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How a Single Mother's Grit Built One of the World's Largest Moving Companies

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Truth Network Radio
July 1, 2025 3:04 am

How a Single Mother's Grit Built One of the World's Largest Moving Companies

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

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July 1, 2025 3:04 am

Brig Sorber, part of the founding family of Two Men in a Truck, shares his remarkable life story of overcoming struggles, finding faith, and leading his company through a recession. He recounts his journey from a young father to a wealthy man, and how his reliance on God helped him navigate through tough times.

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Homes.com. We've done your homework. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Up next, a story from Brig Sorber. Part of the founding family of Michigan's own two men in a truck moving company.

Let's get into the story. Here's Brig. My first job was. raking leaves when I was 8. I knocked on a door.

And these two guys open the door and they're looking at me. They go, what do you want? I just Can I rake your front yard? a dollar. He goes, yeah, go ahead.

I was just jacked. You know, I was going to make a dollar. This is my first job. And these guys had a car and backed in and they We're moving stuff out of the house. And then they took off and said they'd be back.

And I said, okay, so I kept breaking leaves. And this another car pulls up. He looks in his house, comes running out, and goes, Who the hell are you? There you go, I'm Raking your leaves. The guy said I could rake the leaves.

What guy said you could rake the leaves? And I went, the guy was moving stuff out of your house. He was being robbed. And I didn't know it. And so.

The cops came and they were asking me questions. I'm going, what is going on?

Well then the cops left, took the report. And then I finished. And I knocked on the door and the guy answers the door. He goes, what do you want? And I went, I want my dollar for raking your leaves.

He goes, for God's sakes I just got robbed. I mean, I'm an eight, right?

So the guy gives me a buck and I just remember going home like not thinking anything of it. And I told my mom the story and she was like. Shocked.

So that's how my working life started. Work was always part of what us kids did. Me and my buddies started mowing lawns. There weren't those landscapers back then. It was just neighborhood boys cutting grass.

And so we just opened up the white pages. And I remember my buddy Tim Falmer and I, we went through and said we need to mow 10 lawns and then if we can mow 10 lawns, Two lawns a day, Monday through Friday, then we can spend the rest of the time at the beach. It's like. Let's do it. And it was uncanny, but everyone would call them.

Well, sure. I was like, wow, this is easy.

So We would haul our lawnmowers behind our bikes. Yeah, we had a couple. horrendous wipeouts doing that. But a lot of people looked at us and went like, Man, you guys are like going after it. And so we love being our own boss.

I like being my own guy. We bought a 66 Ford pickup truck from Michigan State University. It was an old agricultural truck, just a beater. three on the tree, shiftings up on the column. Yeah.

We made a lot of money with that truck. My brother and I started getting into moving just trash and brush around. And then my mom started a This is after she divorced. She started another business. She would go to estate auctions and she would buy furniture and then haul it to this little store that she leased out, clean it all up and resell it.

And so She bought this whole truck for about $300, like a 15-foot step van. instead of just a pickup truck. It will hold us, you know, if you want to use that after you're moving. Go ahead. And that's what really got us into moving like apartments and small homes.

And when John and I started the business, it was called Men at Work Movers. And underneath that it said two men in a truck, 25 bucks an hour. And then my mom drew on a napkin a cartoon truck with two stick men in it. And that's where our logo came from. Our logo to this day is a drawing that my mom made on a napkin.

And she said, why don't you drop men at work movers and just call yourselves what you are, two men in a truck.

So that's where our name came from. We were small guys. I was probably 5'7 and a maybe a buck forty. We'd show up. At someone's house, and I can't tell you how many times I'd get this.

People would look at me and their shoulders would slump. It's like, oh crap, here we go again. Is there a problem, ma'am?

Well, we're expecting a couple scrapping lads, and we're expecting two men, not two boys. It's like I totally understand. I said, I'll tell you what. Let us work for you for 15 minutes, and if it doesn't work out, we'll call the office and get a couple bigger guys here. Is that fair?

