Justin Hodge

Justin Hodge's journey to business ownership began while attending Arizona State University, where he gained valuable experience working at a local moving company. After graduating in 2006, he partnered with his childhood best friend, Josh Jurhill, and started handling local moving needs by posting ads on Craigslist, relying on borrowed family trucks.

From those humble beginnings, Muscular Moving Men has transformed into a premier commercial and residential moving company. As company co-founder and president, Hodge has assembled a team of mover-athletes who excel in their roles and consistently deliver outstanding service, the company said.

“When starting my business in 2008 with my business partner, I had a baby on the way and was in the midst of starting a family,” Hodge recalled. “At 23 years old, I had no alternative in my immediate future, and I knew how committed to success my best friend and business partner would be.

“Building a business from the ground up is by far the hardest thing that I have ever had to do and it has been filled with successes and failures. My viewpoint is not having a Plan B is the reason I would never stop moving forward.”

Early on, the challenges were significant, including undercharging on long-distance moves and facing various setbacks, such as vandalism of their moving trucks. However, Hodge’s refusal to back down and his determination to build a successful business drove him forward.

Hodge said one of the most important attributes of a leader is a “willingness to admit failure and not maintain the illusion that their career has been filled with success after success.” He works to follow that path in his role at Muscular Moving Men.

Over the years, Muscular Moving Men experienced rapid growth, expanding by 30% to 40% annually. The addition of storage and long-distance moving services created new opportunities, and the company's staff grew to more than 75.

Looking to the future, Muscular Moving Men aims to expand its presence to new markets. By replicating the successful playbook it has developed, the company plans to offer a blend of commercial, residential, local and long-distance services in 10 to 20 locations within the next five years. The goal is to maintain profitability while focusing on long-distance and commercial service lines.

Hodge is a four-time inductee into the Sun Devil 100, and in 2018 he was honored as a 40 Under 40 member by the Phoenix Business Journal. Muscular Moving Men has donated over 1.5 million pounds of furniture and food to local charities, earning the company the Innovation Award for Small Business in 2019.