Latest / Exit Algorithms / How a Trucking Company Grew 4,500% in Five Years | Daman Grewal, Centurion Trucking (#107)

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How a Trucking Company Grew 4,500% in Five Years | Daman Grewal, Centurion Trucking (#107) · Exit Algorithms

• Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Welcome to Exit Algorithms, the podcast where we decode what it really takes to unlock growth, streamline operations, and prepare your business for a high-value exit. I'm your host, Pete Vera, and today I'm joined by Damon Greywall. Damon has a proven track record of scaling businesses. He's helped one company grow from 1 million to 24 million in revenue in just four years, and helped another achieve more than 4,500. gr percent growth rate over five years, the that business recognition as Canada's fastest growing transportation and logistics company. In addition to serving on the boards of two major trucking industry association, Damon is the operations manager at Centurion Trucking and founder of logisticsales.com. Damon, excited to have you here. Welcome to the podcast. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Thank you for the introduction, Peter. yeah, I'm glad to be here and appreciate ⁓ everyone else that's watching out there. So yeah, hopefully we could pass some knowledge on today and ⁓ and have everyone learn. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm I'm excited to get into this. ⁓ do you mind, Damon? Do you can you share a bit about your background and and business journey and ⁓ yeah, maybe some of the you know the highlights I mentioned a few. I'm sure there's a lot more good amazing things you've done in your in your career. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: For sure. I mean, you're gonna stretch my memory here to go back. I I definitely got into transportation at early age, transportation and logistics. And I didn't realize that this was really gonna be a a career path for me. I was actually just trying to save money to go to school. Didn't really grow up financially too too strong and ⁓ I was just to save my money to be able to finish my, you know, post secondary schooling. And so got getting into the transportation space, I saw opportunities. It was one of the first types of workplaces that I saw that actually provided equal opportunity. And really got introduced to like the the driving side of it or to the drivers. And ⁓ it was the first time I saw people driving or immigrants, especially driving luxury vehicles and having like really nice homes. And so they would show me, you know, pictures of their homes and everything else. And I like, wow. Like this this intrigued me, you know, not growing up with much money myself. And and I'm like, wow, you know, there's something here. Like these guys seem really happy and and they seem to be doing really well and and these are things that I would have not expected ⁓ really know. And and back then, like I don't even think logistics was really in the forefront. And this is like going back to like the late nineties. And so for, you know, viewer context, this is before, you know, the maybe cell phones even came out or ⁓ know, if they did, it was like the really brick the big ⁓ brick phone that was like about this big you would have to carry around and kind of have a apparatus in your vehicle just to be able to operate it. But, you know, that's ⁓ in the day ⁓ when when I started in logistics and I mean, ⁓ you it's it's been an amazing industry to be in. you know, to be able to connect with multi billion dollar corporations, million dollar corporations, to be able to work with people across, you know, sometimes the world. And and especially in North America. North America is where kind of we specialized in. But yeah, I didn't realize that it would open up so many doors. And it from such a young age, you know, it it started off just, you know, being behind the phones. And ⁓ you know, sending emails on hotmail back then is what is what it was the main email that we would use. But just kind of you know, learning so much information once you're inside that type of industry about how supply chains work. about, you know, how different corporations are situated. We, you know, you get to see so many mergers and acquisitions along the way and how companies are growing. so you really get involved, ⁓ know, deep down ⁓ into into supply chains because every time you're doing bids, they're sending you, you know, their entire supply chain and telling you how they operate and where they're shipping to and where their distribution centers are. And so for me, you know, a lot of the fun was just being able to ⁓ get into, you know, some of these major corporations and it you know, it just becomes a game of, hey, how many, how many major corporations can I can I walk into? And this is a kid that kind of grew up with with not having anything and and, you know, being able to walk in, you know, major doors. You just realize that people are just people. you know, there's a prestige behind the name, but you realize, you know, the people that they are are probably just like me and you, Pete, right? they're just regular people or anyone watching here, just understand that You know, sometimes y you know, the corporation may have this big title or people may have big titles, you know, that you may be afraid of it, you know, if you haven't been familiarized with with that or haven't been around that as much. But once you start getting to know people and you have a genuine interest, then people are just people. They they're gonna judge you for who you are as an individual. And and that's something that I really appreciated too. You know, there was a lot of fear into sales and being in the forefront. a lot of times to build these relationships and you know, a long time it was very comfortable just being on the phone and and s kind of having this separator between, you know, the what I was doing and and and what, you know, the company. And then, you know, going in the forefront was really where things started to open up as well. And that's where I I was started having face to