From Engineer to Freight Agency Owner

Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:01):
All right,

Blythe Brumleve (00:04):
321, welcome into another episode of
everything. It's logistics, apodcast for the thinkers in
freight. I'm your host, BlytheMilligan, and we are proudly
presented by SPI logistics. Andon today's show, we have the co
founder of freight coachlogistics, and Angelo Fruci, I
always said, Anthony,

Unknown (00:23):
I'm sorry,

does it really?
Yeah, well, we're going to betalking about how, you know, in
our pre show document, which youfilled out, which I have every
guest fill out, kind of gives mea little bit of background
insight, before we have the, youknow, a conversation between the
two of us. And in that document,you talk about leaving corporate
America and the challenges andthe rewards and all that good
stuff of leaving corporateAmerica to join the freight

(00:48):
industry. But I find itfascinating that you did it in
probably the worst time infreight history, during a
recession, during the, you know,the challenges of a down market.
But I also think that that's whyyou know a lot of folks will
find value in this episode, isthat you know you in a time
where folks are questioning whythey're even working in this

(01:08):
industry, you, alongside yourbusiness partner, Chris jolly,
who is friend of the show,podcast friend, of course, too.
You guys decide to open abusiness, and you're killing it.
So

Unknown (01:20):
welcome to the show.
Thank you. Thanks for having meon.

Okay, so let's talk about that little bit of a
pre I want to know what you weredoing in work before you decide
what was your corporate Americajob that you were doing
beforehand? Yeah,

Angelo Fruci (01:32):
so I was a process engineer for medical devices.
There's a huge market up here inMinnesota. So, you know, I
started working on leads andpacemakers, went into catheters
and kind of stayed in thatvascular market. My role as a
process engineer was an R and Dengineer. Would make 10
products, and then I wouldfigure out how to make 10,000

(01:52):
and then validate it, make sureeverything that got out was
good, and get the line ready formanufacturing, and then pass it
along to the manufacturing team.
Oh, wow.

So you had the whole, like, sort of shipper
side of things, you know, kindof that shipper point of view
worked out prior. Well, that'skind

Unknown (02:07):
of how we had talked about it, I mean, so, I mean,
this was all like a Macmechanical assemblies, but it
was that kind of mindset thatChris was, like, I've got an
idea, and you know, how toreplicate it again and again and
again. And that kind of startedthe conversation years before
this had happened. And, yeah, itwas interesting. So we've been
talking about it. And then Iwent to a startup, and it's
funny, like the Lord works indifferent ways. I told myself

(02:29):
that was gonna be my last w2 andthat's what happened, not in the
plan that I wanted. It didn'twork out with the startup, which
is all right, but yeah, I wasdriving home, and I was like,
Chris, are we doing this? I'llpreface this. I had a two month
old our first one. I was like,are we doing this? And he's
like, timing is not good. I'mlike, he goes, let's do it. And
then we obviously put a lot ofplanning in, because that's what

(02:52):
I do with the business plans andall that nerd stuff. And so,
yeah, we put it together. Iasked my wife if she trusted me,
and she said, yep. And so wewent for it.

Wow. So two month old wife has said, Okay,
you that that's good, that thatis a very trusting wife,

Unknown (03:10):
yeah, very trusting especially. I mean, I have good
engineering corporate salary. Ihad my dream job, Dream title,
all that stuff, but, yeah, Ireally wanted, I'd always wanted
to do it. I done a small startupyears ago, like a Kickstarter
deal that we kind of, you know,another friend, dipped our toe
in. Learned a lot there. Butlike, I'd always wanted that,
and this was, I was just really,kind of having a good point,

(03:31):
like I could call five friends,get a few interviews, probably
get another job, and then, youknow, keep doing the products
again and again. And it was fun.
I enjoyed it. But, yeah, I justreally wanted to do it on my
own. And I mean, not to plug himtoo much. I don't want to build
his ego up. But watching Chrisbuild a successful business, I
was like, if you can do it, Ican do it. I've known him my
whole life, um, and it was justlike a chance to work with him.

(03:53):
And you know, we talked aboutour relationship, what we like
to do. And the good news is, ourbrains, our values, are aligned,
but our brains work incompletely different ways, so we
really haven't overlapped onthat, and it's just been, it's
been a great experience since,well, I definitely

want to get into the relationship with
Chris, because Chris is a, youknow, a long time friend of the
show. We got into freightpodcasting around the same time,
and so he's been a really bigconfident or confidant in in
helping take this show andreally go fully independent back
in January 2023, and so it'sbeen, it's been fantastic. And,
you know, I took a lot of advicefrom him. And before we talk

(04:32):
about Chris, I did have onecurious question, why? Why is
because you're based inMinnesota. So where? Why is, I
guess, the medical device. Whyis that such a big thing in
Minnesota?

Unknown (04:45):
Yeah, Medtronic and Earl Bucha and those guys. Well,
he started Medtronic, but theygot started up here with the
first pacemaker. And thatspawned into, you know, all
these companies and, you know,kind of like looking at, like,
Silicon Valley, you know, acouple. I started there. And
then everyone who went there waslike, Oh, I have an idea. So
there's really just, I mean,between, like, the pacemaker

(05:07):
cardiac world and valves to thecardiovascular shirt, people
just spawned off in thetechnology and infrastructures
up here. So I mean, everythingfrom big Fortune 100 companies
all the way down to startups inthe medical devices all around
here, and the suppliers are inthe area, and, yeah, it's just a
big, it's kind of just a medicaldevice hub, lot of research at

(05:28):
the Mayo Clinic and things likethat. So it, i Besides, just
how, like, probably Medtronicand them getting started here,
that's probably the biggestthing that's

super interesting. Because, I mean,
we're, we've done a fewepisodes, you know, with the big
promise of bringingmanufacturing back to the United
States, and what does that looklike? And I would have never
have assumed that Minnesotawould kind of be a, you know, a
US hub for medical devices. Sothat's super interesting to
know. Thank you for sharingthat. So let's get into you

(05:56):
mentioned knowing Chris yourwhole life. I imagine you. You
guys grew up together. Give usthe back story on on how you you
guys became friends. Yeah. So

