Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:19
Aaron Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers Podcast, where we interview experts in driver recruiting. We provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to help you level up your recruiting game. Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. And today, I have Kendra Richard or Patton Richard with Road Runner.

00:19 - 00:46
Aaron Craddock: And previously so Kendra has been in the industry for 17 years. I met her back in the US express days. So she started out there 17 years ago and then, transitioned up in leadership, got her first leadership opportunity within the 1st year and and kinda climbed the ranks there at USXpress. And then she went to CRST for a while, and then now she's at road runner. And right now they're around 4 105 100 owner operators.

00:47 - 01:28
Aaron Craddock: And so I'm super excited to have Kendra. We've been wanting to get her on for a while and so super excited that she was able to carve out the time today and be on the show. And so we're gonna dive into everything from like growth mindset to industry insights, to what is she reading and learning, how is she growing, and, and then just industry insights and advice she has just for peers in the industry, since she's been doing this a little while, and it just had has had an incredible amount of success. And and 17 years in the transportation industry, that means, like, 10 pivots because it changes all the time. And that's one thing Kendra has done, consistently is just make those pivots, make those changes, adopt new technology.

01:29 - 01:51
Aaron Craddock: So I'm super excited to dive in with her today. So Kendra, specifically, one of the things, I saw in the show notes, as as you chatted with Ginger before the show is that you were a college athlete. And so so what did you what sport did you, play or participate in, and how how does that impact driver recruiting?

01:51 - 01:59
Kendra Patton-Richard: Alright. Well, good morning, everybody. Yeah. So I was a track and field athlete. So I did, sprinter.

01:59 - 02:20
Kendra Patton-Richard: I was actually a sprinter. So I did anything from, let's say, 60 meters to 400 meters. So, relays, 4 by 1, 4 by 2, 4 by 4. I think they still call it that these days, but yeah. So, I definitely was a pretty not pretty I was pretty decent at it, I will say.

02:22 - 02:31
Aaron Craddock: Awesome. And so how does that how does that translate to driver recruiting and just this industry? Like, have those things you learned doing that?

02:32 - 02:52
Kendra Patton-Richard: How it transpires into this industry is that it it forces you to have you have that win win attitude that I gotta figure this out. I gotta get it. I I wanna be successful. It's always that little burning desire for you to to succeed, to win, smash goals, crush them. You know?

02:52 - 03:03
Kendra Patton-Richard: You wanna always be the best at what you do. So it's that you keep that competitive edge, if that makes sense, coming from being in athletics and and just having that will to wanna be good at what you do.

03:05 - 03:28
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. I'm I almost feel like that's just super necessary in our industry just because it can get really hard. And that's, you know, on the upside when you're needing to add a ton of drivers or, you know, in a down market where you can't bring on everybody you want to and have to make cuts. So, I mean, it's it it can be all over the place. So you kinda have to have that that will to win and and learn and grow.

03:28 - 03:51
Aaron Craddock: I love it. So you got back in into the industry, and, some of the technology being used was or things like fax fax machines. And so and I know you, you know, you're probably not using a fax machine today. So how and when do you pivot on technology? Because there's just there's so many new options.

03:51 - 03:53
Aaron Craddock: And how do you know?

03:53 - 04:13
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, as you mentioned, started out, I remember I recall, I was started this industry as a recruiter briefly, and I remember having to go call a driver. Oh, okay. I'm gonna fax this to you and having to get in line and wait on my peers to finish up at the fax machine so you can send off a fax or so you can email the documents out.

04:14 - 04:45
Kendra Patton-Richard: I think it is very important to stay up to speed on technology because you don't wanna get left behind. I think that is one of the biggest things of of staying ahead. I think understanding how technology is evolving for us, you know, you now have the AI technology. You know, you have your chat box and all of this stuff. It's just very important that you're staying connected, understanding what what factors or aspects of these this new technology can benefit our industry and and trying to implement it.

