Heavy Haul, High Standards: Desmond Clark on Creating a Logistics Company That Dominates
- Rise25 webmaster@rise25media.com
- 2 days ago
- 35 min read
Desmond Clark is the Founder and President of Bear Down Logistics, a third-party brokerage that offers dispatching and warehousing solutions. After a successful 12-year NFL career, he became a global motivational speaker, accountability coach, two-time published author, and podcaster. Before founding Bear Down Logistics, Desmond was a Co-owner and Partner at The Insurance People, a full-service agency that assists businesses and families in securing various types of insurance. His mission is to share his life lessons, cultivate meaningful relationships, and create value for others.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[5:35] Why Desmond Clark ventured into the logistics industry
[9:12] How a Bears fan’s outreach on LinkedIn led Desmond to launch Bear Down Logistics
[16:35] Desmond talks about navigating the heavy haul industry and how he structures his company
[24:50] The lessons Desmond learned from the NFL that he applies to his business
[31:50] Desmond’s mental strategy for pushing through fatigue and pain during the NFL season
[35:39] What are the five keys to creating a standard of excellence?
[43:09] How Bear Down Logistics reflects Desmond’s personal DNA and leadership style
In this episode…
Breaking into a new industry with no prior experience can feel like a leap of faith, especially when you must pivot unexpectedly. How can you adapt and embrace opportunities for reinvention and growth?
Former NFL tight end and motivational speaker Desmond Clark transitioned from the football field to founding a fast-growing logistics company. With no background in the industry, Desmond leaned into curiosity, relationship-building, and a high-performance mindset developed during his sports career. He emphasizes the importance of building authentic connections through his “FORD” sales approach, focusing on family, occupation, recreation, and dreams. By building a meaningful personal brand, committing to consistent excellence, and remaining self-motivated through purpose-driven goals, you can build a career and life from scratch.
Tune in to this episode of The Tao of Pizza Podcast as Mark Hiddleson interviews Desmond Clark, Founder of Bear Down Logistics, about high-performance leadership and relationship-driven sales. Desmond shares how a LinkedIn connection led to a new career, his company’s niche in heavy haul logistics, and how he built a broker-agent model.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. contact phone: 707-732-3892
Mark Hiddleson's email: markhiddleson@aol.com
Principles of Winning: 5 Keys to Create a Standard of Excellence by Desmond Clark
“[Athlete Entrepreneur Series] NFL Player’s Winning Formula for Business Success With Desmond Clark” on Inspired Insider
Quotable Moments:
“Success doesn’t give a damn about your feelings — only about whether you meet the standard.”
“If I can make you like being around me, you’ll find ways to interact more.”
“Anybody can do it when they’re fresh. What happens when you're tired, frustrated, and sore?”
“Be more inquisitive to see how they came to those opinions instead of judging the differences.”
“You are the business. That’s not just your work — that’s your brand, your standard, your value.”
Action Steps:
Build authentic relationships before making business asks: Starting with a genuine connection fosters trust and long-term collaboration over transactional pitches. People are more likely to help and refer you when they feel seen and valued.
Define your personal brand and values: Knowing what your name and words represent helps guide decisions and strengthens your professional reputation. It also sets a clear standard others can count on.
Develop a niche expertise in your industry: Specializing in a challenging or underserved area distinguishes your business from competitors and attracts higher-value clients. It signals credibility and mastery to your market.
Use the Ford method in conversations: Talking about family, occupation, recreation, and dreams builds rapport and surfaces meaningful connections. This framework deepens engagement and leads to better opportunities.
Set and uphold a standard of excellence: Excellence comes from consistently executing details with care over time, not just during moments of inspiration. Maintaining high standards daily is what separates top performers from the rest.
Sponsor for this episode:
This episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions Inc.
Listen...
I have been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades. I know I don’t look that old, but it's true.
We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide.
So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs Rack, Shelving, Carts, Conveyors, or Mezzanines, we help with....design engineering, installations, inspections, and repairs to help clients optimize their logistics operations.
Sometimes people don’t even realize that we can actually help with permit acquisition services.
We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continually improving your operation.
To learn more, visit specialracks.com or give us a call at (707) 732-3892. One of the best ways to learn more about our products and services is to follow us on Instagram. And there’s a link on our website to do that.
