This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Small Fleet & Owner-Operator Summit on Wednesday.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Riding Solo While Building Community
DETAILS: Jamie Hagen, owner of Aberdeen, South Dakota-based Hellbent Xpress, talks about the importance of community and saving pennies in the trucking business. The small fleet owner explains how Twitter acts as the modern-day CB radio for the newest generations of truckers and fleet owners forging relationships.
KEY QUOTES FROM JAMIE HAGEN:
“Going from one [truck] to a dozen was a huge task. It’s not as easy as you think. You can go pretty much anywhere and get 12 trucks; that’s the easy part – the equipment. It’s the scaling up and the capital involved in that that really makes it difficult.”
“Twitter is the new CB radio. It’s such a quick, fast, anonymous thing that people can do anything and everything on – especially now with it being as free as it is. I get on social media just for friendship. Being a truck driver, you’re out there by yourself. I tell guys all the time that back in the ’80s and ’90s you didn’t have a cellphone, so you were literally left on your lonesome. Now you have the internet for God’s sake. You can reach anything and everything at your fingertips, which makes this job incredibly easier, but you can build these relationships now.”
“We’ve gotten several customers from Twitter. We’ve made several great connections with Twitter and other social media platforms … . It has become huge just getting out there and communicating with people.”
“Being in the industry this long, I’ve realized that it’s a game of pennies and it’s always going to be a game of pennies. There’s going to be times when you’re making dollars, but eventually you’re going to go back to the pennies. … I just make sure we watch those pennies and make sure we’re saving where we can save, especially on fuel efficiency.”
“The key to survival is making sure you watch your numbers. Build those relationships, and by that I mean be out there and talking to your customers and be agreeable. I think one of our biggest successes is not saying no. When customers come to me with a problem, they’re coming to me to find a solution. If I can find that solution, I win and they win.”