On today's episode of Gathering the Kings. What decision have you made? That was a really good decision. You can look back and go, this one thing that we decided to do, and if we just keep doing that over and over and over again, that'll play out real nice. What is that? You are listening to Gathering the Kings with Chaz Wolfe featuring fellow 78 and even 9 figure business owners who have real battle scars. From business and life, but have prevailed as the king that they are designed to be.
We welcome high performing entrepreneurs to the stage in order to reveal the real of the real on what it takes to build a successful business today. We dissect the good and bad decisions they've made along the way that give a true and accurate picture of the journey growing your network and surrounding yourself with power players and kings like today's guest. Grab your pen and notebook because we're about to dive in. Alright. Here we go. What's up, everybody?
I'm Chaz Wolfe, gathering the king's podcast. Today, I've got Mike Chaufont here on the king stage. My brother. How you doing? Doing great. Doing great Chaz. Thanks for having me here. Of course. You know, a fellow Kansas City in. You know, I've said this several times now. We've we've gotten gosh over the last year, probably 15, 20, maybe even 25 folks from the Kansas City area.
I didn't expect that when we started this year, a year ago, but Here you are across the across the city, and and we're on Zoom, but we'll have to do lunch or something in person. I'm so glad that you're here. They took the time. Thanks for being here. What kind of business do you have? Really thrilled to be here, Chaz. Really appreciate the opportunity. So our business is a transportation management business. We do freight brokerage. We do management transportation services.
Meaning, we work with companies that have existing carrier relationships in place and we just provide technology and some back office functions like freight bill I didn't pay is Chaz is a good example that people generally understand. Yeah. Just functions that they that is more efficient to to outsource than than do it themselves. Yeah. Coming in and saving transportation companies money all over the country. Well, yeah, well, really our our clientele is, the shipper community.
So manufacturers, distributors, retailers. And so we're we're really kind of in a third party, a 3pl, as you as some people say, Yeah. We don't own any trucks. We don't really the assets that we own are, you know, expertise, technology, and really are are people.
Yeah. So we we leverage those those people and and and our and our carrier network, our our relationships, and bring those to our our customers and and help them just operate more efficiently and fewer headaches and and let them kind of focus on their their core business. Yeah. Understood. Mike, my question for you Chaz we get started here before we get into your history is about your why. The deep seated reason That not maybe maybe it's maybe it's not even transportation.
I don't know, but, like, what's bigger picture inside of you? Yeah. So Look. I I for me, it's just let's let's do a good job. Let's provide real value to to customers and, you know, try to try to bring that value to as many customers as possible, make their lives better, and and make some money along the way. They're in in our industry and the transportation industry. It's ginormous. It's like the 3rd biggest industry in the in the country behind health care and defense. It's super fragmented.
There's 100 and 100 of 1000 of different trucking companies out there. Right. So there's there's what we've discovered over the years is that there's just so many people doing it in a way that could be more efficient. So there is it's, you know, you hate to say they're doing it inefficiently, but there's room for improvement. Yeah. And there's probably anguish involved And so our wise, we wanna help as many people as possible kind of improve that situation.
Yeah. And maybe they're they're happy with it, but they're overpaying. So there is a best of both Wolfe, and so we're trying to bring that solution to as many people as possible. Yeah. And I think that you've practically given us a great reason of of helping people specifically in your industry. I think all that's great. I I love that, actually.
Why why that piece Like, why why, like, underneath Chaz, what get what wakes you personally up in the morning, what wakes up, what woke up the company when it started, like, Why did you seek out? Why did the company seek out to even do that that you just practically gave us? Sure. I mean, I guess I'll touch on how the company was started. Back in 1999. So beef before I was ever involved, it was a it was one of the first online lesson truckload platforms.
So you know how the experience set of going to, like, an orbits.com, a travelocity, and booking an airline ticket, self serve. I mean, that was pretty innovative back in the day. You stepped to call a travel agent or call the airline themselves. And so this experience of being able to type in, you know, where you're starting and where you wanna go and a few other details, number of passengers, number of bags, etcetera.
And having a list of of options come up at different price points, different kind of transit times, different lay overs, pretty innovative and powerful. So Chaz was why the software was created because we did that for that less than truckload industry. Yeah. It didn't exist before that. And so we were one of the it didn't exist before about, you know, the late nineties. So kind of along with the internet is one of the, you know, inventions of the internet.
Yeah. And so that was how the company was started and made a big big impact on all sorts of users for transportation companies, but also Chaz larger kinda what I call a shipper community, those manufacturers, those distributors, and those retailers. And so that was kinda the why. It's just to to to there's a better way to do this. Let's let's set one of the founders was just a a software guy. So let's let's see softwares improve the lives and efficiencies of, you know, companies.
