Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:10
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.

00:10 - 00:27
Ginger Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast. I'm your host, Ginger Craddock. Today, live from Austin, Texas, I have Willie Nelson. You heard me correctly. Today's podcast guest is Austin's own Willie Nelson.

00:28 - 00:43
Ginger Craddock: Willie's a dynamic networker and professional friend maker in the transportation industry. He's currently the director of membership sales for the Texas Trucking Association. All the t's, getting those out. Well, listen, time. I know.

00:43 - 00:50
Ginger Craddock: Willie, please share with me how you became the professional friend maker in the transportation industry.

00:51 - 01:01
Willie Nelson: I'd love to. And thanks so much, Ms. Ginger, for having me on. You know, it's been such a pleasure, you know, having you know, in my network. I mean, what? The first time we met, we were in Kansas City.

01:02 - 01:58
Willie Nelson: That was probably February you know, '22, let's call it. You know? But here we are, and I think that those intrinsic qualities that, you know, just got me in trouble in grade school just wanna chitchat and talk and be just a firecracker have led me through my entire career starting from, you know, brokerage, getting me into trucking and, you sales and social kind of application into recruitment for that brokerage, bringing me into the previous chapter of my career, similar to Hire Truckers advertising for drivers, you know, online and other places. But now most recently, with the TXCA starting a new journey into, like, government and lobbying and the interests of trucking companies across our state. It's just been a journey of making friends.

01:58 - 02:27
Willie Nelson: I mean, I can't remember the last time I got a job where I didn't know someone, where someone didn't say, hey, Willie. You know, have you ever thought about this aspect or growing your career in that direction? For example, the TXTA. I saw this job advertised on LinkedIn. Lo and behold, the person who I called to ask about this was my neighbor, Lance Schillingberg, our current safety director.

02:27 - 02:43
Willie Nelson: And, I mean, I grew up playing with his kids. And, I mean, these opportunities that I never would have expected were just always there because of being at the right place with the right attitude and just trying to make friends and, you know, start a conversation with everybody I could.

02:44 - 03:27
Ginger Craddock: It's true. And and people are fascinating, and they're interesting is what I found. And literally every person kinda my view is every person in front of me is somebody that I can learn something from, and I can expand my perspective or my understanding when I take the time to see the person in front of me. And I'm not surprised that it's someone you knew that connected you to your next step in the industry. Because when I look back on my professional career, there's never been a time that I stepped into a job that it wasn't somebody that I knew that helped make a connection that got me to that next step.

03:27 - 03:47
Ginger Craddock: And I think that's true of my husband as well. And so you're on to something there when we're encouraging people. How do you move forward in your professional life? It is connecting with others and learning everything you can about them and just to see where those intersection points are.

03:47 - 04:06
Willie Nelson: Big time. I would always tell folks, especially very young in my career and as I transitioned into recruitment during that period of my career, is you wanna find the people who wanna work with you. And, I mean, work with is, you know, a big word. It could be in a transactional business to business kind of relationship or just a personal. Right?

04:06 - 04:14
Willie Nelson: Because, I mean, unless you just click with somebody immediately, there is a dance. There is work. There is effort. You know? You wanna talk about the Cowboys.

04:14 - 04:24
Willie Nelson: I wanna talk about the Texans. You know? Whatever it might be, there's effort. You know? We're not talking about the same team, but we're talking about the same sport in football.

04:24 - 04:36
Willie Nelson: So work with the people who wanna work with you and just find those people. You know? If somebody wants to ick your yum, maybe they're not the right person for you to continue networking with, but, you know, things you learn.

04:37 - 04:51
Ginger Craddock: It's so true. And I love that it was your neighbor that introduced you to this role. Did you ever see yourself in government and policy and making an impact in that way?

04:52 - 05:02
Willie Nelson: Not at all. The closest to government I'd been previously was, you know, performing my civic duty, voting every chance I could, and getting speeding tickets.

05:02 - 05:28
Ginger Craddock: So, Willie, I love how you unpack that and how you didn't see yourself in government, but then you've lay you know, in government advocacy and policy development. But how you landed there with TXTA, which brings me to the recent wins for TXTA. It that is really exciting. Share with me some of the things that you've learned as you've been a part of this process.

