Building Resilient Freight Brokerages with Krystina Booker

When freight gets tough, the toughest lean into resilience. In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Krystina Booker, Founder of Booker Transport Solutions, shares her journey from launching her own brokerage to navigating challenges with grit, creativity, and purpose. Her perspective blends business savvy with a personal mission to make the industry more sustainable for brokers, carriers, and shippers alike.

Key takeaways:

• Why resilience is a critical skill for building a freight business
• How Booker Transport Solutions approaches broker-carrier relationships
• Lessons learned from starting a brokerage in a volatile market
• The role of trust, transparency, and adaptability in long-term growth

LINKS: 

• Krystina's LinkedIn
• Booker Transport Solution's Website 

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE

-----------------------------------------

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Are you experienced in freight sales or already an independent freight agent? Listen to our Freight Agent Trenches interviews powered by SPI Logistics to hear from the company's agents on how they took the entrepreneurial leap.

CargoRex is the logistics industry’s go-to search platform—connecting you with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.

Digital Dispatch manages and maximizes your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers.

Chapters

• 6:27 Starting a Brokerage from Scratch
• 14:16 Vetting Shippers and Carriers
• 22:25 Tech Stacks and Marketing Choices
• 30:52 Women Leading in Freight
• 40:16 Balancing Business and Family

Transcript

Krystina Booker: 0:43

Blythe Brumleve, client retention, that help, that lets me know that I'm problem solving and not just being transactional. You know, I want to make sure I aim to have like, 100% client retention. I don't want to lose a single customer because I work so hard up front to gain that customer, and I'm so intentional in my prospecting, I want to make sure that I don't lose a single one, and it helps me know that I'm problem solving. The second one is my profit margins. But it probably isn't like the reasons that most people think like I'm not actually trying to maximize my profits. I'm just trying to maximize the sustainability of my brokerage.

Blythe Milligan: 1:25

Welcome into another episode of everything. Is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers and fridge. We are proudly presented by SPI logistics, and we've got another banger of an episode for y'all today, because we have Krystina Booker. She is the founder and CEO of Booker Transport Solutions out of Tennessee, and after 10 years in the industry, Christina decided to launch her own brokerage back in 2024 and set clear non negotiables and still cross seven figures in year one, all during a freight recession. So we're going to get into the playbook of how to qualify shippers without racing to the bottom. Build a carrier bench that you can trust and use Tech where it helps all without losing the human touch. So Christina, I've been wanting to have this conversation for a while. So thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Thank you for inviting me. I'm excited to be here absolutely now. I was listening to a couple of interviews that you had done previously, and I loved the mantra of slow, meaningful, thoughtful prospecting, especially from the sales perspective.

