Little Guys Movers History
All things here should be known as truth. These are the events and decisions that began the enigma we have come to love as Little Guys Movers. It is a company culture like none other, a strong brotherhood comprised of those with great will and "conquer all" attitudes. We are a group of callous handed life lovers. It has been a rough journey from meager beginnings. We are a company built on sweat, stiff backs, and the simple philosophy of "do the right thing by people and you will be rewarded".
1992
Marcus Watson moved to Denton from Abilene to attend the University of North Texas, but his concentration was more recreational in nature. Tired of smoking BBQ for a living, he approached an acquaintance that operated a company he called Big Guy Movers. Over several barley sodas, Marcus accepted a cash offer to move some furniture. Big Guy Movers consisted of a 1972 Chevy Long Bed, and an ad in the Denton Record Chronicle. The day was spent with Marcus solo moving while the "Big Guy" concentrated on the driving. At the end of his only day of employment, Marcus got $20 of the $150 job. Spitting bitter was he.
He decided that working for others was not his bag and set out on his own. He teamed up with a longtime Abilene friend Chris Mercer, and Denton homeboy Mike Barber. Each brought their Toyota pickups to the table. They placed an ad under Big Guy Movers' in the same local paper announcing Little Guys Movers, and a company was born. The Big Guy Movers would be out of business in a matter of weeks.
1993
One of the first moves was a two story, four bedroom house. The two Toyota pickups, and the customers truck, were loaded up and caravanned to the new location. The customer paid $450 and Little Guys Movers had their first trailer the next day. It was a boat trailer converted to a flatbed complete with one-inch gaps in the floor. There were no walls or ceiling. Weather permitting; moves were completed all summer using the flatbed and lots of rope. By the fall, enough money had been made to build walls and a ceiling out of plywood and corrugated metal. That old boat trailer was now an enclosed cargo trailer, but it never did have a back door. Rope was used at the end of the load in a spider web method to hold customers' belongings. To pull the new creation, Marcus acquired a 1979 Ford F-150 from an auto impound for $100. It was not much to look at, ugly brown and severely dented, and affectionately become known as "The Turd". You have never seen a truck go farther on less oil, it would move for years.
Around that time it was brought to Chris Mercer's attention that this type of work was not for him and he left the company. There was no permanent location, the office (a phone and answering machine) was moved from home to home in order to keep one step ahead of the city's code enforcement.
1994
Little Guys Movers' first real office was created behind the Bike-O-Rama bike shop on Denton's Locust Street. It consisted of a 30' x 70' cinder block warehouse with an exposed toilet and sink in the corner, broken windows, and a flat roof that leaked like Niagara Falls. This environment went through several modifications such as "The Bio-Dome" (an attempt to control the moisture and cold) and "The Roof Within", which was meant to control the water leak from inside the building.
At this point, Chris Hawley and Trey Johnson are working as some of Little Guys Movers' first full time employees. Times are tough, and employees are lucky to make $100 week. Most of the time was spent overhauling engines, pulling, rebuilding, and reinstalling transmissions, working on the trailers, doing some moving, and hanging out working on the company culture. Chris and Trey were made full partners after six months of dedicated work and much beer drinking.
A second truck was added in the form of a 1979 red Ford. Its long bed and crew cab came in handy but it went through two engines and several transmissions. A second trailer was also added. A local welder built a frame around a 12' flatbed. A galvanized sheet metal skin was than screwed down. The new trailer was christened "The Silver Bullet" and would be destined to do many movers over many miles.
1995
In 1995 Little Guys Movers relocated to "The Barn" on Denton County's Cooper Creek Road, one hundred yards outside the city's limits. The change was drastic, from cement floors and walls, to an open face barn with dirt floors and salvaged corrugated metal walls. The original trailer was placed in the corner of the barn and incorporated as part of the structure. Free from city codes, the trailer was run with electricity and set up as an office. The Barn was home for the next two and a half years. Some of the perks included a dirt driveway, a water moccasin laden pond, two cows, a horse named Sox, a pen full of rare Ibex Mountain Goats and a group of musicians who lived on the property. Due to back injury and a promising musical career, Trey Johnson leaves the company.
