The Complete Blueprint: How to Build a Sustainable Freight Brokerage
- Brian McBrayer
- Oct 22
- 12 min read
Updated: Oct 31
Introduction: The Scaling Trap
In the freight brokerage industry, growth is often seen as the only metric that matters. We chase load count, add headcount, and celebrate revenue. But this "growth-at-all-costs" mindset is a trap. It’s why so many brokerages fail within their first three years. They are crushed under the weight of their own scale, running out of cash, burning out their teams, and breaking the trust they need to survive.
True, sustainable growth isn't about getting bigger; it's about getting stronger. It’s about building an operational and financial foundation so robust that it can earn the right to scale.
This isn't theory. This is the blueprint we used at Lone Cypress Logistics to grow from a two-person operation to a dedicated team of 12. It's a model built not on chasing freight, but on earning trust with our shippers, our carriers, and our team.
This is our complete guide to sustainable brokerage growth. We’ll move beyond the buzzwords and detail the specific systems, financial disciplines, and cultural standards required to build a 3PL that lasts, synthesizing insights from our team's appearances, Jason McArthur, and Brian Leadingham, on "Tell Me Everything," "The Freight Coach," and "Freight Agent Insider."
Part 1: The Foundation – Cash Flow is King
Before you can move a single load, you must master your money. This is the single most critical, and most frequently fatal, aspect of a new brokerage. The 30, 60, or 90-day lag between paying your carriers and getting paid by your shippers is a cash flow gap that can swallow a new company whole.
We were determined to "run pretty lean at first" and, above all, "not fall behind and get in debt." This required a radical, trust-first approach to our finances.
The "Factoring Wall": Your First and Greatest Hurdle
The biggest hurdle we "really didn't see coming" was the difficulty with factoring companies. As a new brokerage, "we don't have the credit... to prove that we're going to be around in six to nine months."
This creates a deadly catch-22:
Carriers are "forced to work with factoring companies" as their policy.
Those factoring companies "either won't work with you because you're not a year old" or will give you "a minimal amount of credit," like $15,000.
When you're moving cross-country produce loads, "$15,000... that's two loads." This makes it "difficult to scale with a customer."
This is why "we didn't grow in the first year by design." We spent that first year methodically "establish[ing] some credit... with some of the factoring companies." We overcame this by leveraging personal relationships to get "vouch[ed]" for, but it remains the single biggest barrier to entry for any new brokerage.
The Net 15 Conversation: Asking for What You Need
Our second strategy was to leverage our 50+ years of combined industry experience and the loyal relationships that came with it.
Instead of accepting standard Net 30 terms, we had transparent conversations with our anchor customers. We said, "We know you're typically Net 30. As we get started, can you do six months at Net 15 for us? Or Net 21?"
Most agreed. Why?
Pre-existing Trust: They weren't just "shippers"; they were partners who knew our track record and wanted us to succeed.
Shared Benefit: They understood that a financially healthy 3PL is a reliable 3PL. Our stability was their stability. It ensured we could "keep the carrier relationships healthy."
This strategy, combined with our disciplined approach to credit, allowed us to build a positive cash flow cycle from the very beginning.
The Operational Discipline of Cash Flow
Asking for better terms is only half the battle. You must have the back-office discipline to execute. Our rule was, and is, "Invoice the customer as quickly as possible to get that clock rolling."
This isn't as simple as it sounds. An incorrect invoice, a wrong rate, a missing POD, a bad reference number, gets rejected, and the payment clock resets to zero. This is where "lean" operations can become "sloppy" operations.
We built a system to prevent this.
First, Be Right: We urged our entire team, "Yes, we want them closed quickly and ready to invoice quickly, but we want them done right first and foremost."
Then, Be Fast: Every file must be complete and correct before being pushed to accounting.
This is the internal engine of financial health.
Part 2: The Engine – Building a Defensible Carrier Network
Your carrier network is your single greatest asset. In an industry famous for treating carriers as disposable commodities, we built our model on the opposite principle: treat your carriers with the same respect, urgency, and professionalism you show your customers.