Yeah, that'd be fair.

So John and I would go downstairs and we would move the upright freezer. That's the thing that nobody can move and then they would just go like... We are so sorry. Usually meant a good tip. The funny part was, we had no extra guys, we had no office.

So it was like, you know, we're walking a wire without a safety net there, but John and I were both pleasers. And this industry was very easy to please in. People would just do backflips if we if we even showed up. John and I, this was beer and book money. in that order.

And we were drinking green bottle beer. as opposed to Our other guys drinking like... The cheap beer. But it really became because It didn't make any money. I mean...

For kids for beer and book money, it was fine, but my mom loved it. And my mom quit her job at the state of Michigan. She took all of her qualified retirement money and cashed it all in. People were screaming at her. Her own mother, my grandma, was just going, What are you doing?

The first two years When she quit her job, She didn't pay herself anything, and she just lived off of that qualified money and ramen noodles for two years. And if she was sitting here in this room, She'd tell you it was the happiest days of her life. I think she's crazy, but she loved building the business. She finally made A profit. Her third year, I think she made $1,000.

And she wasn't sure how to do the taxes because she was like, I've never... had a profit.

So it was the sweetest thing. She wrote 10 checks for $100 and gave it to nonprofits. and Lansing. And that got back to the Chamber of Commerce and some other business people and they went. Who is this lady?

It was at that time that Lansing wrapped its arms around Two Men on a Truck and went, this is our moving company. Which was the coolest thing. And Michigan State University had a bunch of small businesses come in to talk to their business school. She went in there. My mom was very shy.

But God bless her, she got through it. And this lady came to her and said, Did you ever consider franchising? My mom goes, Who would buy it? Moving franchise. And she goes, Well, I'm a pet nanny.

I take care of people's pets. I franchise, so I think if I could, you can. And my mom said, Let's do it. When my mom, when she started franchising two-man on a truck, 49 years old, no college education. Pretty amazing.

And you've been listening to Brig Sorber tell the story of two men in a truck when we come back. More of Brigg and his remarkable life story. Here. on our American stories. Lee Habib here, and I'm inviting you to help our American Story celebrate this country's 250th birthday coming soon.

If you want to help inspire countless others to love America like we do and want to help us bring the inspiring and important stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to OurAmerican Stories. Go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button. Any amount helps. Go to ouramericanstories.com and give. This July 4th, celebrate freedom from spills, stains, and overpriced furniture with Anibay, the only machine-washable sofa inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly pricing.

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the largest franchised moving company in the world. started in large measure by his mother. She had no college education and no knowledge of the moving industry when she poured her retirement money into the young business. Rig now shares with us the story of how he met his wife. Fran.

I was on Northern Michigan's rugby team. We were having a party, we needed hot dogs, and the party that we were at was kind of like in the the student ghetto.

So there was like this random shopping cart on the side of the road, and so Fran was walking by with a couple of her friends and we just went, Do you want to go? Do you want to cook out? They're like.

Okay.

So me and my buddy picked up Fran and we put her, I'd probably get arrested for this now. Put her in the shopping cart and just start pushing her down the road. all the way to the Blue Link party store to get hot dogs. And then I got to know Fran at this party. And My roommates were like, Brig, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta get back to the house.

And so they... They picked me up and threw me in the car like college guys do. And I unrolled the window and I yelled, Fred! She looked and I went, I'm gonna marry you someday. And she was like, That guy's drunk.

And I didn't see her for a couple months, and I saw her at a party, and we went out that night, and we just started dating. I loved her because she was very independent. She paid for her own apartment. She paid for her own school. She was the only one out of the 14 kids.

They went to college. She would study. in the only bathroom that they had. She'd flip the toilet seat down, sit on that, and put the clothes hamper there as a desk at night when all the lights are out. She'd study in high school because she wanted to go to college.

I was a kid that by the time I went to school, my parents Would be perceived as upper middle class.