I will even give you my personal email address for podcast listeners, so email me at markhiddleson@aol.com if you’re ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:01
Welcome to The Tao of Pizza, where we feature top logistics leaders, entrepreneurs and supply chain innovators and share their inspiring stories with a holistic twist.
Mark Hiddleson 0:14
Mark Hiddleson here, host of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, where I talk with top industry innovators in the warehousing, logistics, and supply chain business with a holistic twist. And before I introduce today's guest, Desmond Clark, this episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions. And listen, I've been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades, which either means I started when I was in kindergarten, or I've just aged really well. We provide industry-leading storage solutions nationwide. So basically, if you have a warehouse that these rack shelving, carts, conveyors, or mezzanines, we help with the design, engineering, installations, inspections and repairs to help our clients optimize their logistics operations. And Desmond, it's funny, sometimes people don't even realize we can actually help with Permit Acquisition Service. Yeah, that's right. We deal with the red tape so you don't have to. We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continue improving your operation. To learn more. Visit specialracks.com or give us a call. 707-732-3892. And just for podcast listeners. I'll even give you my personal email Markhiddleson@aol.com, yes, I still use AOL, and I'm proud of it. If you're ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level, drop me a line and I got one more. I have to give a shout-out for Jeremy Weisz. Dr Jeremy Weisz of Rise25 introduced me to Desmond, and Rise25 specializes in helping clients reach and make a contribution to their top 200 business relationships and strategic partners. So check out the episode with on Jeremy's podcast, the Inspired Insider, and check out their website. So today, we're joined by Desmond Clark, a former Chicago Bear great who played eight seasons with the Bears and 12 in the NFL overall. In college, Desmond was a standout wide receiver at Wake Forest University. He finished his collegiate career as the school's all time leader in receptions and receiving yards. Desmond was a consistent performer in the ACC, earning all-conference honors and displaying the athleticism and hands that would later define his NFL career. His impressive production and versatility at Wake Forest helped him transition to tight end in the NFL, where he continued to excel. He has since transitioned as an entrepreneur, leading his company Bear Down Logistics to dominate in the heavy and oversized, dimensional hauling space, all the while following his passion to inspire others to accomplish their greatness as a highly sought-after international motivational speaker and author, Desmond, welcome to The Tao of Pizza.
Desmond Clark 2:57
Hey, what's going on? Mark, how you doing? Man, good. Hold on. Before we get started with anything else, we got to address this whole AOL thing, man, like you say, I still use AOL, and I'm proud of it. That's something that you guys say, I still use AOL. Don't judge me,
Mark Hiddleson 3:16
All right, don't so I do. I have a business I'm using AOL for for certain projects, I have transitioned to business because clients have told me, If you don't have a domain that matches. So now I have market special racks Comm, and always give that one out, because that's kind of streamline check the AOL, because there's a lot of people been doing this for a long time, and so a lot of people don't have my new email. And so I go through all those spams and everyone, and I just got hacked on AOL to the thing, the bad thing about AOL is, is it's easy, you know, somebody got a it was an invitation, and it looked like it was coming for me. And so I got a lot of text saying, hey, is this real? I had to say, No, it's not just delete it. But yeah, that
Desmond Clark 3:58
happens, man, I remember it was Clark catching them at AOL, and it was Clark catch the letter N, E, M, at AOL. I wish I remember my password. I probably got a bunch of emails still in there, but can't remember my password. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 4:14
yeah. Back in the day, I got a little it was they used to give out CDs at Target, and you could just plug it into your computer, and it downloaded all the AOL operating system and everything else, so that, like, I really thought,
Desmond Clark 4:30
hopefully we don't have anybody under 25 years old watching this, because they're gonna be like, What in the hell are they talking about?
Mark Hiddleson 4:38
Yeah, it's true. My youngest is 21 and he was caught in a conversation saying, What's a cassette?
Desmond Clark 4:46
Exactly, exactly, pretty soon it's gonna be, what? What was the CD? What? What is that?
Mark Hiddleson 4:51
Yeah, so, so does I want to start out with, uh, with, with a couple quick questions about the NFL. Know that you're pumped about about your new business? Well, first of all, I offered the guys on our team know that you're coming on. So I said, Hey, if you guys come up with a good question, I'll ask it on the interview. So there's one I want to ask in the beginning, from Tony catano, was one of our top associates. He said, What was it that made you get into the logistics? Or what specifically made you choose logistics? Was there a financial incentive, or was there another goal or or something you could see you could fulfill something else through this business?
