Lightning like Steve McQueen I'm in the fast lane when the light turns green and I built tough Find nothing but grit cause I made rugged blood sweat and spit yeah like a horse I fly self in for a bumpy ride I like to play hard but I work harder and I weather 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, 8:30am Pacific, 10:30 Central, to break down some industry headlines. But most importantly, you guys provide some actual insight into what you can do with all of this information. I'm going to save the rest of the intro. You guys know what to do. Get out there, like subscribe, everything. I got a very special guest for you guys here today. It's not very often that you get to interact with somebody who's built a company over almost 30 years. And as a young entrepreneur myself, I am a sponge from individuals, like I say, who have done what I'm looking to do. And this guy is that he embodies that with what he's built over his career.
And I've had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago and he's given us a little bit of his time today to kind of break some things down. So I would like to welcome Mr. Jim Becker of Becker Logistics to the show here. Jim, thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you, Chris. Thanks for the invitation. Really appreciate it. And you know, I've watched you for many years and spoke at several different conferences with you. And it's just great to be here to be able to talk to everyone in your audience and the people that you're connected to and to really forward this thing that's called transportation, especially intermediaries or freight brokerage. So really love what you're doing. And you're just an amazing human being that is really out there to make life better for the individuals and businesses. So love you, my friend.
I appreciate that, Jim. And you know, it's one of those things where I just, I have such a deep love for the transportation industry as a whole, and I just want to put information out there for people that they can use in their business. Right. Like, I'm out there doing this every single day. I've come to realize, Jim, that there's a lot of value in knowing what not to do in business. And I feel like that makes some of the best content of like, hey guys, I tried this. Avoid this, you know, like, don't even go down that path.
Yeah. You know, looking at things, a lot of people just look at what is good. They look at all the things that are good. And I'm going to do this is a good thing. This is good for my health, this is good for my family, this is good for my religion, being a Christian. And they stick with all of that and they ignore all the bad stuff. And then what ends up happening, just by polarity, if you will, you end up hitting all that bad stuff along the way.
And the way that I look at life is a little bit differently is I'll look at both and it's really looking at the good and the bad all at the same time so that you can actually identify what are the problems that you're going to actually be running into and how can I avoid those problems or shore those up before actually walking on that journey as I move forward both in personal and in business.
Now I'm right there with you. And you know, so let's go back to the beginning, Jim, because you know, a lot can happen over a career. And you know, before went on air, you were talking about like what led to starting Becker logistics back in 1997. What were some of those early days like for you, the person when, you know, maybe it was just you at the time making things happen.
Well, yeah, I, it's pretty interesting, you know, if I could go back now and redo all of that, it'd be really beneficial because I could save myself a lot of time. It was really like trying to be different people and you know, trying to be that operation person, trying to be that finance person, trying to be that marketing person, trying to be that salesperson, trying to be that problem solver, trying to be that Lord, if you will, where you're trying to organize and put a roadmap down to really get success as you're moving forward. And while doing all of that, you end up not being a master of any.
And so what I ended up doing is really just going all around and really just setting myself up for a 10 year sprint that I wasn't going to do anything drastic to kill this thing because this may will be our 28th year. And you know, the purpose of really starting Becker Logistics was to do what the other broker wasn't doing. That really people matter. And a lot of people fail to get to a point where you're stretching those people, you're getting them to that next level where they want to be, but they don't really know they want to be there, they want to know how to do certain things, but they're not really sure how to make that happen. And so what I learned how to be is just a leader that exercises leadership effectively as my natural self expression.
And one way of doing that is learning how to be that I am someone that is mastering being an ordinary human being. And when you're doing that, everything else comes pretty easy.
Chris, so would you say that it's more of like, it kind of boils down to just like doing the right thing in a lot of instances? Because that's one thing that I found that has, you know, always led to like the best outcome of like, even if it was against my best interest in those times. But like I, you know, it's one of those things that I trying to embody is do the right thing. Like, that's like the number one core value in my life right now is do the right thing. Because I think in a lot of scenarios and situations we come in, we know what's right and what's wrong. We just tend to go with how do I benefit the most in these instances.
