Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Carver-Sparks and Michele Wilson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Michele and I worked at an air freight forwarder in the late 80’s. We felt that we would not be promoted and that “we could do it better” (transportation, that is). In 1992, we began as an agency representing DSI Worldwide with little “business” experience. The first year was spent gaining customers and delivering freight. The second year was spent adding employees (and they wanted crazy things like healthcare, vacation and bonuses!)
Within 5 years, being true entrepreneur’s, we owned 4 companies and a charity. We started crating (and learned about job costing and accounting); we started a distribution company (and learned about FIFO and inventory control); we started a truck brokerage (and learned about cash flow) and before we knew it, we owned trucks and became a carrier (with all the regulations, fuel and liability that comes with it) …. then we asked ourselves….”where is the money?” 🙂 After the telecolm crash and 911, we laid off for the first time. We closed our distribution (primarily telecolm inventory) and our crating company and decided to focus on transportation (did I mention that we paid everyone we owed?). We joined a peer group and educated ourselves in best practices; KPI’s; ROI’s and cash flow. We purchased a building, closed and consolidated some services, and decided to scale via sales agencies. Today we have 7 offices representing PEI (Premier Expediters, Inc) with plans to expand. That’s the business history…. but our story is about two women who stood back to back and courageously did whatever we could to form win/win partnerships while protecting ourselves…. because we knew that people justify bad behavior (especially when it comes to money) …. our core values remain the same…. fiscally conservative (we hate debt); family (everyone becomes part of or earns our trust) and because of our history…. there is a bond that cannot be broken. We want to be fair to each other, our employees, our customers and our vendors. Our story is about a friendship that made it through some very tough times.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
So many struggles…. or opportunities along the way. I think the hardest thing for me was when we had multiple companies and Michele and I grew apart…. we were so busy….and the relationship IS the conversation….so we had to revisit what our goals were…. like daily 🙂 Adding employees was difficult because neither Michele nor myself like rules, procedures or requirements…. we just thought “figure it out” and don’t take advantage. We (I) made a lot of mistakes in hiring in the beginning. We also jumped into everything with little thought of the time it takes to plan, manage and sustain business.
Another tough time for me…was when we were told how much we owed in taxes!! We had been so busy opening and expanding our business’s that we paid little in taxes the first 5-8 years….and when we began to focus on streamlining we started showing profits (on paper) and the CPAs thought we were so fortunate to be able to pay so much in taxes….I still feel like we should only be taxed on money taken out of the business!
Years later, we both have more respect for the phases of business; growth for employees (or not) and sometimes making more money per transaction doesn’t serve you more than less money per transaction with consistency.
911…that was scary….for our nation, for our communities and for our company. We started in air freight and everything stopped…. thank goodness, we had diversity in services….it was a tough year. We are committed to “never lose money” so we did what we had to do…laid off employees, took a cut in pay, and cut back on any and every expense we could.
Personally, Michele has seen me through raising two teenagers; a divorce; a dysfunctional love affair and a remarriage…. it’s her turn raising the kids and a “couple” of marriages 🙂 I have years to “pay her back” for her support.
PEI – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a “boutique” transportation business. We take OMG shipments and offer options and solutions to your shipping problems. We have picked up; held; shipped; warehoused; consolidated your kiosks; delivered to your home; removed the debris; stayed up all night finding assistance for urgent shipments, lost shipments, damaged shipments or event freight. Our latest “tag” has been “We Deliver More….” and we do! We have a great staff…. that responds quickly…makes recommendations…and keeps in constant contact with multiple people, departments or our customer’s vendors. You can ALWAYS reach someone by phone, email or text. We may not be able to “fix” every problem….but we do try harder.
Some of my proudest moments….when we developed a program that email blasted 700 reps for 700 appointment deliveries once a month; when we saved a customer money by doing a “daily dedicated truck” and that customer is Boeing; when we delivered the whale sharks to the Ga Aquarium (received no publicity because we were contracted indirectly); when we were recognized by VWR as best in customer service (for receiving, consolidating and delivering to college labs for installation); Michele would probably say when we delivered a show on behalf of Samsung or the 8 million dollar truck we pulled for our customer on behalf of Lucent.
We like to understand where our customers are going and brainstorm better programs to meet their goals. Our tag should be “we never say no”…. but then we are two women in a male dominated industry 🙂
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One of my proudest accomplishments is the charity that Michele and I established in 2004. We began with piano lessons for foster children and expanded into karate lessons that were also utilized as an afterschool program for mothers earning less than $26,000 per year (the karate instructor stopped offering the afterschool program). We have given to “Truckers against Trafficking” (sex trafficking); Haven house (abused women/children); Dialing in on Addiction (terrible Heroin problem with teens in the Midwest); Camp Hawkins (a camp for disabled children); Art180-a program for kids on probation; TEFGA-Transportation Education Foundation of Ga-this non-profit encourages specialized skills like welding, electrical or plumbing versus college; We are committed to “Feeding a Million” and donate a small amount per transaction each year.
We pledge $50,000 a year, with a major portion to be spent on empowering children through activities and education. Part of those monies are given to charities that are important to our employees like Breast Cancer, Autism and Boy Scouts.
I am proud that PEI’s focus is more than just making money….we are a family making a difference in our world…one shipment at a time 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shippei.com
- Phone: 888 ship911
- Email: customercare@shippei.com
- Instagram: @pei_logistics
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/PEILogistics
- Twitter: @PEILogistics
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
