Number 1 Way To Finding Happiness In Life

There are moments in life that seem completely ordinary until you look back and realize they changed everything. For my guest this week, Terence Halligan, that moment happened in a gas station parking lot, next to a McLaren, with a stranger he had never met before.

Terence is the founder of We Move, a moving company based in Pennsylvania that he launched on April 7th of this year. In the short time since then, he has already built something real, and he is already planning his next location, a franchise program, and a coaching brand called We Grow. But what struck me most about our conversation was not the business itself. It was everything underneath it. The pain, the mistakes, the mentors who appeared out of nowhere, and the years of intentional work it took to become the kind of man who could build something like We Move in the first place.

I wanted to have Terence on the show because I have gotten a little tired of only interviewing entrepreneurs who are already sitting at eight, nine, and ten figures. Those stories are inspiring, but they are not always relatable. Terence is boots on the ground, doing the actual work, and I wanted people to hear what that looks like from someone who is still building it in real time.

A Company Born Out of Necessity

Terence’s path into the moving industry did not start with a grand vision. It started during Covid, when he got laid off from his job as a real estate agent. He needed work, and a friend from high school told him about a moving company that was hiring. Terence was not unfamiliar with labor work. He told me he had done every kind of job from A to Z over the years, so picking up shifts with a moving crew did not feel like a stretch.

He worked for that company for two or three years. He did not fall in love with the work, but he learned the trade inside and out, and along the way he had a realization that stuck with him. Moving, he said, is an ABC business. It is simple at its core. That simplicity planted a seed, even though it would take him a while to actually act on it.

The Gas Station That Changed Everything

Here is where the story gets interesting. Sometime after his stint with the moving company, Terence was working for another business owner in Florida who had a cigar lounge where clients would gather to relax and talk business. One day, at a gas station, Terence noticed a young guy pulling up in an eight hundred thousand dollar McLaren. He was in shape, tattooed, and looked approachable in a way Terence did not expect.

He told me something the Holy Spirit nudged him to walk over and start a conversation, so he did. He asked the guy what he did for a living, learned he was in insurance, and the two of them ended up meeting again a few weeks later at the cigar lounge. That night, the man brought a friend along, someone else who was clearly doing well for himself. Terence sat with both of them, not trying to sell anything, just trying to learn.

One of the men asked him a simple but important question. What do you know how to do? Terence admitted he had done a little bit of everything over the years. The man told him to get into a service based industry, and when Terence asked why, the answer was straightforward. Everyone was trying to get into AI, but most people did not have the connections or the capital to make that work. Service based businesses were still wide open.

Then came the question that really stuck with him. The man asked whether Terence thought he should build something he was passionate about or something that made money. Terence answered passion. The man told him that was the wrong answer. Build something that makes money first, he said, and once you have that, you can pursue your passion at whatever level you actually want to pursue it.

It was not just what the man said. It was how he said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Terence told me that phrase, you can make two hundred grand a month doing anything, said so nonchalantly, rewired something in his brain. He was driving home from the cigar lounge that same night when it clicked. He had spent years in the moving industry. He knew the business. He texted the man that night to say he was starting a moving company, and that was the real beginning of We Move.

The Mentors Who Show Up Unannounced

One theme that ran through our entire conversation was how the right people tend to show up in your life exactly when you need them, often in ways you never would have predicted. Terence talked about staying in touch with the man from the cigar lounge, someone who had built an eight figure business and was generous enough to pour into him without expecting anything in return.

I shared a similar story from my own life. About a year and a half ago, I was scrolling through TikTok looking for something to spark a new perspective, and I came across a woman who studies body language and has a background in theater. She taught me that women often have to communicate differently than men in business settings, and that every conversation is either pulling someone closer to you or pushing them away. That relationship became a genuine mentorship for me, and it changed how I connect with people to this day.

Terence had his own version of that lesson, except his came through seven years of studying theater and acting. He told me if anyone wants to learn how to truly communicate, they should take an acting class. He talked about something called clown labs, a class focused on removing fear and self consciousness, learning to exaggerate emotion, and understanding why performers like mascot characters or princesses at theme parks have to communicate so much through such limited physical expression. It was one of the more unexpected but genuinely fascinating parts of our talk.

Growing Up Without Much, and Finding the Wrong Path Before Finding the Right One

Terence got vulnerable with me about his childhood. He grew up in a top rated school district, but his family did not come from money. His mom was a lunch lady and his dad was a carpenter, while most of his classmates came from wealthier households. He was picked on a little in middle school, though he was quick to say it was not as dramatic as some of the stories people tell about growing up without money.

What really shaped him, he admitted, was a period where he started making money in ways he is not proud of. He was honest about dabbling in things he should not have as a teenager. He called himself a bad kid, and he said it mattered to him that people knew that part of his story, because it is part of what shaped who he is today, even if it was not in a good way.

