MetroGistics

It was an exciting first full year for everyone! We made some great strides on all facets of our business. Our customer portfolio grew at a pace much faster then we could’ve ever expected. We have a great team of people around us that I’m super proud of! Our internal staff blows away our expectations everyday! 2012 is going to bring some changes including a new office in Detroit, a possible location in LA and some movement amongst our staff into new roles. Exciting stuff.

About a month ago we celebrated our 500 days in business, 50,000th order and 1000 positive ratings by partner carriers. Cool stuff!

Everyone have a great holiday!!

I realized on my last flight from St Louis to Detroit that I’m most productive on the plane. No emails, no phone calls, no problems..It was great:) I cringe now when I see that my plane has wifi as I dont have the will power not to buy it and check my email the entire time! Being ultra connected is great but everyone needs a break once in a while right? I think this is one of the only times a business man gets a break, and I wonder why I always fall asleep on the plane, my mind is at peace:)

Looking forward to my next flight to LA next week! Please no wifi Southwest!!

I’m proud to say that there is a good reason I haven’t blogged in a few months, holy crap have we been busy..Today being Good Friday and lots of customers on vacation brought to light the fact that, wait a second I haven’t blogged in months. I have my desk cleaned up from the past two months of craziness, my computer homepage cleaned up of shortcuts all over the place, and I’m taking a well deserved catch up breath..

It’s been a great Q1, were making progress on all fronts including inroads with OEM’s, securing relationships with large dealer groups, and the rental guys and girls are very happy with our service!

Our technology is ever improving, processes in the office are becoming more streamlined, our staff is sharp in systems, and were getting the jobs done on time pretty much every time. Were working hard and having fun doing it. I feel very confident that were positioned well for continued growth and with a little cash in the bank so I can sleep a little easier at night!

I’m excited for the rest of the year, excited to see the staff grow, excited to roll out some new office locations and excited to be excited..If that makes sense.

Hope everyone has a happy Easter and hopefully I can remember to post some blogs once in a while on progress, (but not to much as I would get concerned at that point:)

A few things to look for in the 2Q.

SaferShip (SaferShip.com) technology to track carrier insurance, ratings with the DOT and operating authority authenticity all in real-time. (Were super stoked about this new technology we created)

The growth of our texting solutions for carriers to send us updates, were seeing week over week growth with this solution!

And added functionality to our website so carriers can automatically take orders, get payment details and update paperwork all online!

Again, stay tuned for random posts on developments:)

~Scott

So far this year it has seemed like a roller coaster ride, some days are jamming while others are somewhat slow. We had a nice new customer come on board this week and were seeing an uptick with the number of cars moving but I think fuel rising has taken a bite out of our carriers making it a little tougher to move cars. Fuel plays such an important role to everyone in the car business, especially to us in transportation. As fuel rises so do prices to move a car, something always a little tricky to sell to customers..

Also seems that the rental car companies continue to hold their cars which creates a void in available cars to ship and inflates used car prices since used cars are not as plentiful, and when a dealer pays more for a car guess what he doesn’t want to pay more for..transportaiton..

All and all things are progressing in the right direction but we would like to see a little more consistency. Nature of the beast with a small startup I guess.

Until next time,

Scott

Bring on the New Year! Were ready to rock and roll! Everyone have a safe and happy NYE!

Here is our logo for our new project called SaferShip, exciting release coming up in 2011! Check back to www.safership.com 1st Q for more info..

We had our first annual Christmas party at the Lucas Park Grille downtown St Louis and what a great time we all had! We had a nice cozy room to ourselves, they brought us all kinds of great apps to eat including my favorite, the steak thingy’s on a stick..I think I ate 20 of those throughout the night!

I had a chance to go over some yearend metrics with the team that really showed how far we have come. Exciting stuff! I talked about building a foundation of the house first, then the frame, drywall and so on. One project at a time with the long term goal of a perfect house but always knowing that as things change so will your perfect house. With this said you may never finish your perfect house, but you always have to keep working towards that goal! I feel that we are somewhere around the drywall stage of building our house right now. Processes are in place, people are confidant working in systems, things are progressing well but we have a lot of work still to do.

We did a white elephant gift exchange with the big hit being the shake weight:) Actually there were two that popped up and Bill and Greg ended up with one each! Sharon won the TV giveaway and everyone really enjoyed the night! Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!

-Scott

This truck will be handling local assignments including Kansas City, Chicago, Indy, Memphis and Detroit. Driver Mike D will be driving this beauty, he has tons of experience in a 5 car and we are excited to have him join the team! If you see Mike around town, give him a wave!

It’s been an interesting ride the last 6 months to say the least; I have a much greater appreciation for all those entrepreneurs out there! The one thing about starting a business is that you really don’t mind working; at least this is what I have found. Stress has always been a part of my professional career but the stress of starting a business would be similar to having a baby, always stressed to the max, but a stress you love.

My partner and I had the opportunity to give out holiday bonuses after 6 months, which was a very gratifying moment for us. Our mission states “To remain focused on constructive community involvement, environmental friendly decision making practices, and the health and well being of our staff, our customers and our vendors” Staying true to our word, we are constantly working for the better of our internal staff along with all those that make our business successful. I feel the true mark of a successful business if one that provides a stable work environment for staff, provides opportunities for vendors, helping throughout the community when called upon, all while remaining profitable. After 6 months I can honestly say that I am damn proud of where our staff has taken us, the hard work of everyone here including my partner Bill, who comes to work every day ready to take on the world!
It’s been an exciting leap of faith that has proven well worth the risk, and after reading book after book about starting my own business I’m happy, stressed, excited, sleep deprived at times, constantly having weird dreams about competitors coming after me, but when I’m in the zone at the office talking with customers and associates I’m very excited to be part of an amazing team!

Everyone reading this please enjoy your holidays and if you ever want to chat about starting up a business from someone that is right in the thick of doing it, call me anytime at 314.571.6231.

Take care,
Scott Naz

AJ was a customer that called into the office and needed one car moved from VA to IA and two cars moved from IA to FL. His father passed away and he needed this move done without issue, as he had a lot of his travel arrangements and services arranged around these cars moving. Today I spoke to AJ and the last two cars made it out of IA right on time and are on their way to FL.

It was a pleasure working with AJ and we really appreciated the opportunity to make this move happen for him!

If you have a special move or situation where you need a little extra care brought to the table make sure to call directly into me, we will make it happen for you the same way we did for AJ!

Scott Naz
Managing Partner
MetroGistics
314.571.6231
www.metrogistics.com