SPEAKER_00
0:43
Document
imaging
is
that's
the
the
biggest
one
we've
had
recently
is
starting
to
utilize
AI
for
we
we're
up
to
like
42%
of
our
all
of
our
invoices
are
auto-approved
by
AI.
A
human
never
touches
those
documents,
they
get
approved,
sent
to
the
customer,
and
everything
goes
smoothly.
SPEAKER_02
1:09
All
right,
welcome
into
another
episode
of
Everything
Is
Logistics,
a
podcast
for
the
thinkers
in
Freedom.
I'm
your
host,
Blake
Milligan,
and
we
are
proudly
presented
by
SPI
Logistics.
And
with
us
today,
we
have
James
Lemon,
the
CFO
of
SBI
Logistics.
And
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
a
very
important
topic
around
this
time
of
the
year
and
really
like
any
time
of
the
year,
and
that's
financial
literacy
for
agents
and
probably
just
brokers
as
a
whole
across
the
industry
as
we
face
a
very
challenging
freight
environment.
And
that's
kind
of
to
put
it
lightly
because
there's
so
many
things
that
are
affecting
the
current
freight
market.
So
this
is
the
perfect
opportunity
to
kind
of
get
our
own
ducks
in
a
line
and
control
what
we
can
control.
And
that's
on
the
expensive
side
of
things.
And
then
also
from
a
marketing
and
sales
standpoint,
because
obviously
SPI
logistics
is
very
good
with
their
marketing
and
sales
and
creative
outreaches
and
approaches.
So
we're
going
to
get
into
all
of
that
today.
So
but
first,
James,
welcome
to
the
show.
SPEAKER_00
2:08
Thanks
for
having
me.
Really
excited
to
uh
be
here
and
talk
about
all
this
fun
stuff
that
bores
the
bores
a
lot
of
people,
but
is
one
of
the
most
important
things
you
can
think
about.
And
like
you
said,
there's
very
there's
very
strong
headwinds
right
now
in
the
market
and
being
able
to
ride
that
out
and
not
uh
be
one
of
the
uh
unfortunately
one
of
the
statistics
that
are
bound
to
come
out
of
this
potential
freight
recession
is
important.
SPEAKER_02
2:37
Yeah,
because
I
I
think
it's
I
was
reading
a
lot
of
reports,
especially
over
the
last
week,
because
a
lot
of
movement
has
been
made,
especially
on
the
carrier
side
of
things,
which
is
causing
a
lot
of
brokers
to,
you
know,
not
rely,
or
maybe
not
rely,
but
they've
been
relying
on
the
spot
market.
And
so
that's
kind
of
you
know
proving
to
be
a
little
bit
more
challenging
for
them
and
especially
from
geopolitical
tensions
and
things
you
can't
really
control.
But
I
think
some
of
the
best
advice
is
that
you
can't
what
what's
the
quote?
You
can't
control
your
revenue,
but
you
can
control
your
expenses.
And
so
from
that
standpoint,
I
would
like
to
just
kind
of
sort
of
you
know
come
out
of
the
gate,
uh,
you
know,
with
a
I
guess
strong.
And
that
is
for
the
current
market
that
we're
in,
what
are
some
maybe
red
flags
or
green
flags
of
that
you're
working
for
a
company
that
is
strong
financially?
SPEAKER_00
3:31
Well,
I
mean,
the
biggest
thing,
the
the
canary
in
the
coal
mine
most
of
the
times
is
when
you
start
getting
calls
from
your
carriers
saying
they're
not
getting
paid
because
the
broker,
they're
gonna
say,
oh,
we're
having
trouble
with
paperwork,
or
oh,
we're
having
trouble
with
this
and
that,
or
well,
we
don't
have
an
approver
in
house.
But
if
it
continues
to
happen,
it's
a
sign
of
broader
issues
where
they're
trying
to
now
stretch
their
payables
to
try
and
steal
cash
flow
essentially
from
the
future.
Um,
and
I
mean,
if
especially
if
you're
an
agent,
an
agent
working
for
a
broker
and
you
start
getting
those
phone
calls,
that's
that's
a
sign
that
maybe
something's
happening.
Your
service
levels
might
start
to
drop
because
all
they're
gonna
have
to
lay
off
people,
and
then
so
now
they
don't
have
as
many
people
to
service
all
of
your
customers
or
even
service
you
as
an
agent.
And
if
you
start
seeing
those
things
happening,
it
it's
a
sign
that
there
could
be
a
problem.
And
I
mean,
right
now
it's
a
very
tight
freight
markets,
rates
are
I
mean,
rates
are
supposed
to
come
back,
but
they've
been
saying
that
for
three
years,
and
unfortunately,
I
think
this
just
might
be
the
new
normal.
So
if
that's
the
case
and
you're
the
companies
are
expecting
it
to
come
back
or
hoping
it's
gonna
come
back
and
it
doesn't
come
back,
there's
gonna
be
some
brokers
that
just
all
of
a
sudden
go
under
because
the
freight
market
just
doesn't
bounce
back
like
everybody
has
said
it
will
for
three
years.
SPEAKER_02
5:02
Yeah,
I
I
I
wish
I
would
have
heard
that
advice
years
ago.
I
I
worked
in-house
at
an
asset-based
brokerage,
and
you
know,
I
was
executive
assistant,
so
I
heard
some
sort
of
rumblings
from
you
know,
here
and
there.
But
I,
you
know,
admittedly,
I
was
very
not
strong
in
uh
finances
or
even,
you
know,
just
acumen
in
in
general.
I'm
I've
gotten
better
at
it
with
age,
but
I
still
feel
like
I'm
I'm
very
much
a
novice.
But
I
I
do
wonder,
are
there
there
probably
are
plenty
of
brokerages
out
there
that,
you
know,
maybe
are
going
through
this
similar
thing
where
they're
having
a
lot
of
closed
door
meetings
and
you're
not
exactly
sure.
You're
you're
hearing
from
other
people
that
you're
running
out
of
runway
and
you
hear
all
these
things,
but
you're
you're
saying
one
at
one
of
the
canaries
in
the
coal
mine
is
is
the
carriers
calling
and
asking
for
for
clarification
on
their
payment
terms.
Is
is
are
there
any
other
things
that
maybe
um
would
kind
of
signify
that
maybe
something
else
is
going
on
within
this
company?
SPEAKER_00
6:01
Well,
I
mean,
it
it's
it's
harder
when
you're
you're
especially
for
agent-based,
it's
harder
because
you're
not
in
the
root,
you're
not
in
like
a
bullpen
area
where
you're
gonna
hear,
like
you
said,
you're
you're
seeing
a
lot
of
closed
door
meetings,
all
of
a
sudden
the
the
staff
list
is
getting
smaller
and
smaller,
and
a
lot
of
the
times
if
you're
not
like
in
it,
you
won't
notice
those
kinds
of
things.
Uh
I
it's
really
just
I
think
the
carrier
thing
is
the
biggest
thing
that
for
an
agent
that
you
can
just
watch
out
for.
You
don't
because
having
your
carrier,
like
that's
what
you're
selling.
You're
selling,
hey,
we're
we're
gonna
pay
you
in
30
days.
And
if
all
of
a
sudden
you're
telling
the
carrier
that
you're
gonna
pay
them
in
30
days
and
it's
now
40
days,
45
days,
50
days,
and
there's
no
real
reason
for
it,
they're
gonna
stop
hauling
your
loads
for
you,
and
then
now
you're
going
up
to
the
spot
market,
but
then
uh
all
those
carriers
are
reporting
to
things
like
DAT
and
all
these
things,
and
they're
seeing
that
broker,
their
days
to
pay
is
starting
to
increase,
so
less
and
less
carriers
are
gonna
want
to
haul
for
you
because
they're
thinking,
well,
I
can
haul
for
broker
X
and
get
paid
in
30
days,
or
I
can
haul
for
you
and
get
paid
in
50
days.
