Surviving Recession, Lawsuits, and a Pandemic — with Lisa Holly

In this episode of Struggles, presented by NCBI, Lisa Holly shares her powerful story of resilience through nearly two decades of business ownership. From inheriting her family’s moving company after a sudden loss, to navigating one of the worst recessions since the 1940s, to surviving a three-year lawsuit without employee liability insurance, Lisa’s journey is filled with lessons for every entrepreneur.

You’ll hear:

● The emotional day she took over the business and gave her team a choice to “fight” or walk away
● How a recession forced her to hire a business coach and rethink everything
● The costly mistake of not having Employee Protection Liability (EPLI) insurance—and why she tells every owner to get it
● How diversifying into four divisions, including art handling and medical equipment, kept the business alive during the pandemic
● Why loyalty, adaptability, and preparedness are non-negotiable in business survival

Lisa’s story is a raw, inspiring reminder that tough times can define—or destroy—a business, depending on how you respond.

Struggles Presented by NCBI — where business leaders navigate challenges together.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Struggles and guest Lisa Hawley
• 1:15 The tragic event that put Lisa in charge overnight
• 3:08 Closing out a Chapter 11 bankruptcy from her mother’s ownership
• 4:35 Riding high… then hit by one of the worst recessions in decades
• 6:10 Why hiring a business coach changed everything
• 7:42 The employee lawsuit that cost nearly $100K in legal fees
• 10:05 What EPLI insurance is and why every business owner should have it
• 12:18 The pandemic pivot: four divisions and unexpected survival
• 14:55 Medical equipment moving during COVID-19 kept business flowing
• 16:22 The “fight” meeting: rallying her team to keep going
• 19:10 How team loyalty became the foundation for long-term success
• 21:03 Key lessons: diversification, quick pivots, and preparation
• 23:00 Final thoughts and where to connect with Lisa Holly

