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Speaker 1: Hello everybody and
welcome back to the show.

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We are late summer 2025.

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It's been a dynamic year in the
logistics industry.

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If you've been around for a
minute, you know conditions are

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challenging and yet there's
always seemingly hope just

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around the corner.

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I've heard from a lot of folks
in the entrepreneurial space

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that this has been some of the
most challenging times they've

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ever experienced.

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But on the flip side, there's a
number of folks that are saying

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this has been the most
opportunity they've seen in a

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long time also, and everybody
has their own experience and

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perspective on it, and if you're
in that trough yourself right

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now, I encourage you to reach
out to somebody that you can

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talk to about it.

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Don't go through that difficult
part alone.

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That's part of what we try to
do here on the show is connect

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founders with other founders to
be able to have some of those

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tough conversations.

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And if you're on the high end
of that and things are going

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great, chances are you're being
really quiet about it.

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That's the observation I've
made.

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The folks that are really loud
on social media lately generally

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aren't the ones doing the best.

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The ones who are doing the best
are keeping their head down

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while the sun is out there
making hay.

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So, wherever you might be on
that spectrum today, we're glad

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that you're here.

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We're going to hear another
founder perspective from

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somebody that I'm going to just
call right off the bat a great

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character.

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Vin Carano is the president and
owner of Finice Freight

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Brokerage on the East Coast.

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Vin, good morning, how are you
today?

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Speaker 2: Hey Nate, how are you
doing today?

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Speaker 1: I'm doing quite well.

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When we first got introduced
through our mutual friend, trey

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Griggs, he goes I got somebody
you've got to meet and whenever

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I hear something like that, I'm
like there's always a story

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behind it and I love telling
stories and sharing them.

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So we were five minutes into
our first conversation and I was

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like, all right, we might need
to do more than just a podcast

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episode.

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We might need to do one of
those in-depth investigative

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journalism feature length
stories.

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Why don't we start?

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Well, we'll unpack all of it,
I'm sure, today, but why don't

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we just start with a basic
introduction and your entry into

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the logistics world?

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Speaker 2: Oh goodness, my name
is Vin Carano.

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My grandma called me Vinny and
so some people call me Vin Vinny

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still, and I like that a lot
because it's different Than what

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you get in a lot of places.

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But my grandfather Was a
trucking company owner and he

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passed away At a very young age.

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He was only 49 and my dad and
my uncle basically Dropped out

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of school, came home from the
military and started driving the

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trucks, cause the only thing
they knew is how to support

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their family.

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It's what they learned from
their father, who learned it

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from his father, who came over
through Ellis Island and was on

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a boat with a bunch of other,
just laborers and, um, you know,

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we we have these records that
trace all the way back, which is

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really cool, but I digress.

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So Grandpa was a truck driver,
trucking company owner, my

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father was with his brother and
they did really, really well.

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They got up to about 125 trucks
running an LTL operation with

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terminals in Rhode Island and
New Haven Connecticut was the

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base of operations Allentown,
camden, new Jersey and they had

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a nice little operation running
Fast forward to 1989, little

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Vinny was getting out of college
.

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I went to Bentley it was Bentley
College at the time Bentley

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University now and I thought I
was going to take this

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management degree and run
daddy's trucking company and

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well as the logistics world does
to people.

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It sort of twisted things
around on us and they closed

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that company about three months
before I got out of college due

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to some union issues.

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There was some underfunded
pensions, it was just there was

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a real mess going on.

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My dad took a warehousing
company and said I'm going to

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try to keep doing this but I
don't really have a place for

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you right now.

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I said that's okay, and during
my summers I had worked for

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their trucking company.

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I learned how to do things like
claims and customer service and

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some real kind of basic OS&D
and this kind of thing from a

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great man.

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Their office manager at the
time was Joe Valentino and we're

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still friends today.

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So I love this man a lot.

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He's just really been good to
me.

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He's taught me so much.

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But I didn't have a job and I
didn't have a place to go and I

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had this great management degree
and so I started looking for

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something to do and I took a
couple sales jobs selling copy

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machines and plumbing parts and
all just whatever I could take

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and I saw an ad in paper for New
England Motor Freight.

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They're looking for an OSND
supervisor and I knew OSND so I

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was like, well, I don't know
what supervisor means, but I'll

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go down there.

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So I went down to the terminal
and I filled out a job

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application and a man named John
Weber said I know your dad and

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I'm going to give you a shot.

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I said, well, what's the
supervisor mean?

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First, because I don't really
know about supervising.

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And he goes.

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There's three guys on the
doctor in the day for three

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hours a day.

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He goes.

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You could do it.

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I said okay, and he had a lot
of faith and I worked OS&D there

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and I worked dispatch and I
worked inbound supervisor,

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outbound supervisor.

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I worked my way up.

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I became the terminal manager at
some point and about 10 years

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later dad called and he says
well, this warehousing company

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is a little beyond me and I
really want to buy your uncle

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out, but I need help.

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I said, all right, let's do it.

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You're my father and family is
family, so let's go.

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And so he did and we ran the
warehouse for 14 years.

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It was a mess.

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It was uh, it was very, very
hard.

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It was too small to make enough
money to be to make a

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difference, and it was too big
to not have all the things you

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need.

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As a warehouse man, I mean, if
it was just me in the warehouse,

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I probably would have waived
workers comp, but it wasn't just

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me, it was a whole bunch of
people.

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So you know crazy things like
$40,000 insurance bills and

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$60,000 electric bills to heat
the place, and so these things

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got out of hand really quickly
and finally, a few years after

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that, I had gone to my dad and I
said, dad, this is not why I'm

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killing myself, I'm working 20
hours a day and we're not

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getting anywhere.

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He says, well, what's working?

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Telling myself I'm working 20
hours a day and we're not

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getting anywhere.

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He says, well, what's working?

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And I said, well, here's the
weird thing.

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We got a couple of customers in
the warehouse who keep asking

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us for how to, how to get these
shipments to where they have to

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go, and I just keep giving them
to my friends at the LTL

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companies and bumping up the
price a little bit and making a

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little money on broker in this
freight.

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He goes.

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So why don't we broker freight?

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I said, okay.

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So we started really getting
active in the broker world and

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um in 2010,.

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We closed the warehouse and
just went full into brokering.

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I tell people the story all the
time I was, I was laying under a

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truck our last winter owning
trucks, I was laying under a

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truck and I had a torch in one
hand and a sledgehammer in the

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other and I was pounding the
brakes trying to get him to free

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up.

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It's a January night, like
three o'clock in the morning,

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and the driver's in the truck.

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He gets down out of the truck
and God rest his soul.

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Joe Tripp was.

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He became a very good friend of
mine, but he had a great truck

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driver attitude.

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And he comes down out of the
truck and he goes hey, what are

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you doing?

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Like this.

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And I'm under the wheels and I
look up through between the rear

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tandems and I go what does it
look like I'm doing?

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He goes well, I'm freezing, I'm
getting back in the truck.

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I said that's it and that was
it.

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I said that I'm done, I don't
care if it's working or not,

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this part is over.

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And so I really worked hard,
hard, hard to uh, to start

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brokering a lot of freight, and
what I realized is we didn't

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have the tools, we didn't have
the, the uh, the um financial uh

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ability that it takes to pay
these carriers in 15 or 20 days

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and wait 30 or 40 for the for
the customers to pay us.

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And so I said, you know what?

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I'm going to find a big
brokerage to help me out here.

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And so I went to work for a guy
who owned an Echo Global

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brokerage.

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It was a great lesson I mean a
fantastic lesson on how not to

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do your work.

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This guy this guy, nate, it gets
great.

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This guy started a second
company in a different name and

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he made him a customer of his
Echo agency and then he was

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billing his customer who was him
, and then rebilling all the

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clients for a higher price.

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So he was basically stealing
margin off of the revenue split.

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Speaker 1: Double brokering, but
in disguise.

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Speaker 2: He completely,
completely violated the

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agreement, and when they figured
it out, he was out of business

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and it left me and my customers
with I don't know what to do.

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And so I had been working on
going solo and I had our

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authority and I was really.

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I was in a position where I
really didn't need them anymore

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anyway.

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So one of the girls in the
office looked at me and said,

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why don't we just do this on our
own?

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And I said okay, let's go.

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So Angela and I sat in my
basement for about a year with

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two laptops, two desks facing
each other and cell phones, and

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we just, we just worked our
butts off to get this thing

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going.

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We went from $200,000 or
$300,000 the first year and

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barely making enough to survive
to really ramping it up.

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Angela was here at Finiche
until about a year and a half

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ago or two years ago.

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At that point we were around $8
million, $9 million brokerage.

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You were talking earlier about
how the economy is hurting some

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people and my foot's on the
throttle and my sons work here

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now.

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My sons are fourth generation
in the logistics business and

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their foot's on the throttle too
my sons work here now.

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My sons are fourth generation in
the logistics business and

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they're here now and their
foot's on the throttle too, and

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so we're bringing in new agents
and we're talking to new

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customers and we're really
doubling down on everything we

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do.

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We're probably going to be
close to 15 million this year,

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which is, you know, it's tiny in
the brokerage world, but our

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growth is, you know, in double
digit growth at a time when most

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people are struggling to stay
at least even and worse, the

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truckload rates are just down so
much.

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Over the last four or five
years.

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You know, the COVID level was
an aberration and it was just

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something that happened once in
a lifetime moment where these

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rates were super sky high, but
people who went out and and got

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two and a half or 3% money based
on 60% margins that's not.

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That's not where we are.

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We have no money from anybody
the, you know we're entirely

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bootstrapped.

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We have no loans.

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We have no equity sold off.

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We have.

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We don't factor.

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And so, you know, everything we
do has to be slow and steady

238
00:11:37,980 --> 00:11:39,182
and it has to be right.

239
00:11:39,182 --> 00:11:42,812
Every customer has to be a good
fit, every agent has to be a

240
00:11:42,851 --> 00:11:45,924
good fit, and so we work really,
really hard to make sure that

241
00:11:45,965 --> 00:11:52,023
everything we do has you know,
like a, that we're working with

242
00:11:52,062 --> 00:11:54,590
quality individuals who care
about the company, who care

243
00:11:54,629 --> 00:11:56,053
about the industry, care about
the drivers, care about the

244
00:11:56,095 --> 00:11:57,724
drivers, care about the
customers.

245
00:11:57,724 --> 00:12:01,660
It's it's really important that
, like I said, we're on our

246
00:12:01,701 --> 00:12:02,484
fourth generation.