04:45 - 05:09
Kendra Patton-Richard: You know? The biggest thing is, like they say, don't get left behind in the generational curve or on a wheel or however they say that. But it's extremely important that you stay up to speed with everything because you can be improving your process as you know. So the point of the way we did things probably when I entered the industry 17 years ago, it's definitely not the same. So my team know my biggest model was speed delete.

05:09 - 05:30
Kendra Patton-Richard: So use the technology so you can speed up your processes because now in today's economy or just our mindset, is that we want instant gratification. We want stuff now. And so the longer we take and if we're not keeping up with technology, it's gonna put you behind the wheel. Mhmm.

05:30 - 05:36
Aaron Craddock: So do you track that with your team? Like, how quickly they're getting back to lead? If so, kinda what metrics do you use on that?

05:37 - 05:53
Kendra Patton-Richard: Absolutely. So I do track it. I do use our, ATS system, which we use 10th Street. I do look at that to see how long it takes, my team to contact leads. I look at time frame between each status as well too, and I'm even one of those when I get time.

05:53 - 06:20
Kendra Patton-Richard: And, of course, my management team, my leadership team will go through and do this too. But when I have free time, I'm constantly looking in my recruiters' baskets and seeing how quickly have they reached out to their leads, how long have leads been sitting. All of those things are extremely important. So, yes, definitely want to make sure that we're looking at how long it's taken our recruiters to contact drivers and also to how long it takes to move from status to status.

06:21 - 06:25
Aaron Craddock: So does that does that make a big in impact on on hiring?

06:25 - 06:40
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yes. It does. It definitely does. I'm a very personable person, so I do extend, like, my number to drivers and let them know, like, once they come aboard to roadrunner. If it's something you need or if you need help to the process, reach out and give me a call.

06:40 - 07:01
Kendra Patton-Richard: So it's not a good thing for I don't like for drivers to call and say, hey. I haven't been able to reach this person, or I need help reaching my recruiter because I'm gonna immediately get with that recruiter and say, hey. What's going on here? How can we better support? So it is important that they are reaching out to these drivers within a timely manner and also too that you're following up.

07:03 - 07:17
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. One of the things I have with with my teams is, like, if we get, like, a request from a client, like, in terms of, like, hey. I need this or what's going on with this or some type of question that I'm like, okay. It's okay if we get that question once.

07:17 - 07:48
Aaron Craddock: But if we get it 10 different times, it's like, how do we operationalize and almost predict what they're gonna ask? Because it's almost always the same process, whether it's an owner operator contracting on with you guys or, like, in in my world, like, working working on the marketing and tech side of recruiting. It's just it it's gonna be the same questions. Like, hey. I haven't heard anything or what's going on or and you just wanna and you almost even know the day it's gonna come in like that.

07:48 - 08:20
Aaron Craddock: I would I would think you could almost anticipate, like, if the owner operator hadn't heard in 4 days or 5 days, like, you know what question you're gonna get. One of the things you mentioned, in your in your pre call with Ginger as we're as we're prepping for the show was that you've had some different mentors. So how did you go about getting those mentors in your career? Because we have a lot of, you know, managers or recruiting, directors or recruiting, recruiters that are looking to grow into different roles in the fleet. And so how did you get your mentors?

08:20 - 08:26
Aaron Craddock: How did you maintain how have you maintained those relationships? Mhmm. Any advice you have there?

08:26 - 09:01
Kendra Patton-Richard: I would definitely say I've I've been I've had the opportunity to be in the room with some pretty good people. I mean, even earlier in my career, have an opportunity to to join meetings with executives and sit in a meeting and and see brainstorm with them, come up with different suggestions, opinions, and then even having the support from my previous man and bosses or managers. They have played a very valuable role in my career too as well. So even now, I will say I just stay connected to them. I try to reach out, you know, make sure everybody, you know, just stay connected.

09:02 - 09:40
Kendra Patton-Richard: Networking is a really big thing as well too. So it's almost, I always say, I think to Ginger, I mentioned I never wanna be the smartest person in the room, and that's in anything. Even if in my personal life, I always wanna be around people where I could continue to grow. I think there's always an opportunity to grow and to continue to learn because the moment you feel like I know it all, you're failing yourself. So I definitely say take an opportunity to get around positive people, people that are doing great things, people who are meeting and exceeding goals, and and and and surround yourself with those individuals and take notes.

