Jenn Morris:
0:42
The way that the brokerage system currently is set up. It's every man for themselves, literally every man for themselves. There's very little collaboration between brokers. There's, I'm saying this, generally speaking, like, there are, there are people obviously that do, like, I know a lot of people that do collaborate and stuff, but generally speaking, the way that the system is set up is that you're you're on your own. Like, the idea that we even have a saying cradle to grave for this industry, that meaning that you literally take care of the entire shipment all the way through, is crazy to me, like there should be more support than that, and there should be more collaboration. And so from my point of view, I think that that's one of the reasons why. Like, I don't want to say women aren't successful at brokerages, because they are, but I feel like they would be more successful if brokerages were set up in a different manner.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:41
Welcome into another episode of Everything. Is Logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight. I'm your host, Blythe Milligan, and we are proudly presented by SPI logistics, and we've got an incredible show for y'all today. We've got Jenn Morris. She is the founder of ship happens, and we got a lot of things to talk about today. So you know, Jenn, welcome to the show, first and foremost.
Unknown:
2:01
Oh, thanks for having me excited. Now. Where are you?
Blythe Brumleve:
2:04
Because I know that you travel a lot, so you're, are you living like a digital nomad lifestyle, right? I am, yeah. So where are you currently? I guess calling in from.
Unknown:
2:15
I'm in Gibraltar right now, actually. So, like, looking out the window and there's, like, a giant the giant rock is, like, right outside my window. It's kind
Blythe Brumleve:
2:25
of, now, what I guess, what country? What number? Country is this for you?
Unknown:
2:30
Um, 4,544 something like that. I don't awesome. I have an app to keep track. I just haven't looked at it in a little while, so I don't know.
Blythe Brumleve:
2:42
Now, have you traveled your your whole life, like this? Or is this something that's kind of maybe like a recent like, as, I guess, you know, with the quote, the digital nomad thing has, you know, been popular for, I don't know, like, five, seven years now? Yeah.
Unknown:
2:55
So, like, um, I travel. So I started traveling. The first time I went international was when I was like, 16, and I went to Paris with, like, school, and then I went to university, and I got real poor, so I didn't travel very far at all. A big, a big trip was, like, I used to go to school across the river from Detroit, so, like, if we went to Chicago, like, that was big deal, and we would drive, we wouldn't fly. So then I started working, and I had vacation time, and I was that person that literally would stack all of my time together and, like, take, like, three weeks at a time, and just, like, take off. And so, yeah, like, probably when I was like 26 I started traveling again, quite a bit on my own. I was traveling alone most of the time, or, like, with a group or something like a group tour, and then COVID happened, and I had a part, I still have a partner, but I had a partner at the time. And after like, the second year of lockdowns in Toronto, we were kind of like, we're paying so much for rent, like, This is crazy. And so we decided to, like, get in our car, and we drove through the US for like, six months, like, just exploring all different places in the US. We'd like, Airbnb and things like that. And so, like, we just, we were, the plan was to be back in three months, and then we just didn't go back at all. Then we were just like, why don't we take this international so we start, we did three months in Portugal, and then we just started moving around Europe quite a bit. So that's
Blythe Brumleve:
4:28
my, like, dream life, like I have always wanted to, you know, I, for a little while, I wanted to be the RV people, and I was like, Oh, well, you know that that maybe was a little short lived, or maybe I didn't quite, you know, think that through, especially after renting an RV for a few days. You know, the the water hookups in the bathroom, that was a little like, I'd rather
Unknown:
4:48
involved with that for sure.
Blythe Brumleve:
4:52
Now, how do you try? Do you just travel by car, public transport? Like, how are you, I guess, what is it? Logistics of, you know, traveling to different countries, how do you pick a new one?
Unknown:
5:03
It's, it's interesting because, like we do, we are lucky because we it's we have each other. So, like, if we go to a new place, like we have a built in friend already. But there are places co livings which are like, essentially, if hostile grew up and got a job, and so it's like a bunch of people like us that are traveling and working full time, and there's usually, like a dedicated workspace in like, they're usually quite large houses with dedicated workspace. You have, like an en suite, like bedroom and all this space, and you. You just share, like, the common areas, like the kitchen and living space and whatnot. So we've stated a bunch of those, and then we've done Airbnb. And there is some additional logistics a lot of people don't know about when it comes to this life. So, like, especially if you're in Europe, so there's an area within Europe that is visa free or not visa free, but border free. So like, you can travel around within that area without having to show your passport all the time. The problem is, is that you have to leave, like, if we're Canadian and US, you can go there for 90 days every 180 days. So like, we have to keep track of how many days we're in that region, and then we have to leave that region and go places outside. And the region's very big, like it's most of the EU so that's why I'm in Gibraltar right now, because it's technically outside of that area. And so I'm here until mid April, and we'll have all of our dates back, and we can go back to Europe, like the rest of Europe, what is a couple
Blythe Brumleve:
6:38
more questions, and then we'll actually get into, like, yes, for sure, quote, unquote, like, real logistics, whatever that means. I'm curious it, what is the most beautiful place, or maybe the most interesting place that you've seen on your travels? Oh,
Unknown:
6:51
that's such a It's really such a hard question sometimes, because, like, there's so many beautiful place, like, there's, there's so many places that we've been that are just absolutely, like, gorgeous and stunning. And it changes every, every time we go somewhere new, I'm like, oh, but maybe here, like, I would, I will say, like, I love Canada a lot, and Canada is absolutely stunning. Like, out west of Canada, like, we spent a bunch of time out there, and it's, it's, it's breathtaking, like, it literally will take your breath away. So I will be That's so cliche to be, like, I love it at home, but like, it is beautiful. But I will say that I love being in Spain and France for, like, food and wine and like, the culture is, like, unmatched. Like, the food is so great. Like, if I had to choose off of food and be Spain and France, for sure,
Blythe Brumleve:
7:48
any any concerns about because I know there's, like, a bunch of, I mean, this is right now, so it probably didn't exist, like, when you were there. But there's like, a bunch of pushback from people in Spain and that area of like, they don't want any you from what I understand, they don't want any UK tourists, but I'm sure you know, maybe that they
Unknown:
8:06
I get where they're coming from. I think they're kind of mad at the wrong people, but I definitely see where they're coming from, because it it's a lot like, if you're in Barcelona, for example, in the middle of summer, which we have been it is like it's almost unlivable. Like, if you live there, I get it, like, it's awful. It's so many people and so, like, I kind of understand where they're coming from. I think that it's more about, like, the systems that are in place that maybe need to be addressed. Um, and for us, we try and be really cognizant of the fact that we can be part of the problem, like we're taking up space that maybe was being taken up before. So we'll definitely try and be really local with how we're shopping. We definitely don't go to the touristy areas as much. We'll try and stay in local spaces and integrate ourselves into that world and kind of make sure that money is going back to the right areas, rather than big conglomerates that don't really need our money. Yeah? So it is, it is kind of a double edged sword. It is a beautiful life, but you do have to be cognizant of, like, the effect that you might have where you're going.
