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Last week we heard Part 1 of a long talk with Gill Freightlines small fleet owner Surinder Gill, with four trucks owned and headquartered out of Manteca, California, where Gill’s following in the draft of his owner-operator father’s 60-year trucking legacy. (As you can see in the cover image for this week's Part 2 of that talk, the long legacy is honored on the back of Gill Freightlines’ dry vans.) The Convoy brokerage's quick collapse last Fall nearly spelled out a death sentence for the small fleet, as it was mostly built around dedicated hauling for Convoy's shipper customers.

Gill’s still owed around $35,000 for loads hauled just prior to the collapse, and the collapse of his fleet's work soured relationships with a small group of owner-operators whom he previously worked with. The difficulties, in part at least, extend from what he acknowledges as a classic mistake in business.

"I guess it goes back to the age-old saying of 'don't put all your eggs into one basket,'" as he put it.

Yet as detailed in Part 1 of the talk, he profferred the notion that, given how many carriers' work went unpaid in the Convoy collapse and the company’s tech platform’s quick sale to another brokerage/forwarder, bigger brokerages ought to be required to have larger bonds in place based on the amount of business they do: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio/podcast/15669109/should-freight-brokers-bond-vary-according-to-company-size

In Part 2 here, you'll get a window into what Gill’s doing in the aftermath, pivots he’s making toward more direct business, and his hope that so many shippers’ attitudes toward working with small carriers in their immediate physical vicinity, regardless of size, might change for the better.

He's got a distribution center he can physically lay eyes on with nothing more than a step out the door to his office, for instance. "I can see them, phyiscally, they can see me physically," he said, "yet where it confuses me is they would rather give work to these kids right out of college who work for [INSERT BIG BROKER NAME HERE] in Chicago or Atlanta or wherever their office is and trust these kids to go vet these carriers who might be carriers or chameleon carriers. ... But they won't give it to me," with just a few trucks. That's even though, of course, Gill's "right down the street."

Though load boards and brokers themselves rose out of the need of owner-operators and small carriers to connect to freight they otherwise might not have access to, Gill feels the entire culture around brokerage has devolved with Wolf of Wall Street-type tactics now so dominant that independents become essentially "bottom feeders" in a market like the current one. Volumes have been down in a big post-pandemic readjustment, and demand has sunk back to pre-2020 levels and below, some would say, for an extended period.

Yet he's in it for the long run. He's fully invested in driving change in his own approach to customers. He recognizes his and other independents’ shortcomings, and is committed to being part of a change to re-engage direct customers, really put in the work on building relationships toward better long-term opportunity outside of this or that fancy new brokerage network’s app. "It's going to drive a change" around trucking, he feels, "and I want to be there for it."

Mentioned in the podcast: Past Overdrive Small Fleet Champ Jason Cowan's recent talk on building relationships, with customers or otherwise: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio/podcast/15668024/how-to-leave-trucking-better-than-you-found-it-with-jason-cowan

Enter the 2024 Small Fleet Championship via this link: https://overdriveonline.com/2024SFC

Manteca, California, Gill Freightlines small fleet owner Surinder Gill's family's trucking lineage traces back through 60 years of OTR work done by his father, Gurmail Singh Gill, over more than one continent. The elder Gill hauled first in his native India, some in the Middle East, and finished out his career in the United States.

Surinder Gill had dipped his feet in trucking as a dispatcher by the time his father passed in 2018. "I wanted to do something to honor my father," Gill said. "How do I honor my father and his legacy? So we purchased a truck and got a trailer, and I put his photo on the back."

His trailers to this day feature that photo and the "In loving memory" text for Gurmail Singh Gill.

