1061. #TFCP - Recapping My Recent Road Trips!

So you can take that information, apply it, utilize it, and see a meaningful difference in your business and your life. Happy Wednesday, everybody. We are back in studio finally, and we are going to be back here for the foreseeable future because we just wrapped up the Freight Coach roadshow, as I always like to call it. And were at, man, three different conferences in three weeks. We were out there at Technovations in Jacksonville, then were at datcon in Kansas City, and then finally we wrapped up at the NMWTA Cybersecurity Conference in Cleveland here, which was on Monday and Tuesday. And it has been. It's been a whirlwind, right? And because, you know, on top of all of that, you know, I still have a business to run, you know, and it's.

It's wild to really go in and start doing a lot of this stuff, right, because, like, we're actively moving freight, the brokerage is growing and everything. And, you know, then going out there, speaking at, you know, these events, doing my show at these events and everything and getting out there, it's. It's a good kind of busy, you know, but it's also kind of like, yeah, I think. I think I hit my limit. I'm going to. I'm going to be honest, I think I hit my limit of, you know, three different events and three consecutive weeks on top of, you know, everything I have going on with the. With the freight brokerage. So, you know, you gotta learn from a lot of this stuff ultimately on. On how to go and how to, you Know, really get this up and running, right?

And I always go back to, you know, when I first started doing all of this. You know, like, I was literally, I had just moved to Arizona. I was in my apartment bedroom when I first started creating content. And I first started doing everything and, you know, nobody listened, right? Like, nobody download. Like, it was hard to get guests, all of that stuff. It was a wild journey, right? And, you know, I was asked at one of these conferences about, you know, about the podcast, like, how's it going? You know, what does it look like? What does it actually take to do it? And you know, for me it was, you know, at first it was a lot, right, Because I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know what a podcast was. I didn't know how to edit anything.

I didn't know how to do any of that stuff. Stuff. And, you know, through this journey, you know, I taught myself how to edit. I taught myself how to do all of this stuff. And, you know, it just takes a long time to get up there. And you know, I. Now it's to the point where, you know, finding guests isn't a challenge, you know, getting people to come on or wanting people to come on. And you know, because it's a, It's a real thing now, you know, And I, And I'm realizing that the more I get out on the road, I. Because, like, I don't understand how, like the, where the reach is and I don't understand where all of that stuff, how far it goes, you know, because, like, I'm in my own world, right?

Like, I'm out here, I do the show, then I'm cold calling, I'm moving freight, I'm doing all of that. So it's. I never really realized what this show is until like I'm out in, in speaking with people and. But you know, it's like what you see now, it's four years in the making, right? Like, I, I'm very fortunate to have, you know, my guy Christian, who's on my team here, who does all my marketing stuff now. So now I just record, right? So it's like the system that I built out to where it's like, I mean, I just find a guest, I record, he does pre episode production, post episode production, he distributes all of my content, he does all of that. But that took a long time to kind of build this up.

And you know, I, you know, I talked to other podcasters in the industry and just other podcasters in general about it. And it just, it takes a really long time and you have to develop your own style with a lot of it, right? Because for, at least for me, with my personality, I need to figure it out on my own, but most importantly, I need to fuck it all up on my own before I actually realize what's needed and what's not needed and stuff like that. And you know, you have to be dedicated to doing this for a very long time. And then ultimately it's like, what's your end goal?

Because if your end goal to doing a lot of this stuff is to get famous and to be famous, I think you're going to have a really hard time kind of growing anything out there. I could give two shits less about the recognition of like fame and everything else. I really, I just want to build the most impactful business that I possibly can that benefits, you know, obviously benefits me and my family because, you know, let's just be real with that, but also benefits as everybody who comes in contact with it. And I think if you're going to go out there and do anything and build anything, like, you know, it's okay to naturally feel that way, right? Like, oh, hey, I want to get rich. I want to do all of that because every, you know, of course, right, Money's phenomenal.

Feel like, you know, ultimately what are you trying to do with it? Is your mission with a lot of this stuff self serving or is this mission out there to truly like make a difference out there? And you know, and then on top of that, even if your intentions are right, it still takes a very long time to do anything, right? Because it, you know, realistically, I mean, I didn't have my first like real good download month for, you know, it was probably like 16, 17 months in. It was ironically when I like got my first couple of advertisers and when I actually broke even in my business, it was around that time that's when I like actually started to see some growth. So it's like you, just because you hit record doesn't mean that, you know, you're.

