Blythe Brumleve:
0:05
Welcome into another episode of everything is logistics. I'm your host Blythe Brumleve. And this is a podcast for the thinkers in freight. And I'm just gonna read from her Twitter bio here because we got a good guest for you today. She calls herself freight nerd circa 2013, former freight broker journalist, Sirius XM radio host and self proclaimed president of the cage writer fan club. Cage writer is, of course, the investigative reporter for 15 years, Clarissa halls over at Freightways, which I am a huge fan of as well. And if you're listening to the show, and you've probably listened to former episodes, you have heard her voice before. And if you are involved in any kind of freight media, you've likely heard her voice, Miss gray Sharkey, welcome into the show.
Grace Sharkey:
0:50
Thank you so much. This is so fun.
Blythe Brumleve:
0:54
So for folks who may not be aware, we're kind of trading off we're doing like content partnerships. Here, we're open to opening up our content game here, I'm going to be appearing regularly on Grace is serious show. So she's going to be appearing regularly on here to get us all caught up with all things, freight tech. So I guess let's go ahead and just sort of dive in. So we've seen a lot of tech advancements in the freight space. And I'm just going to kick it off with this first question, especially over the last handful of years, what freight tech is here to stay, and then what freight tech is on the way out?
Grace Sharkey:
1:29
I think the number one freight technology that's here to stay that everyone should be invested in. And it's even seen it down to the shippers at this point is some type of dynamic pricing tool, a tool that you can just enter in your lanes, and you pull back the rates, maybe even a range of rates. And you know, from there, that's that's what your pricing is, I think as much data is being collected in this industries, as many data scientists are entering this industry. What's going to come out of that is instant pricing. And what's great about instant pricing is it gives more transparency, people know at certain times, they are what they should be paying at all time. So I think that is it. I think the world of like sending out emails and saying like, Hey, what should I get back for this? And someone replying back, give me an hour. And I'll let you know, maybe that'll be safe for some of the niches but there are so many different companies even getting into the niche space, like more open deck trailer, stuff like that, where I think we're getting to the point where pricing should be something that happens automatically at this point.
Blythe Brumleve:
2:38
And that was always something that was kind of a dream of mine and building these free websites all over the years, what we would have on a typical website is Hey, request for quote, and nobody ever fills that out. Because you don't know who is it's going to and it's just one of those. It's one of the things that like three peels love to add to their site, but nobody ever actually submits anything to it. Because I think they forget that shippers, you know, typically have brokers beating down their door in order to do business with them. So they're not going to actively, like seek you out and request a quote from your website. Do you see kind of, I guess maybe like a future where these tools are integrated into somebody's website? Or is this something that would still be more on like the private side of things where the broker is logging in has access to all that information? And then they can communicate that to the potential shipper.
Grace Sharkey:
3:29
I could see a little bit of both, I think there's definitely been tools and companies out there that have been transparent online. With a lot of that stuff. I think what does come into play a little bit with like having that online compared to like setting up a customer and having them pull that directly from like your TMS or some type of system is you know, there's so much minutia in freight. So to give like an overall quote, without with just knowing it's a van, but like not knowing what the product is in there. If there's any type of loading instructions or unloading or lubber pays and all that jazz. That could be maybe holding some of that back. Plus, you know, brokers and logistics providers in particular always, like very sensitive of like, any way like their competition seeing their pricing too. So I think that's part of it. But I think more of like once you actually get a shipper integrated into your systems. It's it's no assuming no more of that email back and forth. And yeah, there'll be some type of tool or some type of I mean, integration TMS style, where you your shippers know exactly what the rates are going to get from you as well. That's, that's what I think is really interesting is you're starting to see shippers invest in a lot of these platforms themselves. Which means that if you're not able and ready to integrate into those, then you're gonna have a tough time saying well, can you maybe copy and paste them and send them to No, there's gonna be none of a Have that I think in the future?
Blythe Brumleve:
5:02
That's super interesting if the shipper controls it. So it is it may be a situation where the shipper maybe has their own load boards, and they invite brokers to bid within their own systems.