A carrier who trusts you is a partner. A carrier who doesn't is just a transaction waiting to fail.
"Pay Carriers as Quickly as We Could"
This was our third financial pillar. Our ability to secure faster payments from shippers was directly linked to our ability to pay our carriers fast.
This builds a reputation. Carriers talk. They know who pays in 24 hours and who makes them wait 60 days. When a carrier knows they will be paid quickly, treated well, and communicated with honestly, they become "eager to to get our business."
This isn't just "nice." It's a profound competitive advantage.
It builds loyalty: Our regular carriers become an extension of our team.
It secures capacity: In a tight market, our partners will take our load over a higher-paying load from a broker they don't trust.
It ensures service: A carrier who feels respected is more likely to go the extra mile.
Carrier Partnerships as a Risk Mitigation Strategy
This ethos of respect is our primary defense in a volatile market. The "Tell Me Everything" podcast highlighted the extreme instability carriers face: mass CDL shutdowns, ICE checkpoints creating driver detentions, cargo theft task forces, and the constant threat of strikes.
This is the new normal. A brokerage model built on anonymous spot-market transactions is a model built to fail. When a crisis hits, you are on your own.
Our model is different. We "use a lot of regular carriers." This allows us to "have like pretty productive conversations with most of our regular carriers." They give us ground-level truth about what's happening on the road, and we work with them to navigate it.
These loyal, long-term partnerships are our defense against disruption. When a driver is "scared to get on the road," it is our history of trust and fast payment that gives them the confidence to take our load. In a market defined by risk, a strong, respectful carrier network is the only true insurance policy.
Part 3: The Cold-Chain Vetting Standard: How to Protect a $100,000 Load
In the produce niche, "claims can be a killer." The stakes are not abstract. A load of potatoes might be $16,000, but "full loads of like berries or avocados... can be over $100,000." For commodities like "strawberries... basically any the berry category," or "cherries," the product is "very perishable" and "very pricey."
A single rejection can be catastrophic. Our trust-first model requires a rigorous, multi-layered vetting process to protect that freight.
The Tech: We use tools like Carrier 411 and MyCarrierPackets to vet every carrier for insurance, authority, and safety ratings.
The "Test Load": We mitigate our risk by tiering our freight. "We don't start you off on a berry load." A new carrier's first load will be "a lower value load to start," such as "citrus... potatoes, onions, anything... that you think is a hardier item." We "test them out, see how they do," and if they track, communicate, and perform, "then we'll maybe kind of start building up our volume with them."
The "Gut Check": This is the final and most important filter. When scrambling for a Friday afternoon load, you "have to post a load on the load board." But "if it doesn't quite feel right, we just we don't do it." If emails don't match, or a phone number is off, or "you're trying to convince yourself that this carrier is going to be okay... it's probably not the right call."
The Strategic Loss: We would rather "raise the price, get a better carrier and potentially lose on that load" than risk a catastrophic failure. It's about "the long-term relationship," and as we say, "we're not going to get rich or broke off of one PO or one load." Taking a loss to secure a trusted carrier is a non-negotiable business decision to protect our customer.
Part 4: The Market – Win the Niche, Earn the Scale
You cannot be everything to everyone. New brokerages that "handle freight of all kinds" are commodities. They compete on price alone and have no defensible value.
The path to sustainable growth is to specialize.
Start with What You Know: The Shipper's Perspective
Our leadership team came from "a lot of produce background, food background, shipping, [and] logistics." We were based in the "Salinas, California area... the big produce hub."
We didn't choose the produce niche; we were the produce niche.
This gave us an immediate, unassailable advantage. We "worked in the produce industry for growers and shippers for a little over a decade." We "speak their language." We understand "the pain points and the hardships of what those people go through every day."
This experience allows our sales conversations to be "more elevated." Shippers are "bombarded all all day long" by commodity brokers who have "never even looked into anything about what that business does." When we call, we're not asking if they have freight; we're discussing how to solve their specific cold-chain challenges.
