Get An MBA Or Buy A Franchise?

Many college undergrads and recent grads are contemplating whether to obtain an MBA. While often viewed as a career accelerator, an MBA does require major commitments of money and time.

Usually, there are four determining factors: cost, time involved, return on investment and job market. But, now there’s a fifth consideration: get an MBA or spend the same amount of money to purchase a franchise?

To pay for an MBA, most people work part-time at low wages while enrolled, deplete their personal or parents’ savings, and obtain student loans that must be repaid. However, going the franchise route can provide a fast and lifetime income that often exceeds the income of those with MBAs.

After graduation, with a degree in Business Administration, from the University of Denver in December 2008, 23-year-old Tanner White considered getting his master’s degree. He then weighed his options.

“I’d spend the same amount of money pursuing a MBA as I would to become a businessowner,” said Tanner. “If I got my master’s degree it wouldn’t guarantee a job, especially in today’s job market. Plus, I most certainly would not be my own boss.”

Tanner purchased a portion of the Denver College Hunks Hauling Junk in June of 2009 from Nathaniel Bruno, who was the sole owner, and is very pleased with his investment. “I don’t think that pursuing a MBA is a bad idea” said Tanner, “but for me taking control of my future rather than hoping for opportunities obtained through a master’s degree seemed like the best path.”

According to Nick Friedman, president of College Hunks Hauling Junk, several of his franchise owners are recent college graduates, which is not the typical franchise owner profile.”Rather than spending $95,000 and two years getting an MBA, more and more people are using the money to open a franchise,” said Friedman. “And, in less than two years they own a cash-producing asset.”

Friedman and his business partner, Omar Soliman, brought a clean-cut image to junk removal by recruiting college students to haul away customers’ unwanted items. The temporary summer gig started in 2005 has grown into a multi-truck, multi-million-dollar franchise operation with locations across the country.

“Franchising allows people to go into business for themselves but not by themselves,” Friedman said. “It offers a much more secure method of entrepreneurship.” New franchisees get five days of training at “Junk University” in Tampa to learn every aspect of the business. The company focuses on branding, marketing, community involvement and recycling efforts.

Just like college, parents can invest in their child’s future by helping fund the business.Tanner’s parents helped their son by co-signing the loan for the franchise. “This is a great business,” said Tanner. “It’s fun, you do a lot for the community and can make a great deal of money if you follow the franchise formula.”

View the full press release

August 31st, 2009

Ask The Junk Hunks a Question

Here are a few questions that we get asked regularly:

1. Where do you take the stuff?

A: We recycle over 60% of the items we remove: the metal, computer equipment, appliances, and renovation debris are all separated at the transfer centers. As a perk for our college employees, we allow them to keep a lot of the items they find on the job. The remaining items are either donated or disposed of if they’re purely junk.

2. Is everyone really a hunk or in college?

A: ‘Hunk’ is a subjective term so we always tell people they can join our screening panel. But really we try to hire clean-cut, friendly and professional collegiate teams to give our clients the best experience possible. The majority of our employees are college students, especially during the summertime, but we also have a lot of part-time students and recent graduates on our team as well.

3. What’s the craziest junk you’ve seen?

A: Some of the more valuable items include boxes of mint-condition vintage playboys, a Gibson Guitar worth $1,500, and a storage unit full of autographed Willie Mays and Hank Aaron balls and bats.

Do you have questions that haven’t been answered here? Post your question in the comments or ask us via Twitter for an immediate answer!

August 25th, 2009

College Hunks Takes a Dip in the Shark Tank

College Hunks Hauling Junk’s founders, Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman, appeared on the first episode of the new reality show Shark Tank this past Sunday, August 9th on ABC. The Shark Tank TV show regularly airs on ABC at 9/8c.

The show features entrepreneurs pitching new business ideas to a panel of mega-moguls, aka the sharks. Omar and Nick pitch College Foxes Packing Boxes as a new business idea, but the sharks aren’t letting them off the hook. Watch to see what goes down when the sharks try to sink their teeth into College Hunks Hauling Junk! It get’s intense with the sharks trying to take them for all they have!

VIDEO:
Full Episode (We are the last to go on the show… fast forward to the end)

Post TV Show Interview with Nick and Omar

August 21st, 2009