Blythe Brumleve:
9:15
So yeah, I love that approach, because I it, you know, it's a slightly lesser scale. But like in the state of Florida, where it's a lot of our beaches are being taken over by, you know, private equity and big conglomerates. And, you know, a lot of the local places are rightfully, you know, upset about it. So, you know, there's that whole sort of, you know, local movement, buy local, shop local, and we try to do that too, but, you know, it's just traveling over to Europe. You I think it can be a little scary, like for me, seeing this sort of backlash. And I'm like, Well, maybe that's, you know, maybe I don't want to go to Spain anytime soon. If they don't want me, you know, maybe, you know, I'll try to go somewhere else. But that's a really, I love that approach of, like, you know, maybe just don't stay in, like, the super touristy areas. And, yeah, maybe try to go more local than you typically would,
Unknown:
10:04
yeah. And I think too, the other part is the respect level and, like, understanding that you're visiting somebody's home, like it's you have to understand that things are not going to be like when you're at home. Like, we just came from Serbia. That's where we were prior to this. That's how I ended up chatting with Alex. And like, listen, I had to, it was really difficult to get used to the fact that people spoke inside, still there, and that's like, that's just how it is. And so, like, my first instinct was kind of to complain about it, and then I was like, No. Like, I decided to come here. And I knew it wasn't going to be like where I'm from, so this is just part of the culture, you know. So it's kind of like embracing wherever you are and realizing that it's not about you, it's about exploring where you're at.
Blythe Brumleve:
12:25
What is okay for real? Last question, what is like? One thing that you've eaten and you're like, This is the most incredible thing. I can't wait to maybe try and make this myself, or try to, you know, buy it when I'm back home. Or is there anything like that, or is it really just, you know, you gotta be in that country having that moment for that meal to be really special.
Unknown:
12:45
I mean, there's nothing. There's really nothing, like a croissant when you're in France, like, there is nothing. It's like, just the perfect bite. Sometimes it's just, I don't know how to explain it, it's really tasty. And then also I will like, Second Second would be like, cheeses and meats, like cheeses and cured meats in Spain and in France, it's just like, so, so tasty, and so so reasonably priced. Like, it's so great. I'm like, Yes, love it. I could talk about somebody say, if you want to,
Blythe Brumleve:
13:18
we can just turn this into, like, a travel and food episode. I'm sure nobody will be mad, but maybe for Okay, okay, so maybe you mentioned Alex, as I was I was mentioning before we just hit record of how I was listening to you and Alex Bates, I believe his show is, I should probably remember this another podcast, or pod
Unknown:
13:40
based, asset based podcast.
Blythe Brumleve:
13:42
I remember, like the pod, like being giant. And so I was like, okay, okay, because I was on one of his I guess he had like a female panel back when he did a previous podcast. And so it's cool to see that, you know, logistics, creators, you know, are considered, you know, just continuously making those upgrades and listening to that episode with you. I thought it was, it was great, you know, hearing a lot of your different perspectives, because I see I've been following your work on LinkedIn for a while, and so being able to listen to, you know, a podcast was really great, so highly recommend, and I'll link to it in the show notes for folks who, folks who want to check out that episode, but for maybe folks who haven't listened to that episode yet, give us a how'd you, you know, what? What's your spiel of, you know, what's how you got into logistics and all that? You know, everybody has to answer the question, I guess. And everybody, does.
Unknown:
14:34
I mean, it's funny because, like, I found this answer so consistent across a lot of people. Like, I'd say 80% of people answer with, I did not think I was going to end up here. Like, this is not where I thought I was going to end up. I didn't it. Like, when I was growing up, I was like, I was in university in the early 2000s like, very the beginning of the 2000s and so, like, this wasn't like a role that was out there in the world being advertised to me as, like a job. And in all honesty, when I graduated university, I still really didn't know what I was going to do, but I was living just across the border in Detroit. I'm actually from Niagara Falls, so, like, further closer to Toronto, and somebody in my family got sick, and I had already planned that I wanted to move to Toronto, so I was like, Okay, I'll just get whatever job I can get, and then I'll figure it out from there. And I just the job I happened to get was at ch Robinson and so, and then it turned out that I was really good at it, so I stayed and I was making good money, and like, for better or worse, CH Robinson, at least back then, was like a great training ground to learn a lot about the industry in a very short period of time. Somebody kind of explained it to me as like, oh, it's like being on a moving train and having to figure out how to get on while it's moving still. And I'm like, oh, that's actually exactly showing up in supply chain, like, just something that's going and you just have to figure out your space. So I stayed at ch Robinson for about nine years, ish, something like that. And then I left, and I bounced around doing, like, working at some produce companies, because I had specialized in produce transportation at ch Robinson. And then I kind of was like, I think I could, maybe I could do something on my own. So, like, I kind of had the opportunity to open a small brokerage, which I still run a little bit. It's very small. I only have a few clients, and I specialize in cannabis in Canada. So that happened, and then three years ago, after doing a little bit of consulting, I started noticing that, like small businesses were, I don't want to use the phrase, being taken advantage of, but they didn't have a lot of knowledge to be able to make the appropriate decisions or ask the appropriate questions of larger companies that were servicing them. And so I decided to start, like, making content. That was, like dumbed down, so that people would that weren't in the industry, could interact with the industry without feeling at a disadvantage or feeling more confident about their decisions. And it's just kind of evolved from there, I started getting some traction on LinkedIn with a couple of posts that I made more about being a woman in the industry, and it's kind of just taking a life on of its own. So I'm just kind of letting it take where it take me, where it takes me.
Blythe Brumleve:
17:40
No, I love that. And you hit on a but there's a bunch of threads that I want to pull on there. First, when you are what did you find that most, I guess, shippers were struggling with, or maybe what was an unknown item that they didn't know about, that you helped teach them,
Unknown:
17:58
yeah, so, so interesting, like, odd things, like, Oh, your packaging is, is considered like oversized packaging? Can you adjust your packaging by this much, and then it'll save you, like, 70% on your shipping cost, like, or them playing like crazy amounts of diversement fees at customs through ocean freight, and them not even realizing that diverse net fees. They don't have to pay them if they don't want to. They could pay the duties at the time and avoid the diversement fees if they choose to just about more about giving people better understanding of the of of what's happening, so that they can make the choices, maybe they still pay the diversement fear. You know what I mean, because it's more convenient, but at least they know now, like, what that fee actually is? What does it mean? What is it for? Because a lot of people were just like, Oh, I get this bill, and I don't, I don't know what half of the things are on here. And I'm like, Oh, well, let's go through it. Let's so that at least you're, you feel knowledgeable about what you're spending your money on.
Blythe Brumleve:
19:04
Yeah, it's almost like a you're, you're helping them with their own audits, of like, auditing their their own transactions, and helping them save money, which is, guess you know what a good broker would be doing for someone,
Unknown:
19:15
yeah, just kind of happened. So
Blythe Brumleve:
19:18
you're, you're, you said you have a handful of clients that are cannabis specific. What is different about, I guess, shipping cannabis than than any other sort of niche or commodity. I think it
Unknown:
19:30
was the fact more about like that. It was so weird at the beginning. Like, so legalization in Canada is federal, for those that don't know, which means we can ship it, we can put it on a plane if we want to, like, there's just no you can do what you want, essentially, with transportation, wise, people even send it through the mail. I think I don't know that for sure. Don't quote me on that. That might be gray market, which is technically not legal, but there's. But at the beginning it was like, people were so nervous because the product was worth so much money. Like, right at the beginning, prices were, like, really crazy. And like, the unique thing about cannabis is, like, before it was legalized, there was an industry already there. Let's be let's be real. That industry was very well evolved. Of Of all the like criminal industries, that one was very well evolved. And so when it switched to being legalized. There was a lot of, like, really gray areas about, like, how things were being shipped. So, like, I had, when I first started doing it, we were, like, shipping stuff there. There was shipments going in armored trucks and stuff like that. And I'm like, Well, this seems a little silly, but okay, they were paying for it so and then, like, we got a little bit further, and they switched to regular trucks, but then they had armed guards following them, and it was just, it just seemed really like dramatic, to be honest, because I was like, it's not like, there's a sign on the side of this truck that's like, cannabis in here. Like, come and get it. It's kind of like, like, you don't know what trucks have televisions in it, as they're going across the country, either. So, like, it just seemed a little bit silly to me, but I do understand the price of the product was very, very high. Now the price of the product has kind of regulated itself. It's still high for cargo, if you will, but now it's just shipped on a regular truck, just like normal. There it is, temperature controlled most of the time. Certain things can't be flown because of lithium batteries and things like that. But outside of that, it's just like moving anything else. Yeah, it's just, it is just like moving anything else. It's just like moving any other specialty item. It's just kind of like you got to know what, what the product needs. It's it's very that's why my background in produce was really helpful, because like, produce is a very difficult product to move, and so like having that background gave me a lot of like insight into like. Okay, questions I should ask, things I should be on the lookout for an understanding of this product, and now I really understand the product. So makes it a lot easier to move.