Do you think that is a path that you guys kind of took early on with everything to really kind of separate yourself in business, to kind of like, you know, like you brought up like, how do we show everybody that we're different from the rest of the brokers that are out there and we don't need to go down to what broker known for or anything like that. I want to talk more about, like, is that the strategy you guys kind of ran with, do you think?
Well, yes, it's listening to our customers, it's listening to the carriers and saying, what can we do differently? How can we stand out? And the first place that I started with was with our employees, with myself. When you're going down that line, if you will, like you mentioned, of doing the right thing all the time, well, there's bad things all over. And you know, still as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I'm still a sinner. I sin every day, unfortunately. So these bad things do happen along the way. Granted, they're not huge and sometimes they're huge. And we run into crucibles, these things that just tear us down, emotions as we're going down, that the main thing is setting where you're going, setting that expectation where you really want to go, and then having a roadmap of how you're going to get there.
And along the way being able to identify, am I on track? Do I need to make some adjustments? Do I need more people? Do I need. Move people around? What is it that I really need? Because when a customer can really see that you have a core competency, the foundation for us at Becker Logistics for myself, is integrity. So whatever I'm doing, I'm going to give my word. And if I break my word, I'll recommit to that word and really be up front, exactly where I'm at. Because, you know, Chris, between you and me and everyone else that's listening, you can give your word to anything and everything. And really, honestly, every moment by moment, unless you're conscious of that throughout the day. And there's 168 hours in a week. If you're not doing this in every second, you're gonna break your word.
You're gonna miss that target that you have. And there's ways of setting yourself up so that you can have these targets so you don't lose track of that. And it's not ignoring or avoiding the bad in life. It's actually embracing the bad in life and keeping it as this is who. Who or what is going on. And looking at it from a point of not loving it's deeper than that, Chris. It's having unconditional love for the bad things that are going to happen or are happening.
Yeah.
And that. That, my friend, that takes power.
Yeah. That's something that, as of late, I've really started to see the value in a lot, actually. And knowing, like, I. I approach a lot of situations now. Like, I. I get. You know, it took me a while because I think, like, with. With a lot of people out there, whether you're starting out as a sales rep, new career, new business, whatever, you think everything's just going to be perfect at all times. And you think you're a special. I mean, at least I thought I was a special snowflake and nothing could ever happen. And then, you know, I started to realize as things started to come across, and, you know, I'm also a man of faith. I believe in God, I pray every single day. I read the Bible, every single. Started realizing that a lot of it was in preparation.
You know, a lot of these scenarios we find ourselves in are preparing us for the next level in business and everything else. And I started to see the value in a lot of these things. I started to see the value in not making the same mistake twice. Realizing that when certain scenarios pop up, it's like, all right, what can we learn from this? How do we not do this again? And it's really kind of approaching that on a day by day basis. And you know, you're bringing up kind of like the long term goals and a lot of those things. And that was an area that I struggled in a lot because I have long, big goals just like everybody out there. But I was comparing my results today towards them and I felt stuck, I felt lost.
And you know, and then I started. And again, this is another recent revelation is it's like I got to control my actions today only. And that's where my focus needs to lie towards am I doing what I need to do today to get to the next step in the journey? And that is taking the good with the bad. It's taking all of that as a, this is preparing me. I need to go through this because I've come to realize that's what stops a lot of people along the journey. It's not a bad product, it's not a bad idea. It's. They get hit with a couple of obstacles, mainly the first obstacle and they're like, it's not worth it. I'm going to go back. It's not for me.
Absolutely. You know, people try things on like their clothes and you know, I can remember back in grade school getting parachute pants and it was like the coolest thing and you show up and you got parachute pants and no one else does. Like unless you treat something as who you're being, then you're, it's not, it doesn't become you. It's just like if it's turtles all the way down. Chris, if you look at yourself and myself, I look at my body as really my vehicle. My vehicle gets me around from place to place and so I have to take care of it.
