Welcome to the Beyond Fulfillment Podcast! In this episode we sit down with Tristan Bordallo, a 21-year entrepreneur, asset-based trucking company founder, and former competitive cyclist.
Tristan shares how his background in competitive cycling shaped his mental toughness and resilience in the world of business. He dives deep into the realities of building a business from scratch, including how he transitioned from agency owner to launching his own trucking and brokerage companies , the challenges and learning curve of scaling a business, and the decision-making behind owning assets versus brokering freight.
Tristan also touches on building lasting relationships with clients, combating industry fraud, and fostering a culture of community and positivity through his “care for all” philosophy.
Key topics: entrepreneurship strategy, mental toughness, freight brokerage, trucking company growth, asset-based business, small business challenges, building community, positive mindset for founders.
Timestamps:
3:38 – Transitioning to business ownership
5:59 – Owning assets vs. brokering freight
11:53 – Learning curve & business challenges
18:25 – Building community & caring for all
If you found this episode valuable, make sure to subscribe and join other entrepreneurs leveling up their game! Your support helps us bring more top business minds to the show.
Connect with Tristan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-bordallo-a57860162/
#Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #Startup #BusinessGrowth #TruckingIndustry #FreightBrokerage #Mindset #BusinessPodcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today, we welcome TristanBordalo to dive deep into his entrepreneurial
journey.
We start with how hisbackground as a competitive cyclist
shaped his mental toughnessand approach to business.
Tristan draws strong parallelsbetween cycling and entrepreneurship.
The unpredictability, the needfor quick decision making and enduring
(00:22):
periods of hardship all helpedhim build resilience for the long
haul of building and running companies.
He shares how his drive tofind his own path rather than fit
the traditional expectationsset by his family led him into the
world of freight andlogistics, where he started as an
agent and eventuallytransitioned to owning both a brokerage
(00:43):
and an asset based trucking company.
We explore the challenges andlessons Tristan faced as he set up
both businessessimultaneously, highlighting the
steep learning curve that camewith navigating the operational differences
between brokering loads andowning assets outright.
He explains the benefits ofhaving control over his own fleet,
(01:05):
especially amid today's risingfreight fraud and double brokering,
saying that asset ownershipallows for better service, more reliable
outcomes, and deeper customer trust.
Tristan also underscores howfocusing on niche markets and delivering
personalized service hasenabled his company to thrive, even
as many competitors strugglewith low rates and high market volatility.
(01:30):
Tristan's philosophy is deeplyrooted in community building, transparency,
and a mindset of vibes,positivity and intentionality in
business interactions.
He talks about the importanceof doing business with people who
care, both on the customer andcarrier side, and maintaining high
standards and a strong supportnetwork have been key in tough times.
(01:53):
Whether you're in logistics orjust love a good entrepreneurial
story, you won't want to missthis inspiring conversation.
As always, if you found valuefrom this content, please like and
subscribe.
All right, Tristan Bardalo,welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
Thank you, Dave.
(02:14):
Yeah, appreciate you being here.
Okay, so Tristan, first question.
How did your experience as acompetitive cyclist influence your
mental toughness and approachto the long haul of building your
businesses?
Oh, wow, that's a good one.
You pulled that one out.
(02:36):
That requires a lot of training.
It's not just getting on thebike and there's a lot of moving
pieces to cycling, to the gearyou have to how you take care of
your equipment, how you eat,to how you train.
And it's, it's, it reminds mea lot of running a business because
(02:57):
even though you haveeverything set up to for success,
you're prepared.
You never know what's on the road.
Cars are on the road, another cyclist.
It's not as, you know, it's,it's not as like unpredictable.
There's a lot of things thatare unpredictable.
And, you know, you gotta beable to move quickly, make decisions
(03:19):
quickly, or you'll end up onthe ground.
And one of the hardest thingsthat I've done in cycling was climbing
and being able to keep onholding on to someone's wheel.
So, you know that pain cavethat you're in, I call it, and you're
suffering and you're justholding on for dear life.
And that's exactly business.
(03:40):
And it's really trained me tobe mentally tough for running a business
because just like cycling, nomatter how prepared you are, it's
going to be a tough ride.
In my world, a personal brandis invaluable.
A year ago, EasyDC was brandnew with just a couple of customers
(04:02):
and no online presence.
Then I found Hicks Marketing.
They helped me amplify mypersonal brand, build a solid content
strategy, publish my podcast,and 10x the number of customers we
serve, all in less than one year.
Do you need a marketingpartner who gets you and cares about
your success?
Reach out toaliciaxmarketing.com for more info
(04:23):
and tell her Dave Gula sent you.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And so you, we were justtalking off camera and you mentioned
you've been an entrepreneurnow for 21 years.
So what was it that made youdecide to go that route rather than
the conventional way of justgetting a job?
(04:45):
Well, I, I don't think I'd bea really good employee anyways.
Right.
I'm always questioning things,I'm hyper, curious.
I always question why.
And even my mom, coming fromFilipino parents, my mom is a nurse.
And in the Philippines youhave to be a doctor, a nurse or a
(05:07):
lawyer.
And you have to be, you haveto go to a four year college.
And I asked my mom, well, howmuch does a nurse make?
And this was back In, I'd say25 years ago, they make 78,000 to
$85,000 a year.
And I broke it down to myself.
So I said I only need to make$300 a day and I could do 1099 and
(05:27):
I'll crush it because it'sbetter than a W2.
So five days a week, $300 aday, 52 weeks, that's $78,000.
And that's all I, you know,that was my goal.
And I, and I think my firstyear I did that and I didn't.
I got my mom off my back andeveryone else and they actually thought
I was selling drugs, but I wasactually hauling freight as a sales
(05:50):
rep.
And I was also DJing on theside too.
So Yeah, I was always hustling.
Definitely those are the entrepreneur.
You know, that's whatentrepreneurs do, is they hustle
and they just don't want toget a job, so they're naturally finding
the easiest way out.
But I can tell you it's notreally that easy.
(06:11):
It's just a lot better thanbeing told what to do and doing it
on your own terms.
Okay, and so what was themoment that made you transition from.
From being the agency owner with.
With Covenant to.
To taking the leap and thenfounding your own companies?
Well, I mean, it was having afranchise and, and no disrespect
(06:36):
to agency ownership, but, youknow, you.
You evolve into wanting to owneverything, right?
You're wanting to.
Have to.
To learn the money side ofthings, cash flow, and.
Because when you're acommission rep, you don't get to
learn all that.
You don't build relationshipswith vendors.
You build relationships withcarriers, but you're not building
(06:57):
relationships with vendors.
And so that was more of what Iwanted to do and actually take more
of the.
The responsibility and exposemyself to that risk because I knew
there was going to be a better payout.
So what?
And I wanted to hire more people.
I wanted to make an impact.
(07:17):
When I was an agent, I feltlike I hit a.
This ceiling and I just wasmaking money for myself.
So it's.
