Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Bootstrapper's Guide to
Logistics, the podcast highlighting founders doing it
the way that doesn't get a lot of attention.
We're here to change that by sharing their stories and
inspiring others to take the leap.
It's a roller coaster ride that you might ultimately fail.
Speaker 2: That's when I kind of knew.
Speaker 1: I was on to something .
Speaker 2: It was very hard.
Speaker 1: It truly is building a legacy.
Speaker 2: The more life you live, the more wisdom you have.
Speaker 1: Because we are where we're supposed to be, kind of
answering the call.
Don't shoulder entrepreneurship on your own.
I'm your host, nate Shoots.
Let's build something together from the ground up.
Hello everybody and welcome back to the show.
We are deep into season three now on the Bootstrapper's Guide
to Logistics, doing what we've been doing for a handful of
years now just sharing founder stories behind what I believe
are the most compelling businesses in the industry.
Somebody.
And then they have to be acted on and special thanks to Tyson
Lawrence for sharing his story recently Liz Wayne and Casey
Winans, along with Josh Klebanoff.
We've had everything from trucking company owners to
warehouse software brokerages you name it on the show, and
we're glad to just continue spreading the word about what
people are building and shed more light on the people that
are doing it the old-fashioned way, without raising a ton of
capital and only using the resources that they have
available themselves.
That's why we love the bootstrappers, it's why we love
the underdogs, and so today I'm thrilled to get to introduce
Rachel Hayden, who is the CEO and founder of Confidential
Career Solutions in Dallas.
Good morning, rachel.
How are you today?
Speaker 2: Good morning Nathan.
Thank you for having me on the show.
I'm doing well.
Speaker 1: Thank you Wonderful.
I know you've had an illustrious career with some
really big names in not just logistics but in business IBM,
pepsico, xpo in the logistics world.
So you've got big company chops in your background and then
somewhere along the line you decided you know what, I want to
do my own thing.
And now you have a boutique recruiting firm in Texas.
So I want to unpack some of that with you, first starting
with the big company side, because I imagined it served you
well when you shifted into being a business owner.
So what was the draw for you of these mega corporations and
these really recognizable names early in your career?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so when I started IBM I started right.
I was green when I started to work in an executive position.
I wasn't an executive but within a huge company and I was
fortunate to go through a temp service to get into IBM.
So and I was also fortunate also to work within the CAD
department back then when they were developing CAD and so I got
to get in with the trainers for CAD and with IBM.
It was such a formal position.
We wore blue and white.
I was never used to any type of business like that.
I love dressing up because I thought that was great.
But the business itself it was neat at an early age to be
surrounded by such strong executives at an early age.
And so I got to see from the business side of the world which
I was not used to.
I was used to service because I'd always hustled for a job.
I worked as a waitress.
I did service positions to where I could earn money.
I knew how much money I could earn, so I was used to that.
But I wasn't used to the business etiquette.
So coming in and learning the business etiquette for IBM was
fantastic.
And and Kelly girls actually hired me.
I mean IBM hired me on from Kelly girls.
So I was actually an IBM employee, which I was very proud
of.
By the time I was like 20.
And so that to me, was really really neat.
And uh, so I um, so I took that and I thought, well, why stop
here, let's try to go ahead and keep within the business world.
And I ended up getting into an executive recruiting position
with actually I'm still friends with her a second grade, my
second grade friend from school, and she had an executive
recruiter firm and she said why don't you come work for me?
There's, you know, this is a pretty neat job and you can make
a lot of money at it and you'd be really good at it.
I'm like, oh okay.
So I jumped into it and I started learning it and I really
liked it because I liked the communication that I had with
the client, and then I liked the communication that I had with
the candidate and then just putting it all together, because
in my prior years too, I was always drawn to coaching
basketball teams for the city, and so when you coach a team,
you're actually bringing the forces together, making it
happen for a win.
And so I think that's where I gravitated toward the recruiting
piece because I enjoyed the win .
I enjoyed bringing the candidate to a position where
they could be successful and then making the client happy as
well.
So it was like almost a competitive drive for me within
myself to bring those two together.
So that so interesting that that brought me into the
recruiting piece.
And so at an early age, you know , we were going into the IT era
and 90 and way back then, and so we were going into the IT era,
but but you know, it crashed back in 90.
Right, and so at that time I was working also with a company.
I'd left her company and I was working with a company called
well, it was a company, transportation company and with
the transportation company I opened up a business, recruiting
business.
And while I was working with the recruiting business, they
wanted me to get them a salesperson.
And so I said I don't know anything about brokerage.
