If you think carefully about it, no one would believe that a truck that offers moving services would become a big company, but here we are, with the Two Men and A Truck franchise proving everyone wrong.
This is one of the most well-known moving franchises in the United States. Despite starting very low and simple, it has expanded to over 300 locations, thanks to a great business plan and its franchising opportunity.
Here, we will discuss the history behind one of the biggest franchises to this date, what an initial investment for franchisees would be like, and if it is a great option to start making money.
How Everything Started: With Two Men and A Truck
You might think we were joking when we mentioned a truck and nothing else, but we were pretty serious about it.
Not many people believe this franchise’s history until they actually go over the details.
Two Men and A Truck was founded in 1980 by two brothers to earn extra money while in high school, Jon and Brig Sorber.
Those brothers started moving people around the Lansing area with an old pickup truck. Mary Ellen Sheets, their mother, designed a logo for them to use in a weekly community newspaper, which continues to be used on every truck sign and advertisement.
When the two brothers had to leave for college, they left behind a lot of responsibility to their mother. However, she took the lead.
Sheets was still available to answer calls regarding moving services and continued to work a full-time job as a data processor for the State of Michigan.
With many calls and clients coming in, she decided to go public in 1985 by buying a 14-foot truck at $350 and hiring two movers.
Thanks to her effort in the company and her knowledge in data analysis and dedication to customer service, she was chosen to be a part of a business panel in 1988 at Michigan State University.
During this event, she never thought that a fellow partner would suggest what today became one of the best business opportunities: start franchising her moving business.
Franchising at Its Best
After the suggestion, Sheets decided to consult with a specialist in the matter to guide her through the entire process.
This took her to something she didn’t know: the USA needed more moving services throughout the states than anyone would believe.
Therefore, in 1989, she finally gave the first location outside of Michigan to Melanie Bergeron, her daughter in Atlanta, GA.
With this big step, Sheets was able to continuously bring more people into the business and expand the services in the U.S.
Once the company had reached 39 franchises, she asked her daughter to assume the company’s presidency since Sheets was also interested in a seat at the Michigan State Senate.
In the middle of the 1990s, Brig and Jon reunited with their mother and older sister to form a team.
Brig has held multiple executive positions over the years, including President, Co-CEO, and now as Chief Brand Officer, while Jon remains the executive vice president.
To this date, Bergeron is now the chairman of the board and has taken Two Men And A Truck to be a company in the USA and franchises in Canada.
Best Option to Become A Franchisee?
If there’s something good about franchise opportunities is the fact that they are real. You don’t have to deal with scams nor worry about having to start from zero.
However, becoming a franchisee in ANY company isn’t the move, and if you want to make sure you don’t end wasting your money and time, you’ll need to choose right after some research and reading time.
In the case of Two Men and A Truck, we are unable to say that it is a bad idea when it isn’t.
After all, it isn’t one of the best franchises in the USA for nothing, but if it is this good, why would people continue to hesitate about investing in it?
All businesses come with pros and cons, and this one isn’t the exception.
To understand what we’re talking about, let us be straightforward: investing in it can be pretty expensive.
Starting a new franchise costs thousand, and despite having a company’s support, you’re still betting on it without knowing if, in the end, it will be successful.
The probabilities of it being a success are high, but you need to consider all the expenses that come with it initially and over time.
To franchise with the company, you need a minimum net worth of $160.000, and the initial investment ranges from $180k to $600k.
Regardless of how much you end up spending between this range, it is clearly a lot of money. However, the company indeed offers you to pay for the investment, a financing option, or third-party support.
When it started franchising in 1989, not many options were available for people to join, but now, it makes it easier to continue expanding locations.
But besides numbers, what we want to know is what does this investment include:
- Training and classes to cover all the company’s services: junk removal, moving, storage, packing, and variations of these main ones.
- Real estate expenses and build-out are covered.
- Supplies, vehicles, and support are provided.
- Marketing support and advertising.
- Website build and intranet.
- Authority fees.
The main reason behind the variation of your initial investment lies in the authority fees, store location, and trucks.
Since all those prices vary depending on your state or if you’re in the USA or Canada, the company needs to work on logistics and go over the process of placing the franchise in your location.
Pros & Cons: Why Work (Or Not) With Two Men and A Truck
The most significant difference when you start a store on your own or decide to franchise with a company is clear: you don’t have to work to build your reputation. Instead, you have to worry about maintaining it.
Of course, both tasks are challenging, but you’re saving a lot of time when deciding to work with a franchise that has been around since 1985.
Did we just give you one of the pros? Definitely, but opportunities are not everything about pros but also cons and several ones from each side:
Pros:
- Working with a company with experience, good reputation, and excellent franchisee services and support.
- Own a business without starting by yourself.
- Training and support are provided and always available.
- Marketing and advertising assistance.
Cons:
- A lot of money is required to start.
- You won’t start making money in a few days or weeks. It takes months even to have your investment returned.
- Working full-time and investing lots of time.
- Franchisee fees will always remain.
In our opinion, the most noticeable disadvantage is not having enough money to fund the investment, and even if you do (regardless of the option you choose from the company as the third-party financing), it is hard to know when you will be able to enjoy your earnings or pay back the entire investment.
Also, you will be dealing with a lot of work regardless of the phase you’re in, starting or after years in the business.
Therefore, consider if you can afford the initial investment and the fact of having to wait over a year or even two before you’re able to notice the benefits (if you’re successful in the process).
Is Being A Franchisee the Worst Alternative?
If you want your own business and have a great reputation thanks to being part of a nationwide company with good services and history, it isn’t bad.
Don’t get us wrong, franchising with Two Men and A Truck, in particular, isn’t the worst option. Not even a bad one.
Everything is about perspective, and if we have to give you an objective one, that would be telling you to take your time to assess the situation and come up with a decision.
We believe it is a good opportunity when you can afford the investment, are interested in the business model, and feel like it is what you’ve been looking for.
However, we don’t consider it the best option.
Being a franchisee will lead to continuous work, and despite this being amazing, it has the word “hard” before: hard work.
It is hard to know when you will be able to have some rest when you start this business model, and, as a result, you can end up like those who always work and make money but never get to enjoy it.
Therefore, the idea is good in terms of profitability, but in what it involves, not so much.
We have a preference for online alternatives that can be done from home or anywhere, don’t require as much investment, and allow you to opt for passive income later on.
One of the best experiences we’ve had is with digital real estate.
This business model is simple to understand.
Imagine you have a client with a tree business, and the main focus is to bring clients to it (like every company wants).
Nowadays, bringing clients means you have to build a presence online and not only in the old fashion way, which leads to your role in this process: building a site that can generate leads.
Those leads are the clients YOUR client wants and needs, and they will be generated by ranking the website you’re building on Google with proper SEO and tools. You don’t need to pay for advertisements but rather work around organic traffic.
When you start generating leads after ranking the site, your client needs to pay a commission per lead.
This can take a lot of work initially, but once you establish, rank, and generate leads with one and several sites, you will continue to get money from them. Boom! Passive income achieved.
What About the Franchise?
If you want to stick with the idea of franchising, you could see digital real estate as an additional business that doesn’t require so much effort and can do in your free time.
However, this option is all about lead generation, and you can consider it a way to work on your own leads and building your site. There won’t be a need to pay for someone else’s services for this.
So, you got two options: consider it your new business idea or work with Two Men and A Truck while also learning how to generate your leads.
Either way, getting started does require knowledge, a set of skills, and training.
For this, a training program we’re familiar with includes all the information and steps you’ll have to take.
Did we move some feelings inside you? Here’s more info you’ll need!
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