It's like a glorified salesrep with a couple of assistants.
But if you really want to runa fully operational business, you're
going to have to run.
You're going to have to figurethat out by having your own brokerage
(07:38):
and having your own truckingcompany actually launched, both at
the same time, which was crazyon my part, but that's.
Ignorance is bliss.
You never really know how.
How hard it is.
You think it's all, I've donethis for so many years, I could do
it.
So, yeah, I mean, just thewhole agency part.
And plus I was.
If I was going to buildsomething, I was there for 10 years.
And it's.
(07:58):
It's almost like building a McDonald's.
Right?
You don't actually own McDonald's.
You.
You own a franchise and it'snot your business.
And I wanted more of a legacyfor myself.
And I wanted, you know, I hadkids and I turned 40 that year, and
I wanted my kids to.
To know that that name on thetruck or that name on the company
was.
Was the name that I came upwith, not that I was building something
(08:21):
under.
Ah, okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned youstarted the, The Asset based brokerage
and the, the, the non assetbased at the same time.
So what, what made you decideto do that?
Well, I mean I've always beena brokerage so it was, it's asset
based trucking company.
(08:41):
So brokerage has no assets.
We've for, for a long time.
You know, I wanted to havecontrol of the outcome.
So, so as a non asset basedbrokerage you are hiring carriers
to do your pickups and yourdeliveries and it's hard to find
(09:02):
really great carriers.
And so I thought I'd build it myself.
I could probably move upmarket by having my own trucks and
my own drivers and my owntrailers and being able to control
the outcome versus being abroker where you're, you're, you're
selling capacity that's noteven yours.
(09:23):
Right?
You're not and you have no idea.
Sometimes it's, it's like a trick.
Everyone thinks just becauseyou're a broker you could get trucks
doesn't mean you know what'son the other end.
I mean if you, if only thepublic knew how we covered loads
as a broker, it's almost likehey Dave, you have a load, Great.
I could do it for X price.
And what happens is guesswhat, I don't even have a truck.
(09:43):
I'm going to go out there andpost your load and see if I could
find a carrier.
That's if I don't have arelationship with someone who could
do that.
Remember we're covering all 48contingent states.
It's impossible for you tohave someone unless you're regional
that will cover the wholeUnited States.
So what you're doing is you'retrying to find capacity for something
that you quoted and then youdidn't have.
But as, as now asset basedtrucking company, I could just go
(10:06):
to any company and say look, Ihave trucks and I could send them
anywhere you'd like as long asyou're willing to pay me.
And that was all about thecontrol and, and being able to provide
that service because I'm, I'mbig on making sure that I, I really
serve the ones I set out toserve because I felt like I was underserving
them on the brokerage side.
(10:26):
And some customers really like that.
You have a brokerage and theydon't care who you find to get the,
the carriers to do the, theloads for you.
That's why you hear a lot offraud, a lot of like double brokering
and the guy that you hired isnot the person that the broke.
So I mean there's a lot ofthat going on.
So you know, having your owntrucks makes you a little bit, it
(10:49):
gives you that competitiveedge by providing a real truck, a
real driver, real visibility,real everything versus I wouldn't
say fake but for the most partit's, it's, it's, it's, it's a coin
flip on the brokerage side andI was tired of that game.
Okay.
And so you know, one thing tooI've heard from other, I guess brokers
(11:14):
is, or informer, even truckingcompany owners is kind of the boy.
I'm, I had a fleet and boy,I'm glad I don't have to deal with
that anymore as far as owningthe assets and the maintenance and
everything that goes alongwith, with that.
So I mean now that, now thatyou've been doing it for a while
and, and done both sidessimultaneously, I mean what's your,
(11:38):
I guess in hindsight what'syour take on the situation as far
as having a asset basedtrucking company compared to just
a brokerage?
Oh man, that's a loaded question.
Some days I feel just likeeveryone else that say the same thing.
I've had my own assets, I havea headache in doing this and there's
(11:58):
days where I'm like, wow, I'mso glad I have my own assets.
So like anything in, inbusiness or in entrepreneurship,
it goes up, down, up, down,up, down.
Same thing with your feelings.
But I think I'm at a goodplace with, with it now.
There's, there's, there's beena lot of pivoting and you know, it's,
(12:20):
there's that moment where I, Iset out to do events because I knew
that was going to be somethingthat could, that's, that's moving
up market, right?
That's really having like.
We just went to the CountryMusic Awards, we left this Friday
and I looked at that Rayconand I said man, this is crazy.
(12:41):
This is what it was all about.
There's no way I was able, Iwas never going to get that type
of customer if I didn't havemy own trucks.
Right.
And the money that we'remaking back and forth, it's really
what a sustainable rate wouldlook like.
And so that makes it all worthit for me.
We just, we also did, just didsneaker conversations.
(13:01):
So we're doing moreconventions, we're doing more of
the little.
There's a lot of risk and alot of exposure so that you can't
even fail.
It's like a no fail load, right?
You do concerts, you do, youdo big events.
And you know, I've done lightsfor Coachella.
Like, things like that are very.
You can't be a broker and dothat because you don't have the drivers
(13:25):
or you don't have the assets,you don't have the control, you don't
have the visibility.
There's no way in the world Iwould be trusting a broker, me brokering
out a load to someone who Ihave no idea who's going to be on
the other end.
So, yeah, I mean, that, that,that question is.
It just depends on what you'reafter and what you're.
(13:46):
If you don't find the nicheand you're just running pallet loads.
Yeah, you're going to keepgetting that feeling where it's not
worth it because a lot of thefreight out there that's moving into
the Walmarts and the targets.
Yeah, those loads are, noteveryone can do those loads.
(14:07):
You've got to set yourself apart.
And if that's what you'rebuilding your trucking company for,
you're gonna, you're gonnahate owning trucks.
Okay.
All right.
And so when you did, you know,start both, both companies simultaneously,
what was the biggest?
I mean, I guess how steep wasthe learning curve after being an
(14:29):
agent for so long?
I would say very steep.
And I always say this.
When you're in front of acomputer and you're, you're booking
loads, you're not really outin the real world of trucking.
It's a, it's, it's twodifferent cultures.
(14:49):
And I think one of the thingsI will always say this is that I
learned more in owning assetsin one year than I did the 16 years
before because of what itactually takes.
I mean, trucking is so hard.
I don't think we get enoughcredit as an asset based company
(15:10):
that there is a lot of movingpieces to it.
And you know, in brokering, itwas easy.
You, you find a customer.
And I'm not saying that ifyou're a carrier, it's easy to find
customers too, because there'sa sales side.
Right.
Remember I said it's twodifferent cultures.
As a carrier, you know how todo operations really well, but as
(15:32):
a broker, you know the salesside and the customer side really
well.
So.
But I had no idea what it tookto actually get the job done.
And that's when I realized,wow, I'm so glad I'm learning their
culture because I already knowwhat brokerage is like.
But this side, I'm stilllearning every Single day.