Unknown: 2:29

And I'm curious with your early brokerage career, how important was it to have that mindset going into starting your first brokerage, because anybody who's worked inside of a brokerage floor knows that it's just feels like chaos all of the time, and it feels like you're just running down, you know, 1700 cold calls in a day, and mass emails, and it's a lot. And from the perception I get from your LinkedIn posts and from your interviews, is that you take a rather opposite approach. Is that accurate? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, when you're first on the floor of a big box brokerage like I was, they look at metrics quite a bit. So the metrics are, you know, make as many calls as you can make, send as many emails as you can get, the get as many replies, you know, try to turn those replies into freight. My only thing was, I need to get actual freight on the board. I need to turn that freight into profit. I don't need to jump in on a bunch of distribution lists. I need it to be meaningful. I need to generate actual revenue that's profitable, but also is based in a relational sense, and not just transactional. So with that, the way that I like to go about it is, if I'm going to do that, my prospecting needs to be intentional, and so I do my research. I'm not I like to always think of myself as, like the opposite of what, you know, a pod leader would want to hire as a new account manager or whatnot, like they would hate me because I don't sit there and make 50 calls a day or send a ton of emails. I do more research than I make calls, but the calls that I do make, I find to turn into actual conversations that then lead to something eventually. So yeah, it's been, it's been helpful in the way that I approach my prospecting, because it comes from a very relational sense. And I think that the prospect sense that, and I think that my customers know that as well. It's a take me back to the moment you decided, or did, maybe you are all always knew that you wanted to start your own brokerage. But what was the, I guess, the catalyst that made you say, Okay, it's time to do it now. Well, I don't think it was more of like a leap or it was time to do it now than it was like a evolution or a transition. I mean, I've been in this industry since college, really. So that's like 10 years. I graduated college in 2016 I've been in this tree since then. So I think it was just when I was looking for that next step, you know, I'm in freight alley, I'm in Chattanooga. And so when I was looking for companies that, you know, I felt like could align with my values, and I don't want to. I. You know, I don't want to say anything out of line here, but I just didn't feel like I wanted to continue on with the big box world. I wanted to jump into my own thing. I wanted to try it, and I knew that if it wasn't going to work, then I could pivot and continue down the road that I was on, which is kind of in that big box world, or maybe go down the agent route. But yeah, I felt like I needed to go ahead and try it. I had enough experience and had enough knowledge, and I did have to start from scratch when it came to my book of business, but I I felt confident that I could do it even in a freight recession. I didn't that wasn't really like a variable that I paid that much attention to. So when you What does, I guess, sort of day one look like? Whenever you're opening up the office, are you getting the paperwork in order? You're getting your insurance? You know, all of the, I guess the operating authorities and all of that, you know, I guess government type stuff, yeah. I mean, it's just one thing at a time. So you start your MC that's first thing first, and then you get your insurance together. Of course, you have to have your bond. And I'm not sure if people know or not, but the contingent cargo insurance is not actually required by FMCSA for a freight broker, but based on my customers requirements and their preferences, I went ahead and got mine. But there, you know, if there's so much information online, so if anybody ever wanted to start their own MC and their own freight brokerage, it's actually fairly easy, and I'm sure that you know that the barrier to entry is very minimal. So yeah, I think that even if somebody is not from the industry, as you know, that there a lot of people who are not that are starting their own MCs. So somebody who knows the ropes knows the game. It was, it was fairly easy. But day one, I mean, there's a lot of day ones. Day one looked like starting my MC then there was another day where I was getting my insurance. There's another day, you know, putting a list together of prospects, and another day of putting lists together of carriers who I thought would be a good fit. And so, yeah, it was just putting one foot in front of the other. It's like that old saying, you know, how do you elephant? You know, one bite at a time. And so tackling these little things, I am curious about, sort of the research process, because you're, you say, you're very intentional behind it. So what are you how does that process work? Because I've always wondered, you know, from the the marketing side of things, when I worked in house at a brokerage, I felt like it, you know, trying to get that kind of information out of the sales reps was like pulling teeth, what they were working in a very different environment, where they were working off of the massive distribution list, you know, Zoom info and just mass emailing everyone. But from the intentional approach, did you pick, like, a certain niche that you wanted? Like, some people pick, like, the aerospace niche? Is there, you know, a certain commodity that you're going after? Like, how do you, I guess, intentionally try to research prospects? Yeah, so I am a domestic freight broker, full truckload and less than truckload, not a drayage broker. I don't do anything in Canada or Mexico, just domestic, and that is a huge variety of freight, right? So that gives me a lot of opportunity. With that being said, I primarily prospect on LinkedIn. That