You're gonna just miraculously have a following or, you know, listeners or any of that stuff. It takes a really long time. And you know, I didn't get my first like, rec. Like speaking thing from the show and from all of that, it was like two years in by the time I did my first one. Right. So it's like, you know that there's. It's a long process to kind of build this stuff up, right, ultimately. And I'm just kind of recapping the, you know, the shows and, you know, like.

And just kind of what I'm thinking this morning, you know, because it's like, I see a lot of this stuff and I hear it, you know, when I'm talking to people, like, they want to do certain things, you know, whether it's they want to speak at conferences or they want to, you know, do a podcast, or they want to do all of this stuff, but they don't want to put in the work required that it takes to get there, Right? Like, ultimately, it takes a really long time to get anything to kind of show up from this right now. You know, you guys might see, you know, the advertisers that I have on my show and all of this stuff that took a very long time to get there. But I also treat this like a business, right?

Like, this isn't just a hobby to me, you know, like, this is. This is, you know, a portion of my livelihood. This is how I provide for my family. So I take this very seriously, and I've built a real business out of all of this. And, you know, I look at it as, you know, it took a very long time to get to this point. Like, I can say with confidence now, it took me probably four years. So as of April this year, it took me about four years to where I finally felt like, all right, this is. This is a. This is something that there's systems in place. There's. There's some consistency that's coming along with this business, right?

I'm not really necessarily shooting from the hip on a lot of my stuff, a lot of that, my content, a lot of these podcasts. It's very strategic now. And it also helps that I have people that, you know, that are on my team that make that possible, right? So I, you know, it took four years. It took a ton of stuff. And. And, you know, it. It takes a lot of. It takes a lot of work to really get it up and running. And, you know, you got to be. You got to be willing to. To sound ridiculous on, you know, on your show, you got to. You got to be willing to, you know, get people talk, which doesn't happen often, right? Like, nobody actually talks.

And like I say, you know, all the time, if you're going to talk to me online, there's like a 0% chance you're going to come up and say it to my face in person. So go ahead and be a keyboard warrior all you want, but who cares about any of that stuff, though? Ultimately, you know, you gotta. You got to be willing to commit to this stuff. You got to be willing to do the stuff that others aren't willing to do. And you know, that. That's something that I pride myself on where it's like, you know, I like the opportunities that come about now. Like, I don't take this lightly, right? Like, you know, the NMWTA, I was just at their cybersecurity conference.

Obviously, you guys know this, you guys watch the show, but, you know, they were the first organization that was like, hey, we want you to come do your show at our event. And hey, we'll cover your flight in your hotel as well. How does that sound? And I'm like, sign me right up, you know, But I take that very seriously, you know, like, that when I'm at those events, you know, like, I'm not a drunk slob walking around at a conference. And, you know, I'm not entitled to any of this stuff, right? So it's like, I take this very seriously. I approach this as a professional because that's what I am. I am a professional at the end of the day, and I want my product that is out there. That's how this grows, right?

And I was, you know, I was talking to somebody the other day about, you know, because they were asking about advertisers and everything else. And, you know, as I always say to anybody, if you're going to start creating content, if you're going to start doing any of this, you better be willing to do it for free for a very, very long time. Because, you know, people don't just pay you money because you hit record, right? Like, there has to be some substance behind that. And then on top of that, though, you know, what is your mission? Like, I have over four years of, like, data that I can show potential advertisers now.

I have four years of a track record that shows that, like, I'm not going to go off the fucking rails on certain things, you know, and just post nonsense and stuff like that. Because every single logo that's on this screen and that advertises on this show, it's a risk for them to come out and advertise on. On anybody, right? Because you just never know. It's the brand association that's with that. So, like, I take this stuff very seriously, you know, and it. If you listen to this and you. You hear me dropping f Bombs and everything else. Everybody's aware of that when they come into it. But I'm legitimately coming out there and I've got a data now, I've got all of this stuff now that shows that this is my intent behind everything. It's education first.

I have a long track record now of showing that I'm going to stay on course and this is what this is all about. So I think as you're going out there and you know, I was, I didn't even think like doing this show at people's conferences was a thing. I didn't ever like when I first started doing all of this stuff. The idea of getting invited to speak at a conference to talk about freight sales or any of the stuff that I do, that wasn't even a thought. That's an after effect of doing the work day in and day out and then, you know, making sure that your brand, because, you know, I saw some posts about that as well, about building your brand, yada, yada yada.

You can't be a reckless, you know, and have no substance behind it and expect to build a brand out there, you know. So I think like, if you're gonna want to do this, you know, because everybody's got a story to tell ultimately, and if you want to document your journey and put that out there, do it, start with that and eventually in time, people, it's gonna gain traction and then, you know, it's going to get to the point where, you know, you have people who want you to come to their events and you know, maybe do your podcast at their events or maybe speak at their events and everything else. Social media is a great tool to do all of that and to achieve all of your goals out there.