Yeah. Yeah. It came to life. Obviously, you you said, like, the help of the Internet. There's a a big a big lever there being able to help people in a more efficient way, but I just love how this example is a technology usage, but it's, hey. There's something being done in a in an efficient way. What what can we do to to make it better? It's it's simple. Really is what you break it down to. The the answer that you're giving is we wanna be able to just do it better.
Do you find yourself innovating? Like, is that you personally? Is that your is that your drive? Like, you're always trying to improve the process, the whole organization that way? Yes. That that is definitely one of my interests and passions is is, you know, finding more efficient ways to do things. Basically, it's good for the business because you can you can redeploy human resources and and different different areas of need.
We we like to use our human resources to just make the customer experience better. Like, and that's a lot of kind of you know, concierge service, a lot of updates, and just, if you if you'll if we we believe that if you deploy human capital, in the right way and use resources like technology in the right way. You're gonna you're gonna, a, deliver a great customer experience.
And, b, do it in a scalable manner where you're saving, you can put it at a good price point for your customers, and you can make some money. I mean, we've got no shame in saying Chaz. This is a for profit business. Our our margins are are very just kinda industry norm. So it's kind of a volume game. So we wanna bring our products to as many people as possible. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, let's get into some practicals here.
I know that, obviously, your role has changed in the company as you've grown, but now you hold the seat of president, and I wanna know as president, What decision have you made? That was a really good decision. You can look back and go, this one thing that we decided to do, Man, if we just keep doing that over and over and over again, that'll play out real nice. What is that? Yeah. Absolutely. I would say It was really the decision to invest in a true living, breathing sales organization.
The first so I I started with the company in 2013. We had a different business model back then. We weren't selling directly to shipper, you know, those manufacturers, retailers, distributors. We were selling to a lot of other intermediary who maybe didn't have less than truckload expertise that we did. It was a way to get in front of a lot of eyeballs. But it was very low margin and very, very kinda they'd leave you for a dollar type of thing. It wasn't sticky. Yeah. Wasn't sticky.
It wasn't at all. And so The decision to build a living breathing sales organization back in 2019, that was that was the right decision. That's so, you know, about 4 years ago. And because it's made it a lot more diversified. It's the it's just it's it kind of follows our plan of executing the business model of reaching shippers directly. Sure. You know, a smaller game of telephone. You're talking to the people actually who are shipping the material or receiving the material. Right.
It's better experience for all. And so that was that was the right decision. And so we we we got to work recruiting, and it's just made us a a bigger and better organization much more diversified as as well. So that's that's That's always a good Yeah.
The the two things that you mentioned that I wanna point out for the listener Chaz, well, maybe I'll have you dive into a little further is Chaz that salesperson has maybe remove some some steps and kinda just directly connected them, the the maybe more important pieces, aka increased your experience, Chaz just the the willingness of having somebody hunt, a salesperson, has that been coupled with?
So you have now you have a great experience because you have somebody who wants to go well because they're financially incentivized. That's what sales is. And then over here, you have somebody who is also financially incentivized to go get more. Can you talk about maybe the play between experience and growth and how that plays into your sales team that you built. Right. No. That's that's a really good question.
So our kind of take on that is our salespeople are involved in the actual execution of of the transactions. Yep. Certainly at the beginning. Chaz things scale up and as and with with larger customers, we bring in account management. And the account managers are managers are trained very, you know, closely and and on what those kind of customer expectations are, By now, we we treat most customers the same, the same, you know, the same standard operating procedures.
That we kind of create created, you know, the MFWA per se. And so when the salespeople see the account management team executing and similar manners that they would with the same, you know, high level of care. We have a kinda, but one of our core behaviors is having a high gas level. It stands for it stands for give a give a shit. I don't know if I'm saying Chaz. Yeah. Yeah. You're good. But it's one of our core behaviors having a high gas level.
And so when our salespeople see our account management team have that eye gas level, it kinda frees them up to go to to kind of You know, leave the nest and then go and go find more customers. Yeah. Yeah. You're what you're talking about is a huge tension point between ops and sales in a lot of organizations. You have that hand off to the fulfillment side. And the sales guy is like, man, if you screw this up, you screw up my commission. Right? Well, that's the other thing.
We we we incentivize the account management team on on the results. So they they have a piece of the pie. And so they if if their work results in more or less business, they will be affected by it. Yeah. Yeah. Which is in alignment with the sales guy. So you're right.
