Hanging Out with Kevin Nolan & Andrew Silver at Arrow Trans HQ in Villa Park, IL

In this week’s episode of The FreightCaviar Podcast, we sat down with Kevin Nolan, Founder at Nolan Transportation Group, and Andrew Silver, Former CEO and Founder at MoLo Solutions. They talk about their future plans, managing emotions, and their insights on the future of the industry.

The Beginning of a Friendship

The story of their friendship begins at a P44 kickoff party. Kevin recounts that day:

“They had Mark Wahlberg at the dinner. My table was me, Andrew Silver, Robbie Nathan from Load Delivered, and Andrew Leto. It was awesome. We had fun, and Andrew and I bonded. At first, we clashed, but then by the end of the dinner, we were like a gelled team.”

Leadership Lessons from Kevin

Andrew shared one of the ways Kevin inspired him to run his business and mentioned the one piece of advice he learned from him on being the ideal leader: 

“There's something about the way Kevin cares about his employees that you just see in the relationships he has with them. It was apparent that there were a lot of people that he worked closely with that really respected and appreciated him. I think he's got such a big heart. That's been part of how I try to run my business. I think the more leaders invest their time and energy and show they genuinely care, the more the business gets out of the people itself.”

The Importance of Managing Emotions

Andrew also emphasized the importance of managing emotions and viewing them as a tool.

 “I think we're both highly emotional people. I think it's a valuable tool because it allows us to get people fired up and excited about the business. But there's a downside to that when it's not managed super well.”

For Kevin, he calls it his biggest challenge.

“I mean, the emotional aspect of it, especially when you care so much about a business, you are emotionally attached to it. So when it has a bad day, and it wears off, it's great sometimes to have different personalities on your management team.”

MoLo’s Road to Success

Andrew also recounted MoLo’s rocky start:

“Nobody believed in us. Everyone thought we were idiots. The first few years were really hard to get good talent. We were fortunate to get the people we did, but we also made some hiring decisions that weren't great because the talent pool was way smaller. People didn't believe in us in 2017, so it was harder to get really good people. If we were to start over, whether it's now or in two years, they would believe.”

The Future of the Industry

Kevin also discussed how the last few years have shaped the current market and what the future could bring.

“You had all these digital brokers come in that just wanted top-line revenue, so they bid like crazy. So we're still in this flush-out of crappy rates. People had to get revenue so they could raise more money and get more load counts so they could raise more money and keep the lights on. So you have all these historical rates that are going to peel off over the next few years, but it's still going to take a little more time.”

Predictions on the Market

Andrew shed some light on the newest FreightWaves predictions and his thoughts on them.

“FreightWaves has predicted the recovery is underway. It doesn't make sense to me.  And I could be wrong, but I'm hopeful. I hope the market turns ASAP and rates go up so drivers can get paid the way they should, so brokers can stop having to lay off people, so companies stop going out of business. I heard there are green shoots that the public guys are seeing, and hopefully that's true, but it still feels too early to say that that recovery is well underway.”

Listen to the entire interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or watch it on our YouTube channel.