Unknown (06:04):
he's my cousin on our mom's side, so literally, yeah,
since we were in diapers, andyou know, he's my sister's, like
all of our siblings are on thesame age, so us and another set
of cousins would basicallyrotate houses, especially in the
summer, for the weekends. And,yeah, so we, it's funny, I
always well, we used to fight alittle bit we were younger, and

(06:26):
then we got old enough to hurteach other, and they were like,
Hey, should we stop doing this?
And then at some point in life,we're like, hey, let's do a
business together. But it wasfun. You know, grew up together,
especially, like, his propertywas awesome. And then we go up
to our cabin all the time andlike, fish and stuff like that
up there. So got to know him alot, and then stayed in contact
all through college. When I wentdown to Iowa State, and kind of
after college, we hung out. Weget together on weekends and

(06:50):
stuff like that. And then whenhe moved out to Reno, I was
like, I'm going to miss you, butI'm excited for you to go and
see what happens. It's kind ofbeen we've just stayed in
contact the whole time, and youknow, on our careers and life
and things like that. And I saidwe'd always kind of talked about
doing it, and then it was one ofthose, like, and I talked to a
lot of entrepreneurs, andthey're like, the timing wasn't

(07:10):
good, but some life eventhappened that wasn't
predictable, and it was like,now or like, either go or stay
in the life you were doing, andwe decided to go,

and that was your first child. I'm assuming
you, I'm not, I'm not sure howmany children you have, but you
said you had a two month old athome. And so I would imagine
that would be the, I guess, themotivation of being like, let's
do this. And because I do feellike entrepreneurial journey,
you have to have that motivationof, where your net, where is

(07:42):
your next check going to comefrom? And maybe am I, if I'm
just kind of putting two thingstogether here that, you know,
with the wife trusting you andthe two month old at home, that
that was all the motivation thatyou needed.

Unknown (07:54):
Yeah? I mean, that's definitely a big motivation. It
wasn't, I mean, the finance hasto happen because, like, we like
this house, but it was morelike, you know, what do I want
to be? Like, what do I likehaving a daughter first, like,
and all of a sudden holding her,it's like, you know, who do I
want her to bring home? And it'slike, I need to be that person.
And like, what do I want inlife? And I said I had a like,

(08:16):
it was a great life, greatcareer, great people around me,
but I just wanted to do more.
And it was, this was just thechance and the time to just go
for it and see what I can reallydo with myself. Knowing that
there's going to be, it's goingto be sacrifices and some
hardships, but also, like, whenthey get older, they'll be able
to see someone living the lifethat they want to live, and
whether they want to go onlogistics or not. That's like,
well beyond it. But I want themto be able to see, hey, you can

(08:38):
go after and do what you wantand change lives and make the
world a better place. And thatwas really, like, the big
motivation behind it as well.
And

so when you're talking with Chris, like, how
does that? How does that? Iguess conversation get started.
I know you had talked about it,you know, here and there, like,
growing up together. I'm notsure did you ever Did you always
know that it was going to be afreight related business?

Unknown (09:02):
No, we had no idea. So we didn't start talking about
doing a business until we wereadults. I mean, he went into
logistics when he moved out toReno and loved it. And really,
like really, did well forhimself there. I was doing very
well in engineering. So we werehaving fun doing that. We'd meet
up in different cities andthings like that, living that
life in the 20s. And it wasreally, I think, when he started

(09:26):
the podcast, and it startedgoing also like, that was when
we both kind of realized, like,hey, we can do this. Like, it's
possible to go create somethingwithout a w2 paycheck bi weekly.
He's like, it's hard. And I'mnot going to say it was easy for
him, because I remember thoseconversations, but it was just
like, we can, we can do this.
And that was when we started toput it down. You know, he was
talking about success that otherpeople were having, especially

(09:49):
with his help. So he believed inhis system strongly and in the
fray, not just the podcast. Andit was it started seeing that
belief. And that was kind ofwhat we touched on earlier. Was
like, Hey, I've got a goodsystem. I can help people, and
then, like, we could do and thenmy way to systemize, and I love
operations, accounting, beansand things like that. He always

(10:11):
rips on me for having an MBA.
And I'm like, that's fine. Youdon't need one. I got it. But
like, and I mean, we'll get tothat a point like, I need
someone like that as much as Ithink I'm this big visionary,
and I have a vision he is thatright, and then I can be that
executing hand, and we're bothexecuting now, because you have
to, but, yeah, it was just westarted actually putting it

(10:34):
together. Like, hey, what wouldthis look like? What numbers?
And I wrote out a super detailedbusiness plan, and it's like,
all right, this isn't just ahobby, but the real motivation
that was behind him was like,you know, carriers getting
mistreated, smaller customersgetting mistreated, employees
going through the ringer onthings. He's like, we can build
something really good that helpsa lot of lives. And that was the

(10:56):
big motivation, that was kind ofwhat sold me on. It not just the
size of the industry, but justlike, alright, if we're going to
do this, because we both hadhighs and lows throughout our
careers, and it's like, what canwe do to make a place that
people want to be at? And thatwas the that was probably the
bigger motivation than what theactual thing was, because I'm a
builder, and I love systems andputting that together, and I

(11:16):
love freight, but like, it'sreally that building and the
why, and that was, that was whenit got serious. So we, we didn't
put a business plan together,but we kind of had a feeling
like, at some point this isgoing to happen.

So what were those first, I guess, systems
that you established. Because, Imean, Chris comes from
logistics, and so I wouldimagine that he would have
known, you know, a lot of maybethe how to move freight, of
course. But then runningbusiness is a whole other layer
on top of, you know, just beinga broker inside of a big
brokerage. So that's typicallythat the funnel system of folks

(11:49):
who come into this industry,they come fresh out of college,
they become a freight broker.
They have to do a million coldcalls, and then maybe one day
they're successful enough thatthey can start up a freight
agency. But you guys kind of gotto skip that. Bs, well, Chris
was a freight broker for

Unknown (12:03):
years. Yeah, he did. He did that, yes.