The more confidence you can give to, sales guy or gal to to hand it off and and go get some more, then then you you pretty rapidly start growing because you've got a hunter in the right in the right seat doing what he or she should be doing. Uh-uh. That's absolutely true. I mean, so we when we recruit people and we're interviewing them, we tell them that we don't want them to have any, you know, artificial glass ceiling.
We will provide as much account management support as they need based on the the business coming in. And And Chaz but it's up to them to go to go get it and warrant the need for that sport. Right? That's right. Our our biggest rep has to basically full time people helping them. Yeah. And so and we we love that. It's a great situation. Yeah. It it you're right. It's a great model. Actually, I wanna just clarify one quick thing for the for the listener.
Basically, you know, think of yourself as a business owner by yourself going and growing. And eventually, you made an initial hire and then a second hire. And, typically, those first initial hires are generalists or or even admin to get off some of those you know, easy task. They can just be repeated, which is exactly what now the sales guy, he he he has the ability to communicate, but he has the ability to go create relationships and and be sticky.
And, all he needs to do is be able to hand off some of those repeatable tasks that someone else probably with a different profile, a different personality is better at, actually. Would you agree with that? No. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we've seen it. So and we're so we're trying to replicate it. So but it you know, in order for that to work, you gotta you gotta have people out there having success on the on the sales front. That's right. Yeah. You gotta bring in revenue to play with.
Yep. Otherwise, there's nothing there. Okay. Well, Mike, tell us about to tell us about a bad decision. Something that didn't work out so good. Well, You know, I know I have a ton of regrets in my time here. It's it'll be 10 years on April 1st, whenever that is. 2 days. Yeah. 3 days. Yeah. So I know I was done, but one of my biggest regrets is just not doing enough research on kind of the industry leaders. Sure. When I first started, you know, after I'd first started. Right.
So we were we were, you know, in hindsight, we were in the wrong business model. Like, I kind of alluded to earlier. We were our customers were big, you know, blue chip truckload brokerages or s slash carriers, your Schneiders, your OHS, your Mattsons, and that's hearing what Landstar And like I said, it just it wasn't and and the leaders in our space were working directly with shippers.
And so we were kind of trying to do this hybrid, transportation management software system with with LTL rates and brokerage attached. And and looking back, it's just kind of an identity crisis. And, you know, granted, I was still I was learning the industry, but, you know, just studying the environment a little more and and what the successful people were doing and what they're doing well, what they were not doing Wolfe. Yeah. That could have that could have saved us a few years.
Yeah. Because we, like, have it until, you know, 2015 or so. Yeah. 2015 2016. So that it would be that's one of the biggest regrets. But, you know, It I am you know, we are where we are today based on all those events. So it's it's nothing that really keeps me awake at night, but woking back. It could've cutters on that. Yeah. I agree. And I appreciate the vulnerability. What would you say to the listener right now who's in the midst of the identity crisis, as you say.
And maybe they've got a couple different offers or they're trying to figure out which one's the best or I don't know. They're just confused on how to move forward, maybe. Maybe they don't even know that they're confused like you guys. Back then, there's, like, know that you were in the wrong business model, but somehow along the way, there was something that came to light. Let's check out what the other successful people are doing. What would you say to that person, listen, Yeah.
I'd say I would say, you know, think about what your earlier corporate purpose is, and hopefully every organization has some sort of corporate purpose. And do these actions, do these deals, do these opportunities help fulfill that purpose. Now, you know, purposes can can change over the years, but you know, usually, you start with 1, and it's you you make it your purpose for a reason.
Yeah. And also just, you know, learning about the the marketplace that you're in, learn everything you can, who all the players are, how the money flows. I think that is a very, very important piece. Yeah. Because looking back, that's, you know, we were in a, like I said, a a low margin, not sticky situation. And, obviously, that's not where you wanna be.
Yeah. So I think just generally, you know, studying industry, studying how the how the cash you know, change his hands is is always a good thing and and helpful as you build your your business plan. Yeah. It's almost like, you know, for the listener, there's like a There's a little bit of a matrix. We've got, you know, box 1, 2, 3, 4, and box 1 is the AA. It's the sticky and high margin. And we've got over here, we've got sticky, but low margin.
And over here, we've got high margin, but not sticky. And then over here, not sticky, or, you know, high margin and We're trying to get rid of all of it, really, except for sticky and high margin, but some of those box 23 are you gotta play in that box sometimes. What would you say to that for, like, your your business, or what would you say to the listener who's maybe kinda contemplating how to get rid of that, that maybe, that 4 Sandbox?
