Driver Recruiting Happy Hour Podcast

Darin:
Cheers everybody. And welcome to the Driver Recruiting Happy Hour podcast. My name is Darin Williams. I'm the President at CDLjobs.com with me as always is the president of Ten4 Recruiting and a man who is just recently cut from the 53 man roster of the Tennessee Titans, Matt Beach. Beach, couldn't make it as a kicker? Soccer background?

Beach:
So true story. I actually kicked I was a kicker for hostel, played soccer and they were like, can you come and kick soccer football. I'm like, I can try it. Kicked it. The furthest I could kick was 52 yards field goal,

Darin:
A a 52 yard field goal?

Beach:
52 yard field goal

Darin:
With any accuracy?

Beach:
I just kicked. No, I mean, I just went no, no, not accuracy.

Darin:
That's the tricky part. If you could have done that accurately

Beach:
Oh I did I did. I did went and punter. It was a field goal kicker, extra point. I was that guy. And what

Darin:
Was your percentage for the year?

Beach:
Well, hold on, hold on. Went to practice, did practice then went to a soccer match. When I went up for a ball, the head, the other team guy grabbed me around the waist

Beach:
Then he brought me down and my leg was behind my neck and that was it for football and soccer for my sophomore year. And I never went back, but you know, the dream, the dream I could have been, you know, you never know. I mean, I'm going

Darin:
Your NFL career was sidetracked by soccer.

Beach:
No. Yeah. Well you could have,

Darin:
It could have been there. 52 is no joke. 52 yard field goals. That's and,

Beach:
And there's a technique. That's the thing. There is an actual technique. It's when you, I mean, every, when you watch, like right now, when I watch people kick field goal, right. They take the step back three steps over line up, you know, do all, I mean, it's a technique. I mean, it really is. And so yeah, we got to learn all that.

Darin:
Did you have that or were you just a straight toe kicker when you came?

Beach:
No, no. I don't toe ball. I mean, toe ball, there's zero accuracy in toe ball. Zero. The only guy, he was the guy that had the foot, the shoe that was like, I mean, he held the record forever. What was his name?

Darin:
Dempsey, I think was his last name.

Beach:
That was the only guy that I knew that was a successful, what he had as a toe kicker. I mean, even right now in soccer, if you kick a toe ball, you're gonna break your toe, but you have zero accuracy whatsoever.

Darin:
Break your toe?

Beach:
You ever kicked a football or a soccer ball with your toe, you ever toe balled it and just said, oh, that felt great.

Darin:
Not in a long time, but I, they didn't really have soccer when I was a kid.

Beach:
No, but they don't, they don't even have it. They still don't have it, or do y'all? ,

Darin:
Well, it's bigger around here. There's a team from Cedar Rapids that just won nationals.

Beach:
Hmm. Not bad.

Darin:
So in 16 U or 18 U or

Beach:
No. Do you do auctions? You ever been part of an auction, like an online auction or a live auction? Cattle auction?

Darin:
Yeah,

Beach:
My wife, they did a, they had an auction this past weekend, so she's in antiques. And so I got to run that part of it. So I do a little auction.

Darin:
You were the auctioneer?

Beach:
I wouldn't say I was the auctioneer, but I can chant a little bit, you know, chant material all now. Hey, what are you gonna gimme for now? One it's more, that's more carnival. That's more carnival.

Darin:
Yeah. You sound like you're gonna guess somebody's weight

Beach:
Pitching in. When am I on a prize? Every time. Hey, there it goes. Another one. All right now folks.

Darin:
Yeah. That's, Holy cow. We gotta get out of this.

Beach:
<Laugh>

Darin:
We've got Rachel Lovell with us today. A fellow Tennessean.

Beach:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Darin:
Who is the Vice President of People Operations at Ascend. Hello, Rachel.

Rachel Lovell:
Hello guys. How are ya?

Beach:
Gravy? We're doing

Darin:
Well. You see what I deal with here? So <laugh>

Rachel Lovell:
Yes.

Darin:
Draw your own conclusions

Rachel Lovell:
Kicks and football. I am very impressed with the 52 yard kick because

Darin:
Right? That's something.

Rachel Lovell:
I couldn't make it 20. It is something so congratulations on that.

Beach:
Not even close to the field goal, but it went that far. They were like, nice. You kinda like it's gotta be accurate. My that was every bit.

Darin:
Maybe you're more for kickoffs.

Beach:
That's it.

Rachel Lovell:
There you go.

Darin:
You got the whole field to work with there.

Beach:
Every bit of it. All of, I love it.

Darin:
So, Rachel, where are you in relationship to Beach in the state of Tennessee? Are you far enough away that he can't come frequently visit?

