Start a moving labor service

This step produces a notes page from ten real conversations with people in your city who moved in the last 18 months. It is the demand evidence the whole plan leans on, and the trap is social: people say yes to a nice idea. Every answer is therefore tied to what they actually paid last time, not to how friendly you are.

Find the ten. Start with people you know, then ask each for one referral; add neighbors, colleagues, people at the rental-truck counter, and porches where portable containers sit. Run the interview. Ten 15-minute conversations, phone or in person, with four questions: what the last move cost in total; their own truck or a portable container; what went wrong on move day; and whether they would hire a two-person loading crew that brings no truck — and at what price. Log one row per person. Cost paid, truck or container, what went wrong, yes or no, price they would accept. Tally the verdict. Count the clear yeses and the price each would pay; mark the rows that match a $200 minimum job (that is $100 per hour for the two-person crew, two hours).