05:29 - 06:05
Willie Nelson: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think we win every time we bring a new member on board. For example, we have 675 rounded members within the TXTA. The majority of those, 378, are trucking carriers, actual rubber meets the road trucking companies that represent more than 90,000 power units within the state of Texas. You know, the other half of those numbers are insurance companies, mechanic companies, just those partners within the state.

06:05 - 06:52
Willie Nelson: So finding someone or being found, you know, by someone who sees the value in the TXTA is a win in and of itself. I think that we are an organization that benefits by our size. Our motto is we are the unified voice of Texas trucking to get it right. And every voice that we add, every truck, every dollar of revenue resonates, you know, with our our legislators on Capitol Hill. For example, we've still through these additions of members, we've actually stood up two new chapters, you know, within the last six months to a year, specifically being El Paso, Texas and Farr, Texas.

06:52 - 07:23
Willie Nelson: We would call it the Rio Grande Valley, way, way South Texas for those of y'all who may not be as familiar with the map. And just learning the issues that they face and hearing specifically what they need, you know, in RGV, for example, it's a border community. Right? McAllen, Farr, etcetera. They have specific issues that might not be faced by their counterparts in Odessa or Lubbock in way Northwest Texas.

07:23 - 07:43
Willie Nelson: I learned recently that a Mexican carrier, carrier from Mexico, can gross a hundred and 25,000 pounds total vehicle weight. Nuts to me. Had never known that as a fact, but learned that recently. But RGV, specifically, they were saying, hey. Look.

07:43 - 08:05
Willie Nelson: You know? These guys are coming over. They're getting these tickets because they're going on roads that they're not permitted for because this warehouse was built in the last so many years, and those roads have never been permitted. Right? And our conversations that we're having with commercial vehicle enforcement officers being like, well, hey, guys.

08:05 - 08:30
Willie Nelson: You know, you need to fill out the right paperwork. You know? So just understanding what they need, being that conduit with law enforcement and the government to make trucking a safe and happy place for business within the state of Texas. So every time that we can solve a problem, act on a problem, or grow a member or a chapter, huge wins in my book.

08:31 - 09:05
Ginger Craddock: Well and because you guys understand trucking, you saw that gap and that need for drivers. In in Texas, we're managing unprecedented growth across our state. And so I love how you touched on the warehouse was there, but the infrastructure. If you're a Texan, you know how we're trying to build our infrastructure to sustain the growth. And so that's a beautiful picture of the the pain point of that gap between where we are.

09:05 - 09:37
Ginger Craddock: And so it's like, that's where being a professional friend maker and being a part of the policies and the solutions is valuable is you're naturally building a bridge around those conversations and looking for ways to find solutions. And so I think, Willie, you are placed in the right top place for such a time as this as we continue to grow and innovate and build bridges. So thank you for that work. So another thing that TXTA has in my background and education is all over this. I love this.

09:38 - 09:50
Ginger Craddock: You guys have some educational opportunities that are just leading in the nation on your three councils. Unpack that for our audience, please.

09:51 - 10:17
Willie Nelson: Yeah. Absolutely. So the primary councils within the TXTA outside of, you know, the board, right, are emerging leaders council. It is what it sounds like. Young professionals who want to move up professionally within trucking in Texas, but potentially, you know, see themselves being maybe a chairman, a future Mark Rossler, you know, our current chairman from ACME Truck Lines, you know, in a handful of years.

10:17 - 10:59
Willie Nelson: So we have a body of a couple dozen folks enrolled in that program representing carriers, representing, like I said, insurance, our carrier members, and our allied members. But we also have our safety management council representing what it sound a lot of these names would be pretty on the nose, so excuse me for, over elaborating. But the safety management council focusing on the issues of safety coordinators within a trucking company and giving them an opportunity to get in the same room, talk about the issues they're seeing, as well as hear from us with our relationships with the Texas Department of Transportation about, hey. Look. This regulation's changing.

10:59 - 11:10
Willie Nelson: This bill is considered to be passed. Here's what it'll do for you. Do you like that? Does that make sense? Do we need to carry your voice higher and tell them, no, sir.

11:10 - 11:51
Willie Nelson: You know, we do not want that, or we need that in a different way. And finally, the fleet maintenance council, again, representing the maintenance professionals within Texas. And speaking of the Fleet Maintenance Council, another recent win to tie it back, the TXCA Foundation, which is responsible for raising scholarship funds. We're actually hosting a golf tournament in Houston later in April, has raised excuse me, has recently started raising funds not only for, you know, four year book learning academic colleges for the children and employees of the children of our memberships. But recently, trade schools.