Rachel Lovell:
I'm on the total opposite side of the state. So he's in east and I'm in west. So I'm in west Tennessee. Our offices are in Jackson, Tennessee. Probably midway between Memphis and Nashville. So born in a small town, close to here called McLemoresville. And just been here all my life.

Beach:
So you go from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
And there's nothing. It's farmland, farmland, farmland. Then you hit Murfreesboro and you're like, oh, this is all. Alright, finally,

Darin:
You just described Iowa.

Beach:
Yeah. Then you hit Nashville and you're just so over the top with, wow, this is just nuts. So where, I mean, I'm, I'm ready. I need a break to, then you get on 40 heading towards Memphis and there was nothing, nothing from, until you hit Jackson and then you see the new baseball stadium. That's well, that's not new. It's been around for a little while.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah.

Beach:
Yeah. And then they have a, they have one sushi restaurant in Jackson.

Rachel Lovell:
Yep. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> Now two, so If you ever come, yep. If you ever come, go to Asia garden or Asahi either one. They've got good, they've got good sushi. Good. Asia Garden's got good egg rolls too. So you need to go there.

Beach:
This, hold on. This deer right here

Darin:
There's two of them.

New Speaker:
Uh I'm pointing, right? Mm-Hmm <affirmative> that? That's a Jackson Tennessee.

Rachel Lovell:
Good.

Beach:
There you go.

Rachel Lovell:
There you go.

Beach:
There you go.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah. You blink when you go through Jackson and you don't see anything until you get to Memphis

Beach:
And you think, but you think you're close to Memphis? Like, okay. Jack we're. I mean, it is still a haul to Memphis.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative> It's still an hour, hour and a half?

Darin:
Is Tennessee the longest east to west now? Probably Texas.

Beach:
Yeah. Texas is.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah, Texas.

Darin:
Man. Tennessee's gotta be second.

Beach:
It's close.

Darin:
Its a long state.

Beach:
It is very.

Rachel Lovell:
Yep. Absolutely.

Darin:
Rachel, tell us about Ascend. It's relatively new, new name.

Rachel Lovell:
It is. It is. So we, we're a growing brand but we're not new to the industry. So so to tell you a little bit about me and how I got started in the transportation industry, which tell you a little bit about Ascend. I started at our company called Milan Express at the time I started in 2006 in the operations division, and then in 2015, moved to the recruiting division. And in that time,we went through an ownership change and changed our name from Milan Express to Milan Supply Chain Solutions, really to give the whole package to,to all. So we're a distribution, we've got logistics, we've got,shuttle, we've got all, everything, and anything you need one stop shop. We're the total solution. So,in 2020, about 2021, we started throwing out, you know, Hey, you know, we wanna change our brand to Ascend.

Rachel Lovell:
We had an acquisition. We had acquired JMD Services at the time and we want to become one we're one team. We continue to say we're one team, but we keep operating in our own name. So we're one team, one vision, and we formed Ascend. So in January of 2022, we rolled it out and have not looked back. And it's, it's been great. It's been awesome to be part of something that we're building even more so we're leveraging technology. We're people-first culture, we're people obsessed, driver obsessed customer obsessed, shipper obsessed, all the obsessions. And we really felt like, you know, this brand is what that means. Not saying that our other brands and our other company had not meant that, but this was the time for us to build something together.

Darin:
Fantastic. And, and, and very successfully. I mean, you're, the growth that's just been shared is, is, is, is pretty phenomenal in a tough market.

Rachel Lovell:
It is, it is. So I attribute that to just our complete team being completely hands on, hands on deck, all in the great part about it is our CEO. He goes in when he's here in the Jackson area and he goes in and meets the drivers in orientation, goes on the whiteboard and writes his phone number down and says, call me if you have a problem. Most companies would probably cringe if their CEO or any of their C suites were going in and giving phone numbers out. But it's, it's open door policy. He's, he's just, he's in there. He gets in the trenches. We were shorthanded during the COVID timeframe and he was in there answering the phones and, and what do you need me to do to help? So it's, it's a great brand we're growing. We continue to, to look at it.

Rachel Lovell:
How are we gonna grow even more? But how are we gonna do it, right? And how are we gonna do it right by our people? How are we gonna be? Cause you don't wanna grow and become one of the mega carriers that doesn't care about their people, their drivers, everybody cares about their people and their drivers, but you gotta make sure your people actually acknowledge that and know that and trust the process and believe in your culture and believe in, in your values. And, and that's something we're trying to continue to do.

Beach:
Rachel, do you, I probably warned you that Darin would drop off and he has dropped off. And now you're the host. This happens every podcast and we're not gonna stop. Absolutely love it. So when my daughter is 16, doesn't doesn't wanna drive, hates driving. I am begging her to get her license. When did you get your license?

