Woman says she makes £10,000 a month with break-up help service that started as a side hustle
Last year Hannah Crawford set up a side hustle running a removal business where she helped women move house after breaking up.
The theatre producer started posting on Facebook groups letting women who needed to move out know they could hire her, and a few months later she was spending six days of the week busy with moving people.
Right now she's making £10,000 a month, but she's hoping that by the end of the year it'll be £50,000 a month as her business continues to grow and she's grown it to a team of 20 people handling jobs across the UK for women and members of the LGBTQ community.
Originally from Bathgate and now living in London, Hannah said she 'thought it would be quite interesting, fun and I’d get to meet new people'.
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She started by renting vans for the move, and since she had the 'physical strength and logistical skills' to handle people moving house it went pretty well from there.
"The posts on Facebook blew up," the 29-year-old said, having started out in April 2025.
“I started getting direct messages from so many people telling stories about their worst moving experience ever. Everything from ‘it felt really stressful’ to ‘it took too long’ right through to my stuff was broken, they weren’t careful’.
“One woman said the guy who moved her knew where she lived and started sending her creepy messages.
“It’s crazy to women and queer people steel themselves and prepare for a bad experience in a situation that’s already stressful enough.”
Things had started taking off in a big way by July of that same year when she was booked up six days of the week.
Her business took off even more in June of this year when an Instagram post showing her helping a woman move after a breakup went viral and she got thousands of new followers.
With the new attention came more demands, and by September things had reached the point where Hannah couldn't possibly do it all by herself.
Now she's hired more people 'from Elgin to Devon and Cornwall' her goal is to be handling 100 moving jobs a month.
If you're a woman or member of the LGBTQ community (or both) and have just had a breakup that means you've got to move then if you wanted to hire Hannah or one of her movers you'd send in an enquiry and get a quote back based off how much work it'd be.
She said that if your stuff 'could fit in a couple of Uber XL trips' then they probably weren't right for you, but if you had lots of belongings to move across cities 'we are usually the most affordable option'.
Hannah is also enjoying the 'absolute dream' of 'getting to be someone's lovely boss'
She said: "People have the opportunity to earn money when it suits them.
"We can have parents fit around existing childcare. It’s really lovely to give people that opportunity.
“I also think female led businesses serving the needs of other women and queer people is such a brilliant thing to see and we need more of it.”
She had her own moving experience back when she was 20 and headed for university, having to do it all herself by 'taking as much as I could physically carry on my back' on the train, only to get to London and learn a tube strike meant everything was down.
She was left lugging three suitcases, two bags and framed photos with her through Euston thinking 'this is the worst', and wishes she'd had someone there she could have trusted to help handle it.
Now she's that for other people.
Joe Harker