247
00:12:03,607 --> 00:12:05,924
Speaker 1: And you don't, you
don't get there through four

248
00:12:05,965 --> 00:12:08,419
generations without some
disappointments and some

249
00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,307
failures and lessons learned
along the way, we've had them

250
00:12:11,346 --> 00:12:11,466
all.

251
00:12:13,272 --> 00:12:16,147
And but that's, I think, where
the greatest learning

252
00:12:16,187 --> 00:12:19,979
opportunities come from is is
failure.

253
00:12:19,979 --> 00:12:22,645
I saw someone explained it this
way.

254
00:12:22,645 --> 00:12:25,091
They said you know it's great
to get the book learning, that's

255
00:12:25,091 --> 00:12:28,407
the theory, but then you get
more learning when you're able

256
00:12:28,447 --> 00:12:32,081
to apply the theory in practice
and you have a management degree

257
00:12:32,081 --> 00:12:37,197
and then you get to practice
being a manager and you learn

258
00:12:37,236 --> 00:12:37,456
more.

259
00:12:37,456 --> 00:12:40,366
But your greatest learnings
actually come from the failures,

260
00:12:40,366 --> 00:12:44,880
and then you learn what not to
do and how that shapes your next

261
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:51,690
phase of leadership or
entrepreneurship.

262
00:12:51,690 --> 00:12:57,400
So when you look back at what
your the difficult decision to

263
00:12:57,441 --> 00:12:59,722
shut down a trucking company,
for example, or to shut down

264
00:13:00,943 --> 00:13:04,667
assets, whether it's a warehouse
or otherwise, and fundamentally

265
00:13:04,667 --> 00:13:09,470
shift what my conversation with
them would be, if we're

266
00:13:19,519 --> 00:13:22,768
recording this and with them in
25 years and they'll say here's

267
00:13:22,849 --> 00:13:27,626
what my dad did right and here's
the big mistake that I learned

268
00:13:27,667 --> 00:13:27,868
from.

269
00:13:27,868 --> 00:13:28,951
That I'm not going to repeat.

270
00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:36,447
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope and I
pray every day that they absorb

271
00:13:36,828 --> 00:13:40,613
some of my negative experiences
and understand how I got to

272
00:13:40,653 --> 00:13:42,934
those negative and how my dad
and my uncle got to their

273
00:13:42,995 --> 00:13:47,424
negative experiences, because it
doesn't always listen.

274
00:13:47,424 --> 00:13:49,308
You're going to fail and you're
going to have problems and

275
00:13:49,328 --> 00:13:52,094
you're going to have ways to
overcome them.

276
00:13:52,094 --> 00:13:56,431
I think what makes a good
entrepreneur or in our business

277
00:13:56,451 --> 00:13:58,585
we call them co-preneurs right,
our agents are co-preneurs.

278
00:13:58,585 --> 00:14:00,780
They're in business for
themselves but not by themselves

279
00:14:00,780 --> 00:14:00,780
.

280
00:14:00,780 --> 00:14:04,788
But what makes a good
entrepreneur is someone who can

281
00:14:04,850 --> 00:14:08,043
overcome that resistance or
overcome those objections or

282
00:14:08,163 --> 00:14:11,171
overcome those issues and find
new ways and be creative.

283
00:14:11,171 --> 00:14:15,264
I mean, you know, jobs and
Wozniak invented a computer in

284
00:14:15,325 --> 00:14:19,692
Wozniak's garage because they
just had a feeling they had

285
00:14:19,753 --> 00:14:22,426
something good and they were out
and they tried something

286
00:14:22,466 --> 00:14:26,750
different and they staked their
entire lives on this one trial

287
00:14:27,059 --> 00:14:28,065
and I mean, look what Apple did.

288
00:14:28,821 --> 00:14:31,384
Speaker 1: I mean it's insane.

289
00:14:31,384 --> 00:14:36,533
One of the questions that I've
been asked and have been asking

290
00:14:37,173 --> 00:15:12,430
other entrepreneurs is when do
you know it's the right time to

291
00:15:12,490 --> 00:15:12,831
quit?

292
00:15:14,821 --> 00:15:15,886
Speaker 2: No, idea Never have.

293
00:15:17,381 --> 00:15:21,111
Speaker 1: So you're all
throttle all the time, no matter

294
00:15:21,111 --> 00:15:21,352
what.

295
00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:23,163
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think breaks.

296
00:15:23,163 --> 00:15:23,886
Just slow you down.

297
00:15:25,540 --> 00:15:27,261
Speaker 1: And I asked that
because there's a handful of

298
00:15:27,321 --> 00:15:30,183
folks that I've chatted with in
the last couple of months.

299
00:15:30,183 --> 00:15:33,445
I said, hey, I've been working
on this idea Maybe it's a tech

300
00:15:33,505 --> 00:15:36,888
product, maybe it's a service
for the industry and I've not

301
00:15:36,928 --> 00:15:38,008
been able to get traction.

302
00:15:38,008 --> 00:15:41,711
And now expenses are getting
higher than revenue and we have

303
00:15:41,831 --> 00:15:43,972
one side that says it's all
throttle all the time and

304
00:15:44,032 --> 00:15:46,414
there's another side that says
maybe it's time to pivot or try

305
00:15:46,454 --> 00:15:49,536
something different, and letting
go is tough.

306
00:15:49,536 --> 00:15:54,265
So, if we can go back to the
conversation with your dad and

307
00:15:54,285 --> 00:15:58,300
your uncle of, hey, it's time to
quit this side of the business,

308
00:15:58,300 --> 00:16:03,811
do you remember that tension
between all throttle and hey,

309
00:16:03,831 --> 00:16:05,622
maybe this isn't the right thing
, because somehow you have to

310
00:16:05,558 --> 00:16:06,249
resolve that tension.

311
00:16:06,249 --> 00:16:06,460
See, I think that is all
throttle and hey, maybe this

312
00:16:06,395 --> 00:16:07,289
isn't the right thing because
somehow you have to resolve that

313
00:16:07,289 --> 00:16:07,365
tension.

314
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,708
Speaker 2: See, I think that is
all throttle.

315
00:16:10,708 --> 00:16:15,723
I think that is all throttle, I
think, when you're looking at

316
00:16:15,743 --> 00:16:16,947
your business and you're looking
at what you're doing.

317
00:16:16,947 --> 00:16:19,175
For example, I'm looking at
150,000, 200,000 square feet of

318
00:16:19,195 --> 00:16:20,700
warehouse space and 40% of it is
empty.

319
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:24,735
We had a very, very large
customer, like a Fortune 500,

320
00:16:24,755 --> 00:16:37,021
that my grandfather started
doing business with, and they

321
00:16:37,041 --> 00:16:38,444
moved their logistics, um admin
to this company who was going to

322
00:16:38,444 --> 00:16:40,108
just be the admin for all of
their operations at all their

323
00:16:40,168 --> 00:16:40,368
warehouses.

324
00:16:40,388 --> 00:16:43,062
And um, the guy's name was Carl
and he came to my office one day

325
00:16:43,062 --> 00:16:44,928
and he says, vin, I got news
for you.

326
00:16:44,928 --> 00:16:46,621
He says we're going to be
moving out of your warehouse.

327
00:16:46,621 --> 00:16:48,887
I'm like, whoa, we've been
doing this for 30 years.

328
00:16:48,887 --> 00:16:51,092
And he goes yeah, he goes.

329
00:16:51,092 --> 00:16:52,804
Oh, I'm sorry, we've been
building a warehouse in

330
00:16:52,824 --> 00:16:54,490
Bethlehem, pennsylvania, so
we're going to move out.

331
00:16:54,490 --> 00:16:56,347
I go oh well, when did you
start building it?

332
00:16:56,347 --> 00:17:09,789
He goes well, that's what I
want to talk.

333
00:17:09,789 --> 00:17:11,135
You have 100,000 square feet of
space.

334
00:17:11,135 --> 00:17:13,800
I just signed a five-year lease
for you, based on the fact that

335
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,884
we did business for 30 years
with my family, and you're going

336
00:17:15,884 --> 00:17:17,166
to come in and tell me I have
30 days.

337
00:17:17,166 --> 00:17:17,508
That's not cool.

338
00:17:17,528 --> 00:17:22,061
And so I'm looking at 40% of our
space is empty and I'm thinking

339
00:17:22,061 --> 00:17:23,903
we have to pivot.

340
00:17:23,903 --> 00:17:28,671
We either have to sell this
space or sublet the space or

341
00:17:29,732 --> 00:17:34,945
void the lease or, I don't know,
do something else.

342
00:17:34,945 --> 00:17:39,073
And so we did something else.

343
00:17:39,073 --> 00:17:40,300
We did a number of things
actually.

344
00:17:40,300 --> 00:17:43,487
I unfortunately at that point
had to.

345
00:17:43,487 --> 00:17:46,434
We filed a chapter 13 to void
the lease.

346
00:17:46,434 --> 00:17:49,876
At that point, we filed a
Chapter 13 to void the lease.

347
00:17:49,876 --> 00:17:51,361
We moved out of one of the
buildings.

348
00:17:51,361 --> 00:17:56,664
Everybody got paid except the
landlord lost his tenant, which

349
00:17:56,724 --> 00:17:58,567
was not cool, but it is what it
is.

350
00:17:58,567 --> 00:18:02,450
It's an ugly fact in business,
and if that doesn't make I was

351
00:18:02,470 --> 00:18:04,992
going to say give you gray hairs
, but if that't make them, fall

352
00:18:05,012 --> 00:18:05,072
out.

353
00:18:05,092 --> 00:18:06,432
Speaker 1: I don't have any hair
left.

354
00:18:07,153 --> 00:18:07,754
Speaker 2: Nothing does.

355
00:18:07,754 --> 00:18:17,680
But you know, we learned a lot
from that moment and, yes, there

356
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:17,941
was a pivot.

357
00:18:17,941 --> 00:18:18,822
But I don't look at that as a
failure.

358
00:18:18,822 --> 00:18:21,947
I look at that as an
opportunity to do something

359
00:18:22,107 --> 00:18:26,014
either a little different, or to
maybe not get into that

360
00:18:26,054 --> 00:18:26,934
situation in the future.

361
00:18:26,934 --> 00:18:29,926
Maybe next time you don't trust
the fortune 500 company to just

362
00:18:29,926 --> 00:18:32,032
be there, maybe you get
something in writing.