Grace Sharkey:
5:13
Exactly. That's kind of how I see it. It's like the shippers putting out maybe it's a four RFQ process or something like that, where there's more of a procurement process, and then those are automatically tendered to you. But I think shippers are getting more smart about using technology in their favor in order to bring savings as well. Because I mean, I can't tell you at least from my operational background, if I was a CEO of a company, and I came in and saw how some of these shipping managers were like running, how they do things, compared to like how your sales team is running those same type of operations is like, No, we need to invest the same type of technology into both of these as well. That's the usually, like, the funniest thing was I interview people on technology? That's a lot of the Silicon Valley guys, that's what makes them laugh the most is like, how is how is it? So this technology is so old, when we already have these tools integrate into every other type of marketplace available today?
Blythe Brumleve:
6:18
And I think that that is probably the lingering question is that everybody is just so maybe, and I'm just making an assumption here, correct me if I'm wrong, but everybody is just so invested in what they've already invested in 10 years ago, that they're not willing to take that additional leap. Is that a safe assumption?
Grace Sharkey:
6:34
Yeah, and I mean, think of how many people you've also like, have met in the shipping backdoors or docks, right? That they themselves, like aren't too integrated, tactile into technology. I mean, if someone, my my dad's 70, if someone in their 60s or 70s is running that organization, small, medium sized company, like they might not feel comfortable with that technology, but all it takes is that person retiring someone from lease 40s under coming and saying, no, no, no, no, like, this is not, this is not how we're gonna get things done. And I have the leadership skills to actually lead an organization into using technology in this space, because that's part of it too. You can't just like, invest in something out there and just say, Hey, today we're using it, you're gonna have to get the culture behind your your shipper as well just like logistics providers, in order to make sure that it's used properly at the end of the day.
Blythe Brumleve:
7:38
This episode is brought to you by SPI logistics, the premier freight agent and logistics network in North America. Are you currently building your freight brokerages, book a business and feel that your capabilities are being limited due to lack of support and access to adequate technology? At SPI logistics, we have the technology, the systems and the back office support to help you succeed. If you're looking to take control of your financial future and build your own business, with the backing of one of the most successful logistics firms in North America, visit SPI three pl.com to learn more. So we talked about dynamic pricing as being something that's more for the future. But what about the quote unquote, technology that might be on the way out? Are there any sort of you know, tech stacks or or concepts within technology within the free space that are on the way out?
Grace Sharkey:
8:30
I wouldn't I don't want to say like maybe on the way out maybe this will take a while but I think I'm very interested in like asset tracking, not through the driver's phone. But like actually tracking the asset. I mean, we have ELD s we have a look at someone like Ty right? You can put these trackers on pallets directly. I'm interested if we're if we're heading towards this autonomous future that everyone's thinking, Well, why are we investing in technology that's tracking the phones of those people that you're kind of eliminating out of that role to begin with. So I think we'll see there is a future where drivers won't have to worry about that privacy aspect too much. But they will, the quality of their job, and the quality of the truck, the equipment of the truck, all that I think will be tracked more and more and that's when you're going to start seeing really cool stuff like I mean even down to tires, right? And you'll be able to avoid tires like eroding on the roads or equipment failing on the roads and a lot of the accidents and things actually make trucking unsafe be eliminated. But we're not going to be able to do that just tracking JimBob like on his phone all day so and they don't want it either. So that's one of the areas are interested in. Okay. There's so many visibility players out there and many of them you'll you'll notice are starting to invest in different types of visibility. That's leading to tracking that trailer at the end of the day?
Blythe Brumleve:
10:03
Yeah, that's super interesting. And I know that that's a pain point for a lot of drivers and really just the public in general is stop tracking me if I'm not asking for it if I'm not expressively giving you permission to track me. Okay, so we've talked about different software, you know, that that's, you know, in the future may be kind of, you know, working on right now and maybe a little bit past its prime. But what about, you know, freight brokers of today? If I were to, you know, start a freight brokerage today? What tech stack? Would I need? Is it is a TMS still absolutely a must. I know, there's an area of, you know, LinkedIn, that's anti TMS. I've seen a lot of chatter around there, but I don't know what the alternative would be. So for freight brokers out there, what would be the must have tech stack to get started?