(15:53):
There's so many differentpolicies and compliance rules and
regulations that we constantlyhave to stay on top of and insurance
and how, what's covered,what's not, what are exclusions?
And it's funny because now Ithink for them, I'm like, I am so
glad that in the 16 years thatI was brokering that I didn't have
(16:15):
to deal with all the crazythings that are not covered under
insurance.
I guess I got really luckybecause when you look at an insurance
policy, When I look at aninsurance policy today, I do that
on my brokerage side too.
I go, man, these guys are not.
This insurance policy is notgoing to cover us at all.
But those are the customersthat I let them know.
(16:37):
I go, look, hey, if you'regoing to ship out these pallets,
just know that I'm not goingto be responsible for it when something
happens because this is areally crappy carrier that we're
hiring to do this.
And some of the customers,they don't really care, man.
They just really want cheappricing, and that's okay.
That's what they want.
So.
But the customers that are,you know, it's crazy when I see things
(16:59):
online and I see someone say,okay, I have my fall launch of clothing,
right?
Or my new bikes that arecoming out this summer, and they.
And it goes missing.
And then they go online andthey cry about, oh, my God, I can't
believe I don't have anythingto sell for my fall season.
Oh, summer's coming.
I don't have any bikes to sell.
(17:19):
Well, that's what you get for hiring.
I hope the $300 that you savedat the $400 that you saved was enough
savings that you did not haveanything to sell for your fall and
your summer bikes.
You know what I mean?
Like, those, those type ofthings are, are, are the consequences
of, of cheap and, and trustingthat brokers are going to have it
(17:42):
versus paying someone that hasassets and saying, hey, why don't
you just pay 300, $500 more?
It'll get there, but you'llhave something to sell.
I mean, service is everythingwhen it comes to trucking.
Yeah.
And just following up on that,I mean, clearly, like you mentioned
the fraud and the doublebrokering and all that' heavy over
the last, you know, year, yearand then some.
(18:05):
And I mean, all by allaccounts, I mean, it's at record
highs in terms of the, thetheft and, and whatnot.
How is that that aspect of itimpacted your business?
It's actually great, you know,like I, not that I'm glad that it's
happening, but it's, it'sdefinitely the consequences of what
(18:26):
we've been doing prior, rightthere's, it's, it's an evolution
of what has.
I saw this coming a long timeago and this is, you know, going
back to your other question, Iremember thinking, wow, that is the
reason why I like owning myown trucks, right?
Because I don't have to worryabout that.
And I worry about it on mybrokerage side when we're giving
it to someone that we are, wedon't know.
(18:48):
And so I, we came up withsomething in the last year and a
half here saying, hey, guys,we're only going to work with carriers
that we care about and thatcare about us and that we know.
Because I had no idea thatthis was going to turn out this bad.
I mean, we've got, we got ridof a lot of awesome carriers in the
last couple of years.
So right now you either havethe, all the big guys.
(19:09):
This is what the future offreight looks like to me.
You have all of the big guysand all of the crappy guys.
All the guys in between aregoing to be gone because a lot of,
a lot of the, you know, whenthe middleman takes over and controls
pricing, here's what happens.
They have, you have the bigguys that they don't care about because
(19:29):
they're not going to get,they're never going to get the assets
from the, the Schneiders andthe Covenants and the, you know,
JB Hunts.
They're not.
But they're going to get thecarriers that are on this side.
And now they're gonna have tovet which one's the best that could
do their load for them.
All the in between guys.
You made them do it at theprice of these little guys or, sorry,
(19:52):
the guys that are shady.
I mean, there's a reason whythere's so much fraud right now.
There's not a lot of greatcarriers left and it's scary.
And that's why, you know,it's, it's, it's a good time to have
assets and to be a good humanbeing because it's, it's great to,
to turn down loads.
And I, I've, I think in thelast year I've had three customers
(20:16):
call me Tristan.
I got this much stuff stolen.
We only want you to do it, Tristan.
I got this stuff stolen.
I trust you.
Can you do it, Tristan?
You're the only one.
I saw you on LinkedIn.
Can you help us?
We have this stuff stolen andit's awesome because it's an opportunity
for me.
I guess the more we messaround, the more we find out and
(20:38):
it's, it's a great opportunityfor the ones doing the right things.
And you mentioned too, likeyou, you only want carriers that,
that care, right?
And one of the things, talkingabout LinkedIn, you're always posting
care for all and you know,you're, you're building community.
(20:58):
So can, can you talk aboutmore, more about where that comes
from?
Yeah.
So I'm part of a entrepreneursorganization I've just joined in
the last two years and, andthat's really opened up my eyes and
gave me the lens to building acommunity because you know, I'm in
an industry that's sofragmented and I, I felt what if
(21:22):
I apply some of the realcommunity building skills and things
I'm learning in this communityof entrepreneurs.
And I thought, you know, Idon't, I shouldn't be worried about
changing the whole industry,but I, I'm not, I don't want to go
against it, but I'm going tobe for this community.
I'm going to care for allwhere we are, taking care of both
(21:44):
sides because I know how hardit is to be a small carrier and I
know how hard it is to be abroker who's scared to hire carriers
that are out there.
So if I build a communitybased on everyone and the principles
of only do business with thepeople that care about you and that
you care about and I thinkwould be in a better place, at least
(22:04):
in that community becauseeverything is going to happen anyways,
I don't want to be a part ofit anymore.
It's not that I'm against itor this is a better option.
I just want a community that'sfor something.
And if it's for carriers thatwant to come in and say, hey, I'm
tired of getting, you know,ripped off or I'm tired of, of, of,
(22:27):
of staying afloat and beingstressed out about not paying my
bills.
Let's get together.
I'll give you my capacity ifwe can find me the right customers.
And today I'm way moreintentional about the customers I'm
getting.
I'm no longer just going forthe low hanging fruit and to, to,
(22:47):
to just ship stuff just for revenue.
I'm really about, okay, am Ireally making an impact?
Are we really making an impact?
Are we really helping thecarriers that are doing this and
the drivers?
Because if the more we helpour carriers, the more they can help
the drivers and I always saythat, you know, the customer will
dictate what type of driverswe get.
(23:07):
Okay.
And so clearly a noble way todo business with, with that mindset.
How challenging is itconsidering, you know, the freight
market especially has been,the rates have been low.
There's been a lot ofbrokerages going under over the last
(23:28):
several years.
There's been certainly aslowdown, you know, since the COVID
high a few years back.
And there's been someovercapacity like how, how challenging
is that operating from thatmindset given the realities of, of
the freight market today.
(23:51):
You know, it's funny because Ialways think, okay, if it's really
challenging, I would have hadto get a job 21 years ago.
Right?
There's.
And I'm not trying to be onthe front of Forbes or magazine and
trying to have the biggestbrokerage or the biggest trucking
company.
I'm just trying to help asmany customers that want to be helped.
And I think, you know, it islike you said it was.
