Man with a van also has a good business plan

May 12 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

AN ENTERPRISING graduate has started his own business to fill a niche that he noticed while working in his first job.

Matthew Macloughlin, 22, who graduated from Northumbria University in Newcastle last year, started his ‘man with a van’ business MTM Easymove three months ago.

He initially used his estate and property management degree working at brother Ben’s property management company Steedy Property, where he noticed a gap in the market for smaller scale removals.

He said: “I am doing one or two full house moves a week, but I also do man in a van jobs, eBay deliveries, student removals and single items. I get a lot of work from eBay.

“When I was a student I found it difficult moving. It can be hard unless you have a someone with a van or you are moving back home.”

Matthew, who is based in Riding Mill in Northumberland but will pick up items from across the North East, has a nationwide ‘mini move’ service. He has also linked up with a large removals business in Cheshire called Eurospeed, which specialises in shifting items to continental Europe. He passes on jobs from the North East that are too big for MTM Easymove to handle.

“Say someone from Darras Hall was moving across to Spain, I couldn’t do it but I would give a quote and would contact the European specialists,” he said.

He is now approaching the student summer moving out season and he is confident he will be busy over the coming weeks. He has carried out leaflet drops at halls of residence in Newcastle and around popular student areas in the city. But he added: “Word of mouth really is the best way to advertise the business. It will take time to build up.”

So far, Matthew has no regrets about going it alone. “I wanted to be self-employed and give it a go at being my own boss while I was young. I enjoy the physical side of it and meeting new people every day,” he said.