You do have to explain that box sometimes does have to be forever. And, usually, there should be some sort of, you know, benefit from, like, non monetary benefit that comes from that. Like, we, you know, we sometimes do business at a at a low margin or even breakeven in order to enhance carrier relationships. And customer relationships, and it's not forever.
It's temporary, but it helps us gain, you know, stickiness, really on both sides, the shipper, the shipper side, and the and the carrier side. And, again, it's it's it can't be a privacy. Right. There needs to be or if it is for everything, there needs to be something in that other box that's kind of tangent, like, kind of related to it. So if you tie it all together, it it works out.
Yeah. Yeah. If you've got a a client that's high margin and sticky, wants you to do something that maybe is a little outside of Chaz. Then, of course, yeah, of course, you do that. Right. It is difficult to cut to cut loose on those things that that don't make you the money, though, because that's what you guys basically were saying or doing, you were in a you were thing over here. You weren't following the money. What was that moment where you were like, okay.
We're chopping this part of the before we're done. Draw the line. We're doing it like this now. What did that conversation, or what was that moment like? So I'd say it was it's what? 2016. Okay. We we We need to start calling on more shippers. These are these are our customers, but we still had some salespeople calling on transportation intermediaries. And so I kind of myself and some of the ownership you know, got together, and I proposed, look, we need to divide the company into 2.
One needs to be a software company, and one needs to be a logistics company. And so we spun all the all the software IP out into a separate corporate entity, and that's called port team s. Who, you know, we work very closely with. We're a customer of Forte Maps, but my freight world is a logistics team. Yeah. It's what we do. So our our business is knowing carriers. Now we resell the software in a way, but but it's not our focus. Our focus is on carrier.
And we use we leverage the technology to Bring value. To to, yeah, to get business and to, you know, enhance the customer experience and make us more efficient. But it's not we're not in the software business. Right. So and so really drawing that that clear line in the sand, doing a total rebrand of the software side, It was a total game changer.
Yeah. Well, now in that example that you just gave, if the listener is, you know, following along with your strategy, now you have other clients that you can go specifically very clearly go after with the software company. And that's a whole another thing, a whole another team, and then a whole another growth strategy. That's exactly right. Because Nolan was wanting to buy software from a competitor. Right. And it was just it was the right thing to do.
Could have been done sooner, but but that's okay. Yeah. We're we're still we're still kicking. Yeah. That's right. What about if a decision comes across your desk? Mike, we've talked about a good and bad decision that you've made or or kinda have gone through. How do you process decisions now? Like, is there a magic formula that you follow? Yeah. There's I wouldn't say it. I mean, I rely on instincts a lot. And luckily, I'd been blessed with somewhat patient instincts.
I've learned, especially when dealing with people that's you know, your the initial rash reaction and any rash decision that comes out of that is generally not the one that you would make the next day or the appointment or the day after. Right. And so that's that's something I'd really learning and kinda hung on to you. It's just, you know, take take a break. Let's see about this.
And then let's let's deliver the message you want to say, but in a in a way that's a little more appropriate and and isn't gonna damage any any relationships. Yeah. And then as far as just business wise, you know, does it You know, we we went through a lot of work 2 years ago to really own and, like, kinda enhance our our corporate purpose. I guess it's actually about 3 years ago. And one of the good things about having a strong corporate purpose is that you can use it for decision making.
That's right. That's doing this to fill the corporate purpose. Says hiring this person to fill the corporate purpose. Yeah. Our purpose is making the wheels of transportation Squeaky. I'll give you an example. We just today, we have a we created a new role. It's from operations analyst who's gonna enhance our reporting and and TMS capabilities and, b, and, you know, create, you know, fantastic, you know, KPIs and metrics for our customers.
Doing that makes the wheels of transportation less squeaky for our customers. So that hire fulfills our corporate purpose. Yeah. And so when when making decisions, that's something I always try to to think about. Are we are we feeling the purpose with this decision? Right. And if the answer is no, I mean, it's kinda it's kinda it's it's pretty telling. It it sound it's it simplifies things.
I mean, obviously, not everything's just black and white, but it's been a it's been a really nice tool to have. Yep. Yep. It makes it easy to have a guiding principle, even core values underneath that purpose. And does this purpose person fit fit our language fit our fit our fit our tried. All those things matter. Going over here to the speed round, Mike, I'm gonna keep this. You you just created this new position.
I'm gonna use it as an example here because it's a an analyst and you're An analyst dives in in checks numbers, KPIs, they're they're reporting things, as you said. And so if you could only pick one thing, to report on or to track inside this logistics business. What would it be? Yeah. That's that's a that's a really good one. And I would say New new shipper, new shipper volume. Yep. And that's partly because I have such confidence in our operations and finance team.