face meetings and in the beginning because I was really scared about my age. And ⁓ people were like, Whoa, you know, I thought you were the company owner. you're such a young kid. And but you know, the way that I operated was always in that format where, you know, yeah, you know, if I'm talking to a decision maker, I'm gonna be that decision maker too. And I would that authority, whether it's from my boss or anybody, to be like, Hey, this is how we need to operate ⁓ and ⁓ and need to be able to do it this way. Otherwise, you know, for me it was I don't know, something inside me was always about that that business ethics and values. And saying and transparency and just saying, Hey, you know what? We need to work on a system where we're honest and can work hard and and that was really, you know, the the the secret sauce to exploding companies exponentially. ⁓ it's just, you know, being honest with people. People just want transparency, you know, and that hasn't changed, you know, ⁓ thirty years later. But you know, and and some the accomplishments have definitely been being selected on some of the boards, nationally and Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: you know, provincially as well. And and so, you know, those became kinda like full circle moments where I I got to hang out with a lot of the other trucking company owners and, you know, getting to hear their stories and and really breaking those for me was like barriers, right? For me it was, ⁓ you know, gonna trust this poor kid out of, you know, Surrey, British Columbia. And I kind of always had that ⁓ feeling about that, you know, I wasn't maybe Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: up there with some of these companies because know, especially being based on the West Coast, we're considered like the the tiny people. And as you go to the East Coast, the companies are you know massive. And and so we're always like we always feel like we're that spec, right? We're always left out. and you to give you context, like you know, w w I'm from British Columbia and British Columbia has a population or you know very small population, but a a state like California would have the entire population of Canada, right? So ⁓ know, for for us we're like, okay, we're we're a fraction of a piece of a state, you know, when it comes to population. And so you understand that the industries are maybe a little bit smaller too in in that in that respect. And so, yeah, but I mean, you know, to be able to go sit with company owners, to be able to go have conversations some of the major corporations, a lot of those was were full circle moments for me. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: going into the industry and just, you know, really ac accepted. and ⁓ people got to know, you know, ⁓ what reputation is or what you stand for and and you get valued really for for who you are or you get seen for who you truly are. And I think that's what's been the greatest accomplishment is just saying, Hey, you know, ⁓ if I was working honestly and ethically, that reputation kind of Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: was out there in the in the industry and actually recognize that and people would be able to to communicate with me just based on that level. And so yeah, you know, acceptance was was was a big part of it. And from, you whether it's the the largest trucking companies out there, largest logistics companies or even the the multi billion dollar corporations. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. ⁓ love it. Yeah. Honesty is kind of the the foundational principle. Right. Yeah. yeah, I love that. And you you know, you've been at Centurion now for for a while. I'm curious, you know, a lot of our b ⁓ listeners are are business owners in the logistics industry. what has been your main approach, main strategy around growing the business? And you know, how's how has that evolved over the years? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Mm-hmm. Yeah, simple, know, simple philosophy is just do your best. I mean, customer service is king. I think when it comes to any business, if you really pay attention to again your customers and your clients of what they're asking for, right? Any company, if you can truly listen to your clients, you'll know how to grow and when to grow. And so important. the second part is making sure that your employees are happy. There's there's not a business unless you have good employees. And that's been a a pillar for us even when we started with Centurion. One of the main you know, a lot of the feedback that we would get is that your drivers are always so happy. And that would even come from our customer service team. Our customer service team was always happy as well. And so people were attracted just to that energy. And that's what created a lot of the the business to repeat. And then, you know, for us it was always, you know, focus on the, you know, making sure that we have proper equipment so we don't have to focus on breakdowns. don't have to focus on, you know, driver turnover. So we would invest more into, you know, the the main building blocks of of the company and make sure that we provided a solid service. And so again, not taking any shortcuts, making sure that we had proper training programs. you know, at this point I had learned from previous of companies that didn't have proper safety programs in place and ⁓ the meant between having proper systems versus ⁓ trying to it out as you go along. And so, you know, whether that's in logistics and transportation, that means, you know, audits. If you don't have a proper safety program and you fall, know, your your scores fall below what the safety standards should be is gonna trigger audits for you. It's also gonna increase your insurance and premiums. And so just understanding that, hey, if we run a company properly from the beginning and we invest in again proper training and equipment, then you're not gonna have to incur those costs or those headaches. And you can focus more on the business versus being reactive and focusing on all all the problems that that can occur from that. And