Desmond Clark 5:35
Yeah. So first of all, it was the pandemic. If it wasn't for the pandemic, I probably wouldn't be in logistics right now. And here's why I had in in 2019 I was still in the insurance and financial industry, but I was like, Man, I want to do something different. I want to go out and do what I'm called to do. So I started writing my book principles of winning at the time, and I know talk about that a little later, in 2020 I'm going to get out here and I'm just going to inspire the world, um, I believe everybody have greatness, and that was one of the things I wanted to help everybody recognize their own greatness and also do leadership development, right? And then the pandemic hit. So it wiped out all of the speaking. And I was speaking a little bit before this, but this was me saying, Okay, I'm gonna make this into a business. This is what I'm gonna do full-time. Pandemic hit wiped all of that out. Um, so for a year, year and a half, I was just kind of floating, trying to figure I was doing a little bit of speaking via Zoom, because that became real big, but it wasn't nearly the money and the exposure and everything that you that I was planning on. So the summer of 2021 someone hit me from LinkedIn, they are Bears fan. He had just started his logistics company earlier that year, and it was booming, and he said, Hey, maybe you could come over and help me build my company, because you're a good marketer. So two or three months into the conversation, after being at his office and learning about logistics, because I nothing about logistics, like he said, logistics, I was like, What? What the hell is that? Um, but I got caught up really quick, and in those two or three months, I kind of fell in love with I was like, oh my god, this is a business, and I like the way that they did their business. They showed me all the processes mess, and you know how to do bridge and move, move, containers, and all of this stuff. And I say, You know what, I don't necessarily want to work for you. I think I want to build a business on my own. And I say, if I do not go into drayage, which that was his niche, would you help me build my own business? And he said, Yes. So if you look at my logo and go and look up Dre depot, d r, a y depot in Chicago, Illinois. It's almost identical. I did everything that he told me to do. I also made my logo almost identical to his pattern color, because he was my early morning. That's how I got into it, by accident, by somebody just reaching out. He was the Bears fan. We started talking. He gave me the proposition to come in with him. And I kind of pivoted and said, I actually like this. Would you help me build my own business?
Mark Hiddleson 8:32
Nice and what? So share a little bit. So it's a I love. I call it when something is gets all screwed up. I like to call it an opportunity. Yeah, I mean, you had this business plan of speaking engagement, author speaking, and so you had a business plan financially, and when that didn't work out, you were looking for something, and it was so the other thing I like about that somebody reached out to you on LinkedIn. I get pitched a lot on LinkedIn, and I'm even thinking about doing a post of like, how to pitch me on LinkedIn. What was it something about that, that that smell, something about the request that made it stand out from other pitches on Yeah, it
Desmond Clark 9:12
had nothing to do with a pitch at all. It was he responded to one of my LinkedIn posts, okay, said that he was a big Bears fan. We exchanged a couple back and forth, like, Hey, man, would love to connect with you one day and talk. So it was really more so of him kind of building like a virtual relationship. For saying, hey, let's, let's get on the phone. Because if you came and to say, hey, I want you to come help me build my business. I've been like, dude, like, I don't even know you. So it wasn't that, it was more so he just, he just showed appreciation for a few of my posts. And that's how we started talking back and forth. And then, you know, Bears fan this that No. There. Hey, have you ever thought about logistics? No, I don't even know what is logistics. And that's how the conversation started. Nice.
Mark Hiddleson 10:06
So he started a conversation. So I love that, because you're like me, because I did, you know, some research to do this interview. And so like to me, I feel like there's enough about me out there that if you're going to pitch me do a little homework. Like, that's my thing. I love homework. And so it sounds like he did it, and he reached out following the post. And then, because he also, like, not everybody, like, I see your posts, and then I'm like, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, all the things you write about, not everyone is in that lane, right, right? So if they're reading it and identifying that, is great. I love that.