So
why
am
I
hauling
for
you
when
I
can
haul
for
broker
X
and
get
paid
in
30
days?
SPEAKER_02
7:15
So
it
almost
sounds
like
maybe
like
a
snowball
effect
that
that's
going
on
with
some
of
these
issues
where
it
starts
at
that
maybe
10
to
15
days
and
then
it
evolves
from
there.
SPEAKER_00
7:23
Well,
absolutely.
And
I
mean,
now
that
what
technology
is
more
and
more
pervasive
within
the
industry,
it's
a
lot
easier
for
those
metrics
to
get
to
the
reporting
agencies
because
in
the
past
it
was
only
like
the
only
people
you
would
report
to
is
like
DB,
and
nobody
reported
D
and
B
because
they're
so
expensive.
But
now
we
have
things
like
Insonia
and
DAT
and
truck
stop,
they're
all
tracking
days
to
pay,
and
they're
all
now
being
or
incorporated
into
financial
technology
companies
like
Tri
of
Pay
and
all
these
things.
So
it's
a
lot
easier
for
them
to
know
this
information
and
disseminate
the
information
to
everybody
within
the
network
where
that
wasn't
the
case
in
the
past.
SPEAKER_02
8:04
So,
so
what
would
you
suggest
to
be
like
maybe
a
plan
of
action
or
controlling
what
you
can
control
when
you
you
do
start
seeing
you
know
these
little
canaries
kind
of
start
popping
up?
What
should
you
start
doing?
Maybe
you're
you're
in-house
or
maybe
you're
a
freight
agent
working
for
another
you
know
company,
and
obviously
not
you
know,
SBI.
Um,
but
what
would
you
suggest
that
they
start
doing
to
maybe
start
putting
their
ducks
in
a
line?
SPEAKER_00
8:28
I
mean,
the
easiest
thing,
you
just
ask
questions,
like
uh
call
call
into
your
support
staff
and
say,
I'm
getting
all
these
calls,
what
is
going
on?
Try
and
see
if
they'll
get
answers.
And
if
they're
not
gonna
give
you
answers,
try
and
go
up
the
chain,
up
the
chain
as
far
as
you
can
to
try
and
find
out
what's
going
on.
Sometimes
there
is
a
reason.
Maybe
they
switch
billing
systems
and
they're
having
like
it
happens
all
the
time.
Everybody
thinks
you're
gonna
just
flip
a
new
technology
on
and
it's
gonna
work
seamlessly,
and
it
ends
up
being
a
disaster.
And
yeah,
sometimes
that'll
happen,
and
that's
why
they're
not
getting
paid.
But
if
they
start
avoiding
your
calls
or
ducking
your
calls,
or
they're
giving
you
blanket
answers
that
don't
actually
have
any
substance,
that's
a
bad
sign.
And
then
maybe
you
start
to
look
at
other
avenues
for
what
you
could
do.
Because
I
mean,
in
logistics,
there's
a
job
free
anywhere
if
you
want
it.
So
it
it
doesn't
if
you're
if
you're
getting
worried,
it
doesn't
hurt
to
see
what
else
is
out
there.
Because
you
never
know,
it
could
be
especially
if
you're
an
employee,
one
day
you
are
an
employee,
the
next
day
you're
not,
and
then
if
you've
already
done
your
work
and
done
a
little
bit
of
homework,
you
can
bounce
back
right
onto
your
feet.
Uh
but
if
you're
you
don't,
you're
a
little
bit
behind
the
eight
ball
when
something
like
that
happens.
SPEAKER_02
9:47
Now,
for
uh
some
of
my
former
and
even
uh
current
uh
broker
friends,
uh
anytime
I
mention,
you
know,
why
haven't
you
gone
out
and
just
you
know
become
your
own
agent
or
or
worked
for
a
freight
agency?
The
first
question
that
they
typically
ask
is
somewhere
around
taxes,
like,
oh,
I
don't
want
to,
I
like
you
know,
being
a
W-2
employee,
I
like,
you
know,
not
having
to
worry
about
my
tax
bill
at
the
end
of
the
year.
How
do
you,
I
guess,
sort
of
talk
through
those
types
of
people
when
they
they
have
that
initial
concern?
Are
taxes
like
a
huge
issue
that
freight
agents
have
to
be
worried
about
and
occupied
with?
SPEAKER_00
10:23
Uh,
I
mean,
I
would
suggest
that
if
you
are
gonna
do
that,
you
find
a
good
accountant.
And
I
mean,
it's
gonna
cost
you
a
little
bit
of
money,
but
in
the
end,
you're
gonna
make
more
as
an
agent
than
you
are
as
a
W-2
employee
because
you're
getting
a
way
bigger
split
of
the
of
the
revenue.
The
biggest
thing
is
taking
the
risk
because
I
mean,
I
I
personally
I
could
not
do
it.
I
have
a
fam,
I
have
a
family
with
young
kids.
I'm
obviously
an
accountant,
so
I'm
very
risk
averse.
I
I
I
couldn't
not
know
where
my
next
paycheck's
coming
from.
But
if
you
are
in
the
sales
space,
odds
are
you're
a
much
bigger
risk
taker
than
I
am.
And
yes,
it
is
scary
to
go
out
onto
becoming
a
broker
and
not
knowing
if
your
customers
are
gonna
follow
you
or
if
you're
gonna
have
the
same
sales
levels
as
you
had
before,
and
maybe
your
pay
might
go
down
for
a
little
bit.
But
in
the
long
run,
you're
gonna
you
have
unlimited
potential
because
now
you're
not
capped
by
any
ceilings,
you
don't
have
only
10%
commissions
because
you
have
a
salary,
you
make
what
you
you
you
kill,
or
you
eat
what
you
kill.
So
you
are
out
there,
you
can
make
as
much
money
as
you
want,
you
have
a
good
tax
accountant
behind
you
who's
handling
all
the
other
things
for
you,
so
that
you
that's
not
on
your
mind.
Because
you
don't
want
you
as
an
agent,
you
don't
want
to
be
thinking
about
oh
god,
I
gotta
pay
my
taxes
next
week.
You
want
your
accountant
to
be
like,
hey,
here's
here's
what
you
need
to
pay,
and
this
is
the
all
you
have
to
do,
and
you
just
send
them
a
check
and
you're
done.
SPEAKER_02
11:59
Yeah,
I
think
I
think
it's
more
about
avoiding
also
the
the
surprise
expenses
because
uh
especially
in
the
first
year
of
business
that
I
really
did
well,
when
that
tax
bill
comes
due
and
you
are
surprised.
SPEAKER_00
12:13
It
can
be
a
shock,
it's
and
it's
always
gonna
be
a
little
bit
higher
than
you
think
at
first,
because
you
think,
oh
yeah,
my
like
I
have
all
these
extra
expenses
that
I
can
now
deduct.
But
when
you're
not
paying
any
tax,
like
because
you
don't
have
it
just
coming
straight
off
of
your
paycheck,
it
can
be
a
big
surprise,
especially
if
you
don't
have
an
account
that's
telling
you
to.
SPEAKER_02
13:27
Oh,
absolutely.
SPEAKER_00
13:28
And
and
in
reality,
like
for
me
personally,
I
would
be
setting
aside
every
time
I
got
a
commission
check,
I
would
send
just
open
up
a
separate
account
that's
just
there
for
taxes.
And
you
transfer
10,
15,
20,
whatever
you
feel
comfortable
with,
transfer
it
into
an
account,
make
sure
it's
a
savings
account
so
you
get
a
little
bit
of
interest
on
it,
and
just
let
it
sit
there.
