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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to
the Bootstrapper's Guide to

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Logistics, the podcast
highlighting founders doing it

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the way that doesn't get a lot
of attention.

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We're here to change that by
sharing their stories and

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inspiring others to take the
leap.

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It's a roller coaster ride that
you might ultimately fail.

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That's when I kind of knew I
was on to something.

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Speaker 2: It was very hard.

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It truly is building a legacy
the more life you live the more

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wisdom you have.

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Speaker 1: Because we are where
we're supposed to be kind of

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answering the call.

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Don't shoulder entrepreneurship
on your own.

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I'm your host, nate Schutz.

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Let's build something together
from the ground up.

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Hello everybody, and welcome
back to the show.

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We are sticking on the theme of
freight brokerages this week

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and bootstrap founders, as
always, but I always love just

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like we did last week to get to
highlight the Midwest a little

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bit, and so this week we're
going to chat with Rich Kruel,

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who is the co-founder and CEO of
Hoplite Logistics.

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Rich, good afternoon.

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How are you?

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Speaker 2: Afternoon Nate Doing
good man.

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Thanks for having me on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for being
here.

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I got a chance to see your
co-founder, brian Rakowski, a

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little over a month ago at one
of the PGA events that we get to

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have in Minnesota once a year,
so it was great to see him and a

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couple of folks from your team.

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So why don't you start with
just an introduction of yourself

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and where you're based out of
and what your business is

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yourself?

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Speaker 2: and where you're
based out of and what your

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business is.

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Yeah, ridge Cruel, based out of
Grand Rapids, michigan.

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I just recently moved back,
about eight months ago, from

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Chicago.

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I was there for 14 years, had a
couple of little detours with

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my time there in Denver during
COVID for a bit, and then the UK

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.

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I had a pretty cool opportunity
to work over there with Coyote

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for a few months, so that was
really neat.

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But Hot Plate Logistics we're a
freight brokerage.

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As you said, our niche is
cross-border Mexico.

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We have an entity down there in
Guadalajara.

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I have some teammates down
there.

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I've been hiring down there
recently, which is super

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exciting for us.

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We're kind of approaching the
22, 23 months in business now,

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so doing something right.

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We're still still plugging
along.

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But, you know, finally being
able to hire and get over some

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humps has been really fun for us
.

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But, as you mentioned, like
Brian, couldn't ask for a better

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co-founder.

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He's a man, he lives near you
in Minneapolis and that's where

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our headquarters is based out of
.

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And even though we're kind of
spread out all over the country

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and the States, you know it's
usually with people that we've

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had a previous relationship with
that Coyote branch runs along

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and so we're kind of spread out,
but everyone still feels

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connected.

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That's been pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: Well, you're one of
the few that chose to do their

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startup in the depths of a
freight recession, which

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obviously takes a ton of
conviction depths of a freight

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recession, which obviously takes
a ton of conviction.

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And I also like to tap into
founder stories at particular

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points.

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It's obviously really fun to
talk about somebody who's made

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it past $100 million and they've
got a wealth of knowledge and

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lessons that they can share with
other people.

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That's awesome.

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I also really like the very,
very early stage stories, where

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they may be only a couple of
months in and they don't even

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know up from down.

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But I also really, really have a
soft spot for the place that

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you guys are at right now.

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You're two and a half-ish years
in from when you had this

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conception of an idea to you
spent eight months planning and

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getting ready to launch, and now
you're getting close to that

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year two mark of actually being
a real business and you've

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gotten to go through two annual
cycles of budgeting and hiring

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and managing cashflow and all of
that.

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And so to me that's especially
fertile ground, because you

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still don't know what.

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You don't know a lot of the
time, but you've got enough

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bruises and scars accumulated
already that you still retain

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all of the optimism of the
startup phase, and so there's

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something special about that
that I love to get to connect

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with people like you on.

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What is that?

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How would you describe the
place that you're in?

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Speaker 2: I mean we're excited
with the growth, for sure, but I

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do laugh because there's part
of this where we're at a stage

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where I look back at this
interview or this podcast in

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like two years and be like man.

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That was a dumb thought, Because
you're right, you would

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interview me right when we
launched, I would have probably

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been saying a bunch of things
that you know.

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Looking back now, I'm like,
yeah, we, we didn't go about

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that the right way.

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But, um, I mean, for anyone
mulling like the leap, they've

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had this thought that's burrowed
in their head of like I really

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want to try that.

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The best education is just to
do it, because you're going to

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make those mistakes and it's
scary for sure.

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I mean, there's plenty of
nights where Brian and I are on

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the phone at like 11 o'clock
being like how are you going to

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get through this?

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But you figure out a way.

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If you have the will, you can
get through it.

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And I think there's something
to like karma in terms of you

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know we treat people a certain
way and you know, if you operate

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the right way and you take care
of people, then typically it

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kind of comes around your way.

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We've had a lot of people
looking out for us too, so

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that's been great.

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But you're right, the stage
we're at has been exciting

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because we're getting to a point
where we've just hired five

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people in the last two months,
and so that's awesome.

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Our team's at 14 now and we
have some more planned hires,

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probably in the next three or
four, if we can keep growing and

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hitting kind of the metrics
we're looking at.

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But yeah, the first six months,
seven months, is just a

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constant rotation of well, that
didn't work, let's try this

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round.

