1129. #TFCP - Should You Start A Business?!

And what I mean by that is I, I only speak with transportation professionals because at the end of the day, you guys, 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. Happy Friday everybody. Corey Bukin, TGIF as well. My man. Yeah, you guys, today's episode is the literal epitome of what were going to be talking about here. But before we go any further, you guys, I gotta put this out there. Weekly newsletter, FreightCoach.com drops every single Wednesday. Okay? It's obviously, it's very industry specific. We do some fuel data that's out there.

We do some lane data that's out there as well to help you guys have a better understanding of where things are kind of going, what some current market pricing is out there. My friends over at Green Screens is supplying that data and we drop that every single Wednesday, you guys. So it'll give you a little bit of an insight into kind of how things are going and help you read the freight market to see, you know, are things trending up, down, whatever that looks like. So check it out, you guys go to the Freight Coach.com Register for that on there. I don't auto sign anybody up for that because I personally hate it when my inbox gets spammed, as do all of my listeners, because I put multiple a poll out there and like 90% of the respondents said don't auto sign me up.

So I didn't. So go to the fraycoach.com register for that every single Wednesday. Today were going to talk about the realities of starting a business with my friend Jake Mathis of Southern Range Logistics and we got to reschedule that one because ironically and I, and like he's going through some this morning at his company and he's, that's way more important than him coming on the show today. He's dealing with some Internet issues and stuff like that and power issues and you know, that's, it's like just the irony of him having to go through that on the day of what were supposed to talk about today is it's not surprising at all because that's just the day in the life of, just another thing that you have to deal with.

And you know, so I'm just going to go in and I'm going to talk a little bit about some, just some stuff what's going on. I got a couple of articles queued up for today. We're going to break that down on some current market events or current, the current market situations and stuff like that. I'm going to go through some business development stuff that we're going through right now as well because I think that's what everybody's got to be on the hot topic for. But you know, to kind of tie in, I, you know, I put a post out there today. I, you know, obviously I've been self employed now, it'll be five years in April is, I've been self employed for that time frame and it's been a phenomenal experience. But I see so much.

I, I, I'd like just push for people to go out there and start a business. And you know, I look at it like this. If you don't want to be your own boss and you want to have a job and you like working for somebody else because maybe you don't want to do that, there's nothing wrong with that at all. You know, if you want to go out there and work inside of an environment, you can be extremely successful inside of that environment and you should stick to doing that. Right. Like I feel like the vibe out there from on social media and this isn't Even just a LinkedIn thing, this is just in general, this is like you're failing or you're a loser if you don't want to start your own business.

And that couldn't be further from the truth out there at all. And you know, were going to talk a little bit about that this morning and you know, again my friend Stephen Tittle here, he had a very accurate post put out this morning about he had to sell his house and downsize it to get his business up and running back in the day. And, you know that post was very timely as well for what were going to talk about today. And, you know, again, don't feel bad if you don't want to be your own boss. Don't look at some of these posts on social media and think like you are behind or you're doing something wrong because you don't want to live this life, because there's nothing wrong with that at all.

There are days that I wake up that I'm like, it would just be so much easier to not deal with what, you know, some of those situations that come about. And, you know, the reality is, you guys, it's really hard to start a business, okay? It's very hard. And, you know, the post I put out there this morning of some situations that you will inevitably be faced with. All right? A lot of people are very high on starting their own thing when they have the comfort of a salary or the comfort of some money coming in, and they. They don't necessarily think it's gonna stop. And then it does stop. And then you're sitting there with the thoughts in your mind of, holy, this is real. Do I actually want to do this? Right?

Because it's easy to, you know, to be on cloud nine when you're not really dealing with any adversity and, you know, and your bills are paid. But, you know, you will be faced with that, all right? You will be faced with that if you start your own business, you know, and maybe, you know, if you're bootstrapping it, there will be a time where you won't have any money and you're not going to know what to do. You know, maybe not. But for me, that happened with me, right? That's why I. I delivered pizzas for the first, like, eight, nine months that I was in business, because I had bills to pay. And. And trust me, I. I don't.

