Jennifer Lynn Harris:
0:05
Looking at different options, it just seemed like it would be a really good fit. And it's a good combination of kind of doing your own thing, but at the same time having a good, strong team that's backing you
Unknown:
0:16
pretty much, you know, any of the negatives that you would run into completely on your own. They kind of eliminate those welcome
Blythe Brumleve:
0:26
into another episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight. We are proudly presented by SPI logistics, and I'm your host. Blythe Brumleve. I'm happy to welcome in Jennifer Lynn Harris. She is the managing partner of freight coordinate and new agent for SPI Logistics. So we're going to be talking about that entrepreneurial business woman's journey into the world of logistics. So Jennifer, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Awesome. So Okay, okay, so how we have to start off with this, the same question that I asked you know, majority of people like, did logistics find you, or did you go to school for it? And then you're one of those few people that actually went to school for it and ended up in logistics. Or did it find you? I guess it found me. I actually went to Bible school. So you know, this is not necessarily what I was planning for, and they actually just hired me to answer the phones a long time ago. It's been almost 17 years, and started out in customer service,
Unknown:
1:26
you know. And I was with the a company that's now global, but whenever I was first recruited, there were about nine of us in the office. So that was probably one of the best learning opportunities, just because it was always all hands on deck. And, you know, a lot of times there were situations where we didn't have a designated full department for something so that that was the best learning opportunity there. Because, you know, just being able to help with international shipments here, there, or onboarding new customers, warehousing projects, things like that, you know, I really got to have my hand in the cookie jar in a lot of different fields, and a lot of different, you know, projects and things that we were working on. Oh, I love that, especially if you're the first sort of line of defense of the customer interactions. You're probably hearing like all of the, you know, the maybe the customer service related questions, the complaints, you know, a lot of those issues where you're getting that firsthand knowledge. Do you remember, like a time when you were first kind of getting started out that you were like, I think this is going to be a industry that I want to stay in Sure. You know, it just being a very hands on person. There were a lot of things that we were finding developing our software, and things that, you know, establishing how we would interact with other branches and things like that. I found myself volunteering for a lot of different things, to the point where I was, you know, running reports on the weekends. And, you know, working, we trained a team in Shanghai to track and trace overnight, and we were able to go pretty much paperless just by sharpening our communication more and more. It just kind of became my life. And, you know, I've met so many great people over the years and worked with so many great customers. It just kind of, you know, it kind of becomes who you are, and you know what you're thinking about and doing every day. And then, you know, when you meet those people over the year, they always, over the years, they always seem to come back and find you, you know, so it's, it's just been something that's really easy to get into, you know, and at one point, I left boarding and opened a hot shot company. So I started as the original driver, driving a flatbed. And I would get up, I would get up in the morning, and I would search for loads if we didn't have anything, and then I would go pick it up. And, you know, people would say, Did you drive here by yourself? You know, got a got a lot of really interesting feedback, you know, pulling up in a flat bed, especially when I was first starting out. And that really, you know, we were able to grow that to where I was managing drivers from home and then driving here and there. But really, I think the goal was to have just a little bit of freedom, you know, have a little bit of flexibility, even when you're looking working long, difficult days, if you know that there's something that you need to take care of with your family or something, you can always work around that. And then, you know, I'm the kind of person that likes to be on my computer a lot. So I don't have, you know, I don't have a problem hopping on at nine or 10 o'clock at night and, you know, answering some emails and things like that. It's, you know, it's always been something that's, it's very driving, I think that that's, you know, just kind of stuck with me and just, you know, what? Once you work with people and they realize that you're very available, and that you take on all of their all of their needs as your own, and that you're not going to stop until the job is done. You know, that's really been the best thing that's helped continuing to progress. Now I want to go back to because, first of all, I'm the same way that 9:10pm, I'm answering emails as well. I find it more peaceful to answer emails late at night than during the day, when you know everything kind of feels you know you're getting pulled in so many