From a College Dorm To Moving Minnesota

Some businesses start with a business plan, a bank loan, and a five-year roadmap. Collegiate Power Movers started with a Facebook post.

In the summer of 2022, Austin Eldeen was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls — a kid from Farmington, Minnesota, playing college football and looking for a way to make money between practices. The idea was simple: athletes are strong, dependable, and used to showing up and grinding. Why not put that to use?

Austin started posting in Facebook groups, offering to help people in the area with their moves. No moving truck. No fancy equipment. No marketing budget. Just a college freshman with a strong back, a work ethic built on a football field, and the drive to show up and get it done. Word spread. People said yes. He showed up, worked hard, and they called back.

By his sophomore year, what had started as a side hustle was looking like something real — more bookings, returning customers, and a reputation spreading entirely through word of mouth. He wasn't just doing moves anymore. He was running a business.

Moving day at a Minneapolis high-rise — from a freshman Facebook post to serving clients across Minnesota.

That's when Luke Speer entered the picture. Luke — a UWRF football alumnus from the Rochester, Minnesota area — joined Austin as an equal co-owner. Two former college athletes who understood what it meant to hold a standard, work as a team, and not cut corners. Together they had more than muscle. They had the foundation to build something worth building.

They invested in the right things. A truck with the CPM name on the side. Professional equipment. Licensing under MN DOT #385610. Insurance. A real client agreement. They weren't two guys with a pickup truck anymore — they were a legitimate, professional moving company serving customers across Minnesota.

Today, Collegiate Power Movers handles local moves, long-distance moves throughout Minnesota, speedy moves, specialty item moving, premium packing and unpacking, commercial relocations, and full-service White Glove moves. The company was founded in Farmington, the town Austin grew up in, and is now based in Woodbury, serving families across the Twin Cities metro, from Lakeville and Farmington to Woodbury, Minneapolis, and beyond.

The slogan is "Where Strength Meets Service." It's on every crew member's back, on the side of every truck, and the standard every job is held to. It's not a tagline from a marketing meeting. It's the story of how this company started — and what it's been built on, one move at a time.

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