You know, I was at the gym this morning at 6:00am, you know, getting up at 5 and doing this six days a week, taking care of my body or having the right supplements or doing the right meditation and making sure my body's taken care of because my body serves Jim. And then who is Jim being? What is Jim doing? What is Chris doing? And are we taking care of him? What is his needs? What is his values? What's his mission? What's his purpose, his desire in life? And who is he serving? Well, Jim's serving our customers, our employees, and really our future. And then I'm also serving Christ as a disciple of Christ. And so I'm serving who I am now, who I am. Well, that's who you Say I are right. So in that situation, it's.
We've got three elements that we're actually working with in unison, and it's one full package. And when we try something on, if we're just trying it on like those pair of parachute pants, it's a fad. It's changing in the seasons. And yes, seasons change. I just flew back from Scottsdale and I just got back to Chicago. The season is different. And as we go through life, seasons do arise. But there's. We look at everything out there in the world. Like went through our deflationary marketplace for 24 months where everyone was losing money, and now we're on our fourth month of being in profitability. And when you're growing a company from zero in 1997 to getting it up to $180 million and then losing some because of what was happening or going through two acquisitions, all of this is. You go through seasons.
But what doesn't change is who I am and who Jim is. My body might change, you know, and, you know, I used to drink alcohol, and then I stopped three years ago. Not because I have a problem or anything. It's just. It wasn't serving me. It wasn't serving my body. It wasn't serving Jim or who I am. So all of these things, as I move forward, we look at everything inside who we are wholly. What's our holons in our life as we move forward. Because everything that I create, and I am a creator, as I'm moving forward, it's who I am. And then who I am creates ripples with everyone and everything that hears me, that works with me, it creates ripples of excellence and joyfulness and bliss.
Do you think that's a. A spot where a lot of people can. Should start? Because, you know, I. I've really taken control of my health here in the last couple of years as well. And I have noticed a monumental shift in a lot of areas in my life in. In taking with that, because I feel like there's, you know, there's a lot of individuals out there. And when I say a lot of individuals, this was me not so long ago, you know, I'm referring to myself. I'm not afraid to put a lot of that stuff out there because I know that it's going to help people to know that. Because, you know, I feel like those are the people that were almost qualified to help, is who we once were and health.
And it was like the number one thing I think most people can attack because of like all the ancillary benefits that come along with it, you know, having a clear mind, I mean, you brought up sobriety there. That was another thing too that I've also done. I'm just a little over two years sober now as well. And, and I notice all of this stuff, Jim, and how it is all connected and it is just, it's like that snowball effect. There's just one thing and then it's the next thing. But for me, my one thing that I needed to attack was my health. And I'm one of those where I feel like once you can, you know, improve your health, you can improve.
It was like what it does for your confidence, your mindset and everything else and then how that's all tied into your business because, you know, just like with you, I like my body is like my business card now. Right? Like, I need to keep that going because I got to be on almost every single day. Because we're in the building stages of our business. We're acquiring customers, we're taking new opportunities that are coming on and it's, you know, we're working on closing those gaps out there. But it's like, again, for me, it's a lot of controlling what I can control. And I know that if I do hard things throughout the day, hard is a relative term throughout the day.
But I know, like, I can stay on top of my game and I'm not going to look at an opportunity as I can't do it. I'm like, no, I'm going to figure out a way to kind of tackle that opportunity.
Yeah, yeah, it's whatever you're creating and whatever you say it is. See, we create these things in our mind of what it is and the economy out there, you know, it was tough. And it doesn't have to be tough in here in your company. It really doesn't. And when we're aware, when we have the awareness, when we have engagement with who we're being, it changes everything. You know, not having any alcohol or any drugs going into this body, it doesn't serve me. And by having that, it diminishes who I am along the way. Getting eight hours of sleep, working out every single day, except for, you know, one day, eating the right things. All of this is so important because it really, you know, I've got a 15 year old, 11 year old, both girls, I mean, and my wife Lori of 24 years.
All of this is so important to me that these are the reasons why I'm here. And my faith just carries me through that, and it allows me the ability to really make a difference in people's lives so that I can actually listen and I can actually create with these individuals so that I can hear what they really want, not only for themselves, but for their business or their company or for their family or for themselves inside their units. The people that they're managing or the sector of that business within that company. That's who I've ended up becoming throughout this whole career of 28 years. Going on is really just being that catalyst that is creating that ripple effect. I'm the conduit within our organization. So when there are problems, we actually get to the source of it, my source with their source.