Grace Sharkey:
10:51
Yeah, so here's the thing, if you're starting like straight, no tools, I could see you starting with Excel. I mean, I started with Excel, it's possible, you get Excel, you get the load boards, you start rolling, right, because it you don't have too much capital. Now, if you're going into it, and you've got a good amount of capital, and you have maybe an investor, hey, like that. Let me go see Waterboro. To go IRA, if you've got the capital behind you, definitely a TMS. That's going to be a must. It's just, it's easiest way not only for your business to track what it's doing. But to hold all that data and then to also be able to integrate that into like QuickBooks or some type of accounting software is going to be huge as well. I think the conversation around TMS like, like Ryan Schreiber two is huge on that right, like death to the TMS. The problem with the TMS is that people think that it's the answer to like all of your problems, when in reality, usually your problems stem from maybe something that TMS is missing, or you are not appropriately using that technology in the way that you need it or the worst part, not having any idea of what exactly the next steps you want to take in your brokerage that would maybe need a better TMS, you just, you just might say to yourself, Oh, I see everyone is using this type of software. It looks really cool. I want that to well, you know, like if I live in Michigan, and I would love a Lambo, but for some of the year, first off, I can't afford it. But second off 80% year, I can't drive a Lambo on the streets. So it's like, I think that's a lot of times people just like think that TMS is the is the answer to their problems, when really you have to think about like what you want to be and what you want to provide to your customers. And then from there move forward and finding those those tech stacks as well. And TMS has are getting better. I mean, a lot of them have the analytical tools, you need to get rates now. It's just, again, building a culture that is driven to use the technology first. And to not work around it. That's if I ever go to like an office and I see sticky notes. I already know, okay, there's a problem here with with the way that this organization has probably training and developing their staff to use their technology. And I, I will I've talked to, honestly, even CEOs in the past about their own tech stack. And they still are like, What are you talking about? And it's like, yep, that there we go. So it's just, it's a, there's a lot of times, training and development can solve a lot of the problems that people think technology can solve instantly.
Blythe Brumleve:
13:46
Yeah, you said one time on a previous show that the biggest problem with software and especially with a lot of these companies is that they're not asking the employees that are in the trenches of what they need from their software before you go out and buy that fancy software to talk to those folks who will actually be using it first.
Grace Sharkey:
14:06
Yeah, like here's a perfect example. Let's say you're looking to invest in something like parade. Well, if you are a cradle to grave broker parade is going to be awfully difficult for you to manage and fully get your investment off of parade is really built for company out of suits looking to maybe transition into a Buy Sell model. And so it's stuff like that where I think people don't understand like, exactly what their business needs to be like built around in order to make sure that technology fully does pay off. I mean, even down to like a lot of the tracking and visibility tools as well. Like if you're allowing your if you allow your carriers to onboard with you without opening up that tracking capability on day one, and you're just like oh Just gotta get this thing covered, you know, broker shows, just get this guy on it, then like, yeah, no tracking software's ever gonna work for that problem, because it's actually human problem and in trading problem, and not an actual technology problem. And I think that's sometimes why people like question the value of a lot of these technologies, because they know, well, if you're not going to train the organization, or at least train your sales reps to know how an organization is going to be successful with your tools, then it's going to take you a long time to reach that profitability.
Blythe Brumleve:
15:33
Yeah, I think I saw a tweet the other day that was talking about reasons to partner with a boutique three PL instead of the company shipbob. And this guy just eviscerated, I'll link to it in the show notes in case you guys want to check it out. But there was just so many replies under that guy's tweet that talked about a similar experience. And the number one sort of common trend was onboarding and that they felt like they didn't get the proper onboarding from shipbob themselves. So allegedly, you have to probably put that out there. This is obviously coming from Twitter. But there were dozens of people that replied that said, their onboarding was terrible, they got hit with a, you know, a bunch of different fees. And I was wondering how common that is, within this space is a lack of onboarding.