is a lot of where my inbound and my outbound leads come in from. So what that typically can look like is, if I use Sales Navigator, for instance, I know who my current customer list is right now, who I deal with on a daily basis. So that looks like, you know, a distribution manager, a logistics manager, a regional logistics manager, right? So I already know know this. I will look for that type of person persona in LinkedIn, and I find people who fit that right. Then I reach out to them and I let them know that I've already worked with somebody like them. I already solve problems that they may have, and then I kind of lead with what I'm doing now, the problems I'm solving now, and seeing if that's something that they may need help with, right? I think a lot of prospecting is timing, and a lot of timing, you just have to be there to let them know who you are. And I think a lot of brokers, the mistake that they make is just throwing themselves at the prospect is like, Hey, this is what I do. My company is great, you know, but they not so much want to know what. That your company is great, they want to know that you're great because you're going to be the one that's handling their freight. Like, what does your experience look like, right? So I kind of lead in with that. So you bring up a I love the process side of things, because I'm always trying to figure out, okay, well, what could I have done better in my previous role, as far as, far as, like, you know, from a one person marketing team perspective, but then also from a current perspective of, what can I share with other, like freight marketers that would really help them out in their job, to help them, help their company or help their sales team? So I'm curious as to, like, what, I guess maybe the it sounds like you're kind of doing all of the marketing and sales, is that accurate? Absolutely, yeah, I am the only person doing the marketing and sales. So I would imagine that LinkedIn is probably your bread and butter. Yeah, yeah. That, as far as rebuilding my book of business, that is where my Yeah, my especially, my inbound leads have come in from. And then what now I will say like 30% of it have been from referrals, or, you know, friends, you know, talking to their family members or whatnot, and especially referrals from my past customers. But then the other half of it is just people having conversations and stuff like that. That's you are the second broker that I have talked to, that have talked or maybe even the third that have spoken about just the value of referrals, and then also in person, like just showing up to an office and shaking someone's hand. Oh, I will do that. That's all I did when I first started my brokerage. I just drove around. I literally, like, got in my car, and I spent like, a week just driving around. I went to, like, Dalton, Georgia, Rome, Georgia, like Cleveland, Tennessee, and just showed up and shook everybody's hand and just had conversations, left my cards and, like, random mailboxes. I don't know I'm crazy. I'll just show up. I have, like, no sense of, you know, and until you tell me, like, please, like, f off. We don't need I, you know, that's the worst in my mind. Like, that's the worst thing that could happen. So I really don't care. Well, I mean, it's clearly worked for you, because you've built a successful business during a recession. So with your approach to shippers, you mentioned earlier about how you know, you started building your relationships with shippers, and you started building your carrier base. Are you using sort of the same approaches with carriers versus shippers? No, not necessarily. I mean, I won't go and, like, visit a shipper or a carrier unless we're doing a ton of business together. I won't prospect carriers the same way I do shippers, but I do, I vet my shippers like I do my carriers, you know, I want to make sure that I get paid, so that my carriers get paid, right? I feel like a lot of brokers miss the mark when they get so excited that shipper is promising them revenue, that they kind of look the other way when they're red flags. I won't do that. So when it comes to vetting, I look at both things. If I'm going to vet my carriers rigorously, I'm going to do the same for my shippers, but prospecting, no, I don't, but I also, like my with this book of business, it's a lot of it's like urgent and project freight, where my last book of business was a lot of food and beverage, so it was a lot of contract rate. It's not like that this time around. And so when you are, you know, building out and making these connections and trying to build these relationships, what are maybe some red flags of like a shipper is not right for you? Because that was one of the posts that I really resonated with when I think it was a while back that you had posted on LinkedIn about how you'll tell a shipper know that I'm not a good fit, so I'm curious as to what that looks like, and I I'm imagine that probably develops even more trust, even though you're not going to work with that shipper, but it still maybe signals a high trust factor. What are some of those red flags that you look out for, that you're like, this isn't a good fit for me? I think it all starts with the with asking the right questions. One of the questions I like to ask shippers is, what did your previous relationship look like with your broker? What are your relationships look like with your carriers now? Right? And I think that tells you a lot about a how they treated their brokers. You also want to just ask, you know, I know it's uncomfortable to ask questions about money and getting paid, but it's important, you know, you want to go ahead and lay all that out on the table so that, you know, I made that mistake kind of early on, not in this, you know, not. With, with this brokerage, but in my previous one, and we ended up having to, not to just quit with the credit because, you know, we were, like, 100 loads in, and it was a project, just because they stopped paying. So it was just one of those things that, like, you have to have