So, a lot of the things that she worked hard on, I took for granted. I went, that's really cool that she does that. I ended up getting Fran pregnant. And I don't mind sharing this. I asked her if I could share this.

And she said, as long as it helps people. Yeah, I don't like you running around, but yeah, I guess.

So when we were younger, we wouldn't share this, but now we share it because When she told me, she went, I'm having this baby. You don't have to marry me. I'm going to have this baby. And I just what that is.

So classic France. I just fell in love with her more. And I went, well, come on, Frank. We'd probably get married anyway, which we probably, I really, truly feel we would have. And she's like, well, yeah.

And I said, well, let's get married. Little did I know, I'm thinking I'm doing her a favor. She took on like. Two babies, you know? I mean I was like a kid and um And she really kept our family buoyant because I wasn't.

I'd go to church with her on occasion at college, but I didn't think anything of it. You know, and we had this baby, and I just worked my off. I mean, I went from 170 pounds when I graduated from college to 170 pounds. 135 pounds. I remember that When we found out she was pregnant, we had no insurance or anything and uh It was like a welfare baby.

We couldn't afford it. And they sat me down. And I said, I'm not taking any welfare. I was very proud. They went, the state worker was just uh Probably sick of working with people like me.

He's like, shut up. She needs attrition for that baby and he gave me like a hundred dollars and go buy some groceries. And then he goes, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? And I was like, I'm graduating from college in like a month. He just shook his head, walked away from me, and I said, I will never.

Take welfare money again. And that was in itself a sin, right? The way I was thinking was because of pride. I didn't, by the way, but I mean I worked my To make sure that that never happened. But I'm glad it did.

It gave me an appreciation when I see people down on their luck, and I am not judging them.

So that was like a a wake-up call for me. But watching Fran live her Catholic faith, it was like... She was never mad. She took care of that baby. Fran kept us all buoyant until I kinda got my crap together.

And it wasn't that I was out with my friends. I wasn't drinking all the time. Thank God I didn't have those things on me. It was more I was just more greedy about my own life. Like, poor me, look how hard my life is with these kids.

It's like, dude, you brought it on, you know? And Fran didn't have to take this, by the way. She decided to have the baby and take. your useless butt when you're in college or I mean god I really thought success was. Freedom, and the only way to freedom is money.

I will never say that we were poor. Poor is when you have no hope. We were broke. Maybe I dipped my toe into being poor because there were times I felt like I was losing hope, but I don't know. I just, there was something deep inside of me.

I was like, I don't want to be like this. How do I get there?

Well, I just got to make a lot of money. You know, so we worked really hard and Two minute truck continued to grow and it took a bump in pay and I thought, man, I finally made it. That's why I went out and I leased Audi A4 because I was like, you know. It is a sophisticated European vehicle. I went out and I got a Frank Sinatra, CD to play in it.

Isn't that horrible? I mean... F the funny part I ended up kinda liking him. And then I thought that successful guys drink scotch, so I went out and bought a bottle on Johnny Walker Black. I want to join a country club to rub elbows with other rich guys, tell war stories.

I mean, seriously, I did all this. It literally happened like that. That's why I had my first scotch on the rocks and a cigar and man. That one's pure ten. when I drank that scotch it was Whoa, I mean I was afraid to pour it on the grass.

It doesn't burn my grass. But I finished my cigar and I thought Well, how are you supposed to feel? I don't know. Maybe this is something you have to grow into. I don't know.

I'd finished my cigar and I thought about that. It was at that point. It was like... within a couple days that I slipped into depression and it was It was horrible. You know, I wouldn't...

wish that on anybody. I went to go see a doctor. I went, well, geez, I probably have cancer now. You know, something's wrong with me. You know, my life is perfect, so something's wrong with me.

And the doctor went, no. You're just depressed, and he just simply wrote me a prescription for depression. Like it was like nothing. And I looked at that thing, I got in my car and I just went. No, I'm going to put that in my wallet.

I'm not going to take this pill. And again, I don't want to belittle depression, but for me, I was like, no, I was not depressed up until like.

