helping us move furniture around, come up with solutions when needed to fit furniture through doors and passageways, and make sure all of our needs are taken care of before leaving the job site,” the successful duo tells us. “And they’re polite and genuine — which is the tone we want for our business.”
THE RESULT
What happens when one up-and-coming company meets another? Mutual success, it appears.
The entrepreneurial women weren’t content to settle for anything but first rate service. Their Google searches for delivery drivers led them to Dude. Now they have instant access to Dude, I Need a Truck, which is growing in popularity due to the fact that the average U.S. consumer needs to conduct a micro-move about two times a year — whether to move to a new apartment, arrange delivery of a new appliance, or haul belongings to a storage facility. Easier and cheaper than U-Haul or other services, DUDE is becoming the go-to solution for people and businesses who want something easier, quicker, more affordable, and infinitely more customer service oriented.
Today, Alchemy Interiors uses Dude regularly — often several times a week. And the women’s business is growing and thriving.
For Aimee and Torrey, a key to the success of their company is not only their extraordinary talent as interior decorators, but also having reliable and trustworthy partners to help navigate everything from critical deliveries to the issues with sometimes emotional home owners who are selling their homes. They now know the Dude’s in the Santa Barbara area, what kind of trucks they own, and they use Dude for both efficiency and professionalism.
For more information: Dude I Need a Truck is a mobile focused service and app for iOS and Android that offers reliable local movers for short hauls on an on-call basis. Dude currently serves communities in California, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, Camarillo, Goleta, Isla Vista, and Carpinteria.