And
then
that
way
when
your
tax
bill
comes,
it's
not
like,
oh
man,
I
gotta
come
up
with
$15,000,
$20,000.
It's
like,
oh,
yeah,
I
have
this
account.
Maybe
you
put
a
little
bit
more
in
there,
and
like,
hey,
now
I
have
a
bonus
five
thousand
dollars
I
wasn't
expecting.
SPEAKER_02
14:04
Yeah,
that
that's
definitely
the
strategy
to
take
because
when
that
first
unexpected
tax
bill
comes
in,
which
I
guess
technically
it
should
be
expected,
but
it
is
still
a
a
real
shock
when
you
get
it
and
you
didn't
expect
it.
I
am
curious,
what's
the
first
when
when
someone
decides
to
become
an
agent,
what's
the
first
big
oh
wow
expense
that
they
might
see
coming?
SPEAKER_00
14:28
I
mean,
the
biggest
thing
is
probably
just
you
don't
realize
like
you
you
might
have
a
laptop
that
you
think
is
is
good
for
just
like
surfing
the
internet,
and
then
all
of
a
sudden
when
it's
now
your
primary
driver
of
your
work,
it
pays
to
have
good
technology
and
it
pays
to
have
good
hardware.
So
you
might
be
surprised
like
that
$500
computer
that
you
thought
was
great
isn't
necessarily
the
best
when
you
now
have
like
15
different
tabs
open
and
you're
talking
with
carriers
and
you're
trying
to
look
at
rates
here
and
rates
there,
and
all
of
a
sudden
your
computer's
bogging
down
and
you
can't
have
quick
decisions
because
you're
being
hurt
by
your
hard
work.
You
don't
you
don't
realize
these
things
and
like
when
you're
working
because
now
you're
probably
working
from
home,
you're
gonna
want
to
conduce
some
space
to
work,
so
you
might
spend
a
little
bit
of
money
on
that
kind
of
stuff.
Depending
obviously
depends
on
how
people
work.
Some
people
can
sit
at
their
kitchen
table
and
just
work
all
day,
and
some
people
need
like
a
structured
area
to
actually
do
their
work.
It
all
it
really
just
comes
down
to
the
person
and
knowing
how
you
work
best
and
doing
what
you
can
to
make
yourself
the
most
ready
for
going
out
there
and
just
making
money.
SPEAKER_02
15:47
So
you
want
to
be
thinking
about
getting
an
accountant,
you
want
to
think
about
you
know
having
some
some
good,
you
know,
laptop
or
a
good
desktop,
a
good
work
area
to
get
work
done.
So
you
want
to
think
about
those
two
big
things.
And
so
what
uh
is
there
maybe
like
a
savings
that
you
should
maybe
be
thinking
about
too
if
you're
an
in-house
like
brokerage
or
and
you
want
to
go
independent?
SPEAKER_00
16:09
It
definitely
doesn't
hurt,
especially
because
the
ramp
up
time
is
always
longer
than
you
expect.
You
you
expect
your
customers
are
just
gonna
like
be
able
to
come
over
right
away
every
time
we
have
a
new
agent
or
uh
when
we
have
a
new
agent,
they
come
on
board,
they
expect
everything
to
just
go
smoothly,
but
you
got
all
the
paperwork
that
needs
to
be
filled
out,
you
got
all
the
the
the
customer
now
needs
to
change
all
of
their
processes
and
set
up
because
they're
setting
setting
up
a
new
vendor
on
their
side
too,
so
they
got
to
go
through
all
their
checks
and
balances
to
make
sure
everything
meets
their
criteria.
So,
like
you
said,
it's
it's
smart
to
have
to
plan
that
maybe
the
first
month
you
might
not
make
any
money
because
you're
gonna
be
going
through
all
the
setup
process.
So
have
have
a
little
bit
of
a
rainy
day
fund
so
that
if
that
does
happen,
you
aren't
all
of
a
sudden
scrambling
because
we've
we've
seen
it
time
and
time
again
where
an
agent
will
come
on
board
thinking
everything's
gonna
go
smoothly,
doesn't
get
a
paycheck
for
three
weeks
and
just
goes
back
to
being
a
W-2
employee
because
they
were
too
afraid
to
keep
going,
which
I
don't
blame
them.
Like
I
said,
I
could
never
do
it
myself.
It
takes
a
brave
person
to
do
it.
But
the
ones
that
are
successful,
I
like
we've
seen
agents
who
were
W-2
employees
making
good
money,
and
then
they
come
on
board,
they
have
a
couple
of
hiccups
at
the
beginning,
and
now
they're
making
like
a
million
dollars
a
year,
which
you
couldn't
do
as
an
employee
making
a
minimal
commission.
SPEAKER_02
17:41
So,
what
does
that
look
like?
So,
say
I
I
am
bought
and
sold,
I'm
I'm
ready
to
dive
in,
I'm
ready
to
become
a
freight
agent
for
SBI.
Uh,
what
does
that
process,
I
guess,
look
like
from
a
financial
lens
on
that
first
sort
of
maybe
60
days?
Is
is
that
when
you
can
realistically
expect
to
be
fully
onboarded,
have
your
customers
onboarded,
and
then
already
move
in
freight
within
60
days?
SPEAKER_00
18:05
Well,
I
it
should
be
a
lot
faster
than
that.
I
mean,
in
most
in
most
cases,
we
can
have
people
up
and
running
within
a
week
on
our
side.
Obviously,
all
brokers
are
different,
and
then
it
also
comes
down
to
your
customers.
If
your
customers,
if
you're
dealing
with
large,
large
companies,
that
onboarding
process,
it's
kind
of
faster
for
us
because
they're
a
well-known
quantity,
but
them
onboarding
us
as
a
vendor
can
take
more
time
because
they
have
certain
quality
standards
and
everything
that
needs
to
be
met.
And
it's
a
lot
harder
to
get
on
the
phone
with
people
who
can
actually
help
you
because
they're
a
large
corporation,
so
they
have
lots
of
lots
of
middlemen
in
between.
So
but
if
you're
a
smaller
company
or
you
have
smaller
customers
who
can
onboard
quickly,
like
yeah,
you
can
we
we've
had
agents
who
onboard
and
are
moving
loads
the
same
day.
Oh
wow.
It
really
just
comes
down
to
making
sure
you
have
everything
ready
to
go.
Like
if
you
have
customers
that
you're
porting
over
from
somewhere
else,
make
sure
they
know
what
you're
doing.
Tell
them,
like,
hey,
just
a
heads
up,
I'm
planning
and
tell
them
ahead
of
time.
Let
them
know
a
week
in
advance.
Like,
hey,
I'm
planning
on
doing
this.
You're
gonna
be
receiving
some
paperwork,
you're
gonna
be
receiving
some
new
stuff.
Can
you
help
me
expedite
this
so
that
we
can
keep
our
relationship
going
smoothly?
SPEAKER_02
19:31
Yeah,
because
I
would
almost
imagine
that
I
would
be
maybe
a
little
bit
nervous
about
telling
my
customer
that
maybe
I
am
moving,
but
then
it's
almost
like
a
level
of
reassurance
that
the
agent
has
to
provide
and
SBI
has
to
provide
to
some
of
these
customers.
Or
are
they,
are
you
guys
more
making
the
sales
pitch
of
this
is
going
to
actually
be
better
for
you
as
a
customer
to
come
with
us
on
this
journey
versus
maybe
exploring
other
options?
Is
is
is
the
sell
to
the
customer
uh
that
important
too?
SPEAKER_00
20:05
I
I
would
absolutely
say
so
because
I
mean
it
is
a
lot
of
work
for
them
to
get
set
up
with
new
cut
companies.
And
I
mean,
some
of
them
won't
care.