Desmond Clark 10:41
And here's the thing about it, it was it was authentic and it was organic, right? I don't think that he first came at me with the thought process of, he'll be somebody good to go and try to bring it into the organization. I think it was more so do I love that post. I can identify with that post. Hey, tell me more about whatever that was. How did you get into that situation that's and it just started off with conversation like that. S That's the best sales approach. If you ask me, when I was in the industry, I ought to have had a conversation. You acronym called Ford, and this, this has been, become my sales method. And I was just reason I was two minutes late getting on the phone call with you, because I was teaching somebody this. And Ford is an acronym for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and dreams, right? And if you can have conversation where you encompa, where you encompass all of those things, you just had a really meaningful conversation. But it's not a fake conversation, not checking Oh spot families. Let me check that out. Well, we talked about occupations. So yesterday, one of the guys who I knew, I said, Hey, man, Can I record this conversation as training I we know each other, but I want to show people I have my conversations. It's like, Sure. And so always open up my conversation with, Hey, I called you because I want to ask you for some help specifically. Do you know people in certain industries to help me to grow my business? But before we get into that, I say the last time we talked, which was a year ago, you were going to another job. How did that turn out? So right away, I got into the occupation. And he talked for five, six minutes. And, of course, he asked me about my occupation. And then now we go into, I man, so I, I know you're working hard, but are you still golfing? Um, I know the last time we told you it was like a a water ski person. Are you still doing so now, recreation, right? Yeah. So alright, now we talk about and whatever it is. And so do you had a two year old daughter, I forgot her name. What's her name again? How is she doing? How's the rest of the family doing? And now we're talking about family. You know. Have y'all taken any, like, meaningful trips, anything? And now that you had this company, you know, so what's, what's the outlook on, on this now, for your new company? Now we're talking about dreams and goals at the end, and if, and if you have a comment, you have real, meaningful conversation, like I say, it's not check boxes. You have to really be interested in other people. And now, you know, if we having a 30-minute conversation at that conversation, I'll say, Well, Mark, I told you at the beginning of conversation I was calling to ask for your help. You might mind if I go transition into that Sure. Hey. So you know, I've been doing better than logistics for the last years now, and we are really kicking ass in heavy haul, and I'm trying to grow the business as much as possible. But the way that I'm doing it is by reaching out to my contacts and letting you guys put me in places, by introducing you to a few, introducing me to a few people, and then I go through my client profile and say, Hey, these are the type of people I'm looking to be connected to. Would you know one, two or three people in these industries? Boom? Yes, no, maybe. So yeah, but if they say no, I try not to leave off the phone with a commitment, because if you don't know anybody in those industries, you know somebody that's worthwhile, that's high level that I probably could talk to, that I could benefit from, just as a human right, introduce me to that person if you have nobody else. And so now I'm building my network in these specific industries, and it's not about who can you put me in contact to that needs my services right now? No, just put me in the industry. And as I continue to build out my network in the industry, when those opportunities arise, they'll come back, because I'll plant the seed, and I'll say, Hey, if you ever need heavy haul or oversized dimension or hauling for your company, you know, would you give me a call? Absolutely, yeah. And then just leave it at that. And if we go into a deeper conversation because they want to know more, then great, right? But it's a way of selling without pitching people. Is like, if I can make you like me, if I can make you say, Man, I really like being around Desmond. I really enjoy the conversations that I have with Desmond. Guess what? They're going to find more ways so we can have more interactions. And one of those ways may be, hey, I have needs. Let me give those to Desmond, because I like interacting with him. Yeah, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 16:01
And we've got some leads we're I was thinking about before we came on the so what are some of those industries? Because we're, like almost everybody, we deal with warehouse logistic. Everybody is using, and I noticed you mentioned heavy haul. You're trying to dominate the heavy haul industry. But I looked your website, you're doing a flatbed, you're doing containers, you're doing a van, and you got to think for a free quote. So share a little bit industries, why heavy Hall is a niche, and what are some of the other businesses or industries that you want to network and be connected? Right? I'll
