The End is Just the Beginning with Tyson Lawrence

We are still doing what we've always done sharing founder stories , hoping to educate and inspire others .

Some folks are on the fence about whether or not they should jump into their first business , and then there are others , like our guest today , Tyson Lawrence , who's the founder and CEO of Diablo Freight Ventures that are on their third venture , and so today we're going to unpack parts of his journey , understand what makes him tick and why he's so bullish about

the future in his third rodeo . So with that , Tyson , good morning . It's so good to see you , my friend . I can't wait to unpack your journey . How are we finding you today ?

Why don't you take us first on an overview of what Diablo is , and then what have you done previously ?

I do coaching and consulting , you know , m&a to freight brokerages , to um , and then I have a unishippers franchise also that . So it's kind of three separate things all under one umbrella , um , kind of for me in a given day I'm kind of working on one of those three things , um , but it keeps me in the kind of in the ball game a little bit .

And you know that's what I'm doing right now with Diablo Freight . But you know , like I said , I got started in the industry 25 years ago , kind of blindly , kind of like a lot of people in logistics . You know we find our way to this great industry and then we can't get out , but nor do I want out out .

But , um , I got hired by ch robinson in 2000 , 2001 , right around there , and then kind of got my education , you know , with them for about two , two and a half years and then realized I wasn't a real corporate guy , um , and I kind of wanted to get out and see what some of the smaller options were out there in the industry .

So worked at drage and then um did some produce for a for a while out in monterey on the you Coast here and then started my first freight brokerage in 2006 .

So that was my first foyer into it and we were pretty much niched into refrigerated transportation , so anything you know produce eggs , some pharmaceuticals , floral , anything highly perishable we wanted to get involved with . So , um , that was my first four year and you know I've learned a lot .

And for others it was XPO or Coyote or somewhere else , was the beginning of their tree , but I didn't realize that we were within a year of each other at the same place .

A lot of these other trees you mentioned that have come about since they weren't really around . And CH was an interesting point . They bought up their competition American Backhaulers . At that point I got to see a little bit of that which is legendary and that kind of sparked a little bit of my vision of what I wanted to eventually build .

And , yeah , I'm just incredibly grateful that I got an opportunity to work for CH Robson and I poo pooed him forever , like I was like whatever you know , like who are these guys and you know , to their credit , they kept after me and you know I was applying that was thecom boom kind of when I came out , or bust really .

But there were a lot of opportunities around that were more sexy , right , sure , prestigious right , and so , uh , anyway , all they had to say is they were , they were going to move me to california and I was in and you're still there to this day .

I got an opportunity at a very young age to be in some big boardrooms you know like Unilever best foods and listen to some of these conversations right , and kind of break that veil of you know like scariness of seeing like you know this isn't too bad , these people are just like you . It's just they got more experience than you .

And so I kind of walked , worked in that enterprise account area for a long time and so when I went to a smaller brokerage they had a big enterprise account that they put me on and allowed me to kind of start building there and when I left I was able to kind of take some of that business with me .

So my first business really was around an enterprise account . It was a large retail grocery chain I'm Safeway it's been so long now at this point and we worked with their produce on the I-5 . And out here on the West Coast , california goes off during the summertime , like most people know , and then in the wintertime it picks up in Washington .

So there's a kind of a constant cycle that I worked in of contract freight and enterprise accounts going up and down the I-5 . So that's where I built the first business off of . Was um just really focused on um produce . I mean , like I said , we supplemented it with , you know , other types of refrigerated stuff ,

but we really were in the produce game and I was doing retail uh or like uh , contract freights or contract rates , which was really , you know it's really nerve wracking , you know , in the produce game doing that because there's such swings , you know , and we had that relationship for a long time , you know , about 10 years if not longer if I count my previous

year . And so as I was building that company , I started realizing that I was really in bed with Safeway , like I had 85% of my business with them .

You know , you kind of think you're diversifying yourself , you know , but you're really still under one umbrella and I started to realize that and it got me kind of nervous , you know , and I was a new business owner , I was 20 at this age , I was 28 , 29 .

And you know , kind of in a silo , right , like back then , there wasn't a lot of information out there . There was Google , right . I mean there wasn't social media , youtube . You know a lot of people , especially out here in California . You know I would tell people I did . You know a lot of people , especially out here in California .

You know I would tell people I did . You know I was a freight broker and they'd look at me like I had a third head . You know they were just like they didn't know what that meant . You know , out in the Midwest it's a little different , right . You know people , there's a lot more concentration of our industry there .

