Taylor Nelson ‘12 and Jason Barman ’12 are extremely busy this time of year. Just try getting either of them on the phone and you’ll see. They are the founders and proprietors of Cougar Moving Company – a local firm that specializes in serving college students, faculty and alumni – and late spring to early summer is their bread and butter time of year.
Clyde the Cougar offers a little moving advice.
Nelson, who majored in history with a minor in business administration explains: “We’re super busy at the end of the spring semester each year when students move out of their dorms and apartments. In fact this is when we do most of our hiring so that we can keep up with that demand.”
Nelson and Barman established the company while both of them were still in college. “We developed the concept as a class project and entered the business plan we designed in a business competition. Following the competition, we decided to move forward and incorporate Cougar Moving in order to see exactly how far we could make the business model we created grow. In doing so, we became the youngest moving company owners certified by the South Carolina Public Service Commission.”
“When we first started in 2012,” says Nelson, “the vast majority of our business involved moving students at the College. That has changed drastically. Today, roughly 30 percent of our business involves moving CofC and MUSC students. But that doesn’t include the alumni and faculty that we move who attend or work for CofC, MUSC, The Citadel, Charleston Southern University and Trident Technical College because we still offer a specialty rate to all students, alumni, and faculty at each of these local institutions.”
Since the company started, Nelson says that it has grown tremendously.
“We’ve increased in size and scope on average about 200 percent per year,” he says. “We now work all over the greater Charleston area and use a small fleet of vehicles and equipment.”
But one thing hasn’t changed. The company still relies heavily on students as employees. “Right now,” says Nelson, “we employ two alumni and four current CofC students.” One of those student employees is senior Brian Legette, a history and physical education double major who has worked for Cougar Moving Company for four years.
And both Nelson and Barman credit the College with giving them their professional start.
“The College gave us both the drive and initiative to develop and run a business successfully,” explains Nelson. “We experienced classes that prepared us for real life business scenarios. Not only did the College allow us a place to collectively work within our creative boundaries to begin this enterprise, but it encouraged us to move forward with our desires to become entrepreneurs. Though our business is not officially affiliated with the College, the administration was willing to approve our company name and provide strong words of encouragement.”
Nelson also says that through the College, he and Barman were able to obtain and build valuable business connections. “It was through the experience we had at the College and in Charleston that our company and careers have been able to blossom.”
