Editor’s Pick
I ask the Interviewees to be honest in their answers. Remove the marketing fluff. This helps you, the reader, to connect with them – to see their accomplishments as achievable by anyone who has desire, determination and is willing to work hard. I loved Omar’s interview because it is just SO real.
My day was a lot like the movie Office Space. I worked in a small cubicle and never really understood who exactly my boss was. I would usually arrive to work miserable and check email for an hour. . . Today I am the CEO of a junk removal company called College Hunks Hauling Junk. We are the largest US based junk removal franchise with locations in over 25 cities across the country.
Omar Soliman
CEO
College Hunks Hauling Junk
What was your previous career?
My previous career was very short lived. Upon graduating college I took a job at a Health Care research firm in Washington DC. The company is a publicly traded firm that is pretty well known in the health care consulting world. I worked there for about 6 months before I quit in order to start my business.
What was an average day like?
My day was a lot like the movie Office Space. I worked in a small cubicle and never really understood who exactly my boss was. I would usually arrive to work miserable and check email for an hour. Then would work until lunch. My house was 3 blocks from the office so I would usually go home for lunch and complain to my mom (I was still living at home) about how much I disliked working. I would usually go home depressed and wonder how in the world I was supposed to do this for 30 more years.
What is your new Career?
Today I am the CEO of a junk removal company called College Hunks Hauling Junk. We are the largest US based junk removal franchise with locations in over 25 cities across the country. We hire friendly, clean-cut, collegiate teams to remove trash, debris and junk from residential and commercial properties. College Hunks Hauling Junk has been seen on Oprah, Readers Digest, CNBC, New York Times, FOX Business and was named the 156th fastest growing company in the nation by INC magazines annual INC 500 list.
What is an average day like?
I don’t really have an average day because every day is different. Some days I am traveling, other days I am meeting with prospective franchisees. Most the time I am at our corporate HQ in Tampa, FL working with my team to continue to grow our brand.
Why Change?
I wasn’t happy. I wanted freedom, I wanted to be able to use everything that I am good at. Creativity, vision, being a people person. I felt like these qualities were being extinguished in the environment I was in.
How did you make the leap?
My best friend Nick worked at an equally miserable corporate job down the street. We had been talking about starting the business that I wrote a business plan for in college called College Hunks Hauling Junk. The business plan had won 1st place in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition at the University of Miami. So we were emailing back in forth talking about how much we hated our jobs when Nick asked me “What is your timeline for starting the business?” and I responded in all capital letters “MY TIMELINE IS RIGHT NOW.” So I quit my job a few weeks later and began making the preparations to start the business.
How did you fund your business?
We had some money saved up from working. We didn’t need much money to start, we just needed a truck loan for our 1st truck. After getting turned down by a number of financial institutions Bank of America finally decided to loan us the money for the truck.
Silliest thing about your former occupation?
The silliest thing about the place I worked at was the fact that I really did not know who my direct boss was. I reported to a couple people but there was not one person I could pinpoint as being my “boss.”
Misconceptions about what you do now?
When you own a company called College Hunks Hauling Junk misconceptions come with the territory. In terms of people’s misconceptions of what I do I think there are different variations. Some people still think I work on a truck hauling junk all day. Some people think I sit back and don’t need to do any work. Some people think our office is like a frat house. Unfortunately or fortunately these are not true.
How do you stay motivated?
We stay motivated based on reaching our vision. Three years ago we wrote down how we saw our company in 5 years. Our motivation and drive comes from trying to reach that vision. It’s almost eerie how much some of the pipe dreams we wrote down have come to fruition.
How do you deal with Jealousy?
This is such a fascinating question and its one I have never been asked before. Jealousy was one thing I never really thought of before I started my journey in entrepreneurship. But certainly when you are young and successful it is something that starts to crop up.
I think as long as we stay humble and hungry people will respect us. Nothing was handed to us and we have worked hard to get to this point. A lot of rappers talk about “haters” in their songs these are people that don’t like them just because they don’t like seeing others succeed. It exists in all walks of life, you cant let what others think about you sway you from your journey. Regardless of whether it’s good or bad.
How have you dealt with failure as an entrepreneur?
There is only one certainty that every entrepreneur will deal with…and that’s failure. The best entrepreneurs are the ones who can continuously fail without falling down. I have learned so much more from my failures than from my successes. I know that my next go around will be that much easier because I know what to watch out for.
Would you say to those who believe they need a formal education to change careers?
Its hard not to shake my head in dissatisfaction at those that think a formal education is the key to a career change. Education is the key to making yourself a better person it is not the key to a better career. The book Rich Dad Poor Dad states that the Poor dad gets an education so as to find a company to work for where as the Rich dad gets an education to figure out which company he wants to buy. Obviously not everyone can go around buying companies but this points out the misconception of education. The true entrepreneurs educate themselves so as to make decisions that will help them reach their goals. They do not get educations because society or other people expect it.
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A portion of the revenue from your job is donated to a college scholarship fund, CollegeBound.
If you could share 1 brief nugget of wisdom, what would it be?
Ideas mean nothing without actions.
How can we learn more about your business?
My website www.JunkUSA.com
My twitter: www.twitter.com/omarjunkman
Interesting! Curious whats next?