Desmond Clark 16:35
tell you why heavy Hall has become our calling card. Is because everybody can do it the right way. Right? It's easier just to put something in a drive in is, you know, you got your pallets and you stack them in there, great, right? But when it comes to heavy haul, and knowing how to go out and be full service, go out and get the cranes and have the people to come and disassemble those huge as machines, and be able to load them on on those trailers the right way, and go out and find these specialized trailers with 15 axles on it right and being able to know how to rig things the right way so 300,000 pounds can be lifted up into the air, and then it could be eased down on the back of that trailer to go and get all the permits and know if you need to call the California Highway Patrol for escorting, because we have a super load knowing all of these little details. Not everybody can do that, not everybody is willing to do that. But you know what? There is more money into that, and so we can do less volume and still have great revenue, and then the margins are bigger in that also, I've come to find so over the last year. That's why we said, You know what, let's let us do us hard, and let that be the reason why people call us. But we can do everything we can. We can move to drive in stuff. We can move the box truck and the flatbed stuff, but we want to be known for the heavy haul, because I think by doing that, we just show a greater level of expertise in what we do. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 18:17
and so the vertical. And so that's a great I love a niche, right? And so it's not a commodity like trucking. And we do, we get calls from logistics companies, at least I do every day. I don't know if you want me to say the name, but there's one, and I've talked to friends are like, yeah, they call me every day, man,
Desmond Clark 18:34
so, so TQL, which one? Which one is it? It's TQL
Mark Hiddleson 18:38
you did on the first I knew. I'm like, This guy, know I can bring it up and need three messages because my voice of my voicemail gets full because I got 10 messages for teeq up. Yeah, right. So, so you're going for like, Hey, we're the best at this. It's not easy. I mean, our business is a lot the same way. And this is what Ryan mentioned, the permits. Like, that's part of my advertising. Like, we deal with the permit, so you don't have to, right? And so are you looking to grow in all of those other areas at the same time?
Speaker 1 19:09
Absolutely. So to work with, set up as a company, right? We, I have all broker agents, so I don't have any employees, and all of those guys, they they sign exclusively to be a broker agent for bear down logistics, right? Those agents, they can build their businesses the way that they see fit. I have agents that are proficient in different things, right? Um, one of my agents, he does all show freight, like all the freight that's in the convention centers and all that setup. He specializes in that, and that has a lot a lot of intricacies. Also, we have people that just do flatbed right so they can, they can do it however they see fit. My job on the back end for Better Down Logistics is to make sure that they have all of the necessary resources to go out and build their book of business. You. So when they bring in opportunities to move freight and they put it on the board, now me and my team on and my broker agents, I look at them as my business partners, right? But my team on the back end, once they put those opportunities on the board to move freight, we make sure it up. We make sure everything is communicated. We make sure all the paperwork is done. We make sure all the tracking and tracing is is done for our agents, and it gets delivered. And then once it's delivered, my team make sure all of the pods and the paperwork and the Bols, all that stuff is signed. We get the invoices. We invoice that stuff and get them paid. That's what we do, and that's why I see my broker agents, our business partners, right? Because they have that, that front office of the business, where they're going out and they're bringing business in, and once they bring it in, it's my job to make sure it gets executed. And so they have one part of the business, I have the other part of the business, and we work well like that, and my job support them and give them all of the necessary tools and resources and back office support so they can just go out and bring in more and more and more. So we dominate in a lot of different areas. So there's so we're not Jeremy Hall drive in flatbed. We all that business, but as you know, we have to be known for something, and that's the heavy Hall.
Mark Hiddleson 21:36
Yeah, that's a great that's a great niche. So transitioning a little bit the this logistics business, I know that you're talking so we have, uh, I've worked with somebody, and I'm a relationship guy. I'm like, like, you said, if I like somebody, I'm going to do business with them. We had a broker that we used for years, and she wasn't very good, but I really, really like
Desmond Clark 22:01
Hold on, Mark, we had this broker for years, and she very good.
