The logo for moving company Two Men and a Truck features two stick figures sitting in a truck, but three men from The University of Alabama have taken their opportunities with the company to the next level.

Teddy Gryska, a 2004 and soon-to-be 2014 graduate, is planning to open his own franchise in Stafford, Texas, after seeing and hearing positive testimonials about Two Men and a Truck. Gryska originally earned a degree in international business, with a minor in Spanish, and then went to work in his family’s business.

“I was kind of thrown into the business world,” Gryska said.

Gryska played football for the Crimson Tide and credits the program with helping him develop discipline, teamwork and time management skills. He is now in the last semester of the University’s Executive MBA program.

“I really think the MBA program has helped me more than anything,” Gryska said. “A lot of the EMBA program is hands-on application to your business or to a business that somebody in your group is a part of.”

Gryska credits Two Men and a Truck’s growth to its positive brand image and points to the cooperation among its employees as helping him expand the company.

“It kind of goes back to part of what I love about Two Men and a Truck,” Gryska said “It’s very transparent. Everyone in the system as a whole works together.”

The company’s core values include integrity, inclusion and giving back to the community. Chris Kavanagh, who graduated from the University in 2011 and is starting a franchise in Roanoke, Va., said the core values – including “The Grandma Rule” – were part of what made him want to make the leap from employment to ownership.

“If you treat your customers like you treat your grandmother, you’re going to get a positive response,” Kavanagh said. “It’s a fantastic system that they’ve built.”

Kavanagh, who got a degree in psychology, said he never considered owning his own business until he began working with Two Men and a Truck and apprenticed with an owner. The support he received from his family and colleagues helped him gain confidence.

“Business ownership became a dream of mine. And then I sort of just went for it,” Kavanagh said. “I guess the confidence came from all the support in every direction that I have.”

Still, he said the psychology degree he earned will be useful to him in his career.

“With a psychology degree, I did learn a lot about human behavior and relating and appealing to different personality types and that sort of thing, so I think my degree definitely is helping me with all of the different personalities I have to deal with and communicate with,” Kavanagh said. “I think it’s absolutely a huge help.”

Joey Hale, a 1996 UA alumnus, is preparing to open his Potomac, Md., franchise in March. He said the most important effect of his business management degree was that it piqued his interest in business ownership.

“It got me wanting to own my own business,” he said. “I knew I wanted to do something like that; I just didn’t know specifically what I wanted to be.”

Hale, like Kavanagh and Gryska, will have the power to hire movers for his new franchise – and like Kavanagh and Gryska, he said he sees Two Men and a Truck, which increases its employment in the summer, and college students as a good match.

“I’m always looking for good college students,” Hale said.

Though strenuous, the work helps students become well rounded, requiring and displaying valuable business knowledge and people skills, Hale said.

“Everybody will always be looking for [those skills],” Hale said. “I think college kids make the perfect movers.”