Podcast
The Long Haul
Hosted by FreightWaves, Adam Wingfield · EN
Adam Wingfield's podcast, "The Long Haul," focuses on assisting small trucking businesses and independent contractors. The show features interviews with industry experts and successful owner-operators, offering advice and strategies for financial success. Its target audience is anyone in the trucking industry, from those just beginning to established fleet owners. The podcast aims to provide actionable insights and encouragement to help listeners improve their businesses. Ultimately, the podcast seeks to connect trucking professionals with opportunities for growth and profitability.
19episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
65 Trucks, One Standard — How to Build an Owner-Operator Fleet That Doesn't Fall Apart
2w ago00:48:31Tap to summarizeMost carriers think their recruitment problem is a marketing problem. Post the ad. Get the calls. Fill the seat. Move on. Christian Martinez has managed over 65 owner-operators at Voyager Nation out of Mulberry, Florida — and he'll tell you straight up that recruitment is the easy part. The hard part is everything that comes after somebody signs on. He started at the bottom. Loading trucks. Warehouse operations. Port logistics. Last-mile delivery. Recruiting. Fleet acquisitions. He worked his way through nearly every level of this industry before landing in operations management — which means when he talks about why owner-operators leave, he's not guessing. He's watched it happen from every angle. The trucking industry spends millions trying to find drivers. It spends almost nothing figuring out why they leave. And most small carriers running two, three, five trucks are making the same mistakes the big fleets made twenty years ago — just on a smaller budget with less room to absorb the damage. This episode is about what actually keeps an independent contractor running your freight. Not the sign-on bonus. Not the percentage. The things that determine whether an owner-operator calls you a partner or a problem — and what that decision costs you either way. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Rock Bottom to Rockstar — The Jerry Murphy Story
3w ago00:54:39Tap to summarizeJerry Murphy has a felony on his record. He was a raging alcoholic — his words, not mine. Working part-time to drink full-time. He had his own motorcycle shop once and drank it into the ground, and he'll tell you straight up whose fault that was. Then he got sober. Six years now. He built a trucking company out of Circleville, Ohio from two trucks scraping by on the load board into an operation his drivers call home. And this past June, he closed on something most small carriers only talk about — he bought a trucking company that's been running for 40 years, from an owner who chose Jerry over every bigger check he could've taken, because he trusted Jerry to take care of his people. But here's what nobody watching from the outside knew. While that deal was sitting in limbo, Jerry lost his brother. And the man who had rebuilt his whole life found himself in the darkest place he'd been since he put the bottle down. Sleeping past his alarm for the first time in years. Walking away from the jiu-jitsu classes he loved to teach. Carrying something he couldn't name. He didn't drink. Not once. He didn't even think about it. Months later, he signed the papers on the biggest move of his life.This is a conversation about what rock bottom actually looks like, what it takes to climb out more than once, and why the hardest fight isn't building the business — it's believing you deserve what you built. If you're carrying something right now and telling everybody you're fine, this episode is for you. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
From the Inside Out — How Trucking Became the Way Back
Jul 900:45:54Tap to summarizeDebon Sims — DJ — got his CDL in 2018 and bought his first semi-truck in 2019 after getting out of a lease-purchase program. What the intake form doesn't say is what came before that.DJ has been incarcerated. He knows what it feels like to have the system count you out. He also knows what it feels like to decide that the count doesn't matter. He landed an Amazon contract early on. Lost it. Spent years grinding load boards and chasing freight that barely covered his costs. And then three years ago he did something most carriers only talk about — he walked away from broker dependency and secured a direct waste-hauling contract that changed not just his revenue, but how he sees the entire business. This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build something when the world has already decided what you are. About treating trucking like a business when everybody around you is treating it like a job. About finding consistent freight in an industry that makes you earn every relationship you get. If you've ever been told you were done — by a system, by a market, by a bad decision — this episode is for you. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Factoring, Lifeline Or Trap?
