Million Dollar Monday

HUNKS Hauling Junk to Multi-Millions with Nick Friedman

January 25, 2021 Greg Muzzillo
Million Dollar Monday
HUNKS Hauling Junk to Multi-Millions with Nick Friedman
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Nick Friedman started College H.U.N.K.S Hauling Junk and grew the business to a multi-million dollar national franchise. The junk removal and local moving company now has over 100 franchises and $150 million in annual sales. Friedman explains how there is an intricate balance between the ‘ready-fire-aim’ approach and perfecting a business plan before actually getting started. As an entrepreneur, best-selling author, world-class speaker and TV personality, Friedman provides insight from his journey to success with Host Greg Muzzillo on Million Dollar Monday. 

Chapter Summaries

  • 01:07 - All About Nick
  • 03:02 - Why H.U.N.K.S
  • 04:16 - Entrepreneurial Energy
  • 08:06 - Getting Started in the Business
  • 13:15 - Shark Tank Experience
  • 16:03 - Franchising the Business
  • 19:55 - The High Highs and Low Lows
  • 23:15 - Expanding the Business
  • 26:00 - Big Dreams Now


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Nick Friedman:

There's always a little bit of a balance as an entrepreneur of ready fire aim. You know, you just put the cart before the horse and then you catch up to it or you have all your ducks in a row before you go. And it's an intricate balance because I'll talk to entrepreneurs sometimes and they'll be so hung up on their business plan. They want to perfect their business plan before they actually start the business. And in some cases you just got to go. You just got to...

Greg Muzzillo:

Hello and welcome to Million Dollar Monday. I'm your host, Greg Muzzillo bringing you real successful people with real useful advice for people with big dreams. I understand big dreams. I turned an investment of$200 and a lot of great advice from some really successful people into my big dream, Proforma, that today is a half billion- dollar company. I'm excited to introduce our guest today, Nick Friedman. Nick Friedman is president and co-founder of College Hunks Hauling Junk& Moving the largest and fastest-growing junk removal and local moving franchise opportunity in North America. Nick started the business in college with his childhood best friend in a beat-up cargo van and has grown to over 100 franchises and 150 million in annual sales. He was named among the Top 30 Entrepreneurs in America under 30 by Inc magazine and was on the same list as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Michael Dell in a Newsweek article entitled College Kid to Millionaire. Nick is a three-time Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year finalist. And he won that award in 2018. He has been featured in numerous business books and textbooks as well as Forbes, Fortune, and many other notable publications. Nick's company has appeared every year on the Inc 5,000 list of Fastest-Growing Companies and has appeared twice on the Oprah Winfrey show. Nick is also a TV personality, having appeared on guest shows, including the first episode of ABC's Shark Tank. Can't wait to hear more about that. Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker, CNBC's Blue Collar Millionaires. He is also a board member of Young President's Organization, also known as YPO, and is an author. Nick co-wrote a best-selling book entitled Effortless Entrepreneur work smart, play hard and make millions. Nick Friedman. Welcome. And thank you for joining me.

Nick Friedman:

Thank you, Greg. Great to be here. So sorry for the long bio.

Greg Muzzillo:

It's all great stuff and it's all very exciting, but you know, when I read your company name for the first time I noticed college hunks, but it's H U N K S with a period after every letter. What's that all about?

Nick Friedman:

You know, when we first started the business, my business partner, and I we'd gone to high school together, we started in college and it was actually his mom who said, you know, you guys could be like the college hunks who haul junk. And so we considered ourselves to college hunks hauling junk at that time. But then after college we got regular jobs and when it became a real business and we started having to hire people every time we would tell people the name, the question we would always inevitably get is, Hey, are they all really hunks? You know, they all really in college, how do you hire? And so we wanted to expand the definition of hunks and we made it into an acronym which stands for honest, uniformed, nice, knowledgeable, service, which has also now our brand promise. And so it's more than just about the physical attributes of what somebody might consider hunky. Uh, but it's about being honest, uniform, nice, knowledgeable, and providing great service. And so that's what we tell our clients they should expect when they hire us. So it's become a much broader net that we're able to cast as well.