So let, if anything, like, let my journey be the example of what you can do with a lot of this. Because like, I didn't have a recognizable name in the industry. I didn't network for. I worked in the industry for a long time, but I was just somebody who was just working in it. And if I can do this, anybody can do this, right? Ultimately. But you got to be committed to it. You need to be willing to put in the work. You need to be willing to, you know, travel on your own dime in a lot more instances than not. Okay, like, just because I, you know, there's a few of them that do not a lot of them will, you know, and you got to be willing to do that.

You got to be willing to invest in that, and take care of a lot of that stuff. And I think that it's worth it though. Ultimately, you know, it's worth it. I love it. I love being out there. I love interviewing people in person. I love doing this every single day. Like, I'm very fortunate. I'm very fortunate for everybody who tunes into this show day in and day out to listen to this. And you know, it's. I don't take this lightly, you know, like, I guess ultimately this 15 minute ramble here now is I don't take any of this stuff lightly.

And if you want to do any of this stuff, you can ju out there and start because ultimately, you know, it's, it's pretty cool to be a part of this and, you know, it's very doable, it's very attainable for anybody else out there. You just need to be willing to put in way more work than you think and then deal with way more uncertainty than ever anything. Because ultimately you're the only one that's going to stop you. You're the only one. Nobody else out there really cares if you're gonna, if you wanna do something, you gotta set it out there and you gotta build it up. You gotta build that system. You gotta be willing to fail repeatedly. But, you know, most importantly, you just learn, you learn how to do things differently. I framed this, I frame it up like this.

I don't, I'm not gonna sit there and say like, oh, there's no such thing as failure there. There is. You fail a lot. But I also have framed it up to this, you guys. I'm just learning a lot of ways of what not to do. And I will always say knowing what not to do is more valuable than knowing what to do. And, you know, you could say that, you know, I, I went to public school, so you can make up any analogy that you want with that, but I, I'm. That's how I've lived everything over these last couple of years is. I'm just learning a lot of what not to do and learn. Fail early and fail fast. You know, I think that's another thing too, because it's not like you're not just going to figure it all out.

You're not going to have a perfect plan. And that's the same thing with, you know, creating content or, you know, having, starting a podcast or doing any of this. It's not going to be perfect, but it just keep going, hit record, do what you got to do and make it happen. And I think the more that you can do that, the more that you can hold yourself to that it's like, hey, it's okay to not know everything, but you'll figure it out. I think that's.

Like I said, it took me four years to finally feel like I have an actual system and a process that I can follow with this show, with this media and to really grow in scale and being able to strategically look at things and make better decisions for the show, the direction of it, the marketing aspect of this as well, all the social media platforms kind of getting in on what's working from a content strategy. It took a very long time. It took and I taught myself how to do all of it. I taught myself how to edit, like I said, I taught myself how to do all of that stuff.

But now I'm at a point where, you know, I have a guy on my staff and we're going to be growing this out as well because I have some other wild ideas that I want to do with it. But you know, it takes a very long time to do that. But once you get to that point, you know, that's where all the fun starts. You know, it truly does. You just have to be committed to do it way longer than you want. And you have to be committed to the fact that it's not going to be easy. You're not gonna, it's. You're gonna fail and. But you're gonna learn ultimately. So you got to keep with that. But got some common. Eric Ransom. What is up? Happy hump day. Corey Buchan. Happy hump day. Connor, my man. What is going on? Good morning, sir.

Dylan Turner. What is up? Sonny Sharma from Pittsburgh. Get some sunny. Lamar Watts says my work ethic is holding my growth back. I get to my computer work for two hours and then get lazy. That's a you problem, Lamar. Dude, I. There is nothing I can say about that you got to figure that out like quick, you know, or you got to find out what it is you actually want to do in life that makes you wanna, you know, makes your work ethic a compliment, you know, Like I, I love doing this, right? Like I love freight. I love cold calling. I love everything about transportation. Maybe it's just that, man, maybe you got to find something that, that gets you that natural passion to kind of build up and go, Scott Watanabe my freight sensei in the house. Happy hump day, my guy.

Yeah, so you know, I think. Excuse me. I also wanted to talk about the Power of networking as well. You know, Ed Mylett has a great book called the Power of One More. There's a bunch, but, like, he's somebody who I would highly recommend you guys all follow. Buy his book, the Power of One More, listen to his podcast, do all of that. But, you know, you are truly one conversation away from changing your life. You know, I, you know, I'll use the NMWTA example again. I mean, Caroline Lyle, my girl, shout out to her. She reached out, you know, a few years ago and, you know, and it was just like, just saying yes at that moment of like, yeah, it. Let's talk, right? And it was. It was doing that. And that's ultimately how all of this goes, right?