09:40 - 10:08
Kendra Patton-Richard: Learn from how they brainstorm, how they troubleshoot, how they come up with new ideas, and how they're innovative. So that's kind of my little motto. It's just trying to be around people where I could continue to grow even from even in my current role, I enjoy being around whether it's other executives, my boss, Thomas, and just seeing how he he troubleshoots, how he look at different scenarios as well too because that's another step that's gone for me to continue to grow.

10:10 - 10:29
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. Yeah. I joined a, like, a mastermind group recently that's, like, a group of other business owners. And, like, the average revenue of the business was, like, 10 times higher than than our current revenue. And, yeah, it's, it's one of those things that's kinda like imposter syndrome because I'm like, okay.

10:29 - 10:58
Aaron Craddock: Like, I'm not at this level yet in my current business. And but at the same time, I'm like, that is the best place to be in because any of the challenges that I'm going through, like, they've been through them. And but, yeah, it's it's definitely for me, it's a little uncomfortable, like, getting around people that are ahead of me in different areas. But I think you kinda choose your discomfort. It's either you're uncomfortable because you're falling behind or you're uncomfortable because you're growing.

10:58 - 11:10
Aaron Craddock: So, and that kinda goes back to the sports analogy and always pushing to grow. It doesn't matter where you are. It's like, that's just the new standard, and then how do you how do you grow from there and improve? So

11:10 - 11:27
Kendra Patton-Richard: Agreed. Agreed. I think I'm really big on that even with my friendships and stuff. If I have friends that are I have one friend I can use that is actually transitioning to she's has her own property management business, and I'm always encouraging her, like, keep going. Keep going.

11:27 - 11:47
Kendra Patton-Richard: You're doing great. Or, you know, let's celebrate this milestone. So it's just a matter of just trying to encourage and support each other and taking little nuggets. I don't think it's, like, based around just one particular transportation industry, but you could get nuggets from anybody on how they manage and how they navigate different aspects of their business.

11:48 - 12:06
Aaron Craddock: I think that's a good point too of, like, being around people that encourage you and then also being that encourager. Mhmm. Because I've had I've had seasons in my life where a lot of the people around me, especially making making the jump, you know, starting my own company 5 years ago. I was just like, why are you doing that? Like, that's not safe.

12:06 - 12:26
Aaron Craddock: It's whatever. And then I've had other people that are all like, you can do it. You can conquer. You know, you can achieve your dreams and and objectives. And and, yeah, over time, it's been a little bit hard, but I've had to distance myself from the people that are like, you can't or, like, saying the no's and then and then be around the people that are like, you can do it.

12:26 - 12:46
Aaron Craddock: I mean, I even remember the first few people that, when I started my company, they were like, you got this. You can do it and and just encourage me and and even encourage me today. Like, I had someone reach out yesterday, at a competitor, and they were like, keep on doing what you're doing and and just encouraging. And I'm like, those are the people I wanna be around.

12:46 - 12:46
Kendra Patton-Richard: That's right.

12:46 - 13:09
Aaron Craddock: There's just so much power in that. And I really hear what you said too of just your intentionality with encouraging encouraging those around me, like even your your peer friend doing the property management business. Mhmm. And then my, you know, same same thing for me. Like, I've learned from because not many people in my masterminds or different groups I'm in are in transportation.

13:11 - 13:35
Aaron Craddock: Say it's like 0.1%. And so, you know, I'm learning from coaching businesses, real estate businesses, I mean, other marketing and tech companies. I mean, it's just all over the board. And so, yeah, you can definitely learn from other industries. So one one of the questions I had is, like, what are what what are you assigned to your team as as reading?

13:35 - 13:39
Aaron Craddock: I saw that's one of the things that you do is go through go through books with your team.