Mark Hiddleson 22:09
Yeah, I liked her. And she, you know, was she took care and she was a partner. I mean, that was like, so she would take a lot of employees either, but she would do the follow up, you know, call the customer, make sure they got a forklift there, because there's, like, a lot of people don't really like the same we have around here is the trucks don't load themselves. You gotta go in there. It's like, Do I need an appointment? Who's gonna load me? Do they have the right equipment? Is everything set aside? Is there a bill of lading? And she was just like, I said, I loved her to death. We were personal friends, and so we just kind of dealt with the mistakes. Like one time we we had a cash transaction, and the driver showed up, and they didn't know if they were supposed to give the cash to a driver, but was just a somebody you know, broker, and they ended up giving this guy, like, $6,000 in cash. And I call and I said, Mariko, I go, why did they give the cash in like, I'm coming at 430 to pick up the cash. Why did they give the cash? And her answer was, she goes, Well, he didn't know where he was going, and he didn't speak English. I was like, he didn't know
Desmond Clark 23:16
where he's going. The reason why you don't give him the cash? And she goes,
Mark Hiddleson 23:21
Well, now he's going to be mad because he has to turn around. I'm like, I'm sorry if he's mad, but come on. So yeah. Now what do
Desmond Clark 23:29
you want to be mad the the driver or the person that's that's giving you the opportunity to keep making money? Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 23:35
so we did transition. We found somebody who's really good, and it makes a difference the freight who you deal with in free so I'm excited to learn more about your company. I've been to the website, and we're going to be using you on some stuff, but share a little bit about and this I get a little too excited about. It was up to me. We would just be talking about football, and all our family were football geeks. So I'm going to put a link to that, the highlight thing in the in the show notes, so people can watch it, but share a little bit about how, like, I would say, I know, I don't know what kind of work it takes to be in the NFL, but obvious is a very high expectancy, level of yourself, commitment, like, what are some of the things lessons you learned getting into the NFL. Stay in the NFL. The transition into business.
Desmond Clark 24:27
Mind. If I throw something right back at you and have you answer that first, yeah, so you are at the top of the stack when it comes to the storage business, like you're the top 1% at what you do, right? Yeah. What did it take for you to become top 1% at what you do? Mark, well,
Mark Hiddleson 24:50
it started with I had to have that as a goal. Like, if I didn't want to get in the top percent, I wouldn't have done all the things I did, but I would. It was first of all finding people who had already done that. So I looked for mentors in my industry who were where I wanted to be. I I practiced a lot. I rehearsed with that. I role play with people on phone calls. I've donated my time outside, and I really done everything I can to build my network, build myself and show up. Like when people call me, they know they're getting a certain experience. It's going to be maybe it's going to be fun, maybe it's going to be challenging, but they know when, when, when all the chips are down, how I'm going to show up. And so it's just been consistently and consistently getting better. I mean, it's kind of embarrassed, like I said, I've been doing this for 30 years. I'm still getting better. And there's mistakes I make that's goofy, you know, so, you know, I would say that's it. First of all, starting that I want to be the best. I mean, I want people to just call me. When they think of racking, shelving, conveyors, mezzanines, they'll just think of me and go, This is my guy, and right? So I've tried to execute daily. And the other big part of to me being the 1% is I've been able to spend time with my family, my community. One of the things I'm most proud of is coaching. I've coached a lot of youth sports, you know, from like eight years old to 13 years old. And I always thought I was giving back to the community doing that, but those things made me a way better professional. You know, you get 1415, eight-year-olds out there, and you got to keep them busy for an hour. The skill set that takes elevate so they're all the little things kind of add up to to how right now, so and then, would you say that you were willing to more, put in more time, more effort than a lot of the people that over the 30 years you've seen come and go or and I don't mean this in a bad way, you've overtaken, taken position. Positions from some people because you put in more effort, more time, more dedication, more focus to your craft than they did. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot. And even people have been in the business longer than I have. I have, it's a lot that I have. Yeah, exactly, yeah.
Desmond Clark 27:21
And so the reason why I asked you that question is because it's no different in in any industry or any kind of vertical profession, right? The only way that I able to get an athlete, first of all, I wanted to do it just like you want it to be great. You know, some people, they play ball in Little League and in high school and college because it's fun, right? Because, you know, I just enjoy the game. No, once I got to high school, my mindset was, I got to get a I got to get a scholarship. Like that was my goal. I have to be good enough to get a scholarship. And being good enough in Lakeland, Florida, in Polk County, Florida, whereas a hotbed of athletes yeah, I had to be one of the best, right? So that was my mind. And then once I got to college, you know, I looked around and I and I say, Okay, well, I want to, I want to be on the team, and I want to be a starter. And then when I looked in now, I'm a starter, and I say, Okay, now I look in ACC, can I compete with the best in ACC? Okay, now compete with the best in ACC. I want to be one of the top guys in ACC, and by the time I graduate, I'm all time leading receiver in the ACC, just like you said you you say, Okay, I want to be in that, in that mentioned in that category. That was my thought process. I wanted to be mentioned in that category. So I gotta go into work. And that's the thing, are you willing to do the work to be in that category where the best of the best are? And that's where a lot of people separate, you know, yeah, everybody want to, but who's willing to do the work and not and it goes beyond that, because sometimes people are willing to do it. Sometimes people are even willing to do it most of the time. But who is committed to doing it all the time? That commitment level? Those are the people that get to to the top right, yeah, and, and there's other people that, you know, they may get to the top, and they may get there and boom, then they're gone, right? Yeah, I tell this all the time, Mark, I'm not fast, I'm not big, and I'm not strong, especially to play tight end. I'm I'm barely six three. I was, I was just over 200 in the NFL. 12. And when I went to the combine, I lifted 225, 12 times. High school people can do
Mark Hiddleson 30:05
that, right? So how many times can you do it right now? Probably
Desmond Clark 30:11
Probaly not even 12 right now. I don't lift heavy anymore.