Greg Muzzillo:

Awesome. And now, as they say, we know the rest of the story. Speaking of the story, let's start back at the beginning when you were younger first and foremost, since this is really a show for people with big dreams. Tell me a little bit about when you were younger, some big dreams you may have had and a little bit about your youth or your education, please.

Nick Friedman:

Yeah, well, you know, I was always brought up to follow the more traditional career path. You work hard in school, you get good grades, you get into college, you get a degree, you get a job and you move up the corporate ranks. That was kind of what was hammered into my head. I will say, you know, I was always a dreamer. My dream was to be a basketball player, professional player in the NBA. Uh, but you know, I wasn't blessed with a lot of athleticism or height or jumping ability. I did manage to, you know, work very hard at basketball and take it as far as it could take me, which was about a division three, college experience where I got to play, but that wasn't going to be my future profession. And so when I look back at my childhood, I do think, that I can recognize some instances where I didn't always sit still in class. I didn't always follow the teacher's guidance and, you know, back then it was perceived probably as disruptive behavior or disobedient behavior. But I think a lot of that was sort of the entrepreneurial energy bubbling up. And I think when, you know, kids that have that energy, aren't able to sort of be harnessed for the power of good and productivity, it's when they start being labeled as, as bad or, or disruptive that it could lead them down the wrong path. And so I think about, you know, some of the examples I met my business partner actually in detention in 10th grade. And the reason I was in the detention, uh, at the time was back to basketball. I was playing in a basketball game in high school and we were playing against our rivals, the marae frogs was their mascot, and they had this big foam frog and we were getting blown out and I was frustrated in the frog. I could see on the corner of my eye as I was taking the ball out of bounds, kind of, you know, doing this thing. And, and so I maybe had watched too many Charles Barkley videos or whatever, but I turned around and smack the frog and it's head. And of course he sold it. He flopped and threw his hands up in the air. I got thrown out of the game and the school didn't take kindly to it. So I ended up in detention, but that's where I ended up meeting my now business partner at the time, my best friend in high school. Uh, he became and so, yeah, so I looked back and I think there's probably some missteps I might've made that could have led me into the wrong situation, but, a lot of it was just sort of pent up entrepreneurial energy that has been, you know, I've been able to find that creative outlet as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, where I'm able to apply that sort of, that vision and that creativity and that fun playfulness. That's not typical for students to think about.

Greg Muzzillo:

Yeah. One of the things I love that you've said is that sometimes you can have that energy of an entrepreneur and it's really hard to sit still. And I too was in trouble a lot in grade school, in high school. And I think I got labeled and I think for all of our listeners that might have that same energy inside of them, don't let those labels stick on you. I think it's horrible t hat teachers do that. I hope that they're a little bit better today i n recognizing people with different learning styles. And so if you're one of those people with a slightly different learning style, be proud of it because I think the more you listen to stories of successful people, you'll find out that many successful people have different learning styles that aren't necessarily sit down, shut up and learn. Anyhow, thanks for that one. Ni ck, let's get to the story. How did you get started in the business?

Nick Friedman:

