We recently connected with Beth Rohani and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Beth, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My life’s journey begins with my parents. As a first-generation Iranian American, my parents made the ultimate sacrifice to leave Iran in 1984 to give me the opportunity for freedom and independence. I was seven years old and in Iran it was the peak of the Islamic regime. I remember, where, one day in first grade, I came home with a note explaining a new law which was in place enforcing all female students to have to wear a hijab to school everyday.
They left everything. Their home, family, and business and started life over in a foreign world where they worked effortlessly to build our family back up again from nothing. My mother started by working at an ice cream parlor, and my dad bought a laundromat and, over the years, grew to become successful entrepreneurs. The mindset and strong work ethic my parents exposed me to impacted me and my journey into becoming the individualistic, self willed woman entrepreneur I am today.
Growing up, I was always a leader and had a natural ability to connect with people by building relationships and common bonds. My mother was a huge role model for me throughout my life as such a strong-willed and determined woman. Anything she ever put her mind to she achieved and let me to always feel and be equally empowered. Culturally, I was brought up in a structured Iranian home where my parents never let me do things like be a cheerleader or very often go to sleepovers. However, it pushed me towards things that were creative in nature, and growing up, was influenced by my father’s artistic abilities and his passion for creativity.
My first job was when I was 15 and a half years old as a lifeguard at the local waterpark, and I have not stopped working since the day I started. Throughout high school, I was in retail, excelled in sales & negotiations and found that I could always influence and connect with people and found myself in leadership roles.
After high school, I decided to go to college to study journalism. I earned an internship at KDFW-Fox 4 and began learning the inner workings of the media industry. During that time, I was selected as Miss Arlington USA, where I went to compete in the Miss Texas USA Pageant in 1998. When I was chosen as Miss Arlington USA, I was unsure how my parents would react, and I found they were surprisingly proud and supportive. The support of my parents allowed me to gain the confidence to fully explore this opportunity which led me to win the Miss Congeniality title. This recognition was so meaningful — more meaningful than being crowned the winner because my peers were the ones who voted which helped me identify my strengths as a leader and influencer.
Throughout my mother’s career, she became a Registered Pediatric Nurse and in the year 2000 she decided she wanted a career change and became an entrepreneur. She started a moving company with the help of her brother and named it Ameritex Apt. Movers servicing the Dallas, Fort Worth and metroplex areas.
That same year, I moved to Houston to continue my journalism journey. I enrolled at the University of Houston and wanted a job which would enhance my skills in becoming a journalist. I had not earned my degree yet, but I had tenacity and wanted growth. During my internship, I demonstrated personal and professional qualities and traits, which helped me land my first media related job as an assignments editor at KRIV-FOX 26, simply by a referral. I learned early on from my parents that it was important to build solid relationships and a good reputation because ultimately those characteristics are recognized. This experience in my life also taught me the power of networking and the importance of building strategic partnerships. This is developed when others learn your character, and as a result, trust you, which helped me define my core values at a young age and positioned me well for success in the future.
In 2001, Ameritex Movers in Houston was started as a means to earn extra money for books and tuition while I was going to college at U of H. I opened the company with my ex-business partner, now my ex-husband. I served as the company’s brand ambassador, given my previous experience in networking and relationship building, and soon began the strategic development of our partnerships and created awareness of our brand. Additionally, I developed the company’s policies, procedures, and practices. Because I am a system and process-driven person, these skills allowed me to teach myself so I could grow the company based on my willingness, experiences, strategies, rationale, and logic.
Now, with over 20 years of entrepreneurship, life lessons and experiences, I see many of the things my parents did right and the ways it impacted my life and career. They have always been a support system and the pillars of my work ethic and the foundation of my core values.
Beth, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As you now know, I have owned a moving company named Ameritex Movers in Houston, Texas, since 2001. My mom owns the DFW location and started her moving company a year before I did. Ameritex Movers is a full-service moving company where we pack, move and relocate furniture and boxes from homes, offices, apartments, and storages.
Moving is rated as one of the top most stressful things people have to go through in their lifetime, and we wholeheartedly believe, communication is the Key to Stress-Free. Just as long as we are willing to communicate, listen effectively, hear and understand with an open mind, and then be able to communicate honestly. This mindset allows my company to stand out in an industry that has a poor reputation for building trust and communicating transparently. This then helps create accountability which makes us a leader in our industry and one of our company’s core values. This not only means accountability to others but also holding ourselves accountable s to overcome challenges, fulfill our commitments and goals and seek new opportunities.
We have also trademarked our motto to literally “think outside the box.” This became a mindset somewhere around 2009 when I had our company participate in an education conference expo. Given my father’s creative and artistic traits, I needed a way to gain my audience’s attention in a unique way that was cost-effective yet still expressive of my business and what we had to offer. The goal was always to do things that made us stand out. The first year we created the booth using packing and moving paper and hired a mime to be inside a box trying to get out to signify the “Think Outside the Box” theme..
Throughout the years that followed, we became known for our creativity using packing materials.
I went on to design Cardboard Couture, a line of skirts and accessories made of cardboard. We have created the Houston city skyline, Discovery Green, and a NASA space shuttle. Additionally, we have created the Game of Thrones dragon and the King’s chair, all made out of cardboard and packing materials.
This type of creativity not only allowed me to use the resources that already existed in my warehouse but also allowed us to express our ingenuity in a way that attracted positive attention to my company. These items will be exhibited throughout Spring and Summer 2023 in the Children’s Museum Houston where it proves the impact of building trusting relationships and strategic partnerships.