Niche Sales Strategy: Target Smart, Not Big
As Brian Leadingham noted, it's "difficult to get in with the larger companies" doing "over a billion a year in sales." They "have their guys" and are hard to penetrate.
The smarter strategy is to target "smaller, newer guys who are maybe developing their transportation department." If you "get in early," you can "build that relationship and then hopefully scale with them over the years."
Furthermore, do your homework. "Learn about the commodity, the seasonality of the commodity." Don't call an Oregon blueberry grower in December asking for loads when their season doesn't start for five months. Call them, "introduce yourself and say, 'Hey, I know you guys don't have anything... your season... starts in [Month X]'." This instantly establishes credibility.
Finally, use the tools of the trade. In the produce industry, "we have a tool called Blue Book." This tool provides "a credit rating, days to pay, [and] a loose financial status of the company." It also "work[s] as a claims mitigator." Knowing and using these niche-specific tools proves you are a serious partner, not a tourist.
Part 5: The "White Glove" Service: Tactics, Not Talk
Many brokers promise "great service." We believe in demonstrable service. Our shipper background means we provide a "white glove service" that includes "load planning, load building, [and] arranging drops in the right sequences."
This means we actively "tell... them something won't work." We have the confidence to say, "Hey, this isn't going to work... we need to tweak an appointment... so it doesn't screw up the whole rest of the load." That proactive intervention is the service.
It also means obsessive "damage control" on the small details:
The Midnight Appointment: A classic point of failure. A driver sees "12:00" and shows up at noon the next day. Our tactical solution? "Best way to do that... is put 11:45 p.m. on the date before. They're 15 minutes early for their appointment that's really at midnight." We "spell... things out" to prevent failure.
The Airbag Fiasco: Brian Leadingham shared a story of a Memorial Day weekend load of asparagus. The shipper loaded it without the required airbags, and the customer was "on a boat in a lake," unreachable for approval to restack. "You can't prevent everything," but you learn. "Now we make sure that, you know, the driver takes pictures before he takes off of the airbags, and we will not load them now without them."
This is what we mean by "service." It's not a feeling; it's a process built from years of solving real-world shipper problems.
Part 6: The Structure – Scaling People and Process Intentionally
Growth creates complexity. Every new load, new customer, and new employee adds a geometric number of new communication points and potential failure points. How you manage this complexity, how you scale your systems determines whether you grow or break.
From 1 to 12: A Staged Approach to Hiring
We didn't hire a sales team and hope for the best. We scaled our team based on specific, operational needs.
Phase 1: The Founder (Months 0-8): For the first "seven, eight months," founder Jason McArthur did it all: "getting all the business, booking all the freight, handling updates, processing stuff systemwide, tracking... it was 24/7." This is the necessary "grind" to prove the model and build the initial cash flow.
Phase 2: The Assistant (Month 8): The first hire wasn't another broker. It was an assistant. This is a critical distinction. The goal wasn't to add revenue; it was to protect service levels. As business grew, "we don't want to start making mistakes." A customer who thinks you can't handle your current volume will "why would we give you more?." The assistant provided a "second set of eyes" to maintain quality as quantity increased.
Phase 3: The Second Broker (Month 12): Only after the operational foundation was secure did we bring on another "friend in the business." We knew their work ethic and their values aligned with ours.
Phase 4: Scaling the Model: From there, we replicated the model. We are now a team of 12, including multiple brokers, their assistants, and ownership.
Hiring for Culture, Not Just a "Book of Business"
This staged approach to hiring is guided by a core philosophy. When we interview, we are not just looking for a salesperson. We are looking for a partner who fits our culture of accountability.
As Jason noted, "we know exactly what we want to ask." The primary filter "is not always about like what kind of book of business you have." Of course, that helps, "but how responsive are you?."
We hire for the intangibles that define our service:
Sense of Urgency: Do they understand that a problem left for an hour becomes a crisis?
Dedication to Answers: Will they "get answers for their customers and for their carriers"?