"He'll always be on the road, in a way," as his son puts it in this edition of Overdrive Radio, telling that story but much else besides. Small fleet owner Gill was in part the subject of Overdrive Executive Editor Alex Lockie's reporting on the now-infamous collapse of the Convoy company as a going brokerage concern this past Fall. That reporting told the tale of a variety of owner-operators and small fleet owners just like 28-year-old Surinder Gill who, months following the abrupt shuttering of Convoy in October, remained unpaid for in some cases thousands’ worth of work hauling: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15666087/convoys-unpaid-carriers-signing-back-up-to-haul-loads

In Gill’s case, unpaid invoices were to the tune of around $35,000 in dedicated contract loads his several company drivers and a larger number of owner-operators pulled for big names in canning and food generally, like the Post company.

Convoy's debt to Gill alone is nearly half of the worth of the required $75,000 bond any broker is required to have to cover claims. As you'll hear in the podcast, Gill believes that bond amount shouldn't but a static number but rather dependent on the amount of business a broker handles. Larger the broker, larger the bond.

Convoy, readers will recall, had a valuation in the billions, according to pre-collapse reports. Given the volume of freight -- and money -- that flowed through the broker, Gill asks, shouldn't they be required to hold a bond much, much higher than $75,000? By the time he got to the bond company with his own claim, the full amount in the surety had already been kicked to court deliberation on just who would get paid, and how much.

As of this past week, Gill remained entirely unpaid for those final loads, though the small fleet owner offered up a bit of information he'd learned since the conversation featured in this podcast. Contact made with the Hercules Capital company, responsible for business debt incurred by Convoy, yielded a name there for everything having to do with the shuttered brokerage.

“I have reached out to Hercules Capital,” Gill said, “and was given the contact of a Greg Peterson” for everything Convoy-related with the company, a venture funding company that took control of all of the imploded company but for the technology platform. That platform, also previously reported, was sold to Flexport and rebooted for freight brokered through them, a fact that frustrates Gill and others among the unpaid carriers who’d worked with Convoy for years, as you'll hear.

In today’s world, the kind of choosiness with brokers owner-operator Candace Marley practices is an absolute must for many independents. "I don't jump in with just any broker out there," she said. "There's too many scammers out there, too many double brokers, too many frauds."

In this edition of Overdrive Radio, Marley details the relationship-building strategy for freight in her Iowa-based one-truck business -- Calliope, LLC. The independent business takes its name from a muse in Greek Mythology and a species of hummingbird well-known for its nimble nature in flight, a quality that owner-operator Marley herself has shown in spades over the course of her time with authority, even just a few years in after being leased to Don Hummer Trucking.

Today we’re running through Marley’s conversation with Overdrive News Editor Matt Cole, whose feature about the owner-operator also detailed her tenacity to thrive under the most challenging of circumstances: https://www.overdriveonline.com/trucker-of-the-year/article/15667438/independent-owneroperator-candace-marley-thrives-on-challenge

Overdrive’s Trucker of the Month for March, owner-operator Marley’s in the running for the 2024 Trucker of the Year honor, this year sponsored by Bostrom Seating with a new seat the ultimate prize for whoever comes out on top among 10 semi-finalists we’ll profile this year. Put your own business in the running via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/page/toptrucker

For Candace Marley, it all comes after a year that's been a tough one, it's sure. As was the case for so many owner-operators, lower rates and high fuel (along with generally soft freight markets) had her trucking along fairly flat compared to the previous year. Then, six months out from finishing the note on her 2017 Kenworth T680, a major mechanical failure took the truck out from under her, necessitating a two-month transition to a 2020 Peterbilt 579 late in the year.

She’s inherently optimistic, though, and it was just the kind of challenge maybe she even needed, as you’ll hear, to keep her on her toes and motivated to sharpen all aspects of the business. Just about six months after that big mechanical failure, she’s working her way back with the 579 delivering better fuel mileage than her previous unit. She’s closely monitoring costs and what she needs to meet profitability targets, and looking ahead to better freight markets where she’ll really make hay.

The owner’s journey through trucking behind the wheel starts in 2009, when her then-husband had to come off the road due to an illness, and it’s a story she tells in full in the podcast.