363
00:18:32,032 --> 00:18:36,625
And so you know, um, we, we.

364
00:18:36,625 --> 00:18:41,555
At that point we brought in a
couple of new customers who

365
00:18:42,101 --> 00:18:44,547
didn't use as much space but
they needed peer support.

366
00:18:44,547 --> 00:18:47,481
So we leased a bunch of trucks
and started running down to,

367
00:18:48,423 --> 00:18:50,609
running down to uh, to the
terminals in New York and New

368
00:18:50,629 --> 00:18:52,192
Jersey and bringing containers
back up.

369
00:18:52,192 --> 00:18:57,248
And you know, we did okay with
it, but it was never really

370
00:18:57,588 --> 00:18:59,894
where I wanted to be.

371
00:18:59,894 --> 00:19:01,446
It wasn't the space I wanted to
be in.

372
00:19:01,446 --> 00:19:02,903
So I was always looking for the
next thing.

373
00:19:02,903 --> 00:19:03,745
We're survivors.

374
00:19:04,487 --> 00:19:06,191
Speaker 1: Yeah, entrepreneurs,
I'm picking up on that.

375
00:19:06,532 --> 00:19:12,622
Speaker 2: Yeah, entrepreneurs
we're just.

376
00:19:12,622 --> 00:19:13,385
I think we're just survivors.

377
00:19:13,385 --> 00:19:14,390
I look at myself as like a
serial entrepreneur.

378
00:19:14,390 --> 00:19:16,037
I just keep trying new things
until something sticks, and this

379
00:19:16,037 --> 00:19:17,260
thing we're doing now at Fenice
.

380
00:19:17,260 --> 00:19:21,111
It's sticking pretty good and I
don't have any plans to pivot

381
00:19:21,151 --> 00:19:21,592
off of this.

382
00:19:21,592 --> 00:19:25,768
But, god forbid, the market
tanks or something goes really

383
00:19:25,807 --> 00:19:28,692
bad our market, because
obviously the market in general

384
00:19:28,732 --> 00:19:29,134
did tank.

385
00:19:29,134 --> 00:19:34,409
But when our world falls apart,
or if it does, I'm sure

386
00:19:34,449 --> 00:19:37,574
there'll be something else that
we're going to be able to pivot

387
00:19:37,594 --> 00:19:43,949
to and we're diversified in the
kind of work we're doing at this

388
00:19:43,949 --> 00:19:44,309
point.

389
00:19:44,309 --> 00:19:47,975
So I don't see anything other
than what we're doing now,

390
00:19:49,142 --> 00:19:51,169
possibly with some refinements
that would.

391
00:19:51,169 --> 00:19:53,945
That would change things,
should there be a drastic change

392
00:19:53,945 --> 00:19:53,945
.

393
00:19:53,945 --> 00:19:57,086
But look Q2, they just refined
the numbers right.

394
00:19:57,086 --> 00:19:59,509
Their economy was up 3.3%.

395
00:19:59,509 --> 00:20:01,203
Hiring is.

396
00:20:01,203 --> 00:20:02,307
I mean it looks like.

397
00:20:02,307 --> 00:20:04,668
It looks like interest rates
are going to come down.

398
00:20:04,668 --> 00:20:06,688
I think there's a very bright
future.

399
00:20:06,688 --> 00:20:08,042
I it looks like interest rates
are going to come down.

400
00:20:08,042 --> 00:20:08,426
I think there's a very bright
future.

401
00:20:08,352 --> 00:20:09,240
Speaker 1: I think there's a
very, very bright future and if

402
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,303
you didn't believe that you
shouldn't, or don't believe that

403
00:20:11,303 --> 00:20:15,506
you shouldn't be an
entrepreneur, because if you

404
00:20:15,566 --> 00:20:19,741
can't wake up and see the glass
half full every single day, you

405
00:20:19,802 --> 00:20:22,863
probably shouldn't be owning a
company, because you're going to

406
00:20:22,863 --> 00:20:27,225
need that just to get through
coffee on Tuesday morning in any

407
00:20:27,225 --> 00:20:31,548
given week you were talking
about earlier not taking on any

408
00:20:31,628 --> 00:20:35,786
debt, not giving up any equity
and bootstrapping the whole

409
00:20:35,826 --> 00:20:36,027
thing.

410
00:20:36,027 --> 00:20:39,420
I have always thought of our
show as kind of like the dirty

411
00:20:39,559 --> 00:20:42,267
jobs show of the logistics
industry, like we want to

412
00:20:42,307 --> 00:20:46,434
celebrate the people that are
doing the hard work without a

413
00:20:46,476 --> 00:20:47,100
lot of attention.

414
00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:51,671
I admire that approach,
obviously, and named the show

415
00:20:51,770 --> 00:20:55,269
after it, but it comes with
limitations.

416
00:20:55,961 --> 00:20:57,206
And you said growth.

417
00:20:57,206 --> 00:21:03,025
So for someone who's got stars
in their eyes about starting a

418
00:21:03,065 --> 00:21:06,067
freight brokerage and becoming a
$100 million business, for

419
00:21:06,107 --> 00:21:11,498
example, what are the trade-offs
and the tough choices you have

420
00:21:11,518 --> 00:21:14,484
to make about growing steadily
versus quickly?

421
00:21:17,871 --> 00:21:20,577
Speaker 2: So we've looked at
different ways to grow this much

422
00:21:20,577 --> 00:21:26,859
faster than we've grown it, and
all of it comes with loss of

423
00:21:26,979 --> 00:21:34,057
control one way or the other,
and for me it's always been

424
00:21:34,096 --> 00:21:35,462
about doing it the way I want to
do it.

425
00:21:35,462 --> 00:21:40,657
It's always been about being a
tech first broker with a human

426
00:21:40,698 --> 00:21:41,159
connection.

427
00:21:41,159 --> 00:21:44,231
I always want my agents to talk
to my customers, but to

428
00:21:44,312 --> 00:21:49,221
leverage a huge tech stack that
we have to make their jobs so

429
00:21:49,261 --> 00:21:51,995
much easier that they could deal
with more customers, right, and

430
00:21:51,995 --> 00:21:57,667
so I feel like the money that
we could be spending on interest

431
00:21:57,667 --> 00:22:02,037
payments or sharing profits
with an investor or whatever, we

432
00:22:02,037 --> 00:22:07,509
could put into tech, we could
put into agent opportunities, we

433
00:22:07,509 --> 00:22:10,217
could put into different things
that make people's lives better

434
00:22:10,217 --> 00:22:10,217
.

435
00:22:10,217 --> 00:22:13,313
Who work here that I have
direct contact with.

436
00:22:13,313 --> 00:22:15,860
We don't have a broker here
that I don't have a relationship

437
00:22:15,860 --> 00:22:16,020
with.

438
00:22:16,020 --> 00:22:20,018
Every single person who works
here I know they know my kids.

439
00:22:20,018 --> 00:22:21,400
Uh, we have a.

440
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,092
We have a manager of agent
development.

441
00:22:24,092 --> 00:22:24,813
Her name is leslie.

442
00:22:24,813 --> 00:22:29,003
She's amazing, um, and and they
, you know they talk to her

443
00:22:29,063 --> 00:22:32,573
first, but before we bring them
in, they talk to me too.

444
00:22:37,597 --> 00:22:39,900
What's the pitfalls to starting
a new brokerage and getting to

445
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:40,541
100 million?

446
00:22:40,541 --> 00:22:45,526
There's 10 million pitfalls and
any of them could hurt you

447
00:22:46,166 --> 00:22:46,987
really really badly.

448
00:22:46,987 --> 00:22:55,552
But the worst thing you could
do, I think, is to give up the

449
00:22:55,572 --> 00:22:57,414
small profit margins that you
actually end up with and

450
00:22:57,434 --> 00:23:02,722
sacrifice those to a factor, for
example, and have to lose

451
00:23:02,942 --> 00:23:06,212
either your ability to have
those relationships with your

452
00:23:06,273 --> 00:23:15,457
people or, again, it's loss of
control more than anything else,

453
00:23:15,457 --> 00:23:16,520
it's loss of control.

454
00:23:17,391 --> 00:23:18,634
I don't want someone telling me
what to do.

455
00:23:18,634 --> 00:23:19,236
I've had enough.

456
00:23:19,236 --> 00:23:20,259
I'm 58 years old.

457
00:23:20,259 --> 00:23:21,121
I've been doing this a long
time.

458
00:23:21,121 --> 00:23:25,116
I don't need anybody to tell me
what to do.

459
00:23:25,116 --> 00:23:25,739
I know how to do it.

460
00:23:25,739 --> 00:23:28,053
My grandfather did it, my
father did it, my kids are doing

461
00:23:28,053 --> 00:23:28,898
it.

462
00:23:30,211 --> 00:23:32,534
Speaker 1: I noticed a trend, by
the way, when you're describing

463
00:23:32,534 --> 00:23:37,591
somebody um favorably, you use
their name.

464
00:23:37,591 --> 00:23:41,439
When you described someone that
you didn't maybe not quite so

465
00:23:41,499 --> 00:23:46,805
favorable, it was this guy, um I
don't want to say you're not

466
00:23:46,825 --> 00:23:53,419
going to name somebody but you,
you are such a family first guy

467
00:23:54,581 --> 00:23:57,211
and yet there are all these
realities of business and

468
00:23:57,250 --> 00:23:58,836
sometimes you have to make
really tough choices.

469
00:23:58,836 --> 00:24:03,257
So how have you, or how would
you describe your overall

470
00:24:03,297 --> 00:24:06,463
philosophy of leadership at this
point in your journey?

471
00:24:09,875 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 2: um, I'm a god.

472
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,265
I sound like a 17 year old at
an interview at mcdonald's or

473
00:24:16,305 --> 00:24:17,711
something right, but I'm a
people person.

474
00:24:17,711 --> 00:24:20,116
I am a people person.

475
00:24:20,116 --> 00:24:21,721
I love meeting new people.

476
00:24:21,721 --> 00:24:22,783
I love talking to people.

477
00:24:22,783 --> 00:24:24,052
I love getting to know people.

478
00:24:24,052 --> 00:24:30,701
We have we have, um, such a
great team and I know every

479
00:24:30,740 --> 00:24:33,423
single person here and I care
about people.

480
00:24:33,505 --> 00:24:38,379
So it's not like you know, it's
not like I'm sitting here going

481
00:24:38,439 --> 00:24:39,240
growth, growth, growth.

