Blue Ribbon Podcast

The Live Event in Hurricane, WV is only five days away. We will preview the event and what you can expect to learn from two days with the Lunatics.

The irony of this episode being on “Independence Day” is rich. The US Supreme Court, aka The Black Robed Wizards, refused to hear the California Trucking Association’s suit to end the AB5 contractor law. It’s being reported that 70,000 owner operators in California will now be classified as “employees” now that the injunction is gone. What will they do? What will you do when the Feds soon try the...

We don't have a special topic for tonight's episode. We're live from the Wingate where we are doing a new driver orientation.

In this episode, we're going to talk to John Rennoldson. He started his journey as a Landstar BCO from day one with Blue Ribbon. Chris is his dispatcher and Larry helps him with running his business. We'll talk with John about his decision to use this service, and what led him to renew the contract for another six months.

One of our drivers pointed me to an Asian Mai video where a truck driver said “Drivers need to grow and pair and shutdown, or get out.” Video here: https://youtu.be/b7BsWcOsT9A This driver spends a lot of time virtue signaling about how good he is and how important “we” are as drivers. His selfish, ignorant attitude ignores the reason he even has a job to be proud of - the customers and the free m...

We don't have a plan for this one. That's up to you. We're going to open the show and take your questions live.

It’s more important now than ever to lower your fuel cost. Lowering the price you pay and then getting better mileage are the key. We’ll talk about how to do both and we’ll talk with our best fuel mileage driver.

Surviving a down market isn't possible without knowing what it takes to run your business. You MUST have an accounting system, and you must be able to calculate the real profits and losses with data, not with a "feeling." There aren't many people better at accounting than Larry, and we're going to show you how we use the numbers to make decisions and guide the fleet.

We are going to sit down with Chris Long who is an Executive Vice President of one of the largest Warehouse Management companies in the world. Chris has a lot of experience running Warehouses and is going to give us some insight on how they work and the history behind them. He's going to be able to explain where Lumpers came from and how the industry has evolved over the last couple decades.

It’s not up for debate. The “Bloodbath” is coming. Rates WILL drop. There WILL be too much capacity, and those who aren’t prepared WILL suffer. A lot of people don’t want to hear it, but we have the cure and we’re going to share it in this episode.

Back in November 2020, Larry came up with the idea to offer an opportunity to BCO’s that had trucks they weren’t utilizing to bring them over and let us run them in our program. Phil Frese from Cullman, AL was on of the first to answer the call. Phil is an experienced Heavy Hauler with Landstar. In 2021, we saw the opportunity to put a driver on platform freight, but Chris and Larry don’t have muc...

One of the foundational principles we teach is "Find the WHY and the HOW will work itself out." Asking "Why?" keeps you from doing dumb things just because "Everyone else is doing it!" So, WHY do you change your oil? Have you ever thought about it? What makes oil go bad that you have to throw it away? How did it survive millions of years in the ground, but only 6 weeks in your truck's engine? Is t...

We’ve been warning about the end of the record market for a while, and now the headlines are saying it’s coming. We will talk about how we are prepared for the coming market crash. We will wrap up our time at the Mid America Trucking Show and make an announcement about OPS and Max Mileage Catalyst.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've seen the cost of fuel skyrocket in the last two weeks. A lot of people are worried. Are we? No. We welcome it. It will benefit those of us that have prepared for it. Most people have no clue how Fuel Surcharge works. We're going to break that down and explain it. We will also talk about rates and lanes, and how we pick loads to avoid the pinch.

When I invited Larry onto the American Truck Driver Podcast in 2019, neither of us had any idea the impact the show would have on Blue Ribbon. It's turned into an amazing recruiting tool that has introduced us to some amazing people that have joined our program. One of the very first was Seth Coberley. He was eager to learn and came to us with the drive and desire it took to become a successful ow...

Ever since I read the Marc Levinson's book " The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" I've been fascinated with how goods travel from continent to continent. It's VERY different from how we move goods on American highways. In this episode, our guest is Sara Graham aka LogisToks on TikTok. We've been following her for a while and she's done a great jo...

Tony Ramos helps small business owners who owe substantial taxes to the IRS. He is passionate about resolving overwhelming IRS debt to help people get the IRS to reduce their debt by the maximum amount and then agree to the smallest possible monthly payments for their remaining balance. Here are some of the questions we will address: How long can the IRS chase me for back taxes? What happens if I...

Our guest in this episode is Kerry Baldwin. Kerry offers online courses on the Socratic Method of Learning. The Socratic method of learning employs a time-tested method of critical thinking used by Socrates to challenge the paradigms of the people. Seminars promote productive dialogue, civil discourse, and discovery. This is a skill that is learned, and must be practiced or it is lost. Kerry Baldw...

Episode 101 would be a great opportunity to make a "101" class to cover some of the things you need to know if you're going to be a successful owner operator. - Generating Revenue - Customer Service - Controlling Costs - Record Keeping - Accounting - Maintenance - Fuel - Taxes We will do a quick breakdown of the principles and practices that keep us going and make us profitable.

Larry Long first met Kevin at the annual CMC (Certified Master Contractor) conference in 2009 held in Kansas City. Larry was a brand new owner/operator and knew that he needed the advice of someone experienced in the business of trucking. They became fast friends, and Larry even served on the staff of the CMC. In the years since its formation, Blue Ribbon Logistical Solutions has used the principl...

Carrie Coffey has an interesting story to tell. She came to work for us in April 2020 right as the pandemic restrictions were being put in place and the country was shutting down. She worked hard for 18 months and recently purchased her own truck from a BCO. We will discuss what led to the decision to come here and how the experiment affected her journey to being an owner/operator.

It’s been another busy period for Blue Ribbon as we’ve added another driver AND a new (used) truck to the fleet! This episode is going to be about defying in your business and making it better than the competition. Larry says, in trucking, “There is a lot of capacity but very little competition.” We’re going to tell you about how Larry set himself apart in his other businesses before he got into t...

This one is gonna be fun, y'all. Larry got his hands on a 22 page lease contract from a major US Carrier, and he's going to break it down for you. To say that he isn't happy is an understatement. This contract is filled with so much garbage that it's stunning. There is NO CHANCE that someone could sign up for this lease and ever survive it. It is an absolute SCAM meant to get drivers to drive a tr...

How tired are you of dealing with brokers? Isn't it time that we use the technology available to us to gain access to shippers directly so that we no longer have a "middle man" taking a piece of the action. Allow us to introduce you to LaneAxis, a platform that is focused on building direct relationships that lead to Shipper-direct freight opportunities on a daily basis. We really enjoyed this con...

You have met Zeke Goodwin before on Episode 53: Highway Refugee. In that episode, he described his experience of being jobless and homeless, finding refuge in a cab of a truck. He has come a long way since then. Now, alongside his new wife Vanessa, he is on a new journey. They have join the Blue Ribbon Team by purchasing a truck, giving it the “lunatic” treatment, and leasing it on for us to opera...