So, as I mentioned, you know, we've always been brought up to follow the traditional career path. So during college, we were home for summer vacation the summer before our senior year. And all I was thinking about is I need a job after we graduate. Meanwhile, my buddy, who I'd met in detention, I just told you the story about his name is Omar Solomon. His mom had a beat up cargo van from her furniture store, and she's the one who suggested why don't you guys take the van make some money, moving people's stuff or hauling people's junk away. And, you know, you guys could be like the college hunks of all junk. And we looked at each other and kind of laughed about it. And we were like, well, that's got a catchy ring to it. So we literally put it on computer print out, flyers, stuck it in mailboxes. And the phone started ringing. And that was really the first light bulb moment for me is A people needed this service and B they thought the was catchy and playful. And this was not something that we'd ever learned about both in high school or college. So we went back to school our senior year after making some decent money for college kids that summer as sort of a gig and wrote a business plan. And we entered it into an entrepreneurship competition, just to give it some more formality to the idea. And it ended up winning first prize out of about 150 entries. And so I think that gave us a lot of the confidence and credibility from a third party to say, Hey, this could actually work. so after college we got regular jobs briefly and then said, you know what? This is not for us. Let's quit our jobs and start the business full time. And I remember, you know, a lot of people were skeptical. They said, you know, you're going to quit your job to do what, you know, haul junk. And the company is going to be called what college hunks, you know, are you throwing away your college degree to start a junk hauling business? Uh, but we use that as motivation at the time. You know, we were, you know, said to ourselves, Hey, you know, you talk about vision. We're not going to be just two guys driving around in a junk truck. We want to be a national brand. We want to see college hunks, hauling junk trucks, all around the country and every city, you know, anytime somebody needs junk hauled, or eventually now moving, we want them to be calling us. And so that was our great idea. But at the beginning, we were doing all the work ourselves and I always tell the story. We would be driving the trucks, you know, answering the phones, hauling the junk. Uh, and we had the 800 number on the back of our truck routed to our cell phone. And people would call the 800 number to complain about erratic driving, but I'd be in the driver's seat answering that call saying, you know, we don't condone that driving in our company. We'll tell those guys to be safer on the road, you know, thanks for reporting that to us. So we probably fired ourselves at least three or four times that first summer, and actually kind of started to burn out a little bit. And really the next light bulb moment for us was when a mentor recommended to us a book called the E-Myth revisited by a guy named Michael Gerber, the letter E myth revisited by Michael Gerber. And, and it's kind of a great entrepreneurial handbook. I'd recommend it any, you know, startup entrepreneur, because the key message there is for business to grow. You've got to learn how to work on the business, not just in the business. And, that was like, wow, you know, if ever we're going to have another truck, let alone another location, which is our grand idea we've got to get off the truck. We've got to have other people that can help build the systems and execute the playbook. So we started just documenting checklists, you know, how we did everything. And that was really the foundation to allow us to expand locally and then eventually led us down the path of franchising, which of course you're very familiar with as well.

Greg Muzzillo:

So neither of you were married or had kids. And so your expenses were pretty low. I'm assuming.

Nick Friedman:

Yeah. You know, it's funny. One of the things I remember thinking back then, and I still think when I made big decisions is what's the worst outcome that could happen. So in my mind, I was like, okay, I'm still living in my parents' house. I just graduated college. I've gotten a degree. I quit my job to start a business. If it fails, what's the worst that can happen. I try to go get another job. Maybe I go back to school. I've used this experience of failure as a lesson. So that's kind of how I rationalize it in my mind. Also what stood out in my mind was I heard a speaker talk once, and he said, the older you get, the more and more responsibility and obligations you become encumbered with. So the younger you are, it's easier and better to take risks, especially from an entrepreneurial perspective, because you might not have the house payment or the car payment or the wife and kids that you're obligated to look after where you can't risk necessarily stepping out of your comfort zone to start a business. And so that resonated with me as well. We had a lot less responsibilities back then, uh, the idea of taking a risk and being comfortable with the worst potential outcome I think allowed us to move forward.

Greg Muzzillo:

Nick, that is just some great advice for anybody listening that has some big dreams and aspiring entrepreneurs, because the younger you are and the less responsibilities you have, and I love what you said, what do you got to lose? Just go for it, just do it. Great advice there. So I want to get to the story now of how you developed that business. And before we get there, though, I'm really curious to hear about the shark tank experience. Where did the shark tank experience fit into the story?