Now. And it was bad. I mean, I wasn't going to kill myself, but if I got hit by a bus, it wouldn't have bothered me.

Well now I gotta wrap my arms around this. And I remember my wife just going, like, what is the deal? I mean, we are doing really good. She goes, why don't you work out again?

So I got on my workout bench to work out and I just... I literally just broke down. I'm not talking about manpouting here. I'm talking about sobbing. I was just like, God, what is going on here?

You have given me more than everything I've asked for. But why am I feeling like this? It was all about being validated, it was so important to me. It was very important what people felt about me. I did believe in God, but I didn't think he was a loving God.

I thought it was more of a... An angry god. That you got to work hard. The harder you work, the more I'll love you kind of thing. Do right.

Treat people good. They'll treat you good. It's like, man, I can play that game. I'll work hard, I'll be nice to people, I'll throw money in the... you know, in the pot at Christmas time.

While they're ringing the bell, I'll do all that stuff.

So. On the news, there was a story about the Left Behind series of books. It was like Revelation and I was always kind of into that. Mm-hmm.

So I started reading into these books about how, what if Jesus came back in this lifetime and he took back all the Christians and left behind all the non-Christians? And I went. Oh man, I'd go for sure. He'd take me up because I'm like the man. I mean, I give money to all this stuff.

And they would refer to the Bible, so I would open up the Bible and it's like...

Well, okay, it kinda says that. It says that in there and this. And I thought, you know what, you need to start reading this Bible. And then I realized, man, Brigg, you have no relationship with Christ. at all.

And so I really started taking a look at how trying to validate myself with God was totally useless. You know, we can't do anything. We can't do any good things to win God's favor. Otherwise we wouldn't need Christ. And that's when I realized I need a relationship with him.

And then... While all this was going on, all this business chaos was going on, I thought. I'm going to start praying on the business too. And you're listening to Brig Sorber tell one heck of a personal story. And we love these kinds of stories because, well, he's not doing a lot of self-flattery here.

He married a way above his pay grade. beautiful woman who let him know she was pregnant. and she was having the baby. With them or without them. And that is a threat.

Fist. as a statement of fact. And he was dragged along by her into manhood and adulthood. but not without an encounter with the Lord. He found money.

But something was missing. When we come back, more of Briggs Sorber's story here. on our American story. This July 4th, celebrate freedom from spills, stains, and overpriced furniture with Anibay, the only machine-washable sofa inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly pricing.

Sofas started just $699, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Anibay's pet-friendly, stain-resistant and interchangeable slip covers are made with high-performance fabric that's built for real life. You'll love the cloud-like comfort of hypoallergenic, high-resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time. With modular pieces, you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your life.

Now, through July 4th, get up to 60% off site-wide at washable sofas.com. Every order comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Declare independence from dirty, outdated furniture.

Shop now at washable sofas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Who needs headphones when you have glasses? Ray-bin metaglasses, where style meets cutting edge tech. With discrete open-air speakers and built-in microphones, you can play your favorite tunes.

Hey, Meta, play hip-hop music. and tune into the world around you. But listening is just the beginning because you can stay in the moment while your phone stays in your pocket as MetaAI provides answers to questions on the fly. Hey Meta, what's the weather tonight? Tonight will be clear with temperatures ranging from 50.

Capture and share moments. Hey Meta, post this video on Instagram. You can even get Meta AI to make recommendations based on what you're looking at. Hey Meta, what can I make for dinner with what's in the fridge? You can make a delicious spinach and chicken salad or add the baby spinach to pasta with some garlic shrimp.

Cool. Ray-Band Meta Glasses. Choose from a variety of classic Ray-Band frames, all with MetaAI, at meta.com/slash AI-glasses. And don't forget to say, hey, Meta, play iHeartRadio to enjoy your favorite radio stations, artists, and podcasts on the iHeart app. You know, we all have a bunch of credit cards, connections to hotels or airlines or a number of things.

And I don't think we realize that those points and miles They lose value when they collect dust.

