We were lucky to catch up with Clarissa Rankin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Clarissa, thanks for joining us today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

When it comes down to my business, it started out very rocky, but I just decided to jump with a leap of faith. I told myself the only way I can scale up is to treat people like I would like to be treated when I was in CDL training. Provide good customer service show natural humanity customer service to each individual and on social media, of how the school respond back to STUDENTS as a whole from the beginning to the end. I just kept my prices low for every student at an affordable price, as much as possible and still be able to be in business . And I just worked worked worked sun up to sun down work hard. Also with the help of a lot of faith that I have made it to where I’m at today, so that is how I can say that I scaled up in a trucking industry by being the fourth generation of transportation, but being the first generation to change Transportation into education within my family.

Clarissa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The main way I got into Trucking is because of My Lovely Husband 💋😘💏 he went to school for a total of four weeks and was able to come out and find a job as soon as he got his license, but I had gone to school for four years and could not find a job under my degree to save my life without having experienced so I just told him I think that I would like to first become your freight broker and I got my freight broken certification, but I did not understand any of the knowledge that was given to me so I told him I’m bout to quit my job working at school system and I’m about to go get my Class, A CDL and that’s how I got into trucking. Right now I own a CDL SCHOOL IN which I teach Class A, Class B, and Class C drivers education, U-Haul, rental dispatch training, a certified notary, mentorship, and guidance all at Road Knowledge Training Academy. The main thing that sets me apart from other CDL schools is that I provide a lot of personality and humanity. I am a very caring person. I only hire people who have the patience and the ability to train people with their heart and their passion for the world of Trucking.. so I think that sets me apart because I treat people how I want to be treated. I talk to people like I’ve known them all my life since I was a kid and care about people’s learning abilities.. so if a student has a problem with learning certain parts of the truck, we take out time to break it down to educate them and guide them. We spend more quality time with them to make them comprehend what we’re teaching them so that’s why I feel like at Road Knowledge Training Academy. I’m set above the radar because I make sure people understand. It’s all about the people. The main thing I want people to take from my school, my brand my name, and who I am as a person is I started it from nothing. I started by sleeping on a mattress floor and my sister one bedroom apartment with a four-month-old baby in my arms I started in public housing not having money to even buy groceries and food all to where I’m at to day from just believing in myself, be believing in what God had for me what was destined for me? What was my purpose in life?

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strength for building my clientele in this CDL school Road Knowledge Training Academy is by making people feel appreciated of their investment into the training. When a student called into my school, I answered the phone. I answered the question I make them feel like they are talking to a best friend. I take that intimidation out of the equation for a person can let their guard down to know that they are appreciated of their invest because their investment is not only feeding my family, but their Investment into my school is also beaten other my employees family. also by taking my time and listening to other school that are my competition their flaws so I build off of that so if they did things wrong if they made students feel unappreciated I make sure I give the STUDENTS my all I give the students everything I have to make them feel that they have chose the right location which they always do.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The main way I was able to build my audience on social media is by being my authentic self. I make my audience feel like they are sitting right in front of me and they are talking to me face-to-face. My audience that I have built on social media, I am so transparent with them. They are my best friends, my homegirl‘s homeboy‘s, auntie‘s grandma’s they love my kids. I take them to my gatherings. My audience on social media is my family they my world and they are the people who help created me to be the woman. I am today on social media They believe in me they encourage me. I share my life with them, but I also show how much I appreciate my audience because they are just number one in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ClarissaRankin?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=0493eef7-81b9-44c0-9fe2-ab99c3d15849
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamclarissarankin?igsh=dDl2eHNuOXVnbGF6&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15xMQypr9i/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Twitter: https://x.com/rankinclarissa?s=21&t=_8OBOfLbjRD7if5rNa4XvQ
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@clarissarankin?si=Eof3uYnOkwdMdrdj
• Other: TIKTOK https://www.tiktok.com/@clarissarankin?_t=ZP-8ufA2FrApiA&_r=1