Nominate your own business or that of another owner-operator for Overdrive's Trucker of the Year award: https://overdriveonline.com/toptrucker

As mentioned in the podcast, 2023 Trucker of the Year Jay Hosty's acceptance of prizes at MATS with the award, including a custom model replica of his 2006 Western Star 4900EX: https://www.overdriveonline.com/trucker-of-the-year/article/15666987/new-seat-custom-replica-trucker-of-the-year-jay-hosty-recognized

Here find 2024's second mid-week special edition in Overdrive Radio's series of Partners in Business shorts culled from a long owner-operator business-focused talk at the Mid-America Trucking Show last month with Eric Harley of Red Eye Radio.

This one digs into more of the routine business analysis practice participants in the discussion began to touch on in the last edition, about the importance of stocking the pantry when markets are hot to weather inevitable soft-freight downturns like what we’ve been experiencing nigh on, if not more than, a year now: https://www.overdriveonline.com/partners-in-business/video/15667833/stock-your-trucking-pantry-against-famine-before-any-feast-ends

Eric Harley teeing the topics up with a question about profit and loss statements and any owner-operator's necessary routine engagement with their own numbers. For ATBS clients, that's aided by the online hub where those owners can access monthly P&Ls with the simple push of a button.

The P&L itself, though it can be voluminous in its detail, Harley noted, is “less intimidating” as a document “when you develop those good habits [and] those routines” and you’re “watching it at every step.”

The best owner-operators take it farther, noted ATBS Vice President Mike Hosted. “At least a few times a year, they look at their budget next to their P&L and say, ‘I’ve a roadmap in this budget. Now I’ve got a scorecard’” with real results in a P&L. The best assess performance in relation to achievement of profit goals that way.

“Are my costs per mile changing?” Hosted asked. “Are my fixed costs changing? Are my home costs changing, and what do I need to do to make adjustments” in service of meeting/exceeding the goals and enabling the ability to save in the war chest for the next down cycle.

Overdrive contributor Gary Buchs invoked the "Crucial Conversations" book and its subtitle: “Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” Take control of what you can control and "decide to decide" to get better at touching your own numbers regularly, Buchs paraphrased a central message of the book.

It can be primary in wresting control of the business from market whims.

Need help in that regard? Track back through our series of Partners in Business shorts form the Red Eye Radio roundtables this year and last at MATS: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc1lg9rs1dUBRbJKjvc7UUcJRRd4iI2v3

Keep tuned, too, for the next one wherever you’re listening: https://overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio

This special edition in the long-running Partners in Business program is sponsored by Rush Truck Centers, the 140-plus dealer network for sales, service and so much more. Find them at https://rushtrkctr.com/4bLxbR4

Visit https://OverdriveOnline.com/pib to download the 2024 updated Partners in Business book and learn plenty more from our online series there, too, about so many topics germane to trucking as an owner-operator.

“Like a lot of young boys, I grew up in a farming and trucking environment, and as I stood on the stage a couple of years ago as our company accepted the 2021 Small Fleet Champion of the year award, it hit me that I had hit a pinnacle in my career. Because all I had ever wanted as a young boy was to get my own truck into Overdrive magazine.” --Silver Creek Transportation owner Jason Cowan

Yet Silver Creek Transportation owner and Overdrive 2021 Small Fleet Champ Jason Cowan’s story doesn’t end there, of course.

Flanked by images of two 1970s Overdrive covers on the Mid-America Trucking Show's East Hall stage March 22 this year, Cowan invoked a new appreciation for all that had come before, which he grabbed hold of that night in Nashville as he and his tight-knit Silver Creek office staff accepted the National Association of Small Trucking Companies-sponsored Small Fleet Champ award.

“What I began to learn that night was that wasn’t just the end,” he said. “That was the beginning.”

What followed was a rousing talk we're sharing in full here in today's edition of Overdrive Radio. It's guaranteed to make you think, part tale of his early-years fascination with all things trucks and trucking as a young boy, part homily on how to approach life and business to leave those around you, and the trucking business itself, better than you found them.

