Make The Pool You Want To Swim In

My husband told me he was happy to know that I had at least one vice.  He almost seemed relieved that I had one thing that I enjoyed to excess.  Yes, I do enjoy whipped cream out of a can.  And yes, I

do have a bit of a reputation with my kids about getting slightly ‘disorderly’ if I have my heart set on a good squirt only to find the can virtually empty.  While this habit may not rise to the level of immorality or degradation often associated with the word ‘vice,’ I would have to quickly admit, it is a serious weakness.

But, honestly, I actually have two vices.  Last week as the temperature climbed and the sunshine warmed, I realized that I love swimming pools, my sister’s perhaps the best.  The beach can be beautiful, and very relaxing, but there are always people, and gritty sand. I have enjoyed several lake and river swims, but, snakes, fish, cold water, yeah, not quite the ultimate swimmin’ and chillin’ experience.  But a ‘good’ pool, well there just isn’t a substitute.  

As I was working through one of these ‘hard to stay focused because of the weather’ days, I read an article that had a reference to a ‘carrier pool.’  Referring to a group of trucking companies that work with a shipper or a broker to haul freight, typically on a routine basis. A carrier pool, in my opinion, is one of the primary elements to a solid third party logistics business like mine.  

Since pools were on my mind, I got to thinking about the similarities between swimming pools and carrier pools.  The more I thought about it, I realized that all of our people ‘connections’ sort of become our pool.  And if we are serious about our businesses, we end up spending a lot of time in

and around ‘our pool.’  Not only do I seek out what I desire in the people I want to work with, but equally important, I want to be the person, and have the business, that others want to be a part of.

Because I won’t swim in just anything, I have my specific ‘likes and dislikes’ list that guides my decision on whether to swim or not.  Time is short sometimes, so if I get an opportunity to hang out by a pool, I want to make sure I have everything lined out to make it a very enjoyable experience.  

Photo Courtesy of Neptune Pools

The same holds true for my business.  There are lots of ‘moving parts’ in a truck brokerage, and many of those moving parts are people oriented, so it becomes very important to make sure that not only everyone can handle working together, but also, at the end of the day, or trip, the experience was positive.

I think that the obvious quality most of us desire before we get in the water is it cleanliness.  A few bugs can be tolerated, but junk on the bottom, film on the top, ew, all ick.  

When we (my brothers and sister) were kids my dad used to take us to some property that he had bought up in our local hills.  At some point in the ‘indefinite future,’ he and some other investors were going to build cabins of their dreams.  He managed to lure us up there, one time, by telling us that there was a pool already on the property.  All five of us kids loved to swim, so of course, we were all over this opportunity.  

As the temperature started to climb, so did our anticipation. And trust me when I say that when we liked to swim, we would pretty much suck it up and get in any kind of water.  We could tolerate seaweed in the ocean and creepy slithery things in a lake (just don’t wear goggles!)  But this little swimming adventure tested our resolve to the max.

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

Approaching the pool area from a distance, we could see, well, nothing even close to a good pool color.  Dark green.  Of course Dad, ever the optimist, encouraging us by reminding us that we are used to worse in the lakes, was undaunted.  (By now I was noticing that he didn’t happen to wear his swimming trunks.) So we unloaded, and things, well, things did not improve.  Dark green AND slippery, because of all the algae.  And vegetation like this is usually very stinky, AND can  be (and was in this situation) a habitat for ‘things.’  Frogs, salamanders, and unidentifiable insects, some with serious wings and other scary body parts...

We did get in, but it was a very short swim.  My skin felt slimy when I got out, and I smelled like algae, all the way home.  I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t packing any frogs or specimens home in my suit.  And while my 53 year old mind is starting to fail at remembering childhood details, I am pretty sure that we didn’t go back.  

I have had similar experiences in my truck broker business.  Lack of communication, effort and even honesty have made some of my interactions with people seem murky and very undesirable.  And truthfully, sometimes it was my own lack of diligence or careless communication that made someone dislike the situation and choose to not come back.  