so yeah, there's a couple, you know, you you can break it down into different ⁓ building blocks for that business. But I think ultimately it just comes down to customer service and how you wanna operate a company. And if you do it with the best intentions and you don't take shortcuts, then you're gonna stand out in the industry amongst anybody else. And you have to be willing to do the work. That's where Again, that we see a lot of people will wither out because you have good times and then you also have bad times. But in the good times, you know, you're receiving a lot of those phone calls for, you know, the business coming into you. But when the business goes, you know, a little bit south, then you gotta start making those phone calls. And so that's where we see people being not being able to adjust. And I've seen this a lot of times where people will just fall down and not be able to put you know, pick themselves back up. And sometimes it's because of the the way that they treated people as they called in. Right. Cause when it's busy, okay, you have a certain limited amount of capacity. Who are you going to issue that capacity to? Right. So again, there's, you know, if you have 10 people calling you and you only have, you know, five people that you could service, well, how are you going to communicate with those other five that you can't really service at that time? Right. So again, it's it's how you build that, you know, relationship and how you value the relationships that you had prior. And even when we have enough market, you know, the rates are going up, you know, are you going after the money or are you still sticking with the relationship? So you're being tested a lot of times through business. And ⁓ you know, a lot of these things are are tests that you're gonna face and you're gonna have to make a lot of decisions. And hopefully if you make the right ones, then those relationships are the ones that are gonna carry you through. And so that's I think where another one of our our strengths have always been. I've never really ran after the money where I've said, Hey, you know what, let's look at how the business is being built. ⁓ who's there to help us build this business and those are the people that we need to make sure we take care of, whether that's the employees or the customers on the other end. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah, well said. yeah, I'm I'm curious, you know, as the company grew, what were some of the strategies around around hiring and and developing your your workplace culture so that, you know, that not every decision is goes through the same one or two two people. I'm I'm curious how you how you adapted the company grew. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: I think when you just do good job in general, the company is gonna grow and then it's just a matter of, okay, can we get people in place? And I've been in situations where I've been worked, you know, to the ground. And for me it was always making sure that we had double the amount of people for the amount of work that we had so that people can actually take time off. And so a lot of times when you're in a startup situation, like I in situations where I didn't take, you know, any time off for five years or six years and it was just nonstop. And always that three to five year gap that it takes to build a business. And so, ⁓ know, that's a critical part of that business. And for me, it was just understanding like, you know, we are gonna have to figure out ways to to give people that vacation time and and and and not really work that they get tired at the end, right? You don't want burnout. And so for me it always making sure that we had extra people in place and and just training them, making sure that we have systems in place them, you know, regardless of ⁓ of the position that they were in. But a as a founder or as an owner in in a company, you pretty much have to train people for for every single position, whether that's customer service, whether that's a accounting department, whether that's safety, HR, that's dispatching, whether that's sales. so you know, depending w whatever departments you have within your organization or whatever you're structuring, you pretty much have to figure it out. And you just have to say, okay, well, what tasks are You know, do we need to complete? how do we stay compliant? And do we make sure we run a safe operation? And so sometimes you're you're learning as you go along, but a lot of times you're having to to build those systems and it's pretty much as you look it and you say, Okay, well if you're a one person operation, well, how do you get something off your plate? So you start taking one thing off at a time and then you have to realize that, okay, well now how do you fund it? And so again, you have to run the numbers To say, okay, well, for every truck that we're operating, what are the numbers coming in? And if we multiply the vehicles, then okay, how many people can we actually hire based on the amount of vehicles that we have? So there's formulas that we're running as well. And there's also again, every time a vehicle is not running, there's a there's a loss that's happening in that company as well. Or if it's not running enough, it doesn't make enough trips. So there's so many different formulas that you have to take a look at. And then there's efficiency. So knowing how to that equipment and and run it efficiently. You know, there's times where we've run equipment and and we were losing money even though we were running it at at full speed, even with the drivers, and realize that okay, if your numbers aren't making sense and if, you know, for example the the prices change and this is kinda when you know, we went from the when we started it with Centurion or where we had a lot of our growth was twenty twelve and and in twenty twelve the Canadian dollar was higher than the US dollar. And so we were getting or it was almost at at par or maybe even higher, but we were getting a pretty good on our on our trucks that we were purchasing and equipment that we were purchasing. And then sooner or later that you know