Grace Sharkey:
16:21
It's hugely common. It's, it's, and I think it frustrates me the most. And there's people who even like cell technology, where like, why do you guys do this, and I think part of it is, you know, a lot of the stuff even in a brokerage, even I mean carriers as well. These problems stem from like how you're incentivizing your employees, at the end of the day, if you're incentivizing them to just get signatures on big contracts, and that's what gets them that trip to the Bahamas or whatever every year, then they're not going to care what happens after that signatures done, they're going to be happy, and they're going to move forward. And, and likely, your customer service reps reps are gonna have to suffer through the rest of it. Whereas if you actually, like incentivize them, based on like, how long it was in use, or how many users were using certain tools, which all that stuff can be tracked, then I think your you'd see a little bit differently. And there's good, there's really good companies that really helpful this type of stuff. There's, there's tech companies that I think realize that but you'll see it in the reviews, there's a number of them, where I always highly suggest like you check out the reviews on these, Google them on our Google search on Twitter, right? Like you just did and see the problems. And then when you're having conversations with them, say, you know, we have no one in our four walls that that knows technology, we don't have a CTO, we don't have a a tech guy in the back, who's going to make sure that our data is scrubbed and clean every time that you're pulling this. And I think sometimes technology companies need to say, Okay, let's continue this conversation when you're willing willing to make that investment, because this stuff is powerful, but it's not going to work unless you have someone driving it from your team as well. So that happens really often. And I think it's, it's really sad, because half the people in this industry are like sales dudes, or come from trucking families, like they are barely learning about like pivot tables in Excel, they bear you. I mean, maybe they don't have any idea what it means if if the data comes out wrong, they think it's your fault. And then it's just people pointing at each other when it's really, the teams aren't set up right for that technology at the end of the day.
Blythe Brumleve:
18:49
Well said, invest in the entire experience of your customers, not just the initial sell. And I think that that's also problematic from the VC standpoint, where it's like growth at all costs, sort of mindset, and that it's just on to the next person on to the next instead of making sure that that integration is as seamless as possible. So it's so great that you cover a variety you create literally the most content I think out of any person within this industry. I think maybe dooner rivals you but I think you got him as far as like, especially with like daily radio shows. And then also you have two different podcasts that you record every week. I don't know what else the hell you do. But you write a lot as well. It just feels like a lot. So the last couple of months What have you covered it What have been some of your favorite stories that you've covered that you think folks should be aware of?
Grace Sharkey:
19:44
You know, I even just covered another one today. It's much as I'm kind of putting these companies down. There's been a lot of layoffs right and technology. I personally I think what it gets mostly frustrated when I see a lot of The rhetoric around these layoffs in particular is the fact that these companies are failing. Like, they're they're not failing, and they're making very, very distinct business, hard, hard decisions, but business decisions in order to mirror what the economy is showing today. I think it really frustrates me when I see, especially unfortunately, some of these employees coming out, it's like, yeah, you know, I do hear from a lot of them as well. Yeah, they're going under, like, that's why they're laying all these people off. It's like, no, they're not, they're not going under there, they might be changing the way that they work, they might be investing in different pieces that are working better, they might be making the right steps towards profitability. But they're not going under. And I want I just hope people understand that, because what, what needs to be done is a lot of these employees need to go into these jobs, realizing that that's the techspace. That's how it works. And you need to have conversations with your your managers, or whoever's hiring you about long term goals, and what the company is looking forward to. And hey, I noticed you guys raised a lot of money in the last few years is, are you? What's your growth strategy look like? How are you building to meet your investors needs? Right? Like, ask people at the company, those questions, ask the people that you're interviewing, so you have a good idea. And so that you also have an idea of like whether or not you have jobs stability in some of these organizations. So I think that like frustrates me, like the rhetoric that like these companies aren't like providing any value, I think we'd be hearing a little bit more if that were true. And I, it's like they, a lot of these companies have become so big, it's gonna be very difficult for them to fail with the resources they have, and what the what the investors have invested into them. When you do have a few failures here, there's someone like slink IO, right? That Clarissa covered where it's like, no, yeah, this guy is a scumbag. But there's, there's a lot of companies out there that I think, looking at these freight tech stuff, like, they're gonna make it out out the other side, okay. And if you look at a lot of like the moves companies made in 2008 2009, it replicated a lot of what we're seeing today with these layoffs, too. So if anything, look at it, especially if you come out of those talks with a job that, hey, when this industry or this Academy does turn around, you're probably gonna have a really great opportunity in front of you. So I think that's a big part for me is touching on that. And, of course, just watching the market, that's always fun, right being a part of Freightways. I mean, I spend a lot of my time to during the week talking with market experts and talking with people like Zack Strickland, or Tony and in Luke in those people that have a really great understanding of what's happening. I love data and science, but I also don't have enough time in my day to like, be as deep as they are. So for me, it's really cool. Yeah, to like, watch them, like make these now and see it pay off. And sometimes it's positive news. And sometimes it's good. But someone's got to be there to tell these companies that there might not be a great market coming ahead of them. Because we don't want people to over invest in assets. We don't want people to make poor decisions and and have to lay people off at the end of the day.