So he learned that, you know, sort of that
side of things. So I'm alwayscurious about especially people
who come from other, I guess,industries and then come into
logistics. What were some ofthose systems that you
established first that madesense, because I would imagine
that some systems maybe didn'tmake a whole lot of sense, but

(12:27):
maybe you thought they did. Whatwere some of those first ones
that were, that were reallycrucial? It

Unknown (12:32):
was, yeah, so the first ones, and I learned a lot from
the initial Kickstarter I did,and then grad school, it was, it
was making sure we had a goodlegal team in place, and I'm
lucky to have a good network uphere getting everything planned.
Because when, when you're inpeacetime or the honeymoon phase
of the business, everything'sgood. But I knew I wanted a rock
solid life, events, thingshappen, structure, so getting

(12:52):
everything legally structuredand the operational agreements
strong for both sides. I was Igo to the Boundary Waters a lot,
and it's the weather can get youand I always say, hope for the
best, prepare for the worst. Soit was getting those kind of
things in place, getting thebanking structure set up,
figuring out what kind ofaccounting principles we wanted
to follow, so all that backoffice stuff, and then freight

(13:14):
related again, one of thereasons I went into this because
I believed in Chris' system. Ididn't know his system yet,
other you know, from the outsidelooking in. But it was like, All
right, you've got a lot of greatwords. How do we get that to the
first employee and then to the10th employee and then to the
100th employee? So I actuallywrote, I forget the final count
right now, but we're at aboutlike 48 SOPs. So training

(13:37):
documents that are, yeah. So inmy medical device world, I
wrote, I wrote, I wrote qualitysystems for companies and
validated things and checked allthe systems. So we went for
about two or three months, andwe were doing sales at the time,
but you know, he would do arecording, and then I would
document everything he said. Sowe put together a sales training
program for when we do starthiring, and it was really

(13:58):
getting down, like, what are youdoing that's successful? So we
can make sure that as we growand scale, we have that rather
than, you know all that, let'ssay, one day, you know we have,
we grow super fast, one day weland five major accounts, and we
need to hire. What do we do? Dowe just hire 10 people and see
who sticks? Or do we bring themin and say, here's how we're

(14:20):
going to treat our employees orour customers, here's how we're
going to treat our carriers.
Here's how we're going to vetour carriers. Here's the
questions we're going to ask toour shippers. We wanted to have
all that documented so that thatwas there, not just like, hey, I
hope you figure it out. So thatwas a big thing I put in place,
I think, for this and that willlike, Was that too early, maybe,
but we did it during that timewhen we were in that early

(14:41):
phase. So now we have thatstructure. It'll change, you
know, five, 610, times, but wehave the baseline figured out.
And that was one thing I wantedto have in place, was like, All
right, let's take your systemand put it into a platform that
we can use.

Yeah, that's super interesting, because I
don't I've worked at a couplelogistics companies. I don't
know that. We ever had an SOPfor much, and they were around
for a long time. No, they wentout of business, though. Yes,
you could

Unknown (15:13):
it. It's, I mean, people like, I look at them too.
I mean, you learn on the job,and that's you're not going to
replace that. But like, for me,especially, going in. So how we
structured it? You know, Chrisis the sales rep, or the account
manager, sales rep, and then I'dbe the apps. You know, me being
in the industry, what do I if acarrier calls me and says, I
want to book a load for thisrate and we agree on it, how do

(15:34):
I know if they're good? Like, Ididn't know that stuff, right?
So it was really good for me.
Say, Okay, what zip code are yougetting? Empty and how long is
your trailer? What can youscale? You know, running the
MCS, how to look for it,checking in with the driver. I
never would have thought of thatright coming from the outside,
doing this like, yeah, what isthe dispatcher telling me,
confirm everything with thedriver and look for any issues

(15:55):
there. So those are the kind ofthings that we want to make sure
as we hire new people that areaware and can start doing that
from day one, and then theyfigure out how to do it and get
efficient at it. But like, yeah,I don't want to just throw
someone and say, All right, gofind a truck and, like, make
sure they're right. And I don't,I mean, if we have a big or when
we have a big account, like, Idon't want that to happen and

(16:16):
send the right equipment, or getthose no shows that don't get
recovered. Like, those are thetype of things that we want to
be able to train on from thestart and and we're acting it
too. And I update these thingsas we go, as we develop our
sales system. So we so we candocument here's what's working,
and then we'll transfer italong. But yeah, we wanted to
give people that baseline andthat time and that we care into
that. So that was one of the bigthings we structured in the

(16:39):
beginning.

And so as you're, as you're, you know,
developing the these standardoperating procedures, and you're
learning about the industry andbringing all of your expertise
into it, how are you, I guess,sort of coordinating with Chris
on a daily basis, because you'rein Minnesota, he's in Reno so
how are you kind of knowing evenwhat to ask?

Unknown (17:01):
Would you mean ask, like the carriers, or, yeah,

so if you it's almost like you don't know what
you don't know. And so if you'reon the phone, maybe talking to a
carrier, or, you know, ashipper, how do you know what?
Or, how did you know what toask? Was it just simply based on
those early conversations withChris and going through those
SOPs?

Unknown (17:20):
Absolutely it was. And I made mistakes. It wasn't like,
these SOPs. I was like, Oh, gotit right. But I like, I had
those SOPs up when I was doingit. And even today, he'll ask,
like, Hey, did you get the exactwidth of the thing? Or, like,
what did you get? And I still amlearning that. I mean, it's been
a couple years now, so I'mstrong at it, or stronger. But
yeah, it was, I mean, in thebeginning there was a lot of

(17:42):
hand holding, and that is partof, like, how are we going to
train too, like, do we justthrow them off, or do they have
a mentor that's watching overtheir shoulders? And how do we
transition with accounts and newpeople? But yeah, it was a lot
of hand holding in thebeginning, and then after about,
you know, 1520 loads, it's like,alright, I feel pretty good with
this. And then we've grown wentfrom there. So yeah, a lot of

(18:02):
hand holding the beginning. Imean, with Zoom being a big
thing coming out of COVID, itwas pretty easy and quick calls.
And, yeah, it was, I mean, weand, like, as far as we
coordinate, like, he's got hisshow and a couple other things.
So we just, we're just veryopen. I'm looking at my phone
for no reason. Like, just texteach other. Like, for this Hank
I'm going to be on this callfrom two to three, which means
I'm not looking at my emailsright now, so keep an eye out,

(18:24):
right? And he'll do the samething if he's got to go do a
site visit or something likethat. I'm very aware of what
he's doing, so I will clearwhatever I need to do so I'm at
my computer. I mean, I can stilldo other stuff, but like we just
make sure that we're alwaysactive for when our customers
reach out. And

so as you're so you build out these SOPs, but
you also are in a very uniquesituation where you have that
you know, this monster of aquiet partner and SPI that is
helping you as well, because SPIdoesn't do this very frequently,
but they partnered with you guyswith no book of business. And so

(18:59):
it was up to you guys to buildthat book of business. Tell it.
Tell me how that went.

