On this episode I am joined by Brett Suma, the Founder and CEO of Loadsmith. If you look back at this podcast's history, I don't have CEOs of freight brokerages on the show often. Our show has always been focused on freight markets, economics, and sustainable business growth models and innovation and technology.

I met Brett at a conference and we got to talking and I realized Brett had a lot more to share than just a "how to" for brokerage. Probably not coincidentally if you go back in the show episodes, the last Founder/CEO of a freight company we spoke with was Shannon Breen of FreightVana.

Brett and I are going to dive in on all things freight markets, innovation, assets, growth and acquisitions. Join us for the live show, we love to answer questions! Hope to meet you for coffee!

Join our host Samantha, and her guests Matthew Leffler (our industry's best known attorney) and Graham Gonzales (our industry's best known insurance guru) as they discuss the rapidly evolving legal and risk landscape for brokerages. We will cover topics like the turmoil surety bond markets are in, how 3PL insurance rates are impacted by large verdicts and what these large verdicts mean for legal risk, how fraud is changing the cargo insurance landscape, what shippers should expect of their partners from an insurance standpoint, what brokers should expect of their carrier partners, and more!

Bring all your questions to the live show, or start commenting them now in the comments!

How do brokers operate?

Most operate differently to fit their unique needs and the needs of their carriers and clients. I'm excited to bring you this two part series around how brokerages operate! We get pretty in the weeds discussing operational work flows, and different technologies and tools at play and how they are enhancing service operations. I hope if you are a brokerage leader this series will add value to your day!

On part one of this two part series, Tami Gordy from Flat World Global Solutions and Kristy Knichel from Knichel Logistics share their insights into how their brokerages are operating across intermodal, FTL and LTL sectors. The primary topics we cover in this episode are:

Receiving Orders from Clients - How are you currently receiving orders from clients?
Quoting Shipments - How are you quoting your clients and prospective clients?
Searching for Load Coverage - How do you source carriers for your loads?
Tracking - How do you have visibility on your shipments and provide tracking updates to your teams and clients?

Also, be sure to check out the TAI Software white paper that covers these topics as well! It's a free downloadable resource!

I've been motivated by the ongoing layoffs in our industry to help those job searching stand out and get noticed. I also preach personal brand growth for all of our clients. So, whether you are looking for a new role, were affected by recent layoffs, or want to grow a stronger personal brand for any reason, please join me for this live LinkedIn profile review session! We will walk through things like:

Your Profile Picture
Your Profile Header
Your About Me Section
Your Experience Section
How to Post
How to Interact
How to build a Network

Please tag someone in the comments and ask them to attend with you! Also, since this is live I will be answering questions in real time! So please bring your questions with you!

Our final Podcast segment from the JOC Inland Distribution Conference this week is here! Wrapping up day 3 we hear from:

Derek Zetlin shared insights on how shippers can start to won more of their own data and technology processes and remove vendor bias from their reporting.

Doug Vilamil shared insights on using technology to enable you to focus on scaling your business efficiently.

Gabe Ribeiro discusses what's next on the horizon for technology companies and the clients they serve.

Matt Salefski was talking bananas (literally) and also shared his thoughts on how automation can improve your chances of securing appointments at railyards and ports, especially as the east coast begins to resume operations when ports reopen.

Scooter Sayers shared an update on the lay of the land in the
LTL market, what carriers are doing, and how investors are increasing interest in the sector.

Check out our podcast channels (streaming on all podcast platforms) under the name Meet Me For Coffee with Samantha Jones to catch all 5 episodes that released this week covering the conference, as well as our most recent regularly scheduled podcast episode with Lina that covered how brokers are investing and utilizing technology to enhance their operations.

Day 3 Part 1 coverage of the JOC Inland Distribution Conference!

I could not be more thrilled to have a session of all shippers who shared their topics of discussion and insights with me. You will hear from:

Laura Eory from KIND Snacks shared her insights around workforce development and leadership in supply chain, especially through turbulent times.

Rachel Acker from Wolverine Worldwide shared her thoughts and insights on rail, cargo theft, and how each shipper needs to be able to balance risk versus cost when deciding how to manage cargo theft.

Inga Holmes from Fossil Group shared insights on the Dallas intermodal market and topics brought up during the Dallas Think Tank session at the show.

Stay Tuned for our final episode release, Day 3 Part 2 coming soon!

#logistics #podcast #networking #dallas #inland24 #cargotheft #leadership #workforce #supplychain

Day 2 Part 2!

Ari Ashe summarizes the sessions at JOC so far, and what you can gain from attending JOC, and then he provided me with an excellent conversation on the ILA port strikes.

Chris from Optym shared his insights on how logistics providers of all type are thinking about automation, and what they are prioritizing right now to wrap up day 2!

Stay tuned for one more day of content!

#logistics #networking #podcast #inland24 #transportation #intermodal #drayage #ilastrike #ports #markets

Day 2 of the JOC Inland Distribution Conference was so informative, we had to split it into two parts! In this episode you will hear:

Deema Adada from BiggerPicture discuss what has changed in automation and scheduling automation since we met in February at a conference. And how SHIPPERS not just brokers/carriers are finding automation/ai technology beneficial.

Curtis Garrett from Understand LTL shared his insights on technology and improvements in the LTL space, and how shippers can be working to improve their operations and LTL experiences.

John Knight shared his insights into the future of visibility in the intermodal space, and what we need to be doing with the data we have available to us to use it to create more informed decisions

Elizabeth and Miguel Moscoso of Moscoso Express recapped their session on the importance of the small carrier, and shared some advice for small carriers looking to work directly with shippers

Check out Day 2 Part 2 on our channels for a great discussion around the ILA strike!

#logistics #networking #podcast #inland24 #transportation #intermodal #drayage #ilastrike #ports #markets