Everything Is Logistics host Blythe Brumleve

Fellow LinkedIn Podcast Academy member Blythe and I discuss this amazing program and how social media and podcasting has changed our lives for the better!

https://everythingislogistics.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/packaging-today-show/id1656906367

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Packaging Today Podcast 

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Transcript

Cory Connors: 0:15

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend, Blythe Brumleve . She is the host of Everything Is Logistics and the founder of Digital Dispatch. How are you, Blythe?

Blythe Brumleve: 0:28

I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing?

Cory Connors: 0:30

Really good. It's, an honor to have a fellow LinkedIn Podcast Academy member on the show. We're We're both very honored to be one of 19, or I should say two of 19 of the podcasts that LinkedIn chose for this really super unique opportunity. But that's you and I have run into each other many times in the past in the world of social media. So I've was excited even before that to have you on.

Blythe Brumleve: 0:58

Thank you so much. I mean I, remember when I first heard about you, it was you, were going one of your many times being viral on, TikTok and I saw this video and I was like, oh my gosh. There's actually people that are making supply chain related content. On TikTok, like, I found my people, I found my, my, my niche. And so I started following you, connected with you. I think you, you had came on one of my shows about a year ago and I remember telling pe other people in supply chain. Yeah. This guy, he's got like 60,000 followers and all he does is. Sustainable packaging. It's crazy. Yeah. And they were blown away. So I think you have single-handedly helped a lot of folks in supply chain realize that TikTok is not just dancing. It can be an educational resource too.

Cory Connors: 1:44

Well, thank you so much. It's, a surprise to a lot of people when they, when I talk about the social media things that I've done. But it's also, like you said it's, a door opener for many of my Coworkers in, this industry because people like you who have something to say and have a great message need to be on TikTok and need to be on LinkedIn making content. So it's, really fun and thank you so much. I'm, glad that I could help a little bit.

Blythe Brumleve: 2:14

Heck Yeah. I mean, I think that it's for a lot of, I guess, quote unquote, traditional boring industries. It's seeing, having, making them see the value in social media, which has been around for more than a decade now, to make them see the value in it I, think is, has been a continuous struggle, especially when any kind of new platform comes along. So it's. It's, helping people see that it's a digital handshake that can lead to better relationships, better business partnerships. That, that's where I've always seen the value with social media, but it is it's all in how you use it.

Cory Connors: 2:50

Yeah, very well said. A digital handshake. I love that. It's so true. I've met so many amazing people through this whole thing, and I remember in the past, and I've talked to several people about this, but people in logistics and in packaging, it's a similar network. We used to tell people at events what we do, and they would be like, great. See you later. Now they're, whoa. Okay. Tell me about this. What's going on with China? What's going on? What's the next thing? How what's going on with sustainability? How can we and now people are engaged because packaging affects everyone at their doorstep. And I think that's and like logistics too, right? I mean which van is gonna pull up in your, your driveway today to deliver something, right? So it's all fascinating. But let's talk a about you and your background first. Before we get into too much more here.

Blythe Brumleve: 3:43

Sure. So my background, I actually went a little bit of an unconventional route. I started, I guess keeping up with the logistics talk about more than 10 years, probably 15 years ago. Gosh, it's been a while. I got started working as an executive assistant at A three pl, which is a third party. Logistics provider. So for folks who may not be aware, it's usually the company that either has trucks or they find the trucks in order to deliver the goods from the shipper. So the customer manufacturing point, and they make sure that, those goods are delivered to the retailer or to the distribution center of where they eventually come to your porch. So I guess a, a, a. Unique moniker to use that I, I've heard being used a ton is basically the process from port to porch. And so I worked for a company that did that in here in Jacksonville, Florida, and it was pretty early on. Days of the internet, sort of social media, things like that. I had started up a side hustle sports and entertainment blog. And so I would be an executive assistant during the day, sometimes sneaking in a blog or two while on the clock. Sure,

Cory Connors: 4:58

Wait, lemme cover my ears. Go.