Photo Courtesy of Unique Lanscapes

As I mentioned earlier, my sister has a beautiful pool.  But it takes work to keep it that way. Everyday, at least once a day, time and work, attention to detail.  And the cleaner and prettier it is, the more people are drawn to get into it, which takes extra effort to keep the water pristine and inviting.  

I can’t speak for every business, but I can say that in my sixteen years of working in a truck brokerage, people make contributions all the time, positive and negative, to the work environment.  What they do (or don’t do), or how they do it, either keeps the place clean and inviting, or murky and well, you know where I’m going.  And more important, since this is MY pool, it is up to me to be vigilant in maintaining the quality that draws people in.  

I love whipping cream...I love a beautiful pool...and I love a great work environment with wonderful people.  Time to get back to my pool…

Safe travels!

We’re loaded and rolling...

These are the words that every logistics manager likes to hear.  Doors are closed, logs are done and the truck is headed down the interstate.  

That’s sort of how I feel about this blog.  We’ve been ‘kicking the tires’ about trying to do something like this for awhile now.  But, finally, after some mild debate, a bit of indecision and definitely way too much procrastination, we are rolling.

It’s been over a year ago when we had our friends over for dinner.  As usual, the group of us, two sets of parents and our kids, were all crowded around the big kitchen table, which was squeezed in our little kitchen.  Some of us were sitting, all of us were ‘stuffing’ and talking and laughing and doing everything else close families do together, when my friend did what all good friends do or should do, and that is tell us that our house was ‘all wrong.’  She meant the furniture and how we were using this part of the house.  In her opinion it could be so much more conducive to the type of gatherings we enjoyed together.

If only we had an island, maybe a few stools around it so some of us could sit and talk while we  finished cooking, extra surface area for the snacks and drinks.  Yes, I could see it!  And just like that…(It’s a GOOD thing this was a GOOD friend because I had a GOOD amount of dust that surfaced.)

After a quick exchange of ideas, within a relatively short period of time (not counting the 5 hours of vacuuming...kidding) we were done.  The rooms were dismantled, furniture moved, and the big table was now in the center of my family room.  And I LOVED IT!  

Except, no island...

Sometime down the road I will write about how we put an island together.  And I mean ‘put together.’  I definitely had grand ideas to begin with, but there was a ‘grand’ price that accompanied my ideal island.  In the end, however, with a little creativity, lots of work, and input from our friends and family, we ended up with a great piece of furniture.  Now my husband’s biggest worry is how he will move it, if and when the time comes...if I can’t part without it.

But here’s the best part about the end of the story…at least this ‘part’ of the story.  I have been amazed at how this one alteration or addition in our home has changed and enhanced our family life.  The island has been a ‘children magnet.’  When we have family or friends over, it is the center of much activity, thought and discussion.  Any time we are home for any period of time, this is where most of us are (and sometimes ALL 6) at the same time….

So what does all of this have to do with a blog on a logistic company’s web site?

There are lots of parts to my business...fruits, vegetables, reefer units, driver logs, dispatches, rates, claims, weather, pulp temps, and so on.  But the one piece that ties everything together is the ‘people part.’  And if having an island in my kitchen has taught me anything, it’s that people have a lot to talk about and will talk about if they have the place to do so.  We all have ideas, opinions, plans, issues, jokes, interests, concerns etc that at some point need to surface and get ‘thrashed out’  as my dad used to say.  In the right environment, things can be said, ideas put forth, criticism handled, problems solved, and people and their interests ‘lifted up,’ so to speak.

So here it is, first one.  It might last a little while or long time.  There are so many issues, concerns and great people stories in both industries (produce and transportation) that it seems like there is enough stuff to talk about for a long time.  Either way, there will some ‘talking’ happening here, even if it’s with myself.  But I’m used to that….

Safe travels….now put ‘er in the wind!