Blythe Brumleve:
23:30
Absolutely. I mean, you can only make so many educated guesses from the data set that you're looking at. But I freightwaves. In particular, as I now that you mentioned that I saw a tweet the other day from from CEO Craig fuller. And he mentioned that the load boards is probably one of the areas that is the most ripe for disruption. And I was curious based on you know, everything that you've analyzed within the tech space, if you think that that is one of if that's one of the one that you would place a bet on as far as like disruption, or if there's other areas of freight that you think are also ripe for disruption as well.
Grace Sharkey:
24:07
You don't want to use a buzzword. I really think blockchain technology Oh yeah, no, no, I'm gonna get even worse with it and say blockchain because in part of that tweet, he like brought up in every broker out there knows this, like, let's say you have a load of, I'm gonna use an open deck because it'll make it even worse. Let's say you have a load of steel sheets. They're they're 10 feet long, and they weigh 20,000 pounds, right? I mean, that right there, that load could go on a flatbed step deck, technically, in RGN, depending on everything's being loaded, if it's coming from the side, you could, you could, depending on the weight of the truck, maybe a hotshot there's like four or five different trailers you could use so what is a broker do well based on their TMS and how let's Don't do this. And likely, it's the worst way possible, they will post it for a flatbed except for all four of those. Now, let's say that it can go anytime this week. Now, they're also posting it for to go out every day out of the week. So now you have 20 postings that actually are only equivalent to one shipment. And you see, though, like a lot of these load boards, use their data and jump in and form their data to show you available loads per truck in an area. And it's like, Well, are you scrubbing those correctly to know that those are actually the same exact load? Are you telling people like that they have to put an order number so that you're able to tell it, because they could be the same old they couldn't, they could not be the same? Well, they could be different ones going out every single day. But it's hard to figure that out. And it's really hard to take tender data and scrub that appropriately as load board, knowing that that's how people are sending that information where someone like Freightways, we get tender data as it's actually been tendered to a carrier. So it's like the now. And so that's where it's like blockchain, I think could get really cool, because it could possibly help with like, things like that more of like these, like web or like online type of contracts, right? Where we can track them the whole way through and say, oh, yeah, I know that that's just one load. But it is it's a mess out there. And they're all integrated with each other. And so it's just like a mess. That's like being duplicated everywhere. And it's really hard to scrub without having deep knowledge that again, depending on how you're training your employees, they might not be putting enough information in those loads for them to do that. So that's where I think he was kind of going with that. And I agree. I mean, I think like, if we can get this stuff into the shippers hands, what is the point of all these load boards, right? Then you just start bidding as carriers and brokers directly and you go from there and the carriers, they use their own network to cover it. But that is going to make a really tough environment, I think for entry. But there's a lot of people that say, it is too easy to enter this industry as a carrier and a broker. So we'll see what how that ends up turning out.
