[MUSIC] >> Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders, and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now, let's get started with the show. [MUSIC] >> All right, welcome everyone, John Corcon here. I'm the host of this show. If you are new to this podcast, we'll check out some of our past interviews. We've got all kinds of great interviews with smart CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs. Of companies and organizations ranging from Netflix, to Kinko's, YPO, EO, Activation Blizzard, just did quick in the other day, Lendingtree, OpenTable, and many more, and I'm also the co-founder, Rise25, where we help connect B2B business owners to their ideal prospects. My guest here today is Andy Plank. He spent 25 years in the corporate world for Fortune, 150 and Fortune 25 construction material companies. Then about 10 years ago, he got the inkling to go into the crazy world of becoming an entrepreneur. He started Blue Eagle Logistics in 2013, which moves freight important to people's lives. It's relevant today because everyone's talking about supply chain, how that's been disrupting everyone's lives. Actually, he's been a good thing for his business. We're going to talk about that when someone is benefiting from it. We'll talk about that. Also, his wife joined him in the business. We'll talk about working with your spouse, how that affected things. Then also, he and his wife, Tina, are active with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, having lost their youngest son, Samuel, about four years ago in 2018. We're going to talk about that as well, and the good work that he does there. Andy, I'm excited to have you here today. Of course, this episode, as always, brought to you by Rise25, where we help B2B businesses to get clients or furls and strategic partnerships with down to you podcasts and content marketing. You go to Rise25.com to learn all about what we do there. Andy, thanks for having you here. It's funny, the book, the Emeth, Emeth revisited by Michael E. Oh, God, I'm blanking on his name. The seminal book on small business entrepreneurship talks about the entrepreneurial seizure, where people suddenly decide, I'm going to start a business. For you, you got a little bit of a push out of the nest. You've been working your way up in the corporate world, and then the company you're working for was acquired, and the new company came in and said, we're clearing house, we're putting in all new management, so it got a little bit of a push out of the nest for you to get started, and you'd always thought about starting a company, and so you did. Right, yeah, we did get kicked out of the nest, and that was a good thing for us. It worked out well, it kind of cut all the ties that you kind of can't get trapped in in the corporate world, thinking, oh, I can't give this up, I can't give that up, I can't give benefits, pension, whatever it is. And suddenly, we found ourselves where all those ties were cut, and we had the freedom to figure out next step in life. Yeah, and now, did you know exactly what that company was going to look like? Have you thought about it before? No, I probably took six to nine months to figure out what was best. I had a lot of people encourage me, look, you're creating sales and marketing, you should just go get another sales and marketing job. I basically reached out to my entire network of friends, customers, colleagues, and just asked them, like, what do you think I should do? And I had a background in the logistics through the construction materials world. It was always a big part of trying to satisfy and service your customers, so I knew it. My dad was also in the trucking business. From when I was a little kid, I used to spend Saturday mornings at the terminal with MLIs doing paperwork. I'm running around driving the mechanics crazy. So, you know, it was something I was somewhat familiar with on a personal level and interested in. And then also, just professionally, I had a lot of experience in it. And it just seemed like a fit that I understood and a fit that made sense. Now, you said your dad was in the industry. Was your dad an entrepreneur? And you thought about starting a company or were you one of those types of kids that was out doing lemonade stands on your parents' lawn as a kid? I did have a paper route. I remember trying to ride my bike in a snowstorm once, which did not end well. And but now we were, I mean, growing up where I did, my dad was a very hard worker and he certainly, you know, passed on the work ethic, you know, to me. He worked for a company called Chemical Lemon Tank Lines, which was a dry bulk company. And, you know, they called acids and food grade materials and stuff like that around Pennsylvania. So, he started with them washing trucks and worked his way up to dispatch and regional manager and regional sales manager. And so that was my exposure. And then during high school when they couldn't find somebody to cover the graveyard shift and dispatch, I put my hand up and said, "Well, I'll do that." And in high school, so you're going out, you go to high school during the day and then go out at night and go drive a truck. No, no, no, I was a, I worked in the dispatch. Oh, okay, answering the phone on the weekends. Yeah, answering the phone. Somebody, you know, truck driver breaks down if you get a tow truck or, you know, whatever, the customer's out there. You know, or a last minute of load would come in. You'd figure it out. That takes some entrepreneurial gumption though in high school. I mean, I know I prized my sleep and I did even more so when I was in high school. So I don't know that I would summon myself to go work at dad's office at midnight on a Friday night in high school. Yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. I did enjoy the figured out part, you know, and I think that's a big part of being an entrepreneur is you're throwing all these crazy problems, whether it's an HR problem, a finance problem, a