11:51 - 12:27
Willie Nelson: Obviously, it makes sense that we have been supporting CDL training programs, but also now within the last few years, technical programs, diesel mechanics, etcetera. I believe the number that I got for this call was that we had raised a hundred thousand dollars that went to close to 30 different scholarship recipients so that they could be, you know, the diesel mechanic of the future, the fleet maintenance manager of the future, and continue to support our industry in the state. Boost those jobs. You know? Get them to run through Hire Truckers.

12:28 - 13:07
Ginger Craddock: I love that. And one of the most important things I learned early on about economics and business is it is predicated on three things, jobs, jobs, jobs. And we get to be a part of the solution to that and that trucking is the backbone of America. And a real shout out to the work that you guys are doing at TXTA, I have an executive that one of the executives we we work with that is over safety and recruiting. She said, Ginger and she serves at the national level.

13:07 - 13:35
Ginger Craddock: She and she's from another state. She's not from Texas. She said, Ginger, because of some of the innovative things they're doing in Texas, I reached out to the TXTA Safety Management Council. And so not only are you guys impacting what's going on here in Texas, but you're helping other and that's what I want people who are listening to the podcast know is a rising tide raises all ships.

13:35 - 13:36
Willie Nelson: And Yes, ma'am.

13:36 - 14:16
Ginger Craddock: The work that we are doing in Texas, we're sharing that with others, but also that professional friend making, we're collaborating with leaders in other states to also bring things back of value to the state of Texas. And it's the bridge building. And so I love everything that you guys are doing. It's that growth mindset solutions oriented approach to transportation. And the way that you're giving back educationally, the need for professional skilled labor, it starts at the grassroots and we're building it from the ground up.

14:16 - 14:29
Ginger Craddock: And so thank you for what you're doing at that level, families educate their children so that they can have these much needed skills and really earn a remarkable living.

14:29 - 14:48
Willie Nelson: Absolutely. And, I mean, I'm just the face. I just make the phone calls and get on the road and go to the chapter meetings and make sure everybody wants to come back. You know? I really have to give that credit to, you know, the foundation committee for, you know, looking at those, for volunteering their time away from their family and businesses.

14:48 - 15:30
Willie Nelson: Because, I mean, almost in the same way as as our state representatives, being an active member of an association's leadership, it's a donation of time, you know, to be able to say, hey. Look. I'm gonna make that meeting every week or every month. I'm gonna do that homework to vet, you know, a technical school or a CDL program to make sure that they meet not only the TXTA standards to put our sticker on it, so to speak, but, you know, the standards of our community, who we wanna work with, you know, who we want to carry our brand and the legacy of trucking and Texas with. So always looking for partners.

15:31 - 15:39
Willie Nelson: If anybody listening to this podcast knows a great trucking school or technical program, I'm sure we'll let you know how to get in touch with me. But

15:39 - 16:04
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16:04 - 16:10
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16:11 - 16:30
Ginger Craddock: That's excellent, and thank you for bringing that up. And so we know that education is is much needed. You've been participating in that. You've got a great foundation that is providing solutions for that. What are some other hot button issues that you are seeing in Texas right now?

16:30 - 16:32
Ginger Craddock: What are your members saying?

16:33 - 16:56
Willie Nelson: Oh my goodness. The biggest, number one, hot button issue we're having is with lawsuit reform, what we might also call, you know, frivolous lawsuits. Obviously, we, as an association, our members aren't trying to get out of anything. You know? We want to be accountable in the degree in which we should be held accountable.

16:56 - 17:29
Willie Nelson: But when, you know, we have folks who are advertising, I mean, we all see it on TV, billboards, etcetera. I mean, the TIFF's treats car isn't even safe anymore because they have big premiums. And with that, you know, I think that there has been, hopefully, a misconception within consumers within Texas. When they see an 18 wheeler, they might not be seeing a vital resource to the economy, not only of our state, but our nation. But sometimes they're seeing a check.