13:39 - 13:57
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yeah. Currently, we're working on the most recent assignment I've given was John Maxwell reading the 5 steps to leadership. A lot a lot of times, I try. Somebody has to help me get to where I am today. And so that's a big part as as as you mentioned, mentorship.

13:57 - 14:40
Kendra Patton-Richard: And so when I have other individuals or whether it's my leadership team or even just individuals, that work up under me or may work with me and express a desire to wanna be better than I'm always trying to see how I can support them and help them. So, that's probably the most recent reading that I've assigned out, and it just goes through the different phases of leadership. And you you easily and could quickly kinda identify what type of leader you really are and and kinda embody that because everybody I think one of the biggest things, I'm a go back a little bit, is that you have to learn that everybody You can't manage everybody the exact same way. People need different things. Your approach to certain people you make and say, hey.

14:40 - 15:10
Kendra Patton-Richard: Go get this done, and they're gonna execute it right off the fly. And then in other scenarios, you may have to say, hey. I need you to get this done by this timeline in order for them to execute it. So you have to know those different levels to how you lead people and how you motivate people. So I think that's very important for any leader out here or anyone that's trans or has aspirations to wanna be in a leadership role is just understanding, you know, you can't lead and motivate everybody the same.

15:10 - 15:34
Aaron Craddock: So I have I have 2 John Maxwell books on my shelf over there. So one is the so so I read when I was 16. My dad encouraged me to read it. It's the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. And, my dad still to this day, like, he he's in hospital administration here in Austin, and he he's taken his team through it right now and having them lead different chapters in it.

15:34 - 15:55
Aaron Craddock: And so I have that, and then I have Jovan as somebody I used to work with, one of my previous companies. And he rec and he was really good at developing teams and encouraging them and building them. And, he told me to read good leaders ask great questions. And so so I probably read that 12 years ago or so. And so I have that on my shelf too because I I reread it in the last year.

15:55 - 16:22
Aaron Craddock: And then so cool thing, when you were mentioning John Maxwell before we started recording, Like, oh, I have some chairs. So I got to meet him in person, back in January. I'd I'd heard him speak, but I got to meet him this time in a little bit smaller group setting. I didn't know he was gonna be there and he ended up being there with some other, some other authors and and and got to spend spend some time with them. And I'm getting to spend time with them again this this coming October, and I'm just just super excited about that.

16:22 - 16:22
Kendra Patton-Richard: That's cool.

16:22 - 16:40
Aaron Craddock: I went up to him and, like because I had an opportunity, like, 1 on 1 just to, like, thank him and be, like, you don't even know how much I know a 1000000 people have told you this, but how much your books have helped me in my leadership growth and journey. So that that was kind of a cool cool moment, like, 20 year 20 years in the making. So

16:41 - 16:42
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yeah. That's cool.

16:42 - 17:00
Aaron Craddock: So this this industry has been, you know, kind of in a hard hard a bunch of hard seasons. But in the last couple of years for a lot of different fleets and recruiting departments, it's been challenging for for different reasons. But how do you keep a good morale and encourage competition in your teams? Mhmm.

17:00 - 17:23
Kendra Patton-Richard: I will say for 1, the biggest thing for me is that I listen. You know, you have to listen to your team. One thing about it, I I always try to make sure that I'm taking time to understand what it is that my team do every day on a daily basis. Well, some of the challenges that they're facing, are there valid challenges? How can I remove bottlenecks to help them continue to be successful?

17:23 - 18:06
Kendra Patton-Richard: So I'm always trying to check-in on them. I meet with my team generally weekly, try to figure out if there's any bottlenecks, how things are going. And if I feel the morale is down, then I'm constantly trying to see what things we can implement, how I could keep them encouraged, whether it's taking time out to just have getting them out of the group setting and doing 1 on 1 phone calls with them just to have that time with them to kinda allow them to vent and share some of their challenges, and then give me an opportunity to brainstorm on how I can better support them. I'm always trying to encourage them, keep them motivated, reminding them that even in the tough times that, hey. It's just the season that we're in right now, but continue to just keep pushing.

