Twenty-year-old Voyo Popovic, currently the founder and CEO of the company Moving and storing a piece of cakeshe immigrated to the United States from Montenegro and took a job at McDonald’s to make ends meet.
But just a few months later, Popovic was already looking for one other opportunity that will allow him to work longer, have more control and earn extra money. However, he was still improving his English and “didn’t have any specific skills at the time,” so his options, he says, were limited – until a friend and his compatriot told him that moving corporations at all times need extra help.
So Popovic began working as a moving driver in New York. “I immediately fell in love with this job,” says Popovic Entrepreneur. “It was very active and from the perspective of someone moving, you could see all these different lifestyles in New York, which for someone coming from abroad, and I think for anyone, is really fascinating.”
After a 12 months of work, Popovic became a driver and crew commander; he liked to take care of his team and the position in general. But eventually he became “too comfortable” and wanted one other challenge. Therefore, Popovic moved to the company’s sales department. He read books, watched YouTube videos and worked on his English to succeed in the role, which he also enjoyed.
“I liked that I could really give my all. There were no limits.”
“I liked that I could really give my all,” says Popovic. “There were no restrictions. There were no specific hours. It wasn’t an eight-hour shift and that was it. Almost as if you work as much as you need and are responsible for the results. “
Still, after several years in sales, Popovic felt a familiar sense of unease; it’s time to set another goal. By this point, Popovic’s years of experience in the moving industry had given him an inside look at some of its shortcomings. He knew he could do it better. “The industry was very antiquated, from communications to emails, customer service, operations – everything,” Popovic explains. “There was so much to improve. I saw my chance there.”
So in 2018, at the age of 24, Popovic bought one moving truck for $20,000 and began working on creating a brand that will stand out from the competition – in more ways than one. It began with the company and brand name: “Piece of Cake” next to hot pink and purple. The name “was unlike anything else on the market at the time,” Popovic recalled, and the shiny colours made the company’s trucks attract attention “in a line of a hundred trucks.”
Photo: Courtesy of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage
“The satisfaction of every customer has always been the basis of our business.”
Popovic also sought to alter the approach to customer support, fully aware that satisfied customers are the key to word-of-mouth recommendations and recent business. “That’s why every point of contact is well thought out,” says Popovic, “from the customer’s first phone call, through e-mail correspondence, through the day of the move, to further actions after the move. The most important thing has always been the satisfaction of each customer, the basis of our business.”
Piece of Cake also uses data, resembling customer feedback, to enhance its operations and help make decisions. For example, if customers report more broken TVs than usual, Piece of Cake plans further training for crew members. Additionally, the company pays close attention to which ZIP codes are visible to the majority of customers, analyzing why some may have lower numbers so it will possibly eliminate discrepancies.
The revolutionary approach paid off. Today, Piece of Cake is a rapidly growing company headquartered in New York City with hubs in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas. The company performs over 100,000 moves each 12 months in all 50 states and boasts 800 employees and 350 trucks, yet it has made no outside investment.
“Seeing this, we started so modestly, with one truck and a few employees 1718429408 living with and supporting hundreds of people and seeing the brand we sketched in the notebook in every major city in the United States — that’s definitely something that excites me and inspires me to wake up every day and serve the company to the best of my ability,” says Popovic.
Photo: Courtesy of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage
“How do we have enough knowledge to handle the next stage of the company?”
However, Popovic says Piece of Cake’s booming success has not been without its share of challenges, namely finding enough employees to support its expansion and accelerating their growth inside the company as most industry leaders move into management positions from the ground up. “How to speed up the process?” – says Popović. “How do we have enough knowledge to handle the next stage of the company? How can you and I learn and grow to be the best I can be in my role as CEO?”
The key is to offer people with multiple opportunities to learn and gain recent levels of experience, Popovic says, and to provide them those opportunities early on.
“So you don’t have to wait for someone to say, ‘Hey, I’ve been in this situation. I feel stuck. I’m looking for improvement” – explains Popović. “We go up to that person and say, “Hey, you’re doing a really good job.” Why don’t we take on the next challenge? [We’re] constantly pushing people out of their comfort zone and people [are] proving us right.”
Repeatedly stepping out of his comfort zone allowed Popovic to show his dream into reality, and he suggests all aspiring entrepreneurs do the same.
“Think big and don’t limit your dreams, because they are possible if you have a good product and good service,” says Popovic. “If you have some value that you simply provide to consumers, then yes [just] matter of time [before] this will likely be taken away. It will reach the right people and when things get going, it could get really big. So think big. “Dream big.”