Meet Our Owner
Totes My Goat is locally owned and operated by hard working business woman Janice Shipley. While she has some awesome family and friend support behind her – hence the about us – Janice is the fierce heart behind Totes My Goat.
Janice was born in Ocala, and has lived in Marion County most of her life. Most days you can catch her or one of her team out playing DJ Bingo & DJ Trivia in local restaurants. She has been the Central Florida affiliate providing these fun games in Marion, Lake & Sumter counties since September 2011.
Late at night, you might catch her and her husband Don out setting up giant birthday cards in people’s yards. Ocala Yard Greetings is another business that she happily runs to celebrate life’s precious moments.
When she is not busy running one of her three businesses, Janice likes to travel with her family. For a quick trip, she loves to visit Disney or St. Augustine. Her favorite place in the USA is Cades Cove. Where is your favorite place to go?
How was Totes My Goat created?
Our totes can help you move or store almost anything. Okay…. maybe not anything. Not real goats of course. When Janice thought that a moving tote rental company made a lot of sense, we started brainstorming names. We didn’t want a basic or boring name. That is just not Janice’s style. Originally the name was a joke because it is from a movie and means – “Totally!”
What started as a joke between friends & family stuck and all of us have fallen in love with it. Our name is just a way to voice approval or agreement. That is exactly how Janice felt when she saw how a moving tote rental service could totally help us to move.
Plus we think it fits the fun and funky area we live in. Marion County has a lot of goats! There were over 2,400 goats as of the 2017 Agriculture Census. We are sure that number has gone up as our population has increased. How many goats do you think there are in Marion County?
She saw an opportunity to help us!
Janice has had to move a LOT. The average person moves 12 times in their lifetime. She moved 13 times between 2004 and 2013.
Whether you are student moving for the first time into a college dorm, a newlywed couple combining two homes into one, empty nesters downsizing to a smaller home, or becoming a single mom like Janice did in 2013… moving is stressful on everyone! Moving does not get easier as you get older or more experienced with it either.
Janice saw how these totes could have reduced her own moving nightmares. Can you see how she can help us make moving easier?
About Janice's Worst Move Ever
The worst time Janice had to move she had just become a single mom. It is the move she never wants any of us to experience. Her two kids were only 3 & 8. With no notice at all, she was expected to pack up the 3 bedroom rental home of her entire family. The entire process was horrible.
In less than a month, she had to find as many cardboard boxes as she could find. Struggling to find ways to protect and store all of their breakable items. Janice remembers bagging most of their clothing in garbage bags because eventually the free cardboard boxes were full. She remembers taking small items and carrying them to be placed in the car since there was no room in any boxes or bags. No moving truck to try and save money, so multiple trips to get things stored.
Due to the rush, over 50 boxes were haphazardly stuck into a storage unit. The nightmare continued when the boxes collapsed. In the rush, they were not packed or stacked up correctly to support each other. Many things got broken and had to be replaced. Priceless memories were ruined.
If these totes had been around then… Janice would have done anything to have used them. It sure would have made moving easier, simpler and much more organized. Nothing would be ruined, because our totes will not collapse. Plus the expense of driving around looking for cardboard boxes would have saved her money. Is it any wonder why she wants to help us today?