Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Willie Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Willie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

I first started my trucking company in August of 2018. I was currently renting 1 truck at the time. I purchased my first truck in December of 2018. I quickly realized that purchasing a used truck was probably the worst idea at the time. Though I was excited the truck broke down less than 24 hours after the purchase. So even thought I just spent money on the down payment and had a current route that I had to drop the truck had to be placed in the shop. The early challenges I faced prepared me to scale quickly because I got to see the worst of the industry early. I experienced most of the challenges before I spent a great deal of time and money into creating this efforts to scale. So I bout 5 more trucks fixed them up, sold them at a profit. I kept two of them and I started renting more than I purchased. Though it cost me more money upfront per week it created a stronger relationship with the client because now my team is 95-100% reliable with very limited truck break-downs. So that gave my crew the opportunity to use my business name and credibility to scale for more routes and pick the better of the routes. Also, I never paid myself for the first 2 years so that I could scale the business quicker. I used the funds for my salary to go back into the business and improve the work environment to retain my employees and provide newer and better trucks to make their job easier and smoother. Throughout that process I work a 9-5 and did other side hustles and now my business has continued to scale and as a I have someone else operating it and all I do now is receive a weekly check.

The sacrifices I made may not be applied by every owner operator but I had things in place to make this easy for me to improve quickly without any experiences or connections in the industry. I also had a strong support system at home. My children and their mother allowed me to sacrifice time with them to spend more time and money with them in the future. Every household may not be capable of such sacrifices and growing pains. Its not for the weak. From my journey I realized that you have to sacrifice something current in order to create something new.

I was doing all this while also writing a book and becoming an author, being an father, and growing as a man.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a serial entrepreneur. My first story was about an upcoming author, but since then I’ve grown to do and start so many more experiences and brands. Will Royale’ (Designer brand) a his and her brand focusing on strong men and woman. Gold is considered one of the most precious minerals found on earth but I believe that people are just as precious. So when you add them both you have the most precious and fashionable products in the world. And my brand will exhibit just that. I have a couple of business that will be impacting the Atlanta community soon that I can’t speak up just as of yet. And My trucking company is always hiring. We accept blemished backgrounds and give second chances to the community because I understand shit happens. But overall my businesses are a representation of my brand WILLIE SMITH JR. I believe I’m a royal individual, I make plenty of mistakes but I move with non bias intentions with a good heart. I dnt like stepping on any toes but I also like to make things happen and improve individuals lives and their families around me. I strive to be better man everyday and I hope my brands and businesses promote that to my consumers and employees alike.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I funded my first profiting business with my 401k from my employer at the time. I was seeking freedom financial freedom and I couldn’t find it as a w2 employee with no secondary education or career skills. So I took the maximum allowed and used that to purchase the insurance to affirm and activate my authority for my trucking company.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I don’t have a story necessary but I do have a message. My message to anybody reading this is that today is just today. Tomorrow you can get up and strive to be an entire different person. You don’t always have to start today but when you start remember you are important. Not just your physical but you mental, emotional and spiritual. And if they aren’t align to accomplish your day, your goals, your challenges, no matter how hard you try, you will always be failing the most important reason the day exists and that is YOU.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Officialwilliesmith
• Facebook: Willie Smith Jr
• Linkedin: Www.LinkedIn.com/in/willie-smithentertainer