Transcript

0:00

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) So we moved forward and everything was wonderful and then all of a sudden there was a recession. The recession probably being one of the worst recessions that we have seen since the 40s and again coming from a person who was not a business owner, who did not have a background in business education. Right. It was a pretty big struggle. In this episode of Struggles presented by NCBI, we sit down with Lisa Hawley to talk about the highs and lows of running a business and the lessons learned along the way. Lisa opens up about the challenges of staying true to your vision while navigating setbacks and the importance of resilience when the unexpected happens. It's a candid look at what it really takes to keep going when the road gets tough. Welcome to another episode of Struggles presented by NCBI, the podcast where we navigate challenges together. Hi, Lisa. Glad to have you here today. I know we've talked in the past about a variety of subjects, but one of the things that matters to you and some of the stuff that you'd like to talk about is some of the adversities that you've overcome, maybe to help other people overcome some of those same ones or avoid them altogether. Could you share a little bit about that with me? Yes, Brian. It is an important subject matter to me. I've always felt that if one person that owns a small business is able to learn something from my story, then I have accomplished, you know, something good. Sure. And that's who I am. I'm always trying to find a way to help people and do things, but it all basically started in 2006. My mother was in a very horrific car accident and she drowned. So instantly my brother and I became the owners of our company. When this happened, I was in my mid-40s and there was no succession plan because no one had dreamed that my mom at 68 years old would, you know, have died. So one of the things that happened at the very beginning was that she had filed a Chapter 11 in 1997. So myself and my general manager, Sally, had to go and close that Chapter 11, which was a great blessing to know that she made it that ten years and we saw the other side. But still it was a really big deal to get something like that done. So we moved forward and everything was wonderful and then all of a sudden there was a recession. The recession probably being one of the worst recessions that we have seen since the 40s and again coming from a person who was not a business owner, who did not have a background in business education, it was a pretty big struggle. But one of the ways that we overcame that was by hiring a business coach. So we had a company called Maximum Value Partners and Adam and Jack and I think it was one of the greatest tools and greatest things that my company did because again, here I was in a recession, no business background. I was a residential estimator. I had no idea. So by working with them, I think that it changed us for the good. So we moved forward until 2013 and we had an employee sue us for hostile work environment. And if you know me, which you do, you would know that that was a very unkind and cruel thing for this one to do. But here's where the lesson comes in. I did not know that my company did not have Epley insurance. Our insurance agent had never informed me that that was an option to purchase because it was a rider, but it's employee protection liability insurance. And what it does is it helps an employer that if they are sued from an employee, that they have a protection of a lawyer and an insurance policy to back them up. We didn't have that. So I try to inform people about that type of insurance all the time so that they are able to protect themselves. If you have even one employee, I say buy the insurance from your insurance agent because we went a three year period of this lawsuit and it was because they'd appeal, we'd appeal, they'd appeal, we'd appeal. We ended up winning if you want to call paying out, you know, $15,000 out of $150,000 if you call that winning. Yeah, and all the lawyer fees on top. That's correct. That's correct. We put out almost $100,000 in attorney fees and it was sad and stressful and I developed diabetes during that three-year stint because I never slept. So it's something that's extremely important to me and one of the main reasons honestly to, you know, develop this video with you. But the third, is that three? But the third thing that also I think that came along, if you will, was the pandemic. Most moving and storage companies move household goods and I feel very fortunate that we were smart enough during the time with the business coaches to develop a second company called Woodley International Art Handler so that we would be a more diverse and it worked because during the pandemic where again a lot of moving companies were going out of business, we ended up, I don't want to say thriving, but I will say surviving. Sure. We still did some residential, we still did some military, but where we blossomed was doing medical equipment because we moved medical equipment every day and during the pandemic we were very busy and even our art, it still was there. Everything took a bit of a lull, right, but then the medical equipment took off. So by the fact that we have four divisions of our company, it was a great, I don't know the word, inspiration, blessing, I don't know. But what it really did for us was show us that we are the unsinkable Molly Brown. Sure. That 64 years of business and the 19 years that my brother and I have owned the company, that we are unstoppable. Most companies would go out after a recession, most companies would go out after a lawsuit or the pandemic. Look at the thousands and thousands of companies that did not go out of business or did go, I'm sorry, out of business. Right. And we did not go out of business. So it's something I'm extremely proud of and again hoping that this video, this audio helps one company learn a lesson and that is be diversified, be willing to change at a dime and for Pete's sake, get Epley insurance so that God forbid if somebody does sue you, you are prepared to fight back, if you will, without it costing you a hundred thousand dollars. Bomb Image appreciates the opportunity to sponsor this podcast. Bomb Image provides brand firepower, precision-targeted brand messaging and visual identities, empowering small teams in the professional services space to attract their most rewarding and profitable customers. We work hand in hand with our client partners, implementing our unique set of processes, focusing on listening, raw objectivity and accountability to help them present a more impactful brand story. Our passion is inspiring clients to create their Bomb Image. Right. I have a comment and another question to wrap things up. My one comment, the diversification I think was huge for you during the pandemic. Obviously, we've been working hand in hand for a while now, but I did see as some of the residential waned early, you still had some of the institutional work and the Woodley work and the artwork that you did. But then as things kind of flipped and then people were able to kind of move again, do those things, that took off as some of, you know, some of there was like a lull in the action when some of the art museums were closed and stuff. And now we're kind of actually just jumping back into that. So I think that that is it's really there's different sides to your business. And that really does help to kind of keep you afloat and not be so seasonal or, I guess, one direction when you're trying to actually do business for people and actually survive, as you said. And the one question I have for you, can you just, I think this was an awesome idea of you talking about these struggles that you're going through. Can you just relive the idea of when you and your brother took over your business and tell me the story about how you told them that, hey, we can just fold up shop if you want. You guys can all get new jobs, you'd help them. But how that went down and what that really was, because I think that also talks a little bit about and speaks to your ability to survive. Thank you, Brian. It was a very emotional, very gut wrenching time. My mom died in November of 2006. And as said, I didn't know what I was doing. So I brought all of the employees into my mother's office and said, look, I don't know where I'm going. I don't know how I'm going to get there. But I am willing to do one of two things. And that is that I can find each and every one of you a job at another moving company within a week. Or I can continue to figure this out and grow the company and, you know, just move forward. And every single, this is so hard, every single person in the room literally stood up chanting, fight, fight, fight. And that is my moment. That is the moment that my hair stood up on my arms and that my mind became wide and curious. Because I decided that if those people were going to follow me into the abyss, then I had the obligation, and I don't know if that's even the right word, but the obligation to take them with me. And I am so blessed to say that 19 years later that I'd say 50 to 60 percent of those people are still working for our company and have changed with us and pivoted with us. It's quite a great group of people and why at 66 I'm still working. Right. Well, that emotional story and again, just showing the loyalty of the people on your team is truly amazing to me. And I think it's a story that needs to be told multiple, multiple times. So thank you, Lisa. You're very welcome, Brian. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Struggles presented by NCBI, where we navigate challenges together. Don't forget to subscribe, listen and share this podcast with others who might benefit. We'd love to hear about the struggles you're facing or have overcome. And we'd be thrilled to have you as a guest on a future episode. Let's continue this journey together.