And so new shipper volume kinda tells me how we're doing on the sales and marketing. We've been excellent operators and executors for 24 years. We have not been a excellent sales organization for 24 years. Sales and marketing. And that's something we put up a large emphasis on just the last, like, 3 or 4. Yeah. And so new shippers is if I had to choose 1, Chaz is what I would that's what I would choose. Yeah. That's awesome.
I think that the way that you dissected that in your answer, I think, is really great because I've had a lot of answers, as you can imagine, but a lot of people have said sales or even the the experience or the fulfillment, the execution, as you mentioned it. But you're right. If if you have no worries of how your client is going to be handled, if it's gonna be the absolute best, then all you really have left to do is just go get more.
And so, obviously, there's always gonna be improvement and a better experience and next level, but that can even be built in. The innovation of that can be built into leadership and things that are already happening on the back end where it sounds like you'd get it's giving you the full focus of growth and just straight. If I can get a new customer, then just I can follow along what that means for a simple, you know, profit loss statement and or even growth in the team organization.
Would you agree with that? Totally. I mean, our goal is to You know, what, you know, I guess this comes back to, like, one of my whys is I wanna we want to, you know, build this organization. We have about fifty people. So that's, you know, that's 50 jobs. I would love to, you know, be partly responsible for 100 of jobs. And and not just jobs, but good jobs. Right. You know, people that love their jobs. People like are fulfilled by their jobs. Right. So but it takes finding finding new business.
And I I strongly believe that all of our new customers are better off with us than what they were doing previously. So that's so I feel good about every every new customer we get that we are making their their freight experience better than it was. Yeah. I think I think what you're saying, what you're depositing right now, I I just the listener doesn't really matter what business that they're in.
Even just my 20 plus years of sales, being a sales rep, being a sales leader, running sales organizations myself, my own businesses, of course, What you just said is, like, the ultimate confidence for a sales organization is to know that, like, they are better off with us in their life. And as long as I know that they have the problem that we solve, then I can, like, really press hard in our sales process, and it it that doesn't mean pushy or you know, overbearing or anything like Chaz.
What that means is that I operate in conviction. And so everything that you just said was, like, straight conviction coming out of your belief of, like, no. Like, They need to be with us. They shouldn't be with anybody else. Nice. And I really feel that way. Now there is you know, not everyone is for us. So we've spent some time identifying who is for us. Exactly. And then let's focus on that group because you know, at Walmart is does not need us. You know, Target does not need us.
Yeah. We're probably not the best fit for them. So our our kind of our area, our tribe is that kind of mid market, you know, 5000000 to 250,000,000 and and top on revenue. We have a couple $1,000,000,000 customers, and we're doing some things to add value to to that to that group. But our our really bread and butter is that kind of mid market. Yeah. And so we'd take a look at, you know, what kind of commodities these companies produce.
They're how many decision makers do these organizations have in their shipping department and, you know, what what what's our what are shipping volumes? And so those are some of the things that we look at to figure out Like, who who's out there that we can really help. And once we've identified that, we we try to we try to show them what it's like with my freight world. Exactly. Yeah. It just gets it breeds the confidence.
I mean, we're talking about sales, really, the the bottom line of what what it takes to be successful in sales. Yes. Communication and and all the tactics, but it's confidence. It's belief. You know, those things breathe, like, in and out constantly through a sales organization. And you can tell if someone is is on the dying bed, you know, of the sales world. You know what I mean? Yep. Yep. That's how that's how it rolls. Alright.
The next question is what book or maybe resource would you recommend for a business owner listening today trying to grow? Yeah. Okay. I would say a book called Clean Slate, and it's by Sean Storms. K. Haven't had a copy. There you go. Like, it's on Amazon. I I heard Sean had a, you know, a mastermind group. And I was blown away.
This book is about, a, it's it's very large and corporate purpose, finding that you're north It's really big on, you know, operational efficiency, getting getting rid of waste and rework He's a big dimming guy, the the Japanese, this man who just was, you know, wizard at efficiency. And then he's really, really big on demand creation. And he compares a lot of b to c companies and brands and kinda challenges the b to b companies to to create that type of demand.
And one of his sayings, and this is really what kinda woke me up is that if you need sales people to sell your product, Chaz means that there's no demand for it. And so I when he said that, my eyes kind of opened up and And there's like, okay. Well, that is a very interesting point. I mean, taking that literally is is maybe a bit much, but there but there's some truths to Chaz. And so it kinda, you know, kinda woke me up.