Is this truck drivers?
What are we doing?
Because I don't know.
I how to recruit a truck driver.
And so I did get them a salesperson, uh, to support a
huge client they had, and the salesperson did fantastic.
So they said, well, we're going to close down the it division,
um, and of the recruiting department, and since you've
been recruiting outside of it anyways, would you want to come
over to our company and recruit?
So I did.
I said yeah, I um, yes, would you want me to recruit?
And they're like, well, we need sales and you did such a good
job with the sales, can you do that?
I'm like yes, so I got in there and I started recruiting for
the sales book.
But the thing is is what I noticed was when we were
bringing in the sales candidates , because they didn't have any
training, we were losing them.
Speaker 1: Turnover was high.
Speaker 2: It's tough.
You bring someone in and they don't know anything about, or
they know little about, transportation.
They don't know about what a reefer is, what dimensions that
can hold, what a flatbed does the flatbed need tarps?
You know just little things that when you're working in the
industry and you're quoting a load can be part of the quote.
And then they lose the opportunity because they didn't
have the training.
So I was fortunate to work with a fantastic HR employee there
and we discussed about making a training program for that
company and we put together a training program because we
wanted to retain the candidates that we were getting.
So my job at that point actually became recruiter and
trainer.
Speaker 1: What already stands out to me listening to you
describe this is some folks go into their career and they have
a goal in mind of I want to be a director of HR one day, or
something like that, and they're singular in where they think
it's going to go.
And other people are like I'm going to just take what comes my
way because I don't know what the next thing is going to look
like.
And yours seems to be a combination of both already,
where you probably couldn't have predicted where you were going
to end up, based on where you started, and yet each time you
adapted to whatever the opportunity was.
Would you say that that is that ?
Uh, does that resonate with you as part of who you are, as
you're just flexible and you're able to?
Speaker 2: roll with the punches .
Uh, I'm always looking for opportunity and because I feel
like if you bypass opportunity, you never know what it could
bring Right.
And so I always kept.
I always kept my eyes open for opportunity.
But also I had to stay focused on what I was doing to make the
recruiting, um, the recruiting and training program work so I
could get to the next opportunity Right, because I
knew bringing in a training for this particular position it
would retain really good candidates that we were bringing
in.
They wouldn't get frustrated, they could have a quicker start,
they could be successful right.
So, identifying that opportunity and saying, okay, yes, we can
do this, because I've always looked at it as yes, we can do
this, because I've always looked at it as yes, we can do this,
no-transcript.
And so, with that being said, it's like I, you know, you
identify the opportunity.
You have to be able to identify the opportunity and want to
move toward the opportunity.
Because what I learned at an early age and because I thought
it was just going to happen for me oh, I'm in this position, I'm
going to get promoted, oh well, how come I'm not getting
promoted yet?
You have to make it happen.
It doesn't just magically happen.
Like, if you want to move up, you have to make it happen,
which means usually you have to put in a little extra work or
the, the extra training, or the or the certificates, or taking
the time to.
Uh, you know better yourself in one way and I was never really
taught that, but I had seen both of my parents work really hard
in life, and when I noticed they work really hard in life, I
noticed that, um, nothing comes free.
Right, you have to work hard, you know, and so.
But there was a while when I was younger thinking, oh, you
know, I'll be fine, I'm going to get promoted, this company
loves me.
And then, uh and uh, it wasn't happening as quick as I wanted
it to.
And that's when I said, well, you know what I'm going to have
to really push to make this happen, but I've got to show
them that I'm successful at what I'm doing to make it happen.
Yeah, and so at an early age, you know, I learned to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so at an early age I learned to do that.
So then, fast forward, you end up, obviously, you had many
other roles in lots of other organizations.
Point where you you said, okay, I'm going to take all of those
lessons that I've learned and I'm going to start my own
business.
Was that something that had been brewing in the back of your
mind for a long time, or was it just a spark of inspiration?
Speaker 2: one day.
How did?
It is what I realized, because there was a couple of things
that were on the forefront.
I didn't know how stable the company I was with was going to
be, and I knew that we had a plan to grow and I didn't know
what was going to happen.
But I also knew that in my position as a talent manager
acquisition, I was dealing with other recruiters executive
recruiters that were bringing talent in right, but the talent
they were bringing in they couldn't really identify exactly
what we needed.
And because the industry is tough, right, I think, uh,
everyone's learned it has has been educated on it now for the
most part.
