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Hello again! We are back! As you may have noticed, it has been a couple of months since our last newsletter. And while we have slowed down All May Prosper Logistics for these last few months, the business is still running, and we are working on accelerating forward once more! However, when I was thinking through some of the reasons for the slowdown and the journey our company has gone through since we started it last summer, I was reminded of how even when things don’t go as planned, they can still work out for our good. And that hopeful approach to life (and business) is the topic I will be exploring today!

New Year’s resolutions. We’ve all heard of them. Most of us have tried to make one. Some may even have a yearly tradition of doing so. But as everyone knows, the hope of these resolutions outlasting the four seasons, let alone just getting through the cold month of January, is slim. Now you could point to many valid reasons for this, and certainly the culture surrounding these resolutions is not helping anything, but if you strip away all of the failed gym memberships and other jokes surrounding these half-baked goals, it does seem like the concept of New Year’s resolutions is rooted in wisdom. Growth is important, and the New Year offers a great opportunity to step back, reflect on our current situation, and create plans for where we want to be. However, how we make these plans (and what informs them) is an essential ingredient that we often overlook, which is why we will be focusing on it today.

I once heard the story of a man whose life was changed by hope. Not much is known about his youth, but what we do know indicates it was not pleasant. Abandoned at boarding school during the holidays, he experienced the loneliness of watching all of the other children rush home to the loving arms of their families while he alone remained. It seems his father was distant, unkind, and unapproachable for much of his younger years. And although there are indications that this may have changed over time, the seeds of suffering were sown. Yet in the midst of those early years of poverty, there were moments of hope, of joy. He had not yet lost sight of the beauty of humanity. In the childlikeness of his little sister he found love and laughter. In his first boss he experienced someone who could fill others’ hearts with gratitude. He still saw goodness in the world.

One of the primary goals of our brokerage is that all may prosper. It is literally our name. Obviously, profit matters. It is fundamental to the operation of a business. But we believe that chasing profit beyond all else and at the expense of other parties only leads to long-term harm to all involved. For example, if brokerage firms were to take such a large margin that the carriers they work with struggled to survive, eventually these carriers may have to shut down, leaving brokerage firms, the transportation industry, and society as a whole in a worse condition. Now, obviously, there are a multitude of complexities in business that this simple example does not account for, but the point still stands that commerce is inherently relational, and we who are involved in transactions of any kind are dependent on the success of others.