Blythe Brumleve:
22:22
What about insurance around? It is that challenging to get or is it treated like any other commodity?
Unknown:
22:28
It is very challenging. It is really challenging. It's getting easier. I will say that, like, at the beginning, like you could not get, you could not get insurance for it. It was very wild Westy in the fact that, like, a lot of people's like, insurance policies didn't specify yes or no that it was covered. Like, it wasn't listed as, like, an exception that wasn't covered, but like, it wasn't listed as something that was so, like, a lot of people kind of just like, we're like, well, we'll just see what happens. And I don't think that there's been any like, major situations, knock on wood at this point where product needed to be replaced. But now there are more companies that offer that as, like, a specialty insurance. So now it just becomes essentially the same as high value insurance, or insurance for pharmaceuticals. It's kind of very similar.
Blythe Brumleve:
23:23
Oh, that's super interesting, because I there's so many hurdles, especially in the US, like, you know, certain states it's okay, certain cities within certain states it's okay. Like, like, Denver is, like, a famous example where it's like, certain town, certain cities in Denver, like, don't allow the sale for it at all. But then other town, you got to drive, you know, three miles down the road in order to get it recreationally. Don't ask me, yeah, but it's, it was, it was challenging. Let's just say that
Unknown:
23:50
well, and this is why, like, the fact that it's federally legal, sorry, federally legal makes it a lot easier to move. It makes the whole industry a lot easier to manage through, because then it just becomes like anything else, right? Becomes like cigarettes, anything that's a more regulated item, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, things like that. And
Blythe Brumleve:
24:12
so it no longer has to travel in like an armored truck, which didn't even know that was a tall carrier
Unknown:
24:17
for an armored truck. No. So what was happening was companies like pharma, sorry, not pharmaceuticals, cannabis companies, which we refer to as LPs, licensed producers. So they would call like companies, like like security companies instead. And so that's how I ended up getting the freight in the first place, was I was working with a security company doing some freight for them, separately, like air freight, like I was doing essentially, like little moves from like warehouses to the airport for the things to fly. And then that's how I ended up getting to start doing the cannabis. And it was so funny to me that they were sending these by my armored truck. I'm like, this seems a little little overkill, but okay, slightly excessive. And yeah, so anyways, but yeah, kind of entertaining for sure.
Blythe Brumleve:
25:08
Well, let's switch gears a little bit to your your content creation journey, because that's originally how I discovered you. And I would love to sort of, do, you know, a deeper dive into, you know, what got you started, and how you've kind of found, like, a really good niche for yourself?
Unknown:
25:24
Yeah, I think, listen, I've always been this industry, let's be real. Has not always been very welcoming to women. I would argue that it's still not that welcoming, like it's kind of, it's like, I feel like I've been invited to a party that, like nobody really wants me up, you know. But when I first started, it was way worse, like, I worked in an office. I was the only woman in the office, and it was uncomfortable, we'll say that. And so I and I did see a lot of like older women like above me, that were not exactly helpful. If anything, they were worse than some of the men, and I don't blame them for that. There's some internalized misogyny there, and there's some things that they need to work through. And how they ended up where they are was a much different journey than mine. I decided, though, like, I'm not gonna stand by and allow any women to deal with what I dealt with. So my content when I first started posting on LinkedIn was around that because I felt like there were a lot of male voices and I did not see a lot of women. I rarely was interacting with women. It was kind of frustrating, to be honest, because I don't know, it's just I want to talk about housewives sometimes, you know, like, Who do I talk to about that? Sorry,
Blythe Brumleve:
26:48
I just watched it this season of Temptation Island, and I'm just look for somebody. Who do I talk to
Unknown:
26:54
you about these things? I need to, I need to discuss Love is blind. Who can I talk to? None of these people. They're all talking about football. What? I don't care. No offense, I don't care about football, and that's fine. I love that. For them, love that, but I need a place where I can talk about work and talk about. About things that I enjoy, and so, like, that was my kind of the thing that started happening. I started making posts about, like, what it was like being a woman in the industry. I started getting a lot of traction. I remember the post that kind of kicked off a lot, and it was I did 1010, names that I've been called by male colleagues in our industry. And it kicked off for some, some interesting reasons. Like, a lot of women were like, oh yeah. Like, I've been all these things and but some of the men were like, Oh, it came out very like, not all men. And I was like, that's not the point. And so, like, it was just such an interesting conversation that that started. And I was like, Well, I'm going to kind of lean into this. And I I started seeking out other women that were in the industry, whether they be content creators or just other women that were very vocal on LinkedIn, and I started really connecting with a lot of them. And then last fall was when I decided to start doing the gorgeous girls in supply chain post. And, you know, like, I just, I was, like, I wanted a place where women could, like, talk about themselves, because, like, we get kind of, I don't know, told to be humble all the time, and I just am like, No, I want women to be able to stand up and be like, Look at my accomplishments. Look at the things that I've done. This is what I think about this industry. And so, like, the questions range from anything from like, do you like hot coffee or cold coffee, to like, what do you think is a problem in our industry? And if you had enough power or money, how would you change it? And so I've gotten a lot of feedback, of people saying like they like how like, diverse the questions are. And so I don't know. I'm just, I'm excited to see where it goes and what happens with it. It's I'm really flattered that you knew who I was. To be honest, I tried to connect with you at manifest, but you got swarmed after one of the one of the things, and I was like, well, I'll catch up with her later.
Blythe Brumleve:
29:25
Manifest is I love it, but you're right, it's, it's, it's, I have to go hide in the bathrooms at times, just because it's,
Unknown:
29:32
yeah, it was a little crazy,
Blythe Brumleve:
29:35
but I wish we would have connected. I didn't know that you went there. I just assumed with all your travels, that maybe conferences are kind of like less of a priority, because I personally side note struggle with that of like, the places I really want to see, like That sounds a lot like the places that you're visiting versus conferences. And I'm like, How do I walk this final? You should
Unknown:
29:54
come, you should come to break bulk. You should come to break bulk next, next month, in May, in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Blythe Brumleve:
30:05
Twist my arm. Like, of course, like, that's, that's where I think, like, more I want to focus is like that side note, of course, but back to your your interviews with these women, I'm curious, like, what's been some of your favorite answers from those questions that you've been asking?
