Paying trucking knowledge forward: Growing pains and adjustment, more from four Small Fleet Champs

Overdrive Radio

It’s one of our favorite opportunities covering the trucking world these last several years -- the annual conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, for four years now the sponsor of Overdrive's annual Small Fleet Championship, recognizing and sharing the stories of business excellence for owner-operators who hit and/or cross that 3-truck threshold. On November 7 this year, Overdrive Radio host Todd Dills announced winners in two categories, recognizing four total finalists during NASTC’s Thursday-night conference-opening Transportation Trust Forum. You’ve likely seen the news – Paul Rissler Transportation and C.W. Express took home the Small Fleet Champ title belts this year in their respective categories: https://www.overdriveonline.com/small-fleet-champ/article/15707739/rissler-transportation-cw-express-emerge-as-small-fleet-champs Yet that’s not the true highlight of the program for Dills. Rather, the chance for an in-person, roundtable sitdown with all four of our Small Fleet Champ finalists, to share their perspectives on business challenges overcome, on the makets in which they operate, and more. The talk you'll hear in this Overdrive Radio podcast edition offers plenty potential lessons for other truck owners similarly wrestling with various business difficulties of various stripes. Likewise a strong current that’s a bit different from past Small Fleet Champ roundtables we've conducted. All owners offered examples of how they pay their hard-earned trucking knowledge forward to leave behind capability when the end of the line comes squarely into view. For some, those efforts were front and center in the talk itself. Automotive and general dry van carrier C.W. Express owner Steve Wilson was joined in the talk by his son, Steven the second, in his early 20s and newly involved in the business, for instance. Hear also C.W. Express’ fellow finalist in the 11-30-truck division of the Small Fleet Championship – Brian Brewer and Jennifer Leasure of mostly local scrap and dump hauler Brian Brewer Trucking. Likewise, competing in the 3-10-truck division, Jamie Hagen of mostly dry van carrier Hell Bent Xpress and Paul and Michelle Rissler, of Paul Rissler Transportation, running reefer. It's a hallmark of a truly exceptional business owner that, though the day-to-day fires may mount, keeping eyes on the future is a necessity for the next generation. As Steve Wilson outlined his immediate and longer-term goals, invoking all that he'd been through over the last several years (including 8 months' worth of a hospital stay, near death at one point), "I've got grandbabies now," he said. "You know, what I want is to build a legacy for those kids. 'Hey, my granddad built that.' That's what I'm here for." Read Wilson's and others' stories via the Small Fleet Champ section of Overdrive's website: https://overdriveonline.com/small-fleet-champ