a list of questions in your mind when you start that conversation with a new shipper. And you know, they may not all be comfortable, they may not all feel natural, but you know, it's just you're getting to know a new relationship, and you want to make sure it's a right fit. So just, you know, don't be afraid. And I think one of your unique selling angles is that you kind of, from what I've heard in other interviews that you've done, is that you're building more of a boutique style freight brokerage, where I think other brokerages are, you know, the big box brokerages, as you know, a lot of people will call them, you know, three letter brokerages that are out there. But you're taking more of a boutique approach. Why that approach versus, you know, just massive amounts of hiring and scaling and getting, you know, as quickly as possible to, you know, 100 million in revenue. I just don't see the appeal in that. And that's kind of why I wanted to start my own thing anyway. I mean, I just don't see the appeal of always pleasing your board members, always transaction first, or transactions first, Profit First, everything else second. I I feel more connection with customer service first, more connection with people first. You know, I mean in a world where profits over everything. Like, why can't we bring back people over everything? Right? Like, you should see some of these, like, high turnover rates and all these brokerages when it comes to their employees, but the deeper stories, it's the same with their customers. You know, you think that a customer is going to want to stay when their favorite broker was just fired? Absolutely not. So their their turnover rate for their customers is just as high. I don't see the appeal in that. I feel like that's going backwards. Like, why not have Why have 200 customers that you're constantly turning over and you're having to hire and rehire new brokers that know nothing about the industry, that constantly put free at risk, that constantly put drivers on the road that are not vetted, because they're not because the broker themselves is not experienced. So then they hire a carrier that's not experienced, and that carrier has a driver that's not experience, and then it's just creates a domino effect. So I'm thinking, like, if I have a business that's more intentional, I mean, I haven't had a single customer that has left me and I mean, I think that's purposeful, right? And I And that's meaningful, and I that that means the world to me, right? So, and I think that's how I just want to continue my business, yeah, because I think that that's a good thing to kind of, you know, pull, pull that I want to pull that stread or shred thread, a little bit thread, and whatever it works. It's after Labor Day, holiday week. You're not wearing white, so you're wearing your jumbled but it's funny. So I'm as a business owner myself, I have seen the temptation, or maybe, have, you know, felt a little bit like, Oh, should I be built, trying to build a huge business? Should I be trying to hire a bunch of different people and always just add this kind of inkling of, no, that's, you know, when I start hiring, then I'm responsible for those employees and making sure, then my business goals change a little, where it's, you know, less. I guess you could probably still focus strongly on the customer if you also have employees as well, but you have to be good at both operations and people management when you start hiring, versus just being really good at customer service and operations. And so I've intentionally kept my team very lean, you know, we can, all, you know, play multiple roles if needed. So I really connect with your business approach, of how you're approaching like the brokerage market, and building it out very intentionally and sort of the way you see fit. And I imagine that, you know, for a lot of your customers and carriers, they'll follow you wherever you go, versus, you know, a big brokerage brand. Have you kind of experienced that as you're rebuilding that you have developed this sort of fierce loyalty with shippers and carriers that they want to work with you no matter what. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, that's where the referrals come in at. I mean, that's, that's kind of what's helped me rebuild my book of business in the you know, the second time around is that referrals, and that came from my mentality and having that. A boutique level service, where I want to keep it small, because I want to keep it intentional. And so with the last, I guess, handful of years, we've just seen such a dramatic influx of technology coming onto the scene where, you know, it's AI, it's agents, it's, you know, all of these different tools and technology, visibility and tracking and all of that stuff. How do you decide what to invest in? Because, I mean, as a single operator, then it's one of those things where, like you only have so much time in the day. So how do you vet new tools that you should be having into your tech stack? So I guess maybe give us a high level overview of what your tech stack looks like, and then maybe how you consider adding to that tech stack. I mean, the first question always is, is this something that is going to help my customers? Is this something that's going to help my carriers? When it comes to my customers, carrier vetting is the most important, right? I'm not going to put, you know, unreliable embedded carriers on on their freight, so I use tools for that. I have organizational tools, but that's just my OCD preference. So I use, like, front versus the outlook platform, but, yeah, I don't know if I answered your question. For marketing, I'll use like, Canva, that's perfect, yeah, put like, you know, my posts together. I don't use much AI, I try not to, but I'll use it to, like, help me brainstorm. But as far as, like, writing and stuff, I don't find it very helpful, so I don't use it all that much. Yeah, I think that's sort of the a lot of the the pilot approaches for a lot of different AI agents like I think that just based on