Nick Friedman:

Yeah. You know, when we started franchising the business, so we had a successful local operation. Now we kind of went through the franchise development process to say, Hey, yes, our business model is packaged up to be able to be replicated in other markets. One of the things that we wanted to do is say, Hey, how can we get the word out there? And in the early years of the business, the brand and the story of the fact that we had started in college and had this catchy name, it was appealing to the media. And we recognize that because anytime we would talk to a reporter or journalist, they kinda like sparked up a level of interest and realized that that was an opportunity to really sort of showcase our brand because we're a consumer brand, but we're also a franchise concept. And so we saw an ad in Inc magazine that said they were looking for entrepreneurs to pitch a business idea for a TV show that was going to be airing on a national network. That's all it said. And we said, well, Hey, this could be a great way to get the name out there. And at the time we weren't really looking to raise capital for college hunks, cause it was self-sustaining and growing. And we said, well, what's another business we've talked about. And we used to joke about a sister company. We were going to call it college foxes packing boxes, and it was going to be sort of the female counterpart to the hunks, so we sent in a pitch tape, just a little digital video tape to the email address and the Inc ad. And sure enough, we got a response. It was the casting producer. They had us fly ourselves out. We've had pay for our flight hotel and everything out to LA and then we filmed it in the Seinfeld studio out in Hollywood. So it was pretty cool experience for just a little young startup entrepreneur. But at the time we didn't know who the sharks were because it was the very first episode it was actually the pilot episode that would end up becoming the first episode. And we didn't know what the experience was going to be like. So we ended up actually getting an offer, but they wanted a percentage of college hunks, in order to do the deal, which we ended up turning down on the show. And then of course, you know, here we are 10 plus years later, the show has won multiple awards, the sharks are all TV celebrities now, and, you know, going on dancing with the stars and such, but back then, it was just a great way to get the name out there. And it reruns periodically on CNBC. And so it's just another pop of attention, that comes from it. And so for awhile, our brand was actually bigger than our business because of some of the publicity in media coverage that we had gotten in those early days. But we haven't set that bar out as far as like, Hey, this is what our brand is going to be. It's a national brand then we wouldn't have been able to chase it down to actually make the business catch up to it.

Greg Muzzillo:

All right. All right. So how did you get to the point of deciding you wanted to franchise the business?

Nick Friedman:

Well, I'll tell you when we read the E-Myth the book, the E-Myth, it talks about creating your business as if you're going to franchise it, even if you're not going to franchise it. And, that sort of planted the word franchising in our mind, what is franchising about? Because use the McDonald's example about how McDonald's franchise and expand their brand across the country. So we started just doing some research about franchising stumbled across the international franchise association, went to some seminars and ended up hiring a consultant and basically say the reason people will franchise their brand as opposed to going and opening up different locations themselves is because they want to grow more quickly, scale faster, basically. They don't have a large amount of capital to deploy, to go open different locations, which we didn't have. They don't have a large amount of management team to be able to go deploy, which we didn't have. So it seemed like, okay, well, we've got a really great brand and a cool business model, but we don't have a lot of money and we don't have a lot of people to go expand that business model. So franchising seemed like, I'll be honest at the time, kind of a glamorized way of expanding. It seemed like, Hey, you know, we can collect the franchise fee royalties, and then they can go out and do the heavy lifting and all the hard work. It's not exactly that way. I mean, there's obviously a steep learning curve, as you know, it's franchising and the key is creating successful franchise owners and creating a brand that anybody can step into and hopefully represent the brand well. And there's a lot of risk to that also. So we thought it was going to be a lot easier than it ended up being, but it certainly was I think the right decision for us to pursue from a growth strategy standpoint.

Greg Muzzillo:

Yeah, there's no doubt, Nick, when I talk to people, I think everybody thinks that franchising or a lot of people think franchising is a growing the business really easy with other people's money. And, but one of the pieces of advice you're sharing is that I would highly recommend, A nd I'm sure you would agree with me that as soon as you think maybe franchising is the right thing, the international franchise association ifa@franchise.org has a world of great resources for aspiring entrepreneurs. All right. So you decided to start franchising. How long ago after you had started the business, both of you f ull-time, did you get to that decision?

