When I was a kid, my dad would say, "freight gets in your blood." No idea where it came from, and never thought much of it until later in life and I started working in the business. But the reality is, being close to it all my life made a significant impact. We would go on sales calls with him as kids; being the oldest of four, I probably got the most benefit from this. We'd go onto manufacturer floors and entertainments. He'd get a truck into the schools with the No Zone on the side of the trailer. It was baked into us. My brother designs infrastructure. That's related. My sister hustles direct mail. That's also related. The other sister sells manufacturing products. Related. Anyway, my question for this awesome group is, where did you first get your taste of freight?

By now y'all know how ANTI-EV I AM but I am also a huge proponent of a viable & sustainable option to diesel trucks. One of these options I'd like to see to continue to evolve & hopefully take the forefront are the CNG/LNG engines. Unfortunately our Govt. isn't throwing billions of tax incentives & touting it like they do the alternatives so it's mainly up to the private sector. Yes we face some of the same issues like lack of fueling stations & the costs of these tractors are a little high, however the push for CNG is nothing new & there are already many refueling stations already built with more planned. Now the cost being a 1/3-1/2 of what an EV does mean a savings. Not to mention that current diesel engines can be retrofitted for CNG further cutting your costs VS buying new. https://www.ccjdigital.com/alternative-power/natural-gas/article/15671115/cummins-x15n-raises-the-profile-of-natural-gas

What do we mean by we are building a “community” here on Skool. I’ve had a few people in Skool get to know what I specialize in when it comes to freight and what I stand for “Protecting” Freight. These people have actually sent me customers. Getting familiar with each other on this platform really helps us understand the value each of us contributes here. For example I’ve never been in the business to move Automobiles but I know @Nick Padgett here in Skool has a website called movecars.com so when I get a call to move a car I immediately think of Nick. Why? He’s here in our Skool. Same thing with insurance and Risk. @Sydnie Theisen is not my insurance agent (yet) but I know she shares her knowledge with our Skool community and knowing her here in Skool makes me want to refer people to her. That’s what a community is and does and that’s what we are building here. Thanks for your participation in Skool and hope everyone spends enough time in here to get to know everyone else.

I want to have a community Directory of info on each of us, for those that want to participate. Please email me what you would like published about you and or your company. It can be one paragraph or an entire biography. lol I have put an example of mine out there (Still Writing it so its currently not complete) in the Classroom Directory as an example Email your submission to: steven@papafreight.com and I will get your info published in our directory

A couple of years ago at a conference, someone from the Disney Imagineers was the speaker. He asked something like, "if all the rules of your industry went away and you got to re-write it all, what would it look like?" It's something we should consider in our industry, which has no shortage of problems. What's your answer?