If you know anything about Square Cow Moovers, you might have heard that we are moovers with manners and family-owned. There are three Square Cow Moovers owners: Wayne Lombard, Derek Mills and Wade Lombard. You have probably heard from Wade before, but what about the other two owners? Today we take you behind the scenes with an interview by owner Derek Mills!
What did you do before starting Square Cow Moovers with Wade and Wayne?
DM: I have an accounting degree and did public accounting for a couple of years before deciding cubicle life wasn’t for me.
When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up?
DM: I’ve always wanted to own a business, but would’ve loved to have been talented enough to play baseball too.
What are your responsibilities as one the three business owners of Square Cow?
DM: I oversee anything related to Operations – trucks, equipment, our team, etc.
How did the three of you decide who would take on what role in the company?
DM: We must’ve drawn straws because I definitely got the short one! Actually, I love working with people and managing people. We discussed our roles, but for the most part it was obvious what the best fit for each of us would be.
What do you admire most about the other owners, Wayne and Wade?
DM: Wayne keeps us grounded. He always helps us make good financial decisions and has the discipline to keep us from over-extending ourselves. Wade is such a great communicator. He’s great at communicating Square Cow’s message to our team and our clients.
What is the best part about being in business with your family?
DM: We have the same values. It really helped us establish a set of values at Square Cow that keeps us unique.
What are some of the challenges of owning a company with your family?
DM: The sheer amount of time we spend together, and the temptation is always there to talk shop when we are at family gatherings.
What is a day in your life like? Can you describe it?
DM: What I love about this business is that everyday can be so different. There’s not a lot of structure around what I do, but I will say that I’m on the phone a lot! I spend a lot of time talking through issues with our manager’s, coaching and encouraging them, and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. I love talking with our team.
What motivates you?
DM: Making people happy.
When are you happiest?
DM: When I see that what we do makes a positive impact on people.
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
DM: For as long as I remember, I’ve always wanted to own a business. I can’t really attribute where I am now to one person inspiring me to get here, but throughout my life, I’ve really spent a lot of time praying that God would point me in the right direction and order my steps.
What is the funniest movie you have ever seen?
DM: I’ve always loved Elf.
What is the best book you have ever read?
DM: For our business, I would have to say Good to Great by Jim Collins.
What was the best piece of advice you ever got? The worst?
DM: My grandfather only gave me one piece of advice for our business, and I call it the best and worst advice I’ve gotten. After Square Cow started growing, I would still travel home to Georgia and see him occasionally. Every single time he would tell me “you don’t want to grow too big.” He was always so scared that we would grow too large, but growing the business is what is so fun. We love growing and expanding, but we still value the advantages of being a small business. So, as we’ve grown our locations and our herd (trucks), we’ve always focused on staying small. Even though we are approaching completing 10,000 moves per year, every single client is important to us, and we work hard to never lose sight of that. So, as wrong as my young, ambitious self wanted my grandfather to be, he was actually very right.
To what do you most attribute your success?
DM: Prayer and undeserved favor from God!
Original Source: https://squarecowmovers.com/behind-scenes-derek-mills/