Unknown (19:06):
Well, very thankful for SPI. They've been awesome. And,
like, they're just a greatcompany to work with, right? It
basically, I mean, it would havebeen wild if we had to get a
loan and get our own TMS and geta line of, like, all that stuff
would have been wild. So workingwith them has just been a
blessing, and the service, butyeah, as far as, I mean, the

(19:26):
fish didn't jump into the boat,is what I learned. But yeah, it
was a big, you know, trying tomake sure I kind of get into the
question it was, it was get inand go and just start calling.
And, you know, we've learnedalong the way, like we now do
sales calls and not emails andthings like that. So it was just
really growing, but it was aquick learning that, hey, both

(19:48):
of us are in sales, and sales isgonna be a part of our life for
a long time, if not for the restof this journey. And see, I just
pushing and growing and tryingto introduce ourselves and
really getting that belief inyou, and that's an interesting.
One is like, I knew the systemwas good from what Chris had
said, but I hadn't lived it yet.
Now that we've still got ourcustomers from like, our first
three customers that we everworked with, and we still work

(20:09):
with them, and we like theystill like us that meet, that's
the proof of concept. So now,like today, I did five site
visits here in the Twin Cities.
I feel good doing that if we'rea fit, if they're just a pure
LTL shipper. Like, hey, great tomeet you if you ever need
anything dedicated. Like, here'smy card. But otherwise, you
know, have a good day. But now Iknow, like, when I go to a

(20:30):
billing material supplier, like,we know flatbed. We know how to
protect it, we know how to sendin the right equipment. Like,
because I've done it hundreds oftimes now. So it just feels good
to have that belief, but it wasreally getting that belief and
the imposter syndrome in thebeginning, right? Like, if
someone asked, what I do for aliving at a party, I'm like, how
am I engineer? Am I logisticsguy? Like, have I earned being a
logistics guy, right? So yeah,

I think you kind of need both of those
skills. I think you need theengineering mindset in order to
work in logistics as well. Andto your earlier point. You know
you and you and Chris have areally good, it sounds like a
really good yin yang kind ofperspective that that brings
both of those perspectivestogether for sure, for sure. And
so with you mentioning sitevisits, because Chris had had a

(21:14):
LinkedIn post a while back thatI just loved seeing, and he
talked about the power of notonly cold calling, because I
think a lot of folks, especiallyfreight brokers, they use just
cold email, and they'll justblast a million emails out and
just pray for the best. And withwhat Chris is talking he's
always, you know, preached aboutthe value of cold calling and
just getting your reps in, butthen he's also preaching about

(21:36):
the value of site visits. And soit sounds like you're doing the
same thing in a different state,which is, it sounds pretty cool,
absolutely.

Unknown (21:44):
And to be honest, like we tried the emails for a while,
and we're like, this isn'tworking. So yeah, I forget he
came up to forget why he cameup. It doesn't matter, but he
was here, and I had driven justnorth of me up this street, and
I saw, like, flatbeds in a yard,and like, lumber. I was like,
God, we should go after them.
And we were kind of like, Hey,should we call them and see if

(22:05):
we could stop by rather thanjust go in? And they were all
well, all of them said, Sure.
And then one of us called usback and said they were good. So
like, alright, we won't stop in.
Um, but yeah, it was kind oflike it was, it was a great
experience. And you know, youstop in, you shake a hand, pass
the business card, get one, andin five minutes, I've seen
physically, what their stufflooks like. I've asked them
about, you know, straps versuschains and all those details. I

(22:27):
know the weights, I know theirlanes, and they know who I am.
And it was just a greatexperience. And I found I've
been fine. I've actually, I'vegot a pretty high mark of how
many I try to get to a week, butI've loved the experience, like
the five I had today. I talkedto a founder of a franchisee
likely will not be a fit,because they're gonna they're
doing a different type ofshipping than us, but had a

(22:49):
great conversation with him, andthen three of the visits I made
were great conversations. Andit's a little seasonal, but it
was just, it's nice to meet inperson. And I haven't, I haven't
got lit up in person. I had afew cold like, thanks. You
actually showed up type deals,but it was more just, like,
short, it's like, I'm just notgonna flood them with questions.
But yeah, for the most part,like coming in and shaking a

(23:11):
hand, it's been reallyappreciated, and it's led to, I
mean, the growth and theinteractions is has definitely
showed itself, yeah, especiallywhen you like, I found, like,
you know, you follow up a monthor two later, and that's when
things really get cooking. Butyeah, just coming in and shaking
a hand, presenting, I make sureI'm well dressed and
presentable, and ask a fewquestions and then leave before

(23:33):
the conversation needs to end.
It's just been a greatexperience, and I enjoyed I'm an
extrovert, as much of a nerd asI am, like, I love getting out
to see people, so not being inan office right now kind of
kills me sometimes. So that'slike, it's a perfect way just to
get out and shake a few handsand meet some people. So

that's interesting, that you're doing
five site visits just todayalone. And so how do you how do
you prioritize who you're goingto visit and why? Yeah,

Unknown (24:00):
so what I do is, when I'm driving around, I'm sure my
wife loves this, but if I see ayard like I'll get let's just
say Google Maps would be theshort answer. But I'll drive by,
even if I'm driving to the cabinor something, I'll see. I'm
like, Oh, that looks I mean,that looks like stuff that we
would move and I'll hop onGoogle Maps, or I'll text Chris
the name of the business,because I just need to write it

(24:21):
down before I forget he ignoresthose now, because he knows, but
so I'll do that, and then that'show I find them. And then
usually what I'll do is I'llzoom in, because what I'm
finding is there's all theselittle like manufacturing hubs,
where you find one manufacturingplant, then there's like six of
them in this little area, right?
You have, like the residentialneighborhood, and then, like,
the strip mall with therestaurants in it, and the gas

