Current supply chain disruptions have made doing business closer to home an even more desirable option. Mexico is rapidly becoming a solution for US-based logistics companies struggling to find quality and affordable talent. Here are five reasons why nearshoring to Mexico is a smarter and more cost-effective choice for your company’s needs.
It’s Right on Time & Close By
We all know that time is money, and one of the benefits of moving business to Mexico is that they’ll operate in the same time zone as the US. Say you’re outsourcing to India, then you’ll have to deal with the fact that their schedule is completely flipped. Even with a team working out of Europe, their time zone is 6 to 9 hours ahead of the US. So it’s a massive bonus that the US and Mexico won’t have any significant clashes regarding the time zone.
On top of that, it’s incredibly accessible. The ease of hopping on a flight to Mexico is much faster and cheaper than heading to other offshore locations. If you want more oversight or opportunities for team-building, then nearshoring is the way to go.
We’re Bosom Buddies
Mexico and the US share more than just a border. The histories, peoples, and values are connected. I mean, they’ve got Walmarts, too! But seriously, the commonalities make doing business in Mexico much easier to adjust to compared to countries on other continents. This lowers the chances of making some major cultural blunderthat can put an arrangement at risk.
We Work the Same
The corporate culture between the two countries aligns closely. Adapting to the company culture won’t be hard for a nearshore office. They share values around relationship building, client satisfaction, and productivity. Admittedly, Mexico prefers to strike business deals over a relaxing and lengthy lunch meeting or in the evening with drinks. Whatever and whenever the deal is happening, both can agree it is better served alongside some delicious tacos.
Dip Into a Talented Pool
Mexico offers an educated and talented workforce at better rates than found in the US, especially in today’s highly competitive market. Nearly 24 million Mexicans are learning English and the US has the second-largest number of Spanish speakers. So there’s a good chance that hopping over language barriers will be a breeze.
Partnering with a staffing company like Rapido Solutions Group makes finding and retaining skilled and cost-effective talent easier. They deeply understand the logistics sector’s recruiting, hiring, and training practices and are driven to build even more effective solutions to help you scale up your business. Rapido Solutions will take care of finding the right people, which gives you more time to focus on other aspects of the company.
It’s a Beautiful Place to Be
The country has a diverse population and rich cultures to explore through food, architecture, music, and history. There are vast and varied landscapes to take in. Beaches, forests, and ruins are all there. Infrastructure projects, including a new airport and Maya train, are on the horizon to better connect the country and advance economic growth.
While every company has a different set of measurements on what makes the most sense for them, it’s clear that Mexico is very attractive because of its closeness, cost-effective labor, similarities in culture, and easier communication. Additionally, in partnership with Rapido Solutions Group, nearshoring presents the opportunity to enhance efficiency and ease scalability. So come for the business, and stay for beauty and peace of mind.
To learn more about Rapido, check out our podcast with the CEO & Co-Founder, Danny Frisco.
I am not sure how many parts this series on my outsourcing experience in Ukraine will have just yet. It may be 10, 30, or maybe even 50. But, it is a topic I enjoy. I fell in love with Ukraine, my time there, and my experiences. Therefore, I would like to share my experiences with those who follow me. I understand that this topic may not be interesting to some people, but to some of you, it will be. So right now, I would like to talk about the beginning days of my life in Ukraine. To do so, we must go back to November of 2017.
I had just moved to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, a 24-year-old, ambitious young man, ready to build a team and make some money. It was November – therefore, it was cloudy, rainy, and cold. Kyiv had a very depressing Soviet feeling. Many of the apartment buildings were from the Soviet era. They were falling apart. But I loved it. I just fucking loved it. Everything about it.
Before arriving in Kyiv, I had been to just over 40 countries. I traveled to many places in the world, from Amsterdam to the slums of Mumbai. Therefore, I had experienced rich countries and countries that were impoverished. However, Kyiv felt different. Kyiv didn’t feel like a third-world country. The restaurants I ate at and the cars I saw made it feel like a rich country, and it is a rich country – however, the oligarchs hoard the wealth.
The apartment I was renting out felt like a palace. The interior design was of the highest level. The block was relatively new but surrounded by apartment blocks that were LITERALLY falling apart. The worn-down parking lot had cars ranging from a Porsche to a Lada. I could see the Russian Embassy from my window. Everything felt unique, different, and a lot more real than back in Chicago.