it went back to like about a dollar fifteen, you know, US for for every Canadian dollar. And it it it changed the way that we had to structure our pricing for for everything, where we could originally afford to operate single drivers on new trucks. We realized that okay, we're losing. you know, about six, seven thousand dollars a month on every vehicle. And so, okay, now we had to change it to team drivers and then we had to figure out how to how to change the numbers again. And so yeah, it's and if you're not looking at it, you you may be running at at losses. And yeah, I mean this this happens in operations and this happens with a lot of companies and I've seen a lot of companies go under because they just haven't kept track of what the where the rates need to be or what their costs are. in this industry and the costs are always fluctuating. Driver wages have changed drastically over the last 10, 15 years. same with fuel. You know, we see that with energy prices ⁓ we've seen that recently where when fuel spikes and if you can't handle the the extra costs when it comes to those fuel surcharges and not being passed on accordingly, if you don't have a system in place for that, you may be on the short end of it. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. No, hugely important. Do you guys still own most of your your vehicles or do you do you also lease Daman | LogisticsSales.com: We own. Yeah. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: I know that's a pretty big debate, you know, whether to buy or lease. So you you have you you've always been a proponent of of buying your your trucks? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: We were leasing actually for a little while. ⁓ when we started leasing those vehicles, we had a one year program that would replenish every new truck every year. So we just fi figured okay, and then they had built in maintenance packages to it, but the the company went under after and but did that for a little while as as well just because drivers always love new and we said, Okay, well if we if it's almost the same cost that we're incurring and we could get this lease program going And even if we didn't own the equipment, it's it like we were okay with that. Just we just knew that the the newer trucks would attract better drivers. And again, would a less headache for us to be able to to to sell off old equipment and the type of routes that we run, which is again cross Canada, US, Mexico, we have to have brand new equipment and ⁓ our equipment ⁓ lasts about three four years. And so ⁓ after the third year, we're much selling them off anyhow. And so over here we just had a a little bit shorter cycle on the on the vehicles. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Interesting. But you ended up going back to buying. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Yeah, well the company went ⁓ the other company went under. So we had had quite a few trucks that were that were on the lease program there and then we just said, okay, all right, we're yeah, we always maintained our relationships with the the the bigger OEMs and wanted to make sure that we never lost that relationship either. So yeah, so we still continue to to buy those trucks and and yeah, I mean that's just part of the part of game. it didn't really too much of a difference whether we we bought or leased. again, there's there's upsides on on on the lease program where you could at least, you know, turn the equipment quicker and not really have as many breakdowns maybe or maintenance issues. And yeah, and when you own the equipment a little bit longer, you gotta take care of it a little bit better. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Right. Yeah. Pros and cons there. yeah, and you've been in the industry ⁓ long enough to you've seen ⁓ some some different technology waves come through. I'm I'm curious in in your opinion, how is AI stack up against, you know, maybe how impact of the the internet was or even cell phones? ⁓ Yeah. I'm curious how how do you see it impacting the industry? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Yeah, technology always helps. And I think the people that learn how to leverage technology quicker sometimes, definitely can give you a competitive advantage. Like I remember when Volvo came out with their automatic and Freightliner came out with their automatic trucks. And then we compared the two and we realized that hey, Volvo had the better transmission when it came to reliability for these automatics, even though Freightliner at the time had the the D D fifteen motor. which was a a really solid motor, but didn't really w work well with the automatic transmission. And so, you in ⁓ that back in twenty twelve as well, when we started going with the Volvo eye shifts. And and, you know, that gave us a competitive advantage. We didn't have to find drivers that can shift really well. We could g put ⁓ on an automatic vehicle and and off they went. So, you ⁓ know, the becomes a a little bit easier. You don't have to worry about the damage to to the transmission if a if a driver didn't know how to shift properly. And so yeah, that really took, you know, half half the headaches away there. And ⁓ a lot of drivers were being trained on automatic as well. So nowadays, you know, e everything's kinda gone to the automatic route where in the beginning it was a a little bit of, you know, hey, do we need to trust it? And again, the people that took some of these automatics prior to twenty twelve ⁓ really struggled with them. And we saw that, you know, there's higher maintenance costs, ⁓ more breakdowns. And the technology when it first came out maybe wasn't the best. But if you do the research in the marketplace and you ask the drivers, then they'll tell you, you know, which ones are working and which ones aren't. And so if you double down on what's working, then ⁓ then definitely you get that advantage ⁓ fuel efficiency was another component that also went up with some of these automatic transmissions too. So you could actually see your costing go when it came to to fuel and yeah, you know, th they're different