Like, I don't give a fuck if somebody thinks less of me because I'm delivering pizzas to support my family when I'm trying to build my dreams. And I would do that tomorrow if I needed to, all right? And I'm very fortunate to not be in that position. But, you know, you need to know what you're getting yourself into before you go out on your own, before you want to sit here and think that it's going to be easy, because it's not. It's very hard. It's it's very hard for me. And then especially if we want to talk about freight related in particular right now. Okay. Going out there and developing a book of business. This is the absolute hardest market I have ever experienced in my almost 15 years of being a freight broker. Okay. I make cold calls every single day.

I've made 35 cold calls already this morning and 34 of them did not answer the phone. And I got one, take me off of your list, please. They said please at least at the end of the day. So it was a good conversation at that point. But it's very, it takes a very long time to onboard customers, all right? They're out there, the business is out there. It's just not what it was for those couple of years. And then on top of that, after you get a couple of customers, it takes an even longer time to build that up. Right? So it's like if you're going to go out there and do it on your own or maybe you're going to go out and be a freight agent, which that's what I am, right. Like my broker just through SPI Logistics.

It's a phenomenal experience because I'm aware of what I got myself into when I was going in with it, as do most individuals. And I think SPI does a very, very good job of preparing people for what life as an agent is like out there. But you know, say you're not, right? Like, say you're out there and you're trying to build your book of business up from scratch or you're trying to build your business up. It takes way longer than you think. And then when you do get those customers, there's a ramp up period that's associated with it, right? It might be two months, it might be six months, it might be 12 months, I don't know. But it is a very long time to get business developed and then grow with said business. Okay?

So I think as you're going out there and really deciding and hell, maybe you're just going out and being a sales rep, right? There is a massive difference between account management and business development. All right? I, I think there's a, you know, you go in and maybe you start out at a company that's been in business for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and they have some overflow accounts that maybe don't get the attention that they need. And then they, maybe they place those with you as a New rep. And again, there's nothing wrong with that. Right. I will probably be doing that at some point in my company as well. But you know, again, that doesn't necessarily make you a sales rep at that point. Right. I feel like you're more of an account manager.

And when you're going out there and you're making those dials every single day, you know, it's very different when you don't have to develop a book of business and you're kind of given one to a point and then you run with that. You have a false sense of what it takes to actually build a book of business. And that's my big thing with offices and operations that have carrier reps and customer reps. And why, you know, Eileen Dabowski and I were talking about this the other day on my show. You need to cross train everybody because carrier reps need to know how hard it is to get business. Customer reps need to know what it's like to actually cover freight in the long run, to build that up. And it's going to make a more well rounded operation as a whole.

But, you know, it takes a lot, you guys, and I'm not even talking just like the little bit about this that I have spoken. I don't even talk about the legal side of this. I don't talk about structuring your business. Right. You know, going out there on your own, like, are you, did you file your taxes properly? Do you have a cpa? Do you have a lawyer? Do you have all of those things? There's a bunch of stuff that you need to look into. And, you know, ultimately it's going to boil down to this. If you want to do it right.

Like, I am not gonna sit here and try and convince anybody to not go into business for themselves if they want to, but I want people to actually understand what they're getting themselves into before they go out and possibly resign from a very good job that could have been the right place for them to because they were sold a bill of good. And again, I understand everybody's got to live with their own choices at the end of the day, but I, I want to utilize my platform and my content to actually prepare people through the stuff that, like, I, I've gone through and everything else and just my experiences with that. And I just see a rise out there of selling a bill of goods that I don't think actually is what the reality of starting your own thing actually looks like.

All right, because there's A lot of silence early on, all right? Because trust me, nobody wants to talk to you right away. You know, it takes a very long time to get out there and to get noticed and everything else. And I think the most challenging thing, all right, if you go, you know, you got your, your business structured properly, you got your federal, you know, id, you got all that done, and you're out there and you're making it happen, and, you know, you got a solid product or maybe you got a solid idea. The hardest battle you're going to have to face early on is the silence, all right? And that's the noise in between your ears of, nobody wants to work with me. Why does everybody hate my product?