Unknown:
30:24
Honestly, it's i So I'll tell you how I do I don't interview them like this. I don't do that because it's very difficult to kind of find the amount of time and energy for people for that. So I decided, because it is a written item, and I want the women to be able to speak in their own words, and be able to like share their story the way they would want to share it. I do it as like a Google form, actually, and it gives them they don't feel rushed. They can think about their answers. They can put it in their own words, and honestly, like it is, I get so excited when I see that, like, email come in from Google Forms, being like, somebody's filled it out. I'm like, pause everything. I'm going to read that one right now because, like, they're all so diverse, but yet still have so much things in common, like, from, like, how people like to decompress, there's a lot of there's a lot of reading, a lot of like hanging out with family and stuff like that. And a lot of like, yoga, meditation, or running, one of those three is always in the list. And then, like, people talking about how they got into the industry. Like, there's always, like, it's one of two ways, either they've been in it their whole career, or they, like, stumbled upon it and ended up and they're like, super happy they found it. And so, like, I don't know if there's like, a favorite answer I have, I think it's more I love the fact that it like, I feel super special that I get to read it first before everybody else. And I feel really special each which like I almost feel like I get, like, a bigger connection with each woman when I read their answers. So, yeah, so if any of them are listening, you're all my BFFs. So
Blythe Brumleve:
32:09
everyone is the favorite child to do. Yeah, because you can't take a favorite, because
Unknown:
32:13
they're all so amazing. Like, they all like, really bring something special to the table and so, like, it's, it's just like, because I don't just do like, super popular people, if you will, or like people with a lot of following, or people that are CEOs and stuff like, all, if I happen to, like, see somebody, like, make a comment on one of my posts, and it's a woman, and it's, like, a really interesting comment. I'll, like, ask her, do you want to be on this? And, like, some of them are just, like, so dumbfounded that I'm asking them, and I'm like, No, you deserve to be heard too.
Blythe Brumleve:
32:46
I love that, because the in the trenches stories are a lot of times so much more interesting. And I think that for just especially with, like, the the level, I guess, of conversations, of people that I get to talk to, I use this podcast as a learning experience. But a lot of the the, I guess, the rawness there, because a lot of executives are very much like media trained, and they know how to, I know, to ask a question, you know, and they're going to dunk it. But then there's the other stories, of like, the real, the raw, the that the front lines, that the people who are, you know, talking to customers and drivers every single day. Those are the, you know, a lot of the times that the cooler stories, because they can be a little bit more unfiltered. I think,
Unknown:
33:28
yeah, and I like that. I i try and be that way myself, like I I've been on a few podcasts now, but I still, half the time I leave the podcast being like, what did I say? I have no idea. We'll see when it comes out. It's like a surprise for me too.
Blythe Brumleve:
33:45
I write down, I keep a post it like, next to the side of like, anytime that someone is saying, like, something interesting, just so I can remember it and be able to go back and reference it for the show notes. Otherwise I would forget, like, because it's just totally the nature of the industry or the nature of my brain, that I can't hold a memory for longer than an hour.
Unknown:
34:05
I mean, I get them.
Blythe Brumleve:
34:07
Okay, so let's talk in for a lot of your content so you you handle it on LinkedIn first. Or, how do you kind of, how do you think about your your content strategy, or is it really a thought? Do you put like, planning behind it? Like,
Unknown:
34:24
so I, I don't have a lot of planning, so I don't when it comes to LinkedIn, like, whatever I'm typing, it's didn't type that day. Like, if I post something, I it's not planned. I don't. I don't post every day either. Sometimes I'll post twice in a day. Sometimes I won't post for three days because it's like, I don't. I don't have anything to say. I don't. I'm not interesting all the time. Anybody you know what I mean? Like, I that's the one thing I kind of do hate about social media is the way the algorithms work. They're like, you have to post every day and whoa, what? And I'm like, nobody is that interesting. I'm sorry. Just have to say it. Nobody is that interesting. I have days where, like, all I do is sit on the couch and watch housewives, you know, like, that's, I'm okay with that. Um, but like, what am I going to post out of that? What I what I learned watching how two women rip each other apart on television. Like I No, not doing that. Um, but when it comes to the blog, I at least have, like, a a very loose plan of like the goal is to, well, definitely, the gorgeous girls series every two weeks on a Tuesday, without fail, that's the one thing that I'm like, Okay, we'll not miss that at all. And then at the opposite weeks is when I send out my newsletter. I only send out my newsletter every twice a month, because I know everybody's inboxes are wild. And then, and then in between, I try and do two to three posts in between there whatever they are. It could be anything. It could be like, Oh, I was on this, this podcast, and here's a post link to that. Like I was on the postal hub with a guy named Ian a few weeks ago, which was actually really fun. It was kind of weird to just talk about postal service, but yeah, and then yeah, and then with posts and stuff, it's kind of like whatever happens throughout the day or throughout my week. And my notes app is a wild place. Let me tell you, there is everything from like the groceries I might need to get to, like, random quotes that I really don't remember why I wrote them in there to like post ideas that I'm like, Okay, I kind of remember that that plan. There are a lot of times where I'll, like, whip out my post, my notes app. Well, I've had a few glasses of wine at a bar somewhere, and I'm like, those notes are not super helpful, to be honest, you just kind of, I'm just kind of like, Why did I write in chicken? We'll have to read it up that another time.
Blythe Brumleve:
37:04
Yeah, I think the Notes app is definitely if it's not chaotic, then I don't think that. You're really, maybe a truly creative person, because your notes app is where every like conferences, ideas that I'm thinking of, everything just goes in there, and then it's a hell hole trying to, I guess, make sense of it. Yeah,
Unknown:
37:27
I tried. The one thing that I've started doing, which is become a bit smarter, is, like, I'll go once a month at least. I go through my notes app and, like, I get rid of, especially the stuff that clearly does not make any sense, or, like, old grocery lists because I leave them in there. I don't know it's really weird, but I do that once a month, and that is definitely helped with with with the craziness of the Notes app. It's not perfect, but, you know, it helps?
Blythe Brumleve:
37:53
No, that's a good tip. I might steal that, because it's just an endless abyss right now of just notes, and I don't know how to make them. I do know how it's just, I'm avoiding it, and that's, you know, a story for another day. I guess
Unknown:
38:07
it's fair. That's another that's another podcast,
Blythe Brumleve:
38:11
how to organize all of my head, which is very challenging, and I don't even want to, I don't think, okay, so what if, with your content creation journey and the benefits that you've seen from it, what advice would you give, maybe to other founders or other folks in logistics that you know they kind of want to start doing the same thing You've done?
