Hey, everybody. Welcome to Hammer Down on the Market Scale Network. I'm your host, Mike Bush. I'm so delighted by today's guest, Aurelia, because we've had so many folks come on the show and talk about the problems they're solving, and it's been that technology solution for this and a mobile app for that. This guy looked around and said, we need hats. Reid lost a lot. Showed brother. Yeah. Well, that thanks thanks for having me, Mike. Yeah. Yeah. Big big problem we're solving. Lots of uncovered heads out there. So yeah. So I I know I'm being a little flippant with it, but the please advise hat and now T shirts have really kinda taken off, made you pretty famous. I I saw you on stage ask Fred Jacobs for some venture capital. What was going on here, man? Tell me about this business of yours. Well, the hats I mean, the hats started because I back in, like, February of twenty twenty three, I me and my, one of my business partners, Jake, started a built, like, an excuse generator for drivers for being late for appointments, and we called it please advise dot ai. And, and then I just liked the phrase. Right? I was a broker passed. Right? So I brokered freight for a while, and I used it a lot. It's pretty common vernacular in the in in the, in the brokerage freight world, just in the business world in general, but I think it's got a special meaning in this in our industry. But, basically, yeah, I did that. Did the website, then put it on a wrote it on a piece of paper and put it on a hat and taped it on and just, like, wore it for some reason. I don't even remember why I had that idea, but I did it. And I wore it to a couple conferences, and then I basically was like, hey. I'm just gonna make a hat and, you know, called up an embroidery shop and said, hey. Put can you put please advise on a Richardson trucker hat and made a Shopify store, and, yeah, I've been selling them ever since. So And then and then you follow that up with freight gong dot com. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that was in November, or maybe it would have been October when we created it, but that was so I've got this Discord. Discord is like a big chat group chat, essentially, like a server. And I've got a bunch of free people in there. And on Tuesdays, we do, like, a tech event at night. Just a bunch of people hop into, like, a a voice channel, and everyone just kinda talks where sometimes we do demos. And there was no demo slated for this, like, random night in October. And I had, like, an hour before the event had this idea of, like because all these brokers, like, post about gongs all the time. And, so I was like, well, I don't got a gong, but, like, I'm sure I could make one. So I just put it on a you know, found a picture of a Gong online that was, like, royalty free and just threw it on a website. And I know I know I know enough code to be dangerous, so I just wrote a little function that rang an m p three whenever somebody clicked it. And and then I put it on and then I put it online, and I sold I demoed it during the event. And then right then and there, I asked any if anyone wanted to sponsor it. Almost half kidding. But a bunch of people raised their hands. And next thing I know, I'm selling sponsor slots on the Gong and trying to make it blow up. And then I'm you know, next thing I know, I'm demoing it on, the freight wave stage. So So Yeah. So first off, let me just say I I I've laughed a lot at at a at a bunch of the stuff you've done, but I think you're kind of brilliant. And I think you looked around at the end of this week. You're welcome, man. You know, Mike Mike Bush called me brilliant can now be in your LinkedIn bio. I'm excited about that. Oh, no. I'm down. I'm down. I I actually think you well, I I think it was by design because because you're you're you're a really smart guy. I think you looked around and said, man, freight industry has gotten its butt kicked for the past couple years. Rates are in the toilet. Brokers and carriers are screaming at each other. What if we just all laugh a little bit? What if we just take a deep breath, laugh at ourselves, have some fun, realize that at the end of the day, we're all kinda pulling in the same direction. Competing, but we're there's a lot of frenemies out here. Am I right? Was that kind of the the idea here is to to kinda be the the voice of levity? Yeah. I mean, I I don't know if it was exactly it it wasn't very explicit. Like, I didn't set out with, like, this idea that I need to go do all these things. Like, I think I tend to be a sarcastic and cynical person at times. And so from my very like, the very first days in freight, like, at in my brokerage role in twenty sixteen, I mean, you quickly anybody who walks into the industry in, like, that sort of role quickly is encountered with the fact that it's like a cluster. Right? I, you know, I could add another word onto it, but it's like the whole industry is basically this giant mess. Yep. And we're all trying everyone's trying to, you know, do their best to figure it all out. But every single day, crazy stuff happens that you can't control, and you're oftentimes being, you know, the the bearer of bad news. Especially as a broker, you're literally just a communicator of what's going on to a customer or to a carrier, and and you're blamed for stuff you