I think I have a good product, but nobody out there wants to talk to me. No one will give you the time of day, none of that stuff. And there's a lot of you time in that early stages of that stuff and health. There's even days where there's a lot of me time that I got going on right now, and I got to consume my ADD brain with shit to keep myself on track. Otherwise I will fall off the rails like most people would in those instances, right? So it's like the content that you're consuming during that time is vital. I try my best to put all the books that I've read out there, all the podcasts that I listen to out there throughout the day and stuff like that to keep me kind of on track, right?

Because like, ultimately, you guys, this is like a, when I say a 24 hour game, I'm not saying I work 24, 7, 365. That's complete. Nobody actually does that. But throughout my day, I am consuming something to try and help my business move forward, right? Maybe it's a podcast, a founder's podcast, right? Maybe it's the real AF podcast, the Ed Mylett podcast. I'm. I'm listening to throughout the day to keep me on track because not everybody's answering their phones when you're calling them, right? And eventually you got to fill your day with stuff and you got to be productive with that time. Tony Darnell says I can't make 35 cold calls that fast. Holy. Yeah, Tony, I. Dude, I block off an hour and a half every single morning to make cold calls. All right? That's my. I'm an early riser.

So, like, I'm at my, the top of my game early in the day and I want to get all of that stuff Done. And I want to get a big chunk of that out of the day. So I structure out my day methodically every single day, Monday through, I mean damn near seven days a week. But if we're doing Monday through Friday for the work day and work related tasks and stuff like that, like I literally do the exact same thing day in and day out, bro. I structure my day. I am methodical about that. I am very schedule oriented with that to make sure I get my shit done, okay? Because for me, the absolute most important component of my business right now is business development. All right?

That is cold calling, that is site visits, that is staying in front of shippers and that is it. So like I don't have a choice. That is going to happen and that's going to be my day for a very, very long time. And I'm cool with that, right? But it's about structuring out my day and making stuff happen. It gets tricky at times when we're moving a bunch of freight, right? Like we had a couple of project loads that picked up yesterday and you know, yesterday got a little dicey with getting it done. But again, I'm going to make sure that I get my calls in. I'm up to, I'm doing 50 cold calls a day now and that's my thing for the entire month of February.

And I'm trying to see how I balance out my day with my other duties throughout the day to make sure that I'm getting those calls in. And again, man, it's just about doing it day in and day out and then trying to see how do you get a little bit better with it, right? And I'm out there and I'm calling a couple of sectors of the industry, okay. So for the most part, man, I'm going after Flatbed freight, as you know. And that's all I'm going after. I'm not calling food. If I find out that they move ltl, I don't call them back, stuff like that. And I'm really sifting through because my icp, my ideal customer profile is open deck. And that's all I'm trying to go after, especially full truckload.

So again, when you can go through and really rock that out, I have my list of my accounts that I'm going after on my, the screen right here. I have that list and I just drop and drag the phone number over to Google, pull them up so I have their website up when I'm calling them. If they don't answer Boom, it's on to the next one. Update my notes. And I go through that. It used to take me probably three hours to get 35 calls in, you know, but it was mainly because I was avoiding actually making the calls in a consistent manner. But as soon as I started blocking out my day and then just going, once you can get into that groove, man, you can rock some out.

Because the reality is for the most part, man, you're gonna get a lot of voicemails. As you know, you're gonna get a lot of non responses out there. But again, it's more about just getting the work in, man. And I would just highly recommend, you know, setting up your day and doing something like that, man. You know, that's another thing with it. So, you know, we'll save a little bit more about, you know, the topic that, you know, for when Jake comes on because we got it rescheduled here for a couple of, in a couple of weeks out.

But you know, again, you guys, I'm never going to sit here and say don't go after something, don't go after your dreams, but just be more aware of what you're getting yourself into, you know, Like I saw, you know, an article here recently about, you know, like the lease purchase programs and stuff like that's out there. I feel like ultimately if you can't afford to spend a couple hundred bucks to consult with an attorney before you sign a document, you shouldn't be doing that at all. Because trust me, the. I don't know, I think I, I mean, this is just a rough. It was anywhere from five to seven thousand dollars a year I spend on my attorney to review documents and everything else. And that's the best money that I spe the year because my attorney has my best interest in mind.