But uh, the industry is tough, like knowing the difference
between company to company titles and positions, because
they all maybe have different titles for the same position and
it could be a different position like an account manager
in one company could be actually just managing the
account to where, as an account manager in another company,
could also have a mix of sales, because they're cradle to grave,
right.
And so the I noticed that there was a need for that and so I
started really thinking about well, you know, I know, having
the executive experience prior to and because what I used to do
is recruit recruiters, so it was a niche and so I was like
you know, this is a niche because there's not many
recruiters out there.
And I think I'm going to go ahead and try to build on this
niche, because there's an opportunity again that is
presented to me.
I didn't know, like I've never had my own business, I didn't
know how to do it.
I had to do a lot of research for it.
I was scared, I you know.
There was a point where I was.
You know, I had a, I owned a home, I had a car payment, I had
a kid.
I was like, oh, no, like oh, I'm taking a big chance here.
I'm taking a big chance and I was sweating bullets.
I tell you I was.
Speaker 1: I was like okay.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and start this.
I'm going to go ahead and do it .
It's a prime opportunity time to do it, because we just went
through a merger and acquisition and a lot of change there and I
was like, okay, it's time for me to to.
I guess the best word to say is jump.
You know, it's like when you're on the diving board for your
first time and you're like I'm going to dive but I'm so afraid
that I could belly flop.
But I'm going to dive, and it was like that.
It was like, okay, just do it.
And I had my family and friends going you can do this, you can
do it, and I'm my family and friends going, you can do this,
you can do it.
And I'm like, okay, okay okay, oh, that's wonderful.
And then I look at you know, like get ready.
And then finally I just jumped, I just did it.
But I will tell you when I did it, because I put a lot of
pressure on myself that the first couple of weeks I was like
, oh no, I'm not going to make it, I'm not going to make it,
I'm not going to make it.
Oh, you know what?
Okay, just keep making your calls, just keep reaching out to
people.
You know what you're doing, just keep doing it.
And for just a glimpse moment there I was like maybe I should
quit because it's not going to happen.
And no one's returning my calls , people aren't really listening
to me because I just started my business.
It's not going to happen.
And I got that phone call from my first client saying, okay, we
need a broker manager in our office.
I was like okay, and I just started talking to him.
I had the experience, I knew what I was looking for.
Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, I can speak their language.
Speaker 2: And I had that right there.
When you get that first client, if you, if you have a business
or you've ever had a business, that first piece of business,
just it's like a spark plug.
It's like, oh okay, and then it becomes addictive, doesn't it?
Then it's, oh okay, go, so I did, and then it becomes
addictive, doesn't it?
Speaker 1: Then it's okay.
I did it once.
Now I know it's possible.
Speaker 2: I did.
Now I just want to do more.
And I landed a fantastic client within the first probably 35
days of working my own business.
So we get paid after the know, after the client, after the
candidate sits in the seat, starts.
And so I got that first check reasonably soon and I I framed
it.
I looked at it for a while because I was like, oh man,
proud of yourself.
Yeah, absolutely that I that I could do this right, that I
could do it.
And it brought that feeling of you got to keep going, and so
that's how I jumped into it and there was a lot of nerve.
I know people I'm talking to someone right now who's trying
to get going in their own business, right, and there's
nervousness of can I make it, can I do this?
But this person is such a they're a professional at what
they do and I said you've got to give yourself credit for
knowing what you do is important and you make an impact, because
a lot of people know that they have that incredible experience
and it can be value to someone out there, right.
But then when you're starting your business, you doubt
yourself if you've never started a business before, because you
don't know.
It's the unknown, what is scary , right?
Speaker 1: well and the client is there's no track record
behind you yet, uh, as a, as a small business to rely on, and
so what they're really buying into and what they're really
trusting is that you're going to figure it out, because you
don't have you don't have credibility in the market, but
they the feedback that I've heard from a lot of founders on
their first customer, or their first few customers, was my
customer believed in me to the point that they not family,
that's not friends.
That is so empowering that you go from hesitating on the end of
the diving board to feeling like you've got a cape on and
you're superman and you can do anything.
And I think it is a point on nearly every entrepreneur's
journey that they remember when a client believed in them and
Not a lot of people know about that moment.
Speaker 2: It's a private thing very much and I love that.
You framed it too.
Know I did and you know I've been.
I've been open now for almost 14, 15 years and in the industry
at for confidential career solutions.
I've been very careful about who I work with.
You learn some hard lessons in business.
You know um and then, but you yeah have you been let down?
Speaker 1: I have and what are some of the harder moments that
you've gone?
Speaker 2: through huge um, when you land a huge client and you
think it's going to be so spectacular to work with them,
but then you see that you're just another recruiter that
they're working with, they don't really.