And
like
you
said,
it
is
it
is
a
little
bit
of
a
risk
because
maybe
they
don't
know.
So
maybe
you're
working
for
somebody,
a
big
brokerage,
and
you're
going
to
maybe
a
little
bit
of
a
smaller
brokerage,
and
they've
never
heard
of
it
before.
So
they
might
have
some
apprehension.
But
the
biggest
thing
is
if
you
have
a
good
relationship
with
your
customer,
they're
gonna
bet
on
you,
they're
not
gonna
bet
on
your
broker.
SPEAKER_02
20:36
Yeah,
that
makes
sense.
What
about
as
far
as
like
the
current
market
conditions?
You
know,
we
we've
been
hearing
about
a
uh
you
know,
a
freight
recession
for
a
little
while.
We've
probably
been
in
one
for
for
we
just
haven't
exactly
defined
it
because
everybody's
afraid
to
say
the
word.
SPEAKER_00
20:50
Uh
but
nobody
wants
to
admit
it.
unknown
20:52
Right.
SPEAKER_02
20:54
Well,
I
think
once
once
uh
like
the
big
government
entities
can
agree
on
like
what
an
actual
recession
is,
I
think
it
maybe
it
could
trickle
down
to
other
industries
properly
defining
it
as
well.
But
I
am
curious,
you
know,
when
I
was
working
in-house
at
a
brokerage,
you
know,
the
health,
healthy
margins
were,
you
know,
15
to
18%.
Are
those
days
gone?
And
is
it,
you
know,
maybe
like
10%
margins
of
what
we're
looking
at
of
HERD
as
you
know,
as
low
as
8%?
What
does
a
healthy
margin
look
like
in
in
brokerage
right
now?
SPEAKER_00
21:26
I
mean,
it
really
comes
down
to
like
everybody's
different.
Like
we
have
some
agents
who
do
10,
12%
margins,
we
have
some
agents
doing
25,
30%
margin.
SPEAKER_01
21:35
Oh,
wow.
SPEAKER_00
21:36
It
depends
on
it
depends
on
what
your
load
mix
is,
what
what
kind
of
commodities
you're
moving,
what
value,
like
what
value
levels
you're
moving
at.
Uh,
I
still
think
the
15
to
18%
is
where
you
want
to
be,
but
it's
definitely
getting
harder
to
achieve
that.
Like
rates
are
lower.
And
I
mean,
it's
because
rates
are
so
low,
it
is
easy
to
go
out
there
and
you
just
try
and
find
cheaper
mar
or
lower
freight
costs
for
the
customers
because
everybody's
trying
to
move
stuff
because
everybody's
terrified
of
the
potential
recession.
So
everybody's
just
trying
to
grab
market
share
where
you're
seeing,
like
you
said,
eight
to
ten
percent
margins,
which
is
insane.
Like,
how
is
how
is
a
broker
working
on
eight
percent
margins,
especially
if
you're
an
agent-based
broker
and
now
your
portion
of
that
is
very,
very
small,
and
the
cost
of
running
a
brokerage
is
really,
really
high
right
now
with
all
the
technology
costs
and
insurance
costs
and
everything
that
just
keeps
going
up
and
up
and
up
and
up.
So,
like
if
you're
working
for
a
broker
who
is
fine
with
eight
to
ten
percent
margins,
I
mean,
maybe
they're
super
lean
in
the
back,
but
also
that
could
be
a
sign
that
that
something
could
be
wrong
or
could
happen
really
quickly
because
if
they're
only
getting
two,
two
and
a
half
percent
of
the
total
gross
profit
on
that
to
fund
all
of
the
stuff
that
they
need
to
fund,
that's
not
a
lot
of
money.
SPEAKER_02
23:02
Well,
that
that
brings
me
into
my
my
next
sort
of
group
of
questions,
and
that's
around
just
sort
of
like
what
does
a
a
freight
agent
PL
look
like?
Uh,
you
know,
the
profit
and
loss
statement,
what
are
some
of
maybe
like
the
those
top
you
know
expenses
versus
those
top
revenue
items?
I
mean,
obviously
revenue
is
going
to
come
from
their
their
customers,
but
are
they
dealing
with
you
know
10
customers
or
two
customers,
or
is
it
kind
of
just
varies
agent
to
agent?
SPEAKER_00
23:26
Varies
agent
to
agent.
Some
have
one
customer
who's
their
primary
source
of
revenue.
Some
have
like
we
have
a
few
agents
who
are
in
the
hundreds
of
customers
who
they're
dealing
with,
I
mean,
that
the
but
those
people
also
have
big
teams,
so
they
have
big
expenses
for
covering
the
teams,
having
an
office
space.
But
those
are
good
problems
to
have
because
that
means
you're
being
very
successful.
SPEAKER_02
23:50
Is
it
for
expenses?
Is
it
more
on
like
the
insurance
side
of
things?
Is
it
technology,
or
do
they
even
have
to
worry
about
that
with
being
with
SPI?
SPEAKER_00
24:00
With
SPI,
you
don't
have
to
worry
about
any
of
that.
We
cover
all
the
technology,
we
cover
all
of
the
insurance,
we
cover
everything.
Uh
the
only
expense
they
have
is
where
they're
working
and
what
they're
working
on.
They
just
as
long
as
they
have
an
internet
connection,
a
computer
and
a
cell
phone,
they're
good
to
go
to
work
for
us.
SPEAKER_02
24:19
That's
why
I
don't
I
I
just
speaking
at
you
know,
at
it
at
a
turn,
but
that's
why
I
just
I
don't
understand
why
people
are
freight
brokers
and
not
a
freight
agent.
SPEAKER_00
24:27
I
it
kind
of
maybe
goes
back
to
what
your
earlier
comment
was,
you
know,
risk
averse
and
absolutely
like
it
it
is
it
is
a
scary
jump
to
make,
but
like
like
our
CRO
says
all
the
time,
being
a
freight
agent
is
a
like
license
to
print
money.
SPEAKER_02
24:41
So
I
just
don't
get
it.
I
feel
like
it's
the
best
like
entrepreneurial
opportunity
for
you
know
a
lot
of
the
freight
brokers
that
I've
known
throughout
my
career.
I'm
like,
why
didn't
you
just
start
this
earlier?
Um,
so
it's
it's
it
is
cool
to
see
maybe
you
know
more
of
the
the
market
shifting
in
that
direction.
I
guess
maybe
that's
sort
of
a
high-level
question.
I
I'd
love
to
hear
your
perspective
on.
Like,
what
do
you
think
sort
of
the
the
state
of
freight
brokerage
looks
like
right
now?
And
do
you
see
it
evolving
into
mostly
an
aging
game?
SPEAKER_00
25:16
There's
always
gonna
be
people
who
want
the
dependability
of
a
paycheck.
So
I
don't
think
the
employee
model
is
ever
gonna
go
away.
Uh,
and
I
mean
the
employee
side
does
have
the
benefits
of
like
a
we're
a
cradle
to
grave
shop.
So,
but
when
you're
an
employee
based,
you
could
have
carrier
sales
reps,
you
can
have
customer
sales
reps,
you
can
have
all
that
other
stuff.
Where
when
you're
agent-based,
odds
are
you're
all
cradle
to
grave
because
you
can't
really
provide
those
services
for
them.
So
I
don't,
I
don't,
I
think
there's
always
going
to
be
a
healthy
mix,
but
I
definitely
think
more
and
more
people
are
going
to
see
the
benefits
of
being
an
agent,
and
it's
gonna
become
more
and
more
of
an
option
that
people
take
because
I
mean
it
has
the
potential
to
make
you
a
lot
more
money.
SPEAKER_02
26:06
Now
what
we're
looking
at,
you
know,
this
is
uh
October
just
ended.