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Speaker 1: That's so good.

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What was the eight months of
preparation?

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Can we unpack that a little bit
?

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Some folks will say, oh my gosh
, it took eight months to launch

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a business, and I mean that's
before you actually opened the

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doors.

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What were you doing in that
eight months to help set

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yourself up for success?

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Because I know you to be a
diligent and thoughtful person.

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You're not impulsive, so there
was a plan behind everything

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that you did.

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What were you and Brian, I'm
sure, talking through in that

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pre-launch period?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and I
appreciate that too.

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You know, eight months might
have been a little long, but the

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due diligence piece was
important because there was a

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lot of things we thought of
wanting to get right, because

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you can only make one first
impression.

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You really can't.

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And if we launched too early
and things looked janky, the

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website doesn't look a certain
way and we don't have like the

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most sophisticated website.

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We're redesigning it right now,
which is also exciting.

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But no, you want first
impressions to be that's

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professional and if you don't
have all that together, that's

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going to creep into the business
, like you know.

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If this was too fast or
something doesn't look right,

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well then, how do things look
under the hood?

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So it was very like let's take
our time, make sure our first

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impression is oh wait, you guys
are a startup, because you know

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the experiences we're getting is
just as you know, the Coyotes

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or RXOs or whatever.

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That's the experience we wanted
to give them.

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We wanted them to be surprised
at our small size.

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So, you know, definitely the
image was a very important thing

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.

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But I had a little bit of
experience with Mexico cross

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border, just bit at Coyote, but
not a lot.

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But if we were going to kind of
focus on that.

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I wanted a little more
information so I could at least

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have a better idea of what we
were building.

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So getting a little education
with that making sure, like the

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back office was taken care of,
because we'd never dealt with

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benefits or an HRM platform or
what the hell is a.

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Excuse me, what's a PEO?

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That was new terminology
because we've never had to set

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up that structure before.

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So that was a lot of education
of how to actually build a

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business, not just the brokerage
, but actually like the bones of

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it, of just a business.

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And then the big piece of it was
funding.

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Sure, we needed money to do it,
and that was a long, stressful,

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arduous process.

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Where you're there's one thing
being told no, um, when you're

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trying to sell, to try to go get
a customer, you hit no, you

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know, all the time.

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It's another thing when you're
hearing no about like this baby

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that you really believe in, like
this idea works, like it, you

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know, trust me, like we're gonna
work until it works.

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Um, but you know it's money.

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Like people are like, yeah,
what's well, what's the?

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It's a brokerage.

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Okay, there's a million of
those on paper.

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True, yeah, it's, it's tough to
sell that you're trying to sell

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yourself as a person, but as a
first-time business owner too,

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that's doubly as hard because I
have no track record.

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It's like this is my background
and I was successful in these

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roles, but what do you do
without a safety net?

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Um, so that was really tough to
finally get the funding.

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Um, and then, once we had the
funding, it was so close to the

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end of the year that we're like
let's make this very easy from a

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tax standpoint and our
employees that we're bringing in

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let them finish the year out so
they can enjoy that with the

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families around the holidays and
let's just make it clean Jan 1.

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And that's what we did.

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Speaker 1: QuickBooks or
whichever accounting package

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you're going to use or are using
.

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That's just going to be a great
story.

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You'll be able to do annual
reporting and there is no pro

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forma that you ever need to do
because you don't have a half of

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a year.

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How did you choose the name
Hoplite?

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Speaker 2: That was a funny one,
man, so I wanted, first of all,

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I just wanted a name that you
could say with one word.

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There's a lot of the big scale
brokerages and companies that I

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wanted to scale down from
logistics.

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I didn't want to be ABC or 123
Logistics, it kind of blends in.

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I wanted something unique that,
okay, like you know, you go on

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safer sis and you type in any
word, there's a million

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companies that have that word,
and so I started looking up

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things from like a position of
strength.

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I wanted a story to go behind
it too, and it was funny how

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quickly Hoplite popped up on my
radar.

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I'd never heard that term
before.

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Um, I don't know why a lot of
people, of people who we've

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spoken to, is like oh yeah, man,
it's like a Greek warrior,

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never heard of it before.

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Speaker 1: I did not know that.

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Please explain.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think I
typed in synonyms for warrior or

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something like that and hoplite
came up and it sounded like,

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honestly, it sounds like a piece
of equipment and logistics,

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like put it on a hoplite, it
just literally sounds like a

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truck.

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And I was like, well, that's
interesting.

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And started looking into it.

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00:10:59,988 --> 00:11:01,990
And hoplites were Greek
warriors.

236
00:11:01,990 --> 00:11:04,315
They're essentially what was in
the movie 300.

237
00:11:04,674 --> 00:11:11,504
Okay, so there are smaller
armies that are more tactical,

238
00:11:11,524 --> 00:11:12,849
you know, more strategic, and
they can defeat vast armies

239
00:11:12,869 --> 00:11:14,554
because of that, that strategy
and that working for the person

240
00:11:14,615 --> 00:11:15,116
next to them.

241
00:11:15,116 --> 00:11:17,724
And you know, we look at what
we're trying to do.

242
00:11:17,724 --> 00:11:18,525
It's like we don't want to.

243
00:11:18,525 --> 00:11:21,309
We want to be able to compete
with these massive brokerages

244
00:11:21,330 --> 00:11:23,533
and companies, but we don't want
to hire in the same number of

245
00:11:23,573 --> 00:11:23,835
employees.