Unknown:
38:31
I think, I think, like, the I think the biggest like advice that I would give people is like, just like, and it sounds so cliche, but like, be authentic. Like, be who you are. Because, like, it's either going to catch or it's not, like, it's not everybody can can do this. I will say that I want to be very clear, because you do have to have a pretty thick skin. People are gonna say shit about you. People are gonna send you DMS that are not very nice, like it's just whatever, but you kind of you have to just figure out who you are and what you want to share with people, and then your opinions are just that. They're your opinions. And people, for some reason, are interested in hearing about them, so put them out there and just stand by them. Like, don't let anybody push back on you if it's not valid. So sometimes I am known to change my mind, not often, but sometimes, but like, there's a difference to me of like, backing down and changing your mind because you've been presented new information. So like, for me, like, I don't back down on the fact that I think that women can make this industry better. Like, there's no question in my mind. I think that that is common sense in my mind. But like, if somebody comes to me and I'm talking about something in the industry that's like controversial, for example, if somebody brings me new information that I don't know, maybe that'll adjust my viewpoint on that thing. That's totally fair. But I think a lot of the times, people don't want to rock the boat, or are scared of losing business. And I I get that because, like, I'm in a little bit of a unique position, because my other business, I run that too, so, like, I don't have anybody to answer to. So I understand when, because I do get people messaging me asking, like, hey, like, how do I share without, like, getting in trouble at work? And I'm like, I have no idea what to tell you, because I'm pretty sure I get fired for half of the things that I put out there. So but I will say, like, you've got a really I think the most people that are really successful, especially on LinkedIn, they're themselves. They are, they are super authentic, and they just share what they think. And I think that's great. Honestly, we need more of that. Yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
41:01
absolutely. I mean, if you say, because people are going to find out, like, if they meet you in person, if they you know, how do business with you, maybe, because I think that's ultimately the goal of, like, putting content out on LinkedIn, because otherwise, what are we all doing there? But the easiest app to delete, if it wasn't for business purposes, all social media, just really in general, if it wasn't for business purposes, I would delete them all, but each of them kind of has their place. But I think, to your point, like both you and I are in very lucky positions, and that, you know, we can say what we want when we want, without that fear of, you know, a boss coming over and, you know, tapping your desk and being like, we need to have a conversation about this. I've even heard of, like some other men and women alike, that they are discouraged from posting because they don't, their bosses don't want them getting extra attention, versus the company getting attention. And so there's still kind of like that old school mindset of, you know, you're our property, you're you're, don't promote yourself because you're going to be here forever, and don't try to get a better opportunity. And so think there's a little. Bit of that too. I think that's so
Unknown:
42:13
short sighted, though, because like, in all honesty, like, if I have a if I have an employee, and they're getting a lot of traction and a lot of interactions on LinkedIn or wherever, and they're talking positively about my business because they're happy, then I don't, I should, wouldn't, shouldn't. Have a problem with that. I think the people that have a problem with that recognize that their employees are probably not happy. Yeah, me saying what I think again, look out everyone.
Blythe Brumleve:
42:45
Well. So I was listening to another show with you on and you were on with Tim duner, from what the truck about a year ago, and there were some really interesting numbers that y'all were saying. I think dinner said 41% of the industry are women, while only 15 to 20% hold executives positions. Have you seen that improving or kind of just staying stagnant or maybe not improving at all?
Unknown:
43:10
I think I I think it's slightly improving. When people ask me this question, though, I do have a slightly different answer, because people will sometimes ask like, have you seen women in this industry improve? And what I have seen is that the women in this industry are so fiercely supportive of each other. Now it's so just makes me so happy. Like, whenever I see like women sticking up for each other, or women like amplifying each other's voices and things like that. Like, it's so more so much more prevalent now than it was before. Like, when I was first starting in the industry, it was a lot of like, women kind of pushed, like, holding each other back, to be honest, like, because we all saw there was only one seat at the table that had a woman at it, and we're, like, all vying for that one seat right? And now, I think we've all recognized, like, Oh, we're not competing with each other. We're like, quote, unquote, competing with the men that are all around that table now, and so the more we support each other, the more we can, like, pull each other up to the table too. So I think that's the part of the industry that I'm super happy to see, and to be a part of that movement. Because I think when women are supportive of each other, like this guy's the limit, to be honest,
Blythe Brumleve:
44:33
yeah, when I worked at a an asset based brokerage, there were, I think there was only one female broker. I'm trying to think back maybe two, but it was interesting looking back on sort of the makeup of the office, where accounting was pretty much all women. And then the brokerage floor was, we had one woman on the brokerage floor. She spoke Russian, and so she was, you know, talking to all the Russian drivers that would call in, or the Ukrainian drivers that would call in. And then there was another woman, but she worked more on the pricing side. But I I'm curious as to why more women don't get involved in I well, I know the reason why I wouldn't, but I'm curious as a, you know, a female broker, why don't you think more women want to be involved in that role?
Unknown:
45:27
I mean, speaking from experience, it's not, it's not easy and and in reality, like women, by nature, are more collaborative and empathetic. And the way that the brokerage system currently is set up, it's every man for themselves, literally every man for themselves. There's very little collaboration between brokers. There's I, I'm saying this generally speaking, like, there are, there are people obviously that do, like, I know a lot of people that do collaborate and stuff, but generally speaking, the way that the system is set up is that you're, you're on your own. Like, the idea that we even have a saying cradle to grave for this industry, that meaning that you literally take care of the entire shipment all the way through is crazy to me, like there should be more support than that, and there should be more collaboration. And so from my point of view, I think that that's one of the reasons why. Like, I don't want to say women aren't successful at brokerages, because they are, but I feel like they would be more successful if brokerages were set up in a different manner.
Blythe Brumleve:
46:34
And you mean, like, because typically with especially with the brokerage that I worked at, I was an executive assistant there, so I was next to all of the, I guess, hiring process, but I wasn't actively involved in, you know, any of their training. But essentially, what we would do is we would recruit people from the local college and sit them in a seat and hand them all the cold leads and, you know, smile and dial i I've always that's always really turned me off from that position itself. And I'm wondering if is that sort of the structure that you're talking about that maybe should be adjusted, or what other, I guess, structural. A's. Could, could broker, yeah, I think more women, yeah.
Unknown:
47:15
I think, listen, like, the smile and dial thing is crazy to me. Like, it's, it's wildly inefficient. Like, I'm, like, I just It's crazy, and especially with technology the way that it is right now. Like, why aren't people taking advantage of like digital marketing and actually, like qualifying, having qualified leads come in, like, coming in instead of dialing out, like, it's so silly. Like, don't mean to say it that way. That sounds so, so condescending. But like for me, like I, even when I was working on a brokerage, like I didn't. I did not do smile and dial. I refuse. Sorry. I'm like, I was like, No. And I've met other women that are in that position, that they also refuse to do it, and they found other ways to bring in their business, and a lot of them are using LinkedIn. And it's funny because, like, I feel like they've built, they go out and build these communities. So then, for example, if I hear of somebody in the states that needs some flatbed help for needs a flatbed, then I know who I can like, refer somebody to them, and it's going to be a woman, because I know from being online on LinkedIn, who does that business, you know, and so, like, I think that some of these women are, like, really, kind of turning the system on its head and finding a different way around that world. I hope that brokerages start to see the value in like, using the tools that they have at their disposal that they've been ignoring.
Blythe Brumleve:
48:54
Is there any other tools, I guess, maybe besides LinkedIn, that you know, women kind of excel at when it comes to freight brokerage and sales and in that regard, that are maybe a little bit different than men.
