An Auburn Man You’ll Want to Do Business With. Brooks Fuller, Room2Room Movers for College Students
A Lifelong Auburn Man
Born and raised in the shadows of Auburn University, Brooks Fuller loves Auburn – all of it – from the enthusiastic spirit that emanates across the happiest campus in the country to the friendly, family-oriented community. It’s where he learned to ride a bike, became smitten by his first crush, learned what it means to work, and what it takes to compete. It is where he hung out with friends, cut lawns, learned to drive a car, grew in his faith, and pursued his athletic dreams.
Brooks is an Auburn guy through and through. From his love of sports, he first dreamed of playing baseball for legendary Auburn High School Coach Matt Cimo. He worked hard to make the team, and that dream came true.
He then dreamed he’d play in a 7A state championship; he did, and in his senior season, Auburn High School won it all.
But Brooks has always dreamed big. His next dream was to take the mound for Auburn University, as his dad, Mark once did, and where as a kid, he’d watched Auburn greats play year in and year out believing one day he could too.
In 2018, he achieved that goal when he signed as a left-handed pitcher for the Auburn Tigers. Brooks played four seasons, including one unusual COVID-season which in an ironic sense of fate, set Brooks up for a future he had not yet imagined. A young man with a heart to serve was about to uncover an entrepreneurial spirit he never knew he had.
COVID-19, We’re Done.
It was March 11, 2020, midway through spring break week for Auburn’s 30,000 students. Campus was quiet, but Auburn sports were in full swing.
The men’s basketball team was settled in to begin the SEC Tournament in Nashville, and the baseball team was hosting Wofford College to wrap up their non-conference schedule. The Tigers were looking forward to the upcoming weekend series to open SEC play against Texas A&M, until Athletic Director Allen Greene entered the post-game locker room. “Mr. Green met us in the locker room and shared with the team that March Madness had just shut down and we were done too,” Brooks said. “At that moment we assumed it would just be a pause in the action, so all of us went home and continued our training in hopes of resuming play in the near future. We could never have imagined it would last as long as it did.”
The world soon learned the impact of the pandemic would be more than a brief pause. The University responded promptly to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked students not to return to Auburn, but to return directly home from spring break travels. No one was permitted back on campus.
Academics would be completed online. Campus was shut down and inaccessible. The student body who had left for spring break with only a week’s worth of their belongings learned they would not be allowed to return to campus or their dorms. It was now May and two months had passed. Brooks felt fortunate to live locally and have his truck and access to his apartment. Many students were not so fortunate.
Life is about Giving Back
Actively involved in church and the community, work and service were always part of Brooks’ family dynamic. His mom, Lori, a Realtor with a heart to help others, was often on social media and several Auburn University Parent Groups. She saw parent and student posts asking about how to retrieve their inaccessible belongings in Auburn. She realized they needed someone local to help.
With a simple post on social media, the Fuller family, let the Auburn Family know they were here and ready to help. Arrangements were made to allow the Fuller’s access to the requested belongings. The plan was for Lori to organize the moves and Brooks and his younger brother, Brady, would do the packing and heavy lifting.
In short order, families began to respond, and the Fuller’s began to act. Obeying full COVID protocol, wearing gloves and masks, boxes, and packaging tape in hand, they entered dorm room after dorm room, packed the requested items and shipped them to their owners. They packed and moved everything from clothing to cars. Boxes were shipped as local as Auburn and as far away as California.
What’s the Cost? No Charge!
Auburn people needed help and Brooks and his family were in Auburn and were able to help. So that’s what they did. Each family asked, how much? The answer was always, no charge. Simply pay your shipping costs and tip the teenagers if you like. This act exemplified the essence of the “human touch” and “mutual helpfulness” that Auburn people are called to in the Auburn Creed. It was the beginning of something new. Brooks Fuller just didn’t know it, yet.
Life Starts to Return to the New Normal.
Remarkably, Auburn University, following all safety protocols, had students back on campus by early August and Brooks fell right back into college life. Classes resumed and he looked forward to his junior season on the baseball field.
Auburn baseball was once again in full swing. Brooks and his teammates were fully focused and enjoying every moment of the new season. But then, Brooks began receiving text after text from unknown numbers asking for a “move.” The families he’d helped the previous summer had shared his number with friends who were interested in hiring him to move their daughters.
If you follow college sports, you know student athletes know how to work. They keep rigorous, year-round, academic, work-out and practice schedules. Time management is essential. Especially in-season when wins and losses are on the line. So, when Brooks’ phone began to blow up, his first inclination was to decline. After all, it was the height of the season, COVID had taken last season, and he was fully focused on every moment.