246
00:11:23,835 --> 00:11:28,344
We want to be smarter, want
people to be bought into the

247
00:11:28,364 --> 00:11:29,908
culture, and we want to be
smarter with our technology and

248
00:11:29,927 --> 00:11:30,509
just do more with less.

249
00:11:30,528 --> 00:11:33,142
Efficiency is like at the front
of everything and like what

250
00:11:33,222 --> 00:11:35,509
better story for that than this?

251
00:11:35,509 --> 00:11:38,484
And it just hits so quickly and
you're like, okay, from a

252
00:11:38,524 --> 00:11:40,687
branding standpoint, you can do
some pretty cool things with

253
00:11:40,707 --> 00:11:45,034
like a spear and a shield, and
so it just kind of worked out

254
00:11:45,054 --> 00:11:45,315
perfect.

255
00:11:45,315 --> 00:11:50,264
Man, we get a lot of
compliments on the branding and

256
00:11:50,284 --> 00:11:51,510
then you know not that this has
anything to do with it, but I

257
00:11:51,530 --> 00:11:52,193
had a little marketing
background.

258
00:11:52,193 --> 00:11:54,783
So, like, when it comes to like
aesthetics, I'm very OCD with

259
00:11:54,822 --> 00:11:58,730
how things look, and that plays
well with the business that you

260
00:11:58,750 --> 00:12:02,341
don't want things to be clean
and look a certain way before we

261
00:12:02,341 --> 00:12:06,331
roll it out, and those are some
of the decisions that everybody

262
00:12:06,331 --> 00:12:07,721
has to make when they start a
business.

263
00:12:07,761 --> 00:12:10,909
Speaker 1: Some folks choose not
to focus on a logo or a website

264
00:12:10,909 --> 00:12:10,909
.

265
00:12:10,909 --> 00:12:14,647
Depending on if you're hauling
or if you have a gravel pit, it

266
00:12:14,687 --> 00:12:49,043
probably doesn't matter as much,
but when you're presenting out

267
00:12:49,103 --> 00:12:51,228
in the marketplace, oftentimes
it really does.

268
00:12:51,228 --> 00:12:55,359
And that's one of the 4,000
decisions you have to make as

269
00:12:55,419 --> 00:12:58,126
you get ready to start a company
and then, after you've started

270
00:12:58,225 --> 00:13:02,383
it, for the stage that you're in
now, as you look back on your

271
00:13:02,544 --> 00:13:06,350
first couple of hires, what was
in your mind of?

272
00:13:06,350 --> 00:13:09,404
I'm sure there was a couple of
folks that you knew from your

273
00:13:09,424 --> 00:13:14,484
prior lives, but how did you
approach our first three or four

274
00:13:14,484 --> 00:13:18,032
or five hires have to be
perfect, and perfect looks like

275
00:13:18,473 --> 00:13:18,493
X.

276
00:13:20,321 --> 00:13:22,487
Speaker 2: I mean one, a trust
built in.

277
00:13:22,487 --> 00:13:24,453
We didn't go out and hire
anyone.

278
00:13:24,453 --> 00:13:28,905
We didn't have a a personal
like background with um.

279
00:13:28,905 --> 00:13:30,208
There was one.

280
00:13:30,208 --> 00:13:33,525
There's a salesperson that I
didn't know him extremely close,

281
00:13:33,525 --> 00:13:34,509
but he was he.

282
00:13:34,509 --> 00:13:37,160
He worked at coyote as well and
like we had enough people that

283
00:13:37,180 --> 00:13:38,283
could vouch for him.

284
00:13:38,303 --> 00:13:41,772
Then it was like okay, um, but
it was difficult, right, because

285
00:13:41,772 --> 00:13:44,987
as a startup, anyone who has a
large book of business as a

286
00:13:45,047 --> 00:13:48,724
seller is typically making
pretty good money and they don't

287
00:13:48,724 --> 00:13:52,142
typically have a huge uh need
to move unless you're going to

288
00:13:52,182 --> 00:13:55,410
offer them more money, and with
a startup, we couldn't offer

289
00:13:55,450 --> 00:13:55,691
that.

290
00:13:55,691 --> 00:13:57,584
I mean, there's, you know,
there's other things you can

291
00:13:57,684 --> 00:14:00,922
offer at a startup, but, um, you
know that's, that's a little

292
00:14:00,962 --> 00:14:01,986
more tricky down the line.

293
00:14:01,986 --> 00:14:05,921
So, um, so we really went after
, like our personal network and

294
00:14:05,941 --> 00:14:08,985
just said you know, if we only
have one shot at this because I

295
00:14:09,025 --> 00:14:12,930
do kind of view it that way A
lot of companies fail early and

296
00:14:13,250 --> 00:14:16,495
you don't know if you ever have
a shot at going out and raising

297
00:14:16,535 --> 00:14:19,242
money and doing it again we only
have one shot at it.

298
00:14:19,242 --> 00:14:20,627
I want to be in the bunker with
people I know are going to do

299
00:14:20,867 --> 00:14:21,850
everything to make sure.

300
00:14:22,761 --> 00:14:25,849
Speaker 1: And that goes right
back to the 300 illustration.