Jun 1800:54:06Tap to summarizeFactoring might be the most argued-about topic in small carrier Facebook groups. Half the comments say it saved their business. The other half say it nearly destroyed it. And everybody's got a story about a contract they didn't read closely enough, a reserve they couldn't get back, or a fee they didn't see coming until it was too late. The frustration is real. And it's earned. But here's the part that doesn't get talked about honestly — a lot of carriers who hate factoring don't hate factoring. They hate the decision they made around it. The company they chose. The contract they signed without understanding. The moment they confused having cash in their account with actually being ahead. Ivan Martinez and George McWilliams have spent years on the other side of that conversation. Between them they've worked with owner-operators and small fleets across every kind of market condition — the freight boom, the recession, the recovery happening right now. George grew up around trucking. This industry isn't abstract to him. Ivan has watched carriers use factoring to grow and watched others use it as a band-aid over a cash flow problem that was bigger than any factoring arrangement could fix. Today we're not here to sell anything. We're here to have the conversation most people avoid — what factoring actually is, where the industry went wrong, what the legitimate criticisms are, and what every small carrier needs to understand before they sign anything. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Success Starts With Better Decisions
Jun 1101:00:20Tap to summarizeThousands of people enter trucking every year looking for a better future. Many are chasing freedom. Some are trying to build wealth. Others are leaving careers they have spent decades building in hopes of creating something of their own. Some make it. Many don't. In this episode, Adam sits down with Victor "Bigg Vic" Newton, founder of Bigg Vic TV and one of the most recognized voices in trucking entrepreneurship. Before trucking, Vic spent 28 years as a barber, building relationships, serving customers and mastering a trade. Then he made a decision many people only talk about — he bet on himself and started over. Nearly six years later, he has experienced the highs of great-paying freight, the lows of expensive repairs, the challenges of building a small fleet and the reality of operating in one of the toughest industries in America. But this conversation is not really about trucks. It is about ownership. It is about accountability. It is about the decisions that separate the people who survive from the people who quit. Over the years, Vic has built an audience of more than 100,000 subscribers by challenging some of the most common beliefs in trucking. From chasing load boards and buying trucks too early to blaming brokers, rates and market conditions, he argues that many of the problems carriers face start long before they ever book a load. This is not the social media version of trucking. This is the real version. The version where cash flow matters, mistakes are expensive, discipline beats motivation and success often comes down to how you think when things are not going your way. If you are an owner-operator, small fleet owner or entrepreneur trying to build something that lasts, this conversation will challenge the way you think about trucking, business and yourself. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Why Most Small Carriers Never Touch Military Freight
May 2800:50:53Tap to summarizeMilitary freight is one of the most misunderstood corners of trucking. Most owner-operators hear about Department of Defense freight and immediately assume: it’s impossible to access, only big fleets can get it, or the system is too complicated to understand. But the reality is deeper than that. In this episode of The Long Haul Podcast, Adam sits down with Philip Nenadov, CEO of Military Freight Consultants, to break down how military freight actually works, why the system operates under a completely different standard, and what small carriers misunderstand most about getting involved. This conversation digs into: Why military freight demands tighter compliance Why most carriers struggle to qualify The difference between transactional freight and trusted freight How the DoD views risk and carrier accountability Why discipline matters more than truck count And what the broader trucking industry can learn from military logistics This is not a sales episode. It’s a real discussion about standards, structure, and what separates professional carriers from everyone else. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Freight Doesn’t Kill Most Carriers — Cash Flow Does
May 2100:31:00Tap to summarizeMost trucking companies don’t fail because freight disappears. They fail because cash flow breaks first. In this episode of The Long Haul Podcast, Adam sits down with Michael Bunton to discuss one of the most overlooked realities in trucking:cash flow management. Michael’s background is unique — from professional baseball with the Chicago Cubs organization to human performance coaching before entering transportation finance and working directly with small carriers across the Southeast. This conversation breaks down: Why profitable carriers still go out of business The dangerous cash flow cycle many small fleets ignore Why emotional decision-making destroys margins The hidden operational costs small carriers overlook What owner-operators misunderstand about factoring And why discipline matters more than revenue This episode is not about promoting factoring. It’s about understanding how trucking businesses survive. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
The Trucking Industry Didn’t Break Overnight
May 1401:05:25Tap to summarizeEverybody wants somebody to blame. Brokers. ELDs. Immigration. Mega carriers. The government. The spot market. But what if the problems facing trucking today go much deeper than social media talking points? In this episode of The Long Haul Podcast, Adam sits down with Stephen Ruhe — third-generation trucking operator, Navy veteran, brokerage leader, and trucking history enthusiast — to break down how outdated regulations, industry evolution, and a lack of accountability continue shaping modern trucking today. This conversation dives into: Why modern trucking problems didn’t start in 1980 How old regulations still impact carriers today Why social media oversimplifies complex industry issues The relationship between brokers and carriers Why relationships still matter more than technology And why small carriers fail when they spend more time blaming than adapting This episode isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about understanding how we got here. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Most Small Carriers Sound the Same — And That’s the Problem
May 700:38:55Tap to summarizeMany small carriers think they have a driver problem. They don’t. They have a messaging problem… a positioning problem… and a clarity problem. In this episode of The Long Haul Podcast, Adam sits down with Elijah Cramer — who built his career inside driver recruiting before moving into tech and working directly with carriers to improve hiring and retention This conversation breaks down: Why driver recruiting is still broken for small fleets What drivers actually care about vs what carriers think they care about Why “we treat drivers like family” isn’t working anymore How small fleets can compete without big budgets And how to fix your hiring problem without wasting money If you’re struggling to hire or keep drivers… this one is going to challenge how you think. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →
Buying the Truck Is the Easy Part — Running the Business Is Where Carriers Fail
Apr 3000:49:40Tap to summarizeEveryone wants to own a truck. Very few understand what comes after. In this episode of The Long Haul Podcast, Adam sits down with Pamela Polyak — a third-generation transportation owner who took over her family’s asset-based operation at the start of 2020 and has spent years helping small carriers navigate compliance, operations, and growth This conversation breaks down: Why most new authorities are unprepared for what ownership actually requires The massive gap in back-office knowledge The compliance mistakes that quietly shut carriers down The difference between driving a truck and running a company And what it really takes to build something that lasts If you think owning a truck means you’re running a business… this episode will challenge that. Follow The Long Haul Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows
Transcribe →