How $3,500 on Facebook Marketplace Turned into $25k/Month

Hey there entrepreneurs,

Welcome to the Better Business Brief, where I share takeaways from:

running a business I’m building to sell for millions
my consulting with business owners building to sell for millions
tips and tricks you can use to do the same

Recently I chatted with Sean Phinn, founder of Dolphin Moving, who turned a single $3,500 truck he bought on Facebook Marketplace into a rapidly growing moving and junk removal company.

Sean’s story is the perfect reminder that resourcefulness beats resources - and that hustle, leverage, and a few smart systems can turn a shoestring operation into a cash flowing business very quickly...

So today, in less than 5 minutes, I’ll give you:

📦 The Dolphin Moving business model, broken down

📈 Sean’s playbook for acquiring customers & building a team

🧠 Why this model is repeatable for almost anyone

How’d this get started?

Sean launched Dolphin Moving with one beat-up truck he bought off Facebook Marketplace for $3,500. It leaked oil. It made weird noises. It was not the kind of truck that inspires confidence. But even with that one truck, he was bringing in over $15,000 a month very quickly.

I knew I had to talk to this guy because he was clearly scrappy and a very savvy entrepreneur.

Now, fast-forward less than a year, and he’s crossed $50,000/month in busy seasons and consistently averaging over $25k/month — and he’s just getting started.

I learned a lot from interviewing Sean about this come up…

📦 The Business Model, Broken Down

At its core, Dolphin Moving is a full-service relocation business: local moves, packing/unpacking, junk removal, and even cleaning services soon. Think Two Men and a Truck or College Hunks, but built from scratch with hustle instead of a franchise fee.

The business has grown from there. He adds trucks as revenue allows, and he's smart about what he buys: vehicles that are easy to work on, reliable, and cheap to maintain.

He doesn't overcomplicate it. He just keeps reinvesting into what works.

He focuses on resourcefulness instead of just having lots of resources, and squeezes as much value out of as little as he can.

📈 The Playbook for Getting Customers & Building a Team

Sean started by tapping into his real estate network — just told everyone he was launching a moving company and started taking on jobs. First clients came from a realtor friend, and referrals snowballed from there.

Now, he runs Google Ads (self-taught from YouTube), spends about $1,000/month, and books 30–40 moves a month from it. He's also built partnerships with apartment complexes, storage units, and leasing offices - and he sends them a cut for every referral. Classic “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” setup.

On the team side, he didn’t post a single hiring ad. Just pulled from his personal network - gym buddies, classmates, friends of friends. If someone shows up, works hard, and gets it, they stay.

And I like how he runs ops: the person driving the truck is the crew lead. Sean keeps things organized in Slack, gives them the schedule, the contact info, and trusts them to execute.

🧠 Why This Model is So Repeatable

The reason this stood out to me is because anyone with a bit of hustle and $5K could run this same play.

Sean’s advice? Start small. Be real with yourself about what you’ve got. Use the cash to get a beat-up truck and whatever equipment you can find on Marketplace. Do good work. Reinvest the profits. Keep stacking.

This isn’t some hyper-scalable tech startup. This is a brick-by-brick business that prints cash if you’re willing to show up, solve problems, and talk to people.

It’s a simple model. And that’s what makes it so powerful.

This talk with Sean was just a really good reminder that the playbook doesn’t have to be fancy.

Know your people
Start with what you’ve got
Sell your services before you even finish branding
Reinvest your profits
And when in doubt, keep it simple and keep moving

If you’re in the early stages of a service-based business, or you're advising someone who is - this is the kind of model that works.

Sean’s aiming to hit $100K/month soon and eventually expand across the country. I know he’ll get there, because he’s doing all the unsexy things right.

If you want to see the full interview with Sean, I released it as a YouTube video and it’s kinda crushing because Sean’s story is just so great. Watch it here.