301
00:14:26,370 --> 00:14:29,130
Speaker 2: Yes, yep, no, like
half measures, like if we're

302
00:14:29,170 --> 00:14:32,123
going down, we're all going down
swinging, and I can trust that

303
00:14:32,143 --> 00:14:34,971
that person doesn't need to be
like micromanaged, that they're

304
00:14:35,011 --> 00:14:36,723
out doing whatever they have to
do.

305
00:14:36,723 --> 00:14:38,688
It's not a nine to five anymore
, it's a 12 to 12.

306
00:14:38,688 --> 00:14:42,084
And then you know, as we grow
it, lessons and lessons and

307
00:14:42,124 --> 00:14:45,832
lessons, and um, and we just
nailed I think I do think we

308
00:14:45,892 --> 00:14:46,213
nailed it.

309
00:14:46,213 --> 00:14:50,959
I mean, um, you know, my, our
carrier team lead, ryan Servos,

310
00:14:50,979 --> 00:14:53,446
has been a good friend of mine
for a really long time and he

311
00:14:53,487 --> 00:14:55,883
turned down multiple offers from
other companies when he was

312
00:14:55,943 --> 00:14:58,775
looking to leave Coyote, before
we even had funding.

313
00:14:58,775 --> 00:15:02,587
It's like I will wait, and I
can't tell you how much that

314
00:15:02,627 --> 00:15:05,381
meant to me personally that that
sort of trust was out there and

315
00:15:05,381 --> 00:15:06,484
he's been a rock for us.

316
00:15:06,484 --> 00:15:09,790
And um, you know, we, we have
four carrier reps and they're

317
00:15:09,850 --> 00:15:10,972
all absolute monsters.

318
00:15:10,972 --> 00:15:13,977
And um, they, they were all
from coyote, they were all

319
00:15:14,018 --> 00:15:16,864
people that I knew outside of
our Mexico booking rep, but he's

320
00:15:16,864 --> 00:15:20,673
a beast down there with cross
border and um, but then our

321
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:24,548
first customer rep was actually
a carrier manager for me at

322
00:15:24,568 --> 00:15:28,383
traffic tech and I just was like
I've seen you on the phone with

323
00:15:28,383 --> 00:15:28,863
customers.

324
00:15:28,903 --> 00:15:32,890
Name's Rob Conard, for anyone
looking for any shippers

325
00:15:32,930 --> 00:15:35,515
listening that are looking for a
salesman who goes above and

326
00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:35,775
beyond.

327
00:15:35,775 --> 00:15:38,550
But I saw him on the phone with
some shippers.

328
00:15:38,550 --> 00:15:41,477
Sometimes I'm like you're so
eloquent, you keep people at

329
00:15:41,598 --> 00:15:41,700
ease.

330
00:15:41,700 --> 00:15:44,249
Have you ever thought about the
other side of the business?

331
00:15:44,249 --> 00:15:47,830
And he's like actually I come
from a family that is in sales

332
00:15:47,940 --> 00:15:49,164
and I have thought about that.

333
00:15:49,164 --> 00:15:52,348
I was like I think you'd be
awesome at it and I'd be willing

334
00:15:52,348 --> 00:15:53,112
to take that risk.

335
00:15:53,112 --> 00:15:55,281
It's like our first sales hire
is not even someone with the

336
00:15:55,302 --> 00:15:57,348
book of business, it's just
someone I think would be really

337
00:15:57,388 --> 00:16:01,043
good in sales and he's our top
sales rep right now.

338
00:16:01,043 --> 00:16:04,568
Like he's, he's done really
well, um, and he will continue

339
00:16:04,588 --> 00:16:08,994
to do well Cause he he really,
you know he works hard and fits

340
00:16:09,014 --> 00:16:10,035
the culture of what we're trying
to do.

341
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:16,723
Speaker 1: Well, and if you can
see talent, that can be.

342
00:16:16,723 --> 00:16:18,247
That translates to any subject
matter doesn't have to be the

343
00:16:18,267 --> 00:16:18,507
carrier side.

344
00:16:18,507 --> 00:16:20,500
Um, and you're, you're willing
to be creative like that and

345
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,951
just recognize when somebody's
got game, then yeah, they're

346
00:16:24,971 --> 00:16:26,681
going to have your back and
you're going to have theirs and

347
00:16:26,701 --> 00:16:26,922
that's a.

348
00:16:26,922 --> 00:16:29,647
That's a good place to start,
because culture in the beginning

349
00:16:29,647 --> 00:16:32,392
is the thing that holds you
together.

350
00:16:32,392 --> 00:16:33,314
It's not the business.

351
00:16:33,314 --> 00:16:34,686
The business isn't really it.

352
00:16:34,686 --> 00:16:40,788
You have to have belief in
something bigger than just AP

353
00:16:40,829 --> 00:16:41,310
and AR.

354
00:16:42,512 --> 00:16:44,065
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean
everyone's got to feel like

355
00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:45,526
they're rowing towards something
together.

356
00:16:45,526 --> 00:16:49,129
That's really big for us and
like I can go back to Coyote.

357
00:16:49,129 --> 00:16:51,442
I didn't join right when they
launched.

358
00:16:51,442 --> 00:16:52,084
I keep going to this cause.

359
00:16:52,145 --> 00:16:53,248
It was pretty formative time.