18:06 - 18:33
Kendra Patton-Richard: When the market prior to COVID was booming, I mean, of course, it was much easier to hire drivers, but then in certain time frames now, it's like, hey, team. You know, what may have took take your one phone call to get a driver committed now may take 3 to 4 phone calls, so you have to adjust to the conditions that you're seeing within the market and just try to make the best of it. And and also letting them know that they have that support. And I think that goes a long way.

18:33 - 18:58
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Listening that, like, if I had to say just one area I've failed the most over the years, it's listening because I I can too early try to fix the problem. And so I'll cut people off on my team or or I guess my old identity, my new identity as I'm improving in that area. Today's sponsor. Do you hire truck drivers in hard to fill areas, or do you need help creating efficiency in your recruiting department?

18:58 - 19:22
Aaron Craddock: You're not alone. With 50 plus years experience, TruckingClik specializes in data driven strategies, industry leading customer experience, and custom solutions that'll get you to your goal. Trucking clicks is your go to place for high quality direct leads at scale. Visit trucking clicks.com or call 512-982-0816 today. So what is it?

19:23 - 19:29
Aaron Craddock: Like, how do how do you listen well? Because it sounds like you do that do that well with your team. Do you have any kind of strategies around that?

19:30 - 19:42
Kendra Patton-Richard: I mean, I I give them a opportunity. I mean, the biggest thing is giving them a opportunity. I keep an open door policy. This is my biggest thing, and I always tell the team that they're free to vent. Respectfully vent.

19:42 - 19:54
Kendra Patton-Richard: If it's something that you're faced with, you can vent. I'm a notetaker. Sometimes if I found that it's valid, I'm gonna jot it down, and then I'm gonna try to say, okay, Kendra. How can you solve this problem? What opportunities do you have?

19:54 - 20:14
Kendra Patton-Richard: But the biggest thing I always tell my team is that if I tell you, no, something can't be done, I'm always gonna explain to you the why so that they understand. It's not just one of those things where I'm just saying, no. I can't do this. And it's like, okay. Well, she didn't tell me why, or I don't understand her reasoning behind it, but I also try to make sure that they understand.

20:14 - 20:32
Kendra Patton-Richard: But, I mean, the biggest thing is just communication. Keeping that open line of communication, staying engaged with your team, and letting them know that you're available for them if they need you. I just try to practice that. Sometimes, like you say, I may not always do the best at it, but I try to show up for my team on a on a daily basis.

20:33 - 20:46
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Yeah. I find that it's really evident, like, when I'm not doing that because they're I mean, just I can create a lot of havoc really quickly, like, if I just react and talk too much and jump in and interject.

20:46 - 20:54
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yeah. Sometimes I do that too. I won't. I have to go, like, they all have to apologize. I jumped the gun here, you know, because I'm I'm in this react.

20:55 - 21:06
Kendra Patton-Richard: You know? How do I react? How do we fix this problem sometimes that I I sometimes I have to slow down and make sure I get all the details that I need. So it happens. It happens from time

21:06 - 21:24
Aaron Craddock: to time. So the next next thing I was dive next section I was diving into that we talk about on the show is marketing trends. So what are you seeing right now at Roadrunner or that you're hearing from other owner operator centric fleets that what's what's working well right now in marketing?

21:26 - 21:47
Kendra Patton-Richard: I would say what's working well currently, of course, everybody enjoys Google. Google continues to perform pretty well for us. I think Indeed is probably another one out there that does well. And I have to give credit to the a t a ATS system at 10th Street with their job board scrubbers and their post sale. I think that that one is great as well too.

21:47 - 21:54
Kendra Patton-Richard: So I think that I find that we see a great deal of success through those platforms that I just mentioned.

21:55 - 22:04
Aaron Craddock: So Google is working well right now and then Indeed and then the Pulse and is it do you use the job store too at 10 Street?

22:04 - 22:17
Kendra Patton-Richard: I do, but not as I'm I'm more something I think the better quality leads are coming from just the the Pulse and auto replies. We've seen a couple of different things that are being successful for us right now.