different directions. But I want to go back to when you decided to become a driver. What was that process like? How did you decide that you were you know you were going to go from the office to drive in a truck, working in an office, where we're doing a lot of dispatching, and being really hands on in the warehouse as well, and helping, you know, from loading trucks to, you know, helping the drivers that are trying to secure their loads, just became familiar with it. My dad actually was a driver. So he was a driver for 18 years, and as a child, I used to ride with him sometimes. So, you know, it was just always something that was around and it seemed like more of a norm. You know, looking back, it just seemed like, yeah, it just is something that I just kind of, it seemed like a good fit, and that was the whole culture, was everything to do with trucking and driving and delivering loads and things like that. So it was a pretty natural fit to just jump in and handle that freight yourself. You know, just just one more way to deliver for customers in every aspect of the word. So what is, for folks who may not know what is sort of the Hot Shot routes, and why did you choose, you know, that type of driving job? You know, we, I traded in a little Mustang for a work truck, and it just seemed like something I don't know. You know, I've driven a truck before, and that it just seemed like a good, good fit, a good setup. And then I like the idea of being able to disconnect from the trailer, you know, and be able to use the vehicle still for other things. And so you can't exactly run the kids to school in a in a 53 van. So you know that that just was a pretty good fit. Yeah, it sounds like it made, you know, a lot of sense. And for folks who may not know you're based in Texas, Fort Worth Texas. So I think it makes a little bit more sense that that you, you would pick that route as well as, you know, being your first time driving job. Now, did you, did you do any other type of driving jobs? Or did you stay with hot shot before you, you started managing drivers yourself, stayed with hot shot. So it was the the niche was flatbed hot shots. So, and then after, after you did that, what? What made you decide, okay, now I think I could start building this, and I think I could start getting my own drivers, sure. I think that was, that was kind of the goal, you know, initially, is to build it up, you know, and and drive so that you have opportunity to bring on another driver, and then, you know, just, I was kind of like a float, and, you know, just as needed, I would always be able to hop in and drive, oh, that's smart. That's super smart, because then you're like, you're almost your own backup, in case, you know, another driver, you know, gets sick, or they have something come up, and then you can kind of go in and you can fill the gaps. And then, you know, when you're you're working these routes, or when you're driving these routes, are they, you know? Are they long distance? Are they all you know pretty much in the state of Texas or around the same general geographic area. Sure, really drove all over the place. So started out as interstate, and then moved on to CDL interstate, and I would drive to Phoenix, Arizona regularly, Bridgeport, West Virginia. I will say one thing that was kind of interesting is, you know, in Fort Worth, we don't really see a ton of snow equipped for that. So a lot of times, you know, if we see icy conditions around here, a lot of times everything just kind of shuts down. And so I don't have a ton of experience driving on on snow and ice. And there was a day that I went to pick up this load, and it was still in QC. So it was an aerospace engine, and they were still, you know, running QC on it. And as I sat there for hours and hours, snow started to fall and ice started to fall, and I was going to Oklahoma, so, you know, so it wasn't really a terrible long drive, but, you know, you've got a million dollar engine on your truck, and you're, you know, at least you're, it could be very nerve wracking, but I just, I just remember, you know, I couldn't even. I couldn't put the tarp on it very well, because by time they brought the engine out, the the trailer was coated in a thin layer of ice. So luckily, I had some assistance. They were able to, you know, use a forklift to help maneuver things and and get everything squared away. But as I was driving up to Oklahoma, I saw, I think I counted 21 accidents. But with the, you know, the hot shot, with the trailer behind it, and the weight that we had, I never had any issue at all. I just, you know, just slow and steady. And I think, you know, I saw several cars off to the side of the road. And I think the weight, and, you know, just the setup of the trailer actually helped and made it much safer. I never, I never felt like I was sliding at all, just slow and steady. And, you know, made it to Oklahoma, and I just decided to stop and get a hotel there. Because, you know, I was, it was just, it was, it turned into a very, very long drive, but stressful too. Yeah, it was pretty stressful, you know, kind of Grinch in your teeth the whole time I was making the steering wheel. But, you know, outside of that, it was just just a, you know, just a good, normal fit. It, it didn't seem like anything too crazy. And looking back, I think I would have thought it was a much bigger decision, but it just kind of seemed like the