"I'm going to ask you, 'Who are you bringing along behind you?'', Cowan said to the assembled, "so that when they get to be in their career they can say, 'That person invested time in me.'"

Cowan shared pictures of two idols from his boyhood on the MATS stage. Owner-operator John Baker, who ran to "California and back" from Kentucky, "every week," he said. Likewise Donald Stone, another owner Cowan who gave his time to the young man.

Cowan probably no substantive introduction here. His Henderson, Kentucky, Silver Creek Transportation serves as a bulwark to many an aspiring small fleet owner and is a pillar of his community. Take a long listen to Cowan’s veritable sermon on the importance of relationships. With customers, sure.

But also, and most importantly, the biggest relationship you have -- the one with that person you see looking back at you in the mirror every morning.

Here's hoping it takes you off to a great weekend. For the rest of you this coming Monday, here’s hoping the solar eclipse traffic doesn’t waylay you on the road to deliver. As noted in the podcast, here's Overdrive’s News Editor Matt Cole’s report on the eclipse’s path from Texas to Maine: https://www.overdriveonline.com/life/article/15667515/total-solar-eclipse-safety-travel-advisories-in-the-path-more

More from Silver Creek owner Jason Cowan: https://www.overdriveonline.com/small-fleet-champ/article/15291067/a-vision-for-growth-jason-cowan-silver-creek-transportation

In this special-edition Overdrive Radio short, Red Eye Radio host Eric Harley relays an anecdote from a family relation, an owner-operator who lamented the difficulty coping with the hunger-sticken parts of the feast-or-famine business cycles in trucking. That's most certainly where the business has been for at least the last year -- some would say close to two years at this point in the game -- after post-pandemic highs.

"Dollars and cents matter right now," said ATBS Vice President Mike Hosted, underscoring the point. "Decisions matter." It's been a year where fixed costs are up 8%, variable costs are down 10%, and freight rates have continued their fall in the broader markets. Without clear insight to truly understand your costs, "you're running in the dark" on what you need to be profitable, Hosted said.

And while a seasoned owner-operator may have a gut feeling about their business performance -- and they may be right 8 to 9 times out of 10 -- prevention practices with finances (not just mechanical prevention) will pay off when the famine is on, noted Gary Buchs, Overdrive contributor and longtime owner-operator business coach. With a good backstop of money in a reserve account, or a line of credit opened during one of the feast cycles, you can avoid falling into "panic mode" when cycles turn, Buchs said -- a recipe for "unwise decisions" you can't take back like one too many unprofitable loads.

"In a time like we're dealing with now, if you run into the necessity of a large repair bill, and if you don't have the cash on hand to pay that, it can be a killer," said Overdrive Editor Todd Dills, rounding out the four-person panel discussion featured here.

It's the first in a special midweek series of short excerpts from a special talk Overdrive and ATBS had with Harley at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky. The talk was attendant to the March 22 release of the 2024-updated edition of our Partners in Business handbook for owner-operator business, start to finish, with our seminar at the big show: https://www.overdriveonline.com/partners-in-business/article/15667166/poor-ratesdemand-outweigh-lower-trucking-costs-this-cycle

This year sponsored by the Rush Truck Centers national dealer network, the new PIB book is available for download via this link: https://register.overdriveonline.com/pib-manual/

This short introduces the PIB program and digs further into perspective on building your owner-operator business pantry to insure against those feast-or-famine dynamics and the whims of the business cycles.

The talk is aired in full also via Red Eye Radio's Extra Mile podcast at this link: https://www.redeyeradioshow.com/the-extra-mile-podcast/

Visit Partners in Business sponsor Rush Truck Centers, the premier solutions provider to the commercial vehicle industry with 150-plus full-service dealership locations in the United States and Canada, via https://rushtrkctr.com/4bLxbR4