TOILET PAPER PROFILES – Brandon & Tom of ROCs College Student Staffing, Inc.
TOILET PAPER ENTREPRENEUR PROFILES
Brandon Labman & Tom Moore, Founders of ROCs College Student Staffing, Inc.
Company Name
ROCS (aka Responsible Outgoing College Students) College Student Staffing, Inc.
Year Started
2003 during our freshman year at George Mason
Start Up Cash
$200 cash each (Brandon’s $200 cash was actually a refund check from his school loan when he lowered his on-campus meal plan)
Favorite Food
A Chipotle Burrito
My Pet Is An:
iRobot vacuum cleaner (which is arguably one step above a cat)
Favorite Movie
Tom- (tie) Wedding Crashers and Tommy Boy
Brandon- (tie) The Big Lebowski / Pulp Fiction / Ghostbusters
Fly, Drive, Bike or Walk?
We both only commute 3 miles to the office and as much as we’d like to play the environment card, we definitely drive. Biking across dozens of busy intersections in 95 degree weather isn’t our idea of a good start to the day -plus we don’t like being “unsure” during meetings with potential clients.
Biggest Complaint
All pyramid schemes and their use of the phrase “residual income”.
The Story Behind The Picture
After we got arrested by the Mason Campus cops, we got some street cred. Just joking. Seriously though, some kids on campus got a bullhorn and scared the hell out of Tom and Brandon (which is why they have the scared look on their faces)! This statue is the famous George Mason Statue on the George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus. Famous? Yes, famous! Students (approved by school officials) have a tradition of ornamenting up good ol’ George all the time. More than not, he is wearing sun glasses.
Biggest Entrepreneurial Accomplishment
Realizing that once we graduated college (Brandon graduates in the spring 2008), we didn’t have to job hunt. We created our own jobs and helped hundreds of other students find jobs along the way.
Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistake
Caring too much to what our competitors are doing.
Living Their Passion
Considering we weren’t cut out to be professional athletes or lead singers of a band, we are absolutely living our passion. How much luckier can you be than having the opportunity to do something that you truly believe in day in and day out? We rarely if ever feel like we’re “working”. It may sound corny but helping great students find great jobs and helping great companies find great employees is really fun to us. We definitely couldn’t spend 80-100 hours each week of our life “working.”
The Lesson
It’s OK to apologize for being late to an early morning meeting due to last night’s college two-for-one special.
That might sound a bit extreme but it summarizes one of the most important lessons we have learned since starting the business. Being straightforward and honest about your company even when it seems you shouldn’t be. Don’t hide that you are a small company, have no years of experience or are still in school. Be proud of what your company is and what makes it different. Our best clients didn’t come to use because we glamorized our business or services; they come to us because we are straightforward and honest about what our company does and how we do it.
Can’t Get Enough of These Guys?
Check out www.RocsJobs.com
Or start up a chat at http://www.rocsstaffing.com/employers/aboutus.html
*****
Are you a Toilet Paper Entrepreneur? Do you have a cool entrepreneurial story to share? If so, I want to hear it. E-mail me at Mike@ToiletPaperEntrepreneur.com!
*****
Subscribe to Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Blog and you too can get this crap delivered right to your bathroom (or where ever you use your laptop)!
September 3rd, 2008
Hey guys,
This picture is AWESOME. Tell us more about how you took it, and all the students yelling at you.
- Mike
September 3rd, 2008
Best line of the post…
Biggest Complaint
All pyramid schemes and their use of the phrase “residual income”.
So true.
That picture is hilarious!
September 3rd, 2008
I took that picture (it’s great to be the Marketing + Communications guy) and I have to say the students were so curious as to what we’re doing. That area on campus is quite busy – even at 10:00 PM, believe it or not – but students moved out of the way to make sure we got the right picture. At one point we were joking about the campus cops being called and a student was getting picked up in the “circle” near the parking deck. Ironically, the bullhorn kid played a siren and scared the shit out of all of us. However, I kept taking pictures. I didn’t think that one of those pictures turned out to be GOLD!
September 3rd, 2008
We did encounter some annoying hecklers but they were offset by a few “hi-5’s” from a group of students passing by. Neither of which were likely sober.
Also, to clarify, I was never scared…
September 3rd, 2008
Brandon,
Never scared?!?! I think I see a little bit of pit sweat. I think the nerves were a pumpin’.
:>)
- Mike
September 3rd, 2008
Agree with all of the above…awesome picture! Marquette actually has a statue too – of Jaques Marquette. The same shenanigans happen to him.
September 4th, 2008
Brandon doesn’t want to admit it, but there was a major “pucker-factor” here (as my buddies who are USAF pilots would say).
September 9th, 2008
This is terrific. Early on when my partner and I started our business, we found ourselves apologizing for working full time jobs and also for being parents! But if not for our kids we would never have developed our product to begin with, so if there’s a little background giggling during an evening conference call, that’s just the reality of my life and my business. It’s all good.
The students you work with are lucky to have you guys as advocates!