We're
recording
this
at
the
beginning
of
November.
So
a
lot
of
folks
have
either
already
finalized
their
2026
budgets
or
are
currently
working
on
them
right
now.
What
does
I
guess
a
typical
freight
agent
budget
look
like?
Is
it
you
know
just
uh
office
space?
Is
it
equipment,
employees,
and
then
you
don't
necessarily
have
to
worry
about
any
other
expenses?
SPEAKER_00
26:32
Or
is
it
I
mean
if
you
especially
especially
if
you're
just
the
one
man,
one
man
show,
you
don't
you
don't
you're
not
really
thinking
about
any
of
that.
You're
you
don't
need
to
because
all
like
I
said,
all
you
need
is
your
laptop,
your
cell
phone,
and
an
internet
connection.
And
you
can
you
can
literally
work
from
anywhere.
We
we
have
some
agents
who
they
like
they'll
go
on
vacation
and
they're
working
at
like
they're
taking
phone
calls
at
the
beach.
That's
awesome
because
they
they
have
Wi-Fi
and
they
they
can
do
that.
Uh
I
mean
the
biggest
thing
is
just
making
sure
that
you're
you're
forecasting
like
your
custom,
like
you
need
to
you
need
to
know
what
your
customers
are,
what
your
customers'
budgets
are
because
sometimes
like
we
do
they
have
somebody
new
in
transportation
who's
now
looking
to
change
their
freight
budget
and
lower
their
freight
costs,
and
you
need
to
be
cognizant
of
those
things
because
if
that
happens
and
they
go
to
an
RFP
and
you
you're
one
of
those
agents
who
are
doing
the
20-25%
margins,
and
now
all
of
a
sudden
they're
looking
at
their
freight
spend.
If
you
go
in
at
20-25%,
you
might
lose
some
of
those
lanes
because
you
didn't
make
the
connection
that
hey,
they're
doing
this
for
a
reason,
they're
doing
this
to
potentially
lower
freight
costs,
and
because
they
have
somebody
new
in-house
that
you
don't
necessarily
have
the
relationship
with
where
maybe
you
had
it
with
the
old
person,
which
is
why
you
were
able
to
charge
those
kinds
of
margins.
Now
you're
if
you're
not
keeping
up
with
what
your
customer
is
doing,
you
have
the
potential
to
lower
your
revenue
on
that
customer
because
you
might
lose
the
lane.
You
might
lose,
you
might
lose
the
customer
because
you
come
in
too
high.
It's
just
being
cognizant
of
those
things.
SPEAKER_02
28:11
Now,
with
with
your
role,
you
you
have
also
been
heavily
involved
in
the
technology
side
of
things.
We
were
recording
this
on
a
Monday
right
before
TIA,
Technovations,
um,
which
is
a
conference
I
believe
that
you
you
go
to
each
year
or
try
to
anyways
in
every
single
year.
And
so
I'm
curious
what
your
your
take
on
the
overall
sort
of
technology
aspect
side
of
things
is
where
are
people
maybe
over
investing
or
underinvesting
when
it
comes
to
freight
tech?
SPEAKER_00
28:42
Well,
I
mean,
if
you're
gonna
talk
about
freight
tech,
you
gotta
talk
about
AI
because
I
mean
at
technovation,
that's
gonna
be
every
every
session
is
gonna
be
a
drink
every
time
you
hear
the
word.
I
mean,
so
I
mean
technology
is
that's
one
of
the
reasons
to
like
transportation
is
so
fun
right
now
is
because
it's
a
technology
gold
gold
rush
because
transportation
went
from
everybody
hating
technology
to
the
last
seven,
eight
years.
Now
all
of
a
sudden
technology
is
booming
and
there's
new
tools
left,
right,
and
center.
And
the
the
biggest
thing
is
don't
just
like
all
the
presentations
are
gonna
look
amazing.
But
when
you're
going
into
demos
and
you're
going
into
see
these
tools,
make
sure
you're
asking
questions
about
how
it
will
work
with
your
business
processes
because
every
broker
does
things
differently.
And
they're
like,
especially
for
us
as
an
agent-based
model,
we
go
into
a
lot
of
these
tools
and
they
say,
Oh,
it's
gonna
work
great,
it's
gonna
work
great.
And
then
we
say,
Well,
we're
agent-based,
so
we
can't
mandate
that
our
agents
use
any
technology
because
they're
their
own
independent
entities.
We
can't
say
you
must
use
this
or
else
because
then
they'll
say,
Okay,
bye-bye.
So
a
lot
of
companies
they
don't
think
like
that.
They
they
just
assume
everybody's
employee-based
and
it'll
work
for
everybody,
but
that's
not
always
the
case.
And
then,
I
mean,
if
you're
gonna
talk
about
AI,
I
think
there's
been
a
big
change
in
AI
because
before
like
two
years
ago
when
the
AI
boom
started,
AI
was
gonna
do
everything.
Like
every
tool
AI
was
trying
to
replace
the
entire
process.
But
I've
seen
in
the
last
like
18
months,
everything's
now
being
crunched
down
to
it's
only
taking
tiny
slices
of
processes
to
because
in
reality,
like
AI
is
never
gonna
replace
agents,
it's
never
gonna
replace
brokers
because
AI
can't
handle
when
things
go
wrong.
It
works
great
when
everything
is
it's
a
standard
shipment,
everything
goes
smoothly.
But
as
soon
as
something
goes
wrong,
the
I
the
AI
can't
handle
that.
So
using
AI,
but
AI
is
a
necessary
thing
for
any
broker,
but
you
you
gotta
like
if
if
you're
afraid
of
AI
and
you're
afraid
of
technology
and
you're
afraid
of
what
it's
gonna
do,
you're
gonna
get
left
behind.
But
the
most
important
thing
is
that
you
use
the
AI
to
help
make.
You
better.
That's
what,
like
at
SBI,
that's
what
we're
trying
to
do.
We
we
do
have
a
few
AI
tools
that
we're
using,
but
we
use
it
to
empower
our
people.
We're
not
replacing
people
with
AI.
We're
empowering
people
so
that
they're
not
necessarily
doing
all
the
mundane
tasks
that
don't
take
any
brain
power.
Why
are
we
spending
their
time
and
efforts
on
those
kinds
of
things
when
they
can
be
doing
much
more
complex
things
that
are
more
interesting
for
them
and
also
more
revenue
generating
or
expense
saving
on
our
side?
SPEAKER_02
32:05
Where
are
you
seeing
you
mentioned
um
when
AI
is
involved
in
like
some
of
the
the
you
know,
I
guess
uh
smaller
processes
are
built
into
the
business
processes.
Are
there
any
specific
examples
of
where
you're
seeing
it
actually
make
some
real
impact?
SPEAKER_00
32:20
Well,
I
mean,
document
imaging
is
that's
the
the
biggest
one
we've
had
recently
is
starting
to
utilize
AI
for
we
we're
up
to
like
42%
of
our
all
of
our
invoices
are
auto-approved
by
AI.
Wow.
So
we
I
a
human
never
touches
those
documents,
they
get
approved,
sent
to
the
customer,
and
everything
goes
smoothly.
Uh
I
mean
it's
in
scheduling
assistance
and
all
those
kinds
of
things.
It's
just
utilizing
the
tasks
that
like
take
time
but
don't
necessarily
provide
any
value,
and
trying
to
find
a
tool
that
can
replace
that
time
and
make
it
so
that
you
can
do
something
much
more
valuable
with
your
time
rather
than
trying
to
schedule
appointments
or
all
those
kinds
of
things.
SPEAKER_02
33:14
Yeah,
because
I
I
would
definitely,
especially
in
in
my
business,
there
are
instances
where
it
has
made
a
dramatic
impact.