Uh, you, you come in and you've got to really push to get the
information that you need from them.
They don't give you all the tools you need.
They're not on time because you're just another recruiter,
you're just another executive recruiter coming in to help them
among the other 15 that they have, and they're going to look
at your candidates, but they also have an internal candidate
that they're considering as well , but they want to see all the
candidates because they want to make sure that the internal
candidates are best, which I get growing organically.
But the thing that's really hard is when you work with some of
the larger clients and they how can I say this?
it's a privilege to work with them, so they don't really need
to give you everything and how can I be successful if I don't
have all the tools or if I don't even have the buy-in?
Because when I sell a candidate , I'm really excited about
selling the candidate to the company.
That's one thing for me.
It's like I have to believe in the company to sell the
candidate to the position, be excited about it too.
And when you can't get excited about a company and this is
where at first I kind of had to think about it Do I really want
to work with that company?
Do I really want to take a candidate out of their
employment place, pull them into a company to where they're just
going to be a number, and I sold it as being a great
opportunity for growth.
And oh, they have such great culture and they have this when
they don't.
So I yeah very careful about who I work with at that point,
and I Laura, the largest candidate clients sometimes
aren't the best clients, right, but you do have a lot of clients
out there.
Well, sometimes you get looked over, you know.
Speaker 1: And a lot of times for the really large companies,
they're placing so many jobs that each one by itself does not
mean that much, but for you as the recruiter, it represents a
much larger portion of your business, and then for the
candidate it's their entire career, a much larger portion of
your business, and then for the candidate it's their entire
career.
So there's just such a different sense of how much it matters to
the recruiter versus the candidate, versus the employer,
and I imagine it's easy to get or it was easy to get jaded in
some of that until you found, hey, here are the types of
employers that I really do want to work with and that I do feel
really confident.
And then also you occupy a really unique space in the job
world where you have to.
The candidate is going through a life, potentially
life-changing experience, and it's going to impact their
budget.
It's going to impact their commute, it's going to impact
their budget, it's going to impact their commute, it's going
to impact their family, and you have to show up on the client
side.
This is pure business, but for the candidate, this is their
life, and so I would imagine you have to be an empathetic person
to be able to help a candidate navigate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Because they can't be murky sometimes, right and I do agree
the whole thing with you.
Know you want it to be transparent for them from the
start.
You want them to be able to see what it is at the very start,
and you know I have a lot of empathy for the candidate, but I
also understand the client's need as well, and the only thing
that's going to bring those two together is the transparency
right, and so the transparency has to be there.
If the transparency is not there with me and the client at that
time, it's not going to be there anytime afterwards with the
candidate.
So the candidate really has to.
You know, it's one thing a company going through change for
instance merger and acquisition okay, now some of that you
can't really be transparent about but also with more of the
senior levels or someone coming in at a senior level, they're
going to have to know a little bit about what's going on right,
because they're going to have to lead the change, to make the
change right.
And so it's a really tight line you walk.
You know it's a fine line to be walked.
Speaker 1: You got to respect the client's business as well as
respect the candidates wants and needs and ability to fit in
with the client right, and so do you have a candidate that comes
to mind, that was maybe one of your, your favorites, where
everything, the stars aligned just perfect and they, they
landed the job and it changed their life.
Or you know something, something along those lines of
the fairy tale ending where everything went as you wanted it
to and, um, it keeps you going.
Speaker 2: You know, yes, when I look at a candidate that's been
at their job for when since of time I started like 10 years
plus 14 years and they're still with the company that's a huge
win, right, because that is strong retention.
That means that the match was there from the start and they
got to build, and so I have a few candidates that are still at
the companies that I put them with.
I also have company and clients that I helped grow out from a
start that are doing really well and so adding good talent and
understanding the company's need for me.
That's what I do.
It excites me to see the client or the candidate grow like they
have.
And so, yeah, I do have.
I do have a candidate that, uh, hated, didn't oh gosh didn't
want to make the change because they're not good with change,
and I had to talk to them.
I'm like, okay, this is position, would be a great
position for you because you have these attributes that fit
into the position.
Because you have these attributes that fit into the
position transitional skills that will work.
You're a good, you know your retention to retain a client and
your customer communications and your service, and not only
internally I had to really push them.
I had to really say, ok, you know this would be a really good
move for you.
And so when I took them and this is when I worked, when I
started way back and we were trying to get entry-level
salespeople in, I grabbed this person from a restaurant who was
a waitress and I had to persuade her to come into a
brokerage sales position which she knew nothing about and she
didn't really know about corporate.