22:18 - 22:41
Aaron Craddock: That's great. So what what are you leveraging? Like, how do how do you leverage you mentioned 10th Street, your applicant tracking system. So how do how does how does a team because you've seen a lot of implementations of different 10 street utilizations over over the years. Like, how does your team best leverage your applicant tracking system?

22:41 - 22:43
Aaron Craddock: Like, if you had advice for other peers in the industry.

22:44 - 23:28
Kendra Patton-Richard: I mean, I would definitely strongly encourage you to make sure you're looking at the data. I take time to look at the data on a weekly basis. I wanna understand what my app to what my conversion ratios are, what's my cost per lease as well, and making sure which who's giving me quality candidates. So I think that's very important to make sure that you understand what is your lead flow, which vendors are working well for you. And if they're not working well for you, to go ahead and make a make an adjustment, restrategize, make sure that your your your ads, your campaigns are targeting or speaking to the audience that you want them to speak to, and just make the necessary adjustments.

23:28 - 23:48
Kendra Patton-Richard: And understand too, the big part is technology continues to change, just understanding that drivers even with us with the Instagrams and TikToks and stuff, our attention span is really shrinking to that. We need instant gratification. So just making sure you understand that and when you're trying to target your your audience.

23:50 - 24:06
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. The the crazy thing to me on because it used to be that, like, a 15 second video was, like, sufficient, just a constant video. Mhmm. Now it's 15 seconds of one second clips. So it's actually like 15 Yes.

24:07 - 24:16
Aaron Craddock: Videos and movements, and that's how you get engagement because you literally have to grab their attention every second, and that that just blows my mind.

24:16 - 24:19
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yes. They won't. They're how the fireworks right then and there quickly.

24:20 - 24:38
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Because it went from, like, 15 seconds in a short period of time from, like, 15 seconds to really one second. Mhmm. And even, you know, when when TikTok came out and some of the short form video content, and they started to have 15 second videos, that was, like, just revolutionary. How can you communicate something in 15 seconds?

24:38 - 25:07
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. It's just that just that just continues to amaze me, how quickly things change with that. So my next question is for your peers in the industry. So, other vice presidents recruiting, executive team, director recruiting, managing recruiting departments, recruiters, kinda, you know, all the different roles you've been in over the years. What what advice do you do you have for your peers in the industry?

25:08 - 25:32
Kendra Patton-Richard: Just I look at this industry. I just say it's constantly the wheel is gonna keep moving. You just have to constantly keep reinventing the wheel. Making sure you're just trying to take time. Sometimes it's not all about just going in and spending a whole bunch of money to get more leads and to get more leads in the door, but it's more so about take time, take a look at your process.

25:32 - 25:40
Kendra Patton-Richard: It's just as we mentioned as technology continues to evolve. Make sure you're not getting left behind. Okay? So just take time. Look things over.

25:40 - 26:02
Kendra Patton-Richard: See what you've been doing. Don't get comfortable because you've been doing the same thing, and it's always worked. If you're still doing something you did 10 years ago, I guarantee you, you probably wanna go back and look at that process and see how you can improve it and make it better. And be open to feedback and different suggestions too, and don't be afraid of change. That is the biggest thing because the change is gonna continue to keep happening.

26:04 - 26:32
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. It sounds like, yeah, that you're really open to change, like, in terms of like, you were mentioning, like, almost like like switching vendors, changing things, like, just look at what the data tells you and don't be afraid to switch. Do you ever have, like, fears of that, like, that you switch and then, like, the ROI is not the same? Let's say it's like, you see you you pick a vendor that's not performing as well as you were doing. Like, do you have do you have fears to that?

26:32 - 26:34
Aaron Craddock: And if so, how do you overcome that?

26:34 - 26:47
Kendra Patton-Richard: Absolutely. I mean, I feel a lot of things. Most things are a gamble. You know, sometimes you have to be willing to take a risk. You never know if you don't try, but, you know, of course, don't put all your eggs in 1 basket, I would say.