(24:13):
It's a noble thing to have atrucking company that's, that's caring
for all and a brokerage that'scaring for all.
But there are customers thatdo support us in our vision.
And so I'm very lucky andexcited to have made those connections
versus worrying about what'sgoing on around me because it sucks.
(24:34):
If you're a carrier that is.
Is and a broker that's therefor money, then you're, you're going
to go out of business.
I mean, if you're not makingimpact, you're not caring about the
outcome and the consequences.
Consequences.
And it shows by how youoperate and how the brokerage operates
and how you treat carriers.
(24:56):
And so I think, you know,we've got, it's, it's a really tough
market right now, but in, inthere's a lot of customers that could
keep a small company likemyself and other brokerages.
I have friends that have smallbrokerages that you'll never even
hear of and have the samecustomers for 20, 30 years.
I mean, I have two customersthat are 20 plus years and some of
(25:20):
them 18, 17.
I mean, there's really greatcustomers out there supporting that
will care about you.
And I care about them deeplyas well.
And that's the reason why Ibought trucks.
Okay, all right.
And then coming to, you know,present day, right, as we record
this, we're in late April, thetariff situation is still very much
(25:46):
up in the air as far as howthat's going to go you know, the
China negotiations areongoing, but we have no resolution
there.
I mean, various people arepredicting a big slowdown.
Some people are saying there'sgoing to be a lot of empty shelves
starting soon.
And one of the areaspotentially that's going to get hit
(26:06):
hard is ports, particularly onthe west coast, and then freight.
What's your outlook for thecoming months based on how you see
the situation right now?
I think I'm in the same boat,pun intended.
Just kidding.
I'm probably on the.
(26:26):
On the same boat as everyone else.
You know, there's a lot of uncertainty.
I.
I'm part of Harbor Truckingassociation and California Trucking
Association.
It is something that what wereally talk about, especially, you
know, I went to a HarborTrucking association meeting last
week, and I never saw thatmany people.
I mean, it was standing roomonly, and there was more people outside.
(26:47):
And I know everyone's lookingfor the answers, but one of the things
I do is anything can change atany moment tomorrow, someone can
say in the administration,okay, just kidding, we're back to
normal, everything's okay.
And then there's another campthat I've been able to see where
(27:08):
they're resilient.
I have Chinese customers thatare telling me that they're already
moving quickly to assemble,like in the Philippines or Vietnam,
and trying to figure out whatthey're going to do.
And so I have faith in that.
Everything is going to, youknow, of course there's going to
be a lot that are going to besuffering, but there's also ones
(27:28):
that are going to be fighting.
So it's like, let's go back tocycling, right?
In cycling, there's, there's,there's a competitive side to everyone.
They want to stay in that pack.
They want to stay in thepeloton, and they're going to do
whatever it takes to get there.
And if they don't make it inthat peloton that weekend, they're
going to work their butts offthe next couple of months or days,
and then they'll be in that peloton.
There's those people.
(27:48):
Then there's like, oh, thoseguys are too fast.
I don't even want to hang outwith them anymore.
And then they just stop andthey just hang out and be.
Be a coffee shop writer, whichthat's fine.
I'm a coffee shop writer today.
Or actually, I'm on.
Just on the peloton, on theindoor bike.
But what I'm saying is thatthere are people that want to compete
and there are People that aregoing to want to make these.
I mean, entre.
(28:09):
There's some awesomeentrepreneurs out there, and I don't
think this is just.
Everyone's just going to sitback and wait.
There are going to be thosethat are willing to take that risk
and still go at it no matter what.
They're not just going toabandon their freight.
They're finding ways to makethis work.
And those are.
(28:30):
That's the camp that I want tostart, you know, hanging out with
and trying to find versus theones that are just negative, because
I don't have time for that.
Yeah, agreed.
Something else, too, that youpost often is.
I mean, I think you.
You sign off, you say vibes.
Vibes, y' all.
(28:51):
And yeah, you've posted aboutthe import, you mentioned positivity
there, and you talked aboutthe importance of your vibration
and, and, you know, and yourattitude and all that.
Like, how.
How do you think that mindset has.
Has impacted your success asan entrepreneur?
Yeah, it's just.
It's just being free, right?
Not caring, not.
(29:12):
Not saying, not caring aboutthe outcome, but.
But it is what it is.
You surrender to the outcome, right?
Like, there's nothing I could do.
There's.
There's.
There, there's.
There's not much I could control.
And that's why if.
If you just have.
If you just.
If you just vibe at reallyhigh vibrations and.
And I think good things willcome, and.
And I.
(29:32):
And a lot of people say I'mlucky, right?
Oh, you're lucky.
I mean, I don't.
I don't think it has to dowith luck.
It's.
It's a lot of it.
It's.
It's how you.
What you put out there is whatyou're gonna get.
And I truly believe that.
Because if you.
If you always vibrate in thehighest vibrations, which is being
(29:52):
joyful and just beingpositive, and good things will come,
and you just keep workingtowards it.
Because if, you know, forsomeone who's been an entrepreneur
for this long, and I alwayssay it's got to be something, and
it is the vibes, right?
Like, it's how you vibe.
If you surrender to what'sgoing to happen, of course you could
(30:17):
cry about it and get upset,but if you just go back and not let
it get to you and just go backto being positive and working towards
something and, you know,because action is always like, okay,
let's go, let's go, let's go.
And that.
That.
That's the vibe right there.
Because I think that gets youthrough a lot of hard stuff.
(30:38):
And, and, and I think when Icould share that with others, I feel
that it, you know, makes themsmile inside and out.
And that's something that Iwant to give.
And I was, I was given a giftto, you know, to be able to talk
(31:00):
to you guys on podcast.
So I might as well use it forgood versus complain about what's
happening out there becausethat would be so boring, man.
I mean, I, I can't have aconversation about all the bad stuff.
I.
Dude, I don't even watch tv, Dave.
Not one, not one hour, noteven one minute of tv.
It's, it's, it's crazy howeverybody goes, dude, you don't.
(31:22):
I never watch tv.
Like anyone that knows me willsay, dude, you never turn on the
TV because it's all negative.
Like, I, I, I read a lot and Ihang out with a lot of friends.
I connect a lot because that'sthe, that's the stuff that's, at
the end of the day, that'swhat makes me happy, is connecting
with others, being able to, totalk about life and deep things and
(31:48):
connect like human beings.
And that's really where myvibes, y' all comes from because
that will turn any bad day,any bad event, any bad things happening
around you, and, you know, I'mhoping I could make an impact on,
you know, and I get a lot ofdms and, and that makes me feel good
because I know it's affectingthem and I'm making an impact.
(32:11):
All right, well said.
All right.
And Trip, Tristan, if peoplewant to learn more about your companies,
your trucking company or yourbrokerage and find out how you could
potentially help them, what'sthe best way that people can reach
out to you?
Well, we have IM Freight.comwhich is the asset based trucking
company, Freighttopia.com I'malso on LinkedIn and X.
