Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins

E15: Moving Made Easy

• Nick George • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Meet Allen Vargas, the driving force behind Two College Movers, a Fort Collins-based moving company redefining industry standards since 2012. What started as a career working under someone else's wing transformed into a thriving business that coincided with the birth of his daughter, who's now 13 years old.

Allen tackles the negative stereotypes head-on, explaining how Two College Movers breaks the mold by focusing on culture, communication, and genuine customer service. "Not all movers are ex-felons," he points out, as he describes how his team comprises college students and experienced professionals who share a passion for serving others. Their comprehensive approach—disassembling furniture, carefully wrapping items, transporting belongings, and setting up at the new location—creates a truly hands-off experience for busy homeowners feeling overwhelmed by the moving process.

The conversation shifts to Allen personal life, where jiu-jitsu has become a family affair, with even his young children participating in the martial art. In a moment of vulnerability, Allen shares his three-year sobriety journey and how overcoming addiction has made him stronger, more grateful, and a better leader for his family and community. As a Fort Collins native and CSU alumnus, his deep local roots fuel his commitment to community service. "This is what I know, this is what I love," he says of his hometown, highlighting how Two College Movers exists not just as a business but as a way to serve the community he cherishes.

Ready to experience moving done differently?  Find them online at https://twocollegemovers.com/ or follow them on Facebook to see how Allen and his team are changing the moving industry one careful move at a time.

Speaker 1:

A couple of seconds.

Speaker 2:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a dependable, affordable moving company powered by local college muscle? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing to you your good neighbor, alan Vargas. With two college movers, alan, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going great today. Yeah, how's it going with you, Nick?

Speaker 1:

Awesome. We're excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your company.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we first opened up in 2012. I was actually working for a moving company here locally for about four years prior to that. He actually took me under his wing. He used to work for or, sorry, he used to own a franchise, and then we decided to branch off kind of from there and start our own business in Boulder, Colorado. Around that time he decided to actually get back into oil and gas and I was about to become a father, so I took some time off kind of from that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, Alina, and with that I decided I needed to generate a little bit more income. Had a good experience learning the business out on the trucks, being able to manage the office, do the back-end stuff, so decided to kind of give it my world and start my own moving company. Two College Movers, pretty much in conjunction with the birth of my daughter, which is now 13.

Speaker 1:

Wow, what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, you know that's. You know, I would say movers kind of somewhat have a bad rap, like they're going to show up, they're going to break all your items. You know they're going to be smoking on the job. You know stuff of that nature. Um, you know, for, for us, you know we we try to hire, you know, college guys. Um, you know, we, we we really focus on culture. And you know, for us, you know, finding guys that you know have good communication, you know a positive attitude, learning, and you know, want to learn and grow, and we try to kind of bring in people that want to serve people. So, yeah, you know, not all movers are, you know, ex-felons or anything of that nature. You know we have some great college guys. Not everybody here is in college. You know we have guys that have been moving for five, six years.

Speaker 1:

So you know a good array of people.

Speaker 3:

Awesome. Who are your target customers? How do you attract them? Now, yeah, target customers, you know I mean pretty much anybody that's going to be moving. You know right now for us, you know single family homes, you know kind of the ideal kind of customer is. You know you have somebody in the household that's just, you know, really busy, a little overwhelmed, you know, with the moving process and needs to be pretty much hands off. So you know we come in there, we'll go ahead and pad wrap all your furniture. We break down all the furniture. You know we'll go ahead and pad wrap all your furniture. We break down all the furniture. You know we'll go ahead and move it into our moving truck and then, you know, during that process there we'll take it to the new location. You know, unwrap your furniture, set it back up, place it into the areas of the home that you'd like. So ultimately, you know our goal is to just have that process hands off for you.

Speaker 1:

Outside of work. What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, most definitely. I've been practicing jujitsu for about three years. I've got the whole family in it. My daughter's actually been the one doing it the longest. We got her in when she was six. I made it a goal of mine to stop saying I was too busy to do it. And you know, three years ago I got myself into it, convinced the wife to do it, and then I have a nine-year-old son and we got him into it about seven years.

Speaker 1:

Let's switch gears. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger? What comes to?

Speaker 3:

mind. You know, when you know being, I would say, kind of younger, just battling addiction, you know I've been, I've been sober for about three years now and you know just going through that process, you know wanting to focus on self-improvement and and just you know wanting to focus on self-improvement and and just you know trying to be a you know a better, all you know overall person. So I know, for my family, for my community, you know becoming, you know a, a leader for, for the people around me. So you know that that was very tough but it's most definitely made me stronger. I have a lot more gratitude and appreciation for the things around me.

Speaker 1:

And most definitely I would say you know a stronger person going through that.

Speaker 3:

Alan, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about two college movers yeah, most definitely. You know. I would say that we're really community based. We understand that. You know we're. I've been born and raised here in Fort Collins. This is what I know, this is what I love. I went to CSU and we're here to serve the community. You know, any way that we can, we try to to help out in any means necessary and we understand that we're a service-based business and it's important to provide a top-notch service. We do a lot of education with our guys within the business, which is really customer-focused.

Speaker 1:

How can our listeners learn more about Two College Movers?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, most definitely. You can go to our website www.2collegemoverscom. The two is spelled out T-W-O college and the movers is plural. You can always follow us on Facebook. We're always posting you know kind of jobs that we're doing Anytime we're doing anything out of state. I'd probably say that's the best way to do it.

Speaker 1:

Well, alan, I really appreciate you being on our show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward Awesome, thank you.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPFortCollinscom. That's GNPFortCollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.