Anyway, getting back to the outsourcing a freight brokerage story. At that time, I was a young kid with about $7,000 in my bank account. My apartment and Ubers were expensed; therefore, I set a goal to have $100K saved a year from that date (I got close). So it was time to start working hard.
Since Ukraine is 8 hours ahead of Chicago, I didn’t start work until 15:00 (07:00 CST), finishing around midnight (16:00 CST). I could sleep in every day. I would wake up around nine or ten in the morning, read a book, go to the gym, and shower before heading off to work. Then, when I got into work at 15:00, I was ready to start booking some freight. In the beginning, we had five people in the office: two carrier sales reps, one tracker, and one account manager.
If anyone reading this worked as a freight broker back in November of 2017, you probably remember how busy of a time it was, it was HOT. Our largest customer at the time (Anheuser-Busch) supplied us with enough freight and profit to continuously hire in Kyiv. The company I worked for paid freight brokers $700 per month plus a 2% commission. Trackers and Account Managers made $750 (if I am not mistaken) without commission (at the beginning).
Imagine hiring one or two people for every load you booked (those were the margins we were making at the time). Therefore, it was a no-brainer to outsource. Now it seems like everyone is doing it, but back in November of 2017, not many freight brokerages were outsourcing. So we kept on hiring. Our first office got filled up very quickly. By April of 2018, I think we had around 20 people. So we ended up getting a larger office.
Part 3: coming soon. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter on FreightCaviar.net. Thank you for liking, sharing, and supporting FreightCaviar.
Yesterday, while I was tucked away in a cabin in the Polish mountains near the border of Ukraine and Slovakia, I took out my laptop and just started writing. Writing was never really part of my routine. I did keep a journal to jot down ideas, events, and quotes from books that I enjoyed. However, I had never written a story on my past and shared it with a larger audience. I received a lot of positive feedback on what I wrote, so I figured it would be best to continue this topic.
Before I continue on the topic, I want to share with you two quotes that I read recently and enjoyed:
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.” – Alain de Botton
Part Three of My Adventure in Ukraine:
In Part Two, I left off how rapidly the freight brokerage was growing in Kyiv. From the time I arrived in November to April, we went from 5 to nearly 20 employees. So the first office we had was cramped. Luckily, we moved into an office space, about twice the size of the original one.
When we moved into the new office space, it was right around the beginning of April. I finally started to enjoy the weather in Kyiv – as the fall and winter months are cloudy, cold, and gloomy. Kyiv in the spring and summer months is absolutely beautiful. It is covered in trees. Charles de Gaulle, during his visit to Kyiv, said: “I saw many parks in cities, but I have never seen a city in a park.” Therefore, if any of you are considering visiting Kyiv or Ukraine, the best times are the end of April till the end of September.
At the freight brokerage, I conducted around one or two interviews per day. During this time, Carrier Sales, Account Manager, and Tracking were the positions we had outsourced. There was not a single Carrier Sales Rep or Tracker in the US; everyone was in Ukraine. So we were continuously hiring for all positions.
It was pretty amusing to me to be conducting these interviews at the age of 24. Before arriving in Ukraine, I had never interviewed anyone for a position. Then, all of a sudden, I am interviewing people sometimes that were twice my age. Since we had a lot of freight on the board, the interviews were quick and to the point.
Once, I had a young woman studying logistics at a university in Kyiv sit beside my desk and tell me she wanted to be a tracker. I replied, “You want to become a tracker?” she replied, “yes.” I saw immense excitement in her for the opportunity, and I immediately hired her.
Another time, I was on Tinder and saw a pretty girl who spoke English. So, I asked her if she wanted a job in logistics. She came by for the interview, and I think she was a bit shy about the fact that I had found her using Tinder. After the talk, we hadn’t heard from her for about a month, and then, suddenly, she messaged us, asking if the position was still available. Her previous employer hadn’t paid her in a couple of months (a prevalent problem in Ukraine). So we brought her on the team and gave her the name Nancy-Ann Jackson. Amazingly enough, she is still with the company and is an excellent Carrier Sales Rep.
If you have any specific questions about my days in Kyiv, Ukraine, you could write to me at freightcaviar@gmail.com. Make sure to subscribe to my email newsletter for the best FreightCaviar updates on FreightCaviar.net. Thanks for reading this and supporting FreightCaviar. Part Four is coming soon!
April 1, 2018: a photo of me in Kyiv, UA, overlooking the Dnieper River.Below is a photo taken at the beginning of May 2018, as you can see, Kyiv is covered in trees.