(32:35):
I don't really post on X much,but those are the four ways of getting
a hold of me.
And yeah, send me an email.
Tristan Freight.com orTristanRaighttopia.com that's spelled
with an eight, by the way.
The number eight.
Okay.
All right, we'll link all thatin the show notes for everyone as
well.
Awesome.
Thanks, Dave.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for beinghere, Tristan, and sharing all this
(32:58):
valuable wisdom from yourjourney with our audience.
We greatly appreciate it.
I appreciate you for having me on.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for now.
We'll see you next time Sa.
Today, we welcome TristanBordalo to dive deep into his entrepreneurial
journey.
We start with how hisbackground as a competitive cyclist
shaped his mental toughnessand approach to business.
Tristan draws strong parallelsbetween cycling and entrepreneurship.
The unpredictability, the needfor quick decision making and enduring
(00:22):
periods of hardship all helpedhim build resilience for the long
haul of building and running companies.
He shares how his drive tofind his own path rather than fit
the traditional expectationsset by his family led him into the
world of freight andlogistics, where he started as an
agent and eventuallytransitioned to owning both a brokerage
(00:43):
and an asset based trucking company.
We explore the challenges andlessons Tristan faced as he set up
both businessessimultaneously, highlighting the
steep learning curve that camewith navigating the operational differences
between brokering loads andowning assets outright.
He explains the benefits ofhaving control over his own fleet,
(01:05):
especially amid today's risingfreight fraud and double brokering,
saying that asset ownershipallows for better service, more reliable
outcomes, and deeper customer trust.
Tristan also underscores howfocusing on niche markets and delivering
personalized service hasenabled his company to thrive, even
as many competitors strugglewith low rates and high market volatility.
(01:30):
Tristan's philosophy is deeplyrooted in community building, transparency,
and a mindset of vibes,positivity and intentionality in
business interactions.
He talks about the importanceof doing business with people who
care, both on the customer andcarrier side, and maintaining high
standards and a strong supportnetwork have been key in tough times.
(01:53):
Whether you're in logistics orjust love a good entrepreneurial
story, you won't want to missthis inspiring conversation.
As always, if you found valuefrom this content, please like and
subscribe.
All right, Tristan Bardalo,welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
Thank you, Dave.
(02:14):
Yeah, appreciate you being here.
Okay, so Tristan, first question.
How did your experience as acompetitive cyclist influence your
mental toughness and approachto the long haul of building your
businesses?
Oh, wow, that's a good one.
You pulled that one out.
(02:36):
That requires a lot of training.
It's not just getting on thebike and there's a lot of moving
pieces to cycling, to the gearyou have to how you take care of
your equipment, how you eat,to how you train.
And it's, it's, it reminds mea lot of running a business because
(02:57):
even though you haveeverything set up to for success,
you're prepared.
You never know what's on the road.
Cars are on the road, another cyclist.
It's not as, you know, it's,it's not as like unpredictable.
There's a lot of things thatare unpredictable.
And, you know, you gotta beable to move quickly, make decisions
(03:19):
quickly, or you'll end up onthe ground.
And one of the hardest thingsthat I've done in cycling was climbing
and being able to keep onholding on to someone's wheel.
So, you know that pain cavethat you're in, I call it, and you're
suffering and you're justholding on for dear life.
And that's exactly business.
(03:40):
And it's really trained me tobe mentally tough for running a business
because just like cycling, nomatter how prepared you are, it's
going to be a tough ride.
In my world, a personal brandis invaluable.
A year ago, EasyDC was brandnew with just a couple of customers
(04:02):
and no online presence.
Then I found Hicks Marketing.
They helped me amplify mypersonal brand, build a solid content
strategy, publish my podcast,and 10x the number of customers we
serve, all in less than one year.
Do you need a marketingpartner who gets you and cares about
your success?
Reach out toaliciaxmarketing.com for more info
(04:23):
and tell her Dave Gula sent you.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And so you, we were justtalking off camera and you mentioned
you've been an entrepreneurnow for 21 years.
So what was it that made youdecide to go that route rather than
the conventional way of justgetting a job?
(04:45):
Well, I, I don't think I'd bea really good employee anyways.
Right.
I'm always questioning things,I'm hyper, curious.
I always question why.
And even my mom, coming fromFilipino parents, my mom is a nurse.
And in the Philippines youhave to be a doctor, a nurse or a
(05:07):
lawyer.
And you have to be, you haveto go to a four year college.
And I asked my mom, well, howmuch does a nurse make?
And this was back In, I'd say25 years ago, they make 78,000 to
$85,000 a year.
And I broke it down to myself.
So I said I only need to make$300 a day and I could do 1099 and
(05:27):
I'll crush it because it'sbetter than a W2.
So five days a week, $300 aday, 52 weeks, that's $78,000.
And that's all I, you know,that was my goal.
And I, and I think my firstyear I did that and I didn't.
I got my mom off my back andeveryone else and they actually thought
I was selling drugs, but I wasactually hauling freight as a sales
(05:50):
rep.
And I was also DJing on theside too.
So Yeah, I was always hustling.
Definitely those are the entrepreneur.
You know, that's whatentrepreneurs do, is they hustle
and they just don't want toget a job, so they're naturally finding
the easiest way out.
But I can tell you it's notreally that easy.
(06:11):
It's just a lot better thanbeing told what to do and doing it
on your own terms.
Okay, and so what was themoment that made you transition from.
From being the agency owner with.
With Covenant to.
To taking the leap and thenfounding your own companies?
Well, I mean, it was having afranchise and, and no disrespect
(06:36):
to agency ownership, but, youknow, you.
You evolve into wanting to owneverything, right?
You're wanting to.
Have to.
To learn the money side ofthings, cash flow, and.
Because when you're acommission rep, you don't get to
learn all that.
You don't build relationshipswith vendors.
You build relationships withcarriers, but you're not building
(06:57):
relationships with vendors.
And so that was more of what Iwanted to do and actually take more
of the.
The responsibility and exposemyself to that risk because I knew
there was going to be a better payout.
So what?
And I wanted to hire more people.
I wanted to make an impact.
(07:17):
When I was an agent, I feltlike I hit a.
This ceiling and I just wasmaking money for myself.
So it's.
It's like a glorified salesrep with a couple of assistants.
But if you really want to runa fully operational business, you're
going to have to run.
You're going to have to figurethat out by having your own brokerage
(07:38):
and having your own truckingcompany actually launched, both at
the same time, which was crazyon my part, but that's.
Ignorance is bliss.
You never really know how.
How hard it is.
You think it's all, I've donethis for so many years, I could do
it.
So, yeah, I mean, just thewhole agency part.
And plus I was.
If I was going to buildsomething, I was there for 10 years.
And it's.
(07:58):
It's almost like building a McDonald's.
Right?
You don't actually own McDonald's.
You.
You own a franchise and it'snot your business.