(24:41):
station. And then there's theselittle like residential things
where it's like, All right,well, there's shipping docks in
six of these buildings. So I'llgo in, look at them, screen
them, pick a few, and then justcall and stop in and, like I
said, one of them today, like,hey, we do all LTL. It's like,
well, I don't do LTL. Thosegreat conversation. Thanks for
your time. But, yeah, pop in andit's more of a screening, like,
I'm not coming in, like, Hey,we're the cheapest, we're the

(25:04):
best. It's just like, you know,what are you guys doing? Are you
guys seasonal? Do you have yourown trucks? Do you go outside
ever? Like, what? What's thestandard? Or like, where is your
headquarters? Can you make thedecisions? And usually that's
what it leads to, is they'relike, Hey, we like, you get a
hold of this guy. Let them knowyou talk to me, and that's what
you're getting in person,versus, like, just the cold

(25:25):
calls and getting to thatgeneric voicemail and things
like that. And the craziestthing that me and Chris always
laugh, but it's like, sometimeswhen it's just when I call ahead
and it's a receptionist and Icheck in with them, they're
super nice. That's when theygive me the person's
information. It's like, that waslike, my earning through the
gatekeeper right there. Like,that was it. They didn't know
anything about they didn't ask,they didn't want to go through

(25:47):
questions. But they're like,here's who you need to talk to,
and then, like, call me. You'llget me at this front desk, and
I'll transfer you through now.
Thank you.

I love hearing that because I the other
logistics companies I worked at.
I was the front desk girl, and Iwas the executive assistant too,
and so anytime somebody walkedin, I was instantly annoyed, and
I would not give out anyinformation unless you were very
nice, unless it was you wereexpected. There was one moment
where, you know, a couple salesguys tried to come in through

(26:19):
the front door. And I was like,No, we're not interested. They
came in through the back door.
And I immediately, it was awhole mess. It was a it was they
were persistent, but not in thethey were persistent in a creepy
way, like coming in through theback door. I was, I did not
appreciate that, but that is, Ithink, that you hit the nail on
the head when it comes to thegatekeeper, because the

(26:40):
receptionist or the executiveassistant at the front door can
let you know who anyone in thatbuilding, and they can get you
that contact information. So Ilove that you brought that tip,

Unknown (26:50):
yeah, and that's, I mean, calling ahead is the key
too. Because I'll say this thefew times I've, like, called a
location and it wires me totheir headquarters in a
different state, and they'relike, Yeah, go on in. Those have
been some of the colder ones.
Right when I come in, I'm like,Hey, is Steve here? And he's
like, I'm Steve. I'm like, Oh,hey, I'm Angela. I talked to you
yesterday. Thanks for letting mestop by. And then it just

(27:11):
relaxes the conversation. But,yeah, we always do that call
ahead to see because, yeah, therandom pop ins, as much as,
like, I won't say against it,but like, You got to read the
room a little bit too. And evenwhen people well today, I joked,
the guy who I called yesterdaywas out sick today, and his boss
was there, and he like, I go,that's funny. Did he let the
sales guy come in knowing he wasgoing to be out? And we just

(27:33):
said, that was how we broke theice so but yeah, I was trying to
call talk to the person that'sgoing to be there, anything?
Yeah, pop in and that

that's super, I think that that's a really good,
like, very simple plan too, fora lot of brokers and agents out
there who are, you know, I reada lot of, like, subreddits and,
you know, from, you know,freight brokers and things like
that. And a lot of complaintsabout how this is the worst
market ever. And it justgenuinely feels like you guys
are just being good people anddoing the hard work of doing the

(28:08):
research, making the call, andthen doing the visit and then
following up later. It soundslike too simple to be true. It

Unknown (28:15):
is just be nice to people and see what happens. And
like people might not need us. Ijust, I want them to remember
us, and that's the big thing.
Like, most people are goodtoday, and that's fine. And, I
mean, I don't know better,because I haven't been in
another market, but, yeah, it'smore, you know. Okay, you've got
five trucks in your fleet, andtwo of them are sitting most of
the time. Like, that's great ifcome, you know, spring when you

(28:37):
need more, let us know. Andthat's when I follow up, or stop
back in and say hi. But it'smore, yeah, I know that they're
busy. They've got other thingsto do. I just want them to know
who I am, remember me, and thenwe'll be good to go from there.

So how are you, how are you, I guess, tracking
who you're going to follow upwith, and at what time, I assume
you're using a CRM like, whatkind of I guess, coming from a
technology background, I wouldassume maybe you know a lot of
freight tech and CRMs and thingslike that are at the forefront
of your operation. They

Unknown (29:07):
are, they will be, right now, we're pretty
bootstrapping, right still, butit's about time to get into a
CRM So right now I've got a goodspreadsheet, and I I put notes
in my calendar when I'm going tofollow up with specific people,
so it pops up at some point.
It'll be nice to have anautomated CRM that says, call
these five people today. But, Imean, we're just not, we haven't
got to that point in thebusiness yet. But, yeah, I just

(29:27):
keep track of everything. I keeptrack of the notes. Usually, I
try not to get into, like,personal Oh, how old are your
kids? That's awesome. You know?
I don't get into that unlessthey, like, they have to bring
it up. But any notes like andright away, like I I don't take
notes while I'm talking topeople, but as soon as I get to
my truck, I write downeverything I can remember, so

(29:49):
all those notes are back inthere. So that way when I follow
up, because who knows, theymight not remember me. Usually
with the site visits, they'veremembered me and they're
excited to talk again, but likewhen I'm doing a follow up call
to a different state. It. If Ican reference like, hey, we
talked about straps versus this,and you guys are running this,
but not kind of stogas, thenthat sets the tone for a better
follow up. So just taking allthose details notes, I run

(30:11):
through it, look at theirwebsite before every call, and
then I'm refreshed for thatcall, right there

are there any other, I guess, sort of
marketing or sales initiativesthat you are passionate about. I
mean, it sounds pretty cut anddry, and it's working with what
you're doing right now. But I'mcurious, if you know, obviously,
Chris has the podcast, whatabout you know, LinkedIn is also
another big one in logistics. Isthere anything else that really
sticks out to you from amarketing and sales perspective

(30:39):
that you

Unknown (30:40):
that is such a big one, I don't know yet, is the answer.
You know, do, yeah, do we goradio? Do we? Do we do have some
SEO, so we're hopefully poppingup on search engines, so a
little bit of that is kind ofthe big one. But we've started
talking about it, but I just,I'm not, we're not ready to
invest that heavy into it rightnow and which, which? I mean, I

(31:03):
don't know if it helps or hurts,but no, right now, at the
moment, it's just pure outreach.
I know. I mean, Chris's podcastis big, but yeah, I mean, he's
talking to me. There areshippers listening, but yeah,
there. I don't know. It's, it'smore awareness of it, but yeah,
I don't know. I guess the shortanswer is, No, I don't have a
plan for marketing yet.