So, think about this: a credit card with rewards that actually grows. Introducing the Gemini credit card. And with this credit card, you can earn bitcoin or one of over 50 other cryptos instantly with no annual fee So every time you go to the grocery store, you go to the gas station, You go out for a night on the town, you earn instant rewards deposited straight into your account. Plus, sign up now for a $200 Bitcoin bonus to kickstart your rewards. Go to Gemini.com/slash.

John, to learn more and start earning today. Terms apply again. Visit gemini.com/slash john now. Terms apply. The Gemini credit card is issued by Web Bank.

In order to qualify for the intro $200 crypto bonus, your application must be approved. By June 30th, 2025, and spend 3,000 your first 90 days. Terms apply. Some exclusions apply to instant rewards in which rewards are deposited when the transaction posts. This content is not investment advice.

And trading crypto involves risk. For more details on rates, fees, and other Gemini credit card terms, see Rates and Fees. Go to gemini.com/slash John J-O-H-N to learn more and start earning today. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to.

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We've done your homework. And we return to our American stories and the final portion of our story with Brig Sorver, part of the founding family of two men in a truck. the world's largest franchise moving company. When we last left off, Brigg was telling us about how he met his wife, Fran. and the struggles he had as a young father, and later a wealthy man.

It was because of these struggles that he turned to God. A decision that would benefit him greatly. During the 2008 recession, a dark time for his company. Let's return to the story. Here again is Brig.

We were so broken. Our website was so bad that we found out that we had an 80% drop-off rate. 80% of the customers using the website got so frustrated they left it. The two years before that, we won the JD Power Associates for customer satisfaction, and we had those trophies proudly displayed in our corporate front foyer. And when all the things went down, I went.

Put those damn things in the closet. They went, why? And I went, because we suck. But there was so much business. It hides the brokenness.

And you gotta understand, the recession really started with the collapse of the mortgage industry.

Well, when the mortgage industry collapses, people can't get money, they can't buy houses.

Well, the next thing people would say, well, people are losing their houses, so they were calling you to move them.

Well, when people lose their houses, they can't afford a mover.

So it cut us down dramatically. We were hemorrhaging cash, and I'm looking around and going, like, Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do here? We had about 78 employees. We went down to about 52. Most of the people there were really, really working hard, and there were some people that were doing nothing.

They were coming in here literally doing nothing. I prayed about these things. Lord, what are we going to do with your business? today. What are we gonna do with your business today?

We did have $3 million. in a money market i was told it was a money market account it was actually a bond securities account I went.

Alright Lord, what are we gonna do today? Although I had the 3 million in the back of my mind.

Well, I can buy new equipment. I can do this. I can do this because I have $3 million. A couple days later, The banker took me out to lunch and said, Hey, Brig, Just wanted all the things going on, so pretty good. We're gonna need to get at that three million.

He's like, fantastic. A week later, he calls me up. And he goes, I got some bad news. I said, what's that? And he goes, well, that.

bond security account actually takes There's an auction. You have to auction those things to get to those things. The auction collapsed this week. And so you may never see that $3 million again. And I had a few words with the banker because I found out later, I said, well, you were having this lunch talking about your golf game.

There were other bankers that were pulling their people out of this account. He's like, I just don't want to tell you, Briggs.

So I actually shut the door and I just started cracking up. I'm going, okay, God.

Now you have my attention. Because it was like, what are you going to do? It's like, because I could see God working in the business. And I went. This is awesome.

I mean, now I've got nothing. I've got... I had a half a million dollars in cash, and that was it. And I was in the process of letting these people go, and I'm praying over them. And then I get this feeling.

God's going like uh Bridge, you gotta take care of these people you're letting go. Remember, they didn't cheat or steal from you. A couple of them weren't doing anything, but the majority of them were working really hard. It's a recession. And you're letting them go.

You need to. Summer itself. It's like, all right, how much money do we have? I got $500,000.

So I severanced out half of the $500,000. Right during the recession.

