Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Taylor.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The journey begins in the freight forwarding industry in 1994 working direct with a freight forwarder from entry level of a warehouse employee, worked my way up to be Warehouse Manager for the 1996 Olympic Games. We handled 80 % of everything from the horses in the equestrian events, to the 6-man row boats from Lake Lanier, to the Swatch timing screens from the Olympic stadium to everything in between.
Once that experienced was gained I continued to work for 7 additional years in the industry learning all aspects of Imports, exports, and domestic cargo movement. Then in 2003 Elite Logistics was created with one cargo van and a lot of hard work and long drive time hours to begin the journey of where we are today.
Today, we are a full service 3PL (Third Party Logistics Provider) offering services through the entire US and Canada from less than truck load, full truckload, and expedite moves to from any locations (www.elite3pl.com). There are warehouse solutions provided as well for our customers short and long term handling needs. We are continuing our quest forward to becoming a 4pl with the industry knowledge we have for our customers.
Some recent highlights in 2017 have been named ATL Cargo Person of the Year for 2017 presented by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. We have recent in month the July 2017 moved 1 million pounds of cargo. We are also working with the Atlanta Airport Authority Committee to help the implementation process of the world’s first Air Cargo Truck Pass Lot for cargo recovery and delivery (http://www.atl.com/truckpass/).
We also have 3 eBooks that are currently on Amazon to help guide people in our industry on the processes we face. One of our eBooks has been as high as #3 top seller in the industry. The goal moving forward is not only to provide logistics solutions but to also help create a training platform for the industry from our side of the operations.
We are working with the Atlanta Airport Authority to partner with them in the community with the program Hartsfield-Jackson’s Partners in Education Program. We are very excited to grow within our local community and the industry to help inspire our youth.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t believe the road is ever smooth for anyone who ventures out to become an entrepreneur.
There are certainly times that it may seem to be on cruise control then the road can get bumpy without notice and you just have to adjust along the way. The long nights and early mornings of doing many behind the scenes not glory things a lot people don’t see. I believe people that can pull those times are truly have the spirit of what it means to be an entrepreneur, it’s something that is deep down inside you that is a little different than others. The next step is making sure you grow as w leader once you know you have that burning desire to do more for people.
You have things from the beginning just that are life events, when we first started this journey Stacy my wife called me and mentioned she was pregnant and by the way it was twins so our family went from just family of 3 (with a son) to a family of 5 and my wife was unable to work and the income that balance the beginning of the journey was not there. So you just adjust show up each day and go to work to make it happen.
Then you have the changing economy from 9/11 though the housing market crash that effects logistics world and its freight movement. You just show up each day and go to work to make it happen.
There is the change of technology that reduces the sizes of products that then has an effect on the volume and weight of the product 15 years ago that you would handle so you change and adapt.
Then there are many world events from a volcano eruption in Europe, to week long holidays in China, to 3 weeks of vacations in the beginning of August for Europe or potential Hurricanes like Harvey in Texas that all have influence some of the struggles we experience in this journey but you show up each day and meet those struggles face to face and make it happen.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Elite story. Tell us more about the business.
Our company is a logistics service provider, we are more than just a trucking company.
We provide logistics solutions for our customers. The main base of customers are the freight Forwarding industry (Imports/Exports), however we do handle some shipper direct moves. The nature of the good we handle a truly be defined as FAK (freight of all kinds) from hardware that would put a finish good together to the actual finished good.
One story alone of the various items we have been a part of shipping over the years. We shipped an elephant statue from Vietnam to City of Gainesville High School, Gainesville GA in honor of the Deshaun Watson from Clemson University for his time in high school.
We love it when people say to us there is just something different about what you guys do. One of the things we are very proud of is the fact are customers come first and we do everything we can to serve them with the best decisions we can offer in the logistics needs. We don’t short cut anything and we are always trying to make sure they have the highest level of service in this industry. As customers say to us they know when we give you the cargo it will be handled. That is what drives of each day on every shipment.
We do our very best to stay head on the trends in the industry, we communicate that to our customers to have them prepared for their customers, and we taking the in technology/social media head on in an industry that is probably behind more than most in today’s world.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck, good or bad is going to happen. I think it’s more of the reaction you have from it.
If its good luck, just don’t let it go to your head too much to stay balanced. In the past 7 years my faith in God has grown greatly and no matter what your high power may been when you have faith in something it’s more than just you making things happen, you can have much more balance.
When that bad luck rolls around, you can lean back into your faith as well.
We just try our best to not fall as hard when that bad luck hits and jump as far as we can when the good luck comes around, this is applied in our company and my personal life.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4694 Aviation Parkway,
Suite K, Atlanta, GA 30349 - Website: www.elite3pl.com
- Phone: 678-961-5200
- Email: justin@eliteloginc.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/EliteLogisticsINC/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elite_Logistics
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