can't control. So it's a huge, like and that's very stressful. It's a very that's a weight that a lot of people have to figure out how to deal with, and it crushes a lot of people when they leave. There's that's why there's just so much turnover in in the industry in a lot of roles. Right? So from the very beginning, I knew it was just kind of a super stressful place, and I cooked with it with humor. Like, we would like, we used to make memes in the office in, like, twenty sixteen. Right? And and we would have, like, a meme file of stuff that happened to us in our day to day. And and so I like that's just it was there's so many crazy things. Like, how could you not laugh about what's going on? But then you you know that's the the the kind of the ground level situation. But then you look at the marketing that companies do and you look at the materials that people put out there, it basically tries to make it look like what we're doing is rocket science. You got all these, like, crazy computer graphics and, like, you know, planes doing low passes over the ports and, like I love that. I mean the AI iPad in front of them. You know? Like Yeah. Yeah. And everyone uses these stock photos, and you're just like, dude, like, that's not what this is. Like, this is a bunch of guys and girls yelling at each other on the phone half the day. Like, that's what this is. And so I Yeah. Last last week on the show, Dan Lindsay from broker carrier summit was on, and he was saying, he made the point. He said he said, being a broker, you're in the middle of two customers, both of whom wanna basically call and curse at you. Right? Like, your shipper's like, where's my stuff? And your carrier's like, hey. F off. It's the weirdest thing in the world, man. It it's just it it's such a crazy role. It is a crazy role, and absurd things happen, and everyone's always, you know, mad. And and but but then at the same time, you have that, but then you also make these great relationships. You make a ton of friends. You get really, really close with people, even your customers, even your carriers because you are going through these things a lot of times with those people. Right? And and more often than not, if you're doing a good job there with valuable partners who you trust, but that doesn't mean bad things don't happen. It just means you have to handle it together. And and and I just I don't know. Humor always just got me through it, and I was always just joking about stuff. And so that the it it was very natural for me to start, like, making memes and, like, saying the things I say and doing the things I do because, like, I just it's a it's an absurd industry. Crazy things happen, and we'd like to pretend that that's not the case, and that's just the case. And that's why I think it resonates so much with people because everyone knows that's true. Everyone knows that's true. But we all just like well, not all, but people just like to pretend that it's not the case that half the loads on any given day for a broker, like, nobody knows where they are. Like, nobody knows where the drivers are. It doesn't matter how many visibility tools there are. There's always gonna be these situations. You know? So Right. It's just a it's just a funny it's just a funny industry, man. I understand that. So more recently, beyond the please advise, attire beyond freight gone, you took over as CMO at, at Clark, Claudia? Yeah. I did. Yeah. So, I mean, I've been historically, I started two years ago with my, software tool called Boss Freight. That was a tool for carriers. And me and my partner my partner, Jake, who I've met on Twitter, he's not a freight guy, but he's a software engineer. We work together. We've he built that whole thing. I helped him, obviously, guide the product. And then we you know, I've sold that to a bunch of carriers, so we've got carriers using that. And then, you know, I started doing a bunch of other stuff too. I had the Discord. I was selling hats. In September of last year, I started, because there was a demand for it, because people had asked me a bunch of times, I started doing some kinda, like, ad hoc marketing work, like consulting type stuff for for some for some companies and including Truck Parking Club. In fact, Evan was the first Evan tried to hire me last summer after I met him at the future supply chain. I basically told him to, like, kick rocks. And and then, like, we just became friends after that, and and he kept asking me if I would help them with their socials. And, finally, I said yes, a, because I needed to make some money, and, b, like, I just I clearly had a knack for it at that point. It was obvious to me, and I wanted to kinda lean into that. And so I got spent about six months helping them in that sort of capacity. And then it got to the point where, like, I'd met the team. I knew the whole team. Like, I had a peek behind the curtain. I saw how things were going. And, like, out here at TIA, whatever, a month ago, Evan and I were just kinda talking. We're just like, well, like, why wouldn't like, why would I why would I we not do this? You know? Like and and I thought like, I've had people kind of try to ask me if I wanted a job in the past or ask me to do things, and I'm just like, I've never been interest I've never considered working for somebody else really because