Rachel Lovell:
<Laugh> so I will be in her corner on this. I did not get my driver's license until I had secured this job in 2006 and I was turning, or I had just turned 20, 20 years old. I was a professional passenger. Did not, I played a lot of sports. So I attribute a lot of this. I had zero interest. My parents really didn't push it because I did play two sports. I was a dual sport, so travel softball, and then basketball constantly. So it was very rare that I had free time period. But I really didn't care about being the, the driver. I didn't want the responsibility. I just wanted to control the radio and I'm the professional passenger. So I remember coming to my interview with Roy Mavery, who was the gentleman I interviewed with and he called me that afternoon and he said, I wanna make a job offer to you.

Rachel Lovell:
We want you to start Monday and, and you need to come in and sign your paperwork and bring your driver's license and your social security card. <Laugh> great. I said, the only thing is I don't have a driver's license. I just have my social and an ID. I don't have my physical license. And he said, you've gotta have a license. And I said, well, I didn't apply for a driving job. I'm gonna be in the office. And he said, yeah, but you gotta have your driver's license. So I went that afternoon went to the, the DMV, took my sister's minivan with me and got my driver's license and came back that afternoon, signed all my paperwork and started that Monday.

Beach:
Nice. So what was your first position?

Rachel Lovell:
It was in operations as a fleet manager. So I was in the local division LRS and was dispatch and then started really picking up on dispatch, customer service and planning. And at that point, our division was smaller than it is now. It was 90 trucks or less, and everybody was kind of the hybrid role. That's how we morphed into that and absolutely loved it worked in there till I guess, 2011, 2012 timeframe, and then moved over to customer service for our over the road division.

Beach:
Nice. When, when did you start recruiting? When did you say, Hey, I'm fixing make this change over to recruit.

Rachel Lovell:
It was in March of 2015.

Beach:
Okay.

Rachel Lovell:
I had gotten burnout completely in customer service. That's, that's one of those roles that you either love it, or you're not gonna be successful at it. And I loved it, but I had been doing it for so long and I was still trying to find myself and find my place up until 2015. It was just a job. It was just paycheck. Of course I loved it. And I had a passion about it, but not a passion that just burned and, and was with me all the time. And I was thinking about it all the time. It was just, I'm here. I'm doing it. I'm giving it my all, but I'm going home and I'm disconnecting. And in March of 2015 I had just decided, you know, there's gotta be something else. There's gotta be the next step.

Rachel Lovell:
I've done this. I'm good at it. I know what I'm doing. I had probably half of the top 25 accounts personally, just on me. And I thought there's gotta be something more. So I walked into my boss's office and I said, is there anything at Jackson? I would just, I'd love to try something new. Even if it's in maintenance, I'll do whatever. And he said, well, actually we have a driver recruiting position open. And I said, I can't recruit. And Billy said, yes, you can. He said, you can do this. This is something you would actually be good at. It took six conversations. And, and really some, some getting over some self doubt because I just knew that I wouldn't be successful. I, I thought, you know, I don't, I don't even know what I'm doing. I have no clue. And so in April of 2015, I moved over to the recruiting department and have never looked back. It's it's been the best career move I could've made.

Beach:
I started recruiting in October of 2014. Had no idea. And the interview was, can you build relationships in life? Yeah, I I'm pretty good at that. Can you travel a lot? I can definitely travel. Cause at the time I was traveling 32 weeks out the year and.

Rachel Lovell:
<Affirmative>.

Beach:
It was time to get off the road. And even then they're like, can you do 15? I said, I can do 20. And they're like, okay, sure. I mean, that was like a mini vacation for me. Right? Being home a little bit more.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah.

Beach:
But still, and even then it kind, it still, you know, having kids and family, you know, it's like, okay, we gotta pull back. You can, but still absolutely loved it. I mean, my whole focus was trying to grow the, the student program for the carrier.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
So and it was great. I mean the relationships, that's what I love. You know, someone always ask, why do you, let me ask you this? Why do you, why do you love recruit? And I'll tell, I'll hear your response and I'll tell you my response.

Rachel Lovell:
So my reason for loving it is I am, I found that I am super passionate about the organization. I was hired, right outta high school. I have found my family. Basically. I've grown up with the people here and I love to be able to help someone start something new because I know our organization has everyone's best interest at mind and at heart. I know that this place is a great place to work for. I've been here 16 years now and getting someone in the industry with a new, fresh start, we're gonna take care of 'em it. It's getting that. I'm starting something new. It's scary also because you wanna make sure that it's the right move for that individual and they're home because it's not just them moving. Typically they have a family or they have, you know, they're, they are changing their life to come here and you've gotta be passionate about that change.

