Transcript:
LAUREN: [00:00:02] Hello and welcome back to Enterprise Coworking Community Spotlight. This month we're sitting down with Brad Young, director of LTL with Trailer Bridge. Brad, thank you so much for sitting down with me today.
BRAD: [00:00:16] Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
LAUREN: [00:00:18] Of course. I'm excited to hear all about Trailer Bridge. So let's start off with you telling me a little bit about Trailer Bridge and what it is you guys do.
BRAD: [00:00:28] Yeah, sure. So we are considered a third party logistics company. We are based in Jacksonville, Florida. We do have assets. So that just means we own some of our own equipment. It's mostly down at the port in Jacksonville. But yeah, that's what we do. We are the middleman between customers who have freight to move and then the truck drivers or the carriers that have the trucks or the equipment to move it. And so we play matchmaker all day. That's what we do.
LAUREN: [00:00:53] Very important. Making that connection for sure.
BRAD: [00:00:55] Absolutely. Yeah.
LAUREN: [00:00:57] So how long is Trailer Bridge been in business?
BRAD: [00:01:00] Yeah. So we were founded in 1991, so my math is a little shady, not really great. So that's about 30 something years, 31 years, something like that.
LAUREN: [00:01:09] 30 something.
BRAD: [00:01:10] Yeah.
LAUREN: [00:01:12] That's a long time.
BRAD: [00:01:13] Yeah, absolutely.
LAUREN: [00:01:15] What makes Trailer Bridge different from other companies in your field?
BRAD: [00:01:22] That's another great question. So I always like to go with our culture and our people. I honestly think our people really make the difference here. And just the people that we bring on and retain as well. And developing I think developing leaders is very, very important for really any business. But, you know, here at Trailer Bridge, they do a phenomenal job at it. And throughout my career, I've never been through like any leadership programs or trainings or anything like that. But they heavily invest in their people. And so I had the opportunity to go through a leadership development program for them, and I think that's just awesome. So that's just one example of kind of what makes us different. But aside from that, we just really make it happen. Our people care a lot about what they do and they care a lot about their services, about the services we offer, and they care a lot about their customers as well. And I think that makes the world of difference is just showing a little bit of empathy and showing that you care and and you give a crap basically to put it in, to put it nicely. But that's that's what makes us different from our competitors is really just the people and the fact that we care and we just try to go above and beyond at every opportunity we can.
LAUREN: [00:02:31] Yeah, I love that. That's how all companies should operate. Some of them don't though, so that's great. So why did you choose Enterprise Coworking to be your little home base here?
BRAD: [00:02:45] Oh, man, I love telling the story, actually, because I was very specific about the offices I wanted to work in or the office I wanted to end up working in. And I looked around the city like I was on a serious search. I went down to DTC. I saw many offices down there. No offense to anybody that's down there, but it just wasn't my vibe wasn't really what we were looking for. And I really I really liked Enterprise, what you guys had to offer. Lauren, you were amazing, first off, and I'll give you kudos right away because you greeted me with a smiling face. Ask me how I was doing, how my day was going. You're happy to see me and happy that I was there. I could tell you, like maybe one out of the 20 offices that I saw. One other office was like that where they actually cared, and they actually felt like they wanted me there. So I think you make a world of difference to Enterprise, not to be a brown noser or anything. But, you know, that's that's that's honestly, you know, was a big driver for me. I felt very welcomed. And then I'm not going to lie. The rooftop patio pretty much sealed it. I'm like, All right, Lauren's awesome. Let's go look at this rooftop patio. And I'm like, All right, I'm sold. I'm sold. But I'll have to do my due diligence and ask them questions It's going to sound so simple, but I love that the parking is right next to the building. Actually it was a big factor for me as I'm trying to grow and hire new people. I didn't want them to have to trek four blocks across town to get into an office when they're parking further away. And I like that convenience of being right, you know, right there next to the building, be able to park, get out of your spot and or get out of your parking, out of your car and go into the office. And it's easy. And it's just not you don't have to deal with all the headache of parking somewhere downtown, figuring out if your car is going to get towed when you need to move it and all that stuff. I just love the convenience. And then lastly, just being this close to the RiNo neighborhood and being close to all the bars and restaurants and nightlife and just stuff for us to do, you know, we like to have fun. And, you know, when we're when we're not working really hard, we like to have some team outings, go out to dinner and grab some pizza or something like that, and or even grab some drinks after work and and just kick back and have a good time outside of the office. And so I think just kind of a combination of all of those things just kind of made enterprise the right place for us.