So we had nothing. But I did that because I knew it was the right thing to do, and it was on my heart, and I knew enough. I know God's voice when I hear it. I know it. And I know that this was right.

And I said, this is God's business. And people thought I was crazy. And it was just like So then I brought in a couple outside executives because I needed Help right away.

Well, the first things the outside executives did is they said, let's take a look at all the agreements two minutes trucks in. They were appalled at Lottie's agreements. We are getting hosed here big time. I went, here's the deal. I go rewrite the ones that we can rewrite, get out of the ones that we can get out of, but we're doing nothing illegally.

And they're like. We I went no. Stay above board. If we cheat. We are immediately looking at God and saying, you won't take care of me.

Lord, I'm going to choose to cheat. because you're not capable of taking care of us. It's that simple.

So, no. One of us, this was this lady. She was like an angry lady, but she was damn good. She got a hold of some of the vendors. They all know who she is.

She said, Bill, this is so-and-so. Hey! Where are you? I met two men in a truck. They get really quiet.

She goes, You know, we're not going to do this anymore. And he goes, Well, I figured somebody's going to come around, and they signed it. We Saved. without breaking any Rules. We saved about $400,000 in bad contracts.

in about two months. Which more than offset what I severance. We got a hold of the Attorney General at Mike Cox at the time, and we. talk to him about what happened with this. Bond security thing.

He's like, give me that. And He made a couple phone calls and the bank called up and said We want to come over, we got balloons, we got a cake, and we have a check to give you back for your money. I said you can stick your balloons in your cake. Just bring the check over. It's not your money.

That's God working in the business.

Well God made us more than whole. in that whole thing. When all that stuff was going down and I had I let a lot of those employees go. I brought the departments in, and man, some of these younger employees were in tears. It was like, look.

There's a lot of barrels that we're going to cut off this boat and throw in the ocean. things that we don't need. and we're going to save this company. And I stole this line. It says ships are safe in port, but that's not what ships were built for.

This two-minute truck boat has been in port long enough. I know we're broken, but we're going out in deep blue water right now. Because we are going to die here. I know a lot of you have been working for two minutes truck. You work for a moving company.

You didn't sign up for this adventure. But guess what? You're in it.

Some of you will survive it and some of you won't.

Some of you will excel in it. and become great. But we will see what happens. These are the people I had left.

So, you know, the fancy Christmas parties. They're over. The big buses to the Detroit Tiger games are over. And I had a couple of employees come into my office and just go. You are destroying the culture.

And I went, No, I'm keeping our company. Do you want to send your kids to college? You want to buy a cottage someday and retire in some really cool thing? These are the things that we can work for. but we gotta cut this stuff out.

We have to get to what we're good at. And they said, okay. And the beautiful thing was that year, we had enough money to bonus employees during the recession, even when we lost money. I remember coming in right before Christmas and I had a stack. of bonus checks on my desk.

And I'm telling you right now. Tears. came out of my eyes and hit those checks. And it was just like, we have an awesome God. I can't believe this.

And I just prayed over those checks and thanked God for them. to this day. our CEO now. He hands out the checks. He's also a strong Catholic.

And I told them. Pray over those checks. Never, never take those things. Do I have a few employees here that take them for granted? Yeah, it's human nature, right?

But I had employees coming in that first year in tears. because they got these checks. We're just happy to have a job.

So I'm just happy to have you guys in this adventure. Hmm. Those checks have gotten bigger. We've got a lot more people to distribute them. But They're a constant reminder of the blessings when we listen to God into our business.

And through over halfway through the recession up until now, we've had a hundred and seven months. of month over month growth. We haven't stopped. We're still growing from that. from doing these things and from praying over the business.

Uh And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. and a special thanks to Briggs Sorber. who shared with us the ups and downs of his life. and was very candid about The things he did wrong. the things he wasn't prepared for.

And in the end... his own personal shortcomings. And how is Reliance on God got him through. His toughest times and boy that recession of 2008. was the big one.

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