There's there's some things that we can do better to to drive more demands. He's begging to you know, turning his turning the sales team into really, like, scouts. We'll see the customers searching for that unspoken need And if you Chaz find that unspoken need, you're gonna be able to create, really, a better value proposition than you had before. Right. Yeah. And so I I I thought it was a great book. Just the purpose fees itself.
We kinda implemented Chaz. And it's made us a better organization. There's there's no doubt. So that would be my book recommendation. Love it, Mike. I think even what I heard underneath, what you were saying that he was describing about the sales organization is that not to get rid of it. He didn't say that. He just said that the the purpose of it might be slightly different than how you're operating right now. And because because you're right.
There you can't take that straight on and say, well, nobody rings my phone, then I guess I'm not needed. Chaz obviously doesn't work in in in business or sales, and that doesn't necessarily mean that people aren't out there that don't need you. They just don't know about you. So I loved how you said going up in creating demand or drumming it up, which actually plays a little bit more into marketing than sales, right, because it's attention. You have, obviously, something that people need.
It's just a matter of whether they know about your own. Right? Right. That's exactly right. The brands that he uses are, like, Apple. I mean, they're just great. They're great marketers. Obviously, their products are are fantastic, but Right? They're fantastic marketers. You know, you know about them because in commercials and then also that their the users are, you know, commercials themselves. They're telling their friends about their latest gadgets.
Yeah. So, yeah, there there's there's things we've tried to and are still working on implementing on the marketing side to try to decrease the demand. Yeah. Yeah. The secret the secret, maybe a little piece in that formula for Apple, which I didn't learn this until, you know, in the last couple of years, is status And so if you can raise the status of your client, in some way, yes, you add value, yes, solve a problem.
I I can't can't get away from those things, but if you can raise the status, it is like the underlying tone of why we, as humans, do pretty much anything. I mean, even just, like, think from, like, tribal men. Like, I'm either gonna do it for status or a woman. Right? Like, Right. This is what we do.
And it's so, like, I just think it's, like, just, like, this super deep nature thing that when you understand, the reason why I'm telling my buddy about my new AirPods is because It brings me status, or the fact that I have the new whatever is that brings me status. Whether you wanna admit that or not, That's how it rolls. Absolutely right. You're absolutely right. And, you know, I think about freight. Freight's not it's it's hard to make freight sexy.
It's almost like the roof that you just don't You just want it to not leak. Right. Right. If you can make it cool, do we work with my freight world? You're I mean, that's the dream. Right. That's the dream. I guess the last thing I I wanna mention about that book is he's one of his big sayings is sameness is a disease of epidemic proportions. Okay. And that that also kinda struck a cord to me in in our business. We have a lot of competitors. There's probably 15,000 freight brokers out there.
You can be a one man shop and be a freight broker. And many of them do the exact same thing. They make a phone call, hey. What do you got on the dock? I can give you a rate. I can give you, you know, give me a shot. So that really struck me. There's there's better way to do things. So let's let's Let's do what we can do. Find that better way and bring more value. Love it. Love it. I I think that probably applies to a lot of industries. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Everything that you've shared has been incredible. You've given plenty. I got a question for you. You mentioned mastermind earlier. My question around intentionally, Masterminding or networking with other entrepreneurs. You kinda mentioned that you already got something from that, but speak a little bit more into maybe your experience or the value that you've gotten from just getting time around other high performers.
Yeah. I've been a part of a couple different mastermind groups, you know, just pure pure groups, in the Kansas area. Some some have gotten a lot of value out of some I've I'm not. And the ones I had not, I've I've kinda stepped away from. Sure. And I think it's, you know, I think the ones that have for me, you know, my time is fairly limited. Just busy with a lot of things at work. And then, you know, I've got a young child and another one on the way. Chaz changes things.
It really does have a few hours in the week now. That's right. But it's it's great. And so I've had to be a little more picky about how I spend my networking time. And so the thing that I enjoy is kind of that combination of, of a get together that has some structure, has some purpose to the to the meeting. Yeah. But then, you know, when when the time is right, there's, you know, the ability to socialize and maybe have a beer. So for me, that's that's what's worked, and that's what I enjoy.
And because I, you know, you you never know people you meet or get exposed to how they can kinda change your life for the better. So I I really do believe in that. And, actually, I've been inspired by by one of the the leaders of our this this group I'm in, he's a local insurance broker here in Kansas City. He brings together a look CFOs and and CEOs and presidents. I've been inspired, so I've started a few, you know, transportation related groups based off people I've met on LinkedIn.