LAUREN: [00:05:01] Yeah, we're so lucky to have you guys here. I really enjoy you and your whole team. Thank you for your compliments. It's really nice.
BRAD: [00:05:08] Absolutely. Absolutely. It shows up on the bottom dollar. Shows up on your next check or so. I'll talk to Katie for you if you need me to.
LAUREN: [00:05:16] Thank you. So last question, speaking to our viewers, is there anything else that you would like them to know about Bridge, About you? Anything like that?
BRAD: [00:05:31] Yeah, sure. So I'll talk a little bit about myself because that's the easiest thing to do. So I've been in logistics and transportation for ten years now and I worked at a previous company, another three. Pl So very similar to what we do at Trailer Bridge. I was with them for nine years. I loved everything I was able to do there. But really like, like I mentioned earlier, just the opportunities to develop and grow at Trailer Bridge is what has really made me feel like I made the right choice. Making that move and coming over here is I'm not going to lie. I was pretty comfortable with the people I was working with at my last job. Everybody knew who I was and we were growing and that was great. But I was ready for that next challenge. And coming over here to Trailer Bridge, I got a chance to open up an office in Denver, which is something I've always wanted to do. And thanks to Enterprise for for helping me out with that search. And thank you. Thank you to you. For helping me out. It's funny to think about just back in August, we were in a little four person little cubicle, almost a broom closet. But we we were fine. We were okay with it, and we were making it work, But we definitely were looking for that next move up. And it's kind of cool to think about it. It wasn't that long ago that we were in a closet, essentially, and now we're moving on up. We literally did that. So it's been a lot of fun. I love working here. I love telling everybody this is where I get to come in to work and and this is what I get to call my workplace and, you know, fun story. I just had my boss out here in Denver. He was out here with his family and I got to show him around the office and I did show him the rooftop. He actually came on the day it was like our record cold. It was like negative ten that day. And I'm like, It's up to you, man. I could take some pictures and show it to you. But he's like, No, I got to see it. I got to see it. I hyped it up to him so he had to go see it and he went up there and he's like, Yeah, you made the right choice. This is this is awesome. Thank you. I thought I did. I thought this was a pretty great place. But yeah, that's just a little bit of our story. You know, we're just kind of kicking stuff off here out in Denver. We've got ten other offices across the United States. The Denver office is the newest branch. And, you know, my my job here is to grow and get big. And for you, that means you're going to be seeing some new faces here in our office pretty soon. I'll be sure that they stop by Steve's cafe. Definitely get a burrito or two, You know, always selling. I'm always selling for you guys.
LAUREN: [00:07:54] Yes. I appreciate you. Yeah. And I love that you guys are just growing so much, already upgraded to a larger office. So we're really lucky to have you guys here. We love interacting with you guys. Steve loves selling you burritos.
BRAD: [00:08:10] Those burritos changed my life.
LAUREN: [00:08:11] Yeah. So we hope you guys stay for a while. We're lucky to have you. Thank you so much for just briefly telling us a little bit about Trailer Bridge and yourself. If anybody wants to know more information about Trailer Bridge, you can go to wwww.trailerbridge.com and learn a little bit more. Thanks, Brad.
BRAD: [00:08:33] Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Lauren. I appreciate you.
