75 percent of the nation's largest moving franchise's management staff started out in entry level positions with the company.
By providing a career path for entry level employees, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® has proven that it takes its core purpose seriously — Moving People Forward®. During the company’s fourth annual Career Move Month campaign, a month dedicated to recruiting new hires to join the rapidly expanding brand, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® also pauses to recognize management staff and franchisees who started out at entry level — whether they were movers and drivers or marketing specialists and general managers.
There’s no shortage of people to celebrate; in fact one in every three franchisees in the more than 330 location system started out as a mover or driver.
"A big factor in our brand's success and consistent growth is the commitment we have to all levels of staff, giving them the tools to succeed and move up within our brand," said Jeff Wesley, CEO of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®. “Ideally we want everyone to have the opportunity to open their own location one day if they find they are passionate enough about the brand to make it their own business.”
In an effort to continue expanding on the yearly initiative focused on grooming young talent, the brand also introduced Mary Ellen's Moving People Forward® Scholarship program in 2015, named after the company founder, Mary Ellen Sheets. This initiative was created to show system managers the ropes through various training opportunities and eventually mold them into successful franchisees themselves.
With so many franchisees that started out as exactly the type of young talent the scholarship program targets, there’s plenty of advice to go around for up and coming employees interested in franchise ownership one day.
Justin Tangeman and Tyler Whalen both started working for TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® upon graduating from college with the thought that it would be a summer job as a mover to pay the bills. Tangeman, who started in 2008, quickly moved up to a general manager position of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa location where he hired Whalen as a mover in 2010. The pair worked closely together and they eventually moved up through the ranks.
“I think we both looked at our jobs as a way to cover the bills while we looked for our careers,” said Tangeman. “Little did we know our careers had already begun.”
Tangeman started his path to ownership by purchasing a part of the Tulsa, Oklahoma franchise in 2012, where he then brought on Whalen as his general manager.
“By that point the corporate office knew who we were and that we were both interested in buying our own location and getting closer to our families, and they really supported us in that endeavor,” Whalen said.
Last May, Tangeman and Whalen purchased the Omaha, Nebraska location with carefully calculated goals to double annual revenue from $3 million to $6 million and grow its staff from 35 to 100 over the next five years — to which end, they are well on their way.
“That summer moving job paid off in ways I never would have expected,” said Tangeman.
With similar beginnings that took them across the country, both Nick Roerig and Gordon Shaffer started with the company as movers in Columbus, Ohio in 2002 where they learned the ropes in preparation for their transfers to manage the Las Vegas, Nev., and Mesa, Ariz., locations respectively.
“By that time, we knew each other quite well and had a solid understanding of the different facets and roles of this business — we felt we had gathered the knowledge and experience to be successful as owners,” said Roerig.
The pair purchased the Brentwood-Franklin, Tenn., location in 2012 and a second location in Dallas. Ga., last year.
"Everyone deserves a fulfilling career where they can grow and make a difference in their community," Wesley said. "We want to foster that opportunity by providing new job options for long-term careers at every level of our organization. We are so much more than a moving company. We're in this business to change people's lives."
*This brand is a paid partner of 1851 Franchise. For more information on paid partnerships please click here.
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