Waiheke Movers on switching to smartphone payments

Joanne Paul couldn’t believe her luck when she heard a furniture-moving business on Waiheke Island was on the block.

“I had been wanting to set up a moving business on the island, and although I knew it was a long shot, I asked the owners of Waiheke Movers if it was for sale. In fact, they were due to put an ad in the local paper in two days,” says Joanne.

She knew that Waiheke Movers would be a great fit for her existing company, 1081 Labour Hire and Cleaners. She seized the opportunity, made an offer and ended up pipping four hopeful buyers at the post.

Joanne’s predictions were right. Just one year after buying the business – and with support from ANZ – Waiheke Movers was already flourishing. Its fleet has since grown from one truck, to two transit vans and three trucks, with a daily freight service added to and from Auckland. The company often provides freight services to customers moving to the island, as well as labour hire and cleaning services.

Joanne attributes her growth to never saying no to any job, employing good staff and cutting down on admin costs with tools such as ANZ FastPay—.

“I was able to draw on the existing labour pool from 1081 Labour Hire and Cleaners, so accepted every job that came along. I have been able to do two jobs a day when the demand is there.”

Before buying Waiheke Movers, a client had told Joanne about ANZ’s mobile payment app ANZ FastPay, that lets businesses like Joanne’s receive credit and debit card payments through a smartphone.

“I bought the business on a Friday and the following Monday walked into ANZ to sign up – because they had FastPay.” 

Moving can be a stressful time in people’s lives and customers are pleased when they find out that they can pay quickly and easily rather than having to faff with invoices, online transfers or cash, says Joanne.

"It hardly takes any time at all. Just like paying by EFTPOS at the supermarket, but better."

According to Joanne, ANZ FastPay has clear advantages from a business perspective. 

Having ANZ FastPay shows Joanne’s customers that even though Waiheke Movers is a small business, it’s professional and ‘up with the play’ in terms of technology to make the moving process as simple as possible. Fewer admin costs are a huge bonus, as is not having to chase invoices. 

“The payment details are quickly popped on to my smartphone and I punch in the customer's email address so they receive a receipt.”

As a resident of Waiheke Island for 26 years, Joanne knows a lot of people. She has used existing relationships to stabilise the business and developed new relationships with local retail outlets to grow.

Still, like any fledgling business, it hasn’t been without its challenges. 

“I learnt the hard way that I must always take a security deposit.”

On the flipside, she gets to meet lovely people, who are happy about starting a new chapter in their lives, she says.

Joanne’s medium-term goal is to grow the business and adopt an owner-operator model. “It would give me a great sense of achievement if I was instrumental in helping our great guys into a business of their own.

“As a Māori woman, providing young people with opportunities to grow, and look after their families, is part of my culture. There are three types of people in this world – people who make things happen, people who watch what happens and people who wonder what happens. I encourage all of our team to make things happen, for themselves and their families first.”