You're already doing it like, Yeah, way better
than, you know, sending out, youknow, downloading a glorified
lead list from zoom info andthen just blasting out a 10,000
emails. Like, I detest thatmethod.

Unknown (31:37):
Yeah, that's not what we're gonna do. No, it'll always
be that personal as we can goout there, and as we grow, you
know, fly to different citiesand do these safe visits,
especially like I think I'vedone. I don't know why I looked
at my blank screen. I think I'vevisited about 150 people in the
Twin Cities at this point. Solike, I'm starting to get a feel
for how to have a conversation,um, and yeah, eventually we'll

(31:59):
take that and expand on it. Butas far as like a pure like
LinkedIn or Facebook blasts, orthose type of things, like I
don't Well at some point, Iwon't say no to it, but it's
just not what we're doing today.
Yeah,

and especially with what does your team look
like? Is the two of you? And arethere anybody else? It

Unknown (32:16):
was, it's just the two of us right now. And then, as
soon as I've got my nerd metricsof when we will start ready to
hire and trust I went far. Sofar my business plan has been
accurate, just not the calendar,but yeah, it's so we just hit
those metrics and then we'llhave those conversations grow.
But yeah, right now it's justChris and I, and we're having a

(32:37):
blast doing it.

So I'm curious back to SPI for a minute,
because what does, I guess, thatit sounds like you and Chris are
handling, you know, covering alot of ground with the two of
you. How does SPI sort of play arole within the business?
Obviously, back off a backoffice support and, you know,
their annual event with, youknow, rendezvous with all the

(32:57):
other trade agents I want toknow a little bit more about
after you get started with SPIand what sort of the, I guess,
the the middle, like operationalrelationship looks like with
them. Are you talking with themevery day? Are you participating
in training? What does that looklike? Yeah, so

Unknown (33:15):
that initial stuff, there is training and all that.
And for me, like I had neverbeen in a TMS. So that took a
little longer than it should,but after about three, four
loads, it made sense. Like,here's what I'll say about SPI
they are great when you needthem, and they're when you
don't, they don't, they don'tbug you. Yeah, they don't bug
you. It's, it's a great service.
Like, if I have a question on aload, or, you know, we do make

(33:35):
some adjustments, or somethinglike that, they answer the phone
quickly. They're there. Theresponse time is great. If you,
if it's an email, like,everything's good. So it's kind
of more just, like, what do youneed? And if you don't need
anything, it's just a greatplatform to work. And so it's
kind of a perfect my favorite,one of my favorite compliments,
is boring and, like, that'spretty much it like, I love a

(33:57):
good, boring load where it getspicked up on time and dropped on
time, and they get the updates,and the customer may or may not
say, Thanks for the updates, butthey know that it's going to get
done. And like, that's a good,boring load. And especially, I
mean, they're just easy to workwith. And like, there hasn't
been any, like, changes whereI'm like, what were we thinking?
Yeah, it's just, there's just agreat it's just an easy platform

(34:17):
and group of people to get towork with. And, like, I know
most of my name, and, yeah, it'sawesome.

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head
when it comes to them, becausethey are just, they're, like,
the best silent partners, andyou can just moving and doing,
you know, the work that you dobest, and they're there to
support you. And I, you know, Ihad the pleasure of going to one
of their rendezvous not lastyear, but the year before, and
met a lot of the agents. And itwas just, it was very evident

(34:48):
that even though there's alittle bit of like light
competition between differentagencies, but everyone is there
to learn from each other. Haveyou had a chance to go to one of
their rendezvous events? I

Unknown (34:58):
did, yeah. It was I went to. For my first rendezvous
last when was that last April,and Nashville? One? Yeah, the
Nashville, yeah, the Apri Yeah.
It was awesome. Just to see itwas wild to see so many
different people with so manydifferent goals for their
businesses that worked in thesame system, and everyone was so
nice. Like, obviously we don'tshare shippers names, but like,
I mean, case in point, there'sone another agent, we got an

(35:21):
opportunity to do some drayage,and we were like, Let's do it.
And we called them up because,like, we knew that they had done
a lot of drayage, and they gaveus an hour their time. And like,
you know, here's the list thatwe use, or just, here's what to
watch out for, here's how toquote, here's how to do these
things. And like, we knew it,but he knew knew it, right? And
then because of that, we gotreally good and that was a very

(35:43):
good business move for us andthe customer. And so that's,
yeah, that is the kind ofsupport you get from the other
agents. And it's been and theyreach out to us for, like,
Chris' expertise in open deck.
And so it's like, of course,we're going to tell them
everything. Like, why? Why wouldwe hold back? Like, go for it.
We want you to be successful,and it is just a great, yeah,
there is, there's trophies andthings like that. But outside of

(36:06):
that, like, nobody cares. And,you know, there was a very well
established agent there. And,you know, I just want I asked
him a couple questions. And,like, I don't know why, like,
again, with the impostersyndrome and still getting
started things like that. Like,why should this guy give me the
time of day? And he answeredeverything and like, it was just
a great conversation. And it wasjust like, those are the type of
people that they attract andwork with and keep. And it's,

(36:30):
it's very evident in that, was

it Steve burrows? It was, how'd

Unknown (36:35):
you know? Because I love it. He's so great,

favorite agent interviews ever agent that I've
interviewed twice. I Oh, man. Sowhen you were talking and I was
like, I bet that's Steve. I betit's Steve. It was Steve.