I don't wanna to be to be to be honest, I didn't really have an interest in going and working on, you know, the hundredth TMS or anything like that. I really I really wanted something that was, like, very, like, a tried and true model, like, because Truck Parking Club's a marketplace. Right? And mark marketplace models is it's also just an interesting business model to me. It's a marketplace, which is a tried and true model in other domains. And it's a very clear solution in my mind to a gigantic and acute problem that everyone agrees upon as being a problem. Right? So big problem, great team, great team. I can't even, like it's it's hard for me to overstate how good I think the team is. But, yeah, those are the factors. Great team, great problem, great product, tried and true solution. Like, let's just go. So So for folks who don't know Truck Parking Club, what what is the what is the problem? What is the solution? Give me the give me the elevator pitch, sir. Sure. Sure. So, yeah, I mean, there's a truck parking shortage. There's all sorts of stats thrown around. Some people say one and one parking spot for every ten trucks, some say eleven. I I don't know. Go choose choose one of those, but it's a problem if people agree upon it being a problem. People who often disagree about the problems the industry face all tend to agree on this. So big problem. Drivers need safe places to park. And it's more than just parking for at the end of the day, at the end of a shift. It's, you know, I need to drop my trailer for a little bit. Like, I need to I need a place to park near my house. Whatever. And so the historically, the solutions to to this sort of issue has been, oh, you know, it's obvious. We just need to get some government funding or raise some money and go build more go build more supply. Right? Go build more parking. Just lay some concrete. Yeah. Lay some concrete. And and, of course, that can be part of the solution, but that takes time. It takes lots of money. And getting involved with the government, you know, sometimes will take even more time and more money. So, it truck parking club's a marketplace, meaning, there obviously, there's there's demand for parking. Drivers need parking. They're one side of the app. It's a two side marketplace. The other side is supply. And our supply, the parking spaces are all properties that are existing properties that are existing land owners suitable for truck parking. So think like Airbnb, but literally literally Airbnb, but for truck parking. So instead of renting my room out or my spare my my guest house or my house to a to a family for an agreed upon rate that I set, we're just opening up truck parking spaces. So and that's everything from, like, trucking companies, tow towing companies, repair shops, current, like, parking operators. Right? So Joe Schmo on the side of the interstate who owns a couple acres, who's got a sign that says truck parking. You know what I mean? Like, all everywhere and in between all of those people, there's so much kind of latent capacity for parking that's not on any that nobody knows about. It's not visible. There's no easy way to market it. There's no one place a driver can go to find all these disparate people. Right? And so instead of building, we're just like, hey. There's all this current space that's not being used because there's no real way to do it. And now we're providing a way for for that to kind of for for for them to get into the business of parking trucks pretty relatively quickly. So, yeah, it's a mobile app. It's a website. Drivers use it to book parking. Daily, weekly, hourly parking. Monthly too. Perfect. Hey. So a couple weeks ago, some of the trucking community on Twitter, and I I I remember trucker Desiree being one of the folks, didn't have a whole lot of of terrific things to say about you guys, mainly from the standpoint of, hey. Some of these spots used to be free. They're not anymore. Are you hurting the trucking community? What would you say on us? I would start by saying that truck stops represent, like, the vast minority of our properties. I think it's about seven percent at this point. And and it's that's an interesting that's there is credibility to what she's saying in a very if you very narrowly focus on that. And there are other situations where, a place that's a truck stop that's on our our our on our platform has, in the past, offered free parking, but they've had to switch for whatever reason. And, obviously, they're welcome to do that without us or with other solutions or anybody. Right? Figure out how to do it on their own, and many of them are doing that independently of us. Right? Are there situations where a driver's rolling up to a spot and it used to be free and it's not anymore? A hundred percent. Sure. A hundred percent. Hundred percent. And we think that all things being equal, truck parking club should be the one to facilitate that booking because we've got the driver's best interest at heart from a customer service standpoint. We provide unbelievable customer service. And and and this isn't me just saying this as, like, a new member of the company. Like, pick up the phone and call our customer service line and see what happens. Right? That's that's the proof the proof's in the pudding. So, a lot of truck stops or especially the mom