Rachel Lovell:
You've gotta be, everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna work. I remember one time I had a driver call and I was on the phone with them and they just broke down because they were in the middle of, of personal issues and a relationship change. And didn't know if this was the right move. And, and after talking, you're almost like a therapist in a way too. <Laugh> so recruiting is not just recruiting. And in sales, you are sometimes a therapist, the travel expert and all kinds of different things. But talking with that individual to say, Hey, I understand, you're worried. I understand that this is a big change. That's why I wanna make sure this fit is right for you. I think that's the biggest thing. And then getting to meet, 'em getting to see 'em in orientation. When, when we were actually on site recruiting in the orientation office, we got to meet them. So at driver appreciation the next year, I was just like, Hey, and, and, and we have a solid retention rate. So you see those people and continue to form that bond with them. But I think a lot of it has to do with just that.

Beach:
Yeah. I love A, the relationship side of it. Right. But there's nothing like finding somebody a job. There's nothing like, and not, and I like it even more on the student side, because some of these, a lot of the drivers, this is like their second or third chance, right? Of I've got to do something and the ones that's not like, Hey, I'm, I'm, I'm just, you I'm done doing this. I've traveled here. I might've done construction, whatever it might be. I just can't get my class A. I don't get on find out what it's like to make a lot of this money. And so to see their excitement and I used to see it now, I don't see it as much anymore, but when they would get their, when they get, you know, activated, hired on and they hand them their, their ID, their paperwork and all that, you just see it like, this is it. This is, this is my.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
Big boy job, you know? And the sense of I'm fixing them, I'm fixing to actually start from something special. And there was nothing better to see that in their face. Absolutely loved it. So Darin, you back from your bathroom break? Good to have you back.

Darin:
You know, I jinxed myself because

Beach:
Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did.

Darin:
I researched this. And when I say I researched this, people researched this and told me that there was a compatibility issue in Google Chrome and zoom. And so I went and I used a different browser, and I thought that would work.

Beach:
You ever seen a, a beta? You know what I say? Wanna a beta, a fish? Is that what it is? A beta

Darin:
I don't. Yeah.

Beach:
Is that what its called, Rachel, a beta? Does he not look like he's in a beta fish tank right now?

Darin:
Yeah. That's he

Rachel Lovell:
He does. He looks like he's in the weeds.

Beach:
I feel like we ought to be going <fish sounds>

Darin:
Now I'm on my phone now I'm operating off my phone. I'm telling you, man.

Beach:
Well, hurry up. What's a question. I mean, come on, man. You've been gone. You've been on your break forever.

Darin:
You guys are having

Beach:
Rachel is just owning the show the entire time.

Darin:
I didn't want interrupt because you guys were having a heart to heart about changing lives. And I agree a hundred percent. That was one of the very satisfying things about driver recruiting it that I missed, but I didn't wanna break that up.

Beach:
No, that's alright. Rachel, here's a question. Bourbon, bourbon or tequila.

Rachel Lovell:
Ooh, That's a hard one. So I'll put it this way. Tequila in the spring, summer timeframe. Bourbon in the fall winter.

Beach:
I like it.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
I go with that. I get it.

Darin:
Tequila or vodka in the summer? You can have both I guess.

Beach:
So like have, have you tried the High Noons, have you tried these?

Rachel Lovell:
Lime is my favorite. And the pineapple.

Beach:
Grapefruit. Now we have two Darin's on the screen.

Rachel Lovell:
We are blessed. This is called a blessing.

Darin:
Honest to God.

Beach:
He's out of the fishbowl. He's jumped out of his tank.

Rachel Lovell:
He's like Nemo.

Darin:
Now I can't figure out how to leave the other me. Just another day in the life Rachel.

Beach:
It's alright. <laugh>Tell us about your, your, your,recent,vacation you guys went on. It looked cool.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah. So we went to Eminence, Missouri. It is the cross country trail ride in the Ozark Mountains, probably about four hours from west Tennessee area. And it is just a great time. It's a camping. People go and ride their horses. We do not have horses, we don't ride horses, but you can take your side by side. So we've got a Polaris Ranger and we take it. You can go on different trail rides and whatnot, zero service. So it's like almost taking a step back in time. The kids have to actually look at us and have conversations and interact <laugh> but it's just a great time, you know, people are there and, and it's just a huge campground. They've got a the Jacks Fork River that comes through and you sit out the water and you can go float every day.