Unknown (36:48):
And there's a few others too. Yeah, he was one of
those ones. I'm like, yeah, he'shere with his whole family.
He's, like, got one of thebiggest agencies in here. And,
like, I'm just this guy. Like,how many so, like, I train at a
gym and I see so many guys comein, they're gonna, like, I'm
gonna get in the UFC cage, andthen they're gone in a month,
right? And I'm like, How many,how many of these Has he seen,
right? And, but he just openedup. It just answered everything.

(37:12):
And it was just a greatconversation. And, I mean, and
he wasn't the only one that wasjust one of the ones that stood
up, but like, everyone was likethat. And just like, a character

too, like he's like, the best, like TV dad
character, like, I don't know,reminds me of, like, like a
country Tim Allen or somethinglike that. Yeah, very much. Is
like, you know, it almost feelslike another dad and like he
would just give me fatherlyadvice all the time.

Unknown (37:42):
Oh yeah. Well, he asked me, like we were talking about,
I forget how we got on theFlorida conversation, but like
we were joking about before thiscall. And I was like, Yeah, I
was just down there, and I tookmy dad out fishing on the ocean.
He's like, if you ever comedown, let me know. I know some
guys. I'm like, I'm going totake you up on that. I don't
know when, but it's going tohappen

for the listeners who don't maybe, maybe
get a lot of these references,because Steve burrows has been a
guest on this podcast twice now.
I'll link to it in the shownotes. It's one of our both of
his episodes are some of themost, highest downloaded
episodes that we have in ourentire catalog. And I think
it's, you know, very I thinkyou're kind of hinting to it
too, like his, he just has areally great aura. And I think

(38:21):
that that signals to your otherpoint of just SPI really
focusing on the the aura ofpeople in a vibe like you can't
really put like, I guess, dataand numbers behind. Of course,
you want more revenue, you wantmore customers and all that good
stuff. But it has to reallystart from being a good person,
and it believing in certainmoral principles and things like

(38:43):
that. And I think that thatleadership comes from, it comes
from the top at SPI, and thenit, you can definitely see it
filter down, especially in inthis conversation. So far, you
can tell that, you know, SPIreally values the relationship
aspect. And you know, why? Whywouldn't they, if they've been
around for 40 years, which not alot of freight agencies can say

(39:04):
that, right?

Unknown (39:06):
I would completely agree. And he, like Steve, is
one, like they all. Everyonewas, I mean, not everyone was as
large as life of that guy, butlike, everyone was just easy to
talk to, easy to approach, veryfriendly, like that. I do think
that they, they line up. Theymake sure what you're doing has
the like, the values that theywant to keep. I think that's
important to them, and they'vebuilt it out over time. So,

so what does first question? Because I got, I
got a couple more about sort ofwhat you kind of feel like, what
the outlook of 2025 is going tolook like. But I do, while this
question is still kind ofpermeating in my head, why
haven't you ever been on Chris'spodcast, the great coach for
folks,

Unknown (39:44):
that's a great question. A lot of it comes to
the thing I've mentioned before.
Like, I still, I mean, yes, I'vebeen doing this for almost two
and a half years now, but like,still, I feel like I want to
earn my way in. And like, Am Ian expert? Why should someone
listen to me? So whether it'sinsecurity or what, like, I
want. To be I want to be able tocontribute. And so that's a big
thing. If I do go on a show. Theother thing, my background is in

(40:05):
engineering, and my wife lovesthis. I try to fix everything.
I'm pretty good at it. So I tryto, like, let that entity stay
as it is, because he's good atit. It's a strong platform. He
delivers great value to theindustry. And like, I don't want
to go in and be like, Hey, youshould put dramatic pauses in
here and there. Like, I don'twant to put that in his head. Or
you should get a new microphone.

(40:27):
Like, I don't do that. Like,we'll do mic checks and things
like that. I'm there for him forthat, but I try. I don't want to
go into like, I I'd like to belike me trying to tell a major
league baseball player what todo. Like, who am I? So

look on his face if you told him a dramatic
pause,

Unknown (40:48):
it's good. I messed with him a few times like that.
But yeah, it's you also got toremember we know, we know, know
each other, right? So there'snot a lot of holding back.

Well, I will say that just you know, in the
41 minutes that we have beenhaving a conversation, I look
forward to the day that you joinhis podcast and and have that
first episode with him. Iimagine it'll be a lot of fun.
And so, you know, as we sort ofround out the conversation, what
are sort of your goals and yourplay? I imagine you you have the
goals already sort of lined upfor the rest of 25 what does

(41:21):
that look like?

Unknown (41:22):
Yeah, it's, you know, putting metrics as we shifted
into, like, the calls fromemails about a year ago. It's
really like holding ourselvesaccountable to making sure we're
hitting those metrics, and thenturning those into new
customers. So we've got veryspecific people that we want to
add, and I think we're gonna beable to do it, you know, a lot
of the especially this year andin December, I could sense a lot

(41:45):
of optimism in the companiesthat I talked to with where
we're going. I don't think it'sgoing to be a light switch that
turns on here like in April.
Maybe it is, but it seems likethere's a lot of optimism and
things picking up and thingsmoving. And the big thing for me
is going to be now that I'veestablished these relationships,
is really making sure to followup with them. And that's that,
you know, that's funny, like,one of the biggest things I've

(42:09):
learned, like, I've gone tosites, and it's gone great, and
they I sent them an email, andthey set me up, and everything's
good, and we high five, and thenit's just not a good fit for
what we're trying to do formultiple reasons. But then,
like, these ones where I've,like, talked to people three
four times when they're like,hey, you know, send me your
information, or here's ourpacket. Do you have something?
Those have turned into longrelationships and good working

(42:32):
relationships. So it's reallygoing to be focused on building
those and, like, not justcalling all my list once, it's
going to be all right, who arethese people that I've had good
conversations with that wentwell, and I still gotta learn
this too, right? How do I talkto someone for the fourth time?
Do I just pop in and bringdonuts or what? I'll figure that
out. But it's like, it's reallygonna be making those follow ups
for those metrics, and, yeah,growing a sustainable business

(42:55):
that we can hopefully, I said,Help shippers of all sizes be
good to our carriers. And thenwhen we do start hiring like,
make people like, enjoythemselves. Here now you will
have fun. But like, have peoplelike, build an environment that
people enjoy and brag about andhopefully bring their other good
friends.

And if I'm not mistaken, both you and Chris
are, are you both the sons oftruck drivers?