1996
The company began to accumulate a few employees who began to work themselves into the framework of the organization. The brave souls and unique personalities who nurtured the growing culture included Carl Ramsey, Matt Whestone, Eric Eisenmann, Reiner Krämer, Mark Wright and Buck Bendickson. The first yellow page ad appeared and sales grew with the reputation of those hard working, fun loving Little Guys. In May, Chad Nichols approached the partnership after completing his Masters in Business Administration from the University of North Texas. He came to the partnership with new ideas of organization, structure, and a vision far beyond The Barn. This was the start of a series of substantial changes that catapulted Little Guys Movers into the next chapter of their lineage. Mike Barber chose to leave the partnership in search of a career in Applied Ceramics. He entered the graduate program and instructed courses at the University of North Texas. Mike was a key driving force for the company and would be missed.
They acquired two more pickup trucks and a new WW brand 16' box trailer. It was not long before they purchased a second 20' WW trailer and began to rent trucks to do even larger moves. By the end of the year a real company begins to take form, including incorporation and twelve full time employees.
1997
In February, Little Guys Movers relocated to town. A newly built commercial warehouse was transformed over the next two years to include an operations room, show room, corporate office and conference room. The company purchased their first new truck, a 1997 Freightliner FL70 named Great White. It marked the end of the pickup and trailer days, and became the flagship of a growing fleet.
After a booming summer of huge sales growth, the partners decided to take the leap to multiple locations. San Marcos, the jewel of Texas' Hill Country was selected for its similarities to Denton. In October, the San Marcos location was off and running in both sales and culture. Mark Wright and Reiner Krämer were the pioneers of Little Guys Movers' first satellite shop. Hiring locally, they soon had a team of Little Guys very similar to those in Denton. It reinforced the notion that Little Guys can be found anywhere. Within six months, San Marcos had its own new Freightliner and a staff of eleven employees.
1998
While on a fly-fishing trip in Wyoming, Chad randomly spent the night in Fort Collins, Colorado. A beautiful collage town was discovered and by August, Chris, Marcus, and Chad arrived to search for Little Guys Movers' third location. It was a big step leaving the great state of Texas, but it was good to diversify (to not have all your eggs in the same regional economic basket). Mark Wright, the designated opener, joined Matt Whetstone and Brandon Fry setting up shop in a building on North Collage.
It quickly became clear that Fort Collins was a Little Guys town. Employees who complemented the company culture were readily available, and the community embraced the hard working little company. It was a long, dark winter, but the Fort Collins location emerged profitable and ingrained in the foothills town.
1999
With a foothold on the Front Range, the next opportunity lay just down the road. They put moving companies in towns where people wanted to live and Colorado Springs is one of the most livable cities in America. It was their first venture into such a large metropolis and much was to be learned.
Eric Eisenmann, Jay McCoy, and Dwight Maskew loaded up and headed west. Unfortunately there was no place to unload. A make shift office was set up in Eric's dining room and moving commenced. His understanding wife Nikki put up with them for a month before a shop was found. Life in the big city proved difficult and it took a long time for the ripples from their splash to cross that large pond. Word spread much faster in their smaller communities, but they set in for the long haul. By focusing on their customers and the building of the culture, steady growth was achieved.
2000
It is the year 2000. Y-2 what? We didn't think so either and decided to open our newest store location in Norman, Oklahoma. The pioneers of the sooner state are Jay McCoy, Kevin Kalka, and Andrew McCalla. Norman welcomed us with open arms and a love for down home good service. If you have never been, the people of Oklahoma are beautiful, kind to a point beyond gracious. Little Guys Movers is proud to be part of that.
