Most freight brokers treat LTL like a smaller version of truckload. It’s not. Every carrier touchpoint is a separate fee, every cross-border pallet is a customs risk, and one bad document can send your freight to a bonded warehouse your customer didn’t budget for. Robert Kowton has spent 17+ years learning this the hard way so his customers don’t have to.
In this episode, Blythe and Robert cover:
▪ Why LTL pricing is “a la carte” and how fees stack up fast when you don’t ask the right questions upfront
▪ The cross-border documentation mistakes that send pallets to bonded warehouses in 2026
▪ How Robert went from zero customers in 2008 to a referral-driven agency built on carrier trust
▪ His “quote to execute” philosophy: why he never quotes without a carrier plan already in place
▪ The solo agent tech stack under $500/year: Nozbe, Evernote, File Center, RingCentral
▪ Cold calling strategies that still work when you research the commodity and trace the supply chain first
▪ Why diversifying across commodities (not niching down) protected him through every market cycle
▪ Advice for aspiring freight agents: mentorship, reserves, and where to start with zero experience
▪ How tariffs in 2025-2026 forced creative customs documentation and reshaped cross-border supply chains
Connect with Robert on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-kowton-11b00425/