my own personal experience, they're the agent side of things, or they're really good at one specific thing, but you better hope that none of the other like data integrations into those things like have a flare up, because then that's going to mess up, and then it's going to have a, you know, a trickle down effect on some of the content and numbers that you're looking at. So you have to be, like, overly cautious, but also enthusiastic, I think, to use these tools. Because I think for a lot of folks, they use it once it messes up, and then they never go back to it. So I was just curious as to how you kind of vet new technology into what your operating system looks like, but it sounds like you come from it from a very like first principles approach of, is this going to help my carriers, or is this going to help my shippers? Yep. And if it doesn't, then I just find it wasteful. So, yeah, I mean, I think, I think marketing is important, you know, I obviously First things first is carrier betting. That's the most important. You know, FMCSA, their web, they don't do a good job, so you have to use other platforms to just kind of understand FMCSA a bit better, and what you're trying to decipher, as far as the carriers, MCs, um, but then, as marketing wise, you know, I use, I do outsource website and SEO and all of that, yeah, as you should, as a website operator, yes, I have a vested interest, and people outsourcing that to me, so I will co sign that all day. I just did it through in text. I did my website through in text. And I don't know if you've heard of them, they're like, in I don't know where they're located, but they did a pretty good job. And it was just, like, a one time thing. And, yeah, awesome. Yeah, most websites, you really only have to I was, I tried to build my own website. I did it the first time, and then I went through like, a brand identity crisis, where I woke up one day and I was like, this brand isn't define me. So I just wanted, I spent, like an entire day trying to figure out what I wanted my logo to be and how I wanted it to look, and it's just a nightmare. I'm not good at all that, you know, I'm very like operational, but I am not very creative. I say that, but I love to like paint, I don't know. But as far as like design, no, but yeah, it's one of the I think, as a business owner, sometimes we just over complicate it, and then we kind of maybe, and I'm speaking from personal experience, like I get in my own head, and I look at my some of my own sites, not even client sites, but I look at my own and I'm like, This is a disaster. I have to redo it all and doing it on like a whim several times. And it's like, we don't need to. This probably shouldn't be the the focus of today, but you kind of have to battle, I think, the those types of business improvements, of what to what to invest in, and then what to what to purposely avoid, or, you know, put on the back burner for the time being. I am curious as to, you know, as you're, you know, so we've talked about some. Starting the business and, you know, building up your book of business. What are a couple metrics that you follow from, you know, like, just a business perspective that helps you know that your business is on target, increasing, hopefully, increasing revenue or increasing margins. What are some of those metrics that you look at on a regular basis for your brokerage. I mean, I would say number one is client retention. That help that lets me know that I'm problem solving and not just being transactional. You know, I want to make sure I aim to have, like, 100% client retention. I don't want to lose a single customer, because I work so hard up front to gain that customer, and I'm so intentional with my prospecting, I want to make sure that I don't lose a single one, and it helps me know that I'm problem solving. The second one is my profit margins. But it probably isn't like the reasons that most people think like I'm not actually trying to maximize my profits. I'm just trying to maximize the sustainability of my brokerage, right? I'm trying to make sure that I have enough buffer to pay for the carrier vetting tools to provide the value that I need, and that also tells me that my customers are finding the value from what I'm offering, and that I am building partnerships, and not just in involving myself into rate wars and price wars. You know, that's what I'm trying to avoid at all costs. But it's easy to it's tempting in this industry, because there's so much of it. So that's why, probably why I write so much content about it, because if you're prospecting, you'll run into that a lot. Like, sure, I'll add you to my distribution list. And so, yeah, what is your approach when it comes to LinkedIn? How do these you know, because these posts that you're creating, like, do very well. Numbers wise, it feels like, you know, a lot of people resonate with them. I'm not even a freight broker, but I enjoy reading them. So what is, I guess, sort of your process look like? Are you writing once, you know, a week, or, you know, you kind of got a few ideas, you know, banked and then ready to go? What does the, I guess, the LinkedIn process look like for you? Honestly, I'll be on a walk or a run, and just something will pop in my mind. And I love this industry. I love logistics, and so I'm constantly thinking about it, a lot of you know, sometimes I'll think about all the mistakes I've made, you know, all the advice that I wish I had when I first started. So I think a lot of my inspiration comes from that too, but, yeah, it's just kind of random. I don't really have a process. I wish I had a better answer for you. No. I mean, I think that. Well, they always say, you know, go if you're frustrated at work, like, go take a walk. And it's the most clarity that you can gain is just by maybe making your brain not focus on a million different emails and phone calls and loads and, you know, all of those things. Just taking a break can allow your your brain that boredom to come up with. I used to listen to music and, you know, used to read