482
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:40,530
I'm not standing over anybody.

483
00:24:40,530 --> 00:24:42,938
I'm not telling anybody what to
do and when to do it.

484
00:24:42,938 --> 00:24:47,636
For the most part, I mean, we
have some staff people who are

485
00:24:48,118 --> 00:24:51,152
in task oriented jobs where you
have to sort of give them a list

486
00:24:51,152 --> 00:24:51,251
of.

487
00:24:51,251 --> 00:24:52,154
This is what I expect.

488
00:24:52,154 --> 00:25:03,015
But we don't have anybody here
who punches a clock.

489
00:25:03,015 --> 00:25:06,661
We don't have anybody here who
is on like a piece work kind of

490
00:25:06,721 --> 00:25:06,901
thing.

491
00:25:06,901 --> 00:25:08,825
I guess I don't really know how
to describe it.

492
00:25:08,884 --> 00:25:11,755
But basically, I like to give
people a job and tell them this

493
00:25:11,835 --> 00:25:13,719
is what I expect you to do.

494
00:25:13,719 --> 00:25:16,324
I don't care how you do it, I
don't care when you do it.

495
00:25:16,324 --> 00:25:18,034
I don't care where you're
sitting when you do it.

496
00:25:18,034 --> 00:25:21,230
If you want to take your laptop
and go to the Caribbean and sit

497
00:25:21,230 --> 00:25:23,613
on a beach in St Thomas.

498
00:25:23,613 --> 00:25:28,860
I don't care, I hope you can
and I hope you do, because I

499
00:25:28,900 --> 00:25:30,341
know when I can, I do.

500
00:25:31,042 --> 00:25:38,451
And so I feel like the job for
me is to empower people to be

501
00:25:38,552 --> 00:25:43,601
their best and to allow the
entrepreneurial spirit to flow

502
00:25:43,661 --> 00:25:44,001
through.

503
00:25:44,001 --> 00:25:46,493
And again, that's why we call
our agents co-preneurs, right,

504
00:25:46,974 --> 00:25:47,976
we want them to go.

505
00:25:47,976 --> 00:25:51,711
Hey, I could work for three
hours a day and make enough to

506
00:25:51,731 --> 00:25:52,153
get by.

507
00:25:52,153 --> 00:25:55,181
Or I could work for five hours
a day and put my kid through

508
00:25:55,221 --> 00:25:59,901
college, or I could work for 10
hours a day and whatever.

509
00:25:59,901 --> 00:26:00,402
You know what I mean.

510
00:26:00,402 --> 00:26:05,239
And so I feel like if we
empower people to do really good

511
00:26:05,239 --> 00:26:08,205
things and just do them in our
pipeline, then we all benefit.

512
00:26:08,205 --> 00:26:11,032
And so is that a leadership
style?

513
00:26:11,032 --> 00:26:12,894
I don't know, maybe it is, I
don't know benefit, and so is

514
00:26:12,914 --> 00:26:13,496
that a leadership style.

515
00:26:13,516 --> 00:26:14,298
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe
it is, I don't know.

516
00:26:14,298 --> 00:26:16,842
I think there's elements of
just who you are that naturally

517
00:26:16,942 --> 00:26:18,224
lend itself to that.

518
00:26:18,224 --> 00:26:25,292
I don't want to be, and that's
what I picked up when we first

519
00:26:25,312 --> 00:26:25,511
met too.

520
00:26:25,511 --> 00:26:27,154
Was I just I want to have a
beer with you, I want to have a

521
00:26:27,174 --> 00:26:27,595
coffee with you.

522
00:26:27,595 --> 00:26:29,017
I just want to sit around and
chop it up and talk about

523
00:26:29,138 --> 00:26:33,124
anything that comes to mind,
because I can clearly tell that

524
00:26:33,144 --> 00:26:34,085
you're a people person.

525
00:26:34,085 --> 00:26:38,177
If you weren't doing what
you're doing now, what would you

526
00:26:38,177 --> 00:26:38,597
have done?

527
00:26:41,663 --> 00:26:45,479
Speaker 2: No idea, I told you
in the beginning I sold copy

528
00:26:45,499 --> 00:26:45,920
machines.

529
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:50,612
I hated every moment of my life
, what that sounds like so much

530
00:26:50,672 --> 00:26:50,951
fun.

531
00:26:51,773 --> 00:26:52,413
Here's what it was.

532
00:26:52,413 --> 00:26:57,301
I walk in the door, there's 80
or 90 sales reps in this

533
00:26:57,341 --> 00:27:06,850
building and my boss was a guy
named Bruce Manley who said to

534
00:27:06,870 --> 00:27:07,852
me Vin, we've got a new product
for you to sell.

535
00:27:07,852 --> 00:27:09,133
You're going to be in the
typewriter division, but we've

536
00:27:09,153 --> 00:27:10,154
got a new product and it's going
to be a hit.

537
00:27:10,154 --> 00:27:12,417
When you see these things,
they're called fax machines.

538
00:27:12,417 --> 00:27:15,882
Okay, here's what I had to do.

539
00:27:15,882 --> 00:27:19,326
I had to take two fax machines
and these were big.

540
00:27:19,326 --> 00:27:22,052
These were 30 pound machines at
the time.

541
00:27:22,052 --> 00:27:23,496
I had to take two of them and
put them in my car and this

542
00:27:23,536 --> 00:27:26,009
little black box that you put in
between them, and you would

543
00:27:26,029 --> 00:27:28,232
have to prove to people that you
could stick the paper on one

544
00:27:28,294 --> 00:27:31,378
side and have it come out the
other, and so you'd bring log

545
00:27:31,398 --> 00:27:33,801
these two machines for demos
into people's conference rooms.

546
00:27:34,102 --> 00:27:35,864
You'd set up two machines and
you put.

547
00:27:35,864 --> 00:27:37,090
People didn't believe that you
could.

548
00:27:37,090 --> 00:27:42,260
You could transmit paper, and
so maybe that was the tech thing

549
00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:46,034
that made me realize that I
don't know, it probably wasn't.

550
00:27:46,034 --> 00:27:49,652
My first computer was a TRS 80
model, one level one with 4k of

551
00:27:49,731 --> 00:27:53,061
Ram, so I I think, um, so I
think I was into tech in the

552
00:27:53,101 --> 00:27:55,410
beginning and maybe that's why
they threw me into the fact side

553
00:27:55,410 --> 00:27:55,410
.

554
00:27:56,693 --> 00:28:02,736
But that company had two black
and white copier reps in three

555
00:28:02,776 --> 00:28:05,557
little towns in Connecticut New
Haven, west Haven and Hamden.

556
00:28:05,557 --> 00:28:08,551
They had one who did the odd
side of the street and one who

557
00:28:08,571 --> 00:28:10,218
did the even numbered places.

558
00:28:10,218 --> 00:28:13,334
Then they had two fax and
typewriter reps in the same area

559
00:28:13,334 --> 00:28:14,136
and a color rep.

560
00:28:14,136 --> 00:28:16,378
We had five reps in three towns
.

561
00:28:16,378 --> 00:28:21,882
Total population in those three
towns is probably 200,000

562
00:28:21,922 --> 00:28:25,018
people, so it's not like there
was any room to really do the

563
00:28:25,078 --> 00:28:25,259
work.

564
00:28:25,259 --> 00:28:30,411
And so what I hated was I hated
knocking on doors, I hated

565
00:28:32,056 --> 00:28:36,493
being just another copier rep
walking in the door and I found

566
00:28:36,513 --> 00:28:38,880
it difficult to differentiate
myself in that.

567
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,097
So I know I wouldn't be selling
copiers.

568
00:28:41,891 --> 00:28:44,620
I really enjoyed the plumbing
place that I worked at.

569
00:28:44,620 --> 00:28:45,895
We had a great time.

570
00:28:45,895 --> 00:28:49,289
I learned so much about a trade
I knew nothing about.

571
00:28:49,289 --> 00:28:53,280
I forged some friendships that
I still have today, 30 years

572
00:28:53,361 --> 00:28:53,602
later.

573
00:28:53,602 --> 00:28:58,181
So that probably would have
been somewhere where I ended up.

574
00:28:58,181 --> 00:29:03,301
But I think the logistics space
is sort of baked into my family

575
00:29:03,301 --> 00:29:03,301
.

576
00:29:03,301 --> 00:29:04,423
I really do.

577
00:29:04,423 --> 00:29:11,041
My grandparents my grandfather
on my dad's side, who died very

578
00:29:11,101 --> 00:29:14,988
young his family was into
transportation they all had some

579
00:29:14,988 --> 00:29:16,270
version of it.

580
00:29:16,270 --> 00:29:20,461
On the other side, my mother's
mother, who was a daughter of

581
00:29:20,500 --> 00:29:21,623
the American Revolution.

582
00:29:21,623 --> 00:29:24,436
She was born to a sharecropper
in Colorado.

583
00:29:24,436 --> 00:29:28,284
They migrated up to Iowa where
her father ended up with

584
00:29:28,330 --> 00:29:30,373
tuberculosis and died at a young
age.

585
00:29:30,373 --> 00:29:32,816
But my grandmother was one of
nine kids.

586
00:29:32,816 --> 00:29:34,939
They were very lucky.

587
00:29:34,939 --> 00:29:38,805
They rented a farm and had a
three-hole outhouse no power.

588
00:29:38,825 --> 00:29:42,679
Wow, wow, yeah, but they were
very lucky in 1935 or whatever

589
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:43,041
it was.

590
00:29:43,041 --> 00:29:47,096
She met my grandfather in 1939,
and he had a friend who had a

591
00:29:47,177 --> 00:29:50,364
job making guns in Hamden,
connecticut, and they drove from

592
00:29:50,364 --> 00:29:53,651
Iowa to Connecticut with their
kid and settled there and they

593
00:29:53,691 --> 00:29:58,198
were married for 65 years until
he passed away.

594
00:29:58,198 --> 00:30:04,533
But during World War II he
always says he was drafted I

595
00:30:04,553 --> 00:30:06,740
don't know if they draft people
with four kids and don't let

596
00:30:06,759 --> 00:30:08,653
them leave the United States but
he might've volunteered.

597
00:30:08,653 --> 00:30:11,720
Anyway, they put him in the
Navy, they sent him out to

598
00:30:11,759 --> 00:30:16,234
Brooklyn and taught him
refrigeration repair and when he

599
00:30:16,234 --> 00:30:18,381
got out he was doing what he
knew.