360
00:16:53,248 --> 00:16:56,986
I was there nine years, um, and
saw that company change, like

361
00:16:57,347 --> 00:16:59,350
you know, over the years into
behemoth.

362
00:16:59,350 --> 00:17:02,005
That it was, but they were
already pretty large by the time

363
00:17:02,005 --> 00:17:02,486
I got there.

364
00:17:02,486 --> 00:17:04,559
But everyone there still felt
like they were.

365
00:17:04,559 --> 00:17:08,067
You know, no offense to any CH
Robinson people, but that was

366
00:17:08,086 --> 00:17:08,528
the enemy.

367
00:17:08,528 --> 00:17:10,151
So you're trying to take down
CH.

368
00:17:10,151 --> 00:17:13,443
Everyone felt like they had a
hand in that and at that scale.

369
00:17:13,443 --> 00:17:16,391
I mean I remember when they hit
a billion that still had that

370
00:17:16,451 --> 00:17:16,791
feeling.

371
00:17:16,791 --> 00:17:19,186
It was like man that's
accomplishing something when

372
00:17:19,208 --> 00:17:20,150
there's that sort of culture.

373
00:17:20,150 --> 00:17:23,009
Maybe everyone didn't feel that
way, but I know my teammates

374
00:17:23,048 --> 00:17:25,828
did and we were just one little
part of the org.

375
00:17:25,828 --> 00:17:29,171
So you know we can keep that
going for a while we hire the

376
00:17:29,211 --> 00:17:31,173
right people and everyone's
motivated and happy.

377
00:17:31,173 --> 00:17:35,135
I'd think that you know the
business will keep growing just

378
00:17:35,175 --> 00:17:35,736
based on that.

379
00:17:35,896 --> 00:17:37,876
Speaker 1: You got the right
people well, you know, I spent

380
00:17:37,916 --> 00:17:42,284
12 years at ch right, but I
think I was probably.

381
00:17:42,284 --> 00:17:45,048
I was probably gone by the time
you were competing against them

382
00:17:45,048 --> 00:17:45,829
um.

383
00:17:46,411 --> 00:17:47,314
Speaker 2: It wasn't personal
man.

384
00:17:47,555 --> 00:17:49,315
Speaker 1: No, it's all good,
it's just a different team.

385
00:17:49,315 --> 00:17:50,957
You got a different logo and
different colors.

386
00:17:50,957 --> 00:17:52,376
But yeah, we're playing the
same game.

387
00:17:52,376 --> 00:17:54,617
But now you're in this next
stage.

388
00:17:54,617 --> 00:17:57,717
I'm imagining you're not going
to be able to always hire from

389
00:17:57,778 --> 00:18:01,454
your known network of people and
you have to start thinking

390
00:18:01,494 --> 00:18:05,356
about scale, and that presents a
completely different set of

391
00:18:05,477 --> 00:18:07,982
challenges and opportunities.

392
00:18:07,982 --> 00:18:11,480
So when you start thinking
about how do we double in size

393
00:18:11,539 --> 00:18:13,453
from here, what do you think
you're going to have to do

394
00:18:13,614 --> 00:18:16,111
differently in the next two
years than you've done this

395
00:18:16,251 --> 00:18:16,834
first two years?

396
00:18:17,638 --> 00:18:19,284
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely
stepping out of that comfort

397
00:18:19,304 --> 00:18:23,276
zone of hiring known quantities
per se.

398
00:18:23,276 --> 00:18:25,902
But I think being in the
industry long enough and you

399
00:18:25,922 --> 00:18:29,698
could probably speak to this too
someone with a background and

400
00:18:29,738 --> 00:18:32,573
we're focused on veteran sellers
just because there's there's a

401
00:18:32,693 --> 00:18:34,220
quicker return there for our
stage.

402
00:18:34,220 --> 00:18:37,471
But, um, they're going to know
someone who knows that person If

403
00:18:37,471 --> 00:18:38,736
they've been around a little
bit.

404
00:18:38,736 --> 00:18:42,093
The industry is huge, but it's
it's really not that big.

405
00:18:42,093 --> 00:18:42,975
It makes sense.

406
00:18:42,975 --> 00:18:45,542
Like normally, we can get
feedback directly on if

407
00:18:45,590 --> 00:18:47,755
someone's a good candidate or
not, or you can get the, you can

408
00:18:47,755 --> 00:18:48,717
get the skinny on someone.

409
00:18:48,717 --> 00:18:51,923
So how you work, how you treat
yourself, how you treat your

410
00:18:51,963 --> 00:18:54,048
teammates, all that stuff it
comes full circle.

411
00:18:54,048 --> 00:18:57,295
And if you're someone who works
really hard and people like you

412
00:18:57,295 --> 00:19:00,582
, they're not shy to say that.

413
00:19:00,582 --> 00:19:02,754
And if you're someone who
treats people bad and you're

414
00:19:02,854 --> 00:19:05,381
you're kind of a loafer who
jumped, who hops around jobs, a

415
00:19:05,421 --> 00:19:09,312
lot, people are pretty quick to
to tell that truth as well.

416
00:19:10,153 --> 00:19:12,375
Speaker 1: Your reputation
follows you, no matter whether

417
00:19:12,394 --> 00:19:14,856
or not you want to acknowledge
it, and it builds for a long

418
00:19:14,917 --> 00:19:15,177
time.