26:47 - 27:17
Kendra Patton-Richard: That's gonna be the most important thing, but I'm not afraid to take a risk or to step out and do something different. But, also, too, I'm gonna take time to strategize and make sure I have a backup plan in the event that something doesn't work out. So I always keep a plan b and c as well as a backup. But so far, I've been pretty successful with it, but I try not to fear change as much, and I try not to be so resistant to change, but try to embrace it more than anything. Mhmm.

27:17 - 27:21
Aaron Craddock: Does that get harder or easier, like, with 17 years in the industry?

27:22 - 27:51
Kendra Patton-Richard: I think it gets easier, to be honest with you. It's just I guess it would depend more so on what the particular change is, but I think it gets easier, especially when you take time to strategize and make sure that you have you look at everything and then also make sure you have that safety net in place as well too. So you you can't let, you know, the walls come falling down based on something that a change. But I'd rather we take risk than not do anything because we're fearing the change.

27:51 - 28:16
Aaron Craddock: So where where is the you get you can approach this from either the owner operator angle or just the driver market in general. But where is the market headed? Like, and I know we don't know for a fact, but where do you think the market's headed, as we round out the end of 24, go through the election cycle, go into 2025? Like, where do you think transportation and recruitment is headed?

28:16 - 28:46
Kendra Patton-Richard: You know, that's a good question. And like you said, I really don't know the answer to it. I will say that what we've looked at in the past is, like, usually, you can say, okay. Right around this time, this is what we're gonna be faced with, and you can kinda look back and strategize, or you can look at previous data and say, this is this is gonna happen, or we're gonna be here. I think in some cases, you can still do that in some scopes, but I think right now, it's just like the market is continuing to change.

28:46 - 29:08
Kendra Patton-Richard: We are continuing to be successful here at Roadrunner, but I definitely think that it's gonna be extremely important that we continue to keep just keeping your gauge on what's happening within the market. What's gonna happen? I do feel we we may have seen some driver's exit. I'm not really sure. It's a different professions just from pre COVID, but I think that we will recover.

29:08 - 29:33
Kendra Patton-Richard: This industry is pretty resilient, so I think that we should be able to, for some, see over some of the challenges that that we're being faced with. But I don't know. Again, I'm I'm not really sure where we're headed and what direction we're headed in, but I'm hoping that we continue to see a little bit of a uptick. But we as I mentioned, we've been very successful here at Roadrunner, through the changes. Awesome.

29:36 - 29:46
Aaron Craddock: So next question is, what books have you read just throughout your career that have been impactful to you? This I don't know. I'm just curious. Mhmm.

29:47 - 30:28
Kendra Patton-Richard: That's a good question, and I would probably say, if anything, definitely leadership books. Getting in, making sure I'm checking myself into to new ways of leading my team and making sure I'm doing a good job. Again, not becoming stagnant, but I can't think of any books right now. I know I do a lot of John Maxwell books, and sometimes I try to read them with my team, of course, as I assign them. But the biggest thing probably more so for me has just been more I think the biggest thing now is just mental health, making sure you're taking care of yourself, making sure that, you know, you're creating some type of work life balance for yourself as well and making sure that you're good.

30:28 - 30:59
Kendra Patton-Richard: So my biggest thing now that I've been focused on, sometimes it's just kinda more of the mental health, spiritual reading. And then also too, sometimes I like to just kinda get away from everything and kinda just check out and read something that has absolutely nothing to do with work or anything else just so I could get my mind off of the constant grind of, okay, how many drivers do we have for orientation this week, or how am I gonna do you know, get more people in the door? You know? So I I like to kinda escape a little bit into other avenues as well.

30:59 - 31:06
Aaron Craddock: So kinda last question to to round it out is, what are your goals kinda outside outside of work?

31:07 - 31:25
Kendra Patton-Richard: Right now, I would tell you, honestly, my biggest goal right now is for me to finish furnishing my house. I just moved. So I'm in the process of trying to work on that. So that is one goal that I have currently. But outside of that, I mean, I think it's just traveling, doing a little bit more traveling.