600
00:30:18,381 --> 00:30:21,576
He was repairing refrigerators
and small appliances and big

601
00:30:21,616 --> 00:30:25,172
appliances and started selling
parts as a side gig and at one

602
00:30:25,211 --> 00:30:29,099
point became GE and
Westinghouse's largest parts

603
00:30:29,139 --> 00:30:31,943
distributor for large appliance
parts in New England.

604
00:30:31,943 --> 00:30:36,332
So that was washers, dryers,
refrigerators and they had a

605
00:30:36,553 --> 00:30:40,018
really nice appliance parts
business until those products

606
00:30:40,078 --> 00:30:45,875
became dispensable and basically
your washer breaks, you

607
00:30:45,895 --> 00:30:46,719
probably don't have it fixed.

608
00:30:46,719 --> 00:30:51,278
Today they buy a new one that's
probably made overseas

609
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,991
somewhere and, um, it's just
cheaper than having it fixed.

610
00:30:54,991 --> 00:30:57,557
So their business was really
really good.

611
00:30:57,597 --> 00:30:59,282
My grandfather was very
successful.

612
00:30:59,282 --> 00:31:01,977
He had a little four-seater
single engine cessna.

613
00:31:01,977 --> 00:31:04,591
He had property in new
hampshire or not late, you know

614
00:31:04,611 --> 00:31:06,735
he he did really well, um.

615
00:31:06,735 --> 00:31:10,984
So I feel like I feel like the
entrepreneurial spirit is baked

616
00:31:11,084 --> 00:31:12,135
in, I feel like the logistics
thing is baked in.

617
00:31:12,135 --> 00:31:16,576
And I feel like the logistics
thing is baked in and I don't

618
00:31:16,615 --> 00:31:17,359
know that I had a choice.

619
00:31:17,359 --> 00:31:21,421
I think it's just where I was
supposed to be.

620
00:31:22,410 --> 00:31:25,796
Speaker 1: I would imagine, then
, that your sons also feel like

621
00:31:25,836 --> 00:31:26,537
it's a choice for them.

622
00:31:26,537 --> 00:31:28,119
They don't have to do it, they
choose to do it.

623
00:31:30,583 --> 00:31:31,084
Speaker 2: I think so.

624
00:31:31,084 --> 00:31:32,226
James is my oldest.

625
00:31:32,226 --> 00:31:34,758
James got a degree in history.

626
00:31:34,758 --> 00:31:35,559
He wanted to be a teacher.

627
00:31:35,559 --> 00:31:36,392
He loves history.

628
00:31:36,392 --> 00:31:37,355
He wanted to be a teacher.

629
00:31:37,355 --> 00:31:38,116
He got a degree.

630
00:31:38,116 --> 00:31:41,693
He did his student teaching and
went oh these kids are nuts, I

631
00:31:41,713 --> 00:31:43,980
don't want to do this Teaching
is hard.

632
00:31:44,490 --> 00:31:45,092
Teaching is hard.

633
00:31:45,092 --> 00:31:49,061
And so he said while I'm
looking for a job, is there

634
00:31:49,081 --> 00:31:49,911
anything you have for me?

635
00:31:49,911 --> 00:31:50,974
So I said, yeah, I'm going to
have you.

636
00:31:50,974 --> 00:31:54,544
We were doing a freight payment
audit program at the time.

637
00:31:54,544 --> 00:31:55,908
I said, yeah, you teach these.

638
00:31:55,908 --> 00:31:59,537
And so James started by typing
bills, which is ironic because I

639
00:31:59,537 --> 00:32:02,590
started at Kronos Express doing
things like OS&D and customer

640
00:32:02,630 --> 00:32:07,076
service, and so his start was
very similar to mine.

641
00:32:07,076 --> 00:32:11,903
And I think James, I think he's
got the bug, I think it's in

642
00:32:11,943 --> 00:32:13,506
him and I don't think it's going
anywhere.

643
00:32:13,506 --> 00:32:16,477
My other son, stephen, is two
years younger.

644
00:32:17,470 --> 00:32:18,897
Stephen wanted to be in law
enforcement.

645
00:32:18,897 --> 00:32:24,009
His mother is a police officer
in our town in Connecticut and

646
00:32:26,655 --> 00:32:30,224
Stephen went to the academy for
Connecticut State Police and it

647
00:32:30,264 --> 00:32:33,611
was right around the time of a
lot of bad things happening and

648
00:32:33,770 --> 00:32:37,220
police officers getting blamed
for things that probably were

649
00:32:37,259 --> 00:32:39,251
okay a few years before and then
they weren't.

650
00:32:39,251 --> 00:32:41,659
And then there was in
Connecticut.

651
00:32:41,659 --> 00:32:47,345
There was not just fault as an
officer for things that happened

652
00:32:47,345 --> 00:32:49,210
, but they could hold you
personally responsible for

653
00:32:49,230 --> 00:32:50,132
things your partner did.

654
00:32:50,132 --> 00:32:55,702
And so he came to me and said
Dad, I can't, I'm not doing this

655
00:32:55,702 --> 00:32:56,403
, I'm dropping out.

656
00:32:56,403 --> 00:32:57,654
I said, well, what do you plan
to do?

657
00:32:57,654 --> 00:32:59,747
He goes, I have a job as a
security guard at the local

658
00:32:59,787 --> 00:33:00,110
hospital.

659
00:33:00,110 --> 00:33:02,599
I'm like, okay, is that going
to be enough to make ends meet?

660
00:33:02,599 --> 00:33:03,715
And he says, yeah, I think so.

661
00:33:03,715 --> 00:33:08,140
He had just gotten married to
this wonderful young lady Her

662
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:16,597
name is Liz, and they he just I
don't.

663
00:33:16,597 --> 00:33:21,288
I don't think he had kind of
enough, like he was doing okay,

664
00:33:21,388 --> 00:33:24,500
but just okay, and I finally
said to him why are you working

665
00:33:24,541 --> 00:33:25,323
nights and weekends?

666
00:33:25,323 --> 00:33:26,426
We need help here.

667
00:33:26,426 --> 00:33:28,220
You're a smart kid, you have a
degree.

668
00:33:28,220 --> 00:33:30,066
I know it's criminal justice,
but you have a degree.

669
00:33:30,066 --> 00:33:34,663
Why don't we teach you how to
do some side of this business

670
00:33:34,702 --> 00:33:36,247
that maybe your brother's not
doing?

671
00:33:37,096 --> 00:33:40,506
And so Stephen now handles
payroll.

672
00:33:40,506 --> 00:33:45,038
He handles payments, accounts,
payable, and he has a handful of

673
00:33:45,038 --> 00:33:46,845
accounts that he's managing.

674
00:33:46,845 --> 00:33:52,576
And James handles customer
relationship type stuff Accounts

675
00:33:52,576 --> 00:34:02,076
, receivable, customer
relationships, relationships and

676
00:34:02,076 --> 00:34:02,257
, um, yeah.

677
00:34:02,257 --> 00:34:03,701
And so I think we found
positions for each of them that

678
00:34:03,721 --> 00:34:06,086
are really uniquely suited to
fit kind of who they are james,

679
00:34:06,509 --> 00:34:08,835
james's, james's role is
something like director of

680
00:34:08,916 --> 00:34:11,503
operations, uh, customer
relationships.

681
00:34:11,503 --> 00:34:14,934
And steven is director of
operations uh, network network

682
00:34:15,134 --> 00:34:21,971
payments, and so, uh, those two
roles I expect to get bigger and

683
00:34:21,971 --> 00:34:26,866
bigger as we build departments
under them, and so, yeah, that's

684
00:34:26,866 --> 00:34:28,733
where I think that what would
they be doing otherwise?

685
00:34:28,733 --> 00:34:31,239
I don't know.

686
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:33,182
I think they both have the bug.

687
00:34:33,182 --> 00:34:33,523
I think.

688
00:34:34,284 --> 00:34:36,828
Speaker 1: Well, and it's fun to
get to watch, from my

689
00:34:36,974 --> 00:34:40,951
perspective, the impact of
entrepreneurship on the

690
00:34:41,071 --> 00:34:41,955
entrepreneurs families.

691
00:34:41,955 --> 00:34:45,164
I always like to ask those
kinds of questions because

692
00:34:46,789 --> 00:34:47,812
anybody who has a career.

693
00:34:47,812 --> 00:34:52,422
It still impacts your family as
well, myself included, but the

694
00:34:52,983 --> 00:34:54,326
I can bring work home with me.

695
00:34:54,326 --> 00:34:59,177
For sure, that's part of life
sometimes, but I can leave work

696
00:35:00,737 --> 00:35:03,880
If you're an entrepreneur,
you're on vacation, maybe your

697
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,062
company is doing well enough and
it affords you a certain

698
00:35:06,102 --> 00:35:09,864
lifestyle to be able to travel
and to have great experiences.

699
00:35:09,864 --> 00:35:13,527
But for most you are still
connected and the family is

700
00:35:13,606 --> 00:35:18,030
benefiting from the
entrepreneurial success.

701
00:35:18,030 --> 00:35:21,532
But the family has also had to
make a ton of sacrifices

702
00:35:21,612 --> 00:35:30,556
simultaneously, and so it is a
whole family experience on some

703
00:35:30,596 --> 00:35:32,197
level for most not for everybody
, but that's a theme that I've

704
00:35:32,217 --> 00:35:37,503
identified more and more over
the years, and I had the thought

705
00:35:37,503 --> 00:35:42,987
one time of doing a spouse's
version of, maybe a mini series

706
00:35:43,228 --> 00:35:46,010
of, what is it like being
married to a bootstrapped

707
00:35:46,070 --> 00:35:47,412
logistics entrepreneur?

708
00:35:48,715 --> 00:35:50,443
Speaker 2: I am not calling her
from the next one Okay.

709
00:35:50,443 --> 00:35:55,467
I'm not bringing her in because
Too much truth.

710
00:35:55,467 --> 00:36:00,706
Well, there's plenty of days
where she's like do you have to

711
00:36:00,746 --> 00:36:02,478
be working all the time, for
example?

712
00:36:02,478 --> 00:36:05,342
So we live in North Carolina,
the company is in Connecticut,

713
00:36:06,235 --> 00:36:08,438
james and Steve live in
Connecticut, their wives and

714
00:36:08,458 --> 00:36:09,461
their kids are in Connecticut.