The
perfect
one
I
use
every
time
is
uh
transcribing
like
social
media
clips.
I
I
used
to
have
to
do
it.
I
used
to
pause,
play
the
video,
pause
it,
play
it,
pause
it,
and
then
in
between,
I'm
typing
out
exactly
what
the
person
is
saying.
That
the
fact
that
it
does
it
automatically
now
has
saved
me
so
many
hours.
And
you
know,
for
a
lot
of
the
the
people
out
there
who
sort
of
poo-poo
on
the
benefits
of
AI
um
or
the
the
lack
thereof,
and
that
it's
not
actually
proving
anything.
I
said,
well,
and
first
I
think
you
have
to
kind
of
adjust
your
definition
of
AI.
Yes.
Uh,
and
then
from
there,
you
can
uh
attack
certain
business
processes
to
your
point
um
where
it's
going
to
make
a
dramatic
impact.
I
do
not
want
to
be
sitting
around
and
hand
transcribing
podcast
episodes
in
order
to
make
the
podcast
a
little
bit
more.
SPEAKER_00
34:12
Like
but
AI
isn't
infallible.
So
make
sure
that
you're
actually
like
all
of
these
processes,
make
sure
that
you're
still
spot
checking.
SPEAKER_02
34:20
Yes.
SPEAKER_00
34:20
Like,
especially
like
in
your
transcribing
thing,
make
sure
you're
actually
reading
what
it's
transcribing
because
especially
when
you
have
people
who
have
slight
accents
and
all
those
kinds
of
things,
like
it
can
think
it
said
something
that
it
did
not
like
the
person
did
not
say,
and
it
can
look
really
bad
if
you
actually
put
that
out
there.
So
always
make
sure
that
you
have
a
human
in
the
loop.
SPEAKER_02
34:42
Yeah,
definitely
uh
check
on
those
because
especially
when
it
comes
to
like
names
and
companies,
uh
we
we
still
hand
verify
those
or
manually
verify
uh
those.
But
the
the
perfect
explanation
that
I've
heard
is
that
AI
can
do
great
at
the
messy
middle,
but
you
have
to
be
the
one
to
start
it,
you
have
to
be
the
one
to
to
sort
of
reprompt
it
and
and
reprogram
it.
But
if
you're
as
long
as
you're
involved
at
the
start
and
at
the
end
and
let
AI
kind
of
take
over
that
messy
middle,
then
that's
where
you'll
find
like
the,
I
guess,
the
the
sweet
spot
when
it
comes
to
to
using
technology.
Um
I'm
I'm
curious
with
on
the
shipper
side
of
things,
because
we've
heard
like
more
shippers
starting
to
become
uh
more
cognizant
of
the
shipping
process.
Uh,
you
know,
they
they
want
to
know
more
about
you
know
driver
qualification
and
who's
hauling
their
freight
and
you
know,
important
questions
like
that.
Um,
but
I
I've
also
heard
you
talk
about
shippers
becoming
more
tech
savvy
too,
or
freight
tech
savvy.
What
are
the
I
guess
maybe
the
tech
solutions
that
shippers
care
about
that
maybe
are
a
little
surprising?
SPEAKER_00
35:49
Well,
I
mean,
visibility
is
obviously
first
and
foremost.
Uh,
we've
seen
a
lot
of
a
bit
a
large
increase
in
the
number
of
customers
who,
when
we
sign
their
agreements,
require
visibility
for
all
of
their
loads.
Where
five
years
ago,
that
never
happened.
Like
we
wouldn't,
we
would
never
sign
a
contract
that
had
a
requirement
for
visibility.
And
I
mean,
because
technology
is
becoming
so
much
more
pervasive,
there's
a
lot
of
requests
for
EDI
and
API
connections,
which
I
think
are
awesome.
Like
the
more
the
more
interconnected
you
can
get
with
your
customers,
the
harder
it
is
for
them
to
leave.
Because
now
you
have
all
of
that
work
already
done.
And
in
order
to
move
to
another
provider,
they
now
have
to
do
all
of
that
setup
again
with
somebody
else.
So
it
can
help
keep
your
foot
in
the
door
on
those
kinds
of
things.
And
I
mean,
so
yeah,
we've
seen
a
lot
of
connections
with
that
visibility,
like
I
said.
And
I
mean
load
uh
we're
seeing
it
more
and
more
companies
go
to
load
boards
on
their
own
internal
side.
Where
I
mean,
there's
there's
benefits
and
there's
downsides
depending
on
how
you
like
to
bid
on
your
freight.
And
I
mean,
with
RFPs,
those
are
starting
to
get
more
and
more
sophisticated
because
there's
more
tools
now
to
ingest
that
data
and
analyze
that
data.
And
now
because
they
are
happening
so
much
more
frequently,
uh
I
shippers
have
started
to
invest
in
those
sorts
of
technologies
because
they're
doing
so
many
more
like
what
used
to
be
a
once-a-year
RFP.
There's
some
customers
now
doing
them
quarterly
because
rates
are
so
in
flux.
I
mean,
now,
like
I
said,
we're
sort
of
starting
to
see
where
everybody's
expecting
like
nobody
wants
to
lock
in
for
a
year
because
they're
the
rates
are
gonna
go
up.
But
I
don't
know,
are
they?
SPEAKER_02
37:56
Yeah,
who
knows?
I
mean,
it
just
feels
like
you
you
mentioned
earlier
in
the
show
about,
you
know,
maybe
we
are
just
in
a
new
normal,
but
I
feel
like
ever
since
2020,
we've
been
kind
of
wondering
like
what
does
even
normal
look
like?
And
I
don't
know
that
anybody
knows.
And
obviously
those
purchasing
habits
right
after,
you
know,
sort
of
some
of
the
lockdowns
started
to
end,
where
you
know,
you
saw
this
interesting,
I
guess,
move
from
uh
people
spending
in
the
goods
economy
to
more
the
services
economy.
And
then
I
think
everybody
expected
that
pendulum
to
swing
back
to
goods,
but
uh
maybe
we
are,
like
you
said,
kind
of
evening
out
with
it
with
goods
and
services
alike.
It
do
you
maybe
see
that
as
far
as
the,
I
guess,
the
habits
of
the
population
for
you
know
the
next
couple
of
quarters.
SPEAKER_00
38:43
Uh
it's
definitely
possible.
I
I
think
service
might
go
down
a
bit
only
because
of
all
the
fear
out
there
of
a
recession.
And
so
people
are
gonna
stop
spending
on
experiences
so
much
because
they're
gonna
get
wary
of
potential
downside
of.
I
mean,
when
you
look
at
the
debt
ratio
of
all
of
both
sides
of
the
border,
obviously
I'm
in
Canada,
so
ours
is
not
the
same
as
down
south,
but
the
debt
ratios
that
like
in
households
are
now
carrying
are
so
high
that
there's
they're
a
lot
more
sensitive
to
all
of
this
talk
now
and
of
a
potential
recession
because
you're
worried
that
okay,
now
how
am
I
gonna
pay
off
my
credit
cards
because
I
can't
maybe
I
can't
go
do
that
trip
to
Disneyland
because
I
don't
know
where
my
uh
I
don't
know
what's
gonna
happen
with
the
economy.
I
don't
know
what's
gonna
happen
with
interest
rates.
SPEAKER_02
39:42
Yeah,
because
they
I
mean,
especially
on
the
Disney
side
of
things,
they're
not
getting
any
cheaper.
SPEAKER_00
39:48
Definitely
not.
That
and
that
and
groceries,
like
the
two
things
you
know
are
always
gonna
get
more
expensive.
SPEAKER_02
39:55
They
mentioned
that.
I
feel
like
that's
a
social
media
clip
right
there.
Uh
switching
gears
a
little
bit
to
the
marketing
and
sales
side
of
things.