And I wanted more of a legacyfor myself.
And I wanted, you know, I hadkids and I turned 40 that year, and
I wanted my kids to.
To know that that name on thetruck or that name on the company
was.
Was the name that I came upwith, not that I was building something
(08:21):
under.
Ah, okay.
All right.
And so you mentioned youstarted the, The Asset based brokerage
and the, the, the non assetbased at the same time.
So what, what made you decideto do that?
Well, I mean I've always beena brokerage so it was, it's asset
based trucking company.
(08:41):
So brokerage has no assets.
We've for, for a long time.
You know, I wanted to havecontrol of the outcome.
So, so as a non asset basedbrokerage you are hiring carriers
to do your pickups and yourdeliveries and it's hard to find
(09:02):
really great carriers.
And so I thought I'd build it myself.
I could probably move upmarket by having my own trucks and
my own drivers and my owntrailers and being able to control
the outcome versus being abroker where you're, you're, you're
selling capacity that's noteven yours.
(09:23):
Right?
You're not and you have no idea.
Sometimes it's, it's like a trick.
Everyone thinks just becauseyou're a broker you could get trucks
doesn't mean you know what'son the other end.
I mean if you, if only thepublic knew how we covered loads
as a broker, it's almost likehey Dave, you have a load, Great.
I could do it for X price.
And what happens is guesswhat, I don't even have a truck.
(09:43):
I'm going to go out there andpost your load and see if I could
find a carrier.
That's if I don't have arelationship with someone who could
do that.
Remember we're covering all 48contingent states.
It's impossible for you tohave someone unless you're regional
that will cover the wholeUnited States.
So what you're doing is you'retrying to find capacity for something
that you quoted and then youdidn't have.
But as, as now asset basedtrucking company, I could just go
(10:06):
to any company and say look, Ihave trucks and I could send them
anywhere you'd like as long asyou're willing to pay me.
And that was all about thecontrol and, and being able to provide
that service because I'm, I'mbig on making sure that I, I really
serve the ones I set out toserve because I felt like I was underserving
them on the brokerage side.
(10:26):
And some customers really like that.
You have a brokerage and theydon't care who you find to get the,
the carriers to do the, theloads for you.
That's why you hear a lot offraud, a lot of like double brokering
and the guy that you hired isnot the person that the broke.
So I mean there's a lot ofthat going on.
So you know, having your owntrucks makes you a little bit, it
(10:49):
gives you that competitiveedge by providing a real truck, a
real driver, real visibility,real everything versus I wouldn't
say fake but for the most partit's, it's, it's, it's, it's a coin
flip on the brokerage side andI was tired of that game.
Okay.
And so you know, one thing tooI've heard from other, I guess brokers
(11:14):
is, or informer, even truckingcompany owners is kind of the boy.
I'm, I had a fleet and boy,I'm glad I don't have to deal with
that anymore as far as owningthe assets and the maintenance and
everything that goes alongwith, with that.
So I mean now that, now thatyou've been doing it for a while
and, and done both sidessimultaneously, I mean what's your,
(11:38):
I guess in hindsight what'syour take on the situation as far
as having a asset basedtrucking company compared to just
a brokerage?
Oh man, that's a loaded question.
Some days I feel just likeeveryone else that say the same thing.
I've had my own assets, I havea headache in doing this and there's
(11:58):
days where I'm like, wow, I'mso glad I have my own assets.
So like anything in, inbusiness or in entrepreneurship,
it goes up, down, up, down,up, down.
Same thing with your feelings.
But I think I'm at a goodplace with, with it now.
There's, there's, there's beena lot of pivoting and you know, it's,
(12:20):
there's that moment where I, Iset out to do events because I knew
that was going to be somethingthat could, that's, that's moving
up market, right?
That's really having like.
We just went to the CountryMusic Awards, we left this Friday
and I looked at that Rayconand I said man, this is crazy.
(12:41):
This is what it was all about.
There's no way I was able, Iwas never going to get that type
of customer if I didn't havemy own trucks.
Right.
And the money that we'remaking back and forth, it's really
what a sustainable rate wouldlook like.
And so that makes it all worthit for me.
We just, we also did, just didsneaker conversations.
(13:01):
So we're doing moreconventions, we're doing more of
the little.
There's a lot of risk and alot of exposure so that you can't
even fail.
It's like a no fail load, right?
You do concerts, you do, youdo big events.
And you know, I've done lightsfor Coachella.
Like, things like that are very.
You can't be a broker and dothat because you don't have the drivers
(13:25):
or you don't have the assets,you don't have the control, you don't
have the visibility.
There's no way in the world Iwould be trusting a broker, me brokering
out a load to someone who Ihave no idea who's going to be on
the other end.
So, yeah, I mean, that, that,that question is.
It just depends on what you'reafter and what you're.
(13:46):
If you don't find the nicheand you're just running pallet loads.
Yeah, you're going to keepgetting that feeling where it's not
worth it because a lot of thefreight out there that's moving into
the Walmarts and the targets.
Yeah, those loads are, noteveryone can do those loads.
(14:07):
You've got to set yourself apart.
And if that's what you'rebuilding your trucking company for,
you're gonna, you're gonnahate owning trucks.
Okay.
All right.
And so when you did, you know,start both, both companies simultaneously,
what was the biggest?
I mean, I guess how steep wasthe learning curve after being an
(14:29):
agent for so long?
I would say very steep.
And I always say this.
When you're in front of acomputer and you're, you're booking
loads, you're not really outin the real world of trucking.
It's a, it's, it's twodifferent cultures.
(14:49):
And I think one of the thingsI will always say this is that I
learned more in owning assetsin one year than I did the 16 years
before because of what itactually takes.
I mean, trucking is so hard.
I don't think we get enoughcredit as an asset based company
(15:10):
that there is a lot of movingpieces to it.
And you know, in brokering, itwas easy.
You, you find a customer.
And I'm not saying that ifyou're a carrier, it's easy to find
customers too, because there'sa sales side.
Right.
Remember I said it's twodifferent cultures.
As a carrier, you know how todo operations really well, but as
(15:32):
a broker, you know the salesside and the customer side really
well.
So.
But I had no idea what it tookto actually get the job done.
And that's when I realized,wow, I'm so glad I'm learning their
culture because I already knowwhat brokerage is like.
But this side, I'm stilllearning every Single day.
(15:53):
There's so many differentpolicies and compliance rules and
regulations that we constantlyhave to stay on top of and insurance
and how, what's covered,what's not, what are exclusions?
And it's funny because now Ithink for them, I'm like, I am so
glad that in the 16 years thatI was brokering that I didn't have
(16:15):
to deal with all the crazythings that are not covered under
insurance.
I guess I got really luckybecause when you look at an insurance
policy, When I look at aninsurance policy today, I do that
on my brokerage side too.
I go, man, these guys are not.
This insurance policy is notgoing to cover us at all.
But those are the customersthat I let them know.
