‘A new beginning for me.’ This new Macon business owner started out moving furniture

Johnathan Cuttino always wanted to be in business for himself but he didn’t know the opportunity would come via the moving industry.

Cuttino, 41, just opened a Two Men and a Truck franchise at 1057 Parkway Drive, Suite A, in Macon with a financial partner, his sister who’s a corporate lawyer in Washington, D.C.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Cuttino and his wife moved to McDonough when she was promoted within GEICO, which has a regional office in Macon. She also has family in Lawrenceville.

‘New beginning’

Having worked in the transportation industry, Cuttino took a job at a Two Men and a Truck in Stockbridge on Nov. 11, 2011. He started out moving furniture.

“I didn’t have any prior moving experience. So, it was a new beginning for me,” Cuttino said.

The new job provided a strong physical workout, there was a good team atmosphere and it was fun coming to work, he said.

“I just started doing a moving job and trying to learn as much as I can,” Cuttino said.

Already possessing the qualifications needed for a driver, he then transitioned into a driver position for a couple years.

Next, Cuttino was brought into the office, started answering phone calls, became a customer service representative and started booking moving services.

“I did that for a couple of years and fell in love with that — helping out the customers and everything and I was pretty good at sales as well,” he said.

He then transitioned into the manager over the Stockbridge location for several years before being promoted to regional manager for the past two years, overseeing five of the company locations in the greater Atlanta area.

“I always knew I was in a great company, but just kind of learning the ins and outs of it really inspired me to want to have one for myself,” he said.

On-the-job training

Also, the corporate office offers incentive programs to employees, including one that Cuttino took advantage of that helps equip someone to open up their own franchise location.

“They’re big on moving people forward within the company,” he said.

One in three Two Men and a Truck franchisees started out in similar positions like Cuttino, according to the company website.

Cuttino wants to take what he’s learned and the opportunities he’s been given to build his own franchise and to pay it forward by equipping those he employs to grow their careers as well.

At Two Men and a Truck, Cuttino offers a wide range of residential and office moving services, including helping a customer move furniture within a home to moving someone across town or to moving a family across country with the same team that packed up their belongings.

As a franchisee, Cuttino is able to offer his employees classroom training developed by the corporate office as well as hands-on training on site at the Macon office and warehouse.

“Our home office, they have a wonderful training program — courses online that our movers and drivers can take,” Cuttino said. “At our shop, we do extensive hands-on training.

“We have a whole facility set up like a mock house with rooms of furniture that the guys practice padding and stretch-wrapping the furniture, how to load the trucks, offload the trucks, and set everything back up. We train first in the classroom setting where they’ll learn their courses online and then we start our warehouse truck training.”

‘Movers who care’

Cuttino is committed to the company motto of being “movers who care” and treating every customer as they would their own grandmother.

“I’m also a passionate about with Two Men and a Truck is one of our core values: giving back to the community,” Cuttino said. “At my previous locations, we did a lot with the Henry County Humane Society and with women’s shelters.”

Cuttino said he wants to do something like that here in Macon.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting in the community and helping out in any way we can,” he said.