right thing to do. And, you know, at this point, I probably don't want to drive a flatbed again, you know. And I really respect, you know, my dad was a driver. I really respect all of the drivers and everything that they do. And it was, you know, it's a hard job, you know, putting there were these loads that we would take that were about eight feet tall, and they were the full length of the trailer, and it was foam, so you'd put the tarp on there. And then, when I was driving out to West Texas. Whenever you get out there, it's almost, kind of adhered to the freight it's kind of almost melted on so, you know, getting those tarps off and rolling them up, you know, that's a really hard job. And, you know, there's, there's people get injured. I broke my finger on the job one day with the load bar, just like it this, it slipped and smashed my finger. Um, so, you know, I, I, I'm really happy that I had the experience and met a lot of great people and a lot of great carriers that I still excuse me, that I still work with, and, you know, just a lot of respect for all the guys that are out there doing that. And I'm really, you know, I'm lucky that I have the opportunity, you know, as a mom, to be able to work from home and still work in the same world and work with a lot of the same people, but being able to have that time at home, you know, managing the drivers is Something that it's a great opportunity. Are you in freight sales with a book of business looking for a new home, or perhaps you're a freight agent in need of a better partnership? These are the kinds of conversations we're exploring in our podcast interview series called The freight agent trenches, sponsored by SPI logistics. Now I can tell you all day that SPI is one of the most successful logistics firms in North America, who helps their agents with back office operations such as admin, finance, it and sales, but I would much rather you hear it directly from SPI freight agents themselves. And what better way to do that than by listening to the experienced freight agents tell their stories behind the how and the why they joined SPI hit the freight agent link in our show notes to listen to these conversations. Or if you're ready to make the jump, visit SPI three. Pl.com, yeah, for sure, it takes a special kind of human to be able to do that role over an extended period of time, for decades, like your father, you know, close to two decades doing that job. My grandfather was a tow truck driver, and he did it for little over 30 years. And it's just, it wears on you after a while, and it's, you know, it just becomes something that you, you either stay in it for life, or you you find out what your your exit plan is going to be, or your exit transition is is going to be. So, so talk to me. Talk to me about, you know, starting up and expanding and starting to hire drivers. What, what did that process look like? Because you're handling all of the freight yourself, and now you're trusting others to start handling it for you. So, so talk me through what that that process look like, of of transitioning into the office Sure. You know, hiring drivers, it is such an important decision. And you know, we were, we were incident free. You know, did. There's just so much room for error. And you know, ensuring that everything is secured properly and all the compliance of. Um, before the company started, there was a lot of time spent, you know, just excel sheets of compliance and well, you need to have in your unit at all times and just safety and or what to do in case of an incident, and who to reach out for this, and who to reach out to for that. Really, with compliance was a lot of it. And then with with hiring drivers, just, you know, referrals are always best if you know somebody that knows somebody at least, so that you're not just looking at their background on paper. And just, you know, you're really working together. And when you get a good feel that they they they take on all the responsibility as their own. You know, it's a it's a great find. It is kind of tricky to find drivers. So, you know, once, once you find a good driver, you take really good care of them, and you make sure that they have everything they need, and you work with their schedule as well. But yeah, I really think that that's honestly, honestly, the most difficult part is finding good drivers and keeping them happy and and, you know, it's always great when you have a great driver and the customers love them, it's always, you know, it's like, it can become like a family. So there's, there's another freight agent. His name is Steve, and he talks about how the drivers are your your first line of connection to your customers, that they're the ones you know, meeting them and shaking their hands. So it's, it's so important to have, you know, really good drivers that can be able to set that precedent and set that good expectation, you know, with your customers, what do you think are some of the things that drivers need today that they didn't necessarily need? You know, maybe 510, years ago? You know, that's a great question. I know technology continues to evolve, and things are just not done the same way that they were before. So, you know, a really good professional driver that's up with current technology, you know, I would say dash cams, that's, that's an easy one. So everybody didn't have those before. And, you know, there, there were times