Blythe Brumleve:
27:19
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Grace Sharkey:
29:22
Yeah, that's it, there's probably two or three big takeaways from it. One is develop a relationship with us like you would develop relationship with any other type of customer or vendor supplier. There's it's really awful like seeing I it's worse on LinkedIn recently, but it's even hitting our inbox where it's like, these automated type of emails that I see where it's like, hey, take a grace and then like some of them are like no might be right. So it's like, Hey, Grace, like here is the latest ocean shipping data. And it's like, that's not what I write about. I mean, and it's actually Not at all, like what either of my podcasts are about. And this is now a loss for your company, because this probably should have went to Greg Miller, someone on the American shipper team. And now I have to spend my day making sure that that gets to them. And do you think they're gonna like it knowing that you sent it to me compared to them. So like get to know the people that you are actually trying to reach out to, and what their beats are, and what they do at the at the companies and what they're passionate about, right. And a lot of that it's going to take like listening to some of our content and like actually being a part of that as well. I would say another big piece, too, is like, working with PR agencies. I think that we have some really incredible ones in our space here. And I'm not sure if it's the same for you. But for me, I, I love being able to reach out to like one contact and say, Hey, I'm working on this topic, this topic in this topic. And do you have anyone in mind for all of those, and they will come back quickly with them. And that's really helpful for a content creator, who really doesn't have a ton of time to go out there and try to find a ton of people. So really, you might think to yourself, hey, we have a director of marketing, like, we have someone that can do that, well, here's the thing, a director, marketing's job is to help sales and and work in between to raise more revenue for the company, a PRs team is to build your relationship with the public. And again, they're incentivized to do two different jobs. So just because you have a CMO does not mean that cmo should be running all of your PR with different news sites. So think about that aspect as well. And unless you at least know the audience you're reaching out to, I can't tell you how many times I see things hit the Wall Street Journal, I'm like, God, that was a boring story. And this could have been so much cooler if you went to someone who actually knew what Logistics was, you know, and I understand like, one of the other panelists had like, brought up the fact like, you know, you go to Wall Street, or when you want investor, you go to Wall Street, Forbes, Business Insider, when you want investors to hear about you, you go to TechCrunch, when you're looking to recruit, well, when you really want to like focus on sales, and you want to focus on bringing in more revenue, you go to you go to freight waves, like you go to the site that is all about in driven by the people in your industry, because then those big, big papers or publications, like you're just gonna get a little bit of column space. And it's not, they're not going to go into what the value true value of your product is. So tell us about it too. And likely, you will find the story interesting, because a lot of times when you guys do that, and that goes by a couple days, it's not interesting anymore, and we just don't, we don't want to touch on it. So understand the audience of every publication you're reaching out to,
Blythe Brumleve:
33:09
is very well said marketing is not PR and PR is not marketing. That was a big takeaway from from what you just said. Now, I know we only have a few more minutes left here. So I have to ask this very important question. Speaking of knowing your audience, I personally waited in a two hour virtual queue today to get passes for Disney's new ride Tron that opens up a Magic Kingdom. And speaking of waiting in virtual queues, I was wondering how long have you ever waited for a Beyonce concert ticket?
Grace Sharkey:
33:43
So this is gonna be really surprising. I have like a strategy and a way of getting Beyonce tickets I sent her ever since the Mrs. World Mrs. Carter World Tour, which was like 2011 12. I've never gotten to see less than seven rows from the front. And it takes actual It takes skill. So one I'm a beehive members. So I already have better opportunities from that. You also if you can American Express card or think of this on a city card, you can set yourself set up so I honestly haven't waited. It's about how fast you move. And if anything, usually I'll get tickets within minutes. This one Yeah, she does a very good job of like in the Paschal separate by area or by timezone and stuff like that. So it's not everyone trying to get their tickets the same time, which is the same thing here. This one I am a little nervous of, but there is a trio of us who have all put in different tickets. So basically it's going to be how fast can we each Venmo each other probably at the end of the day. But yeah, this one will be fun and I apologize to anyone who's on my Instagram or two Winter because when I do go to this concert, it's going to be a great time and you'll you're gonna see a lot of pictures and videos and I cannot wait. Probably. I will say the longest line ever waited in was Keith Urban tickets at Notre Dame that was about Oh, wow. Two hour long way. And I got real nervous but I got them from my mom. So I was very happy to
Blythe Brumleve:
35:25
read so it sounds like Disney the the multi trillion maybe trillion dollar conglomerate could learn a thing or two from Beyonce. Yeah, for sure. Two hours was a long time to wait. Virtual cue.