Rachel Lovell:
If you want to, you can go fishing. The kids have a blast. There's a dance every night and they learned how to, to line dance and they thought that was the best thing ever. And it just, it disconnects you from all the social media, all of the, the internet and all the, the things that they get so obsessed with. And they actually are able to take a step back and have conversations and sit around a campfire and tell stories or listen to, to the stories from the, the people or the other generations that have been there. My father-in-law has been going for about 27 years now. My husband's been going for 15 to 18. So the kids have, have had a blast starting that all back up. So it, it was great. Highly recommend going

Beach:
In 92 and 93, I used to go line dancing

Rachel Lovell:
Really?

Beach:
Yes.

Darin:
In jorts. Jorts and cowboy boots.

Rachel Lovell:
<Laugh>.

Beach:
And I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell on myself. So there was, my mother was always into like jazzercize. Remember that, jazzercize and all these little,

Darin:
Your brother or mother?

Beach:
Mother.

Darin:
Mother?

Darin:
Yeah. Jazzercize, other little, you know, I remember when Weight Watchers first started and she had all, but she loved a little exercisement and there was this one place that did line dancing.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>

Beach:
I went with her multiple times. She was like, you gotta go with me. I can't go here and not have someone to dance with. So there's like this weird old dude that I don't want your dad to know. That's trying to dance with me. Can you please? And I went multiple times with her to the point to where, when it came to Boot, Scootin' boogie, I was tearing it up. I mean, could tear.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm.

New Speaker:
The electric slide. I had that.

Rachel Lovell:
Yes. That's my favorite is the electric slide.

Beach:
Oh yeah. Oh, is it?

Darin:
When is the next time we're gonna be together in a bar where I can request a song? I have to see this.

Beach:
You have to it's it's a it's it's magic and so we, there were, so I learned, oh gosh, what was there were so many boots. There were so many dance songs that came out for the grapevine or no there was another one. What was it? And there were hard. Oh, difficult. This, I mean,

Rachel Lovell:
Cotton Eye Joe is pretty hard.

Beach:
Yes. It's

Rachel Lovell:
Cotton Eye Joe is pretty hard.

Beach:
Yeah. You talking it's like the whole

Darin:
Are you talking difficult to learn or difficult? Like cardio wise?

Beach:
Both. Both.

Rachel Lovell:
Both. Mm-hmm <affirmative>

Beach:
I mean, you you're sore.

Rachel Lovell:
Definitely.

Beach:
And then I would come back and be like.

Rachel Lovell:
My favorite one

Beach:
No, go ahead

Rachel Lovell:
No, my favorite one is the electric slide followed by Copperhead Road.

Beach:
Ooh, I gotta see that.

Darin:
So Rachel, were you an experienced line dancer before this vacation?

Rachel Lovell:
I've always known how to do the electric slide. I learned that probably back in middle school. When, when all the different songs were coming out.

Darin:
Um, I assume that's part of the curriculum in Tennessee.

Beach:
<Laugh>.

Rachel Lovell:
Yes. Mm-hmm <affirmative> Yep. After it's after school curriculum, but yes, mm-hmm, <affirmative> true enough

Beach:
<Laugh>

Rachel Lovell:
But Copperhead Road, I learned it this year. Last year. I wanted to learn it. I didn't get it down pat. Didn't go to the dances every night, cuz again, they have a dance every single night from Saturday night to the next Saturday night. So we, we do things at night. Like we have a, a movie night, we have a cook a night that we cook breakfast. That's midnight to 1:00 AM. They have a up and coming Nashville star that'll come in. So Dylan Carmichael came this year. So we have activities, but the one thing I said was I'm going to learn how to do Copperhead Road. And we learned it this year and it's hard until you get it. And then when you get it, it's easy. It's just, it's a lot of movement, but not as much as Cotton Eye Joe.

Darin:
And where was this place again? I, I didn't catch the name.

Rachel Lovell:
Eminence Missouri. So it's in south Missouri, like around the Ozarks.

Darin:
Never even heard of it.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>

Beach:
Y'all have a, that same trip. Is it? Same trip you guys are doing for fall, fall break or do y'all have a fall break trip planned?

Rachel Lovell:
Nope. Going to fall break. We'll go to the Beach. It's always on my birthday. So I like to, to tie that in that this is the birthday trip. We'll go to Orange Beach this year.

Beach:
Oh, Orange Beach,

Darin:
Orange Beach. Nice.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
Now is that in Ozarks? Is that like a little area?

Rachel Lovell:
No,

Darin:
<Laugh> Alabama. Isn't it?

Rachel Lovell:
<Laugh> It is it's in Alabama. We usually go to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, one or the other last year we ventured out and did St. George Island. It was good. It's a long drive though. It's almost a 12 hour drive from where we live. It's much rather just go there to Orange Beach.

Beach:
We rented a, I had never, you can do this, but we did an Airbnb, but it was a not an RV, a trailer camper.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Beach:
And the, the guy showed up, dropped it off at the campground, had it all plugged in, you know, water, toilet, all that. And I'll say thank you. And there,

Rachel Lovell:
And air.