419
00:19:15,177 --> 00:19:16,077
It's not.

420
00:19:16,077 --> 00:19:19,480
I get phone calls from people
that I interacted with 10, 15

421
00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:24,485
years ago and haven't spoken to
much in between, and the things

422
00:19:24,505 --> 00:19:27,467
that they remember from when I
was in my 20s I'm embarrassed by

423
00:19:27,467 --> 00:19:27,467
.

424
00:19:27,467 --> 00:19:33,052
I was a young, cocky guy who
thought he knew everything and

425
00:19:33,072 --> 00:19:34,133
thankfully, you grow out of that
.

426
00:19:34,192 --> 00:19:36,855
Hopefully at some point I did,
At least I think I did.

427
00:19:36,855 --> 00:19:41,038
Can we talk about the
cross-border piece for a minute

428
00:19:41,097 --> 00:19:41,318
too?

429
00:19:41,318 --> 00:19:45,882
That is a obviously growing
segment, but it's also much more

430
00:19:45,882 --> 00:19:49,345
complex and there's different
kinds of risks.

431
00:19:49,345 --> 00:19:52,971
When you were doing your due
diligence and said, okay, that's

432
00:19:52,971 --> 00:19:57,635
what is going to be our core,
that we focus on, what did you

433
00:19:57,716 --> 00:20:01,713
leave out of, like we're just
not going to be a straight

434
00:20:01,775 --> 00:20:05,376
drive-in brokerage, or we're not
going to do this or we're not

435
00:20:05,397 --> 00:20:05,818
going to do that.

436
00:20:05,818 --> 00:20:08,138
This is going to be the thing
that we hang our hat on.

437
00:20:08,138 --> 00:20:11,977
How did you find conviction on
that?

438
00:20:13,890 --> 00:20:16,536
Speaker 2: Well, the easy answer
is partnering with Brian

439
00:20:16,556 --> 00:20:18,519
because he's he knows this.

440
00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:20,813
He knows this area of the
business so well.

441
00:20:20,813 --> 00:20:23,219
I mean, he was one of the first
people helping, you know,

442
00:20:23,239 --> 00:20:27,055
integrate the UPS border
solutions team, uh, with coyote

443
00:20:27,095 --> 00:20:31,663
down there and, you know, having
that long track record of

444
00:20:32,003 --> 00:20:32,785
Mexico knowledge.

445
00:20:32,785 --> 00:20:36,618
Not that, you know,
cross-border is a new thing by

446
00:20:36,678 --> 00:20:38,391
any means, but it's kind of
exploding down there near

447
00:20:38,431 --> 00:20:40,878
shoring with the China trade
tensions for a while, like

448
00:20:40,918 --> 00:20:44,335
people are moving to Mexico and
so more and more companies are

449
00:20:44,394 --> 00:20:47,543
spending time looking into it
and vetting out Mexico and

450
00:20:47,671 --> 00:20:50,084
deciding whether or not they
want to uproot their supply

451
00:20:50,124 --> 00:20:51,750
chain to move resources down
there.

452
00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:56,346
I mean, he's been doing it for
eight years, so we have a little

453
00:20:56,346 --> 00:20:59,657
leg up on connections and
relationships are so important

454
00:20:59,677 --> 00:21:03,190
down there, and so we started
talking about it and doing

455
00:21:03,431 --> 00:21:03,831
research.

456
00:21:03,831 --> 00:21:07,639
And some of this had to do with
I'm building a deck for us, a

457
00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:11,141
nice flashy deck that shows why
you should invest money in us

458
00:21:11,826 --> 00:21:14,236
and it's like, well, we need to
build out why cross-border for

459
00:21:14,276 --> 00:21:16,551
someone who's not in logistics
and doesn't know that well why

460
00:21:16,591 --> 00:21:20,601
this is such a smart decision to
invest and it's going to be a

461
00:21:20,641 --> 00:21:23,295
trillion dollar segment here
soon.

462
00:21:23,295 --> 00:21:25,318
It's just growing year over
year over year over year.

463
00:21:25,318 --> 00:21:29,275
And can you say that about a
lot of segments in society right

464
00:21:29,275 --> 00:21:29,434
now?

465
00:21:29,434 --> 00:21:32,641
Like this is a smart investment
if you know what you're doing,

466
00:21:33,362 --> 00:21:34,224
he knows what he's doing.

467
00:21:36,814 --> 00:21:38,439
I've been able to run large
departments.

468
00:21:38,439 --> 00:21:41,164
When I was at Coyote I had
230-some reps reporting

469
00:21:41,184 --> 00:21:42,090
underneath me at one point.

470
00:21:42,090 --> 00:21:45,880
That was obviously making a lot
of mistakes there throughout

471
00:21:45,900 --> 00:21:46,461
that process.

472
00:21:46,461 --> 00:21:48,754
That sort of scale.

473
00:21:48,754 --> 00:21:50,400
You have to make those mistakes
.

474
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:51,144
Now I've done that a little bit
.

475
00:21:51,144 --> 00:21:51,600
You have to make those mistakes
.

476
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:52,075
Now I've kind of done that a
little bit.

477
00:21:52,096 --> 00:21:53,701
And the next challenge is like
growing a company.