715
00:36:09,461 --> 00:36:12,521
My mother is in Connecticut, so
we do a lot of back and forth

716
00:36:13,215 --> 00:36:17,514
and when we drive together she
drives because I have the laptop

717
00:36:17,514 --> 00:36:17,514
.

718
00:36:17,655 --> 00:36:19,162
Speaker 1: You have a text and
email.

719
00:36:19,202 --> 00:36:23,519
Speaker 2: yeah, I'm working and
we we have uh, we have a time

720
00:36:23,539 --> 00:36:25,907
share in the caribbean and we go
once a year and guess what,

721
00:36:27,211 --> 00:36:29,740
every morning I'm sitting
outside by the pool with my

722
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,472
laptop putting out whatever
fires I have to put out.

723
00:36:32,472 --> 00:36:35,019
I mean, everybody knows that
vin's on vacation, so he's only

724
00:36:35,039 --> 00:36:36,842
available for four or five hours
a day.

725
00:36:36,842 --> 00:36:40,009
I don't know any other way to
live.

726
00:36:42,096 --> 00:36:45,005
Speaker 1: And there's joy in
that for a lot of us too.

727
00:36:45,005 --> 00:36:46,289
I love being busy.

728
00:36:46,289 --> 00:36:48,476
I love feeling like I'm having
an impact.

729
00:36:48,476 --> 00:36:50,041
It's not a drain.

730
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:53,596
Sometimes the work is the work
and it's not awesome, but in

731
00:36:53,675 --> 00:36:59,789
general, if you love the work
itself, it's easy to work 8, 10,

732
00:36:59,789 --> 00:37:04,778
12, 15 hours not forever, but
in periods where you're, the

733
00:37:04,818 --> 00:37:06,642
adrenaline is just a blast.

734
00:37:06,903 --> 00:37:08,706
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I totally
agree.

735
00:37:08,706 --> 00:37:10,315
I, you know it's funny.

736
00:37:10,315 --> 00:37:15,159
I, um, I love what I do and I
love who I do it with.

737
00:37:15,159 --> 00:37:16,021
I love what I do it.

738
00:37:16,021 --> 00:37:17,081
4, right.

739
00:37:17,222 --> 00:37:22,487
And so that 4 is for the people
who work here, for our family,

740
00:37:23,449 --> 00:37:29,101
for my family that's not in the
business and so my wife has a

741
00:37:29,141 --> 00:37:29,603
great job.

742
00:37:29,603 --> 00:37:32,784
She's a latent print examiner
for the city of Durham.

743
00:37:32,784 --> 00:37:36,005
She absolutely loves working in
forensics.

744
00:37:36,005 --> 00:37:40,521
She's smart as hell and so
sometimes she comes home and

745
00:37:40,561 --> 00:37:43,500
she's like I have to vent and
I'm like I've got to book a

746
00:37:43,519 --> 00:37:43,860
truck.

747
00:37:43,860 --> 00:37:49,257
So you know, you know, we, we
have a great time with this back

748
00:37:49,257 --> 00:37:53,326
and forth, but we both
understand the other's role.

749
00:37:53,326 --> 00:37:57,760
You know, and uh, and we do, we
do really really well together

750
00:37:57,981 --> 00:38:03,538
in that I joke around that she
gives me grief about it, but at

751
00:38:03,557 --> 00:38:06,155
the end of the day she's very
patient and she's very kind and

752
00:38:06,195 --> 00:38:10,945
she knows that this is one of
the big things that bring me joy

753
00:38:10,945 --> 00:38:12,929
, besides those three little
grandkids I have.

754
00:38:12,929 --> 00:38:15,784
But this is one of the things
that brings me joy.

755
00:38:17,677 --> 00:38:20,181
And I get out of bed every
morning and my feet hit the

756
00:38:20,222 --> 00:38:20,963
floor and I'm running.

757
00:38:20,963 --> 00:38:25,929
Um, I, in fact I've sent a
newsletter to all of our agents

758
00:38:26,557 --> 00:38:26,878
every week.

759
00:38:26,878 --> 00:38:28,302
I call it the happy Monday
newsletter.

760
00:38:28,302 --> 00:38:29,545
It never goes out on a Monday.

761
00:38:29,545 --> 00:38:32,438
If it does, it's just pretty
long.

762
00:38:32,438 --> 00:38:35,403
And I call it happy Monday
because I feel like Mondays are

763
00:38:35,864 --> 00:38:38,487
one of these days where people
get up, who work regular jobs

764
00:38:38,528 --> 00:38:38,847
and they go.

765
00:38:39,068 --> 00:38:40,030
Oh, I got to go to work.

766
00:38:40,030 --> 00:38:42,523
I hate this job Weekend's over.

767
00:38:42,523 --> 00:38:44,559
And I get up on Monday and I go
.

768
00:38:44,559 --> 00:38:46,085
I love Mondays.

769
00:38:46,085 --> 00:38:48,001
Monday's a day to reset.

770
00:38:48,001 --> 00:38:50,902
Monday's a day to forgive what
the bad things that happened

771
00:38:50,961 --> 00:38:53,186
last week or fix those problems
from last week.

772
00:38:53,186 --> 00:38:55,362
Monday's a day for a fresh
start.

773
00:38:55,362 --> 00:39:04,039
And I just I try to give
everybody here and everybody

774
00:39:04,059 --> 00:39:05,883
around us that same kind of
feeling in that don't dread your

775
00:39:05,883 --> 00:39:06,083
job.

776
00:39:06,083 --> 00:39:07,708
If you dread your job, you're
doing the wrong job.

777
00:39:07,708 --> 00:39:10,824
If you don't, if you don't love
your job, if you don't love

778
00:39:10,884 --> 00:39:12,856
what you do, you're going to
work every day in your life and

779
00:39:12,896 --> 00:39:13,157
I don't.

780
00:39:13,157 --> 00:39:14,940
I don't feel like what I do is
work.

781
00:39:14,940 --> 00:39:15,760
I, I.

782
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,566
There's plenty of days with
stress and there's plenty of

783
00:39:18,606 --> 00:39:23,961
days when I sit on my butt all
day long pounding the keys and I

784
00:39:23,961 --> 00:39:28,489
am exhausted at the end of the
day, but I'm happy to do it.

785
00:39:30,054 --> 00:39:30,336
Speaker 1: That is.

786
00:39:30,336 --> 00:39:35,606
That is a joy to find your spot
yeah.

787
00:39:35,606 --> 00:39:36,246
To find your joy.

788
00:39:36,246 --> 00:39:36,947
I like that a lot.

789
00:39:36,967 --> 00:39:37,528
Speaker 2: Your happy place.

790
00:39:38,215 --> 00:39:43,041
Speaker 1: Who would you like to
give a shout out to for either

791
00:39:43,081 --> 00:39:46,947
their support along the way or
their support right now, their

792
00:39:47,028 --> 00:39:48,751
influence on you, over your
career?

793
00:39:48,751 --> 00:39:51,503
Who is somebody that you want
to celebrate today?

794
00:39:52,715 --> 00:39:53,418
Speaker 2: Can I give you a list
?

795
00:39:53,981 --> 00:39:55,104
Speaker 1: Yeah, by all means
All right.

796
00:39:56,255 --> 00:39:57,139
Speaker 2: First, joe Valentino.

797
00:39:57,139 --> 00:40:00,003
Joe Valentino was the office
manager at Carano's Express.

798
00:40:00,003 --> 00:40:02,200
Joe taught me how to balance
the cash box.

799
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,320
The drivers would come back
with toll receipts and money and

800
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,831
at the time we used to have to
give them dimes so they could go

801
00:40:07,831 --> 00:40:09,278
out and make phone calls and
call dispatch.

802
00:40:09,278 --> 00:40:11,604
And so Joe taught me how to
balance the cash box.

803
00:40:11,604 --> 00:40:16,840
He taught me how to handle OS&D
and he might have done some

804
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,563
funny things with claims,
because if a claim didn't come

805
00:40:19,664 --> 00:40:22,088
in certified mail because there
was no faxes at the time,

806
00:40:22,148 --> 00:40:24,250
remember didn't come in
certified mail, it went in the

807
00:40:24,269 --> 00:40:24,671
trash.

808
00:40:24,671 --> 00:40:31,527
But Joe taught me some of the
real basics of business and that

809
00:40:31,527 --> 00:40:32,108
was really cool.

810
00:40:32,755 --> 00:40:35,201
John Weber, new England Motor
Freight Manager, became the

811
00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:37,547
regional manager, was my boss
for the whole 10 years.

812
00:40:37,547 --> 00:40:38,008
I was there.

813
00:40:38,008 --> 00:40:39,697
Love this guy.

814
00:40:39,697 --> 00:40:41,925
He taught me so much.

815
00:40:41,925 --> 00:40:48,927
But one of the biggest lessons
in my life was we had I'll tell

816
00:40:48,947 --> 00:40:49,528
you what the account was.

817
00:40:49,528 --> 00:40:53,367
The account was Russell Stover
Candy and they shipped out of

818
00:40:53,427 --> 00:40:57,101
Somersworth, new Hampshire, and
they would put 3,000 or 4,000

819
00:40:57,163 --> 00:41:00,579
little boxes in a trailer on the
floor and those boxes were

820
00:41:00,619 --> 00:41:00,941
mixed.

821
00:41:00,941 --> 00:41:06,376
They had like a black stamp on
them with the different I think

822
00:41:06,396 --> 00:41:09,936
there were pharmacies they all
went to at the time and so they

823
00:41:09,958 --> 00:41:11,836
would have three or four orders
mixed in the trailer and we

824
00:41:11,876 --> 00:41:14,599
would have to separate them all
and we would have to put them on

825
00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:15,963
pallets and then go deliver
them.

826
00:41:15,963 --> 00:41:20,706
That day and one night we got
four loads with 4,000 cartons,

827
00:41:20,786 --> 00:41:21,956
each unexpected.

828
00:41:21,956 --> 00:41:24,179
That showed up at midnight and
they were all supposed to be out

829
00:41:24,179 --> 00:41:28,217
for delivery the next day and I
had four guys on my dock and so

830
00:41:28,217 --> 00:41:31,081
it didn't happen and I got a
call from the regional manager.

831
00:41:31,195 --> 00:41:34,139
John was sitting in his office
and the regional manager was a

832
00:41:34,159 --> 00:41:36,706
guy named Rich I don't remember
his last name and he said Vin,

833
00:41:36,746 --> 00:41:37,166
what's going on?

834
00:41:37,166 --> 00:41:38,567
I said you don't understand.