The turning point came when a friend showed him an old Jim Rohn seminar from 1983, recorded before Terence was even born. Jim Rohn, for those who do not know, was Tony Robbins’s mentor, and something about that video cracked open a door in Terence’s mind. It was the first time he considered that life did not have to follow the script he had been handed, the one that said go to college, get a job, and do what everyone expects. That video sent him down a ten year rabbit hole of personal development that he says completely changed the direction of his life.

I could relate to that more than he probably realized. My own first exposure to personal development came through Andy Elliott, five years ago, through a random car sales video I stumbled across on YouTube. Neither of us grew up with financial literacy modeled for us. Nobody sat us down and talked about building wealth or becoming a better leader. We both had to find it on our own, through a video, through a stranger, through a moment that could have easily been skipped over.

From Partying to Purpose

Terence was candid about the season of his life when he was deep into the party and car sales scene, surrounded by cash spiffs, incentives, and a crowd that could have easily pulled him further off track. He said meeting the wrong people at that time could have led him somewhere much worse, but it did not, and looking back, he sees those years as part of what shaped him into who he needed to become.

We talked about how those trials are not something to be ashamed of. They are the reason we have a story worth telling, and the reason we can actually help other people who are still stuck in those same places. Terence shared a moment where he told Andy Elliott that he wished he had found personal development at eighteen instead of twenty nine. Andy told him no, he would not have appreciated it back then. The ten years of getting burned by people and by life experience were what made him ready to actually receive it once it arrived. That hit me hard, because I think most of us have wished we could go back and hand our younger selves the lessons we only learned the hard way.

What Is Next for We Move

Business wise, Terence has big plans. He is opening a second We Move location on April 7th of 2027, exactly one year after launching the company, and he is also preparing to roll out a franchise program. Alongside We Move, he is starting a new venture called We Grow, which will be his coaching brand built around everything he has learned from studying under Andy Elliott and from his own hard fought experience.

He told me he has always been a student, and he does not see that changing anytime soon. What has changed is that he finally feels ready to be intentional about giving back what he has learned instead of only absorbing it. He said it took years to build the confidence to step into that role, but he is finally there.

Money Does Not Change You

One of the most honest parts of our conversation was when Terence talked about hitting a hundred thousand dollars in monthly revenue, a milestone he had built up in his head as the moment everything would finally feel different. He hit it in his third month of business and felt absolutely nothing. No smile, no relief, nothing.

He said money does not change you. It just reveals who you already are and reflects the work you have put in. He admitted that earlier in his life he was a serious hoarder of money, at one point literally scavenging loose change from trade in vehicles at the car dealership where he worked, rolling the coins, and taking them to the bank just to watch his balance grow. Looking back, he did not even like the version of himself that behaved that way.

That is why he pushed back on the idea that hitting a certain number, a certain milestone, or a certain title will finally make you feel complete. He told me that right when things are going well, life has a way of throwing another challenge your way. He gave the example of breaking out in hives and being on crutches right before a scheduled podcast appearance, forcing him to cancel. The lesson, he said, is that it is never really about reaching the marker. It is about who you are becoming on the way there.

Why Human Connection Still Wins

We also talked about AI and automation, a topic that feels unavoidable right now. Terence does not believe salespeople will ever be fully replaced, no matter how advanced AI agents become. He said plainly that people do not want to talk to a robot, and he would rather interact with a robot that sounds like a robot than one designed to imitate a human voice. We laughed about the idea of a robot that can bring you food but should not be the one having a real conversation with you.

He mentioned seeing the small delivery robots that roll along sidewalks in cities like Los Angeles, and how similar technology is starting to show up in parts of Arizona. He was clear that he sees both good and bad in that kind of innovation, but he holds firmly to the belief that being able to genuinely connect with another human being will always matter, especially in business.

Closing Thoughts

Terence closed our conversation with a quote from Jim Rohn that has stuck with him for years. You can have more than you have got, because you can become more than you are, but unless you change how you are, you will always have just what you have got. He talked about how personal development is not something you complete and move on from. It is a daily, ongoing commitment, and there is no such thing as staying still. You are either growing or you are falling behind.

What stood out to me most about Terence is how genuinely he shows up for people. He never made me feel like I was being sold to. He made me feel like I was being welcomed into a community. That kind of intentional, relationship first approach to business is rare, and it is exactly why I wanted him on the show.

If you want to connect with Terence, reach out to him directly. He is transparent and welcomes calls, texts, and questions from anyone who wants to talk business, moving, or coaching.

About me:

I am currently a Master Facilitator for The Elliott Group in addition to being on the board of advisors for our Cultural Transformation Department in ELLIOTT ARMY.

With over 14 years of client service experience, I have held substantial leadership roles in the automotive industry. I’m also an accredited coach, a speaker, a triathlon finisher, and a wife. To contact me for engagements, you can reach me at [email protected].

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