You're one conversation away from changing your life. You're one phone call away from changing your life. And I can attribute that to every single advertiser that. That I have. Right? It was. It was that one. I mean, I will never forget this. Like, my relationship with SPI runs real deep. Real, real deep. And it all came because I was speaking at a conference in Orlando a couple of years ago, and Mike. Mike Mikulik and James Lemon walked up to me and they're, you know, they're just asking about the show and everything. And I, like, I didn't know who. I didn't even know what SPI was before then. But, you know, they loved what I was doing. They had been watching the show for a long time, and it was saying yes to that one more opportunity that got me out there where we met.

And then now it's like, I mean, SPI is my longest standing advertiser. Like I said, we run deep together. My relationship is very deep with them. That's who my. My brokerage is through and everything. And that was just based off of one conversation that just happened to happen, that at a conference. You know, same thing with Green Screens. You know, it was like, you know, I've had a really long relationship with Matt Silver, you know, over at Green Screens, and that's how this all started is, you know, they were on the show. I, you know, and then it just all went up from there, all because I said yes to a one conversation. You know, same thing with denim. You know, denim reached out to me. And this was. This is crazy. They were doing an off site in.

In Phoenix here, where I live, and Jamie Neely reached out to me and was like, hey, can you come? You know, I know you're local in Phoenix. We'd love for you to come and talk about, you know your experience in freight brokerage to our team. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. I said yes to that. And then six months later, I'm at another conference and Emily wat, my girl Emily Watkins over at Denim hits me up and she's like, hey, let's meet up. I want to talk about, you know, doing a potential advertisement with you. And that's all just started because I said yes and I was open to one more conversation at that time, right? And then tie software as well. Ty was one of the, you know, they've been one of the long, very long advertiser of mine as well.

And it's been. It was very similar, right? It was the same thing. It was just one conversation. You know, Vanessa and Sean reached out and we just got something going. We created, you know, we did an episode together and then it just all spawned out from there. But that's all it takes, you guys. It's just one conversation. It's one interaction. And then that just builds up off of it, right? Just like, you know, if you're going to build a business or you're going to build anything, it's one listener, it's one customer, it's one shipment. And then it compounds on top of that. It just takes a very long time. You just got to be willing to go out there and push that through. And, you know, the power of networking, you know, is the most underrated skill in business.

You knowing people and getting out there and introducing yourself to as many people as possible is a superpower. Everybody who in your inner circle, outer circle, however you want to put it, everybody should know what you do, everybody should know who you know as well and just connect people. I think that is one of the most underrated skills that there is out there. So I think, as you know, a lot of people are, you know, thinking about what's next for them. You know, whether it's, you know, do I want to get in on content, do I want to get in and start my own business? Do I like, you got to be open to sucking for a very long time. You have to be open to talking to anybody and everybody and networking non stop.

And you also have to know when you're in the shittiest of times in business, in, you know, the stuff that you don't talk about, the stuff that goes on in my head that I don't post about and stuff like that. You are always one conversation away from changing your life. You are one interaction away from changing your life. And it you'll never know when it's going to happen. But you have to have faith that it's going to happen, because ultimately, I know I'm doing what I was put on this earth to do. I know for a fact this is what God put me on this earth to do. And I talk about my faith often, and I will always talk about my faith in God, but I know that, and I can feel that in my core.

And ultimately, no matter what, as crazy as everything can kind of get with uncertainty and everything else, there's always that eerie calmness that I know that I'm on the right path with it. So, you know, that's kind of my little recap out there. I love doing all of this every single day. And I'm going to be home here for a while now, you know, because I got a day job as well, so. But outside of that, the only other trips I'm going to be taking this year is to go visit our shippers that we work with. But, you know, other. Other than that, you guys just. Just get after it. Just start, all right? Just start and just go. And if you want something bad enough, you'll figure it out. Trust me, you will figure it out.

There's a lot of uncertainty, yes, but have that goal out there and just show up. And then when failure inevitably happens, you're just learning what not to do in little small increments, and then you make those changes. And then, like I said, four years into this, I actually now feel like I have a process and a system to follow that we can go out there. But that's going to be it for today, you guys, I got guests coming on the show on Thursday, Friday, as always, you guys, if you guys got value in what you heard, subscribe to the show. You guys share it out there. Dear Network. Because if you see value, your network's going to see value as well. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and we'll be talking to you soon.