I've been a client of his now for three plus years and they do a lot of work when they say so like I look at that as, that's a investment, man. That saves me a lot of heartache and a lot of out there, you know. So again, having that right attorney, having the right CPA to help you structure your business properly is crucial early on, you guys. That, so that's what we'll say with that. Go after it if you want, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. And if you've, if you're at a point in your life where you're like, you see a lot of it, you're thinking about it. But you know what? You don't want to lose your job or like you don't want to leave your job. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

There is nothing wrong with being a quality employee for somebody and making a shitload of money for them and yourself out there in that regard. And then you get to go home at the end of the day. So I did pull up an article here I wanted to break down. I think it's very, a very accurate kind of market update on things. Okay, so this one was from Freight Waves and it said Q4 freight data shows market reboot slower than anticipated. No, I guess for, from my perspective, you guys, the. This hype about a market recovery and this and that.

Like I'm not going to say that there aren't pockets and areas that are showing improvement out there in certain areas, but if we're talking the overall consensus, again, just take this from somebody who actually cold calls and I don't just talk about what I would do in the event that I was doing something like that. Like I'm on the front lines here, you guys. The sentiment is a little bit more improved, if I'm being honest, compared to hearing people late last year pre election, even through December, it wasn't. It was looking pretty bleak for 2025 so far as the year has progressed between January and February, and I know we're at the beginning of February, the sentiment is a little bit more improved. All right, I'm not going to sit here and say that it's oh my God, we're overly busy, we're bombarded.

There's a lot of that's going on right now that is going to affect the freight market in 2025. Like I was saying last year, and I'm going to continue to say this on a, essentially a weekly or a monthly basis, I do not think 2025 is going to look vastly different from 2024. Will there be some slight improvements out there? Probably. But to sit here and say that the market is in full recovery mode and it paints a false sense of hope that there are going to be a massive amounts of new opportunities that are going to be out there. Can you create them? But you better be fucking prepared to make 10x more output than you currently are to identify said opportunities that are out there. Because it is not like it was, man.

It is not like you can call a couple of places and get set up and start moving freight. It's I, I think 2025 is going to look very similar to 2024 from a new opportunities perspective for the ones that just kind of want to sit back and rely on other methods to move that freight or to get those opportunities. If you're willing to bang out some calls, get in front of some shippers in person and everything else, you'll probably see some results way before the ones who are just relying on email and everything else out there. So, you know, I I look at it as it goes on to say in this article Data released Tuesday by Freight Audit and US bank excuse me showed a trucking industry continuing to battle cyc cyclical and structural headwinds.

The US freight market continued its downward trend in Q4 shipment volume fells 4.7%, marking the tenth consecutive quarterly decline. Spending by shippers also decreased, albeit at a slower rate of 2.2%. Bob Costello from the ATA says it's clear that both cyclical and structural challenges remain as we look for a market reboot. For instance, factory output softness, which has a disappropriate, disproportionate excuse me Impact on freight volumes, is currently weighing heavily on our industry. Looking at cyclical impacts, the persistent softness in the manufacturing sector played a larger role in and the freight market continued softness. Total factory output declined out there. The report also adds US Factory output has a okay, that's a repeat in the article there. And then it goes Freight Rates show mixed signals. An analysis of freight rates provided further details.

Spot market rates, excluding fuel, rose 0.5% from the third quarter, first sequential gain since Q1 of 2022 year over year. Spot rates were down 1.9%. Contract rates, however, continued their downward trajectory, falling 1% from the previous quarter and 5% year over year. This is the sixth consecutive quarter in which R contract rates fell. You know, I, I, I think that as we're looking through this, you know, there's some decent information that's in there, kind of contradictory inter information as you see out there in certain market segments. But this is why I would highly recommend everybody follow multiple news outlets, follow multiple people reporting on this data. I am a massive fan of following Jason Miller out there from Michigan State.