Then with a servant’s heart and the mind of an entrepreneur he began to think, what if in between class, practice, and games he could organize it all? Could he recruit and hire enough of his buddies on campus to do the packing and heavy lifting? “I ran the idea by a couple of my buddies,” Brooks said, “and we decided people need this. We can get it done.”
Academics Meets the Real World
Majoring in Finance at the Harbert College of Business, Brooks did a little market research and found that commercial moving companies had a minimum time requirement that was more than any college student needed. It was here, that the initial concept for Room2Room Movers was born.
“We came on the market by pricing our services in a manner that aligned with what students need. Most college students only need 1-2 hours for a move and commercial moving companies generally charge for a minimum time block that is far in excess of that.” Brooks had discovered a niche in the moving market by offering services tailored to the needs of the college student not the large moving companies.
As Fall classes began, Brooks started plugging his Room2Room numbers into his accounting class projects. The profit and loss statements that were part of his homework were now his business’s profit and loss statements. Suddenly, class was way more interesting. “I was learning about business plans for franchising one day, how to manage a startup, how to hire and fire and what to look for in employees, and then I took Lou Bifano’s entrepreneurship class and shared what I was doing with him,” Brooks said.
Bifano encouraged Brooks to pitch his idea in the Shark Tank inspired Tiger Cage competition held annually to identify innovative, early-stage business ideas by Auburn University students. He already had the business model in place, so he pitched the idea and won the Halloween pitch portion of the event.
Time to Take Room2Room to the Next Level
The launch of Room2Room Movers and scaling the business for future success was Brooks Fuller’s new dream. By the time graduation rolled around in May 2022, Room2Room Movers was off the ground and running with a year of moving experience to learn from. Their progress and potential for growth earned them office space in the New Venture Accelerator on Auburn University’s campus where Brooks and his team could get the resources they needed to continue to grow the company. Even with a variety of resources at his disposal, the young entrepreneur understands that it takes an army to get a startup off the ground. “To say that Brooks build this entire brand would be a massive understatement. We have the best director of marketing in the country in Merrell Bowden and the youngest, grittiest, and most intellectual CFO in Mike Hayes. These two colleagues of mine have helped take this idea to the next level and I am forever indebted to them for the culture they have instilled within our company.”
Ready to Book a Move?
Room2Room’s menu of services is designed turn-key the college moving experience. The Room2Room brand is defined by culture and reliability with clean-cut sharply dressed and politely mannered movers who offer an efficiency of effort. Today, movers on Room2Room’s team are made up of more than Brooks’ teammates and friends on campus. It is a great way for college students to make extra spending money, but movers also include off duty firemen and EMT’s from the Auburn community and surrounding area.
Now a one-stop shop that takes a user 2-3 minutes to book a wide variety of time-saving services, Room2Room makes moving easy. Want to book a move or hire a handyman? Need moving boxes? Need a storage facility? How about cleaning services? What started as a helpful family endeavor has turned into a full-scale business.
Confirmation emails, texts and many other customer-service applications allow Room2Room to stand out. And maybe most importantly, parents are comfortable with Room2Room because they know young, hardworking individuals are the ones coming into their daughter’s dorm room or apartment while they are several states away.
The range of services offered by Room2Room makes moving easy.
Life Comes Full Circle
A recent ribbon cutting ceremony for Room2Room attracted community leaders to celebrate Auburn’s hometown son. Auburn Mayor Ron Anders has known Brooks Fuller since he was a small child and coached him in baseball over the years. Mayor Anders shared comments about his long-time relationship with Brooks, “I am so proud to see this young Auburn man work so hard to make the Auburn community better by serving Auburn University students. I’ve watched him grow up and am so happy to see how well he represents his family, our hometown and our university with such hard work and integrity.”
For Brooks, Auburn is where his roots are, and that is exactly what his parents hoped for when Mark stepped away from coaching in 2004 to raise his boys in Auburn. Brooks watched his dad build a business from the ground up and learned what it looks like to work hard and serve a community. Now Mark and Lori, along with all the others who love and respect this hometown boy – turned Auburn man – are excited to see him do the same.
To learn more about Room2Room Movers please visit their website. https://www.r2rmovers.com/
You can also follow Room2Room on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Interested in creating marketing content for R2R Movers? Contact Merrell Bowden via email at marketing@r2rmovers.com.
To contact Brooks Fuller directly about joining his team or chatting about business endeavors, you can email him at info@r2rmovers.com.