Unknown:
49:06
I mean, I've seen a few on Tiktok. To be honest, there are a lot of drivers on Tiktok, which I find fascinating. I love following the drivers on Tiktok, but that's also like, a great way to get carriers as well. Like, if, like, you reach out to somebody on Tiktok. Like, that's, that's an option. I got a carrier one time through through, through Instagram, because I just happened to be following their page, and they had some fun, like, stuff that they had put up. And then I started using them a few years ago, and I still use them now. Yeah, I think that, I think, and then I think on top of it, like there are, I think that brokerages do a really terrible job of training like I think there is no training in in a lot of brokerages. Again, speaking generally, I think that a good brokerage will train their brokers to add value outside of just finding a truck is literally like anyone can go out and find you a truck. Like, but like, why should your the shipper shouldn't have to call you every day to find the same truck every day? Like, that's silly. Like, something is amiss. There I find I've there used to be a company we worked with when I was doing transportation at ch Robinson, and they would call us every day with a list of shipments. And it was crazy. It was always the same list, like, the list barely, very rarely changed. And I finally said to them, I'm like, why don't you just let me like, these five loads are always the same every day, so why don't you just let me get you trucks, those save five trucks every day, and we'll say that the the rates between this and this, because it's always between this and this. And they were like, Well, why would we do that? And I was like, his save you a ton of time. I'm like, am I Greek? I don't understand. And so he's like, You know what? He's like, we'll try that for a week. And like, we did it for a week, and after the week was up, he's like, he's like, he's like, I was able to leave early two days this week, and I was like, right? You're welcome. And so, like, that's the thing. Like, seeing, teaching new brokers to, like, recognize patterns and see where they can, like, combine shipment, whatever the thing might be, but like, there has to be more than just, I found you a truck. There has to be more than that, because there's not a lot that's not something to build a career
Blythe Brumleve:
51:44
on. Yeah? That doesn't sound like you can differentiate yourself very much by not offering them maybe, like a higher level of problem solving, right? And so as you know, I kind of want to there was another strong opinion that you had that I love, and I share this opinion, and that's the anti anti meeting stance. I only lead meetings like Jon Snow when he's pulling out a. Sword, and there's all the horses like running towards him. That's me, like avoiding all the meetings as much as possible. For folks who may not have have read that, give us, I guess, a high level overview of your stance on meetings. I
Unknown:
52:26
listen. There are meetings that are necessary. Of course, that's fair. I get that. But there are people that I know that are literally, like, three days a week are just full meetings, from eight in the morning till 5pm and I'm like, how do you get anything done? Like, what are you doing in these meetings? I don't understand. Like, I just don't get it. Because, like, for me, like, if my clients are happy, they don't want to hear from me, they don't care. Is everything moving, is everything delivering great. Don't need to talk to you like, and that's a great relationship. You get an email from me on Christmas, saying, Merry Christmas, and we're all happy for the next year, you know, like, it's fantastic, but and then the only times that I'm really doing meetings is things like this, or if I somebody has booked time with me to be like, I want to discuss my transportation, because I don't understand where I'm going wrong. And in that scenario, I'm like, Yes, this is a great thing to have a meeting about. But I think when we first started with, like, the pandemic, and everybody started working from home, I think people lost that little bit of like, where you would just pop by somebody's desk to, like, clarify or ask a question. Now that's become a full meeting. No, just call them. Just call them. I don't why are we why are we getting on it? Why are we setting up a full meeting so that you can, like, ask me one question? That's crazy. And I think that also in our work lives now, people have gotten to the point where it's like, almost like, they're trying to justify their existence. And the more meetings that you have, the more justified your position is. And that is also really silly to me, because I need you to produce something, if I'm an employer and I need you to produce something every hour that you're in a meeting is just costing me money. It's not making me any money, unless you happen to close a deal on every single meeting that you're in which I highly doubt you're just costing me money. Yeah, silly, 100%
Blythe Brumleve:
54:33
and I think the default to your point that the default to a meeting, instead of just one, I guess phrasing of how I understand when people want to book a meeting is them trying to figure it out and using that meeting and your time as a space to figure out the thoughts in their own head. And instead of doing that, you should instead make a meeting goal oriented. And if it's not goal oriented, and everyone that is in on that meeting, is it, you know, responsible for that goal, then don't have it. And so that's sort of like the, I guess, the mindset of what I I'm trying to, you know, just put up that barrier because it's so difficult. I have a document saved, like bookmarked, on how to politely say no to a meeting. And it's really challenging for me. It is
Unknown:
55:25
hard. It is hard to say no, and I totally get that. And I think one of the things that I implemented very early on, I tried, I try not to have meetings on Mondays and Fridays, and then also, if somebody sends me a meeting request with no agenda, is it immediate, no, no, with no response either, like, just full on No, and then I don't even respond. And then I wait for them to email me and ask me why I said no, and I'll be like, there was no agenda. How do I know what to prepare and what to be ready for. Oh, I love that. I didn't realize you wanted an agenda. Every meeting should have an agenda. What do you mean? You didn't know? See,
Blythe Brumleve:
56:01
that's the default that people are just so used to just throwing a meeting on your calendar, and I think that is so rude to just pulling an invite on someone's calendar and not ask me
Unknown:
56:12
No, to test it. No, no, no, no, that one person got so defensive when I when I said, like, No, I blocked them too. No, get away from me. What are you doing? That's like running up to somebody on the street and being like, we're gonna talk, Sir, calm
Blythe Brumleve:
56:27
down, and that's it. I think another just thing of beauty, of when you work for yourself, like you can make those rules and and it's okay. And if people want to do business with you and know those rules, then that's, you know, kind of what it is. But you don't, you don't have a right to a response or my time. And that's kind of the way I see it, is that everything, hopefully, it's a mutually and I don't want this to cut, I guess, you know, maybe come off as, like, condescending or whatever, but I'm a one woman business, and I have contractors that I work with, of course, that help me out a ton, but the every 30 minutes to an hour of a meeting that I spend with you, if it's not leading or, you know, revenue producing, then. It's not worth my time, and that's how I try to see it well.
Unknown:
57:16
And there's something to be said about like I one yes, my time is valuable, because, as you said, you're a one woman show. So am I? And like, I'm running two businesses and I don't have time to sit down and meet with everyone all the time, like it's just not possible. So, yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
57:34
have you tried any kind of, and this is just me spitballing here, because this is things that we're currently trying to experiment with. But have you experimented with any kind of, like, customer service type roles where it's like, see if you can answer the question yourself and this documentation, or here's an AI chat bot, you know that can answer you know, a lot of your questions. Have you experimented with any of that kind of stuff, like trying to pre qualify them before they are able to book a meeting?
Unknown:
58:02
Yeah, I haven't. I haven't yet. I do make it very clear in like, I have a Calendly invite that, first of all, that is not in my I think that people put it in their signature. Big mistake. Don't do that unless you're in sales, maybe. But like, not you, that is closely guarded for me. So like, people have to ask me for a meeting and tell me why they want a meeting before I even give them the Calendly invite. And then, on my Calendly invite, they can only get 45 minutes first of all, and only Tuesday through Thursday. And it also says in the meeting invite, please like, it's, you know how you can have like the mandatory fields. Like one of the mandatory fields is like, please explain in at least this many words how much like or what you are looking to get out of this call. And then that gives me a lot more to go off of. And then if they have not given me enough in that, then I'll send them an email back, being like, your meeting is tentatively agreed to, however I need you to answer this question in this question, and then that gives me it makes it a lot easier, and in all honesty, it makes the meeting a lot more productive. So like, it's in their best interest too. So
Blythe Brumleve:
59:20
yeah, that makes a ton of sense, especially putting it on them to kind of figure out your brain before we get on this call. So we can hit the ground running and not spend, you know, the first, you know, 15 minutes trying to diagnose what the issue is, come in with the issue, so I can come in best prepared as well as I really like that approach. I might steal that or steal it. I don't know if what's the right phrasing for it, but I think that's a really great idea. There we go.
