We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Danny Gutmann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Danny below.

Danny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

I’d been working in the supply chain industry: at transportation companies, freight forwarders, supply chain-tech start-ups and the like. If someone were to have looked at my resume they might have concluded that it had been a good career thus far, with more opportunities coming down the line. If you were to ask me, I may have admitted that for many years I’d been straddling a wall which divided my desire to be an entrepreneur on one side and my corporate career on the other. I’d tried my hand at all kinds of different ventures: reselling clothing and antiques from thrift stores, buying returned pallets of Costco b-stock merchandise – trying to repair items and sell them on various online marketplaces – including an order of 50 used vacuums of which only 4 or 5 I could get running again. My wife Mely and I worked on a business at one point, called Quesalis – a Salvadoran bakery inspired by the pastries she ate growing up in El Salvador.

We would bake early mornings, go to farmers markets, spending countless hours in our shared commercial kitchen space in Redondo Beach, CA. We put our entire savings – and then some into the business. We’d gone into credit card debt to keep our household afloat while trying whatever we could think of to make the bakery successful. Ultimately we ran out of options and had to close the business. It was a heartbreaking experience for both of us, and having expended all of our financial resources we were left with few options. One of which was moving in with my parents in our 30s in Oregon to try and figure out how to bounce-back and start again. I felt like a total failure.

Eventually we moved back to Los Angeles. I thought I’d need to find another supply chain job as quickly as possible. My wife, who was now pregnant and I were staying with her sister’s family. One late night in LA I spent time talking with Ted, my brother-in-law, he suggested the idea of starting a moving company – and from there DSG Moving was born. It was a huge risk, but I took a gamble – remembering weekends helping a friend’s moving business back when I was a college student years ago in Portland. From March 2024, it took about four more months to obtain the license and buy the first truck. I was devoted to learning everything I could about the moving industry and providing the best service possible.

I remember vividly the first job we booked. The business number rang at 10:30pm and they hired us for a 1 bedroom apartment move for August 1st. I looked at Mely who was sitting next to me at the kitchen table after the call and cried – overjoyed, and excited, feeling so many emotions. Since that first job, business has been strong and we’ve purchased a second moving truck and have six employees. We’ve completed over 170 moves so far. We’ve moved into our own truck yard in North Hollywood, CA and this month (March 2025) we’re on track for our best month yet. I credit the success to continuing to stand up after being knocked down. Also, to the people who believed in me along the way. All of the failures have brought me here today – starting my company and finding work that I truly love. It hasn’t been easy, but the lessons and resilience I’ve had to learn along the way have helped prepare me for running DSG Moving.

Danny, 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?

I grew up in Oregon and moved to LA for career opportunities. My company is a full service household moving company based in LA. We do everything from smaller moves (like studio apartments for example) up to 4 or 5+ bedroom homes. I’m proud of the work we do for our clients, and the team we’re building.

Have you ever had to pivot?

At one point in college I thought I wanted to be a social worker. Eventually, I decided that it wasn’t for me – so I switched to an English Literature Degree. Anyone who studies English in college surely knows that a lot of questions come from people about “what you’re going to do with your degree,” or: “do you want to teach English.” However, in my experience it prepared me to enter the workforce and eventually start my own business. A lot of the skills like communication, writing, and situational analysis and figuring out texts or stories are so important in the working world. It’s something that’s glossed over because we’re lead to believe that a particular degree must equal a particular field of work. The reality is that life is much less certain and less linear than that and we’re all on unique paths which are more unpredictable in my opinion than we actually believe they are.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth – especially in the moving business, because when people refer friends/family they already understand they’re going to receive great service for their move since someone they know personally had a terrific experience. Of course in moving, you don’t get as much repeat business from the same client because people are only typically moving every few years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dsgmoving.com
• Instagram: @dsgmoving
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannygutmann/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dsg-moving-los-angeles
• Other: https://g.co/kgs/3Hm8d64
  https://www.thumbtack.com/ca/van-nuys/movers/dsg-moving/service/524609983075164164