(16:37):
I go, look, hey, if you'regoing to ship out these pallets,
just know that I'm not goingto be responsible for it when something
happens because this is areally crappy carrier that we're
hiring to do this.
And some of the customers,they don't really care, man.
They just really want cheappricing, and that's okay.
That's what they want.
So.
But the customers that are,you know, it's crazy when I see things
(16:59):
online and I see someone say,okay, I have my fall launch of clothing,
right?
Or my new bikes that arecoming out this summer, and they.
And it goes missing.
And then they go online andthey cry about, oh, my God, I can't
believe I don't have anythingto sell for my fall season.
Oh, summer's coming.
I don't have any bikes to sell.
(17:19):
Well, that's what you get for hiring.
I hope the $300 that you savedat the $400 that you saved was enough
savings that you did not haveanything to sell for your fall and
your summer bikes.
You know what I mean?
Like, those, those type ofthings are, are, are the consequences
of, of cheap and, and trustingthat brokers are going to have it
(17:42):
versus paying someone that hasassets and saying, hey, why don't
you just pay 300, $500 more?
It'll get there, but you'llhave something to sell.
I mean, service is everythingwhen it comes to trucking.
Yeah.
And just following up on that,I mean, clearly, like you mentioned
the fraud and the doublebrokering and all that' heavy over
the last, you know, year, yearand then some.
(18:05):
And I mean, all by allaccounts, I mean, it's at record
highs in terms of the, thetheft and, and whatnot.
How is that that aspect of itimpacted your business?
It's actually great, you know,like I, not that I'm glad that it's
happening, but it's, it'sdefinitely the consequences of what
(18:26):
we've been doing prior, rightthere's, it's, it's an evolution
of what has.
I saw this coming a long timeago and this is, you know, going
back to your other question, Iremember thinking, wow, that is the
reason why I like owning myown trucks, right?
Because I don't have to worryabout that.
And I worry about it on mybrokerage side when we're giving
it to someone that we are, wedon't know.
(18:48):
And so I, we came up withsomething in the last year and a
half here saying, hey, guys,we're only going to work with carriers
that we care about and thatcare about us and that we know.
Because I had no idea thatthis was going to turn out this bad.
I mean, we've got, we got ridof a lot of awesome carriers in the
last couple of years.
So right now you either havethe, all the big guys.
(19:09):
This is what the future offreight looks like to me.
You have all of the big guysand all of the crappy guys.
All the guys in between aregoing to be gone because a lot of,
a lot of the, you know, whenthe middleman takes over and controls
pricing, here's what happens.
They have, you have the bigguys that they don't care about because
(19:29):
they're not going to get,they're never going to get the assets
from the, the Schneiders andthe Covenants and the, you know,
JB Hunts.
They're not.
But they're going to get thecarriers that are on this side.
And now they're gonna have tovet which one's the best that could
do their load for them.
All the in between guys.
You made them do it at theprice of these little guys or, sorry,
(19:52):
the guys that are shady.
I mean, there's a reason whythere's so much fraud right now.
There's not a lot of greatcarriers left and it's scary.
And that's why, you know,it's, it's, it's a good time to have
assets and to be a good humanbeing because it's, it's great to,
to turn down loads.
And I, I've, I think in thelast year I've had three customers
(20:16):
call me Tristan.
I got this much stuff stolen.
We only want you to do it, Tristan.
I got this stuff stolen.
I trust you.
Can you do it, Tristan?
You're the only one.
I saw you on LinkedIn.
Can you help us?
We have this stuff stolen andit's awesome because it's an opportunity
for me.
I guess the more we messaround, the more we find out and
(20:38):
it's, it's a great opportunityfor the ones doing the right things.
And you mentioned too, likeyou, you only want carriers that,
that care, right?
And one of the things, talkingabout LinkedIn, you're always posting
care for all and you know,you're, you're building community.
(20:58):
So can, can you talk aboutmore, more about where that comes
from?
Yeah.
So I'm part of a entrepreneursorganization I've just joined in
the last two years and, andthat's really opened up my eyes and
gave me the lens to building acommunity because you know, I'm in
an industry that's sofragmented and I, I felt what if
(21:22):
I apply some of the realcommunity building skills and things
I'm learning in this communityof entrepreneurs.
And I thought, you know, Idon't, I shouldn't be worried about
changing the whole industry,but I, I'm not, I don't want to go
against it, but I'm going tobe for this community.
I'm going to care for allwhere we are, taking care of both
(21:44):
sides because I know how hardit is to be a small carrier and I
know how hard it is to be abroker who's scared to hire carriers
that are out there.
So if I build a communitybased on everyone and the principles
of only do business with thepeople that care about you and that
you care about and I thinkwould be in a better place, at least
(22:04):
in that community becauseeverything is going to happen anyways,
I don't want to be a part ofit anymore.
It's not that I'm against itor this is a better option.
I just want a community that'sfor something.
And if it's for carriers thatwant to come in and say, hey, I'm
tired of getting, you know,ripped off or I'm tired of, of, of,
(22:27):
of staying afloat and beingstressed out about not paying my
bills.
Let's get together.
I'll give you my capacity ifwe can find me the right customers.
And today I'm way moreintentional about the customers I'm
getting.
I'm no longer just going forthe low hanging fruit and to, to,
(22:47):
to just ship stuff just for revenue.
I'm really about, okay, am Ireally making an impact?
Are we really making an impact?
Are we really helping thecarriers that are doing this and
the drivers?
Because if the more we helpour carriers, the more they can help
the drivers and I always saythat, you know, the customer will
dictate what type of driverswe get.
(23:07):
Okay.
And so clearly a noble way todo business with, with that mindset.
How challenging is itconsidering, you know, the freight
market especially has been,the rates have been low.
There's been a lot ofbrokerages going under over the last
(23:28):
several years.
There's been certainly aslowdown, you know, since the COVID
high a few years back.
And there's been someovercapacity like how, how challenging
is that operating from thatmindset given the realities of, of
the freight market today.
(23:51):
You know, it's funny because Ialways think, okay, if it's really
challenging, I would have hadto get a job 21 years ago.
Right?
There's.
And I'm not trying to be onthe front of Forbes or magazine and
trying to have the biggestbrokerage or the biggest trucking
company.
I'm just trying to help asmany customers that want to be helped.
And I think, you know, it islike you said it was.
(24:13):
It's a noble thing to have atrucking company that's, that's caring
for all and a brokerage that'scaring for all.
But there are customers thatdo support us in our vision.
And so I'm very lucky andexcited to have made those connections
versus worrying about what'sgoing on around me because it sucks.
(24:34):
If you're a carrier that is.
Is and a broker that's therefor money, then you're, you're going
to go out of business.
I mean, if you're not makingimpact, you're not caring about the
outcome and the consequences.
Consequences.
And it shows by how youoperate and how the brokerage operates
and how you treat carriers.