I got her in there and like today's date, like she's
probably about 275 all in, you know, yeah, yeah.
And so I did talk to her the other day and we were just kind
of going back because I've known her for so long and and when I
was talking I said yeah, you know you were killing me.
It was taking you forever to make that move.
You were so good.
Speaker 1: She was stuck at the end of the diving board.
Speaker 2: You know I was patient with you, but I'm so
glad that you made the move.
She goes, yes, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Well, and you have a fundamentally people driven
business, which has to be highly rewarding, and when you get to
see the long-term impact of those, the actions that you've
taken and the relationships that you've built, I would imagine
that's incredibly rewarding.
And then on the flip side, right now anyways, it's a
challenging job market out there .
So there are a lot of folks that are not getting the big
wins and there's a lot of open to work badges on linkedin
people looking.
So what advice would you have, not necessarily on the
entrepreneur side?
Now I'm going to shift a little bit and just talk about some of
the folks that are out there that are that need help.
What advice would you give, um, to somebody who's who's looking
for that next thing and is having a challenge?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
So from college grad to executive, it's competitive at
all levels right now and I don't think that it's been this
competitive for a while.
I don't think that it's been this competitive for a while.
And I think the most important thing right now for these
candidates is you have to brand yourself and look at it like
you're selling a new product.
Okay, you put the new product out there.
It's a great product out there, it's got great potential.
But if you don't market, market that product, no one's going to
know about it.
Plus, it's going to be with all the other same like products
that are out there.
They don't know the value, they don't know what this product is
going to bring in comparison to all the other light products.
So you've got to go out there and you've got to brand yourself
right now.
And I don't think I mean I think , um, I see some people branding
themselves, but you really have to go strong right now, because
the competitive market, the pool, and for what you're
looking for in your industry whether it be supply chain and
logistics, f&a, service industry right now it's competitive.
So you've got to show them you're the best person for this
position.
And it could be several ways.
It could be by posting something on LinkedIn.
If you're not a writer, you can find an article that's trending
right now and talk about what you know and how the trend is
affecting what you know and show the knowledge You've got to
show the knowledge, sure Thought leadership yeah.
Get yourself within groups Network Right now.
Speaker 1: Finding a job is a job yeah.
Speaker 2: So you got to make sure you got to utilize your
time to the best that it can be, and just making connections is
great, but you're going to have to take it a step further and
you're going to have to.
You're going to have to brand yourself.
You can do.
There's people out there that do it professionally for you you
can do it.
Um, you can now go to ai and ask how to do it right, and so
so you have to get yourself out there.
It's not good enough just being the superstar that you are in,
the position that you were in, because you have a lot of other
superstars right now all in the same group and people might take
it for granted.
Speaker 1: They're like, hey, I've done all these wonderful
things, but if people don't know about it, it didn't, it doesn't
matter, and resumes are not always the best at youulating
folks' experience, and we do live in a digital world now, and
so your online presence does have a significant impact.
I know of several people that would say the only reason I am
where I am right now is because I started writing on LinkedIn,
or I started posting on Twitter about supply chain, and it opens
to.
I mean, this podcast is a result of an exchange on Twitter
four and a half years ago and that's why, to me, it's still
wild.
But the power of branding to your point is far more
significant.
And if you haven't invested in yourself and doing it before
there is, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.
The second best time is right now.
So if you haven't, if you haven't already done that work,
it's not too late to get started and the industry will turn
around, the economy will shift at some point and those
opportunities will materialize more.
And in the meantime, thank you for what you're doing to support
not only the industry, because we're both supply chain
logistics nerds at heart, but also the people and the talent
behind all of it, and you're doing it the way that I love.
You have a boutique business.
You don't have 5,000 people.
You've got six or eight folks and you are focusing on
relationships every day and you're bootstrapping it the
oldest way to start and run a business that exists, and so we
are happy to help spread the word about Confidential Career
Solutions and what you've done so far.
If people want to reach out to you, rachel.
Speaker 2: what's the best way to do that?
And it's rhayden at confidentialcareersolutionscom.
Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wonderful, yeah, wonderful.
Thank you, rachel, for sharing your story today and know that
we are all rooting for you Thanks for having me.
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Bootstrapper's
Guide to Logistics, and a special thank you to our
sponsors and the team behind the scenes who make it all possible
.
Be sure to like, follow or subscribe to the podcast to get
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To learn more about the show and connect with the growing
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And, of course, thank you to all the founders who trust us to
share their stories.