1225. #TFCP - Entrepreneur in Overdrive: When Pivoting Becomes the Game Plan!

Today, our first guest for the week, Garrett Bowers of Bowers Trucking, explains the significance of face-to-face networking and its role in building relationships within the transportation industry! Garrett highlights how crucial it is to create a personal connection with potential clients, build systems for business development, prospect consistently, enhance transparency, and operate teams efficiently for scalability and profitability!   About Garrett Bowers Born and raised in Ponca City, Garrett is a proud alumni of PO-HI where he played football, wrestled, and was highly involved in 4H and FFA. Garrett earned a scholarship to attend Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for livestock judging and his success there led to scholarship opportunities to join the Oklahoma State University judging team. At OSU, Garrett served as a Senator for the College of Agriculture. His livestock judging team members won several national contests including the coveted national collegiate championship in 2006. He graduated OSU with a bachelor's degree in May of 2007. Although Garrett grew up working alongside his father, Ranond, and grandfather, Glen (who was the founder of Bowers Trucking) – he was no stranger to entrepreneurial ventures. Before the age of 10, he had as many as 20 bottle-fed calves and even sold watermelon and corn in front of the truck yard alongside Highway 60. Later on, at age 16 he started his own custom hay business, which earned him the National FFA Degree recognition in 2004. When Garrett joined the family business after graduation in 2007, Bowers Trucking operated a dozen trucks within a 150-mile radius concentrated on end dump, aggregate, and construction material hauling. By 2010, Garrett diversified operations by redirecting focus to service the vast manufacturing industries located in Ponca City. By 2013, Bowers Trucking was operating in all 48 states and expanded into Canada and Mexico. Increased customer demand ultimately led to Garrett starting his own logistics company to help coordinate customer overflow. In 2016, Bowers Logistics was formed and the first agent was hired to meet the growing customer base with partner trucking companies looking for freight. By 2018, Bowers Trucking and Bowers Logistics became Department of Defense certified – the first trucking company based in Oklahoma to do so. Today, Bowers Trucking and Bowers Logistics employs 58 full-time employees. Together, the companies operate 50 trucks, and 108 trailers and service 5,000+ carrier partners while still retaining their core customer base from over a decade ago. Garrett met his wife Melissa in Athens, Georgia when the Oklahoma State Cowboys played their season opener against the University of Georgia. With some irresistible charm and a truckload of luck, Garrett convinced Melissa to relocate to Ponca City in 2009. Garrett and Melissa have been married for 13+ years, and they have a son, HB, who graduated PO-HI in  2021 and attended Oklahoma State University. Garrett coached HB's elementary year football teams and served on Osage County's Livestock Board, the FFA Booster Club, and the Quarterback Club. He is a graduate of Ponca City Leadership. He currently serves as seat # 3 commissioner for the City of Ponca City and has been an appointed trustee with the Ponca City Development Authority since 2018 and was chosen to serve two terms on U.S. Senator Inhofe's Service Academy Selection Committee.   Connect with Garrett Website: https://bowerstrucks.com/  Email: [email protected]  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrett-bowers-7a2b9186/   📊📉 Don't miss out on the latest market trends by subscribing to your TOP Transportation Morning Show! 🌎 🎬🎯 #TheFreightCoach Morning Show is LIVE every weekday at 10:30 AM CST to break down transportation industry headlines! Mark your calendars!   🤝 Shoutout to my sponsors!👇 Denim | https://info.denim.com/chrisjolly   SPI Logistics | https://spi3pl.com/  Greenscreens | https://brokers.greenscreens.ai/partnership/chris-jolly Revenova | https://revenova.com/freightcoach/ NMFTA | https://nmfta.org/   🚚 Ditch your carrier packet, drive more carrier sales, and get better load coverage with seamless digital onboarding, TMS integration, and smart load coverage by visiting https://brokercarrier.com/.    To donate and contribute to the Have a Heart's purpose, visit https://www.haveaheartinc.org/donate.   🚀🔥 To sign up for my Newsletter, go to http://eepurl.com/iNoHco, get in touch with me through the social media channels below, and subscribe to my YouTube Channel!👇   ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjrL70IEnCfDkNaiYMar3jw 📷 https://www.instagram.com/thefreightcoach/  🕊️ https://twitter.com/thefr8coach  💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-jolly-a183aa6a/