Nick Friedman:

You were probably in the business about two years before we started down the franchise path. And then it was maybe another year of sort of developing the franchise model. Uh, and so it was about three years into it, I think before we sold our first franchise, I will say our single unit operation was doing over a million a year in revenue. It was profitable. So it was a proven model, but we still, might've been a little bit premature with going the franchise route because we didn't have everything, you know, perfectly mapped out. And I think there's always a little bit of a balance as an entrepreneur of ready fire aim. You know, you just put the cart before the horse and then you catch up to it or you have all your ducks in a row before you go. And it's, it's, it's an intricate balance because I'll talk to entrepreneurs sometimes and they'll be so hung up on their business plan. They want to perfect their business plan before they actually start the business. And in some cases you just got to go, you just got to, you know, start the business and then, you know build the airplane once you're in the air. Right. So it's a delicate balance. I don't have the answer for how, how that can be resolved, but, you know, it was, it was about two years into having a successful business. And then we kind of put our hands up and said, okay, we're going to franchise. And then of course we started franchise.

Greg Muzzillo:

Tell me about some of the high highs and tell our folks about some of the low lows. Yeah,

Nick Friedman:

Well, one of the high highs is probably more recently where we've had, uh, actually 10 of our franchise owners, independent franchise owners be named to the Inc 5,000 list of fastest growing us companies. And so that's just such a fulfilling and rewarding and meaningful accolade, to know that, our brand has become a platform for business owners to pursue personal and professional fulfillment. Um, and I think I remember Greg a piece of advice you gave me when I first met you is a franchise isn't going to make the franchise owner rich. A franchise is going to give opportunity for the franchise owner to become rich and successful. And, so that's, you know, I guess been a proud moment for me and something we've been, excited to hang our hat on. Uh, some lows would be probably also more recently through the COVID experience, which I'll share, but also in 2008, 2009, we had just started franchising. It felt like we were getting ready for liftoff. And of course we all remember the housing crisis that took place. And our business was impacted by that because, you know, we're a consumer home service brand. So when people were being foreclosed, they were less inclined to hire a moving company, you know, to do it for them or a moving company to haul away their unwanted stuff. But we had these sort of financial projections, we were expecting our new franchisees to hit and they were falling way short of them. And so there were certainly moments where we were sort of scratching our head and saying, Hey, is this going to work? You know, are these franchise owners going to make it, or is this brand going to make it, uh, are we going to survive this, uh, you know, this downturn, uh, and, and sure enough, we did, uh, and, and actually where you kind of added the moving service component to our business as a result of that, to kind of expand our business sandbox, if you will. But then also during the COVID crisis just a few months ago, you know, just the uncertainty I think is what, you know, can weigh on a founder, not knowing what the future holds. And so, you know, as a founder, we're so optimistic and, certain about our vision and about achieving that vision. But when something completely out of our control, you know, like a housing crisis or like a pandemic, comes into the picture, uh, it kind of throws us off our game a little bit. We had to make some tough decisions from a personnel standpoint, which is never easy. We had to really dig in and kind of get back almost into startup mode, uh, to make sure that there were things that we need to pivot on or adjust that we could do that and so those have been, you know, I guess some examples of, you know, both the ups and the balance of the, the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, which, you know, it really is. I mean, you know, on Monday we feel like we're tap dancing on top of the world, and then on some days we might want to crawl under the bed cause things seem so tough and daunting.

Greg Muzzillo:

Yeah. It's amazing how you can be guessing on that roof and somewhere somehow out of the sky comes a two before that knocks you in the face. Tell us how you went from hauling junk because that's how you started. When did you add that additional service product line, if you will, of moving?