Blythe Brumleve: 4:59

I mean, it maybe happened every single day. But my boss at the time who was really he's been my mentor ever since he found out what I was doing on the side and he said, well, why don't you do that for us? Why don't you handle our website, handle our marketing communications, handle that for our company. And at the time, it was around like 2009, so it was when HubSpot was first getting started, we were these. Second logistics company ever on the HubSpot platform. Wow. So the idea of like inbound marketing was, it's still fairly new to the industry now as far as awareness is concerned, but it was way new back then. And so I worked for that company for about five years. Implemented several. Website refreshes, redesigns got us established on different social media platforms. Went to different logistics, conferences, kind of speaking to the value of social media. I worked for that company for about five years. And then unfortunately one of the many freight recessions happened and the company was an was forced to close its stores. Anytime you operate a company with a tremendous amount of assets, which we had about. 300 semi trucks in within our business. All it takes is just one bad contract and it can put you out of business. All it takes is five trucks to, to go down in the repair shop and you're out a half a million dollars per truck. Yeah. So you need a lot of capital in order to operate efficiently in, in the trucking world. But that was kind of my calling is to be forced into, I guess a, new career path. So after that five years, I went to go work for. For a magazine became their editor-in-chief. It was the first time I was ever surrounded by a creative team, which was fantastic. So I got to learn the ins and outs, graphic design, foot photography, editorial layouts, things like that. And then I started working in local radio. It's a whole story about how I kind of fell into that I love. And then I did, I was editor in chief of that magazine for about two years. Went back to go work for my old mentor cuz he had started up another logistics company, still did radio. And I worked for that logistics company for about two years. Until my mentor said it is time for me to push you out of the nest and you need to go do your own because there is no more room for growth for you here. That's great, I took my tax returns, started my own company and never looked back.

Cory Connors: 7:26

Good for you. That's such a cool story and so exciting. And, I think for people listening that are maybe struggling in their current position it's okay to, try something new and to, do something different today and to, take that risk. And like you said, Jump or, fly out of the nest, right.

Blythe Brumleve: 7:48

Or have somebody push you. That's, kinda what, what forced my hand is like, no, we're gonna, we're you need to do this. And so I thought, okay, yeah, it's probably a good time to do that. And, but luckily, I mean, everything ended up working out there is no greater, I will say there is no greater driver to success than not knowing where your next paycheck is gonna come from. Yeah. And so that was the ultimate motivator for me is find some people that will pay me for my knowledge.

Cory Connors: 8:14

And, you're exactly right. And, you can't have that plan B, right? As a commission salesperson for many years I've learned that you start at zero every month. And this is, you better go, or or nobody's gonna do it for you. Yeah. Well said. Well, let's talk about your podcast. It's all logistics. Tell me about that. What's, it, obviously it's about logistics, but what's the, main theme there?

Blythe Brumleve: 8:42

So I, really wanted to I've been a podcaster since 2014. But that was more on like the sports and entertainment side of things. And so when I launched a my own marketing agency, or really it's website management now, it was marketing. I don't do marketing for other companies anymore. It's anybody who knows, it is very time consuming. Profit margins are kind of very slim, especially nowadays. So mainly I handle website. Management. And so I started the podcast at first it was called the Digital Dispatch podcast cuz that was my company name. And I learned pretty quickly that you shouldn't have a podcast name the same as your company because people it, differentiating wise it's very challenging to differentiate the two. And plus, if you ever wanted to sell one side of the business, you can't do that. If both of those are lumped together. Interesting. So I, had the podcast for a couple of years, got picked up to be syndicated by a media company called Freight Waves. And I, started the show Cyber for them, same essential show, but they owned the Cyber Lee brand. So I would broadcast once a week on their platform. Then they would give me the content to put on my own platform. So it was kind of like a win-win deal for a while. So then about. The summertime. So about a year ago, I started thinking that I should take this out on my own. That I should I'm it's kind of taken off content wise, so why not do this for myself? And so back in, I guess November of last year, that's when it, Was full steam ahead, I freight waves. And I decided that I would just come on weekly appearances for about 10 minutes on their news platform and I wouldn't be doing the live hour long show anymore. And essentially I would just do the, for the podcast, everything is logistics. So that launched in January. And so ever since January I've been fully independent, got my own show sponsors. I have a little bit definitely way more freedom to ha. Outside of the live TV constraints, because anytime you've done live TV core you've been on the show, we have 15 to 20 minutes to talk max, and sometimes you're starting to get to the best parts of the conversation right when you hit that 20 minute mark. And so I really wanted the opportunity to have a situation where I could go as long as the conversation deemed appropriate. Not like three hour Joe Rogan podcast long, but a good 45 minutes. 30 minutes of just jam-packed value. And so ever since January, we've been releasing at least two episodes every week. And just about a month ago we, both got selected into the LinkedIn Podcast Academy. So it's been pretty cool, like first half of the year. So excited to see how the, rest of the, year sort of plays out.

Cory Connors: 11:41

Yeah, well said. It's, been an exciting, almost a little bit overwhelming at times, thought of, wow this, giant company LinkedIn thinks, that we're, doing something so special that they wanna help us and po to potentially be a part of their podcasting network, which is an, incredible concept. But let's talk a little bit about. What you think will, happen and what you're looking forward to as part of this podcast academy at LinkedIn.