Beach:
Yeah. Had air had it all. I mean, then that was done. We, we left and he showed up, said that everything's good. I'll take it from here.

Darin:
Wow.

Rachel Lovell:
That's what we do. When we go camping. We rent a camper because we, we only go camping once a year, maybe twice a year. And my husband's dad, my father-in-law has a camper that he camps in. But we don't. So we just rent one every year and there's a gentleman that's got 15 or 20 campers. He comes, he sets them up. He turns the water on, the air, he gets all the awnings and stuff pulled out and gets your stuff ready. And you bring your sheets and your inside contents and your mat and whatever else you need. You're good to go.

Darin:
What a great idea. I didn't know that existed.

Beach:
Oh, it's phenomenal. You gotta do it. See, this is the, this is the, this is episode for people that are in the industry, especially the recruiting side to go, how do you, how do you, how do you find time to turn it off?

Darin:
Rewind? Yeah, relax a little bit. That's a great idea. Without a, without an investment and without all the headache that goes along with camping

Beach:
Worth, every penny worth every penny

Rachel Lovell:
And it's cheaper. Yeah. Most of the time it's cheaper than, than renting a condo hotel room. And, and you get that outdoor experience. And, and to, to Matt's point, recruiting is such a hard, it's not really hard, but you're fully invested. It's a, it's a nonstop department, nonstop career. You've gotta force yourself to take that time. And the only way you're gonna take that time is to go somewhere that is secluded, that that has limited or no service to say, okay, I'm putting a line in the sand on September 30th, I'm leaving and I'm going on vacation. And then it also is trusting your team, trusting your, your peers, trusting your mentors and, and anyone that has to do with the business that they're gonna continue on. And keep the business. And I think that that's one of the biggest things that prevents burnout. It prevents employees lack of engagement. It actually keeps them engaged cuz they're re-energized and recharged, ready to, to kick butt when they get back.

Beach:
Yep.

Darin:
Yeah. Recruiting is the only department that you never ever reach the goal. There's always a goal.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Darin:
But you never, I mean you do, but then it starts over again Monday or next month or, I mean, there's, you're never done, ever. I mean, it's, it's exhausting. I, I, it, it is. It's a tough, tough job.

Beach:
Yeah. And you said it best, right? When you go you're you're a therapist, you're a travel agent. I mean,

Rachel Lovell:
Yes.

Beach:
Right? You're a travel you're you? You're a mediator. <Laugh>

Darin:
A mediator, a negotiator

Beach:
Negotiator, not only with your recruiters, but drivers, operations, safety. You're the we're, we're the we're lot. We're the middle person going? What do you want? How do I, how do I make, how do I, do I get you in this car

Rachel Lovell:
And party planners and not saying that

Darin:
Party planner?

Rachel Lovell:
But events.

Beach:
That's the part I'm good at that.

Rachel Lovell:
When you're doing, when you're doing all those different things, driver appreciation's coming up, you know, how are we gonna connect with drivers? And, and it's not because that's my, you know, I'm split down the middle, I'm recruiting and HR. So I wanna make sure we're taking care of our employees. But then I'm thinking with my recruiting side of my brain, how do we attract more drivers? You know, one year driver appreciation, we opened the gates and we allowed anybody. You don't have to be a driver for our company to enjoy driver appreciation, come have a hamburger on us, come have the, the barbecue or whatever we had that day. Cuz we have a an event every single day through that week. How do we, how do we connect with 'em? And it's not, we don't, we weren't bum rushing 'em and saying, well, I'll give you this plate. If you sign this you know, this application, just thanking them because that's all that that's, that's what they need. They need to be thanked. It's not that they need to be bum rushed. And you know, you gotta sign this application to be able to get this one thing. Just thank you.

Beach:
I, I gotta, I gotta share a it's they're not a sponsor, Darin, but I am gonna give 'em a shout out. I met this, I met this group at a, the previous trucking event I went to and they sell popcorn. That's what they do. You would think at a trucking event. Why in world would a, they made popcorn. I mean that's what, and this, this younger girl, her name was Sidney, I believe she she started the business thing was when she was 14 of just selling different flavors of popcorn. And now her whole family does it. And it's called Almost Famous. I know it's backwards. Almost Famous popcorn. You have to check them out. They have a flavor called Crunch Berry. So like Crunch Berry.

Darin:
You know why?

Beach:
The cereal?

Darin:
Because it's from Cedar Rapids.

Beach:
That's right. Yes they are. Yes.

Darin:
They're in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They're 10 miles from here and I'm telling you what. They have something called the Chicago mix. It's like cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn, which sounds awful. And it is the best thing you'll ever eat.