where, as a driver, I mean, you just see accidents all day, every day, just all over the place, and a lot of them, you're not sure how they happen, but it looked like it could have been avoided. You know, have a good dash cam, because a lot of times when people see a commercial vehicle, they do want to, even if, you know, we had somebody at one point, swerve into one of our lanes, and that was caught with a dash cam. But if you don't have that, you know they're always going to try to point the finger and hope that with a commercial business, there's going to be something, something in it for them, whether they caused an accident or not. It's like the I don't know if you've seen that video, but it's been going viral as of late, where the woman is just driving her SUV, and it's like a coordinated incident where the she has a dash cam in her car, and so the car swerved over in front of her, tried to get her to hit the car, and then when that didn't happen, when she successfully missed the collision, the driver stopped and then backed up and rear ended into her. And I don't know if you've seen, I actually did see that, yeah, that is crazy. And I would imagine that that, you know it, of course, it's she's not, you know, a truck driver. But I would imagine that if that's happening for regular drivers, then it has to happen for commercial drivers as well, for sure. And then so after you. So you're driving, you make the transition into the office, you're starting to build up the business, and you're starting to recruit more drivers. So what happens? What's that next step look like for you? Do you? Do you start looking at freight agent opportunities? Or do they? Does that kind of find you? Well, you know how it worked with us is every with the with the initial truck being able to be used as a personal vehicle too. You know, we would always grow the business, and then when it got to the point where you needed more and more capacity, then that's all hands on deck, and everybody's driving, and then you bring on another driver, and it just kind of grows slowly, where, slowly, where, every time that we were really busy bring on another driver to keep up with everything, ended up getting separated. And so we had moved out into the country, and we were running the business from there. And whenever we got separated, I came back to the Metroplex kind of, kind of unexpectedly, kind of quickly, and so I jumped out, I jumped back out here near the airport, and went, you know, back into forwarding. And you know, I worked with some really great people. And. Then, luckily, I got to the point where it was like, Okay, I feel like I'm ready to go do my own thing again. You know, just make maintain control of the freight and provide service. You know, when it's when it's your business, you're providing service the way that you think it should be best provided on the timeframe that you know that your customer needs. And you know, it's just maybe I'm a controlling person, I don't know, but I, you know, I like to maintain control of that freight, and I like being at this layer where I'm at right now, where I'm actually dealing with the drivers and I have their cell phone number and so that anytime my my customers have a question, I can answer it immediately, indirectly, without having to go through any other layers of communication. So why? Why forwarding and not, like, I guess, like a traditional brokerage, because they're kind of the same, but with forwarding, from what I understand you're more handling, you know, international clients trying to get their shipments into the US or, you know, maybe a cross border, Canada, Mexico, that kind of thing. Why? Why forwarding and not maybe, like brokerage, is it because that that's kind of what you knew, and that's what you got started on. So when I, when I jumped back out here and went into forwarding that a lot of that was to do with the opportunity that I had on the table, and opportunities, I guess I should say, that I had on the table I moved out here with my daughter, and it was just kind of quickly figuring things out and getting, you know, re established out here. And I really, actually, you know, that's I ended up leaving forwarding to to do what I'm doing now, where it is more of a, you know, more of a brokerage, and dealing directly with the drivers and and so when you are, you know, handling, I guess, a lot of these shipments. So, you know, business as normal for the most part. And then did you reach out to to SPI, or did they, they kind of find you? So I actually, I spoke to a friend of mine, Nathan Chaney. He works with SPI Yes. And so, you know, I knew I was getting to the place where, you know, kind of looking at transition, and just I wanted to make sure that this time, because there was no need to make a sudden jump, I wanted to look at all of my options and everything that he said about SPI, you know, just great feedback. The team is very supportive. They're very, very quick to answer any questions. They do a lot of the the accounting and the collecting and that sort of thing for LTL shipments. You know, they do a lot of help with a lot of the follow up after those are booked. So looking at different options, it just seemed like it would be a really good fit. And it's a good combination of kind of doing your own thing, but at the same time, having a good, strong team that's backing you pretty much, you know, any of the