478
00:21:53,701 --> 00:21:57,393
But so you know the overseeing
a large team, his Mexico

479
00:21:57,432 --> 00:22:01,302
knowledge, like it married up
really well and we see eye to

480
00:22:01,382 --> 00:22:03,314
eye a lot on how we run around
the business.

481
00:22:03,314 --> 00:22:05,659
So that's been a fruitful thing
as well.

482
00:22:05,659 --> 00:22:09,495
But yeah, it just seemed like
I've mentioned this before.

483
00:22:09,495 --> 00:22:10,177
A lot of people say it.

484
00:22:10,177 --> 00:22:11,480
But there are riches and niches
, right.

485
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,509
Like if you're just a run of
the mill brokerage and you're

486
00:22:14,528 --> 00:22:17,417
just focused on relationships,
that can work because you know

487
00:22:17,437 --> 00:22:18,559
people like to be taken care of.

488
00:22:18,559 --> 00:22:21,015
But if you do something that
not a lot of others do and you

489
00:22:21,035 --> 00:22:21,856
do it better than them.

490
00:22:21,856 --> 00:22:24,652
Well, it's a lot easier sell,
so we wanted to position

491
00:22:24,692 --> 00:22:25,313
ourselves that way.

492
00:22:25,693 --> 00:22:26,134
Speaker 1: I like it.

493
00:22:26,134 --> 00:22:29,100
Speaking of going to Mexico, I
know you're going to Mexico next

494
00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:29,941
week to get married.

495
00:22:29,941 --> 00:22:32,465
First of all, congratulations.

496
00:22:32,671 --> 00:22:33,895
Very very happy for you.

497
00:22:33,895 --> 00:22:41,142
Having a younger business and
your personal life doesn't stop.

498
00:22:41,142 --> 00:22:43,115
It continues, whether you.

499
00:22:43,115 --> 00:22:48,173
You just can't separate the two
sometimes, and I was just

500
00:22:48,232 --> 00:22:51,539
chatting with my good friend,
chris Brewer earlier, and he was

501
00:22:51,539 --> 00:22:55,836
sharing how his superpower is
his wife, and she is who enables

502
00:22:55,836 --> 00:22:59,715
him to be able to do what he
does as an entrepreneur, because

503
00:22:59,715 --> 00:23:00,549
it's a different lifestyle.

504
00:23:00,549 --> 00:23:01,852
It's a whole family affair.

505
00:23:01,852 --> 00:23:09,391
And you're now about to go all
in for a second time, first on

506
00:23:09,471 --> 00:23:13,792
Hoplite and now now on your
future wife, your fiancee, um

507
00:23:15,297 --> 00:23:16,942
how, and you're going to mexico,
of all places.

508
00:23:16,942 --> 00:23:18,349
So that's, that's a great
coincidence.

509
00:23:18,349 --> 00:23:19,372
I just wanted to say
congratulations.

510
00:23:19,372 --> 00:23:20,655
I don't have any questions from
there.

511
00:23:20,655 --> 00:23:22,991
I'm just really happy for you
and I want to share in your,

512
00:23:23,192 --> 00:23:25,519
your celebration no, no, thanks,
man.

513
00:23:25,681 --> 00:23:26,563
Speaker 2: It means a lot.

514
00:23:26,563 --> 00:23:30,375
Um, you know I'm approaching 40
, you know you wonder, are you

515
00:23:30,395 --> 00:23:32,432
going to find the right person,
I guess when you start getting

516
00:23:32,452 --> 00:23:32,995
towards the end.

517
00:23:32,995 --> 00:23:34,379
But she's been awesome.

518
00:23:34,379 --> 00:23:35,000
We had a long.

519
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,383
We've known each other for a
long time but reconnected a few

520
00:23:38,423 --> 00:23:40,431
years ago and it couldn't be
better.

521
00:23:40,431 --> 00:23:42,638
And you talk about, you know,
being a superpower.

522
00:23:42,678 --> 00:23:46,533
She's so supportive of, like
when we were dating I was

523
00:23:46,653 --> 00:23:48,936
spending a month here in
Michigan and then going back to

524
00:23:48,997 --> 00:23:50,879
Chicago for a month because I
didn't want to keep driving back

525
00:23:50,879 --> 00:23:53,343
and forth and like living two
lives, essentially because you

526
00:23:53,363 --> 00:23:56,333
go from she's got a five year
old, so like stepdad kind of

527
00:23:56,353 --> 00:23:59,301
life, to now it's just me and
the dog for a month, to back to

528
00:23:59,321 --> 00:24:01,998
that and it kind of it's kind of
different lifestyles.

529
00:24:01,998 --> 00:24:06,574
You know it's tricky, but yeah,
it's.

530
00:24:06,574 --> 00:24:10,323
It's now that now we're kind of
moving into a more stable piece

531
00:24:10,323 --> 00:24:10,323
.

532
00:24:10,323 --> 00:24:20,053
It's now that now we're kind of
moving into a more stable piece

533
00:24:20,053 --> 00:24:21,336
and you know it's the weddings
this week but it feels like, you

534
00:24:21,336 --> 00:24:22,418
know, things are kind of
already steady in that regard.

535
00:24:22,418 --> 00:24:23,561
So it's, it's a formality, it's
a celebration, but you know

536
00:24:23,581 --> 00:24:25,465
we've we've been together, we've
been living together for almost

537
00:24:25,465 --> 00:24:28,413
a year now, on and off, so it's
it's solid.

