John Thomas on Freight Brokering

Freight Brokers: Getting Some Help

It's best for each freight broker to do some of the nitty-gritty work in the beginning on their business. But I have clients who want to open a brokerage and then hire someone to run it. This is okay as long as you get control and stay in control.

If you turn all the work over to someone without knowing yourself what to expect, you lose a lot of control. This might help you get the business off the ground while you are actually doing something else. But, again, you will lose control.

One way to get help without giving up a lot of control is to hire someone to do the prospecting calls. These individuals would be 1099 people who are independent contractors. These people would be calling prospective customers. If they run into questions they can't handle, they can just say, "Well, let me have you speak with so-and-so". They then turn the phone over to you.

You might pay them by the hour and maybe give them a little bonus for each set up package they send out.

I have trained some people who then go to work for their boss who is the person who actually is paying for the course and setting up the business. So, there are a number of different ways to start and operate a freight brokerage.

Freight Brokers: How Much Money Can You Really Make?

I do advertise that this business has unlimited potential income. To be honest, there probably is some type of limit. And the term "potential" means exactly that - it's achievable, it's realistic but nothing is guaranteed.

I have some people that really want me to tell them that they can start making good money very quickly - if they work hard and apply themselves. Well, guess what, there are a lot of people working hard and applying themselves but they are getting no where.

So what's up? Well, there are industry constraints and I mention some them throughout my website and especially when people call or email asking about the potential income. But I just have to be upfront with everyone and let them know that this is a service-oriented business.

As such, you will "pay your dues" for some time - maybe for 3-4 months, maybe for 6-12 months. You certainly won't get established in the first year UNLESS you already have have customers ready to give you loads, or unless you are just one of the lucky ones.

But I'm just trying to be honest and upfront because I'm a realist and if I can't help you mange your expectations to some extent, I have no business being in this business. Yes, there is unlimited potential income, yes you can be doing very well - but it won't happen in the first 6-12 months, most likely.

I wonder what would happen if I told people that within a month they will start making about $3K to $5K every few weeks. Enough to pay your mortgage, buy a new car or two, take a month-long vacation in six months or less, send your kids to Harvard and Yale and buy that second vacation home that you always wanted in Vail, Colorado. I just wonder what would happen .....

Freight Broker Training: Classroom versus Telephone/Internet

We have been doing comprehensive freight broker training over the telephone and Internet for well over five years now. Business has grown and clients benefit by

• Being able to train from home (or their truck)
• Having a flexible schedule
• An affordable cost

We recently, however, have introduced classroom training right here in El Paso, Texas. We have had many requests over the years for a live, classroom setting and so we now offer this method.

In our classroom training, you receive the following:

• training with the same materials as the telephone training,
• we can apply for your broker authority during the training,
• you still get unlimited support after formal training,
• plus you get to shake our hand

Classroom sessions are limited to very small groups so that we can give very individualized attention. You don't want to be lost in a group where you might be passed over.

To read more about the classroom training, go here:
El Paso, Texas Freight Broker Workshop/Retreat

Where Do You Go to Find Customers?

Freight brokering is no different from any other business. You HAVE to go out and find customers. They are the lifeblood of your business and the basis for your future success.

The "brick and mortar" store fronts (retail) usually use newspaper ads, yellow pages, radio and TV, and they send out flyers and run specials to attract new and existing customers. Some of these techniques might work for a freight broker business. But I doubt they will be the backbone of the freight broker business.

Internet-based businesses such as mine, have to rely upon websites, email, videos and the like. These as well may not work well for freight brokers. These techniques won't hurt - but they won't be the entire solution.

So what does a freight broker do to get customers?

There are traditional shipper directories as resources for potential customers and then there are shipper websites. There are personal visits that can be made as well. These SHOULD be used - but, is there more?

Yes there is. We emphasize creating unique keywords to do internet searches where, most likely, you will uncover shippers who are not being called by every other freight broker in the industry. We go into this technique extensively in our training.

If you are going where everyone else is going - you don't have a competitive edge. You NEED to have a competitive edge.

If you have not read our short article on Building Your Business, go here now:
Building Your Business.

You will find several more ideas in this article.

Your Freight Broker Creditability

The freight broker business - just like any other personal or business service - depends upon building trust and creditability. When you first start out as a new freight broker, you may have some carriers refuse to work with you because you ARE new. But others will jump at the chance if you have the right load for them.

So, what you are doing, in effect, is "paying your dues" until you get more established and until you prove yourself.

