Nick Friedman Omar Soliman Speech Sizzle Reel Visionary Entrepreneurship Synapse at Amalie Arena
Omar Soliman
- Grew College HUNKS from a beat-up van in college to business empire with over 100 franchises and $300 million in annual sales
- Winner of prestigious Ernst and Young 'Entrepreneur of the Year' and co-author of best-selling business book, Effortless Entrepreneur
- TV personality appearing on the very first episode of ABC’s Shark Tank, Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker, and CNBC’s BlueCollar Millionaires
- Share his expertise on branding, leading teams, entrepreneurship, and creating a purpose-driven, customer-centric organization
- 2023 Entrepreneurs of the Year by International Franchise Association
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Over a decade ago, Omar Soliman was just twenty-two when he co-founded the junk removal company College Hunks Hauling Junk with childhood friend Nick Friedman. Started as an idea to earn some extra money over summer break, Soliman has turned College Hunks into a multimillion-dollar, national franchise with more than 130 locations – truly demonstrating what it means to be an entrepreneur.
The son of a furniture store owner, Soliman created College Hunks when he had the idea to borrow his mother’s beat-up cargo van and use it for junk-hauling. After a wildly successful summer, he and now business partner Friedman expanded the company into a full-time operation – creating a scalable business plan to win the University of Miami’s Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition and opening in Washington, D.C. After surpassing $1.2 million in revenue the first two years, he became one of the youngest franchisers in America at that time, growing the company into a national franchise and relocating its headquarters to Tampa, FL. College Hunks has since received numerous accolades including being ranked #30 on Entrepreneur’s ‘Top 500 New Franchises,’ named one of Inc.’s ‘500 Fastest Growing Companies,’ and one of Franchise Magazine’s ‘Franchise 500.’
As CEO, Soliman currently employs over 2,000 people nationwide and continues to develop College Hunks into an established brand that makes people smile, revolving around its core purpose: to “Move the World.” Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Soliman chronicles his personal entrepreneurial journey from van to franchise, while also motivating and advising audiences to do the same. Through lessons-learned from being CEO during College Hunks’ monumental business growth, he discusses what it means to create a purpose-driven, customer-centric organization, showcasing how to craft a world-class organization by creating relationships and emotional connections with clients.
Committed to helping more people become entrepreneurs, Soliman co-wrote the book, Effortless Entrepreneur: Work Smart, Play Hard, Make Millions, outlining ten common sense commandments to growing a successful company. Endorsed by moguls like Subway founder, Fred Deluca, and Ted Leonsis, vice chairman emeritus of AOL and owner of the Washington Capitols, the book has become a national best-seller and is a must-read for anyone looking to start a business.
A 2018 Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" winner and one of Inc.’s "Top 30 Entrepreneurs in America under 30," Soliman has appeared as a guest on major media outlets, including FOX Business News, MSNBC, the very first episode of ABC's hit TV show Shark Tank, and the season 11 premiere of CBS’s Undercover Boss. In 2023, he and College H.U.N.K.S. co-founder Nick Friedman were named Entrepreneurs of the Year by Tampa Bay Business & Wealth. He was also named a finalist for Tampa Bay CEO of the Year 2019. With a goal to excite the younger generation about entrepreneurship, he speaks at universities, high schools, corporate events, among others.
From Van to Franchise: A Hunk’s Entrepreneurial Journey. Over a decade ago, Omar Soliman was just twenty-two when he co-founded the junk removal company College Hunks Hauling Junk with childhood friend Nick Friedman. In this talk, the he tells the story of how they transformed a college summer gig (hauling junk with his mom’s van) into a multimillion-dollar, national franchise with more than 130 locations. Committed to helping more people become entrepreneurs, he provides lessons-learned from being CEO during College Hunks’ monumental business growth and shares an actionable framework for how groups can launch and grow a successful company through patience, persistence, and consistency.
Becoming & Building Better Leaders. Great leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. If you can't develop great leaders in your organization, you become a bottleneck to the explosive growth potential of your company. In this speech, Omar reveals that it all starts with becoming a Level-5 leader yourself, leading your team with humility and vision. Groups will learn how to get to the next level of leadership and improve their communication to, in turn, build better leaders. He discusses how they have perfected this process at their multimillion dollar national franchise, using College Hunk’s success to showcase the effectiveness of their leadership system. Sharing lessons-learned, Omar provides actionable takeaways for other organizations get to this next level of success as well.
Leading a Millennial Workforce. College Hunks Hauling Junk is one of the largest employers of millennials in the country and has even been featured on MTV's hit show, Job's That Don't Suck. In this talk, Omar will discuss how to better understand this generation and unlock their potential – maximizing their talent, work ethic, and creativity in the workforce. He’ll share tried-and-true strategies to leverage this generation, removing the often uncertainty and frustration around the millennial workforce.
Breakthrough Branding & Publicity. College Hunks Hauling Junk has appeared on more reality TV shows than the Kardashians, has been featured in every major media publication including two appearances on Oprah, and has become a household brand in a crowded industry. How did they do it? In this talk, Omar will reveal the three simple steps to generating more brand awareness and media exposure, as well as how to leverage it for business growth. When it comes to becoming a top-of-mind brand, audiences will learn from an entrepreneur who has mastered the art.
Find Your Why: Creating Purpose and Values in your Organization. Without a WHY, your business is a ship without a sail, floating in the wind. From an organizational level to an individual level, purpose and values build loyalty, longevity, create a community, and are necessary to achieve your long-term vision. And they’re good for impacting your bank account, too! But how do you go about discovering your purpose? In this speech, audiences will learn how the turning point for College Hunks Hauling Junk's success was when it defined its own purpose: to “Move the World.” Omar shares a framework for discovering one’s own purpose and values, as well as how to ingrain them into any organization or personal path to success.
Generating Loyalty with WOW Service. In the old days, a happy customer told one person and an unhappy customer told 10. Today, with social media, an unhappy customer has the ability to tell thousands. Now, more than ever, the client experience is the most important key to business growth and sustainability. It's easy to create one-off instances of WOW service in your company, but how can you make every customer's experience just as incredible? College Hunks Hauling Junk founder and CEO Omar Soliman shares how they have leveraged the customer service experience to exponentially grow their business, receiving world-class reviews that have compared their moving services to a "Disney-like" experience.
Audiences will learn:
- How to hire and train a customer-focused team
- The best service-recovery process for unhappy customers (it's not what you think)
- How to systemize each customer touch point to ensure every customer has a unique WOW experience.
- How to manage, protect, and leverage your online reputation
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