Introduction
Karsten Dezario, founder of Kinetic Movers in York, Pennsylvania, has built a powerhouse brand by focusing heavily on internal culture and social media presence. In this episode of Movified Wednesdays, hosts Mark Hirschi and Steven Reed dive into Karsten’s unique approach to recruiting from the recovery scene, leveraging trending Instagram Reels, and navigating the burnout that comes with scaling a business.
Key Takeaways
What You'll Learn:
- Why hiring individuals seeking a second chance can result in the most loyal and dedicated employees.
- The “free extra man” strategy for safely testing new hires on real jobs without risking your customer’s experience.
- How engaging your crew in filming social media content massively boosts company morale.
Why moving company owners must eventually groom “business people” instead of just department experts to avoid leadership burnout.
Table of Contents
- The Power of Trending Content
- Hiring From the Recovery Scene
- The “Free Extra Hand” Training Method
- Transitioning Leaders to Prevent Burnout
- Why Movified Preserves These Industry Stories
The Power of Trending Content
Kinetic Movers recently transformed their digital presence by ditching bland posts in favor of replicating trending Instagram Reels.
By dedicating specific days to shoot 8 to 10 short videos, Karsten turned marketing into a highly anticipated team-building event. The crews actively seek out new trends to recreate, which has significantly boosted internal culture and generated a flood of customer compliments. Giving the team a platform to showcase their personalities ensures they take immense pride in wearing the company logo.
Hiring From the Recovery Scene
Karsten is exceptionally intentional about who represents his brand. Having overcome his own troubled past, he actively recruits individuals from the drugs and alcohol recovery scene.
While this strategy carries risks—such as one instance where a new hire tragically relapsed on opioids inside a customer’s home—Karsten finds that giving people a second chance builds unparalleled loyalty and hunger. To protect his brand standards, Karsten refuses to compromise on attendance or attitude simply to put “warm bodies” on a truck. He relies on his seasoned crew chiefs to hold the newer team members accountable to the company’s high expectations.
The "Free Extra Hand" Training Method
To properly vet new recruits, Kinetic Movers adopted an onboarding strategy learned from fellow owner Chris Sweet.
After going through the core values, the employee handbook, and in-house training videos, a new hire is sent on a live job as an unbilled “free” extra hand. This allows the crew chiefs to evaluate the recruit’s work ethic and attitude without the customer feeling shortchanged if the new mover underperforms. For Karsten, observing a recruit’s energy and coachability during this trial phase is critical, living by the motto: “How you act is just as important as how you pack.”
Transitioning Leaders to Prevent Burnout
Putting massive energy into internal culture often leads to owner burnout.
Steven Reed advised Karsten that the next phase of scaling requires teaching his top leaders to become “business people” rather than just “people people.” When an owner elevates their staff to understand whole-business priorities and the bottom line, it frees the owner to step back and manage the company’s vision without the culture slipping. Furthermore, Karsten heavily utilizes his Virtual Assistant (VA), Lady, from ReadyRolls, to handle payroll, social media management, and SOP organization, which keeps his ideas structured and execution flawless while protecting his time and energy.
Why Movified Preserves These Industry Stories
Movified exists to document the tactical knowledge that standard business resources overlook. Hosted by Mark Hirschi, the show highlights:
- Honest conversations about the realities of addiction recovery, employee relapses, and the mental toll of scaling a moving brand.
- Proven, highly tactical strategies for training new hires using the “free extra man” method and leveraging trending content to boost morale.
Lessons earned through real-world execution, emphasizing that customer etiquette is just as crucial as physical moving skills.
If you want to build a better company culture, you must first start by fixing your own leadership. By recruiting individuals with a hunger to succeed, testing them rigorously on the job, and engaging them in your brand’s marketing, you can build a team that bleeds your company colors. Ultimately, transitioning your top performers into true business leaders is the only way to scale your moving company without sacrificing your sanity or your standards.
