Nicosia Trucking, INC, with Matt Nicosia (CEO)

  

      About: Nicosia Trucking is one of the leading trucking companies in the Portland/ Vancouver Metropolitan area. We take pride in every delivery we do. We are always on time with a fair price that customers can feel good about paying in these hard economical times. No matter what, the customer leaves satisfied with our work, even if it is at our expense. The leading growth of Nicosia Trucking has be done on customer referrals. We encourage new customers to give us a chance in proving to you how we do business and ask you to give us a call and become part of the Nicosia Trucking family.

   
S: How did the idea for your business come about?
     
M: I talked to a guy that was doing it, and asked questions after question after question, starting with what do your sales look like yearly?

S: How do you find people to bring into your organization that truly care about the organization the way you do?

M: I started off hiring a friend that I could trust, then I hired his friends, that he could trust, then their friends and so on. 

S: How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing? 

M: Word of mouth, no salesman, start off getting 10-15 customers yourself, then on the bill of ladings that the driver fills out when doing a pick up at one of the 10-15 customers, he gives them one of the three carbon copies, so they have proof of delivery. Then when he drops off the delivery to someone that is not our 10-15 customers, and that business signs for the delivery, the driver gives them one of the carbon copies of the bill of ladings with all of our information on it (business name, phone number, etc..) After a couple times of this process, other businesses want to know what this company is all about and how much do they charge for deliveries.

S: What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them? 

M: Don't ever hire employees. Only hire independent contractors. This will save you from a lot of hardships, and put a ton more money in your pocket. Make sure you don't treat them like an employee and pay them like an independent contractor. My biggest hardship has been insurance claims, and almost all my insurance claims have been from backing up. Every time I hire a new independent contractor, I let them know ways past contractors have incorrectly done something and how to prevent that from happening.
  
S: What three pieces of advice would you give to college students who want to become entrepreneurs?

M: Quit going to college!! Unless you have so much love for something and are focusing on a special field, at the end of the day, it's what makes you happy. For some like myself, it's the money, and for some the money doesn't matter, but if you are going to college just to figure out what you want to do first. If your special field is just to get you your desired salary or income, you're wasting your money! Take that money and start a small business, stick to what you know how to do, car detailing business, landscaping company, etc... 

I had a kid (16 years old) that shampooed my carpets at my rental house. He charged me 250.00. I asked him how many houses he does a day. He told me 4-6! I almost fell over! I have learned that it takes very little effort to make the same amount of money as I would as an employee if you just start your own business. I mean, just think about that kid. Let's just say he only did 1 house a day, he probably profited around $200.00 per house after he paid for his supplies. To be an employee and bring home $200.00 after tax, you would need to make $40.00 an hour. 

If you really want to get rich quick, invent something! You don't even have to invent something new. Invent anything that makes anything, faster, safer or more green. Get on one of these categories, for example, safety. Take out a notepad, write down all the ways people get hurt. Then find a way to make something that would solve one of those problems. Another great way to come up with an invention, let's say something that annoys you (dropping your phone down the crack of your seat in your car) or whatever the scenario is, and think of how this drives other people nuts, then come up with a solution. Make sure whatever the invention is, it has to be simple. Anything complex will cost way to much money to make. You have to be able to make a prototype yourself. Then once you have a prototype, patent it and sell it to a company that does this kind of thing. Going retail and putting on the shelves yourself will cost too much money. License it to a company and set up a royalty, so you get a check every quarter for not having to do any of the work. 

Hope this helps. Good luck. The main piece of advice is always take a risk, make sure it is calculated, but take the risk!