things. So technology can can work in so many different ways. There's companies that will test vehicles on on wind and and aerodynamics to to get leveraged. and then when it comes to like sales, again if you have automation built into your sales processes or into your customer service, those are ways that you can get ahead of the pack too and customers like that. Customers like the visibility. We saw we see that with, you know, ⁓ c apps like ⁓ skip the dishes or uber where you have full transparency and you can see the the vehicle coming to pick you up and you know exactly where they are. And so when you have technology upgrades like this, people are really wanting to see the same thing in transportation and logistics. They want to know when that truck is going to reach that dock door. They want to know exactly where it is at whatever time. So they could organize their staff and organize their people and There's cost savings on all those sides. And if people see that as an advantage and you're one of the first people to provide it versus one of your comp you know, any of your competitors, then yeah, it's gonna give you that advantage to to be able to move forward and retain customers. And once people get adapted onto any technology, it's hard for them to step away from it and go back to, you know, something else or go back to maybe a a a a archaic way of doing work, right? Because people ⁓ Once they get addicted to seeing something, it's hard not to see it. it's it's like having access to internet. You know, if you have access to internet all the time, especially on your phone, and then all of a sudden you're at a place where you can't get internet service, you're like, What is going on here? And and it's such a inconvenience at that point. And then, you know, for that convenience, people are willing to pay maybe a little bit extra too to say, Okay, hey, you know, peace of mind, headache free, let's go with a company that that is able to provide, you know, technology for you know, to us versus having to work with somebody where you're guessing all the time and you know, freight is getting expensiver. And that's the other thing that we see too. Like that's moving on road by truck is not cheap. And when you see that you have, you know, whether it's a hundred thousand dollar investment and you know a million dollar investment in some truckloads where, you know, that small portion of of freight cost that you're gonna be paying, what's it worth to peace of mind on that? That's a entire business that you're you're out there. And ⁓ in the US I know there's a lot more cases of theft ⁓ people more visibility and you know, we work with a lot of third party companies as well that, you know, monitor our vehicles for the customer as well. we have to follow extra protocols to be able to haul some of the the high end the high valuables that that we haul in the industry as well. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. How are you most leveraging AI these days? would you say personally? you know, in in in business you you mentioned visibility. Are there any other applications you think business owners listening should should be taken advantage of? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: I mean it's so t technology is different from AI. AI I think is you again, a little bit different, but you know, again, ⁓ I'll to it in regards like the technology side of it. But I I do think technology is making advancements again when we talk about transparency. So, you know, AI can the technology and enhance it. But I think, you know, AI is more for when when I when I think about like the sales processes and doing more research or learning about procedures, it's that assistant that's always there to to give you that answer or give you that second second opinion. But again, you as an expert have to always interpret it and say, okay, hey, is this that really make sense? Is it missing something? So ⁓ without the the expert there can is only gonna give you part of the formula. And so just remember it's always intelligence. that has to have a someone that could that knows how to use it. And so, you know, it's a little bit different that way. Technology on the other hand, once it's built, it can repeat itself. And that's what, you know, consistency comes from. And I think that's what customers are looking for is that consistency with, you know, how is this across the the platform? And I think, yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, one of the ones that that that we're working on is just more transparency. And ⁓ that's that's more, you know, real time location tracking and whether it's multiple fleets. So even when we're working with outside companies and you know ⁓ logistics company we work with multiple companies as well and giving people giving customers a single access point to access all the data it makes it a lot easier instead of you know different ELD links having it all in place where they could see you know full map visibility. know all their POs are on one platform and not on many. And so just giving them that transparency where it's just easier for them to to be able to locate and again screen versus multiple screens. So there's different things that are working on to to kind of make it easier for for clients. Again, when it comes for communication, I think a lot of people like to just, you know, click and and repeat something ⁓ versus having get on the phone and have a physical conversation. So Depending on how again y I I say it's for every business to evaluate what's important to you. If if there's processes that can be automated, definitely do them. If there's ⁓ processes that still need the human component, maintain that because, you know, ⁓ it's important, especially in transportation, that if you miss one small thing, that could be, you know, the difference between that shipment delivering on time and being delayed. Or, know, it could be the difference between That should mean actually making it to final destination versus getting stuck somewhere. And so there's a lot of intricacies that that need to happen. And, know, people need to be on