2001
The Norman location comes alive with the resurgence of the town itself, rejuvenated by the return to prominence of the Sooner Football program. Colorado Springs, our largest community, begins to embrace the Little Guys phenomenon. Sales continue to grow in each of the five locations as the culture expands to over one hundred strong. There are current and former Little Guys roaming the country and the sightings of branded t-shirts stretches from Fairbanks, Alaska to Cancun, Mexico. Then, in one September day it was all put in perspective, community before profits and an American company above all else.
2002
At the ten-year anniversary the number of moves completed pushes 100,000. The growth has been built on sweat and determined attitudes. Sales have gone from less than $50,000 a year to over $2.6 million. The business that was spawned by the need for college beer money is now an economic force in five cities and three states. To work hard and do right by people is a simple concept, rewarded by those communities served. Our goal of becoming ingrained in each town is achieved, with Little Guys the first thought in moving, even before those big guy corporate giants that terrorize the highways.
2003
2003 brought a new economy and while the housing market remained healthy, compared to other segments, disposable income to hire moving companies shrank. To restructure and remain profitable during such economic down turns is difficult, to become even more profitable is a huge accomplishment. Many of the original names remain intact although some shifting has occurred. Eric Eisemann and Buck Bendickson run the original Denton location. San Marcos has been taken over by Josh Dupree. Brandon Fry manages Fort Collins with the return of the legendary Mark Wright. Hometown boy Adam Bobay captains Colorado Springs. In Norman Jay McCoy and Nick Shelton are as familiar as Boomer Sooner and Shane Onstead joined the partners at the national level.
After eleven years of spelunking pitfalls, developing concepts, and honing systems, the focus turns to franchising nation wide. Decentralization has always been a key to our success and franchising takes that mold one step further. If you are interested in creating history with us, click on the franchising tab and you can have your own Little Guys Movers.
2004
2004 started off with a much-needed respite in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for our annual meeting. As usual, good times were had by all. This year brought a whole new era to the Little Guys saga with the conception of the Little Guys Movers Franchising Program. This lengthy process will eventually enable the spread of Little Guys Movers ownership around the country. Josh moved the San Marcos shop away from the highway and closer to the downtown square. Brandon Fry and Mark Wright also made a move from our long time location on College to their new shop on Pinon.
2005
2005 was a year of refection and regrouping. With a couple of great years behind us, it may just be human nature to become flat footed at times. While sales maintained a healthy level, growth was slowed somewhat and required some extra attention to re-energize the machine. Buck and Eric kept things under control in Denton. Josh is still in San Marcos. Brandon Fry unexpectedly left Fort Collins and was replaced with crew leaders Zach Smith and Brian Dillon. Both new managers proceeded to breathe much needed life back into the Fort Collins store. Adam Bobay maintained a foothold on the enormous Colorado Springs market while Nick and Jay continue to love life in Norman, OK.
2006
What a year 2006 turned out to be. After a successful annual meeting in Denton, all managers found themselves newly aligned and invigorated. Long time Denton manager Buck Bendickson picked 2006 as the year he would split off and open his own franchise in McKinney, Texas. This courageous move created a void J.D. Patton was ready and able to fill, joining Eric Eisenmann at the helm. San Marcos mastermind Josh Dupree amazed the masses with his one-man show that produced an exceptional year. Josh was also able to juggle a move into his new shop just before ramping into the busy season. Fort Collins hard hitter Brian Dillon tipped his hat to the crowd and exited the scene after a very influential year and a half of great effort! He will be missed by all. Brian's exit left Shawn McNeiley chomping at the bit and he was soon moved into the office alongside Zach Smith to continue on with a stellar year. Colorado Springs had a changing of the guard as Adam Bobay focused on a different life direction. Canadian import and long time master crew-leader, Russ Bried was approached by the partners to fill the position and readily took on the challenge. Nick Shelton and Jay McCoy kept things well under control in Norman, OK.
2007
Lubbock, Texas is the place and David Conklin is the face for the first Little Guys franchise. We found the perfect partner to share our name. With David's great mind and incredible energy, Little Guys Lubbock takes off like a rocket, and by the end of the year Lubbock has surpassed all projections.
