Whatever Happened To ...


by ylan Q. Mui seven years ago, Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman were childhood friends looking to make some extra money during summer break from college at home in Washington. They borrowed a cargo van from Soliman’s mother, a furniture store owner, and began helping local packrats get rid of unwanted stuff. College Hunks Hauling


Junk was born. The summer lark has since grown into a national franchise and turned Friedman and Soliman into millionaires. “This is us chasing the


omar soliman, left, and nick Friedman.


... The college hunks and their junk business


For the original story, go to washingtonpost.com/magazine.


(Continued from Page 3)


to cook. And when he was cooking, he always made a point to tell me why he was putting stuff into other stuff. If he put eggs in, he’d explain why that egg needed to be there. And the answer wasn’t because the recipe said so. I became a pretty good cook because I had to. My dad worked a lot, my mom traveled, so if I wanted to eat, I had to cook.


ANSWER Maria Shriver 4 The WashingTon PosT Magazine | June 6, 2010


vision,” Friedman, 28, said recently. The fledgling business was


featured in The Washington Post in 2005, but it grew quickly. A year later, Friedman


and Soliman expanded into new cities and now have about 100 employees in 28 locations from Richmond to Los Angeles. Their headquarters is in a Rockville warehouse, with a satellite office in Tampa. About 75 percent of the junk haulers are college students, Friedman said, and all must be friendly, clean-cut and collegial. When the business started, demand


for moving services was sky-high, given the housing boom. But as the housing market stumbled, Friedman said, they were forced to adjust by cleaning out


foreclosed homes and taking on larger commercial jobs, such as clearing out a store for a bankrupt retail chain. The recession also forced the guys


to hone the company’s mission: “You can hire us for anything a grandma would hire her grandson for,” Friedman said. A plan to expand into home organization (College Foxes Packing Boxes) has been put on hold. Still, running a $4 million business


in your 20s has its perks. The guys competed to win investment money (for the College Foxes venture) on the ABC show “Shark Tank” but declined to accept their winnings, which they said would have required them to turn over part ownership of their company. After that came a stint on Bravo’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker” in which the men were set up on semi-blind dates, but neither relationship lasted. These days, the friends are looking


forward to the release of their book, “The Effortless Entrepreneur,” in September. They also speak across the country about their experience.


VALUABLE JUNK


$10,000 // Te amount Omar Soliman won as a college senior for his junk removal business plan in the Leigh Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition


I got my start here as a line cook.


But as soon as I poked my head into where the brewing was happening, I wanted more. I wanted to know what they were putting into the vats and why and at what temperature and just everything. One Monday, the assistant to the brew master didn’t show up, and that was my chance. Being in those commercials


definitely helped me feel comfortable in just about any situation. I can jump in and not be intimidated. If I’m sitting


next to a lawyer, I don’t feel any “less than” because I just brew beer. If I’m at the bar with someone drinking my beer, I can take the criticism and the praise and just enjoy watching someone consume what I just made 30 feet away. I’m pretty tough, pretty thick-skinned. Growing up in New York helped, but so did sitting in front of a camera all day. I’ve never been in any of our


commercials, and don’t think I ever will. We like the beer to be the star.


PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF COLLEGE HUNKS HAULING JUNK


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