Podcast: How Paul Jaroslawski Built Freight Cavier Through Patience and Persistence

Every driver, broker, carrier, and shipper has countless ways of staying up to date with freight industry news. But the team at Freight Caviar has a unique handle on blending humor with hard-hitting insights from the freight brokerage world.

In this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, host Brent Hutto is joined by Paul Jaroslawski, President and Founder of Freight Caviar and Co-Founder of Shipper CRM. Together, they explore Paul’s background in transportation, the challenges of running a media business, and the importance of building relationships and focusing on what it takes to achieve your desired success.

The unexpected road to logistics

In 2015, Paul graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Though initially set on pursuing a Master’s degree, the prospect of more student loans led him to a job fair. There, an old fraternity brother working at Trek Freight suggested he join the company.

Paul began his logistics career as a freight broker and discovered his knowledge of Polish allowed him to build strong relationships with Polish trucking companies in Chicago, earning him more than he expected. After a year at Trek, he spent six months traveling, returning home broke but determined. CS Recruiting helped him secure a position with Everest Transportation Systems in 2017.

Ten months later, Everest offered him the chance to establish an outsourcing operation in Ukraine. At 24, single, and eager to travel, Paul seized the opportunity, spending three years there before moving to Poland and founding Freight Caviar in November 2020.

Building a Media Company with No Business Plan

When he started Freight Caviar, Paul never intended it to be a business. After hitting 10,000 followers in just ten months, several brands reached out to him, asking to be promoted on Freight Caviar’s social media. The founder of TextLocate, Ryan Rogers, was one of these, and he recommended to Paul that he turn Freight Caviar into a business. 

Paul took the memes from the Instagram account and started sharing them on LinkedIn. He then launched a podcast and a newsletter, building up a wider audience. Today, the newsletter has 10,000 subscribers, something Paul attributes solely to the grit and determination he has put into the content over the last three years. 

“I didn’t just start one day with a business plan. I wasn’t like, this is going to be a business. It just kind of became what it is through content and my time being spent on social media.”

Learning to Run a Business

“I would honestly say the best thing about being an entrepreneur is the knowledge you gain because, once it’s gained, you’re going to have it for the rest of your life.”

After leaving Everest, Paul ventured into four different business directions. He opened a brokerage, set up a small fast-food restaurant, worked as an agent for a company out of Texas, and acted as a Partner at another brokerage. One by one, each of these businesses started to crumble, with only Freight Caviar continuing its upward stride. In some ways, Paul attributes this to the fact that it was the one he was most passionate about. 

Running a media company is no easy feat, though. Paul was starting from scratch and had to learn pricing, securing sponsors, demonstrating ROI, and understanding analytics. Luckily, the capital he saved from Everest allowed him to experiment without the pressure of immediate success. Ultimately, the company’s growth has come from patience, persistence, and determination, not to mention the need to build strong relationships.

“There’s no way you could have a side hustle of a trucking company or like any business for that matter, I think it’s really difficult. You can make a few $1000 maybe per month, but it’s not gonna be that successful. So being focused and concentrated is definitely something like a huge takeaway, and then building relationships, finding the people you want to work with, and actually just focusing on them. What I’ve been grasping with lately or what I’ve been really trying to teach myself is to be more patient because things take time.”

To learn more about the history of Freight Caviar, tune into this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.