And then miracles happen. And if you're not having a miracle every single day, if you're not having several miracles every day, there's something missing. And the idea there is to really identify what is missing and getting oneself back on the right track. Because we're only given this life. The miracle that it is from conception is just unbelievable. And then to be here in living form, your audience is either thinking, I only have so many years left, or I have 100% of my life left. Both you and I actually have 100% of our life left. What are we doing with it? Because every day I find myself in heaven because everything's just beautiful. And it's the context that I have in my life. And some people have different contexts in their life, and they see things differently. Like, this is gonna be a terrible day.
Oh, the weather's cold. Or this. And it's really being with and surrendering to and forgiving oneself as one goes forward.
Is this something. I mean, this is. I mean, everything that you're saying right now, it makes so much sense. And is this something that you've worked on applying throughout the years? Is this something that. This just comes with experience, life experience, the realization that comes along with it. Because I think that, you know, when I was younger and everything else, you want to think you have it all figured out, and then eventually you surrender to the fact that I don't have it all figured out, nobody does, and that's okay. And then it's kind of piecing a lot of those things together. Was. Was this a principle that you adhered to for a while, Jim? Or is this something that is kind of just like, over a career? This is where we are today because of a lot of little things that have happened.
It kind of led you here Well.
I mean, I'm on fumes. We're all on fumes. Life isn't just perfect. It really isn't. And we all have this. The thing I'm speaking of, we all have it. We're born with it. And when we're born with it, things happen in our life. And yes, everything has brought you and me together here. You and I, you know, shook hands maybe 10 times in our lives together because we see each other a lot in the world. And so everything brings us to a certain point and those choices that we've made for some decisions all bring us to one place. And just like on this call, you know, for the audience, I was going to go to your office and do this live with you. Unfortunately, I was flying back on Monday.
I tried not to be gone as far as, you know, as long as I used to be and stay somewhere for a period of time. So on this journey, we run through these things called crucibles. Now there are crucibles that happen in our lives. Some of us, it happens at a very young age. We also see our fathers and our mothers. We either emulate them and we do the same thing that they did. We just continue the pattern and that's our choice or a decision that you've made, right? We don't have to.
And then, you know, I came across a crucible in my life in 2009 where my wife and I, after, you know, getting married in 04 and then having a child in 07, her name was Jenna Becker, and my wife was three months pregnant with now our 15 year old, which is a freshman, Sydney. And our daughter died June 2 at 2 years of age. And what that did to me is it just erased who I was. I couldn't go back to the past. You see, there's things that happen to each listener listening right now that something happened in our lives and it kind of sets that rocket ship off into a certain direction. Well, what I learned on that day is what this divine gift we all have.
And for the last 15 years, 16 years, I've been really articulating what I saw, you know, behind the veil, before the veil, and trying to articulate and use the words that I have to really create, not destroyed, and really to lead, not to push away or ignore, and to really be with people, to see people, to hear people, to be in their world so that I can help and really transform and be the yoke for people so that they can see a different perspective of life, not only for their Businesses, but also here in the company or perfect strangers that I run into at the airport. I can't tell you how many great conversations I had between here to Arizona and back. I've talked about 50 people that there's.
There's a change now, a catalyst that has sparked in their own personal lives that something different is going to happen that wouldn't happen otherwise.
Yeah, I mean, that's profound. I mean, it. Going through a scenario like that, like, I mean, again, I, I don't know. I, I, you know, my. My brother. I lost my people. I lost my nephew a little bit ago. And I, It. It has, It's. It. It does shift everything. It shifts every. Nothing's the same after that. And even the, you know, even though, you know, he was my. My nephew, like, I, it. There's been a lot of that stuff that has kind of happened behind the scenes here for myself that has really changed my perspective on the importance of what life is all about. What is my purpose? Why am I doing what I do every single day?