Yeah. With the you know, let's get some people with some commonalities. Yeah. They are they've got they're in charge of moving, you know, their company's product. Yeah. Could be all sorts of different industries. We got mattresses. We got food. We got we got iced tea. We got, you know, you know, electronics. Yeah. That's awesome. We've got we've got 2 peer groups that I kinda oversee, and those those are going really well. And I I want it done from them.
So it's there's a little selfishness involved, but I think the people have enjoyed getting to know. Just getting to know other people that are doing similar things. Yeah. No. It's so true. I have to just second your opinion there as far as the selfishness. You know, I facilitate, obviously, a pretty large mastermind, but it's, like, I'd they nobody knows that I get the most excited. You know, I'm like, oh, it's game day today.
Fantastic. You know, I I get to get around a bunch of high performers. It's it's why I started it. Selfishly. Of course, I know that we're adding value to, you know, big business owners all across the country, but it's like, man, I got filled today, you know, which doesn't always happen when you're the leader of an organization and you get siloed to being the one always giving. It's good to, it's good good to get recharged every once in a while. Totally. Totally agree. What you mentioned family.
What What is your thought around, you know, obsession? Really is the is the word I wanna throw at your table here, but there's a salon, maybe, talked about word of balance and work life and you know, as as a business owner, as a leader of an organization, I just kinda just throw it out the window because I don't think it's gonna help us be successful in either area. What I think happens or what needs to happen is a is a obsession.
That's how we became successful in the business, and that's how we're gonna be successful in marriage as fathers, that type of a thing. So My question to you is, how do you obsess over phone? Over phone? Yeah. Like, so he prays that. Yeah. I love my family, and I love my job. So that those are 2 very key, you know, beginning points. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So now it's really allocating time.
And and really the biggest thing for me is is making sure that I have a structure at work, a people that, you know, ends up having the right team. Yeah. And they write amount of resources, like this new hire that I just alluded to who's starting it today. That's because my plate was getting too full. It was taken away from time with my family. And, also, I was becoming a bottleneck in just key organizational functions. Yep. No. Neither of those things are good.
There are things that I can train the right person so that he can do the job. Those tasks, even better than I was doing. Yeah. That's right. So that has been key as we've grown is to invest in that team. Don't take any shortcuts and training. And it it allows for the business to grow and for, you know, your home Wolfe to to remain the same if not better. And so that has been You know, when when I was a single guy, no kids, you know, I could spend as much time working as as I wanted.
And, you know, it was good at the time at the time of the business is good because, you know, stretching, you know, or getting the most out of our human capital was good for the at that time. K. But as we've evolved and grown and matured, it's better for the business to get the right people and the right specialties in in place. So that's that's been exciting to to see and to be able to, you know, not obsess over everything and watch watch other team members flourish.
It's great for a number of reason. Yeah. Understood. Well, I appreciate the just such a systematic answer. I think that there's a lot of business owners out there that don't think like you in that way. And I think that they're, you know, flying by the seat of their pants, which is oftentimes as as leaders do.
And probably how you maybe even felt before hiring this individual person, you give a little snapshot there, a little tension, a little stress, and it's actually an indicator So I love how you said that of, like, okay. It's time for the next hire. It's time for the next investment, whether it be training, the team, grow, whatever it is, because you have to hold on to what's important on the other side completely agree with you.
And if you don't, because that's that's that's the that tipping point that where you hired this person is where some people just don't.
Whether it's a financial related, they just wanna hold on to the money, or they just think that they can do it better, whatever that that bottleneck is inside of them, is then what keeps them from going home on time or spending the extra time necessary inside the marriage or the or the kiddos, you know, so and because as they get as they get older and even as my wife know, we've been married now for 15 years. It's like, I had I need to be intentional.
Just like I need to be intentional about meeting great people like you. Like, I can't I can't not apply the success principles over here on this side that I'm that I'm so good at over here. You know what I mean? Yeah. I I'm very well set and, you know, probably needs to be said more often, you know, at least in in inside my own brain. I think Well, I love I love the vulnerability.
Yeah. Because it's it's just a good it's I like the way, you know, you think about it because I I understand and have a, you know, firm grasp of you know, what, you know, how things are structured to, you know, succeed in the business and all the all those sorts of things. But they really are transferable to the home life.
And not that I feel like, you know, things are are bad there, but, you know, maybe looking at it in the same light can can help with Chaz, with just time allocation and and, you know, improve both sides. Yeah. So I appreciate that. Yeah. Of course. You know, I'll I'll give one more thing here for you, the listener, whoever whoever cares to take it, but I don't give this out of, like, I'm an expert.