So it was just kind of , you know , trying to learn how to run a business , and that was one of the biggest things that popped up in my head . I was bootstrapping it . I didn't have any money . Really , what got me off the ground was the fact that I was able to get paid in 15 days for my customer , and then I was able to pay my trucks in 30 .

Like you know , I can start a business , you know , cause I didn't come from money , I didn't have money , I didn't have a lot of , you know , and this is capital intensive business , right , and especially if you're an independent broker and so , anyway , that really was a big lift , you know , to get us going .

You know that changed over time and I had to learn how to adjust with that because you know they changed their terms . That made a big difference with me with 85% , you know sometimes they , you know if they wanted to get paid faster , I became reliant on that money you know , coming in early .

So , anyway , I was just learning a lot of this stuff about running a freight brokerage and my biggest concern was , towards the end , trying to get diversified , and I just couldn't get there . And then , sure enough , what happened I was worried about happening was we got into a dispute with Safeway , which happens in the produce game .

There's a lot of claims and stuff like that and so , um , you know , one thing led to another and , um , really , the best route for me to do is to uh , take the company into bankruptcy . So you know , that was a really hard decision and that's all . There was a whole nother . You know , that's all wrapped around it .

But my first kind of for you , after 10 years we were about 10 , 11 years old thought I had gotten over the hump , um , we were taken out . So that was a lot of learning .

So that was weighing in there , um regret , like man , I wish I could start over again , like there's so many things that I would have done differently that were just inherent in our business and the foundation of how I built it that I just couldn't turn um around . So , yeah , there was a lot of conflict there .

There was , you know , feeling like I'd squandered my chance to be an entrepreneur . You know it was soul sucking to like have to start looking at jobs again in corporate America . And you know it was soul-sucking to like have to start looking at jobs again in corporate america and you know thinking that's the route I wanted to go . So , yeah , it was .

It was very um challenging , but you know there was .

You know , when you go through these moments in life and then you know I've been through a few of them you know where just , you get the wind kicked out of your , you know , knocked out of you , where you have moments clarity , and it's in those moments of clarity where you have to kind of make the decisions of how you want to respond and how you want to

handle the situation . I lost my dad when I was 17 years old , right after high school , and that was my first one right . And so within 10 years , from that moment to 26 , I went to college , I graduated with California , started my own business . So I was looking at that , going , look , if I can overcome that , I can definitely overcome this .

I just got to kind of figure out how that is . I need to adjust my mindset and , you know , try to take another bite at the apple .

And I come to I realized , you know , there was a moment during that clarity when I was thinking like I had a little bit of what was me , which I'm not , you know , one of those people . I'm not you know victim . But I started thinking god dang , am I ever going to be able to just like cruise , kick my feet up and have everything work right ?

And then it hit me like a thunderbolt where I was like that's not life . It's never going to be that way and , especially if you want to be an entrepreneur and especially if you want to be in this business , you're never going to be able to put your feet up .

You're never going to reach that point where you know you can just like kick back and relax if you're in the game and if you're pushing and you're wanting to do things . So I've got to learn how to adjust to this . I got to learn how to deal with this . I got to be able to , you know , get my mind around a way to handle these challenges .

And then I started looking back at how I handled the biggest challenge of my life and I just started breaking it down . And it wasn't overnight , you know . I had a lot of you know moments of you know self-doubt and you know those quiet moments at night . Those were hard Because basically I had to take it down and then I also kind of saw a pathway out

and we can talk about that next . But it was really kind of trying to not give up on yourself and really have a good mental narrative in your head and find the positive stuff and be grateful for what you do have and then just start from there , because you're really started from the ground up .

So how did you , what did you decide to do ? And then how did you go about activating ?

You know , I was kind of like in the middle and I I think it was a real pivotal time to be like you know who am I and what am I and what do I want to stand for , and you know how do I go forward the next time I'm building a business and culture and thoughts and things like that .

And at that time I saw one of my biggest strengths as one of my biggest weaknesses , and it took me a minute to really look at it and that's empathy . So when I , about that time , I was really hard on myself , like maybe I didn't lead right , maybe I wasn't hard enough on my people , maybe I wasn't pushing them hard enough , maybe I wasn't .

Uh , I live out in , you know , san francisco bay area and during that time , steve jobs passed away and so he was being lionized in the media and you know about what a great god .

But also , you know he was kind of a , you know , and I I didn't ever connect with that , you know , and I've never connected with the , the um being an app or being a jerk to my employees Right , like I .

