Smooth Move People, now Portland’s most reliable and affordable moving company, all started with one guy on a strawberry farm. His name is Greg. We’ll let him tell the rest of the story:

I started off as a musician, playing about six nights a week in bars and clubs all around the West Coast. I loved the music, but I was over the late hours. And the smoky bars.

I’d decided to move to my sister’s strawberry farm in Sandy, OR. I didn’t have much to my name, I was still pretty young, but I did have a truck (it was the one the band used to move our equipment).

I’d thought about doing deliveries, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to be doing. I started scanning the nickel ads (this was back in the 80s, mind you), and saw someone asking for a mover. I gave him a call and introduced myself, told him about myself and, most importantly, that I’d never moved someone before.

“That’s fine!” he said. “When can you get here?”

When I showed up, it turned out the first person I moved…was this man’s mother.

Fortunately it all worked out okay. Actually it was better than okay, it was great. I started to get more business. People liked me – I had a good personality, I was efficient and I was professional. I’d always get compliments from the people I moved, so I kept doing it.

Over the next few years I kept buying trucks and working with more people. Eventually, I’d decided to buy a building and open up a moving company.

Turns out that was the smartest decision I ever made.