17:29 - 18:20
Willie Nelson: So what we're looking to do is make sure that we pass legislation or amend legislation that's allowing lawyers and there are good actors and bad actors. Right? So not taking a stance on that ever, but bad actors who might be going for more than what they need to, you know, almost punishing, you know, a trucking company. Without going into into too much detail, these frivolous lawsuits are not only raising insurance rates that are making it harder and, you know, reducing the bottom line and operating revenue for our carriers, right, as profits in freight are kinda tough right now. But if insurance goes up, then, I mean, that there goes the bottom line.

18:20 - 18:52
Willie Nelson: Now you're selling trucks. That's getting rid of jobs, this, that, and the other. But because of those raising costs to operate a trucking company, we found some math recently that frivolous lawsuits and lawsuits abuse in the state of Texas cost each one of our residents almost 45 a little more than $4,500 a year just in pass down costs. I mean, we're paying that, Ginger, you know, because people are just, you know, getting a little silly with the legal system.

18:53 - 19:15
Ginger Craddock: Wow. That's powerful. So my question to those listening, because each state is gonna have some version of this Mhmm. And let's just use the $4,500 number. What could you and your family do with $4,500 in the next twelve months?

19:15 - 20:01
Ginger Craddock: How would it help you personally? How would it help your family? And then the next piece is you guys have solutions and you're you're working towards improving the policies around that to mitigate that loss and the frivolous nature of those type of suits. So we began to see the connectivity that this isn't about someone else. This is about each one of us using our voice in a meaningful way that adds value and builds in things that are beneficial to the whole community.

20:02 - 20:32
Ginger Craddock: And that's what it is exciting to me about the work that you guys are doing. And so that has me pivoting to those that I really see serving on the next level have a growth mindset. Their solutions oriented. So I would ask you, Willie, how do you use goals to propel yourself forward professionally and personally?

20:33 - 20:50
Willie Nelson: You know, okay. I've got this one. So I've always had goals, you know, whether they came from my mom and dad, whether they came from a company. I'd like to say a majority of the times, you know, they just came from that, you know, deep down place inside my gut that said, hey. You can do this.

20:50 - 21:03
Willie Nelson: You can, you know, go harder, faster, stronger than whatever. But I've always been a salesman. Right? So, I mean, in a lot of sales positions, even though with the TXCA, I'd probably say it's more like recruitment. Hey.

21:03 - 21:32
Willie Nelson: Come and be a member of the organization. You know, you gotta put in those dials. I mean, there are so many trucking companies within the state of Texas who might be members, who I don't see at meetings, gotta call them, or may have never heard of the TXCA. Right? But regardless, having to keep myself accountable to a trajectory and the goals in line with that trajectory that are kind of incremental.

21:32 - 21:49
Willie Nelson: A good a good example of this, recently, I ran I ran it. It was not very fast, but I ran the Austin half marathon this past February. And it's not my first. I've done a couple. I've done every couple years, I'll run one.

21:49 - 21:58
Willie Nelson: I think this will be my third. And I had a PR. You know? I already knew how fast I'd run-in the past or so I thought. You know?

21:58 - 22:17
Willie Nelson: Spoilers. So I set a goal. I set a goal that I would consider aggressive for, you know, the runners in the audience that I was gonna run this half marathon in an hour and forty five minutes. And I said, okay. I'm a shoot for that so I can train real hard because my my PR is an hour and fifty five minutes.

22:17 - 22:27
Willie Nelson: So I have a ten minute window to, you know, either crush my goal or at least crush my personal record. Right? Well, I'm chugging. I'm running. I'm running, and I just hit the wall.

22:27 - 22:42
Willie Nelson: Just run out of gas close to, you know, 10 miles. So, you know, we just we start limping a little bit. If you're familiar with Austin, there are all those rolling hills. Well, they put all the rolling hills on the back end. And I knew that, but they still caught me by surprise.

22:43 - 22:51
Willie Nelson: So, you know, I'm running, running, running, and I see an hour and forty five minutes go by. You know, I'm probably a mile and a half out. So I was like, okay. Do the math. You know?

22:51 - 23:06
Willie Nelson: Wherever I was, I said, if I hustle, I can still make goal. So I dug a little deeper or excuse me, to make PR. So I dig a little deeper, run, run, run, and I hit that second wall. You know? I'm at that place where I'm just going for survival.