my emails or scroll or whatnot. And then I was like, No, I just, I need to be out in nature and just, and that's when, you know, a lot of, a lot of my inspiration comes from honestly, no, I was like, I need to do this more often. Yeah, for sure, I definitely echo that, because it's, it's either the walking the beach or taking a shower. Those are the only times really that I've tried to have no tech mind, right? But that's where the ideas flow is in those moments. So I from your lens of working in some of the big box brokerages and then starting your own and, you know, obviously this is a very like male dominated industry, where a lot of that, you know, I guess a lot more women are starting to come into this industry. So I'm curious as to maybe, what are some advantages of being, you know, a woman in this industry. We always hear you know about the downsides of being a woman in this industry, but I think you come at it from a different lens of like, there's some positives that you can kind of lean into with being a woman in this industry. I mean, that alone makes you a little bit more unique. You know, not. I'm not like a Chad with a sweater vest, so that alone makes me a little bit different, right? Probably less aggressive, too, with, you know, give me your business or else. Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah. I mean, I just, I just come at it from a calm, collective standpoint. I don't try to make it a point to say, Hey, I'm a woman in the industry, so therefore you should give me your business because I'm because I'm a woman in this industry. No, I'm great at what I do. In fact, I'm the best at what I do. You should give me your business because you will find value in what I do. And. And not because I'm a woman, you know what I mean? I guess that's the point I'm trying to make, yeah? Because I think it's like a side effect. Yeah, it's almost Blythe brumlevele in the industry. Can get your foot in the door, but your solutions and your service are the ones that are going to keep you there. Okay, so what does you know? Obviously, we're in, you know, a very challenging market you've chosen or not chosen, but you've proved that you could build a business in a freight recession. So I'm curious as to, how are you kind of mapping out what the holiday season looks like, what maybe early 2026 looks like? Are you just kind of plugging along like business as usual? I mean, I'm, I'm constantly available for my customers. So to me, doesn't matter if it's a holiday season or a Sunday or a Friday night. I mean, I make it a point to be available 24/7 and that's just kind of how I run my business. I always done it that way. It's one of my value points. So yeah, I mean, I just, like I said earlier on the podcast, just put one foot in front of the other. My customers keep coming back. So, yeah. So No, no real concerns about, like, a huge slowdown, because I think that that's where a lot of folks are worried right now is, you know, there's a lot of things going on, unpredictability, tariffs, you know, kind of trade wars, all that stuff. But it sounds like if you just focus on your customers, and you can, kind of, you know, pay attention, stay informed about what's going on, because that's, you know, part of the job. But then on the flip side, you know, only can focusing on what you can control, yeah. And I also think, you know, if I was heavily niched down, I think it would, I would be in a different mindset, but because I'm, you know, a domestic over the road, full truckload and less than truckload freight broker. I mean, I've got plenty of opportunities, so I've always had the ability. I mean, since day one, if freight volumes go down for a couple of my customers, I will go out and I will regenerate some volume. So no, I'm not worried. I'm constantly a lot of brokers that are that stay busy, that already have the volume. I don't think that they think enough ahead. I don't think that they prospect enough because they feel so confident that that volume will stick around, but I always try to get prospecting in. I'm, I'm just, I've always been like that, and it's paid off. So never, even if I get, you know, five outreaches a day. So so it's helped. I'm still here. So yeah, so for folks who may be thinking about, you know, starting up their own brokerage, getting started in the industry. What advice would you give them? You know, to start making those preparations now in order to start successfully. I mean, if you're going to start in the industry, I would honestly get your foot in the door with a w2 big box brokerage. I would be careful signing a non compete or a non solicit. Non solicits are okay, as long as you don't plan on stealing business or whatnot, unless you want to get in a lawsuit. But be careful with non competes. Watch the contract, make sure that you're not signing anything that is going to, you know, put you in a position you don't want to be in. So that's my advice. But if you want to learn everything that you can work with somebody that's been in the industry for a long time, and the way to do that is to become to be in an environment that has that and that you'll be typically will find that in brokerages, you know, probably in your local town. I mean, every city has a brokerage or two. Yeah, I think that that's I would agree with that advice too, because if you can get that fundamental knowledge first, and then if you follow some of the sort of the same prospecting strategies that you've given out during this episode of you can still find those similar customers, not the same ones, because you don't want to do a non solicit, or you don't want to get in trouble because of your soliciting those same customers. But then you at least have the basics covered. And then you can choose, you know, whether you're going to go out on your own, or you maybe do an agent model. Or you can kind of choose your battle, if you are to start out, you know, on your own, or start your own entrepreneurial journey. And then you can be intentional about that prospecting and taking care of your