I follow him because, you know, at the end of the day he backs his opinion pieces up with actual data that he breaks down, right? You might not agree with the outcome or what he's talking about, but it's good fucking information. That's not emotion, all right? It is legitimately backed up with data and research that he does day in and Day out. He's a good one to follow out there and to get it, get a kind of an uptick on what's going on. You know, again, I was out there, you know, I was talking to a prospect yesterday, for example. I'm not going to say anything other than they are expecting a dollar a mile for specific truckload lanes that are moving out there. So, you know, there was that.

And then also another customer of mine moved, was looking for a load today and they wanted it for about A$40amile is what they were looking to pay. Again, I'm not going to say the markets or anything else to, you know, but like, at the end of the day, you guys, that's where the sentiment is out there in certain markets. I'm not saying that this individual provider is, but like I, I will say this. The accuracy of what the lanes that they were quoting and what my friends at Green Screens were saying I was going to pay was almost identical. All right, so if you guys want a rate rating tool that will give you like legitimately the most accurate pricing out there, hit up my friends at Green Screens, you guys. All right? I literally use them inside of my brokerage.

Yes, they advertise on my podcast, but I am an actual customer of theirs. And the rates that they provided based on those two examples were almost identical to what was going to be paid on it. And they have been very locked, step and key into new lane development for us and what we are going to pay to accurately set us up for the future. But I don't want to ever give out false hope on where things are from what I'm seeing right now. And I hope that this is a typical Q1 in freight. Right? Because in a normal freight market, Q1 is always dismal from a freight volume perspective. And it picks up throughout the year, you know. So again, pay attention to that stuff, you guys. I'm never going to sit up here and bang the drum in one way or another.

I just want to continue to give you guys reality about what I face day in and day out in my business and what I'm actually going through. And rest assured, you guys, when you're listening to this show, this is somebody from, you know, who's actually doing the work. I'm not a former. I'm a guy who's literally got everything on the line and I'm trying to put my best foot forward to provide as much information as I possibly can that you guys can apply in your business and everything else. And that's what we're going to continue to do. All right, so at the end of the day, you guys, if you guys get value in what you hear, subscribe to my content, all right? I'm on every major platform that's out there.

If you guys are really ambitious and you love listening to the show, which you guys do, like, let's be honest, this is the best show in freight by far. Rank the show on itunes and Spotify, you guys, all right? That's what, like, helps the. The algorithms and to, like, really get it out there. Because, like, if you saw value, that's how your network's going to see value as well. That's how other listeners who listen to similar shows, that's what can show them. Like, hey, you should probably listen to the Freight Coach podcast. So do that out there if you guys want. If you guys feel inclined to doing that and feeling anxious and ambitious after today's show hit, do your boy a solid. But otherwise, you guys, I'm going to continue to be back.

I'm going to continue to create content designed to help you all in this. I'm going to have other subject matter experts come on the show to talk about those things to again, help you guys out. I'm not selling you a course. I'm not trying to sell you guys anything. If you guys want to hit up my advertisers, that would be awesome. Let them know that the Freight Coach sent you. But I'm gonna do this show no matter what, you guys, because I just want to give back and help. And if you guys have any questions about, like, maybe you're thinking about becoming an entrepreneur and you're thinking about going out on your own, just DM me. I'll get around to it. I'll be able to answer your guys's questions.

I will literally tell you what I've gone through, and I'm not going to hold anything back because I'm not trying to sell you a course on doing anything other than hopefully, you guys are better prepared to go out there and make the best decision for your family. And because it is very rewarding to be an entrepreneur. All right, it is very rewarding at times, but it's also very hard. And as long as you're aware of that before you go into it, go out there and. And get after that American dream. But that'll be it for today, you guys. We will be back on Monday. We got a guest coming on Monday as well.

And as I think we got a guest coming on literally every single day next week and for the entire month of February because your boy's been busy pre scheduling out guests. And that's another thing, too. No, I don't charge for you to be a guest on this show. All right? I was asked that again yesterday. No, I do not charge you to be a guest on this show. But if you want to become a guest on this show, just DM me. You guys, we'll figure something out. You'll find me on social media, but that's going to be it. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys, and we'll be talking to you soon.