23:06 - 23:25
Willie Nelson: And in that time, I see an hour and fifty five, you know, go past. But regardless, you know, we end up finishing, found my wife, Amber, gave her a big old smooch, got my banana. You know? That's what we do it for. And, you know, once I had a moment to recover, you know, I I touched my little watch, and it says you got a new PR.

23:25 - 23:45
Willie Nelson: I had lost track with my trajectory. I was so focused on the goal, January, '1 '40 '5, training for January that, you know, in my head I set this goal in, like, November. Right? In my head, I kinda walked my previous PR up. My previous PR was, like, an hour and fifty nine.

23:45 - 24:10
Willie Nelson: So I'm sitting here thinking that I've hit the wall. I failed. You know, I'm not gonna make it, shift the goalposts when I had already succeeded in a way. And I think that if I had been more aware, if I'd been in touch with my goals and my trajectories, realistically, I think that I could've come in a little bit faster. I could've found that extra reserve.

24:10 - 24:34
Willie Nelson: And I think that, you know, as a salesman, as a recruiter, you know, what have you, we have goals. They can be arduous, but they're important. And we need to make sure that we're keeping on top of those so that on those bad days, we don't get, like, discouraged. You know? We don't think we're a failure because it's really one dial at a time, one foot in front of the other, one chapter meeting at a time.

24:34 - 24:37
Willie Nelson: So I I think that's my my big one.

24:37 - 25:28
Ginger Craddock: I love that. And for those of you who are not familiar with the Austin half marathon and full marathon, Willie it was the second half marathon that I did, and Willie is not kidding when he says the last half of that course is beast mode. Like, there's a corner that you turn and you go, oh, and then you think you're at the top of the hill and you're not. You turn again and you go, oh, and then the grade change. And I what I love about marathon training and triathlon training is it it puts the challenges with the success of meeting the goals, and there's something about pain and stretching that actually makes us stronger and actually makes the wins that much more satisfying.

25:28 - 26:08
Ginger Craddock: And so, Willie, when you saw that you actually got your personal record, when mentally you did the math, you're like, no. That's why we don't do math when we're Amen. When we're running or at least, you know. But how you got you got your PR, you got your personal record for the race on a challenging course. And another thing that's a favorite for me about the Austin Marathon is that that run up the hill on Congress where you see the stunningly beautiful capital building of the state of Texas.

26:09 - 26:44
Ginger Craddock: And there's no cars there. It's just people, and it's just runners. And so what I want everybody in our audience to see is TXTA and the organizations in your individual states are doing really important things around safety and around reducing frivolous lawsuits. They're equipping next gen leaders. And so my encouragement to you is be a part of the solution and find a place to plug in.

26:44 - 27:18
Ginger Craddock: Turn off the noise and find a place to plug in that helps each one of us, allows each one of us to be a part of the solution. So, Willie, thank you for being a part of the solution. Thank you for the work that TXTA is doing and has done for generations. The future is bright in the state of Texas. The future is bright in trucking because we're here to have a positive impact on our industry, on our community, on our neighbors, and on our nation.

27:19 - 27:35
Ginger Craddock: And so, Willie, in closing, as the professional friend maker, where is the best peep place for people to connect with you? Because, you guys, I want you to connect with Willie whether you're inside of the state of Texas or you're outside of the state of Texas.

27:35 - 27:36
Willie Nelson: Please.

27:36 - 27:41
Ginger Craddock: Growth minded people need to connect because we are a part of the solution. Where do we connect with you, Willie?

27:42 - 27:55
Willie Nelson: Oh my gosh. Find me on LinkedIn. Just type in Willie Nelson. That's I e like the country star, not y like the coyote. I'm doing like I had shorter hair in my profile picture, but I'm doing like the Usain Bolt, like Herculean bow.

27:55 - 28:17
Willie Nelson: It was my wedding day. So I'm wearing, like, a nice little suit. So that's how you know it's me and not the country singer. So find me on LinkedIn. And if you wanna, you know, learn more about the TXTA, what we're doing, where our chapters are, where they're meeting, our annual conferences, our training opportunities, that's as simple as going to TexasTrucking.com.

28:18 - 28:29
Ginger Craddock: So that's TexasTrucking.com. You guys, please connect if you're a Texan. Get connected with Willie on LinkedIn. Thank you, Willie, for just a great conversation today.

28:29 - 28:29
Willie Nelson: Thank you.

28:29 - 28:42
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.