Just that's not the way I led , but I always felt like that was a weakness , like I needed to do it , and so when I realized that my greatest strength was my empathy and I just needed to , you know , lean into that and lead by that and be , you know , like that's who I am and that's how I'm going to build my businesses , is just being empathetic with my

customers , being empathetic with my employees . You know , being empathetic to just about any situation . You get it , understanding where people are coming from and not running away from it and not seeing it as a like , kindness , as a weakness , right you ?

And then you show up kind of weird to others , maybe because they're like no , you're actually a pretty empathetic person and you're trying to be really firm and aggressive and it doesn't feel right somehow , and then it impacts other people , and then that impacts the business . So what did you do ?

You know , like it was just very authentic place , like everybody was very- .

Not adapt , but just remember who I was right . You know and you know and being authentic is really at the core of just how people perceive you or understand you is . They know what they're going to get . They know you know that you're . You're just not a poser , right ?

And I just felt like that wasn't me of being a jerk , you know , and pounding on people , and it was more about uplifting , teaching , understanding , meeting people where they're at , trying to understand that we all have our challenges outside of business , and then we're in a very stressful industry , especially freight brokerage , and your mental health doesn't just turn

on and turn off when you leave the office . It's a through line . So I just wanted to be more empathetic amongst all that and try to do this the second time around .

They had just started Global Trans , they were trying to figure out how to scale it and what they were doing , and I was looking for an LTL platform because my next iteration . I wanted to make sure I was very diversified , what I offered my customers and modes in terms of modes , so then I could develop a more diversified customer base .

So we started , um , you know , getting ltl customers , you know bring it in and you know turning it into ltl and whatnot .

But , um , you know , getting a chance to kind of come back as an agent took a lot of the pressure off financially , not having to do a lot of the stuff around it , and it kind of opened my eyes like , wow , this is kind of a better way of doing it . It allows you to focus on selling and brokering .

Can you just , in 60 seconds or less , explain what the agent model is and why it's super helpful for some folks .

I don't know a lot of stuff , but basically the agency model takes a lot of areas in which you're not familiar with , uh , finance . You know , I don't know a lot of stuff because mine but basically the agency model takes a lot of that stuff off your plate and allows you to focus just more on customers selling that type of stuff .

So you don't have to worry about billing . You don't have to worry about claims . You don't not that claims don't come up but you're not having to build out a claims you have help with it ?

yeah , you know , and that's what I found Like I was having to build out all these non-revenue producing you know positions that were needed within a freight brokerage , but we're , you know , not producing profits , right , like so that you know what I mean Like they're not salespeople , they're not just profit , and even back then I'd hire people just for paperwork ,

right , and that type of stuff weighs you down when you're independent and you've got to have a lot of money to pay out . Get started . Get started to pay out on carriers and collect from customers , because not all shippers pay in 30 days but all carriers need to be paid in 30 days , and so that

can create a big schism that you've got to be able to kind of navigate while you're doing all these different things . So it's very intensive . Now on the agent side , you take a lot of that off your plate . You don't need to worry about claims , you don't need to worry about AR , you don't hire any of those people you know in some great agencies .

You get some camaraderie and ability to get out of your silo and talk to other agents and see what they're doing . You're kind of on the same team in some respects . So yeah , there's really two fundamental different ways to do it , and I think it's getting harder and harder to do it as an independent agent .

If you feel really good at administrative work and you can do sales and business development on your own , then doing something independent is going to be maybe more successful or not more successful , just going to be . You'll be more successful than folks who don't have those skillsets .

So it's kind of back to what you were saying about knowing who you really are and being true to what makes you you . So you ended up having a far different kind of success under the agent model . How did that one end ?

We focused on small to medium-sized businesses . I was no longer in the enterprise world . I didn't like the enterprise world anymore . It's just we could get into private equity and all that kind of stuff . But it's really the same type of mentality . There's not a lot of relationships that withstand it .

But in the small to medium size you become more of a coach , consultant , you know , with these new businesses that don't necessarily know how to ship their products efficiently , right , and I mean it's the last thing they think about really when they , when they're starting a business , you know they're , they're excited about producing what their widgets , you know ,

whatever it is , it's not like . Well then , how do I get it from point A to point B ? So we enjoyed kind of getting in and growing with companies , and so we had a lot of success with that One of them in particular .

We got the beverage industry and it had a couple of success stories there with , like Lagunita Spear we were one of their first carriers and a company called Hint Water . Basically they were just doing one or two pallets . You know , a week we taught them how to .

You know how ltl worked , and then they grew over time and we were doing you know 20 truckloads a day when I left and we kind of took them on that , that journey , you know , and helped them along that way and it strengthened our relationships right .

So you know , when Uber and CH and all these people discovered Hint got big enough and they all discovered Hint , you know we were already three , four , five years knee deep with them , you know , in a relationship that's taken them from you know small aspects to here . So they weren't willing to part with us .

So it made us a little bit more sticky , yeah , and we . So those were the type of relationships we were building in that , in that um and at tactic , at that agency , um , and so it was . So the company's name was tactic logistics group and tactic .

I have a little bit of german ancestry and so , uh , it's the german word for strategy , what's like , oh , cool , yeah , and I , because I was trying to strategize at the time . I was going down with the ship , starting a new company and trying to keep my ass out of jail .

I didn't want to do anything illegal at that point because I was mixing a lot of relationships and pulling them over here and whatnot . So as we built Tactic , we just built it under those relationships , you know , and we were able to scale it in the agent model a lot quicker with that direct , intentional , you know prospect .

You know just the way we were doing it Focus yeah . Focus right . Yeah , we're way much more focused . You know , that's kind of it's different than being , you know , all in bed with one customer . It's just being focused on what your strategy is and then , you know , sticking to it .

And so we became very diverse and a lot more efficient , and so I grew to that business at about 25 million in five , six years . And so , yeah , I mean it was it was hard to sell it . Yeah , and then I sold it to Global Trans in 2021 .

So , you know , because it was a good business right , Like when I was running around trying to sell my other business , when I was , you know , going down , I realized how it was a bad business , fundamentally because I couldn't find anybody to buy me .

You know , when I got in trouble and so I second time around , I was like I want to build a good business because when I exit , it's going to make it that much easier . So , and that's exactly what happened , you know it was it's going to make it that much easier , and that's exactly what happened .

Do you find yourself showing up um from a position of confidence or stability , somehow different , that , like your personal finances , are taken care of so you can make different kinds of decisions in the third go-round ?

And so you know and that was the thing with starting the second business I had 15 grand left and my wife and I had to have these conversations where , like , do we take this 15 grand and move closer to family , get out of the Bay Area , go get a corporate job , or do we roll it back in and just go for it again ?

And she got behind me and said let's do it . I got faith in you and we literally went week to week , month to month . I mean , we were the last to get paid . I brought my top three guys over , never did cut their salaries , kept them on everything same bonus programs , all that type of stuff , but we were the last to get paid .

So it sucked going down and it sucked going up , right . And so we got to a certain point where we crossed the threshold . We were clear . Plus , we were living personally under the thumb of a trustee

, because we went personally bankrupt too during that time .

somebody else's money . When you're building the business , I think you're more thoughtful about the moves you make and you're just kind of . There's just a different feeling about it . But it's a freedom , right .

And so this is where I wanted to be in a position to be able to make bets and do things , based on my information that I've gathered over 10 or 15 years and being in the industry well , 25 years at this point , but at that point it was 20 something years and so it's a different mindset , a lot more fun .

The Cinderella story was um , she had a great life and then they don't explain why , but her mom died or left or something . You know the . Her dad was alone and then got remarried and the stepmother was wicked and that was the decline .

Right before that , things were pretty good yeah so that that storytelling you know structure is like there was a rise and then there was a fall , and that's where the story starts and then it ends with a rise back to they lived happily ever after .

What I have found in the hundreds and hundreds of people that I've interviewed and talked to about their stories , the ones who understand or who have experienced that pattern like you you had the rise with business number one and then it crashed , and then you , in your second business , had the happily ever after .

You appreciate things differently than somebody who's never had failure or somebody who's never who's only ever had up and to the right , and they develop hubris , overconfidence , and then their fall is coming , not always , but sometimes you bet , it's usually always .

It's usually just around the corner , and so I think we're so drawn to stories that remind us of those things , and yours is one of those .

But you also shared with me before we started recording that sometimes you still have this imposter syndrome that creeps up , and is that maybe a fear that you might lose it all again someday , or that it might've been a your success ? The second time might've been a fluke , like , how do you ?

Because from the outside I would hear what you've been through and think you should have tons of confidence , but a healthy confidence that you can survive anything , you know , come what may , because you already have once . So unpack that for me .

And I've talked to a lot of other people that have done it too and they feel the same way . And it doesn't matter how big . It is right , it could be a billion dollar company , it could be a small .

It's something that you know , you kind of tie yourself to , and then you have to kind of it's a journey , you're on Right and and then you kind of get to the end of it and you look back on you're like , wow , I dodged this , I dodged that , I did that .

But yeah , I mean , it was very conflicting for me because you would think that right , like you would be in this position where I should have the most supreme confidence in myself at that point .

And not that I didn't , you know , I do have , you know , a lot of confidence in myself because I do know that I can handle anything that's thrown at me and I have the strength of resilience , this , this muscle I've built up over time .

Um , but it's sitting in that moments of like you know , how did it happen for me , you know , and it didn't happen for x , y , z or you know , just kind of like did I get lucky ? It was this .

you know all these things and some of that is true , right like it plays a role , for sure it plays timing , you know I mean , but I believe you create your own luck and you know , you take advantage of your opportunities , and I think that was the biggest thing for me is and even now , I don't squander , I don't take opportunities lightly .

You know , I try to identify them and then make the most of them , and whether they're ones that have fallen in my lap or ones that I've created for myself , it doesn't matter .

Getting back to the fact that , like it can happen to anybody , right , business is an imperfect science , it's a sport , it's , it's a way you know the ball , you know the ball can bounce different ways and you've got to be able to you , you know , kind of go with it Right and and be able to learn .

And so I'm doing all that stuff , you know , and I'm still kind of figuring that out . But you know , I was in a . I got interviewed by entrepreneur magazine shortly after I was kind of coming back and you know I was telling him about that , my first business . I had a success . Especially , it was

going through 2008 , 2009 , when every other business around you was crumbling . I was having success . Everything I touched turned to gold . I was like , wow , this is easy . This whole entrepreneur thing . Like there is another side , there's . You know you're going to get hit .

If you kind of stay in that mindset and that's kind of what happened is I just , you know , even though I saw it , kind of saw it coming , it knocks you off your feet in how you respond to it and a lot of times . People have never had that before . They've never been through a time where they've had to be resilient and they crumble .

I was fortunate that I kind of had built some coping mechanisms to be resilient and they crumble . I was fortunate that I kind of had built some coping mechanisms to be able to bounce back . But it's important to understand that you can't get too full yourself . No matter how much success you've had , you've always got to stay learning .

You've always got to stay , you know , continue to be uncomfortable . Comfortable being uncomfortable . You know I talked to my daughters a lot about this right now , where it's like , you know , I got kind of a real comfortable life .

You know I talk to my daughters a lot about this right now , where it's like , you know , I got kind of a real comfortable life , you know . So we have to , you know , find some places where they're uncomfortable sometimes , so we learn some things right and that's good , you know .

I mean , I've been playing sports , I'm always in the balls of my feet , you're moving forward , being ready to react to what comes your way . Um , and then get back up . You know , you , you get knocked down , you're going to get blindsided .

But yeah , it's just one of those deals where you just have to be real with yourself and understand that you don't know it all and you always got to keep learning . And the more you learn and the more you get up from challenges , that creates a resiliency that does give you confidence that there's virtually not much that could .

I can't think of much that could probably come my way that I couldn't handle , because now I have the structures in place to be able to process it .

You know , and I've never met a successful person that has not experienced some sort of adversity and in order to be successful , it's just something you have to go through well , well said . Yeah , it'll come your way . But you know , at the same time you stick through it , it does get better on the other side .

You know , I was just thinking about this the other day . Sometimes I put myself in those moments of where I was the most stressed . You know , and you know , I was laying on the floor of my office like can't breathe and thinking like I'm here now and I would never have seen myself here now in that moment .

So you just got to get up and you just got to keep fighting .

But there is some universal guidance in all of that , and so thanks for the vulnerability of just like opening up and saying , hey , here's the good , the bad and the ugly of what I've been through . Regardless of what those circumstances are , you can find success professionally . It can help develop and grow you individually . You mentioned your daughters .

I know how big of a role they play in your life and how you want to model certain things for them and the values that you show up with in your work life and then in your home life too , because entrepreneurship isn't just a day job , it's just not something that happens eight hours a day . It's a whole family , it's all .

Yeah , it's an encompassing experience and whatever happens next in your experience , tyson , thank you for well one . We wish you very , very well . I want to keep our conversation going for a long time because I learn something new every time we talk and as I share every time we talk , and as I share every time we're all rooting for you .

You know , just to kind of be like okay , like if he can get through it , I can get through it . So if I can be that for somebody and you can be that platform , you know , that's great and I just appreciate it and thank you again for having me on .

Be sure to like , follow or subscribe to the podcast to get the latest updates . To learn more about the show and connect with the growing community of entrepreneurs , visit logisticsfounderscom . And , of course , thank you to all the founders who trust us to share their stories .