Blythe Brumleve: 12:12

So I think for me, what's been really valuable so far is learning the nuances of how they make editorial decisions. Yeah. So one example is we. We were all on a call from LinkedIn's UK editor, and she was letting us know, you know that the little box on the upper right hand portion of the screen, when you log into LinkedIn on desktop, it usually will give you about 10 stories that are relevant, that LinkedIn thinks are relevant. I always assumed that those were just. Automatically generated based on the articles that were being shared on the platform. But those are editorial, but those are actually editorial decisions, and that's one of the big things that we learned is in that conversation is learning that you can submit those stories to LinkedIn's editorial team. So that was one really big takeaway. Another really big takeaway that's been sort of a game changer for me is the LinkedIn newsletter. I have a, general newsletter that I send out once a week with podcast episodes and things like that, and it's mostly automated. I would say it's about 90% automated, but with the LinkedIn newsletter, what I really found appealing is that if you think of the mindset, Set of someone when they're checking their email, they're checking their email to get rid of, to-do lists. And they're, treating it almost as a to-do list. Okay. How quickly can I get rid of these emails and get rid of check mark these things off of my checklist of what to do. Right. With the LinkedIn newsletter though, you're notifying them in their traditional email inbox, whatever email they have connected to LinkedIn, but you're also notifying all of your followers on LinkedIn itself. And also notifying without you having to do any extra work, you're notifying all, any new connections, any new followers that at LinkedIn newsletter exists. Yeah. And so with that approach, I have really sort of taken back, or I guess reignited the flame of writing. Yeah. Because I think in, in, our world, Writing is still very much an important piece to podcasting, but it definitely takes a backseat to it. And as someone who grew up writing, I always saw myself as a writer. I never saw myself in front of a camera, in front of a microphone. I told I was a behind the scenes gal. But with that newsletter, it's really. Been wonderful to start writing again and knowing that, I mean, not to toot my own horn, but knowing that a AI could not create, this, could not create a, specific tone or a specific humor or insights that what I can do with the LinkedIn newsletter. Plus it's, really nice to write in as well. There's no distractions. It's very simple, it's clean. It sounds like LinkedIn is paying me to say this, but I promise I'm not getting paid you to say this. But that's been probably my biggest takeaways from the program so far are the editorial choices and then also how to succeed as far as the newsletter is concerned. So, so those two big things for me.

Cory Connors: 15:11

Yeah, great points. The, newsletters are, powerful and It's, a way to get in touch with everyone who's connected with you or follows you without really annoying them. Yes. And providing value. And I think that's something that I used to do a LinkedIn audio live every week, and I did it on my own before it was the popular thing. And I had somebody reach out to me and he's like, Top sending me these invites and I'm like, whoa you can just, unfollow me. Like, that's right. That's the and, but that was the only person ever to respond in that way. And I thought to myself, how could this person take that time to send me a message when all they would have to do is unfollow me? But I thought that was really interesting and it kind of showed that. A very unique mindset on, LinkedIn. That's not very common.

Blythe Brumleve: 16:14

Yeah. It's, definitely, it took more energy to respond to you than it did to just click the three little dots and ignore or turn off.

Cory Connors: 16:22

That's why I laughed at it so hard. It was. Crazy. Well, let's go back a little bit to sustainable packaging. I would love to know your insight and your wisdom on how sustainable packaging relates to logistics. To me, I think they are absolutely married, and I'd love to know your thoughts.

Blythe Brumleve: 16:41

Sure. So what we're seeing with a lot of different companies, especially from the logistics perspective, is that their investors and also their customers are explaining to them this need, that they desire to have a more sustainable approach to the items that they're purchasing. And so what we've seen from a lot of different retailers is that they're listing. They're logistics processes on their site, which I think is completely fascinating. And so they're you, have a couple of different examples of different retailers who are doing that. And then you also have these different transportation companies who they're getting preached to about the, they have certain e s G goals that they're trying to make. I will give you one, one particular example is a company called Freight Bonna, and it's, I would imagine this counts as an ESG goal, but. For their particular company. They plant a tree for every load that they move. And because they've been so vocal about it, now they have other customers that are coming to them with their own sustainability goals that they're trying to reach and wanting to partner with them in order to just create a better collaborative, sort of that circular sustainability goal that they're trying to go after. And so, What we have is when you see all of these different movements, not just from the investor side of things, saying like, oh, we gotta lower costs and we gotta be greener. We have to be more sustainable. So you have the in, the investors from that point of view, but then you also have the customers that are making purchasing decisions based on. How these companies are treating one of the, top, I guess costs and polluters, which is transportation. Any given product that you have in your home, more than 50% of that cost is typically related to transportation. And so if you have that different approach, or if you have that. Sort of mindset that you're gonna go into these different businesses and make those purchases based on the sustainability goals. I mean, gen Z is a perfect example of this, that they want to know what kind of initiatives and what kind of goals that they're going after. Of course, saving money is always going to be a top priority and how fast you can get that product. But if you have a. A great product and it's sustainable and you can get it shipped right, which is probably an oxymoron getting it shipped within two days. But as long as you are committed to that open transparency, then that's where we're, seeing a lot of success for a lot of these different transportation companies that are early movers now. Now, of course there, there's a lot of economic strife going on, A lot of. Profit margins within the trucking industry are razor thin, but there are trucking companies that are PR are finding a really niche value by explaining these sustainability goals that they're pursuing, and it's actually helping them win more business because they're being so vocal about