Unknown (43:20):
Actually? Yeah, yeah, we are. So yeah, Chris's dad,
Gary, was over the road. I don'tknow if he's ever said his name
online. Anyways, awesome guy.
He's hysterical. But yeah, andthen my dad was a local Twin
Cities driver my whole life. Soyeah, we both knew that, like
but that was just the norm. SoWell, I think

that that explains your your your passion
for wanting to take care ofcarriers first, because that is
an extension of your business.
Steve burrows actually said thison a recent show, that he wants
to make sure that his carriersare representing his business,
because they're the ones meetingthe shippers. That

Unknown (43:57):
is the truth. And I, I'll take it one step first, so
that that's huge, right, forkeeping the business. But then
selfishly, like, I love it whenI call, because we do have
regular carriers. I love it whenI call and they answer on the
first ring and they're, like,excited to talk to me because
they know, like, I know thatthey're I know their niche,
their lanes, and they, you know,we treat everyone good and take
care of things if issues dohappen. And like, that's what we

(44:18):
want to build. And like, I likethat. I always say, like, and
that's about one of my jokeswith drivers, like, I want you
to answer when I call or wantto, want to answer. So that's a
big thing. Is like, yeah,treating them good. I mean,
they're out there. And I knowthis has been said in the
industry, but it's like, I'mbehind a computer here in I can
put a sweatshirt on if I getcold, everything's fine. They're

(44:39):
out there, loading, strappingsecurity, like moving it and
then unloading it and talking tothe shippers and receivers like
they're really getting it done.
So I have a huge appreciation,and we want to make sure they
get

treated well too. Yeah, absolutely. So okay,
so positive outlook for 2025 nowis probably a good time for
folks who maybe. Are thinkingabout doing the same thing that
you and Chris are doing. Whatadvice would you give to a
perspective freight agent onwhat's the first SOPs that they
gotta get set up as they'rethinking about their business

(45:12):
plan?

Unknown (45:13):
The first ESCON?
There's not one. Get it allright? Legal, yeah, legal is
going to be the big one,especially if you're doing a
partnership, get rid all thatguesswork. Have the financial
conversations beforehand. Like,how do you want to take
distributions? Do we both havethe same needs? What does that
look like? Right? Have thoseconversations and then see, get
set up with a bank. Actually hada conversation with a buddy, not

(45:37):
in logistics, but he wanted totalk to my tax guy. And I'm
like, I called him back. I waslike, What do you got cooking?
Because I'm not, like, my taxguy's busy, like, what? And he
was like, Well, I want to figurethis out and this out. I'm like,
go make a sale first. I'm like,I can get you structured in a
week. Go make a sale first, andthen we'll take care of this.
And it's like, just jump in andgo get the bank, the LLC, the

(45:57):
operating agreement with a goodlegal team and get running. I'm
such a planner and a prepare,like I that was where me and
Chris, that's one of the primeexamples of us balancing each
other out, where he's like,Alright, we gotta be on the
sales call, and I'm like, weneed to write SOPs. And it's
like, he was right. We both wereright, but we like, sales is
what's driving it right? Yeah.

(46:20):
And then, I mean, most peoplewho are going to go into this
probably had more experiencethan me, and they know how to
vet a carrier and stuff likethat, so you could choose how
important that is to you at thattime. Yeah.

Well, I think you, you very much. I said hit
the nail on the head a few timesduring this conversation when to
say it again, the legal part.
You know how answering some ofthose questions ahead of time,
especially for our partnership,before they become a big issue
and could potentially put youout of business using the wrong
carrier. If you don't have theright legal or finance backing,
then that could put you out ofbusiness. So I think that both

(46:54):
of you guys were really smart totake that approach. But then to,
I guess, to more of Chris'style. It's also you can get
lost in the SOPs, and you canget lost in making sure that
everything is perfect before youactually get going. And you
can't do that. You got to have alittle bit of the both. So I
think it's, it's brilliant, theway that you guys have worked

(47:15):
together, and clearly it'sworking, and clearly you're
doing a lot of good things. Andand hopefully, I say hopefully
y'all are going to keep it up

Unknown (47:24):
at 20. We're going, Oh yeah, it's non stop right now.
So

anything we can expect from you guys, maybe a
first appearance on the podcastlater on this year, I officially
have bragging rights as far

Unknown (47:36):
as, yeah, no. Big thing is going to be just growing the
business. And like, that's kindof our main focus right now, and
staying on track. And we'd like,yeah, it's, it's pure growth
mode. And then we both areblessed with beautiful families,
so it's balancing that out. And,yeah, basically family and

(47:58):
business right now

amazing. Well, this was a fantastic
conversation. Angelo, any wherecan folks follow you? Follow
your more of your work. Maybethey're a shipper and they want
to get in contact with you.
Where can I send folks?

Unknown (48:11):
Yeah, so I don't have so I would, I mean, Chris has
got all the freight coach, sohe's gonna be one to find. But I
would just say free coach,logistics.com website. My
Instagram is boring. I don'tthink I posted in like, three
years, like we joked, I I'm notthe front man. I'm the
operations guy behind it who'sdoing sales. Um, I don't have
that huge presence, and that'swe've talked about. Like, should

(48:31):
I do that as, like, a marketingstandpoint? But I don't know.
Like, yeah, I guess freightcoach Logistics is how you can
find me fake coaches. I know,yeah, I'm not, like, yeah, Chris
is the face. I'm okay with theface. I want to get things done.
And, like, we both want to getthings done. So yeah, I guess
just our website. And feel freeto reach out.

Heck yeah. And then we'll put a link to all of
those things in the show notes.
And then, yeah, you're exactlyright. Because Chris in
podcasting, he is unstoppable.
When it comes to the podcast,it's like Jesus take a break.
For God's sakes you're making megiving me anxiety. I have to
produce all these new episodes,but he's not going to, all

(49:13):
right. Angelo, this was a greatconversation. Thank you so much.
We'll make sure that we put allof that information in the show
notes, and good luck in in 2025I say that, but I don't think
you're going to need it. Oh,thank

Unknown (49:24):
you very much. And, yeah, it was honor to be on. I
appreciate, yeah, I appreciateyou letting me be here and have
a great day. Awesome. You.

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}24/7 News: The Latest

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