leslie forsee

new richmond, OH (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Reliable Logistics Solutions

Find More Startups Startup
Location: new richmond
Industry: Transportation
Year Founded: 2009
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: I am in startup phase with idea. I have an MBA and spent more than a decade in the mortgage lending industry before the subprime market fell apart. I want to start a third party logistics company. Transportation is fast growing and a 60 billion dollar industry. I worked for TQL the 6th largest 3PL in the nation and learned a great deal. A freind recently started his own 3pl and in his second year grossed approx. 2 million with less than 10 employees. My plan is to secure large accounts in the produce, meat, and metals industries. The issues faced with start-ups is not having asset base. Many large companies would like asset based carriers and my plan is to start off exactly like TQL with a small number of employees (some of which I can recruit from TQL and CH Robbinson) with experience. Once we have built a nest egg I can start to add the assets (tractor trailors). I would like to only add enough to give customers the warm and fuzzy of being asset based. I would start in over the road full truck load and partial truck load brokerage before moving on to rail, ocean, and air freight. I believe we can move into the rail within the first air because there are many carriers that specialize in rail freight and many customers that only ship by rail because of the cost of fuels. The majority of the revenues will come from produce freight. It is not uncommon to make 500-1000 per load of produce and more during crunch seasons at the ports with imports of brazilian south american produce. The staple will be fruits and veg. out of california going to north east. I worked with people that bring in an average of 20K per week by themselves so I know it is possible to grow fast with hard work and smart decisions. Once the company is established with a database of approved carriers, current customers, potential customers, and computer programs for accounting, payroll, claims, and DOT regulations I would consider franchising or opening small offices accross the country. I believe there are many facing early retirement that would buy into a franchise like this because we would be able to provide them with the software and lists of approved carriers and potential clients that would help them get started. They woudl have an initial franchise fee, the costs of their office equiptment, and licenses & insurance. But they would be getting the name of an already established company with training and software programs to get them started. We would also get a percentage of their revenues each month which in addition to their franchise fee which will only help add to the bottom line at that point. I think the franchises should be limited to very large territories or even one or two per state. TQL was started in a basement office with 2 men and they are 11 years old and will hit their first billion this year, but if you look at the top 20 3PL's you will see the same types of numbers. There are several brokerages that fail and I am aware of that risk but they fail because they are ran by owners of trucking companies that start a brokerage because they cannot handle the extra freigh their customers offer them. They do not have people that broker everyday or have trained in the industry so they take the freight, sell it to another carrier, provide poor service and lose their accounts. The loss of accounts give them a poor reputation and then they start losing more accounts and eventually close the brokerage and sell off some of their trucks. I have witnessed this first hand with carrier that I have used in the past. Bottom line is everything is shipped over the road (especially in continential US), by rail, plane, or ocean vessel. There is a great opportunity here and I need people that believe in it as much as I do to help me start the company. You might ask why 250K to start and that is simple. The office equiptment will not be expensive, the rent will not cost much (until we grow), the software programs and website may cost a little to design, licensing insurance and bonding will cost a little, but getting set up with comdata and t-check will require some money in the bank and we need this because many small carrier want their money for delivered loads within 7 days and we will not get paid for 28-45 days from most companies unless we establish contracts that specify short pay periods. In addition to those costs their is the human capital aspect. Most experienced account executives will work on a draw plus commission This is usually 2500- 3500 per month with commissions being around 30-40%. The draw is just a draw and paid back when the account executive gets paid. So for an example of 5 people to start at 3000 per month we would be paying 15000 in draw but would be getting back for each load. Assuming the company would start with 2 experienced people generating from accounts brought with them and 3 others generating from scratch. the company should bring in about 10000 per week or much more depending on the accounts being brought. LIke I said I have seen people averaging 20k per week (80 per month) and some have good weeks during busy seasons making 30-50K per week for one or two weeks a month. I saw a guy do over 800K in one week after the hurricane and flooding in TX and LA last year. He had military accounts and shipped for FEMA.. There is a lot of money to be made and it can be quick..I just dont have any money at all right now.