Sixty-five owner-operators is not the same thing as sixty-five trucks.
Watch the full episode: 65 owner-operators, one standard, and a lot of hard lessons about what keeps independent contractors running your freight when they have every other option to leave.
That distinction sits underneath everything Christian Martinez does. As director of operations at Voyager Nation in Mulberry, Florida, he manages a fleet that is 100% owner-operator, which means he manages 65 independent business owners who have no obligation to stay and every other option available to them.
"That's 65 worlds, 65 minds," Martinez said. "They all want to run their businesses a little bit different. Whether certain guys are willing to go to certain regions, home time, all of that looks different. However, the outcome has to be the same. They have to be making enough money or have enough cash flow to their business to be successful."
Martinez came up through loading docks, warehouses, ports, last-mile recruiting, and fleet acquisitions before he landed in operations, and he appeared on a recent episode of The Long Haul to talk about the thing most small carriers handle badly: recruiting and keeping owner-operators. His conclusions run against most of what the industry does by reflex.
#martinez #episode #independent
Watch the full episode: 65 owner-operators, one standard, and a lot of hard lessons about what keeps independent contractors running your freight when they have every other option to leave.
That distinction sits underneath everything Christian Martinez does. As director of operations at Voyager Nation in Mulberry, Florida, he manages a fleet that is 100% owner-operator, which means he manages 65 independent business owners who have no obligation to stay and every other option available to them.
"That's 65 worlds, 65 minds," Martinez said. "They all want to run their businesses a little bit different. Whether certain guys are willing to go to certain regions, home time, all of that looks different. However, the outcome has to be the same. They have to be making enough money or have enough cash flow to their business to be successful."
Martinez came up through loading docks, warehouses, ports, last-mile recruiting, and fleet acquisitions before he landed in operations, and he appeared on a recent episode of The Long Haul to talk about the thing most small carriers handle badly: recruiting and keeping owner-operators. His conclusions run against most of what the industry does by reflex.
#martinez #episode #independent
2 months ago
