From a Small Operation to Big Franchise Opportunities
The Origins of Our Moving & Junk Removal Company
College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving® was born in the summer of 2003 when 21-year-old Omar Soliman spotted an opportunity to earn a little extra money to spend during his summer break from college. His mom owned a furniture store in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and Omar had noticed that during deliveries, customers would often ask if they could haul away old furniture. They were willing to pay $50 or more for the service. Recognizing a need—and determined not to spend another summer working a crummy job—Omar asked his mom if he could borrow her beat-up old cargo van and use it to offer junk hauling services. Later that night, he sat down with his best friend since high school, Nick Friedman, and started coming up with names for the business. Omar tossed out “College Hunks Hauling Junk,” and everyone got a good laugh. Then they thought about it for a minute. You know, that’s actually a pretty good name!
Omar used his computer to create some fliers, and the next day he started putting them up in the neighborhood. That evening, his phone started to ring, and they scheduled jobs from day one. The business took off and the pair realized that just about everyone had something they needed help removing from their homes. Without experience or much of a plan, the business made more than $8,000 that summer. The taste of entrepreneurship was exhilarating, but Nick and Omar weren’t yet thinking about College HUNKS as a career. They had always been told to study hard, do well in school, and get a nice job working for someone else. They went back to school for their senior years—Nick at Pomona College in California and Omar at the University of Miami.
Creating a Business Plan
After the wildly successful summer, fate intervened. The University of Miami had just started the annual Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition, which awarded a $10,000 prize to the best business plan. Omar and Nick had a vision to build a fully branded and systematized operation for serving customers using a customer call center to boost efficiency. The centralized job scheduling would allow franchisees to handle more jobs more quickly, resulting in more profits. Marketing, uniforms, and an emphasis on “WOW” service would create a great customer experience, ensuring repeat and referral business.
After six days of putting the business plan together, Omar was pleased to learn that out of 150 entries, College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving had been selected as one of 20 finalists. He was invited to give a presentation to a group of alumni judges consisting of business owners from all over the country, ultimately receiving the first-prize check for $10,000. This is when Nick and Omar knew they had something special.
From an Award-Winning Plan to a National Junk Removal Franchise
When Nick and Omar graduated from college, they took the normal path at first. They both landed office jobs, where they quickly felt unfulfilled. Is this really what they wanted to do for the next 40 years?
No!!! College HUNKS was more fun, had offered more freedom, and had shown that it could generate much more money than their corporate salaries. A few months after starting the corporate grind, Nick emailed Omar to ask what his timetable would be for launching the business. Omar emailed back that his timetable was now.
A Company with A Noble Purpose
Our purpose is to “Move the World” emotionally by eliminating stress for people who are moving or dealing with clutter, and by creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and hard workers who are eager to learn how to build a business. We do it by living out our core values.
Our core values, which we share with our junk removal and moving franchise partners and train them to inculcate in their team, are:
- Always branding — Always be professional and aware of how others see you, whether or not you are with a customer.
- Building leaders — Mentor employees to help them learn, take on responsibility, and advance in business and in life.
- Listen fulfill and delight — Pay attention to others and showing extra courtesy or add a little spark to their day.
- Create a fun, safe winning team — This is the kind of environment in which morale is high and people flourish.
Our Vision
We aim to be the largest and most popular employer of professionally-trained service providers and a launchpad for entrepreneurs who either start their own College HUNKS businesses or who use the lessons learned in our business to launch other concepts and power the economy. Our mission is to help people live the American dream of owning a business and making a positive impact.