Episode 15
Moving Matters with Steve Jordan of The Mover Magazine
February 11th, 2021
54 mins 3 secs
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About this Episode
In this episode, Steve Jordan, Editor of The Mover Magazine, discusses how he began in the industry some 47 years ago with ScotPac as a Shipping Clerk, before leaving 6 months later to form Avalon Overseas with Glyn Thomas & Jimmy Hannah, which they then sold in 1989 to Paul Evans of TransEuro.
We discover that The Movers Trading Club, as mentioned in Episode 13 by Tony Tickner of The Eurogroup, was started in 1989/90 due to ‘bolshy’ Steve’s involvement within the BAR Overseas Group Council and in those days the Freight Negotiation Committee.
We discuss why Steve wanted to get out of the industry in around 1992, to do something different, and started his own copywriting business, from his shed, before expanding to start The Words Workshop with his brother David and becoming the Editor of the BAR’s Removals & Storage Magazine from 2005 to 2011.
We discover that Steve ‘absolutely adored’ being the Editor of R&S, but after a difficult relationship with the then BAR Director General in his final years Steve left and started The Mover Magazine, an independent magazine for the Removals & Storage industry.
We discuss the reasons why Steve made the transition of The Mover Magazine from hard copy to digital and discover they have an app too!
We discover that social media has had a huge difference on the PR side of Steve’s business and Steve provides some tips for our business owner listeners and discuss just how easy it is to get your story published in The Mover Magazine.
We discuss some of the challenges Steve has faced, several being ‘jumping off the cliff in the dark’ ones, like starting his own business with no money, leaving R&S to start The Mover Magazine, and one very surprising one, an arson attack on the warehouse at Avalon Overseas in 1982 that very nearly destroyed the company.
We discover that Steve’s high point is clearly starting The Mover Magazine.
We discuss that Steve would make two changes in the moving industry, the fixation on price and length of service within the industry, where Steve does not think the industry cherishes the youth of the industry in the way that it should do.
We discover that Steve’s advice, to everybody, is to be an exceptional employee, by doing the following three things; turn up time, smile, and do your absolute best every day. And his advice to a young Steve would be to take a public speaking course and to stand on a stage at every opportunity and tell people how you feel about things.
We discuss where Steve sees himself and the moving industry in five years’ time, and while there are currently no succession plans for The Mover Magazine Steve would like to still be Editor at that time. As for the moving industry Steve believes it needs to become very flexible, more efficient, use technology far more than it does now, and that people will have to think more laterally, pushing the boundaries of possibilities.
We discover that outside of the industry Steve is a butterfly person - someone that does a lot of things, but not very well! Steve plays guitar and sings, enjoys walking with his dog, running, cycling and playing table tennis, where in his youth he had a trial to play for England!
And as always we end Moving Matters with a funny moving story regarding a survey with the Smellies!
Enjoy!
Links to The Mover Magazine: