Lightning like Steve McQueen I'm in the fast lane when the light turns green and I built tough I ain't nothing but grit cause I made rugged blood, sweat and spit yeah like a horse I fly better put yourself in for a bumpy ride I like to play hard but I work harder and I under the storm cause I'm built stronger.
What is up, ladies and gentlemen, we are back. We are live. It is the freight coach podcast, the top podcast in transportation. Coming to you guys every single weekday, 08:30 a.m. Pacific, 1030 Central to break down some industry headlines, but most importantly, provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. This is the real side of freight, ladies and gentlemen, and I say that before every single show. And what I mean by that is I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, I want to talk to the right individuals who have done what you're looking to do or who are currently doing what you're trying to achieve.
So you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. We are just going to jump right in. My good friend is back here to answer all of your sales and operations related questions. You guys, he is the person that we're going after. And as always, you guys, the caveat. Please do not blow up his DM's. Like, he takes the time to come out, come on the show and give us all of that insight from his seat. So, with that being said, I got my man Paul back on the show. Paul, what is going on, brother? How are you?
So, Chris, long time no talk. How you been, dude?
I've been good, man. It's. It has been a while. And I was thinking that when I reached out to you last week, I'm just like, man, I gotta get Paul back on the show. I know he's busy with everything, you know, especially this time of year, but I just appreciate you taking a couple of minutes to jump on here and break it down.
Yeah, absolutely. We've been, you know, the last week or two, just very closely monitoring that port situation and crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. So that was a very pleasant news yesterday to hear that they finally overcame that, because were just thinking of all the different what if scenarios, doomsday, you know what I mean? And so I think we probably overcame or dodged a bullet there. So that was good news for the week.
How do you, in your position, kind of like how what contingency plans do you guys work through or kind of have in place on, you know, because is it, are you guys bringing in, like, your raw materials and stuff like that? Or, you know, and then, like, how are you guys kind of working through when. And maybe not even just this situation, Paul, but really kind of any, you know, natural disaster or something like that?
Yeah, I mean, with this one specifically, yes, some of the raw materials are coming internationally and definitely going through the ports having, you know, you want to.
Stay as lean as you can on.
Inventories, but with certain commodities, either from a pricing perspective or just from, you know, this strike, this impending strike, you know, we may build up months or.
Even a year's worth of inventory and.
Just, yeah, it's extra holding costs, but if that's the cost of doing business, to make sure you don't see interruptions in your business, you know, you got to do what you got to do. So we felt no impact, thankfully, from what I've been reading in the different publications. Seems like a lot of people planned ahead for it, so we've been.
Assessing it, reading every article we can.
So far, you know, we haven't really felt any impact. Knock on wood. And hopefully we won't, since it was a fairly short lived ordeal.
Yeah, no, it's, you know, it is one of those situations, man, because, like, we're, you know, we have customers that they import stuff, and, you know, the discussions that we kind of had leading up into it where, you know, I always try and do my best to bring a lot of this stuff to my customers.
Right.
Like, even though, like, I just never want to assume that anybody just knows what's going on. And, you know, I also have the. The gift of talking to people every single day for multiple walks of the industry. So it's like, getting that insight and kind of bringing that to the table of just more of like a what if, right. Because I feel like with any relationship out there, communication, as long as you're. As long as people are communicating, you can work through any issue that you might, come into. But it's the second when you stop communicating or, like, you're blindsided by, like, what do you mean this is going on? Like, why didn't you bring us to this, our, you know, to our attention? I think that's when issues and anxieties really start to increase.
Yeah, I mean, we try to get, you know, we have different people internally reaching out. Right. Executive salespeople. Hey, guys, what's going to be the impact of this? I don't know.
I've never been through this, right.
But I'm reading every publication I can and just trying to make sense of it all. And you got this website speculating this and this one speculate, and there's a lot of noise, and you just kind of have to read as much as you can and then make the best possible, basically become an expert in a very short period of time on something that you don't really know a whole heck of a lot about and make the best judgments that you can. And so that's what we found ourselves doing the last two weeks. I was, I was reading more than I've, than I do on an average week, that's for sure.
Yeah, man, it's, there's so much, you know, and then there's so many conflicting reports, too.
Right.
So it is a massive risk of, like, are we getting the right information and everything like that? And that's why, like, I try to, you know, from a content or a media perspective, I try not to, like, over embellish situations when they come up.
Right.
Because I feel like there's a, a lot that can be said, and then people, and I kind of take it as, like, people make decisions based off of what they hear on this show, and I want to be as responsible as I possibly can with it because, you know, again, man, like, it got cleared up way sooner than a lot of people thought. And then, you know, ultimately, were shut down for three days. And then that's going to probably take, you know, based on the general math, probably three weeks to kind of clear out and clear through, and then it'll be kind of back to normal here.
So, yeah, like I said, we, I mean, we read as much as we can, but we've got an all hands meeting every Wednesday morning. We laid out, you know, a couple different articles and assessments with the team, and. But then at the end of the day, I said, guys, get on the.
Phone, talk to the carriers, talk to.
The drivers, get the boots on the ground view, and let's, I mean, just.
Ingest as much information as you can.
And we'll make the best assessment that we can. So, like I said, I think everything seems to have worked out okay. But, yeah, were scrambling there for a minute.
Yeah, dude, I'm, I think. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's. Yeah, but that's also, like, I think this is, you know, these are those situations that you don't ever really have a time to kind of, like, stand out from your competition until something kind of comes up.
Right.
And then you guys have that comparative of, damn, these guys handled this situation way better than anybody else did and everything else, you know? Cause I, that's why I always talk like, you know, I don't want anything to go wrong, but, like, ultimately I know that's how I really separate myself out there because especially in a market like right now, when, you know, capacity is pretty loose, you know, I'm sure on time percentages from your seed are probably fairly good. That probably hasn't been, or tender rejections probably haven't necessarily been a topic of conversation out there. But I think, like, when there's issues, that's when the real providers kind of like, step up and like, the, like, the resolution aspect of it. Like, hey, I've been here before. This is what we can do. Can you just approve this?
And then boom, you just kind of move through, and then somebody from your state, you're probably like, all right, cool, onto the next one.
Yeah, you're right. It's like we think about, I mean, I'm a big baseball fan and, yeah, excited for the upcoming playoffs here, but that's kind of how I think about it, right? We, we have a peak season. There's a cyclicality to our business. And I always tell my team, like, hey, guys, you know, doing the eight months out of the year is, that's the easy part. That's just, that's the regular season. Then you get into peak season or you get into some of these different scenarios like you talked about. Like, that's the playoffs.
That's, this is the World Series.
That's the Super bowl. Right? That's kind of how I talk to my team about those things because you're absolutely right.
That is, that is where the rubber meets the road.
That's where the separation happens. And that's where I, that's where we really earn our paychecks because outside of the business kind of runs. You know, if you've done it properly.
It'S running fairly smoothly.
But it's in those times of crisis that you really see, you know, who steps up, who goes above and beyond, you know, from the carrier side. You know, I've seen, you know, carriers reach out and just say, hey, I've got a carrier reps on standby. You know, normally we close the door at, you know, if they're in central time, they're closing at, you know, 05:00 p.m. Normally. But say we're going to keep guys in two, three, 4 hours or we're going to come in Saturday, we're going to come in Sunday because we know you need the support during this time.
Those things are invaluable, right? It's like, yeah, it disrupts your personal.
Life and whatnot, but it's not something that comes around, you know, even 1020 times a year, we're talking about maybe a handful of instances a year where you've got an opportunity to step up and it's, yes, it's extra work and.
It may impact your personal life, but.
It'S a moment in time and it goes an extremely long way, dude.
But I feel like that those are, you know, those are the opportunities that are out there when your customer does come to you with that additional work or like, hey, that, those oh shit opportunities I call them, right? Where it's like, hey, all of this just got dropped on us. You do to help. And I think like, you knowing that too. And especially if you're going to work in a specific niche like, you know, peak seasons, right? So it's like probably should, if you're going to work in beverages, probably shouldn't take any time off around the 4 July, you know, like those summer months are kind of like the time.
And it's like, man, you got to be available during those moments because, you know, and especially in a market like right now when opportunities aren't plentiful, you know, you got to capitalize on those moments when they come to you because otherwise it's just going to be another down year and you're going to be sitting there saying, what can we do differently? It's like, well, maybe you should work, you know, outside of eight to four. You know, like that opportunity might be there then.
Yeah.
The, the example that comes to mind this happened recently was I was on a conference call, you know, video was on and just looking in the background. Normally people blur out their background for the most part he didn't, but he had like a cot in the background with a pillow and a blanket. And I was just kind of joking around like, hey, you sleeping in your office? Like, yeah, I am right now. Like, we're grinding right now. He bags in his eyes and you know, I really do appreciate those things. We want people to have work life.
Balance and do those things.
But like I said, you got those few opportunities where you can step up and it goes an extremely long way.
Dude, I love it, man. But hey, we got a couple of questions here and I wanted to kind of jump in and it was based around kind of like what we're talking about.
Right.
Like opportunities are slim out there right now and people aren't taking on any new providers. What is a value add that I can do to kind of stay top of mind to some of my prospects in the event that they do need to reach out?
I think, you know, like in, let's use this as an example, right? If you're sending out a solicitation, it's not just a matter of, you know, what I typically see, which is you're on my call list and I'd like.
To get on your calendar.
Can we schedule a meeting? Here's my click on this link and you'll see all my open time slots. Just let me know at your earliest convenience when you want to meet. And let's talk versus. Hey, I know your product and I know that this is in demand at this moment. The port situation is doing this and I think I can help you out.
In these specific areas.
So just being more deliberate, more specific about what you're offering. Like I said, when it comes to those different situations, I'm looking for intel on what's happening. And so if you have anything unique to share or even if it's an.
Article that you read from a third.
Party site that you thought was particularly relevant, just say, hey, here's something interesting that I read that you may find interesting. Like, check this out, right? So I think that's one way.
To just show that you're taking one.
Or two more steps than your average Joe and that draw some additional attention.
What, what is kind of a good way to separate yourself in that prospecting style phase, right? Where maybe you haven't replied to them yet, right? And you get, I can only imagine how many emails you get in a day if they find out what your email is, you know, soliciting your business. But, you know, as somebody who cold calls, like, we get that, you know, you're the 15th person who called me today or this week or something like that. So it's like ultimately I don't go in there and this is kind of more me, but I see this question a lot. Like, I'm going through the work. I think I'm saying the right things.
But, like, how do you kind of not even necessarily get their attention to get freight today, but like, to stay on their radar to kind of be like, hey, these guys are different.
Like I said, I think it's offering some tidbit of intel, whether it's market related, whether it's demonstrating at least a surface level understanding of the prospect's.
Business, like showing that you've done some due diligence.
There's always a ton of information on shippers websites, maybe in the types of.
Loads that they're posting, you know, you.
Know, even though it's not explicitly saying who the shipper is, you know, the.
Origin point, the destination point, so you.
Can kind of make some educated guesses on what those are. So there's just a lot of ways.
To leverage the Internet and what's available.
Like, in the public forum, to, like I said, demonstrate that you're researching that.
Organization, that they're researching their business, their.
Industry, and that you're just kind of demonstrating that I'm a general understanding of.
What it is that you specifically need.
So, for example, you know, you get a solicitation that's like, okay, I need a, hey, I've got a bunch of reefers that I can send you. I don't need reefers. I need dry vans. Because whatever the case may be, or, like, do extra legwork, because I don't want to go looking through these emails and saying, well, 95% of what you're.
Saying is not relevant to me. And you're expecting me to go read.
Through that and find the 5% that is relevant to me, send me that email, that's 95% relevant to me, and then I'll start noticing.
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. I think that's a. That's a really good point.
Right?
Your outreach is everything. And, you know, I've also found a lot of success when we go in there, and we're not necessarily. We're not asking because, like, we get things. You know, like, one of the big things that we get on the phone is are you guys just trying to get set up with us? And I'm. And I always kind of push back in that moment. I'm like, well, possibly. I'm like, this is what we do. I'm just trying to see if there's really an opportunity there. And, you know, obviously, you go to their website, you find out, like, hey, these guys have, you know, construction equipment, or these guys manufacture food, whatever it is. So it's not me going in there to just try and do that. But I think more people need to have more of a plan when you're calling, right?
Like, if they're a food manufacturer in the midwest, you probably shouldn't be talking about how you can go only out to California or something like that. Like, you know, what area do you specialize in? Is that something that you would recommend? Because I get, I actually, I got this question the other day because they only do food, but they're like, I'm getting a lot of pushback on when I reach out to them. Is it, do you think that they should maybe be more regionally focused? Like, if they're a smaller organization, right. Maybe their geographic footprint is only in the state of Wisconsin. Do you think that there's a higher probability that they probably only ship within, you know, that region? Possibly.
Or is there another thing that somebody could possibly say to go in there to talk about to kind of get them to open up a little bit more to make them like, hey, we're not just a run of the mill. We'll do anything and everything that you possibly have.
I think showing, being more specific and specialized is actually key because let's just, you know, use Wisconsin. Just say, look, I've got, I'm a smaller organization. I have limited bandwidth. I can't be everything to everyone, but I can be the expert in this.
Specific region, and I will dominate this region.
And that includes beating some of the big name brokers out there because they're not particularly specialized. If you think about, you know, like.
Most businesses, forget just transportation, but just businesses in general. If you're a smaller organization, it could.
Be all about a niche, right? It could be I'm the reefer guy, I'm the flatbed guy. Or it could be geographic specific. It could be I am the Wisconsin guy.
You will not find a broker that's.
Got more capacity and better rates because I've got so much density in this market. I create a lot of utility with the capacity that I do have. And so that, I mean, if I were starting a brokerage, I would be very, and I had limited resources. I would be hyper focused at being the best at one particular thing.
Yeah, no, I'm right there with you, man. And I think that it's, you know, the seasonality of things and, like, the Internet culture in itself, or like, no, the spray and pray is the only way to go.
Right?
Like, I mean, dude, I get in my brokerage email, I get solicitations from other brokers saying that we can do your drage, intermodal, full truckload, Ltl flatbed, over dimensional, overweight. And I'm like, how? Like, I honestly want to know, like, what is the response rate on that? Like, it has to work to a point. But, like, I don't understand the real strategy behind that, because I look at it as, you know, we are that broker that you're discussing.
Right.
Like, it's just me and my business partner. So it's like, we're not necessarily like, are we soliciting larger companies? Yes, but it's because I know that it's going to take a few years to really kind of get anywhere with them. But our main focus is that kind of that small to mid sized market, and we're just mainly trying to go out there and really just show face with a lot of people inside of that region. And I talk about that a lot. And I know that there's some companies where no, under no circumstances do they let outside people coming in there.
But I also have found that when we have a plan, when we call it, most importantly, that stands out where they'll be, like, you can at least start that relationship, because that's the part about sales, and I'd like to get your take. Do you feel that more sales reps push to close as opposed to push to build a relationship first?
Oh, for sure.
I would say 90% push to close. And it's pretty obvious, right? Yeah, yeah. Difference.
So what, one of the questions that we had got in here, Paul, was, again, this is the small fleet one, because I got a lot of drivers who tune in and they want to circumvent working with brokers as much as possible here. And it's the same thing. Would you. And it was along, the same thing was like, hey, how do I get direct freight? Is it more about the size of the company that you're going after? Because I had one of my good friends on, he's the transportation manager for large grocery, not, excuse me, restaurant chain. And, you know, he said, he's like the one or two trucks don't move the needle for me, you know, because I have 57 of them every single day on that one lane that you're talking about.
So it's like, are you, would you recommend that they go into those, maybe that smaller market or try and find out the people who kind of fit in to the lanes that they run in particular?
Yeah, I think it's, if you're going after an enterprise shipper, Fortune 500 shipper, and you're a small mom and pop or an owner operator, we love you guys. You're the glue that keeps everything together. But at the same time, we have bandwidth constraints in terms of who we can manage the setup process.
Our systems are very complicated in terms.
Of payment and tendering and all the technology requirements. So it's really difficult, if not impossible. And I'm speaking for myself, but, like, to get in as a really small owner operator or small asset based provider. But, you know, that being said, I think a lot of people focus on these huge shippers. And I kind of, the more I thought about it's, you know, if you treat it more like, let's say, the stock market.
Right?
Like, it's really hard to get in with an enterprise shipper that's really established. Everybody knows their brand. They know that they ship a ton of freight. Everybody's calling on those people, right?
Their stocks already risen.
They've already, they're already out there. Right. But if you can kind of get out there, and one way to do this, let's say you walk into a.
Grocery store and you say, man, I.
See, I'm seeing this product start to pop up everywhere, and I've never heard of these guys before. And, you know, you kind of do.
Some reverse engineering and figure out who.
They are and try to find these companies that are on the up and up. Those people are going to be, I think, way more open to bringing on new providers because I remember early on, you know, when I was at my organization, I would call on people and I, and people wouldn't even want to hall my, like, we don't even know who you are. We don't know what you're about. Like, they don't want to haul my freight.
I guarantee you.
Fast forward 15 years later, and they were wishing that they would have, you know, set up with me back then because now it's impossible. Back then, if you were sending me your proof of insurance and w, two, like, I'm onboarding you, like, that day anymore. But for a lot of those smaller up and coming shippers, they probably have that mentality, and there's probably way less competition because they're not as well known.
Right.
So, yes, that probably takes more time and energy to, like, research who those shippers are. But it's the path of least resistance.
And if you hit.
The right one, you just grab their.
Coattail and ride them all the way to the top.
Right.
Yeah, no, I think that's a good, that's a good point.
Right.
Cause I, you know, I talked, you know, that's another question that I get is, like, who do I even go after? And I always look at it. I'm like, you know, kind of based on where things are in the economy, I always tell people, like, what in your house are you gonna buy no matter what, right? Like, if you're budgeting out your money, you know, is it what household goods are you going to go after and then go after that? I think that's a pretty fail safe plan, but, you know, you're right on that up and coming brands that are out there when, like, there's so many leads around. Every time that you're in a store, there are so many leads that are out there that you can go after and build up a lead list that way.
But I ultimately think, though, that, you know, again, I think more people need to get away from, like, just calling for the sake of calling to, you know, like, and not having a plan. Because I think that's what holds more people back than anything. Because they're like, I have an LLC or I own a truck. I'm entitled to Paul's business. Paul, give me all of your freight. And if you don't, you're a piece of garbage. You know, like, I feel like that's a lot of people's mentality with it as opposed to, you know, can I even be of value to somebody's company?
Right.
You know, again, if you know your bandwidth, you know your capabilities, I think you're already ahead of 90% of your competition. If you're like, hey, I could probably move 40 loads a week max with my team. Perfect. That's a really good start. Now you know who not to go after, and then you're kind of more prepared. Do you think people should talk more about how they operate? Possibly, or is that off putting?
No, that's honestly, that's a secret sauce. You know, like the sale. Sale is, you know, getting in the door is one thing, but I can't tell you the number of times think about how much work goes into the sale itself, and then, you know, you get set up, you go through that whole process, and then the relationship or the partnership falls apart within 3612 months. And you just did all that work for what?
Right.
And it's because, you know, there needs to be a focus on the operational side. When I look at it's that.
Person I'm partnering with is an extension.
Of my supply chain, they're an extension of my organization. They need to understand my sops, all the startups, all the setup and documentation that we have, all the technology setups, all those sorts of things. If you're going to go through all that work, you've got to have the operational people or resources to back it up for sure. And I think what I've learned over the years is not so much the fluff of, like you said earlier, this is what I offer. These are the different modes that I do, but it's, hey, once we onboard your business, this is how we're going to take care of your business. This, these. This is the chart that we have. Here's our after hours team. Here's the technology that we use to support shippers business.
Like, those are all the things that we want to know, that once we.
Tender you a load, that it's in good hands.
Yeah, no, I. The after sale approach, you know, again, man, there's a lot to this. And I think, like, this is, you know, people don't have, like, kind of, like, what I was saying, man, people don't have a plan, Paul. I think their plan is. Is to just say that we can do everything, and. And I think that it's. That's probably why there's so much resistance out there to people right now. And, you know, I think, like, what are your thoughts on, you know, because somebody emailed me this about, putting together, like, a company flyer, right? Like, you know, hey, we do, you know, like a PDF, something like that, where, you know, it's a kind of like a capability statement. Like, here's who we are. This is what we do. Here's some proof of work. What are your thoughts on something like that?
Yeah, if you want a one pager.
I mean, I guess it depends what the use case. Like, what's the application? Is it to attach to the email that you're sending? Is it to physically drop off at the office or. I mean, it depends.
Yeah, PDF attachment.
Yeah, I think a one pager is good. I think sometimes you get decks that could be 10, 15, 20 slides long. That has a lot of fluff in there, right? Yeah. If you want to distill it down.
To a one pager, I think.
I think that's a great idea. Make it. Make it easy to digest. You don't want to open something like, oh, man, there's a lot here, and just like, turn that the reader off immediate. Give me the one pager with just.
The most pertinent information that I need.
And, you know, I think you definitely increase the likelihood of it being at least read or at least glossed over.
Yeah, no, absolutely, man. I was more. You guys are probably paying attention. You guys see how things are, you know, performing in the economy as a whole. How important is it? And this wasn't a question, but this just kind of came to my head here. How important is it for you guys to vet your providers, to make sure that they're going to be in business, that they have the capital to sustain? Because, you know, anybody can. Like Paul, we could sit up here all day long and say, when's the market going to flip? When are things going to change? But ultimately nobody actually knows. So are you guys looking at that like, hey, what? Not necessarily how much money do you have in the bank, but like, what is your financial structure of your organization?
Look like 100%? So for the first time ever, we hired a third party agency that does exactly that. So they have to work with our carriers.
Our carriers have to submit a lot.
Of information, you know, income statement, balance sheets, you name it. I never see that.
The third party organization that I work with does, but they do a full.
Financial audit of that organization and then I get a grade back of zero.
To 100 and they specifically point out areas of concern or, hey, this carrier.
Is good to go for that exact reason. You know, just what we've seen over the last couple years, it's been really challenging and knowing the financial health of some of these companies. So, yeah, we've taken that extra step. We have our bid coming up here in the next month or two, so we'll refresh all that information even though we've already looked at it last year, because you never know what changes from year to year. And yes, we will absolutely have a very good understanding of the financial health of all of our vendors.
Do you think a lot more companies are going to be taking that approach here? Coming up? And do you think that, you know, a trucking company or a brokerage, you know, having them work with a factoring company or something like that, or like having their financials kind of like up to date? Is that like a, you guys should probably look into. I know it's more of kind of like a general thing, but like, I'm also trying to think like, you know, because if somebody's number gets called and they're like, hey, man, what a, like, we need you to send us all your financials because like we're just as concerned as everybody that, things might not improve and we need to make sure that you're going to be in business for the next six to twelve months.
Yeah, I, I don't know for sure. I would say if you're soliciting or starting business with a enterprise level shipper, there's probably a much higher likelihood that they're taking that extra step. I don't know would because there's a cost associated with it. So I would imagine with the small to medium size, maybe they don't have the budget for that or I'm not really sure. But I would say for enterprise shipper, we're typically taking those extra steps just to mitigate any potential issues.