negatives that you would run into completely on your own, they kind of eliminate those. And so like, as you're you're starting this transition, you make the decision that that SPI is the company that you're going to go with. What did that initial like onboarding look like? Was it essentially just handing the keys over to someone else, or, you know, getting integrated into their, you know, technology systems to walk me through. What that you know, I guess first month looks like as an SPI trade agent. Well, there were, you know, training videos and live training going through the system. You know, some some tests that needed to be taken just, you know, so that they can make sure that they're, they're being well represented by anybody that they bring on board. You know, they wanted to know about background, and you know, what the experience you have in the industry, if you, if you've been a broker before, or if you, if you've been brokering before, if you, you know, just wanted to make sure that you have relevant experience history that lines up with what you'd be doing. Because you know it is, it is all going to be, ultimately your responsibility. So there's liability there. And, you know, they they're working on building a strong reputation. So how long have you been an agent for them? Um, it's only it's been around a month. Oh, well. So you are in the you are in the middle of it right now. Yes. Oh, wow. Okay, okay, so now that I feel like that's a whole new so you've gone through training, you just, you decided it, you know, is the company for you. Where do you see, sort of, like, I guess, the bright spots right now of, you know, sort of those light bulb moments where you kind of get through the, you know, the the training stuff, but now you're like, in it, or are you still going through the training stuff, and, you know, the the light. Old moments maybe are happening, you know, not going through any of their training, per se, but you know, when you're in logistics, as you know, every day is different, and so that's one thing that always keeps it interesting, is no matter, even if you're working with the same customers, a lot of times, those customers are always going to have different needs. But you know, as as an agency owner, you're working with all different industries, and so you get to learn a little bit about, you know, all different types of businesses and what, what makes them turn brokering success demands a battle ready strategy Ty TMS equips freight brokers with the ultimate battle station for conquering a tough market. With Ty, brokers gain access to a comprehensive platform where rate intelligence and quote history converge on a single screen. It's not just a page, it's a strategic command center designed to help brokers win. Thai equips your team with all of the data they need to negotiate with confidence and allows them to communicate directly with carriers and customers from a simple control base, revolutionize the way your brokers perform by giving them a competitive advantage with Thai TMS. For more info, go to Tai dash software.com backslash battle stations. And we also have a link for you in the show notes to sign up for a demo you had just mentioned using or talking with. Nathan Janey, he has been a previous guest on on this show, and he's super big into content marketing, especially for his business. And I think I saw a post that you were helping him out with some content marketing as well. Is that, right? Yes. So, yeah, we, we actually worked together years ago, maybe 10 or 15 years ago. We worked together. And, you know, he's just, he's brilliant, and he's a really funny guy. He's great to work with. And so well, you know, I actually just was kind of picking his brain, deciding what to do next. And so, yeah, we do, we do try and work together here and there. And then, you know, some of the great work, some of the great carriers that we both come across, we kind of share those. And then, yeah, I mean, there's, there's constantly learning experience because of every, every day being different. So I will, you know, we'll pick each other's brains here and there, just to see if we come across an unusual situation. But yeah, he's, he's a he's got a lot going on, to say the least. So how are you planning on doing it? You know, following kind of the Nathan model, where you start making content for, you know, yourself your customers. Are you still kind of, you know, dipping your toe in that water? Or what does, I guess, sort of marketing and personal branding of yourself looks like, because you have a really great LinkedIn presence. So I was just curious on how you're kind of planning that, or maybe, you know, using some of the tips that you and Nathan have talked about, you know, in your future efforts, sure. Well, you know, he's really strong in marketing and all of that, and I think that's kind of something that he gravitates towards. So I think he would be my go to. He would be my go to for that sort of thing, you know. And I enjoy working the freight so, you know, love getting out and meeting people and going to events, that sort of thing here and there. But primarily I'll focus on on working the freight. And then as we come across people that have those needs, I think, you know, I would refer them to him with the, you know, the stronger marketing background, and he's, he's definitely a creative, you know, so well. So as you're, you