Unknown:
59:47
That's like the nice way of saying. I'm going to borrow that idea, no strategy. Right
Blythe Brumleve:
59:54
now there was, there's speaking, I guess, of like forms that you have people fill out. Because, for my show, I have people fill out. And this is a very like recent addition to the flow, but I ask people like, what are three strong opinions or philosophies that you have that you want to talk about, and one of those that you can adopt it too, if you want Women Helping Women, right? One of those answers that you gave was helping with, like, the boring stuff of like processes in creating more profit through systems. Can you kind of give us what? What the, I guess, the thought process behind the profit through process, or profit through systems? I
Unknown:
1:00:40
think, listen, like, I working in logistics. Like, it's always like, oh, we need to save money so rates, rates, rates, rates, better. Rates, better. Rates, better rates. I'm like, rates can only go down so far, like, you can't keep using rates as a way to save money. And there, listen, most companies have inefficiencies that are costing them money, especially ones that are shipping product. And so companies, a lot of them, need to step back and kind of be like, okay, but where is there money just lying on the ground that we can just go and pick up, like there was detention is a great example. Actually, there is, first of all, two, two things about detention. One, pay your driver's detention straight up. Two, you can prevent that. So there a quick story. When I was back working at ca Robinson, there was a company that we had as a client, and they had multiple warehouses across Canada, and we were doing shipments from Ontario or from Ontario, from Toronto to Ottawa, and there was a warehouse in Ottawa. It was one of their smaller warehouses, and we were shipping paper products, like toilet paper, paper towels, that kind of thing. They would send two or three loads a day, every day, something happened, and they started having issues of not having any space in the warehouse in Ottawa. So we had trucks sitting there for days. Days, and they were still having us pick up, and it's like, it's not, it's not a long drive, it's like a one day drive, not even it's like a five hour drive. And so finally I just went to her, and I was like, I'm not picking up anymore. She's like, What do you mean? She's like, Do you not have any trucks? I'm like, I have plenty trucks. They're all sitting at your facility. She's like, well, but they keep saying that they don't have any product. I'm like, tell them to look outside, like, there's plenty. So essentially, like, what was happening there was a disconnect between the operation of like, ordering the product, and then the clarity of like, the product was actually fulfilled and was still was just sitting there outside. And so, like, I luckily saw that happening, and finally stood up and was like, we're not doing this anymore. The thing is, they were paying like, $300 a day for each of those trucks to or those trailers. It was just the trailers. At that point, the trailers to just be sitting there. And I'm like, you're wasting money, and you keep wanting to add to the pile. Like, this crazy, and so I think that there's a lot of those things that go on that there's I truly advocate for the fact that I think there should be a lot more cross training in larger companies like people that work in supply chain should be working in buying. And while buying is part of supply chain, people in logistics should be working in buying. People that are doing like the warehousing organization should be working with the logistics like there should be a lot more, like integration, but a lot of companies have these silos, and those silos are costing them money. And so from my perspective, there's a lot of places where there's dollars just kind of sitting around that could be easily acquired. I don't know, no,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:04:04
I think it makes perfect sense, because that was a whole reason, you know, why I started the company cargo Rex. I'm like, this is we have so many silos, I didn't realize how bad it was until I started this podcast, and, you know, using it as an educational resource to educate myself outside of just asset based brokerage and just learning about different warehousing and maritime and, you know, all these different silos. And it's incredible how much of that exists, and then you just keep drilling down into, you know, companies and different segments and commodities and the waste is just kind of everywhere, and it's, I don't know why people don't want to address these things. As a business owner, I want to address my leaky faucets everywhere. I don't know. Maybe they just become more complicated to deal with as you grow, as you get larger.
Unknown:
1:04:54
I mean, my I do have a theory about that. My theory is, is that everybody's cya and then saying there's no actual problem because nobody's willing to take accountability for that problem coming up. And I'm like, it's, it reminds me of situations where, like, a truck is late, and I'm like, and then you have to re reorganize the appointment and all these things. There's a problem that needs to be solved first before we figure out why it happened. And I think that that's kind of the issue when it comes to like the waste in supply chain. People are so concerned with figuring out who to blame first, rather than fixing the actual problem. And I think that that's where there's some issues, like, even, even at manifest like, I learned about, like, a lot more about warehousing. I knew nothing about warehousing until I was a whole new world, right? And, and I learned about, like, the that stat about four hours or more to find a missing item in a warehouse on average. And I'm like, that's a half of somebody's day. Like, and just doing some quick math in my head, I'm like, that's a lot of money, because that every time something goes missing, it could take that long. Like, and this is where, like, Okay, this is where technology should step in. You can have much better there's multiple companies that were at manifest that have the capability of giving you real time inventory and up to date inventory, and so, like, those are the things where it's like, okay, like, you need to really start adopting more of this reasonable technology than, like the fancy bell and whistle technology, like in my mind, I prefer to see somebody adopt that kind of technology than the pricing technology in my mind, because I feel like one is going to solve A problem, and the other one may potentially create problems down the line. It could
Blythe Brumleve:
1:06:56
be like a whack a mole, and you are just adding more problems to the mix, when you could be solving your own internal problem, saving money, and then figuring out, you know, where this technology makes the most sense. Yeah, and I think manifest is. It's a great example of, like, a conference that you go to, and if you've worked in one of those silos like you, you kind of don't know. I didn't know until I went to my first manifest and I saw, like, really, like the whole logistics process under one roof, and that was warehousing, I think is just one of the more the most, like, fascinating parts. We just dropped an episode yesterday, and it was talking about how 90% of the US based warehouses don't have any kind of robotics. And got with Kevin Lawton of the new warehouse podcast, great podcast, by the way. And he was saying that, you know, a lot of some of these, like drone inventory count technologies can really like, you know, work 24/7 and help aid in the the process of, you know, your work day to day within a warehouse. But also the interesting aspect of, like, the psychological, I guess, training that has to go on with warehouse workers and trying to help them see, like a drone or a robot is like, there to help you instead of, like, take your job, which is another, like, fascinating aspect to it. But yeah, I echo that statement. Where it's it's warehousing and just in general, I think is interesting. But to your point, figuring out what those processes are first can help you get there faster and not create a whole bunch of more problems. Okay, don't want to take up too much of your time, because I know that we're a little bit over here, but I'm good to keep going, because I got a couple Okay, perfect, awesome.
Unknown:
1:08:44
Like, it's five five o'clock here, so, oh, I
Blythe Brumleve:
1:08:47
meant to ask that earlier. You know, it's literally five 5pm somewhere, you know the or it's five o'clock somewhere, they'll kill me. Okay, which reality show is most relevant to logistics? Oh,
Unknown:
1:09:08
question. Oh, my God, I have one. It's like, super offensive.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:09:17
Let's hear about
Unknown:
1:09:20
traders. I don't know if you've ever seen that show.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:09:23
I so I'm a big challenge fan, and a few of the people from the challenge have gone on traders and, like, won it. So Johnny banana, CT, trichelle, I think you know some big trader
Unknown:
1:09:36
traders, is one that comes to mind as an option.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:09:42
And for folks who may not know, there's a lot of with the challenge, in particular, it's physical activities. It's a lot of, you know, mind game, not mind game, but kind of mind games, puzzles, things like that. But then there's also, like the political, you know, forming ties and relationships. And so it makes sense, while some of those people who have been on the challenge for like, 1020, years go over to traders, and traders is there's a lot of politicking, right?
Unknown:
1:10:11
I mean, I think that's why some of the housewives do so well as well. They just know how to just stir the pot. But I think, I think the other one, I would probably say, like, a little bit less like offensive is like the Amazing Race. It's very like, there is logistics involved in that. It's kind of on the nose. But the fact of like that every day is very different. Things happen. You don't know what's going to happen next, like that. Kind of vibe is very logistics COVID, if you will. That
Blythe Brumleve:
1:10:41
makes sense, okay? If there was a reality show filmed at a logistics company, which company should it be? I
Unknown:
1:10:55
oh no,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:10:58
that sounds like a thought, but I have one, I think an easy answer for me, and it's just based off, like my YouTube comments, TQL. That's what I was. Drivers do not like TQL.