Cory Connors: 19:39

it. And that is such an excellent point. Consumers are demanding it. Which means I think businesses are demanding it from their partners. And we're seeing that my company, Aurora Packaging is seeing that more than ever we're being asked, what are you doing for sustainability to and then we often lead them right to my podcast and say, Hey, we've been doing this for years. We're, really good at it. And thankfully, our parent company, Aurora in, Australia, is one of the leaders in the world of sustainable packaging. But I think you're exactly right. Companies are buying from companies that are doing good things in the world of sustainability and in E S G. And I think that will lead to basically of a, phase out of, companies that aren't on board with this. My friend Paul Lives in England, and he was talking about how a lot of companies over there aren't embracing these new sustainability laws, and they're just saying, just leave us alone. We're gonna figure we'll, we're gonna do what we're doing and you're gonna like it. And he said, those companies are, going out of business. It's it's adapt or die. And that is absolutely, and frankly, it's the right thing to do. We should be, we should care how efficient our diesel trucks are, or can we convert them to electric vehicles, or whatever the case may be. But there are major things that can be done. I, interviewed someone else in logistics one time and he was talking about how. They went through and they repaired all of their refrigerated trucks and they, had somebody look at all the lines and make sure there were no leaks in the refrigerant, and it cost 'em a fortune, but it saved them a fortune and then some, because they hadn't, they didn't have to refill the, the. coolant or whatever the material is inside the lines. Oh, interesting. So things like that and, making sure the tires are fresh and making sure the oils change and making sure you've got the right filters and all of these maintenance things that we do and making sure that this, the freight is shipping from the shortest amount away possible. And so I agree with you a hundred percent. This is the way.

Blythe Brumleve: 22:04

And it's also the, I've seen a lot of truckers because profit margins are, so slim for them right now, but a lot of them are choosing to only drive 60 miles an hour. Like some I'm not gonna name any names for any trucking companies that maybe go over the speed limit. Sure. But the, science behind running your trucks, that what you would think is like, oh, well if I could get to the destination faster, then I can pick up another load. I'll make more money yada, But in this market right now, what's unique is that the, I've seen advisors, especially like trucking accountants, that will advise their truckers to only drive at 60 miles an hour, where you might get there a little bit later, but the amount of money you're gonna save on fuel costs. And you're gonna actually conserve and you'll save money in the long run. So we're seeing a lot of truckers, smart truckers, anyways, that, that are making those transitions. And, at the end of the day, it helps all of us because you're using less fuel, the product isn't as expensive and, you're getting it at still at a reasonable timeframe. And I think that's where. Just a, lot of folks, as long as you set the expectation as far as two day shipping of course can be a little bit of a debate topic. But if you set the expectation that you're gonna get your shipment within seven business days, as long as people know when that timeframe is. Then they can focus on getting that route the most efficient as possible. UPS is a great example that they only take they prioritize routes that only take right hand turns so they can optimize their trucks and some of them will keep their trucks running and, won't turn them off. So it's, little nuances that, that people are doing that can save in the long run. And hopefully consumers will start will, start seeing some of those savings as well.

Cory Connors: 23:54

It's fascinating some of the things that, that trucking companies and truckers have, figured out to to be more efficient. Some of the aerodynamic things are being added to the trucks and it's, pretty cool to watch and I'm, fascinated by it. Well, well thank you again, Blythe, for being on the show. Is there anything I didn't ask you you wish I would've? Oh gosh.

Blythe Brumleve: 24:17

I, think we covered a lot of ground in this, so I, mean I, appreciate you having me on the show. I mean, I'm excited to continue this, journey of, within the LinkedIn Podcast Academy and yeah. Break down everything else that, that we've learned. I think we've got a few months left, but you know, maybe by the time that, that this airs we'll probably have a lot more insights to share. We'll have to do

Cory Connors: 24:38

another episode after Yes. And say how did it go? So part two coming everybody. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you? So

Blythe Brumleve: 24:49

you can find me on everything is logistics.com. I list all of my podcast content, newsletter sign up social media icons, all of that good stuff. I list it right there on the website. I try to make it super easy for folks to just almost like a Link Tree site, but it's my own and I can actually see the data behind it without paying the $10 a month. So that's everything is logistics.com.

Cory Connors: 25:12

Great. Thank you so much, Blythe, and thank you Aurora packaging for sponsoring this podcast. We appreciate it. If you're listening, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next episode, and stay tuned for more. Thank you.