and pops are struggling. Right? They're closing. Exactly. And and that's like a net negative for for for free parking, obviously. Less capacity is not good for anyone either. And and so truck stops are in this interesting place where they are they hurt too when the freight industry is going down because everyone's got less money to spend. And their business if they're providing free parking, their business is made on selling fuel or selling stuff inside the truck stop or yada yada. And, like, if drivers aren't going inside and buying anything, like, what's gonna happen? You know? If people aren't spending their money at the truck stop while taking advantage of free parking, then that's an issue. But we're not against free parking at all. Like, if if anything, we would love to make it easier for truck stops to offer free parking. So we we have a whole incentive system set up where our truck stop can be like, okay. Great. If you want free parking, you can come in and spend ten bucks or buy fifty gallons of fuel or whatever, and we'll give you free parking. We'll give you a promo code on the spot to book for free on Truck ParkingClub. And, and yeah. And and or at a reduced rate. Right? And we don't we actually don't make any money on those transactions as a business. So it's we we, Desiree had a lot to say, and she took very big swings at Evan personally and at the company personally, and I think we responded very, very kindly. We there's no ill will on our side in how we message back to her. I think we offered we offered her an an opportunity to come talk to us, like, in public so we could have a conversation about this. And and Evan, especially, Evan is so, like, is so unbelievably bought into the mission that, like, he's not afraid to talk to anybody about that kind of stuff. And and so that invitation stands. I don't she she has not said yes to that. So I don't know. And she also I I don't know. I mean, she's whatever. She she's doing her thing, and she's stirring the pot and getting attention. And and it could be for good intentions, and and we'll give her the benefit of the doubt. She obviously cares a lot about what she's doing. No. Look. Look. I I I I see it from your side. You know? I think to to say, look. The mom and pop truck stop that goes out of the business means, one, there's less parking spots. Two, there's less showers and restrooms, which is a huge thing in the trucking community. Like, you know, there are laws of of saying, hey. You have to let truckers use your bathroom, which is crazy to me, like, the the level of contempt that truck drivers go through on a daily basis, which then puts them in a bad mood when they call me out their brokers. So, you know, who just who just rang the freight gong anyway. You know what I mean? So, Reid, one of one of my favorite questions to ask people on the show, brother, is, you know, what advice would you give to somebody, some kid or some maybe recent soon to be grad thinking about joining the logistics industry? I mean, I think it's a great I think it's a great industry to join because it is massive, and there's a lot of things to do. And it's, there's a lot of opportunity, and it's so fragmented that fragmentation equals opportunity. So whether you wanna just be like you don't wanna start something and you just wanna go work on work in a company or whatever, like, there's so much opportunity everywhere for everyone to do stuff like that. So, I think it's a great place to hone, like, a very serious, ability to problem solve. Like, communication is so critical in this industry. So, like, being able a good communicator, getting good in getting good on the phone, being good with people, Like, those those are all things you get to practice on a day to day basis in an industry that's not going anywhere. That's only going to expand as time goes on, and that touches everything. So I think I think there's lots of interesting problems to solve. That's only gonna continue to be the case. I I just there's a great industry to be in, and there's great people too. You get so many different types of people. You know what I mean? Like, you're you're talking to people from every walk of life versus, like, if you go take a tech job, like, you're you're not really talking to you know, if you're talking to, you know, marketing directors selling marketing software, like, there's only so many people who are, you know, in that chair. But, like, when you're talking to truck drivers or you're talking to warehouse people, you're talking to shippers, that runs the gamut. Like, you literally can find just about any person from every walk of life, you know, right then and there. So I think it's just a great industry to be in. People wanna get in touch with you. What's the easiest way to do so? Actually, it's it's hard to get away from you, so this is silly course. How how what's what's the best way to get in touch with you, man? I mean, Twitter Twitter, LinkedIn. On Twitter, my handle is lost is read on LinkedIn. It's just my name. My email people wanna email me. My my email is, Reid at Truck Parking Club dot com. I don't care if you I don't care if you email me. I might not answer, but you can email me. But, yeah, those two places are great. Alright. Reid Lasalat, CMO for Truck Parking Club. Appreciate you, brother. Thanks, Mike.