Unknown:
1:11:12
Drivers don't like tq. What I would like to see is kind of like a conglomerate of, like a few so like, you have TQL and ch Robinson, and maybe like Coyote, and like the interactions between all of them, and like the people moving from one company to the other, and like the loafers with no socks situation happening all the time. Yeah, I think it would be a great I think it'd be a great show. It'd be mostly men, to be honest, Patagonia vest everywhere. Oh God, show me. Patagonia vest, lots of khakis and zin just everywhere,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:11:46
gross, all over the place. I
Unknown:
1:11:49
don't know if you i It's funny that you asked that question, because I literally made a post about that kind of, about that yesterday. It was like it was a meme that it was like, logistic bro starter pack, and then like, gorgeous girls and logistics starter pack. And the the bros one was like, zin Red Bull socks, shoes with no socks. I have a real I find that so offensive. You. Oh, sorry everyone.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:12:14
It's definitely, I don't know what. Maybe it's just a cultural thing. I don't, I don't know why they all
Unknown:
1:12:22
carry Midwest. It's
Blythe Brumleve:
1:12:24
in the south too. So I don't, I don't know. It's a brokerage. The two brokerages that I worked at, it was very much, it was a lot of the same people, because the first one I worked at closed down, and so when they all went and joined the new company, it was a lot of the same people that went to the new company too, but it was very much. It's like a shared culture, ping pong table in the back, pizza every Friday. So hopefully, you know, cracking beers at 4pm on Fridays probably get you in trouble with the lawyer in House lawyers, or, you know, something like that. Yeah, I was the executive assistant that had to order all those things for everyone. So if I
Unknown:
1:13:03
had a female focused brokerage and look way different than that,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:13:08
oh, what would Friday afternoons look like if it was a female brokerage?
Unknown:
1:13:11
Okay? Well, obviously rose. Obviously, everyone would have their own, like, nice little cup. We would all, like, kind of hang out and talk shit about the other companies. Maybe Great. Honestly, it
Blythe Brumleve:
1:13:26
would tie very nicely into a good reality
Unknown:
1:13:28
show. We'd have, like, a really nice kitchen too, like, with all the stuff that we need to make really fancy coffees. We'd have, like, one of those super awesome, like, ice drawers that you see on tick tock. I think we'd have that too. Yeah? Like, everybody would get, like, a little welcome package when they came. They'd get, like, a lineage or, like, a long shop bag with, like, a bunch of like, stuff that you need to get you through the day. My best din would be banned, yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:13:54
get it out of here. You could handle the cannabis shipping so that we would be fine there. Um, we would have the drinks. We would have the entertainment covered, yeah, all the TVs, instead of, like, news and sports, would just be reruns of, you know, bravo. TV on all day.
Unknown:
1:14:12
Love that. Oh and and once a week blowouts,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:14:17
yeah. I mean, how could you turn that down? Maybe, maybe bringing in, like, a little area of the office that's just for blowouts and, like, getting a pedicure, or maybe, like, massage chairs. I feel like a lot of men would want to work there too, if they could have access to those. I think, I think that
Unknown:
1:14:33
that would be a really, we'd have the best female led sales team, like, we would have all the best people. I think we just did a business plan. Yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:14:45
it sounds like we're mapping it out pretty well. It sounds like the best Friday at a brokerage that I've ever you know participated in, but much better than, like, hot dogs or like KFC that's brought in, or pizza, or
Unknown:
1:14:57
we'd have sushi.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:00
Elevated brokerage, elevated
Unknown:
1:15:04
brokerage. But make it better,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:07
awesome. Well, I think that's kind of a Yeah, that was the kind of like the last few questions that I had, anything else that you feel like is important to mention that we haven't already talked about, I think so.
Unknown:
1:15:19
I just, I'm really I've loved this. This has been so great. I just want people to recognize that if you don't have women in your office, if you have very few women on your leadership team, you should definitely look inward, because there is a problem, and I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised if you add more women to your workforce and to your team and to your executive team, I think you'll see a lot of positive changes. Well
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:49
said, and I think that's a perfect place to end this conversation, Jen, where can I, where can I send folks? Where can they find you online, follow your work, subscribe to the blog, you know, all that good stuff. Yeah,
Unknown:
1:16:00
so my LinkedIn, I'll give you my LinkedIn link that has a link that will take you to get my newsletter that comes out twice a month. And then I also have an Instagram account called when ship happens, so you can catch me on there,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:16:21
perfect. And I will make sure that we add those all to the show notes, just to make it easy for folks. But Jen, this was a ton of fun. It definitely over. You know that I thought this episode was going to be good, and then it just is even better than I thought it was so nice of you to say, so great chatting with you. It was awesome. We're going to have to do this again, like, regularly, yeah,
Unknown:
1:16:41
for sure. We can just have like, one week little chats, yes. And then we'll, we'll
Blythe Brumleve:
1:16:45
do we'll, we'll have our own, like, Friday afternoon, like, brokerage meetup. Love that. Well, okay, wait, Jesus, I just had one more question. Favorite reality show. Favorite, favorite reality show. We're gonna end it on that,
Unknown:
1:17:01
I think right now, currently, especially because it is on right now, it's summer house on Bravo. Are
Blythe Brumleve:
1:17:08
you a southern?
Unknown:
1:17:10
Okay, I was I. But I am team Paige de Sorbo. So,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:17:16
yeah, Craig is messy. I and he's always has been messy. He's so
Unknown:
1:17:21
messy and, like, he doesn't appreciate a strong individual woman. So, yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:17:27
go Paige. It's like, I she was so funny, like, in her, you know, she wasn't on Southern charm all the time, but she was so funny when she would be on the show, and so now we're coming
Unknown:
1:17:38
nationals, perfect. I strive to be that funny and that petty at the same time.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:17:46
Yeah, it's been really cool to watch, because I don't, I don't watch summer house, but I know some of the people that are on it because of southern charm, but it's been interesting to watch like who has succeeded and who kind of can do, like the the crossover, and I think Paige is one of the few out of both of those shows, like Paige and Craig. But even though Craig doesn't do much, he's just kind of like the face of, you know, his sewing pillows. But outside of that, he's a hot mess. And, you know, maybe he'll find what he's what he's looking for, and that's somebody who doesn't want to work, because Paige is not that. Paige is
Unknown:
1:18:22
not that girl. She's worker. We love that. Honestly, she would be if I was to have a podcast ever. She would be my, like, dream, dream guest.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:18:33
Oh yeah, because she, I mean, her podcast is great with the giggly squad,
Unknown:
1:18:36
I think is what I call. I listen to it every week, every week. Oh, that's awesome. That's amazing. It's so good.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:18:42
I see the clips online all the time, and I tell myself, I'm like, oh, I need to go download it. And, you know, just haven't done it yet. But the clips are always really good. And I'm like, it's
Unknown:
1:18:52
like, my hot girl walk podcast.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:18:56
I love it. Well, okay, that was my for real, for real. Like, last question, Jen, this was awesome. I could keep talking to you for a while, but for the sake of I guess the listeners, we will cut it off now and then we'll have future conversations in the future. So thank you again. Oh. I hope you enjoyed this episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff and people get from point A to B. Subscribe to the show. Sign up for our newsletter and follow our socials over at everything is logistics.com and in addition to the podcast, I also wanted to let you all know about another company I operate, and that's digital dispatch, where we help you build a better website. Now, a lot of the times, we hand this task of building a new website or refreshing a current one off to a co worker's child, a neighbor down the street, or a stranger around the world, where you probably spend more time explaining the freight industry than it takes to actually build the dang website. Well, that doesn't happen at Digital dispatch. We've been building online since 2009 but we're also early adopters of AI automation and other website tactics that help your company to be a central place, to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit new employees and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business. Our new website builds start as low as$1,500 along with ongoing website management, maintenance and updates starting at $90 a month, plus some bonus freight marketing and sales content similar to what you hear on the podcast. You can watch a quick explainer video over on digital dispatch.io, just check out the pricing page once you arrive, and you can see how we can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you all real soon and go jags.
Unknown:
1:20:54
You