Nick Friedman:

Coming through the housing crisis, to be honest with you, we used to get calls all the time about moving people and we would turn the business away because we were saying, you know, no, we're a junk removal company. We're not equipped. We're not trained, we're not specialists in moving. And the enough times of turning away business, we realized we're turning away a lot of business and maybe we can expand our core competency from junk removal to really trucks and labor. So anything that somebody needs two individuals or more than that to load up into a truck and transport, whether it's getting rid of something, whether it's donating something, whether it's moving something, why don't we be that solution? Uh, and then this gets to another sort of fine delicate balance for entrepreneurs because there's a tendency that I've had where I want to chase the next shiny object, the next new idea that could make some money. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs fall victim to that, where they get spread kind of a mile wide and an inch deep. And so there's a level of focus that has to be had and attention that it has to be had to the core business. And so we were trying to stay focused on the junk removal and realized, you know, what, we can still be core by doing trucks and labor, but let's not start painting houses. Cause that's going to be way too far out of our sort of core of service or let's not start, you know, landscaping cause that's going to be too diluting what our competencies are. So, you know, staying the same focus I think has been really important to our success as well. Every time we try to chase, shiny objects or shortcut that success, it seems like it's a step in the wrong direction.

Greg Muzzillo:

So about what percentage is moving versus hauling,

Nick Friedman:

You know, today it's about 50 50. About 150 million in annual revenue, about half of that is junk removal, but half of that is moving today.

Greg Muzzillo:

And the idea came from listening to your customers.

Nick Friedman:

Yeah, absolutely. Our customers were telling us they wanted us to move. They thought we were movers. Cause you know, even though we didn't have moving in the name yet, they figured they had seen our trucks and figured we had strong guys that could do it. And so after recognizing that we started to due diligence a little bit and then ultimately dove in

Greg Muzzillo:

Awesome, awesome. Some really great stuff in that storyand some really good advice for folks. So today tell us where's the business at, I know you're also a happily married guy with three beautiful daughters. Tell us where you're at today. And most importantly tell us now that you're successfu, what big dreams do you have now?

Nick Friedman:

Yeah, so it's, it's been an interesting evolution as I've gone from, you know, bachelor entrepreneur with no obligations to now married with three kids and a very thriving business. The things that continue to motivate me are continuing to create an opportunity for our employees and our franchise owners to thrive and grow. So we talk about college hunks being more than just moving peoples stuff, but you know, really being a purpose-driven values-based socially conscious organization, that can be a platform for professional and personal fulfillment. And so how do we a chieve that by c ontinuing to make a positive impact i n the communities we service. We continue to grow our franchise footprint. We continue to align ourselves with great people that e mbody a nd embrace that, that culture and that viewpoint and that's, I think will continue to fuel my fulfillment as a founder entrepreneur b ecause the business is way beyond my grasp today. We've got great people that are leading it and running it. So my role has evolved to more of like the visionary where we're setting strategic vision. I'm a cheerleader I'm providing resources. I'm, you know, breaking down barriers, but ultimately, you know, providing the platform for everyone to thrive. And of course I want to spend meaningful time with my young kids and don't miss it. You know, I've heard a lot of great advice from entrepreneurs say, you know, you don't get that time back. And I'm fortunate now to where the business is at a point of success where I can create a little bit more balance in my life. And so that's something that I'm excited to be able to do. And just continue to build the college platform. We've talked about potentially expanding into storage, potentially doing long distance moving. Uh, those I think are relevant extensions that wouldn't overly, confuse the core of what we're doing already. And so, I don't want to get too off track. I think we're on a great trajectory and just kind of do more of it because we're having fun on the journey so far.

Greg Muzzillo:

Yeah. Great stuff, Nick. And I know there's lots more we could talk about, but I think we're about running out of time and I want to make sure I thank you very much for taking the time to join me today. And your story is so wonderful. And I think it fits so greatly for a lot of folks that are aspiring entrepreneurs, a lot of folks who have big dreams. And so once again, Nick, I want to thank you for joining me. And then finally I want to thank all of you listening today, no matter where you're at in your life, no matter what age you are, if you're an aspiring entrepreneur, if you've got some big dreams like Nick, just shared with us at some point, you just need to go for it. Well, I hope today's session and time with Nick is helpful for you and that his real success can in some way contribute some day to your big dreams and your big success. Thanks for joining us.

All About Nick
Why H.U.N.K.S
Entrepreneurial Energy
Getting Started in the Business
Shark Tank Experience
Franchising the Business
The High Highs and Low Lows
Expanding the Business
Big Dreams Now