John Thomas on Freight Brokering

My Toll Free Number is Having Problems

Calls may be made to 915-613-1500. This is temporary until they "unclog" the telephone lines???

Freight Broker Training Resources

Included in our training programs, you will find MSWord documents, MSExcel documents and PDF documents. These are the "handouts" that I mention that will help you get organized very quickly.

Once in awhile a person will mention that they don't have either a spreadsheet or word processor software. I used to tell them to purchase Office Suite from Microsoft on eBay or get a college student to purchase a very good but cheaper version.

Now you have a better choice.

You can download a free resource called Open Office. You just go to www.openoffice.org and download it. It will take 30 mins to an hour to download depending on what speed your computer is running at.

If you have a word processing document, you can easily convert it into a PDF file by locating the PDF icon above. You just click the icon and it will save it as a PDF file.

This slick resource will give you everything you need to view our spreadsheets, word documents and PDF files. But, of course, you can use it for any other application you desire. Give it a try and good luck.

I Wanted Some Time Off!

Plus, it was my birthday. We went to Ruidoso, NM for a good, old fashioned October Fest, one of my favorite past times. Sorry if this does not have anything to do with freight brokering - but I wanted some time off.

Freight Broker Trainer on Vacation

Yes, I needed a vacation. I'm writing this from Zacatecas, Mexico after spending several days in both Puerto Vallarte and Guadalajara. It's been a good trip except for a broken motor mount that turned out to be not so bad.

The gentleman who repaired it in Guadalajara was plastered with grease and oil from head to toe. I wanted to ask him if he needed some time to take a shower. BUT, it soon became apparent that he is so good and his business is booming so much that he doesn't have a lot of free time.

My lesson: don't trust a mechanic with clean clothes.

We will be heading back north in several days and I should be back in my office on Monday.

Despite the fact that I'm supposed to be on "vacation", I have signed up several clients and have tons of phone calls to make. I have been able to make some call backs but not all of them.

You WILL get a call back if you have left your info.

Memorial Day Observed

Here is a special thought for all the veterans of today and a special memory for those who did not come back. I have to remember my two classmates - Bill Small and Tom Nelson. They gave their lives in the service of their country.

I'm a U.S. Army vet and, actually, had it very nice while spending time in Ft. Campbell, KY for basic training, then to Ft. Ord, CA for duty and off to the U.S. Naval Base in Newport, RI for military justice training. Then back again to Ft. Ord.

My thoughts are also with my twin brother, Jim, who is now living near me in Las Cruces and who served some time in the National Guard and did his duty in Chicago during the riots. He actually saw more "action" than I did as we both served during the Viet Nam era. My oldest brother served with the 10th Mountain Division in Europe after WWII and my other brother served stateside before Viet Nam.

My thoughts to all.

Personal Economics: Win-Win, Lose-Lose

We have had a number of years prior to 2008 that were good years for most people. Good jobs, good homes, good cars, good family times. Those guys on Wall Street were making base salaries of $200K to $300K. But that is NOT what they were after.

They were after the bonuses - these bonuses sometimes amounted to several million dollars. Yes, things were going well for most. It was a Win-Win situation because both buyers and sellers of certain financial instruments were winners.

Now these guys are in a Lose-Lose situation. And, guess what? It threw a number of people into their own personal Lose-Lose situation. Innocent people have lost untold amounts of value and hard dollars.

But have you thought of this?

If YOU are one of the unfortunate "Losers", you WILL see better times IF you believe and IF you are trying to improve your situation and IF you are preparing for the opportunity when it comes - and it will.

I firmly believe that there are those who are suffering now because they have been "selected". You might be one of the "selected". It's a privilege but most will think that this is absurd. You are being put through the fire and you don't understand why. You have been faithful with integrity - and yet, you are now faced with overwhelming adversity.

Take heart - you are one of a few who have been chosen to endure - and you must endure because you will be rewarded. Take care of today and don't worry about tomorrow. You will be rewarded.

How Smart Will Our Future Freight Brokers Be?

I want to draw a distinction between communicating and learning. Communication means not only sending a "message" but also having the recipient receive and hopefully understand the message.

Learning, however, involves the process of gathering more and more relevant information and hopefully applying it to enable the recipients to better understand and to bring about a desired change.

In this day and age, we have a generation of young communicators. Look at them on their cell phones as they talk and send text messages to their friends and peers. These young communicators use a special text language - sort of like a short cut so they can quickly convey their message.

Where does this leave our younger generation?

They are gradually losing the ability to learn how to read and write properly. And equally important, with such an emphasis on being connected, they do not see the value in learning new material - especially reading or studying.

This is sad, in my opinion.

Some may argue and say, "It's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know". Well, guess what - it's both. People, regardless of what age, need to turn off the television and start reading, studying and learning more. I don't care if it's learning the basics of accounting or mathematics or jumping into one of Shakespeare's plays.

By learning more about how the world works, how history has performed, what great people have written about, a person will have a better chance of becoming a great communicator instead of just being connected with friends and peers.

Are You Interested? It Ain't What You Think

Freight Brokering and Reaching Out to Others

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that technology has made our lives not only easier but we all have gained the ability to reach out to others like never before in the past. I'm thinking about telephones and faxes here.

It used to be that you needed to spend a chunk of money to put a second or third line in the house plus pay a higher monthly fee on top of that. Now, if you choose, you can resort or either cell phones or Internet phones.

Skype and Vonnage are two Internet telephone companies that work extremely well and they are relatively cheap. About two cents a minute with Skype and no cost if you are talking to another Skype user. You can get a headset when using Skype or Vonnage. This frees your hands up. Or you can get a regular telephone for the computer. You can get your own Skype number and no one can tell if they are calling a land-based phone or otherwise.

For faxing, you can get an Internet fax service. I use MyFax but RapidFax may be just as good or better. You can get a service for as low as $10 per month. But if you are working your freight brokerage, you will need a service that gives you the ability to send and receive much more than the $10 plan.

So, check out your options. Technology is in constant change and the prices are usually getting lower and lower. Take advantage of these.

Freight Brokering, Trucking & Some New Laws

When you hear people talk about "Greed" nowadays, you might immediately think about the Wall Street Greed that has devastated many people and their wealth. But there are other forms of greed and guess where some of it is coming from?

I've only heard this second-hand, but the states of Oregon and North Carolina (others?) are either considering or are about to pass laws that will be no less greedy than Wall Street Greed.

These states want to tax vehicle drivers based upon how many miles they drive - not on how much gas they buy. What they want to do is get drivers to install some sort of GPS device that will record the number of miles driven.

If you happen to be driving out of state (or out of the country like I do sometimes), they don't care. For those who don't install the GPS device, they want to impose at least a two-cent gas tax per gallon for this particular situation.

Why are they doing this? It's because their tax revenues have dropped due to less driving and demand. I don't fully understand all this but if you have some input here - go at it, please.

One thing I do know - whenever the government wants more money whether it be state or federal governments - they want to spend more. My theory is that the more the government spends, the less likely that the increase in spending will result in an increase in wealth or a better standard of living.

I don't want the government getting into my pockets or telling me what to do anymore than what they are doing right now.

So, what is YOUR take on all this? Sound off.