Grace Sharkey:
35:39
I can't believe that's insane. Yeah. 100%.
Blythe Brumleve:
35:44
All right. Last question. And there's really no, I guess, easy way to transition into this this question because obviously, there was a tragic event that took place at your alma mater, Michigan State. And I don't really know how to explain the overall situation except for the fact that obviously, condolences to everybody that was affected you were one of those folks that was impacted, you live about five miles away from campus. There's a lot of you know, tributes and vigils that are going on, from what I understand, but for folks who have may not have understood the situation and the full impact, there are some charitable efforts that are going on. And I would just like to sort of, you know, give you the floor to share your thoughts and where folks can can help it they can.
Grace Sharkey:
36:32
Yeah, so you know, I brought this up on the radio too. And I think a big part of this is first before even getting to anything mental health, is issues are a problem in this country and being able to admit mental health issues. And not only admit them, but take care of them through whatever services is needed is huge. So if you ever, ever feel Like harming someone or yourself, reach out to friends and family reach out to there's various numbers, I'll share a few. So you can put them in here that you can reach out to to get the help that you need. Because at the end of the day, this did stem from like most mental health problems, I won't get into the gun control issue of it, I think that's where it gets a little too political. But where it stems from right is, is seeking help when you need help. On top of that, there's gonna be a lot of people on campus that I'm very close to, that will be mental health help for some time. And so I would push everyone, if you don't know, I actually used to raise funds for Michigan State through college. It's how I afford it school. And we have a lot of really great funds for students on campus, you can get free counseling, I was able to get it myself. There's a really great group that my friend Danielle bat like to help start called Spartan strong. It's an emergency fund to help students in times of need, and it's gonna get drained. Right now, we're helping not only students who need help with what just happened to them or what they witnessed, but there's still five students who are in bad condition in the hospital, who will have really large bills that they need to take care of, let alone the three Spartans for life that weren't fortunately killed during this time and affording funerals and etc. So I'll share a link with YouTube live so that you can go to that. But I would say if you're looking to help out anyone from Michigan State was dealing with the aftermath of this Spartan strong is the way to go.
Blythe Brumleve:
38:36
Well, I obviously deepest condolences to you and everyone that's affected. It's well said. And it's tragic that it has to be said, but it's very important to say so thank you for sharing that with us. We'll be sure to link to all of those efforts within the show notes. So folks who are interested in helping can can reach out and donate as as you see fit. I mean, that's a somber way to end. But it's also a very important way to end and to talk about things like this because more we talk about it, the more hopefully we can get to a better place where this bullshit stops happening. Yeah, all right, great. So where can folks you know, follow more of your work. You're obviously all over the place with you know, social media and radio and podcasts, TV appearances, conferences. where can folks follow all of your work?
Grace Sharkey:
39:29
Yeah, so go to my LinkedIn if you go to my LinkedIn or my Twitter, if you can share handles with them life for that, you can actually get my link tree which shout out to play for pushing me to get one of those and that will take you to every single outlet I have, it'll take you to our my podcasts that I have on the retail supply chain, and women in this industry. It'll take you to a link to the Sirius XM page so you can listen to our show which is on our freeways drive time Monday through Friday every day from five to seven And of course, you can check out my content from their articles that I've written for freightwaves as well. So you'll get it all in one spot if you get that late tree, that leak as well.
Blythe Brumleve:
40:10
Awesome, Grace. You're awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all of your stories and just a range of topics that obviously you can talk about. And we're we're very thankful to have you on the show as a repeated guest. And we look forward to talking with you next month.
Grace Sharkey:
40:28
Love ya, thank you
Blythe Brumleve:
40:35
I hope you enjoy 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. If you liked this episode, do me a favor and sign up for our newsletter. I know what you're probably thinking, oh God, another newsletter. But it's the easiest way to stay updated when new episodes are released. Plus, we drop a lot of gems in that email to help the one person marketing team and folks like yourself who are probably wearing a lot of hats at work in order to help you navigate this digital world a little bit easier. You could find that email signup link along with our socials in past episodes. Over at everything is logistics.com And until next time, I'm Blythe and go Jags