And, you know, and I think it is always boiling down to, you know, like, what you were bringing up there about talking to 50 different people and the profound impacts that those little conversations can have on others. And, you know, I think a lot of it is, you know, hearing your story here, Jim, and is like, you know, for those about you who are out there listening, like, there's different levels to a lot of this stuff, but everybody goes through things and you need to push through those things because, you know, I don't know what God's plan is for my life. I have to. I trust God's plan for my life.
And that's one of those things that comes up repeatedly throughout my life now is, you know, that, like, you need to surrender control at some point to that you're going to be okay because there's a lot of dark days and everybody has different, varying degrees of that darkness. But your journey, your story is like. It helps people. It helps people relate and know that they're not alone. And sometimes just those little conversations that you have with strangers can literally have a different ripple effect on their entire life in those moments. So, I mean, man, I. This has just been a profound conversation, Jim. I, I didn't know, like, I was gonna talk more. I didn't even know where were gonna go with this. But this is just. This is exactly how I feel like it was meant to be, man.
And I, I just appreciate you being so open with a lot of this because your insight is invaluable for people, and not even from a business perspective, but from a life perspective here.
Yeah, thank you for that. Yeah. I went. I looked and I said, what are the questions that Chris is going to ask me? And I asked you. And you're like, we're just gonna. We're just gonna talk. I'm like, all right, we're gonna talk. Let's see what we talk about. And it's. It's really interesting because this conversation, for all of your listeners that are listening there's something in this for them that they're hearing that will be a spark, a catalyst for them as well. And, you know, if it's business, if it's your department, if it's your spouse, your kids, if it's something that you're trying to get through, for the last 28 years, I've always opened up myself to all employees. And here's my cell phone number. Call me day or night. I'm here for you, personal as well as in business.
And I can't tell you how many people have called in the middle of the night. I need your help now. And I show up. And however I can help them, I've helped them. If it's a family crisis or if it's an emergency or a hospital situation, a death in the family, we've always been there. And that. That kind of goes back to what were talking about before. I don't know if it was before this we started live or what. It's really. How. How are you going to be different in the world, in your leadership as a leader? What are you saying? That you're accountable for where you're the only one accountable to it? You're that only one person outside of your own responsibilities or others responsibilities being that change that you want to see, it doesn't come lightly with me.
It is what you see. It is how I speak. It's. It's who I am that makes that difference out there in the world. And it doesn't matter what good or bad I see. It is just something. I no longer get upset. I no longer have problems. Everything is in a world of perfection for me, where things are perfected. I see them. You know, I'll use a parable with Christ. Christ and his disciples were walking down the road one day, and one disciple says, oh, the hair is falling off of that dog. Another says, it smells very pungent. Another disciple said, look at all the maggots. Another disciple says, how long has that dog been there? And Christ walks up and says, look at those beautiful white teeth.
See, in life, in the world, just in the United States, you know, whoever you voted for or whatever is happening now versus what happened three months ago. There is an audacity, if you will, where we're overwhelmed with, that's wrong, that's right, he's wrong, he's right, she's wrong, she's right. And there's. We diverse and. And say winning, losing, and it doesn't have to be that way. It's not what I see.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you have, like. I know we're pretty much right up at time. Do you have a couple more minutes here, Jim? Okay. You know, I. I'm right there with you on. On everything you just said there, because it is, you know, it. It's almost like everything's designed to look for the. Like that. Like the sky's falling, you know, like there's problems everywhere. And look at this. But it's like they're really. The problem is a relative statement. It really is, because I. And I'm, you know, again, I'm starting to realize this. The old, you know, the. The older and older that I get that, like, I don't know if I've ever had a bad day in my life, Jim. I've had bad moments, right? Like, I've had bad moments throughout my life.
But, you know, when I was in, over Christmas break, the last month of. Of the year, I did a. You know, I finished up a program called Live Hard, and on the last day or the last 30 days, it was do a random act of kindness every single day. And I went and I was down in Mexico. I was in my wife's hometown, and that. That there's real poverty down there. So I went around and I fed, you know, I brought plates of food, water, stuff to actual homeless people. And that is where it hit me. That was one of the most profound moments of, like, I don't know if I've ever had a bad day of my life, and I've had bad moments. I've had tough times.