Beach:
And so they were doing like, what's a, they were kind of say here's a, here's a driver appreciation. Or even your recruiter appreciation some ideas and use our popcorn. Love it. Absolutely love it.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah. So Almost Famous?

Beach:
Almost Famous popcorn. You gotta check out. I mean, even I was, I was looking, I was like, I dunno what flavors to get. I got a Dilly Dilly, which is a pickled flavored popcorn.

Darin:
That sounds awful.

Beach:
It probably I'm gonna I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna like it. The Wisconsin Cheddar I had, Lemon Cookie was delicious. I did have that one. They got one, that's like a really fire hot one. I forgot the name of it. They got some fun names, but yeah,

Darin:
They've got a big storefront in Cedar Rapids that has just it's fantastic.

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
Yeah. I mean, it's in all the stores here. It's everywhere here.

Beach:
Yeah. But anyway, I, I thought I wanted to bring 'em up cuz it was funny to see 'em at a trucking event and then going, why are you here? Well, here's some ideas that we have and here's where I'm like, that's brilliant.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>

Darin:
So would they sell 'em in little bag or would they do the, I mean you can get 'em in small

Beach:
Yeah small bag and then you can get 'em in the nice, like a box that's sent to you

Darin:
A tin. Yeah. They have the tins that you can get them.

Beach:
Oh yeah. I order I've already ordered two boxes.

Darin:
Yeah. That's that's wonderful.

Rachel Lovell:
You'll have to know how they are.

Beach:
Oh, the Crunch Berry

Darin:
We'll send you some

Beach:
Yeah. The crunch berry was amazing.

Darin:
Rachel, I will send you some. I'll send you Crunch Berry popcorn.

Rachel Lovell:
Awesome. Thank you. I love popcorn. I've got a Skinny Pop right here on my desk.

Beach:
<Laugh> pop Skinny Pop. My wife is in the Skinny Pop. She loves

Darin:
I'm not sure there's anything Skinny Pop about Crunch Berry popcorn.

Beach:
No. There's not there's yeah. There's absolutely no skinny.

Rachel Lovell:
That's why I want it, it's why I prefer it. Cuz this Skinny Pop is the Cheddar's good. The white cheddar. The, all of them are good, but not the movie popcorn. The movie butter, you know, thick, extra. It's not the same something. Right?

Beach:
Insane. I watched Top Gun Maverick for like the fifth time this weekend by the way,

Darin:
The new one?

Rachel Lovell:
Yes.

Beach:
Oh yeah.

Darin:
Still haven't seen it.

Beach:
You're missing out.

Rachel Lovell:
Mm you're missing it. You're missing out big time. One of my top, it's probably my top. One of my top 5 for 2022. I'm reserving all this because 2022 is not over, but it's it's top three for sure.

Beach:
Yeah. Mighty fine movie, mighty fine.

Darin:
How many movies do you guys watch? I, I don't think I've watched five movies in 2022 yet.

Beach:
I really see now I don't, I don't have cable, but I have all the little apps. Right? I got, you know,

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm, <affirmative>.

Beach:
Going by how much I spend on each app. I might as well just get cable, but

Rachel Lovell:
Yep.

Darin:
So, so wait a minute Beach.

Beach:
I can watch video. I can watch YouTube shorts via this different little things of, you know, little different shows here and there. But

Darin:
So what you're admitting on worldwide web here?

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
To our, to our tens of listeners.

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
Is that you pirated the Top Gun movie? You're not, you're not going and buying it at the theater. You pirated it?

Beach:
No, it's

Darin:
You went to the theater?

Beach:
It's out. I watched it at the theater and now it's on Prime video.

Darin:
It hit already?

Beach:
Yep. Oh yeah. Within 30 days they're out of the video. They're out and they're on mainstream.

Darin:
I didn't know that. Holy cow.

Beach:
Yeah. We're sitting there watching.

Rachel Lovell:
So now you have no excuse. You gotta go.

Darin:
Yeah. I guess I think we even have Prime video. I'll have to, so somebody will have to set it up for me, but we'll have to watch that.

Beach:
Well, it's funny because my wife actually said, did you just steal this movie? And it wasn't Maverick. It was Gru. And the new Gru movie, the minions movie and we're watching. She's like, I go, I'm gonna watch this new movie. She's like, it's not out. I'm like, okay, sure. So I play it and my son's sitting there and they're thinking it's like a YouTube short, like a, you know, we're watching it 45 minutes still going. And she's like, did you steal this? <Laugh> the first thing I'm like, I'm not smart enough for that. I'm not smart enough. But no, actually I did not steal it. No, we have friends. We had friends in, they were missionaries in China and they came back with all these pirates and they're like, I'm watching the, I'm want go to the theaters where she goes, oh we got that movie. You wanna watch? I'm like, no, you don't. She's like, yeah, watch this at TV. And all of a sudden you'd be watching. So you see some guy get up to go to the restroom, you know?