customers. And then I will say that if you want to start your own brokerage, I would start, I would go and become an agent. First, I know I didn't do that, but my, you know, I feel like everybody's life is different. You know, one path does not necessarily mean that you need to follow that you have to look at your own variables, your own life, and. And do that as well. You know, there's a lot like for, you know, if you're on LinkedIn and you want to take that next step, and you're at a w2 right? And you're looking for that next step, you know, not. It's it may not be the wisest choice to just drop everything and drop your health insurance, if you have a family and go and start your own brokerage, you know, um, you kind of have to look at what, what's going on in your life? So, yeah, I would also heavily consider that, yeah, because I did, for anybody from their entrepreneurial journey, because I'm all about that, I did it. But yeah, I definitely would, you know, do as much research. I'm very cautious. I mean, I probably did, like, a year's worth of research. Oh, wow, I planned very, very heavily. So yeah, that's great advice. Because from No, I think for a lot of folks, they just, they make the decision quickly to go out on their own, and then they just jump into it, and then they have no idea where their next check is. Yeah, it can backfire very quickly, and it can backfire very painfully, yeah. And at least with, you know, something like an agent model, especially if you have, you know, a book of business that's going to follow you some of those, the costs, the liability, the insurance, you know, a lot of those things, just from talking to a lot of like the SPI agents that I've interviewed on the show, you know, having that safety net helped them be able to sell better and prospect better, because they weren't worried about, you know, making insurance payments, which is, you know, sometimes hundreds of 1000s of dollars for liability, and, you know, all of that. So all of those costs you still have to, you know, sort of keep in mind too, not, sort of definitely keep in mind too. I mean, before I started my own brokerage, I was in every role with my previous WTO. I did the, you know, cradle to gray brokerage, and then for two years, I just strictly did sales. So, you know, it definitely helped when I was starting my own brokerage, and then I did operations, and then I led an entire team. So it's like I had so much experience that when I was ready, I was definitely seasoned to start my own brokerage. But I feel like there are a lot of people that do start their own thing, but just don't have the experience to back it up. And then they are in it for a year, and it's appealing at first, and then they run out of money, yeah? And then that's it, right? And then they're out of the industry. So if you want to stick around in the industry, have as much experience under your belt as you possibly can, and you can get that from so many companies. And definitely look at all of your options. There's, there's so many options out there. Now, in our pre show document that I have each guest, you know, fill out, I asked them, you know, what's a few philosophies that you strongly believe in, and so a couple of them that you listed here is, women don't have to choose between success and family. We can build both, which I think you we were talking before recording your mom of a little girl, you she just started school. How are you balancing the everything with being a mom, which is a full time job, and then obviously a full time brokerage operation? How are you balancing those two? I mean, I have my people, you know, I'm blessed in that sense. But no, I definitely believe that we are in a society where a lot of the times the people in our lives try to make us choose, especially our employers, they will try to make us choose, do you want a promotion? Well, in a way, you know you need to check off all the boxes here at work, and that part of that means that you can't necessarily start a family and be away from work, right? But my thing is, is you can build both. I mean, there's so much going on with remote work right now, and I'm a big advocate for it. I think if you want to build both, that is such a core component, there's no way I could have done it without, without being able to work from home. There's no way, you know, trying to balance Natalie, which is, which is my daughter, and then growing my career at my w2 it was impossible. I was constantly taking steps back because I had to be like, hey, you know, I have to work from home. And then I was always getting pushed back, always getting pushed back for that, and then wasting time having meetings for why I was working from home. It was just BS. So I was like, You know what? I don't need to waste 20 minutes driving into work. I could be prospecting within that 20 minutes, you know, I could get up now I wake up like at five o'clock in the morning a prospect. I'll check on my loads. I'll do what I need to do. I'll take care of my daughter when she wakes up, and I also strategize with the people around me. I vocalize that, hey, I want to grow a. Family that's important to me, you know, and I want to have another child. I want to that's I want to be a homemaker. I love that, but I also want to have a career. And so if you love me, you'll help me achieve both. And luckily, you know, I've been the Blythe Brumleve to help me do both. But I think a lot of women are afraid to vocalize that. I do. I think that a lot of women are they try to sit in their box and they try to smile and appease the people around them more than they try to appease themselves. Yeah, because it's, it's an unfortunate sort of reality that you know for a lot of women, once you reach like a stable, what it feels like a stable part of your career, it's also like the prime, like, you know, baby making time. And it's one of those things where you're all you feel like you have to choose. And once you get to a certain point in your career, it's like, Well, can I do both? I've been told for years