I still remember the moment I decided to take government contracting seriously it felt overwhelming at first, like stepping into a world with too many rules and not enough guidance. But I knew one thing: if others could win contracts, so could I. So I started small. I made sure my business was properly registered, got listed on SAM.gov, and created a clean, professional capability statement that clearly showed what I could do and who I could serve. Instead of chasing every opportunity, I focused on contracts that actually matched my services. I read the requirements carefully more than once and made sure my proposal spoke directly to what the agency needed, not just what I wanted to offer. The opportunity that changed everything wasn’t a huge contract. In fact, many people would have overlooked it. But I saw it as my entry point. I took my time to submit a well-structured, compliant, and simple proposal. No fluff jjust value, clarity, and proof that I could deliver. Then came the waiting. When I got the award notice, it didn’t feel real at first. But that one contract changed everything. It gave me credibility, confidence, and something even more important past performance. What I’ve learned is this: your first win isn’t about luck, it’s about positioning. Get your foundation right, tailor every proposal, and don’t ignore smaller opportunities—they often open the biggest doors. Now, I help others do the same whether it’s setting up their registrations, crafting strong capability statements, or guiding them through proposals. Because once you win your first contract, everything starts to shift. What stage are you at right now just starting, or already submitting bids?

Growing up there was a song, War What is it Good For. The one thing war is not good for is the affect on global supply chains. The immediate impact is being felt within days, the visibility tool provided by KPLER below provides the challenge the SSL are experiencing. MSC notified all shippers cargo will be dropped at the closet port and they will consider the freight delivered. The demurrage and storage charges will apply still, shipper is responsible to move to Jebel Ali port at their own expense. The other vessels trapped in the gulf or cannot complete their deliveries will affect capacity on other lanes unrelated to the middle East. The GRIs from the Middle East are $2000-$3000 USD extra for war time surcharge. This is more than we charge one shipper from Pakistan to Canada for the ocean line haul rate. Fuel, the north American fuel providers increase rates based on potential challenge of supply chain interruptions. The first 3 days, not much, yesterday we did see significant spikes at the pumps as this region supplies 20% of the fuel globally. Blog: Strait of Hormuz Disruption - Which container vessels are trapped, waiting, or diverting? The global supply chain is first to feel the impact. North America and the balance of the worlds supply chain, feel it within days maximum weeks. This author did sign up a new customer from Pakistan with 80 containers per month. They do say timing is everything in sales. Now Patience is required. I hope for a speedy resolve that keeps casualties' to a minimum.

Since our goal is to create an Active Community of Professionals that help each other Educate and Inform about important topics regarding Freight Transportation Logistics it is time once again to purge our membership. We will be eliminating memberships of those that don’t show activity in the group. It’s better to have a small group of members who are active and share value or get value from Freight Skool than have a bunch of members who only enter to see what they can get. I want to thank everyone who have become members of Freight Skool and continue to participate in our community. If you have not been on in a while this email is a nudge to get you back in. On Tuesday March 31 all accounts with no activity over the last 30 days will be purged (churned) from the group. So get on and get active. We hope to see you post or comment in the near future. Thank you everyone for making the Freight Skool community the #1 Freight Logistics community on the Skool Platform!

Hello everyone, I hope you all are having a great day so far. I truly appreciate the opportunity to connect, network, and learn more about navigating the logistics industry. I am a new owner-operator with a cargo van based in Braselton, GA. My authority has been active for a little over 30 days, and I am fully FMCSA compliant. At the moment, I’m working to gain traction and secure consistent loads, so any advice, guidance, or opportunities would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Steven, for welcoming me into such a wonderful community. I look forward to learning from everyone here.

The last two years has been very challenging looking at volume and financials for my 3PL when I separate out brokerage, carrier and warehousing from our Government/Military project work. My 3PL primarily relies on commercial accounts in the local P&D, Crating and Pack and Ship services, all of which have been down these past two years. I have certainly seen an uptick in these requests and in business volume in these areas the last two months though. When looking at how we survived the last two years it’s easy to see that’s it has been the long term Government Contracts and Subcontracts that we have. They have played a huge role in filling capacity, retaining employees and maintaining cash flow while the other business has been down. Some of these contracts have been short term (A few months) but a few have been long term (10 years). I’ve been building my 3PL since 2012. The freight markets change going up and down (Any fans of Rollercoasters? lol) The bottom line is if you position yourself as a reliable partner and deliver great freight logistics results you receive and retain business (like long term Government Contracting work) that will keep you going through any kind of market. Keep going my friends and have a great day