marketing problem, and it's you. You know, especially when you're getting started. Yeah. And I've always enjoyed being stretched in that regard. Okay, well, what's the best way to do this? Who can I talk to, to learn from about how to do it? Yeah. I've always enjoyed being stretched. Now, your wife had been a homemaker. And at what point did you come to her and say, "Hey, I got an idea, I'm gonna start my own company "and I want you to join me." What was that conversation like? You know, she knew I was looking to do this. And yeah, that was a kind of, that was a very emotional day. She just said, "I trust you and I know it'll work." And that was, yeah, that was some of the nicest words she ever, you know, she ever said to me. So I remember, I think I had tears in my eyes when she said, "Yes, let's give this a try." So. Now, one thing I've experienced personally is a lot of times if you're good at something, then the challenges you need to spend a lot of your time if you're building something new outside of that comfort zone. Right. 'Cause you got to build all the systems and stuff like that. And here you'd spend 25 years in sales and marketing. So talk a little bit about, as you're building the company, some of the challenges that you've experienced having to, you know, work beyond your comfort zone and build systems and operations and other areas. Yeah, I think the, for me, the HR and the sales side, I mean, those are, I think, kind of culturally on one side of the spectrum. And where I struggled was with the operations and the lesser degree, the financial side, but the operations side. So I'm a sales guy, "Hey, do it the customer walks, do it the customer walks." Right. That's not a very efficient way to run a job. It drives operations crazy, right? Yeah, it drives operations crazy. It increases your costs. And all of a sudden you're not left with, you know, very much profit at the end of the day. So, you know, about five years ago, I got an operations guy to come in and focus on the operations. And then that allowed me to get back in my lane as far as, I can really kick some butt with sales and marketing. And, you know, we launched a social media campaign. I was able to get out and see customers and build relationships. And since we started that in 2019, you know, our growth has accelerated tremendously both on the top line, but also more importantly on the bottom line 'cause we're operating so much more efficiently than I could ever, you know, run the company. And that was hard. It was hard to say, "Gee, I'm not pretty good at operating the company." And did you bring in someone who could help advise you on those pieces? Yes, yeah, yeah. I heard a gentleman, Tristan Lawrence, who's working here today. And, you know, he's got background and supply chain. That's what he went to. He's a financial guy, he went to school for supply chain. And he's been a very, very solid addition to our company. And, you know, he's about systems and processes. You know, sales guys are about, oh, they could happen, you know. Right, right. And allow you to focus on your superpower, it sounded like. Right, yes. Exactly. Did you go through kind of figuring out, you know, what your lane was, what your niche was, any of that kind of, you know, figuring that over time? Yeah, and I would say that's where EO helped me tremendously. Who was, you know, my foreign mates were able to help, you know, they were like, "Andy, you're really good sales "and marketing. "What are you doing?" (laughs) You know, and, you know, they really kind of pushed me in that direction, and it's paid off tremendously. Yeah. Now, 2019, 2020 happens, the pandemic. How did that affect your business? Take me back to kind of the beginning of the pandemic. You know, what were you thinking? So, so I was, I mean, I was scared and nervous going into it. I came to work the next day, and we had a letter from, a department of Homeland Security that said, "You will operate." Oh, we'll operate. Yes. Yeah. 'Cause you're an essential business. Mm-hmm. So, keep running. And... That must have been reassuring. It was reassuring, 'cause, you know, surviving a shutdown would have been, you know, would have been questionable and touch-and-go. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, PPP came along. That was a tremendous help. So, we had about a, I can't remember the timeline. It seemed like it was mid-March. We had about an eight-week period where shipments just dropped. But by July 1st, we were back to our normal shipping levels. And so PPP allowed us to retain all our people, 'cause we were able to compensate 'em. And retain 'em and not lose 'em. And then, by July 1st, we were pretty much running back to normal. We did... You know, everybody was going remote. The number of laptop computers that came through our building was mind-boggling. 'Cause everybody was trying to get a laptop to work from home. Mm-hmm. We also did clinical trial medicines into the New York hospitals. Wow. We were running... That must feel really meaningful. Yeah. It must have been kind of rewarding to think about that your essential business and that you are serving this kind of critical role as the country is trying to, you know, navigate its way through the pandemic. Yeah. Yeah, they were trying... I don't know what they were trying, but they were trying all kinds of things to figure out how to play it, right? And so, yeah, we played a part in helping to make that happen. And that was, you know, that was satisfying as well. And then, you know, because nobody was going on vacation and everybody's sitting at home, guess what? Everybody fixed up their backyard. We were delivering boatloads of patio furniture and big screen TVs, and everybody took that vacation money and clouded into our house. And, you know, we... So, by the end of the year, we were running at our record pace and that continued through 2021. Now, a lot of companies are having trouble with hiring, recruiting, getting workers. Has that