know, you're kind of rounding out your your experience with SPI. You're very still new, new to the game. What does what? What advice would you give to someone else who may be in a similar position, where they've worked in logistics for, you know, a long time, and maybe they're thinking about, you know, taking the leap and, you know, working for themselves. What advice would you give to an aspiring freight agent that that would be interested in, you know, following in your footsteps? You know, I would say it's a, it's a great decision. You have to be sure that you're going to be available. You know, it's you're pretty much, you're needed to be available nearly 24/7 so you want to be able to be present if there's, if anybody has a need outside of regular business hours or just, you know, even during the day, there's, there's, there's always a high urgency to anything that needs to be shipped. Typically, you want to have a response over to your customer really quickly. When you when you locate drivers for a load, they need to know really quickly. Um. Need all the details really quickly, and they need to, you know, get the right confirmation and things like that. I would say just, you know, put a plan together, make sure that you're going to be able to go out there and find customers. Because a lot of people have multiple people knocking on their doors every day, they might have 10 or 15 people that stop by their business a day looking for business. So I would, you know, it's good to get some practice on that first and make sure that that you're going to be able to find ways to keep the trucks busy. And then, you know, it's kind of been good to just watch things slowly grow and take off. I feel like the timing worked out really well with getting familiar with the system and just some of the different things. And there's a lot of tools that are available in their platform. And so with business ramping up at the same time, you're getting faster, and you're learning how to use these different tools in the in the fastest, most efficient ways. You know, just, just be prepared to be be prepared to be available. And you know, always continue to sharpen and learn every day. Last couple questions here, what, what has worked for you, for, for finding, you know, say, new customers, or maybe getting more business out of your existing customer base? Are there any sales tips that you could give folks. I am definitely not a sales person, per se. I am not that person, but you know for me, I think it's whenever you're able to level with somebody, and if you can actually get them to see you and understand your work ethic and how much you're going to prioritize their needs, and you're going to take them on as your own once, once people really get that, and especially when you start working together, and you get the chance to prove yourself and to prove how much of a priority you can make their freight once you once you prove that to them, I think that really it makes them Stick around and continue to grow and continue to trust you. And then also, referrals is the best when you when you're taking great care of somebody, and they give a referral from experience that this person can help you out. You know, I think that's that's a great way to go about it. And then also, something that I've done is, whenever I know that I have empty trucks in certain areas with great carriers that I want to help, help them stay busy, I'll look by location and see who I know is in the area, or who I can find that's in the area. And just say, hey, tomorrow I'm going to have a truck in your area. If you have anything coming back towards Texas, and that's another great excuse to kind of reach out to them, and a possibility to get your foot in the door. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with a few things that you know, obviously, the way that you treat your carriers sounds a lot like the way that you treat your customers. Is you want to get that foot in the door with them, and then continue to build that trust and continue to look out for them. And so I think it's probably the same approach. And you're not the only agent that said that referrals are king when it comes to sales, because that is the easiest way to get new business is by asking the folks that you already do business with. And so I think that those if, if folks spent a little bit more time on that, maybe they would spend less time, you know, spamming email inboxes, you know, things like that. Yeah, yeah. All right. Jennifer, where can folks connect with you, you know, maybe follow you on LinkedIn. Where are you kind of hanging out the most? And where can people, you know, connect with you, sure, you know, LinkedIn is a good platform. I'm gonna have some other social media sites that are kind of up and coming. So, you know, look for the name freight coordinate, Jennifer Harris, Fort Worth. So they're, they're a ton of Jennifer Harris's. So that doesn't quite narrow it down, but Jennifer Harris, Fort Worth that's the key right there. We'll try to make it easy for folks. We'll put a link to your LinkedIn profile in the show notes, and then, you know, thank you so much for sharing your perspective, and congratulations. Welcome to you know the SPI team, and I look forward to watching you and your business grow. You. 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. 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. You.