835
00:41:38,567 --> 00:41:40,268
This place is really effed up.

836
00:41:40,268 --> 00:41:41,929
There's no way to do this.

837
00:41:41,929 --> 00:41:42,710
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

838
00:41:42,710 --> 00:41:43,710
I kind of complained to him.

839
00:41:43,710 --> 00:41:46,092
He said I don't care what you
have to do, get the job done.

840
00:41:46,092 --> 00:41:47,653
I hung up with Rich.

841
00:41:47,653 --> 00:41:53,121
John goes in his office and he
goes Carano, get in here, damn.

842
00:41:53,121 --> 00:41:54,362
I walk in his office, he goes.

843
00:41:54,362 --> 00:41:56,887
No matter how effed up you are,
you never tell the boss that

844
00:41:56,905 --> 00:41:57,427
you're effed up.

845
00:41:57,427 --> 00:42:00,331
That's a huge lesson.

846
00:42:00,331 --> 00:42:01,597
That's a huge lesson.

847
00:42:01,597 --> 00:42:05,905
The lesson was handle it,
figure out what's wrong and fix

848
00:42:05,965 --> 00:42:06,025
it.

849
00:42:06,025 --> 00:42:07,396
So that was huge.

850
00:42:07,396 --> 00:42:12,764
That was, um something that I
still remember to this day and

851
00:42:12,804 --> 00:42:14,067
it's 25 years ago.

852
00:42:14,067 --> 00:42:22,077
You know um the who else, the
the people here.

853
00:42:22,237 --> 00:42:25,280
I just want to talk about two
people here Steve and Leslie.

854
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,523
Leslie, uh, came to us with a
different agency.

855
00:42:28,523 --> 00:42:33,126
Um, they didn't like some of
the things that she was doing.

856
00:42:33,126 --> 00:42:36,208
I saw a glimmer in her eye and
I knew that she would be really,

857
00:42:36,208 --> 00:42:38,208
really good in the recruiting
position.

858
00:42:38,208 --> 00:42:42,992
She's in that position and
she's just on fire.

859
00:42:42,992 --> 00:42:46,121
She's so good, so I'm really
happy about that.

860
00:42:46,121 --> 00:42:48,757
She's leading our recruiting
team and the first agent we put

861
00:42:48,878 --> 00:42:52,487
on, steve, believed in us during
COVID.

862
00:42:53,496 --> 00:42:56,664
I think his big thing was you
don't have a vaccine mandate at

863
00:42:56,704 --> 00:42:57,144
your company.

864
00:42:57,144 --> 00:42:58,076
And I said, no, he goes.

865
00:42:58,076 --> 00:42:58,900
When can I start?

866
00:42:58,900 --> 00:43:01,340
But he trusted me.

867
00:43:01,340 --> 00:43:03,023
It was me, he trusted it.

868
00:43:03,023 --> 00:43:03,365
It wasn't.

869
00:43:03,365 --> 00:43:04,246
There was no group.

870
00:43:04,246 --> 00:43:08,202
We were doing 5 million bucks a
year when Steve showed up, um,

871
00:43:08,384 --> 00:43:10,447
and he's been one of our best.

872
00:43:10,447 --> 00:43:12,838
He's one of our higher margin
um agents.

873
00:43:12,838 --> 00:43:15,983
Uh, he's got, he's got people
working for him now in his

874
00:43:16,063 --> 00:43:16,503
agency.

875
00:43:16,503 --> 00:43:17,846
He's just a great success story
.

876
00:43:17,846 --> 00:43:21,037
So there's that, but honestly,
at the end of the day, the one,

877
00:43:21,699 --> 00:43:23,746
the big one, the only one really
is my dad.

878
00:43:25,635 --> 00:43:31,838
My father was not college
educated, in fact he wasn't even

879
00:43:31,838 --> 00:43:32,642
high school educated.

880
00:43:32,642 --> 00:43:36,362
He barely finished, in fact I
don't think he did finish.

881
00:43:36,362 --> 00:43:38,300
He drove a truck.

882
00:43:38,300 --> 00:43:55,537
He fueled the trucks, he
greased the trucks, he unloaded

883
00:43:55,597 --> 00:43:56,880
the freight, he loaded the
freight, he learned how to write

884
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,364
manifest and customer invoices,
and when Coke would drop off

885
00:43:59,384 --> 00:43:59,565
was um.

886
00:43:59,565 --> 00:44:04,333
He was personality wise.

887
00:44:04,333 --> 00:44:05,760
He was the opposite of my uncle
.

888
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:11,724
My uncle was fiery and hard to
work with and demanding, and

889
00:44:12,485 --> 00:44:15,976
people respected him, but they
weren't friendly with him Like

890
00:44:15,996 --> 00:44:16,818
the workers would.

891
00:44:16,818 --> 00:44:17,760
Would.

892
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,125
Um, they'd sort of be afraid of
him.

893
00:44:20,125 --> 00:44:20,867
They'd steer clear.

894
00:44:20,867 --> 00:44:22,597
If he was in the hallway they'd
use the other hallway.

895
00:44:22,597 --> 00:44:26,505
My dad was friends with
everybody and my dad got things

896
00:44:26,626 --> 00:44:31,708
done, not by yelling and not by
demeaning people or whatever.

897
00:44:31,708 --> 00:44:33,956
My dad put his arm around
somebody and said let me show

898
00:44:33,976 --> 00:44:36,438
you how this has got to be done.

899
00:44:36,438 --> 00:44:38,242
He understood people.

900
00:44:38,262 --> 00:44:42,067
In 1978, my dad was diagnosed
with MS.

901
00:44:42,067 --> 00:44:46,197
He was 35 years old, I think 34
.

902
00:44:46,197 --> 00:44:49,525
And he was very, very scared.

903
00:44:49,525 --> 00:44:52,737
There was three young kids at
home, wife trying to take care

904
00:44:52,778 --> 00:44:53,619
of her.

905
00:44:53,619 --> 00:44:54,923
She barely worked.

906
00:44:54,923 --> 00:44:56,106
She had a part-time job.

907
00:44:56,106 --> 00:45:02,220
He had a part-time job and so
he went his entire career and

908
00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:05,041
his entire life not knowing what
the end was going to bring.

909
00:45:05,041 --> 00:45:10,447
His aunt died with MS and it
was an awful time.

910
00:45:11,387 --> 00:45:16,731
And so my dad, he did everything
the doctors told him to do.

911
00:45:16,731 --> 00:45:21,338
It was all experimental stuff
and crazy things that didn't

912
00:45:21,358 --> 00:45:23,041
work, and the timeshare that I
told you about in the Caribbean.

913
00:45:23,041 --> 00:45:27,056
They bought it so he could go
and they did, and he did

914
00:45:27,115 --> 00:45:31,143
everything and at the end it was
the last 10 years were scooters

915
00:45:31,143 --> 00:45:35,050
and canes and walkers and
eventually a wheelchair.

916
00:45:35,050 --> 00:45:40,007
And you know he didn't really
let anything stop him.

917
00:45:40,007 --> 00:45:42,523
He loved, loved his
great-grandkids.

918
00:45:42,523 --> 00:45:43,659
He couldn't wait for them.

919
00:45:44,715 --> 00:45:53,518
My dad passed in May but in
April I had two grandkids and

920
00:45:53,637 --> 00:45:56,355
about two weeks old Stephen's
son, cooper, came to visit and

921
00:45:56,376 --> 00:46:01,838
I've got a great picture of my
dad holding Cooper, making sure

922
00:46:01,878 --> 00:46:04,867
he wasn't going to drop him but
holding him, and he just had the

923
00:46:04,867 --> 00:46:04,867
.

924
00:46:04,867 --> 00:46:07,018
It was like might be the last
smile I ever saw him.

925
00:46:07,018 --> 00:46:14,597
And so my dad inspired me, not
because he was a hard-nosed

926
00:46:15,179 --> 00:46:17,905
businessman who could grow a big
company and make things work.

927
00:46:17,905 --> 00:46:23,157
He was businessman who could
grow a big company and make

928
00:46:23,177 --> 00:46:23,458
things work.

929
00:46:23,458 --> 00:46:25,081
He was, but he did it a
different way and I hope and

930
00:46:25,101 --> 00:46:27,887
pray that just a little bit of
that comes through, comes

931
00:46:27,907 --> 00:46:28,206
through me.

932
00:46:28,206 --> 00:46:30,699
I don't want to be the guy
yelling at people.

933
00:46:30,699 --> 00:46:33,485
I don't want to be the guy
making people do things.

934
00:46:33,485 --> 00:46:36,242
I want them to want to do them
because it's right for them,

935
00:46:36,302 --> 00:46:37,796
it's right for us, it's right
for our customers.

936
00:46:40,521 --> 00:46:43,206
Speaker 1: Well, I would venture
to say, then, that he would be

937
00:46:43,246 --> 00:46:50,556
proud of you, not for what
you're doing but for how you're

938
00:46:50,576 --> 00:46:51,155
doing it.

939
00:46:51,175 --> 00:46:51,697
Speaker 2: I hope so, I hope so.

940
00:46:51,697 --> 00:46:54,441
I mean I told him about this
stuff every chance I got there

941
00:46:54,461 --> 00:46:54,681
was.

942
00:46:54,681 --> 00:46:57,764
So MS affects people different
ways ways.

943
00:46:57,764 --> 00:47:06,077
But part of his um decline was
the dementia aspect and there

944
00:47:06,117 --> 00:47:08,804
was a moment he was in the
hospital with like a mercer

945
00:47:08,825 --> 00:47:09,306
infection.

946
00:47:09,306 --> 00:47:11,057
It was, you know, just a lot of
bad times.

947
00:47:11,117 --> 00:47:13,947
But he's in the hospital and
we're in downtown new haven I'm

948
00:47:13,987 --> 00:47:16,898
like I don't know the eighth or
ninth floor and he says to me

949
00:47:17,681 --> 00:47:19,704
then, vin, you got to move the
truck.

950
00:47:19,704 --> 00:47:21,487
I said what truck?

951
00:47:21,487 --> 00:47:24,496
He goes the F8.

952
00:47:24,496 --> 00:47:26,581
He goes the F8.

953
00:47:26,581 --> 00:47:28,425
I parked it here and I came
inside.

954
00:47:28,425 --> 00:47:29,248
They won't let me leave.

955
00:47:29,248 --> 00:47:31,019
And so I know where he's going.

956
00:47:31,019 --> 00:47:31,500
I get it.