the ball and not just leave it to automation to figure it all out unless you know it's a hundred percent proven and can be repeatable ⁓ multiple times. And again, there's so many variables when it comes to transportation. you know, when you look at machinery, can machine you can AI truly ⁓ indicate when you're gonna have a breakdown, how you're gonna have that breakdown, what's gonna happen with your drivers and their and their behaviors on the road. And so there's so many things that AI can't do that you still need that human component to to take people through scenarios and to be able to, know, have an action plan for when something goes route or something goes off track and ⁓ to be able to still problem solve and and do it in a way where you're proactive versus being reactive. And so again it's there's a little bit of teaching there that needs to be done. AI helps with that, but again, you still have to differentiate that for for your own organization. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: I agree. well said, Damon. I appreciate that insight. yeah, ⁓ let's open the floor here. I I wanna we talked bit on the pre-show about your your new newest venture here, ⁓ logistics sales. Do you mind telling our our listeners ⁓ you know, what what is it and yeah, why why should they go check it out? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Sure, yeah. So we try to teach people about the sales and entrepreneurship side of things. ⁓ we want to teach people about the opportunities that sales provides. And one thing that I saw in sales ⁓ have been able to teach a lot of other people is one just learning about the uncapped potential that that sales has. And entrepreneurship follows that same line as well, where you know, you can be sitting in a in a salaried position job and get small increments every year. But as soon as you get into like a sales or entrepreneurship side of opportunities, then you can multiply again, you know, imagine having a a forty five hundred percent increase in your salary, right? If you're able to grow a business by that much. And, you know, again, realizing that there's structures that are in place to give you financial freedom. And that's where we really want to teach people and open people's mindsets up I know that there's so many people that want to get into entrepreneurship or want to have those type of opportunities. And so we're really opening up people to That space and saying, hey, you know what? I'll, you know, we'll mentor you along that pathway and try to give you some skill sets to help you along that way. But let's do it in a way where it's win-win situations, where you're doing it in service. So it's a little different, different way where it's not like what can I get, but it's like, what can I give to be able to serve people and truly do it in a way that's that's ethical. And that's something that we really saw, like in our logistics industry, is like there's so many unethical players. that we see people cutting corners, people not being truthful really when they're communicating. And we see this in the US a lot where there's, you know, these dispatchers for hire. And there's a lot of these agents that, you know, may not even own any equipment, but they're ⁓ fronting they do, or they're really truly truly being honest about what their capabilities are, but they're like, hey, we'll do anything and everything. And then they'll try to figure it out at the expense of, you know, the person that trusts them. And so we're really trying to step that step away from that and saying, hey, you know what? Let's understand that people's livelihoods are at stake here. And business is not a game, know, per se. And there's real people involved and there's real businesses involved here. And, you know, anytime I say that we, you know, if we understand like what what how hard it is to earn that that dollar ourselves, why would we want why would we want to take advantage of somebody and not you know, fully transparent or honest with them when we're taking their money? And so we just want to teach it in a way where people can feel actually good about what they do. and feel really good about what they you even if they're if they're creating partnerships with other people or representing, you know, different companies, how they can do it in a way where they could feel really good about, you know, that outcome and really understand that whole process versus just, you know, one portion of it, which is just the money aspect of it. And so we don't teach it like the Wolf of Wall Street style where it's all about sell, sell, sell ⁓ just you can make a lot of money, but You can make a lot of money too, but do it in a way that's ethical and where you can't get in trouble for it, right? And again, for me it's making sure that that people can face themselves in the mirror tomorrow and really say that, hey, if I went to work and I worked, you know, honestly and ethically, that I didn't hurt anybody along the way. And I did it, you know, the best way that I knew possible. So we wanna put that out there for people because again, when I see the negative side of it, you know, it just seems like people are okay with, you know, just making the money and and They don't care about, you know, the people that may get hurt in that process. And ⁓ and for me, it's like, well, this way might take a little bit longer, but again, if we all follow kind of this pathway, then we're just creating better business and and better people, better communities, and we're learning how to work together instead of saying, okay, we're all against each other. And so we're really trying to change that mind mind aspect of things. And the other one is like just sharing the wealth. If, you know, one thing is like in the States, I think it's about over fifty of businesses fail within five years. And there's when we look at okay, there's about thirty-five million small to medium sized businesses in the states, we're like, okay, well, how can we help these business owners? You know, there's a lot of opportunities, there's a lot of people that are going out out of business, you know, there's millions of companies being created a year, millions of companies that are going under a year, especially in the in the US. How do we help people instead? Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Mm. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: And how do we teach entrepreneurs to, you know, put their hand out to receive help and do it in a way where people that are looking for opportunities can be paired up with entrepreneurs to, know, create better businesses or help these businesses that are already taking the risk, already, you know, t ⁓ all these you put put putting investments out there. And how do we how do we help protect those people and and show them that there's resources available to them that doesn't have to cost them anything to to do it? And so ⁓ Again, it's like it's like creating different partners and within a business. So if a business is already there, know, they've already invested into it. Well, how can we assist that business instead of trying to create our own and do it from scratch? So there's a lot of ways that we could, you know, when we want to teach people that you don't need, you know, resources, it's how resourceful can you be? And the people that already have the resources is how can you share those so you could actually grow your business too without taking all the risk yourself and and going under, right? So again, we want to be able to create, you know, opportunities that that can, you know, be there for everybody. And we think we already see like there's that gap there with all these, you know, solopreneurs that are trying to create businesses or even small businesses and medium sized businesses that just need help. And again, ⁓ we don't ha ⁓ the right mindset out there and everyone's about taking, taking, taking, then these small businesses are never gonna grow. And ⁓ and so that's where we really wanna show people that, you know, if if you're looking for that opportunity, understand that, you know, people have put risk and a lot of time and effort into trying to build something. So, you know, if we work together, we're gonna be able to grow and and that's a successful formula. It's the same formula that, you know, many companies have used, you know, whether it's Alibaba, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks there in the in the US, Mark Cuban. Right. Where again a lot of these guys were sitting in a dorm room and created, you know, these these companies and ventures and Facebook, right? Same way that that Facebook started. All these guys started with, you know, minimal cost. But it was a bunch of people that were willing to get together and create something, but they weren't all about, Hey, I need a huge salary to be able to do it. You know, they're they they did it from passion projects by working together and just realizing that like that's a success formula. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Are Cuban, yeah. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: And if we could repeat those type of formulas, then we're going to give more people opportunities to be able to grow. And we can allow small to medium-sized businesses compete with larger businesses from, you know, structuring a business in a different way. And so that's what, you know, we want to be able to teach people is just understand what entrepreneurs are going through. And, you know, again, even if it's understanding what your what your current boss is going through or what your current supervisor is going through, and just saying, okay, well, if I want to ask for even like ⁓ Things that we teach was like, you know, how to ask how to ask for a raise. And and so even if you understand, okay, well, what value am I bringing to that company? Am I looked at as a value creator or as an expense? And so understanding where you lie in that in that organization and how to position yourself in a place of value where you could whether you know save costs or increase revenues for that company, yeah, you know, that would warrant. maybe maybe a raise, right? If you if you structure it in a certain way that it can benefit both parties. And so we're teaching people how to look at it from different angles, not just yourself. And I think that's where, know, again, we a lot of lot of people just looking at, you know, the the what what's in it for me attitude versus what can I give first to somebody else? And and, ⁓ you ⁓ time gives, but time certainly isn't valued the same across the board. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Yeah. Right. Wow. ⁓ that's awesome, man. So so exciting. well Damon, yeah, it's been a a great conversation. I get got one final question for you. If you could leave listeners with one sales they can implement in their organization, what would that be? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Get out there and do it. Stop being scared. I see a lot of people just resisting out there and and facing people nowadays. I see that as such a big block where I think if you can make that extra call or make that extra connection, you didn't need to go do it. stop procrastinating. I think and just learning how to go out there and and start adding value to people. Don't think of it from a way of of taking from people, but say, Hey, how can I add value to people so that whenever you do reach out and and network with people, you have something to give versus just looking to take. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Well said. All right, Damon, where's the best place listeners can can find you and and learn more about your work? Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Well, just like my ⁓ title here says logisticsales dot com is the best place to to reach us. ⁓ you can also find me on LinkedIn. And if you go to our website logisticsales.com, you can go down to the social media handles that we have below and you can find us on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Pete Vera, Exit Algorithms: Sounds good. I'll leave it in the show notes. Thanks for coming on today, Damon's great conversation. Daman | LogisticsSales.com: Thank you for having me, Pete. Bye.