Darin:
Yeah. Somebody's filming it on their phone. Oh man.

Beach:
What kind of mission work were you doing in China? <Laugh>.

Darin:
So Rachel, if Maverick's not the number one, what's the number one movie of 2022 that I need to go see?

Rachel Lovell:
I don't, I, I, I like Maverick. It's gonna be super hard. We went and saw, so here in Jackson and I'm sure they have it at theaters everywhere else across the United States. Every Tuesday is the deal day. So it's $5 tickets and it's a cheap thing thing for us to do as a family every Tuesday night. So we'd get off work. Be at the 6:30, 7 o'clock movie we saw the new Jurassic World. We saw the new Marvel Thor movie. I think it's Marvel. Yeah. Thor. Where the Crawdad Sings. That one was good, but out of all of them so far that I've seen Maverick was top it's top. I'm just reserving my top until the end of the year to see if anything comes out that trumps it.

Darin:
See if anything better's out there. See, I can't, I don't, think I'd like any of those.

Rachel Lovell:
But it's gonna hard.

Darin:
I'm not a real big movie guy. Just not, and I don't wanna watch where the crowd is.

Rachel Lovell:
You like Maverick.

Darin:
I don't like crying at movies. That seems like a, oh,

Rachel Lovell:
It's not crying. It's a, it's really good.

Beach:
It's actually, it's really good.

New Speaker:
It's not a cry movie.

Darin:
It's not?

Beach:
No.

Darin:
I thought it was. I thought Where the Crawdad Sings it's been the best seller for like two years. Right?

Rachel Lovell:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Darin:
Maybe it's not what I think it is. It's not scary, is it?

Rachel Lovell:
You should watch it.

Beach:
When you watch

Rachel Lovell:
Its a mystery

Beach:
When you watch Maverick, and I know you will, there's gonna part in it where you're gonna hear, Talk to me Beach, talk to me.

Rachel Lovell:
Yes.

Beach:
And the movie's gonna say something else, but Darin's gonna hear, Talk to me Beach

Darin:
No, I'm not.

Beach:
Yeah you are.

Darin:
You asked a question a couple of podcasts ago and we never got the answer. You said in the original Top Gun, maybe I'm remembering this wrong.

Beach:
Mm yep.

Darin:
There was a truck driving school mentioned.

Beach:
There was.

Darin:
What was it? It's time to give the answer. We forgot.

Beach:
You know what? We need more people to comment and they need to watch this podcast. And then,

Darin:
Well, I think we forgot people

Beach:
No, no, no, no. But there is a truck driver in Top Gun. Do you know what? Do you remember the original Top Gun Rachel?

Rachel Lovell:
I do. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> I have it.

Beach:
Do you remember what trade school was?

Rachel Lovell:
Do you wanna mention it now? Or do you wanna make people comment?

Beach:
No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Darin:
Nobody's known the answer.

Rachel Lovell:
I, if I get it right, well, I don't know.

Beach:
You will get a Matt Beach face sticker <laugh>

Darin:
And for something that you might really want Crunch Berry popcorn

Beach:
<Laugh>

Rachel Lovell:
I'm not quite sure that I remember exactly it wasn't like one, is it one of our, our mega carriers within the industry that's still going? Or is it one that was just a made up?

Beach:
I was trying to find out what did I forgot the name of it<laugh>.

Darin:
So we have a trivia question that nobody knows the answer.

Beach:
There is that's in there. Goose says it, Goose says it. I can't remember, but I looked it up and it was, it was a guy in a cowboy hat doing this commercials. It was actual

Darin:
That one, that one little chunk right there sums up perfectly this podcast. That in a nutshell, that's what this podcast is right there. Rachel.

Rachel Lovell:
Yeah.

Darin:
We have taken out too much of your time. We're gonna let you go. Rachel, we've taken up too much of your time. It's we appreciate you taking the time. We know how busy you are and thank you. Thank you very much for coming on. It's good to talk to you.

Rachel Lovell:
Absolutely. Thank you both for having me. Thank you both for everything you do for the industry, I'm telling you it does not go unnoticed. You are both amazing just stewards of the industry. And I appreciate all the mentor, all the, the phone calls, you know, Beach. I hit you up every once in a while. Probably once a week. <Laugh> to say, let me bounce this idea off of you. So I truly appreciate it. And thank y'all for what you do.

Beach:
Oh, we appreciate you more than, you know,

Darin:
Thank you for the nice words. Thanks everybody for stopping by. Be safe and keep on trucking.