31:25 - 31:52
Kendra Patton-Richard: I I'm trying to think of where my next destination is and just trying to enjoy life, enjoying being successful both in in the role, but also to, take a time out to just enjoy traveling, doing things that I enjoy doing, spending time with my family and friends. That's that's kinda where I am. And then stocks. I'm also a little I like to play in stocks a little bit. So my goal is just to continue to keep growing my portfolio a bit.

31:53 - 31:58
Kendra Patton-Richard: And, hopefully, you know, it lands me some some positive investments for the future.

31:59 - 32:27
Aaron Craddock: That's fun. Yeah. I enjoy all all types of different investments, and I've done all all just all kinds of things over the years and and enjoyed doing stocks, like picking direct stocks as well. And, but I kinda got away from most of that just, you know, 5 years ago and just over the last 5 years because I had some different mentors say, like, inch wide, mile deep. And so I'm a 100% focused on, you know, building building the current business I'm working on in the industry.

32:27 - 32:42
Aaron Craddock: And but that's been really hard because as an entrepreneur, like, my brain is always thinking about, like, I wanna do real estate. I wanna do stocks. I wanna do crypto. I wanna do this other business. I wanna do, I mean, it it's just crazy.

32:42 - 33:06
Aaron Craddock: The, this is like the longest, because I got out of the industry for 2 years, after leaving my previous company. And so I got into, like, real estate marketing and marketing for startups and all kinds of things for a couple of years before I got back in transportation. And then I've been back in it for 3 years now, and it's, yeah, it's been the longest that I haven't launched some type of other business.

33:06 - 33:06
Kendra Patton-Richard: Mhmm.

33:06 - 33:18
Aaron Craddock: Just and, and I just know, like, hey. This is a 20 year play. Like, this is a long play and to do it well and with excellence. And so, but yeah. I, yeah.

33:18 - 33:37
Aaron Craddock: My I wanna I wanna pick your brain on what you've learned with that journey too at some point. So Okay. And then the other the other thing so, yeah, my wife and I, like, we try to take 1 or 2 trips a year that are just us, and I kinda saw in the notes. So are you taking a trip with your husband soon that's just just the 2 of you without the kids?

33:37 - 33:54
Kendra Patton-Richard: Yeah. So we've been, I'm actually we've recently just came back from a short little cruise that we did, and then also I was in Saint Lucia in March, which was great. So I I definitely plan to go back there. I can go with him or by myself right about now. I've enjoyed it.

33:55 - 33:55
Kendra Patton-Richard: That's

33:55 - 33:56
Aaron Craddock: awesome. It's

33:56 - 33:59
Kendra Patton-Richard: very peaceful. Nice. Nice. Very nice.

34:00 - 34:09
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. We're looking forward to, like, late July. Lauren and I are taking a 8 day trip. I usually don't take off, that long, but we're doing an 8 day trip to out to Colorado.

34:10 - 34:32
Aaron Craddock: And some of it will be just us, and then some of it will be with some friends and and and other business owners. So, I'm I'm super excited about that. And and we have a, like, a 4 year old and a 15 month old and but we still try to have the time just us and because it's so important for our relationship and goal setting as a couple. And so, yeah, I'm I'm just super excited about that. And then the kids get time with Gigi

34:33 - 34:33
Kendra Patton-Richard: Mhmm.

34:33 - 34:36
Aaron Craddock: Which is Ginger that you met, so on the ranch.

34:36 - 34:40
Kendra Patton-Richard: Oh, I love that. She's sending all the time.

34:41 - 34:47
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. It's always an adventure. So yeah. Well, thank you so much, Kendra, for your time today. And

34:47 - 34:51
Kendra Patton-Richard: Absolutely. Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure.

34:52 - 34:57
Aaron Craddock: Awesome. Well, thank you everyone for joining the hire Hire Truckers podcast. Hope you have a great week.

34:58 - 34:59
Kendra Patton-Richard: K. Thank you.

34:59 - 35:11
Aaron Craddock: Thank you for joining us today. Our goal with the Hire Truckers podcast is to provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to level up your recruiting game. If we added value, take a few seconds to share this with your network. Have a great week.