(24:56):
And so I think, you know,we've got, it's, it's a really tough
market right now, but in, inthere's a lot of customers that could
keep a small company likemyself and other brokerages.
I have friends that have smallbrokerages that you'll never even
hear of and have the samecustomers for 20, 30 years.
I mean, I have two customersthat are 20 plus years and some of
(25:20):
them 18, 17.
I mean, there's really greatcustomers out there supporting that
will care about you.
And I care about them deeplyas well.
And that's the reason why Ibought trucks.
Okay, all right.
And then coming to, you know,present day, right, as we record
this, we're in late April, thetariff situation is still very much
(25:46):
up in the air as far as howthat's going to go you know, the
China negotiations areongoing, but we have no resolution
there.
I mean, various people arepredicting a big slowdown.
Some people are saying there'sgoing to be a lot of empty shelves
starting soon.
And one of the areaspotentially that's going to get hit
(26:06):
hard is ports, particularly onthe west coast, and then freight.
What's your outlook for thecoming months based on how you see
the situation right now?
I think I'm in the same boat,pun intended.
Just kidding.
I'm probably on the.
(26:26):
On the same boat as everyone else.
You know, there's a lot of uncertainty.
I.
I'm part of Harbor Truckingassociation and California Trucking
Association.
It is something that what wereally talk about, especially, you
know, I went to a HarborTrucking association meeting last
week, and I never saw thatmany people.
I mean, it was standing roomonly, and there was more people outside.
(26:47):
And I know everyone's lookingfor the answers, but one of the things
I do is anything can change atany moment tomorrow, someone can
say in the administration,okay, just kidding, we're back to
normal, everything's okay.
And then there's another campthat I've been able to see where
(27:08):
they're resilient.
I have Chinese customers thatare telling me that they're already
moving quickly to assemble,like in the Philippines or Vietnam,
and trying to figure out whatthey're going to do.
And so I have faith in that.
Everything is going to, youknow, of course there's going to
be a lot that are going to besuffering, but there's also ones
(27:28):
that are going to be fighting.
So it's like, let's go back tocycling, right?
In cycling, there's, there's,there's a competitive side to everyone.
They want to stay in that pack.
They want to stay in thepeloton, and they're going to do
whatever it takes to get there.
And if they don't make it inthat peloton that weekend, they're
going to work their butts offthe next couple of months or days,
and then they'll be in that peloton.
There's those people.
(27:48):
Then there's like, oh, thoseguys are too fast.
I don't even want to hang outwith them anymore.
And then they just stop andthey just hang out and be.
Be a coffee shop writer, whichthat's fine.
I'm a coffee shop writer today.
Or actually, I'm on.
Just on the peloton, on theindoor bike.
But what I'm saying is thatthere are people that want to compete
and there are People that aregoing to want to make these.
I mean, entre.
(28:09):
There's some awesomeentrepreneurs out there, and I don't
think this is just.
Everyone's just going to sitback and wait.
There are going to be thosethat are willing to take that risk
and still go at it no matter what.
They're not just going toabandon their freight.
They're finding ways to makethis work.
And those are.
(28:30):
That's the camp that I want tostart, you know, hanging out with
and trying to find versus theones that are just negative, because
I don't have time for that.
Yeah, agreed.
Something else, too, that youpost often is.
I mean, I think you.
You sign off, you say vibes.
Vibes, y' all.
(28:51):
And yeah, you've posted aboutthe import, you mentioned positivity
there, and you talked aboutthe importance of your vibration
and, and, you know, and yourattitude and all that.
Like, how.
How do you think that mindset has.
Has impacted your success asan entrepreneur?
Yeah, it's just.
It's just being free, right?
Not caring, not.
(29:12):
Not saying, not caring aboutthe outcome, but.
But it is what it is.
You surrender to the outcome, right?
Like, there's nothing I could do.
There's.
There's.
There, there's.
There's not much I could control.
And that's why if.
If you just have.
If you just.
If you just vibe at reallyhigh vibrations and.
And I think good things willcome, and.
And I.
(29:32):
And a lot of people say I'mlucky, right?
Oh, you're lucky.
I mean, I don't.
I don't think it has to dowith luck.
It's.
It's a lot of it.
It's.
It's how you.
What you put out there is whatyou're gonna get.
And I truly believe that.
Because if you.
If you always vibrate in thehighest vibrations, which is being
(29:52):
joyful and just beingpositive, and good things will come,
and you just keep workingtowards it.
Because if, you know, forsomeone who's been an entrepreneur
for this long, and I alwayssay it's got to be something, and
it is the vibes, right?
Like, it's how you vibe.
If you surrender to what'sgoing to happen, of course you could
(30:17):
cry about it and get upset,but if you just go back and not let
it get to you and just go backto being positive and working towards
something and, you know,because action is always like, okay,
let's go, let's go, let's go.
And that.
That.
That's the vibe right there.
Because I think that gets youthrough a lot of hard stuff.
(30:38):
And, and, and I think when Icould share that with others, I feel
that it, you know, makes themsmile inside and out.
And that's something that Iwant to give.
And I was, I was given a giftto, you know, to be able to talk
(31:00):
to you guys on podcast.
So I might as well use it forgood versus complain about what's
happening out there becausethat would be so boring, man.
I mean, I, I can't have aconversation about all the bad stuff.
I.
Dude, I don't even watch tv, Dave.
Not one, not one hour, noteven one minute of tv.
It's, it's, it's crazy howeverybody goes, dude, you don't.
(31:22):
I never watch tv.
Like anyone that knows me willsay, dude, you never turn on the
TV because it's all negative.
Like, I, I, I read a lot and Ihang out with a lot of friends.
I connect a lot because that'sthe, that's the stuff that's, at
the end of the day, that'swhat makes me happy, is connecting
with others, being able to, totalk about life and deep things and
(31:48):
connect like human beings.
And that's really where myvibes, y' all comes from because
that will turn any bad day,any bad event, any bad things happening
around you, and, you know, I'mhoping I could make an impact on,
you know, and I get a lot ofdms and, and that makes me feel good
because I know it's affectingthem and I'm making an impact.
(32:11):
All right, well said.
All right.
And Trip, Tristan, if peoplewant to learn more about your companies,
your trucking company or yourbrokerage and find out how you could
potentially help them, what'sthe best way that people can reach
out to you?
Well, we have IM Freight.comwhich is the asset based trucking
company, Freighttopia.com I'malso on LinkedIn and X.
(32:35):
I don't really post on X much,but those are the four ways of getting
a hold of me.
And yeah, send me an email.
Tristan Freight.com orTristanRaighttopia.com that's spelled
with an eight, by the way.
The number eight.
Okay.
All right, we'll link all thatin the show notes for everyone as
well.
Awesome.
Thanks, Dave.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for beinghere, Tristan, and sharing all this
(32:58):
valuable wisdom from yourjourney with our audience.
We greatly appreciate it.
I appreciate you for having me on.
Thank you so much.
Okay.
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for now.
We'll see you next time Sa.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com