How
are
you
seeing
agents
adapt
to
all
of
the
turmoil
or
you
know,
potential
of
turmoil
that
exists
in
the
market?
Are
you
seeing
them
marketing
themselves
more,
uh,
you
know,
selling
themselves
more,
doing
more
cold
outbound?
What
we're
talking
to
ages,
how
are
you
seeing
them
adjust
to
the
current
market?
SPEAKER_00
40:22
Well,
I
think
the
biggest
thing
is
their
focus
on
their
existing
customers,
making
sure
that
they're
making
essentially
reselling
themselves
to
their
existing
customer
base,
so
that
because
there
is
all
this
turmoil
out
there
and
all
this
talk
of
rates
and
all
this
customers
are
being
bombarded
every
day
by
15
to
20
other
brokers
trying
to
get
their
business.
So
it's
important
that
the
customers
you
have
make
sure
you
have
good
relationships
with
them.
And
if
if
you
your
customer
base
is
starting
to
go
down,
pick
up
the
phone
call,
pick
pick
up
the
phone,
make
do
the
cold
calling,
send
out
emails,
send
out
anything
you
can
do
to
try
and
get
more
business
because
there's
no
time
like
today,
and
there's
with
the
looming
potential
of
a
recession
and
all
this
other
stuff,
there's
gonna
be
companies
that
unfortunately
don't
come
out
of
this
alive.
So
be
ready
to
when
that
happens,
be
ready
to
pounce
on
because
all
of
that
business
needs
to
go
somewhere.
And
it's
up
to
you
to
be
able
to
go
get
it.
SPEAKER_02
41:34
No,
that
that's
a
great
point,
especially
when
there
is
so
much
turmoil
that's
going
on,
seemingly,
especially
uh
surrounding
us,
you
know,
with
grocery
prices
and
then
geopolitical
issues
and
things
you
cannot
control,
but
you
can
control
the
relationship
that
you
have
with
your
own
people,
and
then
also
maybe
alleviating
or
taking
some
stress
off
of
your
customer's
plate
where
they
don't
have
to
worry
about
moving
their
freight,
the
security
of
their
freight,
uh,
you
know,
even
all
of
the
change
management
that
would
have
to
become
involved
if
they
were
to,
you
know,
go
with
another
provider,
you
know,
reminding
them
of
that
comfort
of
uh
the
worry-freeness
of
working
with
you,
I
think
is
a
really
smart
angle
to
think
right
now.
SPEAKER_00
42:15
I
mean,
the
other
another
strong
thing,
like
fraud,
unfortunately,
is
a
massive
part
of
our
industry
currently.
So
sell
up
the
tools
you're
using
to
try
and
alleviate
fraud.
If
you're
using
an
onboarding
process,
I
don't
want
to
name
any
names,
but
if
you're
using
onboarding
processes
that
monitor
those
kinds
of
things,
sell
your
customer
on
that.
Teach
your
customer
that
they
should
be
monitoring
the
carriers
coming
in
and
out
of
their
facility.
If
you
tell
them
ABC
trucking
is
gonna
be
picking
up
the
load,
the
person
on
the
dock
who's
loading
that
should
be
confirming
that
ABC
trucking
is
the
actual
trucking
company
picking
up
your
load.
Because
we've
seen
it
time
and
time
again
where
our
agent
sets
up
ABC
trucking,
DF
trucking
comes
in
to
pick
up
the
load
because
they
have
the
pickup
number
somehow,
some
way.
The
person
on
the
dock
doesn't
pay
attention
to
that
because
they
got
a
reference
number.
They
they
said
they're
picking
up
the
load
to
Ohio,
and
they
have
a
load
to
Ohio,
so
they're
like,
all
right,
here
you
go.
And
all
of
a
sudden
now
that
load
is
gone.
SPEAKER_02
43:27
Yeah,
because
I
remember
back
as
you
were
talking,
I
was
remembering
back
at
uh
the
TMSA
Transportation
Marketing
and
Sales
conference
that
I
went
to
back
in
June.
Mike
was
there
too,
of
SBI
as
well.
And
there
was
a
talk
that
was
going
on
about
fraud.
And
Cassandra
Gaines,
uh,
she
asked
the
audience
who
in
here
is
marketing
their
fraud
prevention
to
their
customers.
And
out
of
a
room
with
close
to
200
people,
two
people
raise
their
hand.
So
there
it's
it's
prevalent
among
this
industry
that
the
the
brokers
of
the
ages,
they're
not
telling
their
customers
about
what
all
of
the
work
that
they're
doing
to
help
their
freight
move
uh
smoothly
and
and
quickly.
And
so
I
think
that
that's
such
an
important
marketing
lesson
to
hit
home
on
is
show
the
work
of
what
you're
doing
in
the
background
so
your
customer
has
less
to
worry
about.
So
they're
not
going
to
make
a
change
in
the
future,
and
that
they're
gonna
trust
you
more
and
rely
on
you
more
and
see
you
as
more
of
the
educational
resource
in
this,
you
know,
sort
of
fraud-driven
environment
that
we
we
find
ourselves
in.
Um
last
couple
of
questions
here,
you
know,
as
someone
who
who
goes
to
you
know
a
lot
of
conferences,
I
am
curious
from
you
know,
the
I
guess
the
the
agent
lens,
how
would
you,
or
maybe
even
like
the
profit
and
loss
statement,
you
know,
how
do
you
justify,
you
know,
what
does
ROI
look
like
whenever
you're
going
to
a
conference?
And
how
can
you
kind
of
justify
that
from
like
a
business
standpoint?
SPEAKER_00
44:55
I
mean,
the
biggest
thing
is
well,
a
especially
like
an
industry
conference
like
TIA,
it's
important
to
at
least
have
a
somewhat
of
a
presence
just
because
I
mean
it
is
it
is
our
industry,
it's
all
our
peers,
and
it's
a
good
place
just
to
go
and
connect.
But
to
get
that
ROI,
you
need
to
be
making
connections
with
people
there
who
can
potentially
help
you
down
the
road
and
seeing
all
like
all
of
the
technology,
because
like
I
said
before,
it's
a
technology
boom
right
now.
So
you
need
to
be
up
to
date
on
everything
that's
coming
out
there,
and
if
you
can
get
a
tool
that
saves
five
minutes
a
day,
that's
probably
worth
the
investment
you
just
spent
to
go
out
there
for
a
few
days
to
go
to
see
the
conference.
So
it's
just
making
sure
that
you're
you
have
your
ears
and
eyes
open
for
any
potential
possibilities
that
can
help
you
down
the
road.
SPEAKER_02
45:51
And
then
I
think
too,
from
uh
even
like
SBI
standpoint,
you
guys
are
always
investing
in
new
technology.
And
so
even
if
you
have
a
current
tech
stack
or
you're
thinking
about
adding
something
else
to
your
to
your
tech
stack,
we've
had
you
know
a
VP
of
tech
or
VP
of
IT,
I
believe
is
his
title,
Eze
Peralta
on
the
show.
And
he's
talked
about
how
he
integrates
all
kinds
of
different
technology
for
all
of
the
agents.
And
so,
you
know,
having
a
partner
like
SPI
to
be
able
to
help
you
with
that
financial
burden,
but
also
to
help
increase
you
know
processes
or
productivity,
you
know,
things
like
that,
like
the
these
kinds
of
decision
making
and
the
the
network
effect
that
you
can
get
by
by
working
as
a
freight
agent
for
SPI,
I
think
it's
just
you
don't
really
realize
that
in
the
bottom
of
your
you
know
profit
and
loss
statement,
but
well,
you
probably
do
because
your
expenses
are
a
lot
less
than
what
you
know
a
traditional
brokerage
or
if
you
were
running
a
traditional
brokerage
would
be.