that I got to be able to pick one or the other. And I think stories like yours and stories of other, you know, working women who have the flexibility of being able to work from home can do both, because it's so much more. It fits the lifestyle, so much more of being a great mom and being a great business owner, if you can have that flexibility of working remote. So, I mean, I'm an advocate for working remote, especially to offering those kinds of solutions to your all employees, really, to be able to have that time home that's so important, and then also be able to build on your career. Otherwise, a lot of these companies need to just start having, you know, in office, daycares, if you want your employees strapped to the desk the whole time? Exactly, no, it doesn't make any sense. And I also, I'm a big advocate for Lindsey Nolen, afraid to take a step back from your career. Platforms like LinkedIn exist so that you can stay relevant without actually having to go 120% at all times, right? And I've kind of learned that, like, you know, the very first year of my business, I was like, going 1,000% trying to balance it all. And then over the last, I'd say, six months or so, especially around May, I was like, I'm going to create content, you know, still, I'm going to Blythe. Brumleveled in the industry, and talk to people and and continue to run free and continue to take care of my customers, but I'm going to lean in more on the family side a little bit, you know? And then there will come a time where I'm going to lean more on to the business side, right? So it's, it's balance is not so much as being split at all times between the two. It's leaning more one way or the other. But LinkedIn helps a ton, because you can still stay relevant and create content without, you know, you know, being present at all, yeah. And I think, too, it's LinkedIn allows you the opportunity to have a keynote, add, you know, a keynote to your audience, speech every single day or multiple times a day, if you if you wanted to take that posting route where you know, back in the day it might have been you have to be able to have an opportunity to speak or be on a panel and go to a conference in order to put a face to a name. Nowadays, you can go digitally, and you can go math to a massive audience, and you can do it multiple times per day. So I definitely hear that statement as well, yeah, and I think it's less about likes and and all of that, as much as it is just getting in front of people and letting them know your thoughts, right? Like, I'm not a big I don't just post for the sake of posting. All my posts are pretty long winded. I'm sure people, a lot of people probably don't read them, but a lot of people do, and I'm one of them. That's a whole reason your your LinkedIn posting is a big reason why I've been wanting to have you on the show for so long, is because you can tell that you're coming from a place of, you know, deep experience. And a lot of people talk about, you know, being authentic and organic, but you're actually out here, you know, doing that and and telling both sides of the coin, not just you know, the good victories, but also, you know, some of the the challenges and the defeats, and saying no, when it you know it doesn't make sense for for you, your business, your family, and I think that's the ultimate freedom. So it's, it's, it was great to finally have this conversation. And as we kind of round round it out, is there anything important that you feel is that you want to mention that we haven't already talked about, I mean, you kind of hit the Nolen head. Just don't be afraid to say, no. Don't just know that the moment that you're in does not define you. Okay, as a freight broker, as a sales person, if you're. Or if you've just heard a no, if you're failing that week, it doesn't define you. Just keep going. Put one foot in front of the other. Learn as much as you can. Stay humble. I'm still learning every day, and I've been at this for like, 10 years, so that that's the biggest thing, is just know that your your your growth is the only thing that defines you, not who you are in that moment. Yeah, well said. Where can folks follow you? Follow more of your work. If you're a shipper listening you want to get in contact with Christina. Where can folks find you? You can just go on my website or my LinkedIn. It's Booker freight.com or my LinkedIn. Christina Booker, perfect, we'll add all of that to the show notes. And Christina, it was awesome. Finally getting you on the show. Thank you so much for having me absolutely thanks. I hope you enjoyed this episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff and people get from point A to B. Subscribe to the show. Sign up for our newsletter and follow our socials over at everything is logistics.com and in addition to the podcast, I also wanted to let you all know about another company I operate, and that's digital dispatch, where we help you build a better website. Now, a lot of the times, we hand this task of building a new website or refreshing a current one off to a co workers, child, a neighbor down the street or stranger around the world, where you probably spend more time explaining the freight industry than it takes to actually build the dang website. Well, that doesn't happen at Digital dispatch. We've been Blythe online since 2009 but we're also early adopters of AI automation and other website tactics that help your company to be a central place, to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit new employees and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business. Our new website builds start as low as$1,500 along with ongoing website management, maintenance and updates starting at $90 a month, plus some bonus freight, marketing and sales content similar to what you hear on the podcast, you can watch a quick explainer video over on digital dispatch.io, just check out the pricing page once you arrive, and you can see how We can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'll see you all real soon and go jags. You. You.