Do they care? As Chris Jolly asked, "How do you teach that?." You can't. "I can teach somebody everything they need to know about transportation... I can't teach them to care though." We hire for careand a culture where "the standards are so high... it's a self weeding out."
Building a Culture of "Answering the Phone"
In a 24/7 business, burnout is your biggest internal risk. We built a culture and a support system to ensure our team could be "on" when it mattered, without being "on" all the time.
The non-negotiable standard is accountability. As a founder, "if one of the brokers or assistants picks up the phone and calls me and it's 1 in the morning or 5 in the morning... I'm answering it." That is the promise of support. "You know you're there for each other... at least you're in the weeds together."
But you can't build a scalable company on 2 a.m. phone calls.
That's why we invested in an after-hours support team based in Colombia. This team is not a replacement for our brokers; it's a filter.
They handle routine track-and-trace.
They input updates into customer portals at midnight and 3 a.m.
They handle the 90% of nighttime work that is "simple track and trace and a little bit of data entry."
They escalate only true emergencies. "If something needs to be escalated, then that's when our phone will ring."
This system protects our team. It gives them "added relief" and prevents the burnout that plagues so many other brokerages. It’s an investment in retention and service quality.
The "Right" Tech Stack: Adoption > Features
"Tech debt" is as dangerous as financial debt. Many new brokers buy "shiny object" platforms they don't need and their teams don't know how to use.
We started with one TMS for almost three years. It "was all right." But as we grew, our team "collectively [was] much more familiar" with the Descartes/Aljex TMS.
We switched. Not because Aljex was "newer," but because it was better for us. Our team was "all just comfortable with it" and it was "pretty easy to show new brokers, new assistants how to how to use it."
We bundled this with the "must-haves" for a modern, accountable brokerage:
TMS: Descartes/Aljex (The "brain").
Onboarding: MyCarrierPortal (Vetting and compliance).
Tracking: MacroPoint (Visibility).
Our "tech stack" decision was driven by team adoption and process efficiency, not a features list. A tool your team loves and uses is infinitely more valuable than a "better" tool that sits on the shelf.
Part 7: The Evolution – From "Call Jason" to "Call Lone Cypress"
You start as a person. You scale as a process. You last as a brand.
For the first few years, our growth was built on personal relationships. Customers didn't call "a broker"; they called Jason, or Mark, or Cody. This is the foundation of trust. But to build a company that outlasts any one person, you must transfer that trust from the person to the brand.
This was the strategic impetus behind hiring our first marketing and brand development lead. The goal was to take all the "hard stuff" we'd proven, all the service-first processes we'd built, and all the niche expertise we had, and "put a big bow on it and blast it out there."
The strategic goal is to shift the industry's perception.
From: "I need a load moved. Call Jason."
To: "I have a complex cold-chain problem. What if the industry thought, 'Let's call Lone Cypress'?"
This is the final stage of sustainable growth. It's when your brand becomes synonymous with trust. It's what allows you to "attract new talent" and "attract customers that are interested in that touch, that care."
It's the moment your company becomes a "real company with like a actual brand and a name in the marketplace."
Conclusion: Growth as an Outcome, Not a Goal
If you chase load count, you will fail. If you chase revenue, you will burn out.
But if you build a foundation of financial discipline that lets you pay carriers fast...
And you build a culture of respect that turns those carriers into partners...
And you build niche expertise from living in the shipper's seat...
And you build scalable systems that protect your people and your service levels...
...then growth is not a goal you chase. It is the outcome you earn.
Move your perishable freight with a partner built on this blueprint.
📧 Email: sales@lonecypresslogistics.com
📞 Phone: (833) 317-5517
📍 MC Number: 1395266
Sales: Brent Walter
Join Our Team: Brian McBrayer
About the Author
Brian McBrayer is the Director of Business Development for Lone Cypress Logistics. With a proven background in sales leadership and scaling successful businesses across multiple industries, Brian is now focused on applying those same process-driven growth principles to the company's freight solutions. Connect with Brian on LinkedIn.