Francis Underwood
In a modern, globally connected world, the opportunities for a shipping business can seem even more vast than they ever have been before. While you’re likely doing all that you can to ensure that your business is making the most of every opportunity in your path, there might be options that are not so clear to you that could help you get to where you want to be.
Even if you don’t end up opting for any strategy that differs from what you’re doing now, it’s good to have a wider awareness of every choice that your business has. Therefore, here is a guide on various types of shipping that could be used to enhance your business.
Shipping Via Air
Shipping containers have long conjured up images of trucks on roads and ships in the ocean; but the sky has been a preferred method of travel for people who want to see the world for decades – so why should your own options exclude that? Consolidation services that allow your shipments to get to where they need to go by air can dramatically open up your options when you’re feeling the pressure of time or storage limitations. Regardless of whether or not you want to go on to make this a regular part of your operations, knowing that it’s an option you can branch into can make you feel more flexible.
To regularly incorporate this into what you do might require some changes to your core structure, but weighing that against the positives it might yield could help you come to a conclusion.
Freelance Enlistment
While having your own dedicated team of drivers and operators might help you to run your business consistently, with the help of people that you trust, there is another option. If you feel as though you have more work that needs doing than people who are available to work it, putting up some shipping work on freelance job boards can help to draw people towards you. Freelance work might suit them better in this situation, allowing them to customize the work around their own life, and it can allow you to simply get the job done without further commitments.
This doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach; it can be a concept that you apply only for certain types of work so that your core operations can continue to run with the help of the steady hands of your trusted team.
Your Role
When thinking about the employment structure that your business has, your attention might turn to the role that you play. Of course, at the head of the business, there are many matters that are going to require your attention. However, you might think about the potential benefits of becoming an owner-operator: someone who not only runs the business but also gets directly involved with the operations. Having a stronger sense of what the experience is like might give you a greater insight as to what needs improving, and can help to improve your sense of connection and collaboration with the rest of your team.
This is typically a term used to describe someone who manages all of the workloads of a small business, which might not be the case if you have other drivers (but it still might be a route worth considering).