been a challenge for you? We've done well with drivers. Our drivers have referred other drivers. We have a driver referral program where, you know, we hire somebody and they stay here for a certain period of time. We'll give them $500 as a reward for helping us to recruit. We're still struggling with customer service people. We need some customer service people in here, because our business is growing very quickly. And, you know, it's somebody who can be nice on the phone, answer emails, you know, provide status, shipments, you know, things like that, that can be a grind. I mean, it's... It's... Each individual call is not difficult. You know, when three phones ring at once, it can be stressful. So, we're still working on that piece of it. Yeah. And you mentioned EO, entrepreneurs' organization, which we both belong to. Talk a little bit about kind of the role that that has played for you in your development. You know, you had been in the corporate world for 25 years and then start your own company. And then about five or six years into it, you joined EO. How did that help with that particular growth stage with the company? Yeah, so the entrepreneurs' organization, you know, particularly through a forum, just, you know, gave me another set of eyes of people that were able to just, you know, size me up, give me candid, you know, candid experience shares for what they've been through. And, yeah, just kind of keep me grounded. It was also helpful too to realize that, oh, gee, they're worried about that too. I'm not like losing my mind. You know, all my contacts in my previous life were corporate world people. So when I go to them and talk about a cash flow thing, they'd be like, well, why don't you talk to your CFO? And I'm like, I am the CFO. Right. You know, so, you know, so, so it's been great to just share stories and realize you're, you know, the world of an entrepreneur is very different than the world of working in the corporate world, where the corporate world, you stay in your lane and entrepreneur, you're in all the lanes and need to be able to be educated and, and make, you know, guide the company as best you can. And whether you have a team member there who can do that decision for you or, you know, the buck stops with you. Yeah. Yeah. And it looks like looking at your LinkedIn page here, you've gotten your MBA, you've gone and studied it at Duke University, Phukas School of Business and said, so you've, you've kind of continued to educate. You also are involved as a strategic alliance partner chair. What does all that do for you? Talk a little bit about the impact and why a busy entrepreneur would do those things. Well, I just, I just think, you know, as a thirst for learning to me, you know, the day you stop learning is kind of the day you start withering away. I just think there's always something new you can learn or experiment with or try to improve either yourself personally or professionally. The top line of your business, the bottom line of your business. So I just, I just, I think that's one of the things my father just kind of, you know, you just want to keep getting educated all the time. And, and so I think that's important. As far as being this strategic alliance partner chair, I felt like for all the good things I've gotten out of the. You know, I felt like that was where, as you called it, I could use one of my superpowers and help support the chapter by getting, you know, because we got hurt. You know, everybody's on zoom during COVID. So if you're a sponsor, how do you really network on zoom? Yeah, it's almost impossible. It's probably impossible. So we had to rebuild, we had a lot of rebuilding to do. And I felt like that was one of the ways I could get back to the chapter and get back to you. So we could do cool events and fill it out. Yeah. I do want to ask about your son. 2018, your son, Samuel took his life. Talk a little bit about your son and what that experience is like. Yeah, Sam was, Sam was a hard worker. He was, he was working in restaurants in. In our town, Heller town, where the next door to where we live. Trying to make money. He wanted to buy a car. He was going to Kutztown University. And, you know, we just, but I think it was also in some respects, a typical teenage boy. You know, he, you know, just don't want to talk about what's bothered him with his, with his parents or, or even his friends. And, you know, it's clear looking backwards, he was suffering from anxiety and depression. And, you know, he had a lot of things going on in there and he just, just didn't know how to, you know, how to express it. And, you know, that's, that's a regret that, you know, my wife and I have that we, we couldn't have helped him to figure out how to, you know, how to speak about that. But, yeah, on March, March 5th, 2018, he, you know, he took his life. And, you know, it's, it's, you know, biggest event, negative event ever happened in my life. So, yeah, we know we have, we've been working my wife and myself to work with the American Foundation for suicide prevention. My wife goes to colleges almost on a monthly basis, where they will host out of darkness walks. And, you know, out of darkness walk as a fundraiser for a, for the American Foundation for suicide prevention. But it also gives her an opportunity to talk about, talk to young, you know, young teenagers and young college students about, hey, you know, you need, you know, help is available, you know, be, be comfortable. It's hard, but be comfortable talking about it, because, you know, you can get help, whether it's just talking with them. You know, sometimes just talking to a friend and listening is the most powerful thing somebody can do for somebody suffering from anxiety and depression. Just hearing their story and acknowledging it. But, you know, some people need more help than that. They need counseling. So maybe even need, you know, medication. So, so my wife's very active in that. And then I've been involved on the political front with getting the 988 phone number launched here in Pennsylvania. And so I, I call on politicians. 