2008
2008 was a pretty tumultuous year with lots of changes and a severe recession. Little Guys was really feeling the effects of the economy by October and decided to close the Colorado Springs location to focus on more similar markets to our proven locations. A little facelift to the Norman image and a move into a sweet location on the corner of Porter and Gray streets provided much better visibility, no leaks, and cheaper utilities. This was the second time Little Guys took a leap of faith and opened doors when the economy had fallen into a recession. Now it was survival mode! Cutting back everywhere we could on the frivolous expenses was priority one. We closed our eyes and held on tight, and by the end of the year we'll be damned if we weren't more profitable than the year before even though we had less sales! Go figure!
Chad Nichols decided to leave the company in pursuit of bigger and better things (we can't imagine what that is either!) so Marcus and Chris bought his share.
Thanks to the efforts of crew leaders Leonard Euresti, Michael Lang, and Ryan Adams, San Marcos combatted and conquered some pretty poor management long enough for Marcus and Chris to figure out what was going on and swoop in to make changes. Mike Lang has taken the lead role and it feels like Little Guys again.
2009
With the economy still in the pooper, we figured it would be the perfect time to expand! Sticking with our tradition of existing in great places to live, our search landed us in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In the past, all Little Guys head managers had been put through the moving ringer and were promoted from within the company. Marcus and Chris set about finding a location for the new shop, and in one visit found a local "Little Guy," Joseph Barnes, in Fayetteville to take the helm and steer the new store to success.
Babies, babies, babies! With the growth of our families we continue to focus on the growth of our empire. Bwaa haa haa!
2010
Joseph Barnes arrived in Denton for training and stuck around for the annual company meeting in January. He got to know the seasoned Little Guys managers, soaked up buckets of knowledge from them, and brought it all back to AK with him. Before we knew it, Fayetteville was up and running, and the Northwest Arkansas region embraced the new Little Guys with open arms.
Denton (The Mother Ship) desperately needs a new location. We have been in the same building since 1997 and had outgrown the parking by 2002. Because we can park an 18,000 pound truck on a dime and leave a nickel in change, we were able to make it last longer than it should have! We found a great spot with plenty of parking so when the economy bounces back we could expand to 10 trucks. J.D. Patton's expertise was much needed in the beautiful Fort Collins, CO. To his chagrin, he moved his family up to the "Best Place to Live in the USA" (according to us and CNN).
We had the July managers meeting west of New Braunfels on the Guadalupe. The theme was "LET'S GROW! Look for a couple of new stores in February of 2011.
New meat Bradley Steiger and Jeff Barnard, a 10 year veteran Crew Leader, joined the Denton Operations Team to head up the goal of running 8 trucks this summer, with success I might add.
We contracted with an impressive marketing company, Produce Results, a Denton Ad Agency to focalize our marketing needs. Our website was completely rebuilt and they helped us create new ways to give back to our communities' people in need.
2011
Encouraged by the success of the newest location in Fayetteville, Arkansas Little Guys decided to keep the ball rolling and open a location in yet another state. After much research, Murfreesboro, Tennessee was chosen. After a single visit from Marcus and Eric, a great location and a great guy were found. John Manning, father of two, was hired to take the reins in Tennessee.
This year also brought another Little Guys location in the form of David Conklin's second franchise in Bryan-College Station Texas. After a month of training in Denton, Grant Rollo was brought in as the head honcho in Aggieland. Lubbock was in dire need of some assistance after record-breaking sales, and David hired Michael Pruitt as the Head Manager of Lubbock.
The Fayetteville store continued its phenomenal growth, and Ian Shell was a welcome addition to the family giving support to Barnes as his Operations Director.
After 15 years of dedicated service in the trenches, Eric Eisenmann transferred to the National HQ to team up with Shane Onstead as United States Logistics Commander.
Hold on to your horses kids, because we will open two more locations in 2012!