957
00:47:31,500 --> 00:47:33,405
I said that's all right, dad,
I'll bring it back to the

958
00:47:33,454 --> 00:47:33,836
terminal.

959
00:47:33,836 --> 00:47:37,561
He goes no, no, no, bring it
back to mommy's house, okay.

960
00:47:37,561 --> 00:47:41,329
I said, um, could I just, could
I just have one of the guys

961
00:47:41,369 --> 00:47:41,630
bring it?

962
00:47:41,630 --> 00:47:44,360
He goes, yeah, tell Bobby to
come and get it.

963
00:47:44,701 --> 00:47:46,965
Now there were two Bobbies there
.

964
00:47:46,965 --> 00:47:51,427
There was a guy uh, they called
cigars, cause he smoked, and

965
00:47:51,467 --> 00:47:52,472
there was a guy named Bobby Toro
.

966
00:47:52,472 --> 00:47:53,215
They called Bobby Toro.

967
00:47:53,215 --> 00:47:54,818
So, um, they called Toro.

968
00:47:54,818 --> 00:47:55,981
So I said who do you?

969
00:47:55,981 --> 00:47:56,963
Who cigars are Toro.

970
00:47:56,963 --> 00:48:00,108
He goes, cigars dropped dead a
year ago.

971
00:48:00,108 --> 00:48:02,596
He goes tell Toro to come and
get it.

972
00:48:02,596 --> 00:48:04,918
Bobby Cigars had died a year
before.

973
00:48:04,918 --> 00:48:09,104
And there was that moment of
clarity, you know, and Bobby

974
00:48:09,144 --> 00:48:13,929
Toro is still with us and he saw
my dad and my mom right up

975
00:48:13,970 --> 00:48:14,451
until the end.

976
00:48:14,451 --> 00:48:20,815
So I said, okay, I'll call him.

977
00:48:20,815 --> 00:48:23,976
A short time later my dad had
passed and we had planned

978
00:48:23,996 --> 00:48:24,757
services or whatever.

979
00:48:24,757 --> 00:48:25,538
And there was a line.

980
00:48:25,538 --> 00:48:26,918
I mean, there was a lot of
people, there was a couple

981
00:48:26,938 --> 00:48:29,722
hundred people who showed up for
the wake and at one point I

982
00:48:29,782 --> 00:48:36,567
looked over and there were 13 of
his former drivers at his wake

983
00:48:37,568 --> 00:48:38,548
standing around in a circle.

984
00:48:38,548 --> 00:48:41,532
This company closed in 1989.

985
00:48:41,532 --> 00:48:42,331
Wow, and they showed up.

986
00:48:42,331 --> 00:48:46,519
So if I could be that guy, I'd
be happy to be that guy.

987
00:48:48,242 --> 00:48:50,206
Speaker 1: Wow, what a tribute.

988
00:48:50,206 --> 00:48:54,503
Yep, yep 35 years after the
company closed.

989
00:48:54,835 --> 00:48:55,376
Speaker 2: Wakes and funerals.

990
00:48:55,376 --> 00:48:57,003
You always make these picture
boards, you know.

991
00:48:57,003 --> 00:49:00,942
And so there's a picture on the
board of me and my two sisters

992
00:49:01,021 --> 00:49:02,525
I must have been 12.

993
00:49:02,525 --> 00:49:06,057
And we're standing in front of
an R model Mac, and it was super

994
00:49:06,057 --> 00:49:06,378
clean.

995
00:49:06,378 --> 00:49:08,264
Their trucks were usually
pretty clean, but it was super

996
00:49:08,284 --> 00:49:08,505
clean.

997
00:49:08,505 --> 00:49:12,403
And so four or five of these
drivers who are in their 80s are

998
00:49:12,403 --> 00:49:14,637
huddled around the picture
going whose truck is that?

999
00:49:14,637 --> 00:49:15,780
How come it's so clean?

1000
00:49:15,780 --> 00:49:17,365
Did they clean his and not mine
?

1001
00:49:17,365 --> 00:49:18,496
And they're arguing.

1002
00:49:18,516 --> 00:49:22,126
Speaker 1: Still arguing yeah,
like it's 1986, all over again.

1003
00:49:22,146 --> 00:49:22,967
Speaker 2: Oh, it's wonderful.

1004
00:49:22,987 --> 00:49:24,152
Speaker 1: It's a fantastic
moment.

1005
00:49:24,152 --> 00:49:25,295
Absolutely fantastic.

1006
00:49:25,295 --> 00:49:28,023
I can picture these things as
you describe them.

1007
00:49:28,023 --> 00:49:33,119
You have such a vivid way of
explaining and you're a good

1008
00:49:33,159 --> 00:49:33,641
storyteller.

1009
00:49:33,641 --> 00:49:35,541
Maybe you should have a podcast
.

1010
00:49:36,003 --> 00:49:36,403
Speaker 2: Oh God.

1011
00:49:36,916 --> 00:49:41,045
Speaker 1: Of your own with all
the free time that you have.

1012
00:49:41,767 --> 00:49:45,816
Vin, that is genuinely a
wonderful tribute.

1013
00:49:45,816 --> 00:49:51,083
A multi-generational family in
the industry.

1014
00:49:51,083 --> 00:49:58,496
You have done and seen a lot
and I hope you have a moment,

1015
00:49:58,517 --> 00:50:01,079
maybe today, if you can take
five minutes after this, or

1016
00:50:01,159 --> 00:50:05,184
sometime this evening maybe, and
just pause to reflect on all of

1017
00:50:05,184 --> 00:50:11,148
that for the next phase of your
journey and the journey with

1018
00:50:11,188 --> 00:50:15,757
your own family and the
generations to come Sure, to

1019
00:50:15,856 --> 00:50:19,825
internalize what you want that
to be and how you want to

1020
00:50:19,865 --> 00:50:24,961
continue showing up so that you
can have that same kind of

1021
00:50:25,041 --> 00:50:28,068
legacy and the way that you've
shared it with me.

1022
00:50:28,068 --> 00:50:30,985
I have no doubt that you will,
but I just want to offer that to

1023
00:50:30,985 --> 00:50:34,436
you as a a 90 second
opportunity in your in your

1024
00:50:34,456 --> 00:50:38,144
journey to just pause and and
spend a few moments there.

1025
00:50:38,144 --> 00:50:40,829
Thank you also for just opening
up.

1026
00:50:40,829 --> 00:50:43,961
I know it's sometimes easy to
talk about the business side of

1027
00:50:44,001 --> 00:50:47,427
things and it's not always easy
to talk about the personal side,

1028
00:50:47,427 --> 00:50:51,083
and so thanks for being so open
and willing to share your

1029
00:50:51,144 --> 00:50:52,367
family's story with us.

1030
00:50:53,538 --> 00:50:54,864
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate
the opportunity.

1031
00:50:54,864 --> 00:50:56,820
Yes, I'm an open book.

1032
00:50:56,820 --> 00:51:01,817
I am, yes, I'm an open book.

1033
00:51:01,817 --> 00:51:03,342
Um, if somebody asked me a
question, I I try to answer as

1034
00:51:03,503 --> 00:51:05,391
honestly and as passionately as
I can, because I feel like

1035
00:51:05,411 --> 00:51:06,092
that's that's that's who I am.

1036
00:51:06,233 --> 00:51:07,597
Speaker 1: And that's live life
to the fullest.

1037
00:51:07,677 --> 00:51:10,525
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that,
but that's, that's how we built

1038
00:51:10,565 --> 00:51:12,677
the things we built, and it's
not just business, it's.

1039
00:51:12,677 --> 00:51:16,648
It's, it's totally personal,
it's totally personal, I'm not.

1040
00:51:27,954 --> 00:51:29,077
Speaker 1: I'm not married to
the woman I'm married to because

1041
00:51:29,077 --> 00:51:30,161
of me being anybody other than
who you see today.

1042
00:51:30,161 --> 00:51:31,063
Yeah well, I, I love all of it.

1043
00:51:31,063 --> 00:51:32,327
Uh, last question, then, vin,
is um, where should somebody

1044
00:51:32,347 --> 00:51:34,612
find you if they want to reach
out to you, um, and connect?

1045
00:51:35,094 --> 00:51:35,815
Speaker 2: yeah, that's awesome.

1046
00:51:35,815 --> 00:51:38,297
Um, linkedin is probably the
best, of course.

1047
00:51:38,297 --> 00:51:38,657
Just look.

1048
00:51:38,657 --> 00:51:39,557
Just look me up, Vin Carano.

1049
00:51:39,557 --> 00:51:42,539
It's LinkedIn slash
V-C-A-R-A-N-O.

1050
00:51:42,539 --> 00:51:46,041
Or you can email me at
V-C-A-R-A-N-O.

1051
00:51:46,041 --> 00:51:49,983
At Finicecom, you could
actually email anything at

1052
00:51:50,043 --> 00:51:50,264
Finice.

1053
00:51:50,264 --> 00:51:50,744
Somebody wants to to?

1054
00:51:50,744 --> 00:51:51,744
To reach out to one of the
Finiche agents.

1055
00:51:51,744 --> 00:52:06,659
If someone was interested in
what the Copernic model is all

1056
00:52:06,699 --> 00:52:10,813
about, I'd love to talk about it
and you know, and just spend a

1057
00:52:10,833 --> 00:52:11,316
little time.

1058
00:52:11,316 --> 00:52:14,722
Leslie's out there like crazy
doing the same thing.

1059
00:52:14,722 --> 00:52:15,023
She's.

1060
00:52:15,023 --> 00:52:17,128
She's all over LinkedIn as well
.

1061
00:52:17,128 --> 00:52:21,204
So, yeah, reach out to us,
whether it be shipping needs,

1062
00:52:21,726 --> 00:52:25,061
business advice, logistics
advice that has nothing to do

1063
00:52:25,101 --> 00:52:27,119
with what we do I'm happy to
talk about it.

1064
00:52:27,119 --> 00:52:30,498
I love my business, I love that
people work for me and I'm

1065
00:52:30,518 --> 00:52:33,046
happy to talk about any of this
stuff with just about anybody.

1066
00:52:33,715 --> 00:52:36,099
Speaker 1: We appreciate it, Vin
, and we are all rooting for you

1067
00:52:36,099 --> 00:52:36,099
.

1068
00:52:36,099 --> 00:52:38,003
Awesome Thanks, Nate Appreciate
it Thanks.

1069
00:52:38,003 --> 00:52:38,224
Vin.