988 was put in place about a year and a half ago. So it's a functioning system, but it needs to get funded. By, you know, which is going to take each state to pass probably some sort of attacks on your phone bill or your cell phone bill in order to get that funded. And the idea behind 988 is that the police and firefighters and first responders behind 911 aren't really equipped to be the ones to deal with mental health issues. And so 988 is something that either someone that's suicidal could call themselves or I imagine family members could call in order to get that kind of specialized help. Exactly right. You'd have trained people on the other end of the line that could help somebody who's having a mental mental health crisis. Yeah, I didn't even know about that that it existed so clearly, not that I know everything but I mean, hopefully people will start to get the word out and be aware that that resource is developing. Yeah. I want to, I want to know for the parents out there I'm a parent. Are there any particular signs that you'd recommend for parents to look out for? I think, you know, the student keeping themselves isolated. I, you know, I have a particular, which may be an age related bias but, you know, I just, I think parents have to be careful by the kids locked into his room all day just on the phone, you know, on texting on the phone or on the computer all day. I do think they need the socialization that I don't think is the same as being on the, you know, texting back and forth. Yes. You know, there's Snapchat or whatever the TikTok videos, you know, that was it the social dilemma was a fascinating movie on Netflix about the impact, particularly on teenage girls about body image, and some of the effects that, you know, social media can have negatively. And I think we need to talk more about that so, and just, you know, I think, I think family time with no electronics is important. I think that's how you get your kids to be talking and communicating about, you know, about what's going on. So, you know, you know, I think you're going to try stages strike it first when if you oppose this. I found so, you know, with my 11 year old in order to get him to talk, you know, I found what works for us is just finding what works for him. You know, like if we can get him out of the house and get him to go on a walk and get his body moving, then he starts talking, you know, he starts opening up more than he would if you sat on the edge of the bed next to him and try to get him to open up. You know, you know, and we like getting out on bikes and stuff like that as well that works. Speaking that sort of thing I should be I'd be remiss that I didn't mention. So, can he do or he introduced us. And, and you actually connected with her on a trip during lockdown September 2020. Yes, you know, relevant to the discussion about getting out getting fresh air. Talk about that, that trip and the impact that had on you. So they, cutting the roggy and who else was there why and why and rust and and Brian burrow all put together this couples retreat. And so my wife and I went up to red horse mountain ranch and I don't. I remember I told my wife and said, Hey, do you want to go on a horseback riding trip with the oh she's like yeah I love horses. And she starts getting the emails of homework. She's like, Hey, what's going on here. So it's a couples retreat. We're going to be able to talk about our relationship. And, and we learned, we learned some things about each other communication styles. It was, was one in particular that, you know, we, it was like some little things in a marriage that can get the way. And, and so we, yeah, we solve some of those issues and understand each other a lot better, having gone to that retreat. It was a, it was a fantastic experience. And I know they do that trip every year. So I encourage any, yours to figure out a way to get up there with your spouse. Yeah, I know it's well worth the time. I think I interviewed Brian a while back and I think he mentioned it so I think they are planning on doing it again or they have to have another roadmap. We're almost out of time. I want to ask my gratitude question so I'm a big fan of gratitude and moving fan expressing gratitude. Especially for peers and contemporaries and others who have helped you along the way. Who would you want to just shout out and thank for helping you along the way. I go back to my, I had a boss named Fred Chair Lanza, and he was, he was, so I had, you know, I had bosses that were kind of like the old school. We're just going to pound this into you. And Fred was the first guy who kind of listened to what I had to say and. But he kind of turned some things around on me as far as, Hey, you know, well, why do you think that and, and kind of challenge me too on, you know, you're good but you're not that good. And how are you going to get better. And so he was a, he was a great, great part of my life he challenged some of my assumptions that looking back we're not correct or accurate. And, you know, knock some of the chips off of my shoulder and help, help allow me to grow as a person and get me to where I am today. That's great. Blue Eagle logistics is the name of the company Andy where can people go to connect with you, or learn more about the work that you do and learn more also about the American Foundation for suicide prevention if I said that correctly. Yeah, so, yeah, so, I mean, blue Eagle logistics comm is our webpage. I am also on LinkedIn. That's my preferred social media channel. And then AFSP.org has a ton of resources related to suicide prevention and how to get help or how to get help for others. And it's a very good resource. Andy, thanks so much for coming here today. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening to the Smart Business Revolution podcast. We'll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