538
00:24:28,413 --> 00:24:30,500
She's super supportive of of
Hoplite's growth.

539
00:24:30,500 --> 00:24:33,456
Um, cause, I got to travel all
the time, so you got to have

540
00:24:33,476 --> 00:24:34,318
someone who's okay with that.

541
00:24:35,291 --> 00:24:37,897
Speaker 1: Well, again, I'm very
happy for you and thank you for

542
00:24:37,897 --> 00:24:40,892
making time to do a podcast
right before you get married.

543
00:24:40,892 --> 00:24:44,680
That's commitment to the
business and I also just

544
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,333
personally appreciate it,
because we were supposed to do

545
00:24:47,353 --> 00:24:49,438
this a week ago and I wasn't
feeling well and you were

546
00:24:49,458 --> 00:24:53,417
gracious enough to allow me to
reschedule, so I appreciate it.

547
00:24:53,417 --> 00:24:55,355
What advice would you have?

548
00:24:55,355 --> 00:24:58,794
Last question what advice would
you have to somebody who is

549
00:24:59,275 --> 00:25:03,423
contemplating should I take the
leap or not in this specific

550
00:25:03,462 --> 00:25:03,764
moment?

551
00:25:05,691 --> 00:25:09,317
Speaker 2: If you have that
conviction, like it is something

552
00:25:09,317 --> 00:25:12,524
that is burrowed in you and
will not go away, just do it.

553
00:25:12,524 --> 00:25:17,564
That is the advice, because I
believe strongly that a life

554
00:25:18,105 --> 00:25:20,753
lived where you're always
looking back at what if, is a

555
00:25:20,874 --> 00:25:24,261
very terrible feeling to have
and like, look, maybe this

556
00:25:24,282 --> 00:25:26,855
doesn't work out, maybe a year
from now, like things go belly

557
00:25:26,936 --> 00:25:29,912
up and I'm living in my parents'
basement and the whole family's

558
00:25:29,912 --> 00:25:33,301
down there, but I will look
back and be like I tried it.

559
00:25:33,301 --> 00:25:37,211
Now I know I would hate to have
just kept going down the road I

560
00:25:37,211 --> 00:25:40,159
was going down and which wasn't
a bad one by any means, but I

561
00:25:40,199 --> 00:25:43,334
had that pull and to always
wonder, like man, that was a

562
00:25:43,374 --> 00:25:44,498
great opportunity to do that.

563
00:25:44,498 --> 00:25:46,991
I had this idea like I wonder
what would have happened, and

564
00:25:47,011 --> 00:25:49,215
that sucks, that's, that's a bad
place to be in.

565
00:25:49,215 --> 00:25:54,142
So if you got, if you have the
uh, you have that thought, that

566
00:25:54,182 --> 00:25:57,412
pull, and you have the drive,
just know that, whatever it is,

567
00:25:57,452 --> 00:25:58,153
you can figure it out.

568
00:25:58,756 --> 00:25:59,658
Speaker 1: I love it, figure it
out.

569
00:25:59,959 --> 00:26:01,643
Speaker 2: So yeah, my advice is
just go do it.

570
00:26:02,291 --> 00:26:04,054
Speaker 1: Where can people find
you rich if they want to

571
00:26:04,114 --> 00:26:06,739
connect with you um either
online or through email?

572
00:26:07,821 --> 00:26:09,284
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty active
on LinkedIn.

573
00:26:09,284 --> 00:26:12,291
That's huge for freight,
obviously, but our website is

574
00:26:12,551 --> 00:26:15,576
shiphoplite H-O-P-L-I-T-Ecom.

575
00:26:15,576 --> 00:26:18,341
We'll respond quickly.

576
00:26:18,341 --> 00:26:22,418
I always love meeting new
people, so that's where to find

577
00:26:22,458 --> 00:26:22,538
me.

578
00:26:23,019 --> 00:26:23,603
Speaker 1: Awesome, rich.

579
00:26:23,603 --> 00:26:26,332
Again, thank you for opening up
and sharing this part of your

580
00:26:26,372 --> 00:26:26,593
journey.

581
00:26:26,593 --> 00:26:31,182
I want to follow up in a couple
of years and before we do this

582
00:26:31,442 --> 00:26:35,596
we'll re-listen to this
conversation and see what the

583
00:26:35,676 --> 00:26:37,360
new learnings and experiences
have been.

584
00:26:37,360 --> 00:26:40,913
But again, congratulations, so
happy for you and your family,

585
00:26:41,776 --> 00:26:43,480
and we're wishing you nothing
but the best.

586
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:44,250
We're all rooting for you.

587
00:26:44,250 --> 00:26:46,337
Thanks, nate, appreciate it,
man.

588
00:26:46,337 --> 00:26:47,201
Thanks, my friend.

589
00:26:47,201 --> 00:27:05,244
Thanks for listening to another
episode of the Bootstrapper's

590
00:27:05,284 --> 00:27:05,945
Guide to Logistics.

591
00:27:05,945 --> 00:27:06,445
Thanks, my friend.

592
00:27:06,445 --> 00:27:08,846
Entrepreneurs visit
logisticsfounderscom.

593
00:27:08,846 --> 00:27:12,653
And, of course, thank you to
all the founders who trust us to

594
00:27:12,653 --> 00:27:13,418
share their stories.