Our moving company strives to create a mindset of integrity, accountability, and resiliency. We cultivate a culture grounded in leadership and communication while also embracing the beauty and simple things that come with a sense of gratitude, self-love, and compassion. Our vision is to be willing to help others and know that it will create a better world for everyone involved, as we’re all humans helping humans. In doing so, we will bring out the best in those we serve and form meaningful relationships along the way.
Personally and professionally, I am entering into a new chapter of my life. As of August 2022, Ameritex Movers Houston is 100% woman-owned. The future is exciting as I’m proud to have the opportunity to be independent of my decision and execute the company into the next stages of growth for its team members, the brand with a continued path of our mission to create a stress-free moving experience.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Throughout my career, I have learned the importance of building relationships and to never take them for granted. Remember, I did not seek a business degree, nor did someone give me a business where it was already set up and had all the fundamentals of a company that was already operating. I had no idea how to run a business, but I had the willingness and the drive to learn. I quickly discovered that if I surrounded myself with more knowledgeable individuals, I could use their experience to strengthen my capabilities.
In 2005, my company was impacted by a competitor who copied our marketing model. Back then, there was no Google AdWords or PPC, and the primary source of advertising was the Yellow Pages. Most companies advertised in the Yellow Pages, but because we couldn’t afford it as a small business, we decided to strategically name ourselves Ameritex so we would fall in the front of the movers’ listings. We also established a referral program where we paid fees to agents who referred us to others.
Overnight, the competitor went to all our agents, offered better incentives, and swayed their referrals. This tactic negatively impacted trends that I could identify as not usual. When I figured out what was happening, I did some research and had to begin thinking of an alternate strategy to offset this “attack.”
My mindset in business has always been twofold. One has been to be like a horse with blinders on — there will always be distractions to the left and the right. Staying focused and on track is essential. The second, it to let the haters be your motivators.
This quickly motivated me to identify that the individual “agents” I was initially targeting as my audience were at the lowest decision-making point. I decided to build myself and my reputation among the key decision-makers instead. In 2007, I became an active member in the trade organization relevant to the industry I was targeting and started to shake hands with the senior executives, regional supervisors and marketing directors in my target market.
As a result, in 2009, I was asked to serve on the board of the Houston Apartment Association, the largest apartment trade organization in the nation. During my time on the board, I was positively influenced by many colleagues I now call friends. They helped improve my leadership skills, taught me some of my life’s greatest lessons, and supported my business’s growth. The experiences serving on the Houston Apartment Association board positioned me well to serve on the board of the International Management District from 2017 to 2019.
These experiences in life, enveloped me to have a strategic mindset with the fortitude to embrace the opportunities presented in life to help elevate myself personally and professionally.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Building trust in my target audience was one of my most significant challenges. The moving industry as a whole needs a better reputation. To overcome this, I had to build confidence in the sectors I was targeting and my audience about who I am and my company’s services.
I have learned that creating positive brand awareness is essential to success in both personal and professional contexts. It involves cultivating a reputation of trust, accountability, positive experience, value, and results. This helps to increase one’s confidence in their abilities and leadership skills. Moreover, by creating positive brand awareness around your reputation, others will begin to recognize you as an expert in your field. Building a reputation of excellence gives you a distinct edge in any endeavor — personal or professional — that you undertake. It reinforces the idea that your reputation is vital for success and builds trust with those who come into contact with it. Finally, creating strong brand awareness is critical for showing the world what kind of person or professional you are.
As a person who has been a leader of my company, your character is a critical component of your brand, personally and professionally. Your reputation is something that stays with you. It is also essential to lead by example. Intentionally surrounding yourself with anyone who knows any sort, where you can gain from their insight and see, hear and learn other perspectives, is always a positive thing. You don’t always have to agree, but you can analyze the point of view for yourself and determine whether or not you want to make it applicable to improve and grow.
It is important to me to maintain commitments and give to them as much as I can. Partnerships, in any form, are a compromise. I faced struggles with my ex-business partner regarding my activism, involvement, and commitment to the time I spent forming alliances and developing awareness for the brand while serving on various boards. There were many instances where my ex-partner wanted me to resign because he found no value in where I was investing my time. This presented an inner conflict because my reputation had always been extremely important to me. The core values of integrity, accountability, and resilience define me, and stepping down from any of these roles has been contradictory to who I am.
As a result of the commitment to mine and my company’s reputation, I am thrilled to announce Ameritex Movers will be on an episode of Designing Spaces Houston first quarter of 2023. The episode will be titled “Moving 411: Making Your Next Move a Stress-Free Move.” We will appear on the show to help bring value to the viewers by allowing them to better understand the process of making moving stress-free. Designing Spaces chose to feature Ameritex Movers because the show was looking to feature a reputable Houston-based moving company who could provide viewers with helpful tips on making moving a less stressful experience and found Ameritex Movers’ core values were the perfect fit for the episode.
Building a good reputation, personally and professionally, is super important. Through my life’s and entrepreneurial journey, I have earned the reputation of a trusted entrepreneur, leader, friend and partner. My goal is to bring value to others from these experiences and positively influence, inspire and motivate others to follow the path of always believing, learning, growing, being resilient and never giving up. My mental strength and mindset is what has given me the ability to push past many of the obstacles I’ve been confronted with as a business owner, hurricanes, Covid, employment issues, lawsuits, divorce and more; but the ability to stay focused, disciplined, maintain accountability while embracing my integrity and having the courage to continue past these adversities is what has shaped me to who I am and expressive of the reputation I’ve built along the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ameritexhouston.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beth_naz_/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/beth.rohani
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethnaz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beth_Naz_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bethnaz