But only out of someone who's literally walking this out myself constantly because I'm a high driver, highly obsessed individual, obsessed with achievement and success. I mean, I have 9 companies. I mean, Come on. Like, I can't not push. It's just who I am. And so that last piece of what I just said is who I am when I started realizing that I'm a builder, that I'm a pusher, that I'm a shove her, that I'm just a get it done.
Let's just run hard all the time type of an individual, Chaz applies in anything. I just needed to get as excited about building or pushing my marriage, or I needed to get as excited about pushing my children or building my children is kinda how I like it into this vision that we have as a family.
And so I get just excited about that now as I do building the next funnel or building the next team or building the next idea That's like, man, I need to transfer what you're talking about, that excitement around building because that's who I am. I'm a builder. You know? Yeah. Absolutely. Very well said. I got one last question here for you, Mike. This sound might sound a little odd because, you and I are both young guys, but we've been through a lot.
You've got 10 years history at this organization that you now lead. If you could whisper in the younger Mike's ear, What would you say? Well, I'll I'll try to think of something different than, you know, fix the business model. Yeah. Because we because I've I've used that one before, but what about for you? What would you say to you? It's tough because I've it's it's worked out very well for me personally in my career advancement.
I'd say just I mean, because what what I what happened was I I worked really hard. I was in a the the I had the ability to, you know, obsess and and one thing that maybe I did that not all not everyone does, and I try to, you know, coach some of our new hires on this is keep asking for more. You know, don't get content with, you know, the current workload or not to master that. And then, you know, you you're gonna get quicker and more efficient. And keep asking for more.
Keep asking for, you know, be curious. Get interested in other, you know, departments of the business. See, because you never know where you're the right fit. It's gonna be until you kind of dip your toe in those waters and and not even necessarily dip your toe, but really dive in. And so curiosity, hard work, and just flat out asking asking for more opportunities and then prove yourself worthy of those opportunities. Yeah. I would I'd I'd say, you know, that that's the right thing to do.
And that's that's kinda what I did. So it wouldn't probably changed a whole lot, but it it would have been maybe reassuring. You know, I'm because there are times am I doing is this all for nothing? Right? And it certainly was not. So Yeah. That's probably what I would say. Yeah. I love that reflection. I I would have to agree with you that there are many opportunities that where I just reached for more. I was actually just listening to a little deal the other day on desire.
And the guy that was talking, he he kinda the way that he phrased it was that our our DNA or our spiritual DNA, the spiritual DNA is perfect. And regardless of your spiritual beliefs, it's like you were created to be Mike. I was created to beat Chaz, and I think we can both agree that, like, or we're on that journey to figure out, like, what that means and and who we're meant to be. Like, that's just what life is about.
And so in in in that, there's this play of who you are, and it's like trying to always come out and, like, help you with the business model or help you be a good dad or, you know, whatever. It's like trying to make you be the best version of yourself. But inside of that being the best version is reaching for the next level, wanting more asking for more of what you said. And what that does is it forces us into a creative state. Because it's more than or different than what we do now.
And so we have to, like you said, master and then be able to put ourselves into a situation where we're now like, okay. I have to now resolve another problem or re get efficient or put myself in a different construct or creative thinking to be able to solve this problem as opposed to this problem. So there's just so much value in what you just said as far as reach for more. Like, we all hear it. We all know it, but, like, the why is because it literally puts you in the position to grow. Right?
That's that's exactly right. It's exactly right. I mean, you gotta be your own advocate. I mean, you gotta no one's no one's gonna push you forward. Like, you, like, you should be able to push yourself. That's right. Love it. Mike, how can a listener find you? Number 1, if they are in need of, transportation services and or even software, can they find you, but then also how can they connect with you as an entrepreneur? At C Linkedin, it's a great great way to find me.
I'm on there. It's Mike Shawpharm. You'll you'll see me president, my freight Wolfe. And then email mchalloton@myfreightroll.com. You can reach out on our website, my freightroll.com. Pretty pretty accessible. Sounds good. Well, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for just spending your time. You've got you've got a a brilliant mind, really.
You've been able to do so much in such a short period of time, and I just appreciate you sharing and and have given some nuggets to the listeners today. So blessings on your family. Baby that's coming. Your Wolfe entire team there that's growing. Thank you for being here, Mike. Hey. Thanks so much. I enjoyed it, Chaz. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing literally over 2 or 300 other various successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone.
And so gathering the Kings literally exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1000 kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe. That in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and and resonates with you and you know that you need people around you, sharp qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.