Yeah, I've been hearing that from just my network in general, Paul, that's starting to become a topic of conversation as they're going out there and soliciting new business. And even their existing customers are starting to poke around a little bit here and making sure like, hey, you got money in the bank here? Because we're talking about, and I think that's kind of like an afterthought for a lot of people, Paul.
Right.
Because we're talking about hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars worth of transactions that go over in a certain time frame and people's payables. And especially right now. I just saw a report that receivables are all aging right now.
Right?
Like it was, they're supposed to be net 30, but they're pushing net 50, 55, net 60 and stuff like that. So I think both sides of the fence are like, hey, kind of what's going on here? Because, you know, you got that one side where brokers are like, hey, we're not a bank. Like, we need to get paid. And then there's the other side, we're like, hey, do you even have money to pay people in the event?
Right.
So I think that this is, you know, again, I'm not trying to like stoke fear or anything like that, but I think that this is a very real thing that people need to start taking into consideration if things continue to the way that they are. Because I personally don't see anything that is pointed in a direction that there's going to be a rapid increase anytime soon.
Yeah, I agree. It's just kind of a sign of the times. But no, I agree it should go both ways. It's, I'm doing it on my side. If they wanted some, you know, back at us, like, we're happy to provide that information as well because, yeah, I mean, these are partnerships, right. And you want to make sure that, you know, we're both running profitable and sustainable businesses, for sure.
No, I love it. And Paul, that is it for today. And no, I am not going to ask you to give out any of your information because I don't want you to get blown up, brother. But man, I really appreciate you joining me. Could you give some kind of, I guess words of advice to the people out there who are, feel like they're banging their head against the wall right now about like, where they should, you know, where they, their mind should before they're out there making their calls day in and day out.
I think it's just thinking differently, right? Like, just if you're doing, if you look around and you're doing what everybody else is doing, you're doing it wrong, right? And as I was thinking back again around what types of organizations you could think of, I I, in my head, like, if I was starting a brokerage, what would I do? And I, as were talking, an idea popped in my head. I'm like, I would probably go to, like, I live in southern California. Ontario is a huge shipping area. I'd start driving around Ontario, going through all the warehouses, see how many. I mean, I'd literally sit there and start counting trucks that are coming out of the yards and just go, start pounding the pavement in that way.
Like, if you're just relying on call lists or, you know, whatever the different methods that you're using, like, it's just not, it's not good enough. Like, you have to be thinking more creatively if you're going to be successful.
I agree, man. And again, you guys, I did not tell Paul to say that. I do talk about that often where it's like, you know, you do have to just think differently and do. We're going back to this old school way of writing letters, you know, like handwritten notes, especially video.
Send a 32nd clip of yours.
I mean, whatever you got to do, try it.
And that's the thing too, man, is I think that so many people put so much anxiety on the pre call that they talk themselves out of even really doing anything because, like, ultimately, like, you know, our relationship started like four years ago, Paul, and it's like, you know, and now here you are, man. You're taking the time out of your day to tell essentially this entire audience of brokers and truck drivers. Like, this is what you need to say to get business, you know? So it's like, and it just. Relationships take time, you know, and that's it. And I think that if more people accepted that, where it's like, hey, I got to work for this, it's going to take a little bit of time, but it's going to be worth it in the end.
And you frame your mind in the right way, you're going to, like, a lot of that anxiety goes away, you know, because, like, when I'm reaching out to people cold for the first time, I'm not going in there asking anybody for anything, man. I'm like. I'm just trying to introduce myself as the business owner or whatever that looks.
Like, but, yeah, no doubt.
All right, man. Well, hey, I appreciate you. We'll be back on Monday, you guys. 830 in Pacific, 1030 Central. As always, if you guys got value in what you heard, subscribe to the show. You guys share it out there during your network, because if you see value, your network's gonna see value is. Again, I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and we'll be talking to you soon.