It will take about 8-9 months for you to get a credit status that will tell carriers what your payment history to trucks has been.

In the meantime, just keep plugging away, give good service, pay your trucks on time and treat them fairly. It's almost guaranteed - if you stick with this approach for however long it takes, you WILL succeed.

Freight Brokers: Is It Full time or Can It Be Part time?

Many people want to know if they can transition in to freight brokering doing it part time. They either have another job or they want to finish up with some other project. The quick answer is, Yes, you can. But let me qualify this.

As a freight broker you can work as hard and long as you want - or you can pare back and work part time if you desire. Now, getting started can be the same way BUT you have to be aware that starting out slowly will be just that - you will start out very slowly. You will get out of it what you put into it.

It is best to give it full time especially getting started;
but there is no law that says you need to do this.

Keep in mind that normally this is an early morning effort. You will be calling on shippers to see if they are looking for any trucks. But others get their orders ready in the afternoon time.

I know of several brokers who are working part time and they have one or several established customers who give them regular loads. These brokers have regular carriers ready to take the loads. It's all pretty much automated for the most part. These brokers are NOT looking to build an empire. They want some extra income. Most likely they have a pension or SS to supplement them (or vice-versa).

So, you are the boss and you choose how much or how long you want to work given the industry constraints that you will work under.

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3-Pak Audio CDs

Working As A Broker Agent

Recently I have had a rash of clients training to work as a broker agent. For some people, this is the best way to go.

For one thing, an agent does not have to obtain their broker authority. They work under the authority of another freight broker. In our broker agent training, we give you the contact info for about 4-5 freight brokers who are seeking agents. In fact, I have spoken to each and have required them to complete a questionnaire beforehand.

Another reason to work as a broker agent is to side step some of the "backroom" work like invoicing shippers and paying the trucks. These are left to the freight broker.

Whether you work as a fully licensed freight broker or a broker agent, you still need to understand the nature of the business and all the details of finding shippers, using the loading boards, calculating rates, pre-qualifying your carriers, monitoring your cargo and a host of other detailed duties.

To read more on what some of the differences are between a freight broker and broker agent, go to:
Working as a freight broker or broker agent?

Working Proactively ..... the Only Way to Go

Working proactively is a smart way to go but you don't always start out that way. Read the following article and find out WHAT it means to work proactively and WHY you don't always start out that way.

Go to: How to Work Proactively

Freight Broker Customers & Carriers: Who Are They?

I get asked many questions about all aspects of the freight broker business. Here are two particular questions: "Are you working primarily with trucking firms, shipping companies or manufacturers? Who are your potential customers?"

In a nutshell, you will be working with all of the above. Let's look why.

Everything that you see and touch throughout the day has probably been moved by a truck and perhaps by a freight broker as well. It's a gigantic industry.

As such, you will encounter all types of companies. For truckers, you will work with one-man owner operators, you will work with those with a small fleet and you may work with several very large carriers. And you don't care except you do want to know how to deal with each type. There are differences.

For shipper/customers, you will work with manufacturers, distributors, produce growers, wholesalers and some other miscellaneous situations like moving road construction machinery on a one-time basis or whatever. These different types of customers can be very small entities or they can be huge. Likewise, working with different types of customers will call for different approaches.

So it's wide open. It's gigantic.

If you haven't already read my article, "7 Tips on Freight Brokering", you can check it out here. It's a short article:  "7 Tips on Freight Brokering"

Freight Brokering: What Kind of People Are Involved?

Freight brokering is one of the most fantastic and interesting businesses due in large part to all the different types of people involved. First, look at yourself. You may be soon working as a freight broker and you will bring your own personal set of skills, intelligence, experience, etc.

Then look at all the others - you will be working with your customers, you will be working with motor carriers, you will be working with business associates, you will be working with others who either want to get involved with what you are doing or they will want you to get involved in what they are doing.

Each person you deal with has their own unique personality traits, their own level of education, their own level of experience, their own needs, their own hopes and dreams, their own level of business savvy, and their own personal approach.

Most freight brokers are "people persons" and this is what it takes to succeed.

There are two things that you won't want to forget:

1. at some point in your brokering you will eventually create a team of customers and carriers and you will work together as good as any 4-man track team in the world. THAT'S when it gets exciting and THAT'S when it gets profitable.
2. you will want to create and use a great sense of humor. Humor is almost like having money in the bank because exercising a great sense of humor can sometimes make you or break you.