🎣 A Day with Freight Legends: Kevin Nolan & Andrew Silver

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A Day with Industry Legends: Kevin Nolan and Andrew Silver

Today’s story covers our day with industry legends Kevin Nolan (Founder of Nolan Transportation Group) and Andrew Silver (Co-Founder of MoLo Solutions).

On August 16th, Kevin flew in from Atlanta to Chicago to spend the day with us. After arriving in Chicago, Andrew, a good friend of Kevin’s for years, picked him up from the airport. Together, they joined me; Reed Loustalot, CMO of Truck Parking Club; Bogdan Kruzinskiy, founder of the USA_Transportation meme page; and Krystian Gebis, my co-founder at FreightCaviar & ShipperCRM.

To give you some context on why we spent the day with Kevin and Andrew, we need to go back a couple of months. Every Friday, Reed, Krystian, and I host a live show on LinkedIn and other social media channels called Freight Gong Friday.

In May, Kevin Nolan was our guest. If you’re not familiar with Kevin, read this blog post we wrote last year, summarizing an interview that Andrew Silver conducted during the inaugural episode of his podcast, The Freight Pod, arguably the most popular freight podcast on the internet.

How Kevin Nolan Built A Freight Empire (Full Version)

Growing up, Kevin Nolan was the kid you’d find handing out extra lunches, always craving those pats on the back. His desire to be well-liked combined with a competitive nature is the perfect mix for building an empire.

FreightCaviarPaul-Bernard Jaroslawski

Ep. #1: Kevin Nolan

In our first episode, we interview Kevin Nolan, founder of Nolan Transportation Group, OTR Solutions, and a number of other successful companies in the logistic

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The Invitation: A Joking Suggestion Becomes Reality

During the show, Kevin, who now also owns Marquee Insurance Group, mentioned that he had been visiting Chicago more often to spend time with trucking companies based in the city, whose owners are of Eastern European and Central Asian descent.

Here is a quick article and clip about what Kevin had to say about Chicago-based trucking companies on Freight Gong Friday:

Kevin Nolan’s Thoughts on Chicago Trucking Companies

“15 years ago, the Chicagoland trucker was looked at as like sketchyville, right? Sketchyville USA.”

FreightCaviarPaul-Bernard Jaroslawski

He also told us about a recent visit where his customer, a trucking company, took him to the Sky Spa and Sauna in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. This caught us by surprise because Bogdan, Krystian, and I had been there in February of this year. Many people who go to Sky Spa & Sauna are either truck drivers or dispatchers. I even made a meme about the visit on FreightCaviar back in February using a photo from the Sky Spa & Sauna Google page:

When Kevin mentioned the spa, I jokingly invited him to fly into Chicago in August to spend the day with us. I didn’t actually expect Kevin to take me seriously, but, to my surprise, he was all in! The plan was to visit some trucking companies in Elk Grove Village and then head to Buffalo Grove for a sauna session with Eastern European truckers.

Planning Kevin's Visit

I reached out to Arrow Trans, a carrier I frequently worked with when I was a freight broker. Piotr Klich, the CEO and founder, informed me they had just opened a brand new warehouse in Villa Park, Illinois (previously they were located in Elk Grove Village, IL).

Fun Fact: Arrow Trans has a reality TV show in Poland on the Discovery Channel where one of their drivers travels across the U.S., showcasing beautiful natural landscapes and cities from a truck driver’s perspective. This is how I first discovered them back in 2017. For over three years, they ran a lot of freight for me and did a fantastic job.

The title of the show in Polish is Ciężarówką Przez Stany. In English, it's titled 18 Wheels Across America.

Here is a clip from the TV show, where Dawid Anders, the star of the show and an Arrow Trans truck driver, goes to see Piotr, the CEO.

A Day Planned: From Villa Park to the Sauna

So, we decided we’d go to Villa Park, Illinois. Kevin landed after 9 a.m. and had until 4 p.m. to hang out, as he had a 5 p.m. flight back to Atlanta—he had promised to take his daughter to a high school football game that was being aired on ESPN (Kevin is a big family man).

Since Sky Spa and Sauna doesn’t open until 2 p.m., we decided to visit another sauna I used to go to with the owners of Everest Transportation Systems, called Chicago Sweat Lodge, a great alternative, though less frequented by truckers and dispatchers.

Kevin texted his good friend Andrew Silver to let him know he’d be flying in for the day. Andrew said he’d pick him up from the airport and take him to Villa Park.

Insights and Discussions at Arrow Trans

At the new Arrow Trans headquarters, we spent a few hours discussing various industry topics. We recorded a lot of behind-the-scenes footage that we’ll be releasing soon. Afterward, we recorded a podcast where we talked to Kevin and Andrew about how they met, their relationship, and other interesting topics.

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Interviewing Kevin & Andrew

Before heading to the Chicago Sweatlodge, we recorded an episode of The FreightCaviar Podcast with Kevin and Andrew.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

1. 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.”

2. 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.”

3. 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.”

Read our entire blog post summarizing the interview, by clicking below:

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

In the latest episode of “The Freight Caviar Podcast”, we sit down with Kevin Nolan, Founder at Nolan Transportation Group, and Andrew Silver, Former CEO and Founder at MoLo Solutions. They share the story of how they met, talk about their plans, and the future of the industry.

FreightCaviarKaja Kusińska

Make sure to watch or listen to the interview to get the entire story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

We had an incredible time with Kevin & Andrew - both industry legends.

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FREIGHT MEME OF THE DAY