Um
but
I
would
love
for
you
to
be
able
to
sort
of
speak
to
the
I
guess
the
investment
that
you
make
in
your
agents
in
the
in
the
tools
and
the
processes
that
they
prefer
as
well.
SPEAKER_00
47:02
Absolutely.
Like
so
we're
we're
always
open
to
new
technologies,
like
you
said.
We
have
agents
coming
to
us
all
the
time,
like,
hey,
we
have
this
new
tool,
or
we
we
found
this
new
tool.
Can
we
can
we
put
it
onto
the
network?
Can
we
put
it
onto
the
TMS?
And
we
evaluate
all
of
those
things.
Some
of
them
we're
gonna
say
yes,
some
of
them
we're
gonna
say
no,
because
maybe
they
only
are
good
for
you
and
not
for
everybody
else.
But
we're
gonna
evaluate
it
nonetheless,
and
like
you
like
going
to
these
conferences,
you
never
know
what
new
tools
are
out
there
because
a
lot
of
the
times,
like
I
get
a
hundred
emails
a
day
from
vendors
trying
to
sell
me
some
new
tool,
and
all
of
those
I
just
ignore
and
delete
because
I
get
them
all
the
time
every
day.
But
when
you
can
actually
go
and
touch
and
feel
and
see
what
these
tools
do,
and
you
you
realize,
hey,
I
I've
seen
their
name
like
15
times
in
my
inbox.
I've
never
actually
looked
at
it,
but
now
I
see
what
they
do,
and
yeah,
maybe
I
can
schedule
a
demo
to
see
if
that'll
work
for
everybody.
And
most
technology,
it's
never
gonna
work
for
everybody,
especially
in
an
agent-based
model,
because
everybody
does
their
does
their
thing
a
little
bit
differently.
But
we're
going
to
invest
in
our
technology
to
make
sure
that
our
agents
have
the
best
tools
at
their
disposal
so
that
they're
not
getting
told
no
because
the
technology
can't
do
something
that
the
customer
needs.
SPEAKER_02
48:26
All
right,
James.
We
have
talked
about
we've
talked
about
taxes,
we've
talked
about
technology,
marketing,
sales
conferences,
all
of
that
good
stuff.
Uh,
what
would
be
maybe
some
end
of
2025,
uh
going
into
2026
advice
that
you
would
give
to
prospective
freight
agents
out
there
that
are
thinking
about
m
taking
the
leap?
SPEAKER_00
48:49
I
mean,
there's
a
lot,
there's
a
lot
of
turmoil
out
there.
There's
a
lot
of
unknown.
So
if
you
have
the
wherewithal
to
make
the
jump,
make
the
leap,
now
is
as
good
a
time
as
any
because
there
is
so
much
turmoil
out
there.
Your
customer
might
be
more
willing
to
open
up
to
another
vendor
because
it's
happening
all
the
time
right
now.
And
so
now
might
be
before
everything
does
turn,
now
might
be
the
best
time
to
do
it.
You're
gonna
you
have
the
potential
to
make
a
lot
more
money.
Not
everybody's
gonna
make
more
money.
There's
some
people,
it
it
just
won't
work.
Your
customers
don't
come
over,
something
happens,
you're
maybe
you
can't
get
credit
on
that
customer
from
the
new
broker.
But
if
you
if
you're
willing
to
take
the
risk,
I
think
it's
a
super
valuable
risk
you
can
take.
And
it's
just
it
just
has
the
potential
to
completely
change
your
life
because
you're
now
you
work
for
yourself.
You're
you're
you're
not
you're
your
own
boss.
You
don't
have
somebody
telling
you
what
to
do
every
day.
I
mean,
that
sounds
real,
real
nice
to
me.
SPEAKER_02
50:04
Well,
I
think
too
with
with
everything
that
you
you've
talked
about,
especially
with
with
building
the
relationships
with
your
customers
and
having
them
see
you
as
you
know
the
the
trustworthy,
knowledgeable
person
within
this
industry,
if
you
are
proactive
in
those
conversations,
then
they're
gonna
trust
you
to
continue
making
the
best
decisions
for
not
only
for
themselves,
but
also
in
in
turn
for
your
freight
as
well.
So
I
think
this
is
all,
you
know,
just
it's
it's
kind
of
the
the
time
of
the
year
for
like
the
housekeeping
of
looking
at
wherever
your
all
where
all
your
money
went
and
where
it's
maybe
gonna
go
and
where
it's
coming
from
and
uh
you
know
making
those
adjustments
and
and
getting
ahead
of
some
of
those
you
know
new
year's
resolutions.
So
I
guess
a
final
piece
of
of
you
know,
maybe
advice
or
where
folks
can
connect
with
you,
maybe
connect
with
you
at
you
know
upcoming
conferences,
um,
all
that
good
stuff.
Where
can
they
find
you,
James?
SPEAKER_00
50:55
Yeah,
so
like
I
said,
I'm
gonna
be
at
Technovations
uh
later
in
this
week.
I'm
on
LinkedIn.
You
can
find
me
there.
You
can
email
me,
JLemon
at
spi3pl.com.
Uh
if
you're
a
vendor,
I'm
probably
gonna
ignore
your
email.
SPEAKER_02
51:09
But
unless
they
find
you
at
a
conference.
SPEAKER_00
51:13
But
you
find
me
at
a
conference,
I'm
always
willing
to
have
a
conversation.
I
like
I
surprisingly
like
to
talk.
So
I
mean,
yeah,
and
like
I
said,
I'm
on
LinkedIn.
You
can
connect
with
me
there.
I
accept
pretty
much
every
connection
on
there,
so
yeah,
same.
SPEAKER_02
51:29
I
just
accept
everybody,
and
then
all
of
a
sudden
I
have
no
followers
and
I'm
like,
what
the
heck?
Oh,
wait,
they're
all
in
the
connections
tab,
not
the
following
tab.
So
LinkedIn
is
a
little
weird
in
that
regard,
but
it
is
the
best
networking
platform,
a
digital
networking
platform
um
that
our
industry
has
to
offer.
So,
James,
this
is
great.
This
is
uh
very
eye-opening
as
far
as
like
the
financial
lens
is
is
concerned.
So
I
am
excited
to
kind
of
like
dive
into
my
books
now
and
and
and
see
what
we
have
planned
for
for
2026.
So
appreciate
you
and
your
time
and
and
the
relationship,
obviously,
with
SBI
and
being
big
supporters
of
the
show.
And
so
finally
glad
to
get
you
on,
and
I
can't
wait
to
get
this
conversation
out
to
folks.
SPEAKER_00
52:08
Sounds
good.
Thank
you.
SPEAKER_01
52:14
Thanks
for
tuning
in
to
another
episode
of
Everything
Is
Logistics
where
we
talk
about
things
supply
chain
for
the
thinkers
in
the
freight.
If
you
like
this
episode,
there's
plenty
more
where
that
came
from.
Be
sure
to
follow
or
subscribe
on
your
favorite
podcast
app
so
you
never
miss
a
conversation.
The
show
is
also
available
in
video
format
over
on
YouTube
just
by
searching
Everything
is
Logistics.
And
if
you're
working
in
freight
logistics
or
supply
chain
marketing,
check
out
my
company
Digital
Dispatch.
We
help
you
build
smarter
websites
and
marketing
systems
that
actually
drive
results,
not
just
vanity
metrics.
Additionally,
if
you're
trying
to
find
the
right
freight
tech
tools
or
partners
without
getting
buried
in
buzzwords,
head
on
over
to
CargoRex.io
where
we're
building
the
largest
database
of
logistics
services
and
solutions.
All
the
links
you
need
are
in
the
show
notes.
I'll
catch
you
in
the
next
episode
and
go
check.