But, like, if I look at it, that is a very relative statement because I started comparing myself a little bit. Like, I've never been homeless, fortunately. I don't know if I've ever been hungry in my life. I've never really been without. I've been very fortunate. And I started seeing a lot of the blessings that I had in my life that I had once overlooked in those moments. And I wish more and more individuals would start looking at it. From that perspective. And this is a daily thing for me too. Like I'm not perfect, but like that was one of the most profound revelations that I've had here as of late was one of those, like I've never had a bad day, I've had bad moments.
Yeah, I shoot for perfect days. Yeah, right. And so you know, all the problem is you become a pro at lamenting, right? That's what you end up doing when you see problems. You become a pro at lamenting. And so when I look at a problem, I go right to the solution. And so when I, you know, you mentioned earlier, like I saw that you left Becker Logistics and I did, I just became this chairman of the board of Becker Logistics and I turned the company over to our executive team and assign a new CEO and let them run things. And September 1st I came back. Well, in my absence, what I decided to do was write a book called Falling into Being Moment by Moment. And it's at the editor right now. It'll be out around, around.
The TIA conference is when it'll be available. And I started coaching a lot of other freight brokers and other businesses said, hey, what would it take to get you to come on over here and help me with some things? And I started helping people and really making an impact. And you know what this is like being a freight coach yourself. You know, you really sit with someone and be with them to see what is needed as they move forward. And in this whole process it really shifts people so that you're helping them see something differently. Because the way that what they, where they ended up is exactly who they were being in the past. Where if they want something different, they just have to be someone different.
And that shift takes something and most people need a coach, a mentor to really, you know, I mentioned this earlier before went live about really like a Doppler Ganger or doubling yourself. You know, for ADHD people they need someone there just to be a support, even if they're just in the room. I see it in the morning when I go work out and busting my butt with either weights or rowing or running just to have someone there. And that's what management kind of does, is kind of like keeps you on track for what you need done. We become our best manager. Well, when we get to that level of leadership where we exercise leadership effectively as our natural self expression the moment we get out of bed.
Because all we have is today, we have right now with every breath, every moment that's all we have, and we're falling into it right now, the moment that we sit on the sidelines, we're sitting in the past, we're lamenting in the past, we have to pivot and rescind that and turn forward or we throw ourselves into the future. And that's where anxiety like, oh, my gosh, what's this going to be like on Monday? And next thing you know, Chris, you know this, you're going to think about, like, everything that's going to happen on Monday. And you just, like, you can't stop thinking about what's going to happen on Monday because that problem's there. And I say no. I say no. I'm going to spend time with the people that are in front of me.
I'm going to give them my life, my breath right now, and that's what I'm going to do. And if it's with you, if it's with all the listeners, if it's with the people here at Becker Logistics, I'm serving each and every moment.
I love it. Jim, that right there, that is the bow on top, like serving every moment, everything you just said that right there. I don't know if we can top that today, man. But I, I, from the, thank you so much for this, like, this conversation. I mean, I know I got a lot of value out of it. I, I know some of the listeners, they've been dropping in the chats. I've got actually a couple of texts came through from people who are listening as well. Man, this was great. Jim, how does anybody reach out to you to find out more? I mean, follow Jim on social media, for starters, on LinkedIn. Is that the best way where people can find you?
Yeah, you can find me on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook. It's Jim Becker, JFB, my initials. And if you're reaching out on LinkedIn, I cap it. I've got 60,000 plus followers, 30,000 connections. You need my email. It's jim beckerkerlogistics.com if you want to reach out to me directly, text me. Don't just call because I don't pick up weird phone numbers. Text me with, you know, the freight coach or I heard you on Chris, you know, and just text me at 312-719-3117. I'm here for support, I'm here for guidance. If you have any questions you want, follow up. Fantastic. And same goes for you, Chris.
All right, I appreciate that, Jim. Thank you so much. And that will be it for today. You guys, this is definitely going down as one of my favorite episodes that I've ever recorded, and I can't thank you enough for your time. But we will be back tomorrow, you guys. As always, you guys know what to do. I know you guys got value out of this one. I appreciate you all so much, and we'll be talking to you soon. Man, that was.