Mark Hiddleson 30:16
Yeah, it's not a good idea. It was just
Desmond Clark 30:19
that commitment level to practice my craft, right? Wasn't worried about how good I am now. How much better can I be after I practice?
Mark Hiddleson 30:33
Yeah, and that's what I mean, a 12 year career, and then if I leave, the average is like three years. Yeah, that means a lot of people are less than that. So if there's somebody Yeah, you're a 12 someone is like a point to to average that, I mean, yeah, so and all those lessons transfer into business, right? So there was a question I was going to ask you at the end. This is my youngest son. Is 21 and he listened to the podcast he did with Jeremy, and they read it reminds me the article, so that I love that LinkedIn post, because one of them was like, take action even when you don't feel like it. And that's what you're saying. Like things are going good. A lot of people are all in, man, I'm here. Attitude, good. But what happens when the fertilizer hits the ventilator or you're tired or you don't, you know? So Drake's question was, I wrote these down so you get what's your mental game plan in week 16, when your body hurts and it hurts to walk down the stairs, that's what he heard he say in the podcast and and it's up to you. You got to show up at 100% so I thought that was a great question, because it kind of wins to what you saying. Like everybody week two, week three before. How about week 16? When it hurts?
Desmond Clark 31:50
I was out practicing with my son. He wants to play basketball now. I was like, Alright, we got to get to work. We got to get better. We got to get the basics, and we got to learn how to really shoot the ball. Got to learn how to use our left hand on layups and that type of thing. One of the things that I've always taught him is how they can do it when they're fresh. Anybody can do it when they're not tired. I tell him all the time I'm all over your ass when we're doing stuff, because I want to wear you out. I want to have you mentally and physically fatigue. Now let's get to work, because that's when you're going to make your improvements. We were driving up to, up to this training yesterday. I was like, Okay, once you get tired, that's when you hit your lamp, your lamp, your limit. Right now, can you push past being tired and keep giving it 100% now you increase limit. That's how you get better. But to answer the question directly for me, is just it's a standard you standard, like too, too many people, especially today. Oh, well, my feelings. Well, I don't give a damn about feelings and success. Don't give a damn about your feelings, right? Success only is going to measure you by the standard. And if you're not willing to pay for a price by what the standard is and what is going to dictate for you to be at the level that you want to be at, well, good luck trying to meet that standard, and good luck trying to get to that point that you say that you want to get to, because no one, no one feels like it every single day, especially if you're trying to really, really be good, if you're trying to great at something, nobody feel like going out and trying to execute greatness every day. It's just not, it's just not a thing. It's a standard, right? It's a standard, okay? I know I'm sore, I know I'm tired. I don't feel like getting up today, but I'm gonna go and I'm gonna go put the work in and make sure that I uphold my standard. You said, how you showing up every day? Yeah, I tell my son I was be tired all you want to be, you know, I don't. I don't give a damn if you have to cry about it. Just keep going, yeah. Just going, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 34:29
I can think of there's been times like, usually, if I have a meeting or a big presentation or something, I try to get good sleep, I try to eat right, try my exercise beyond the program. But there's times where you got to travel, or maybe you went to an event the day before, and you're not feeling as good and but you still have to show up. And I don't. I don't like the same fake it until you make it, but I like show up your full self, 100% yourself, and that's a good transition into your book, because. Is, It's the five keys. It's winning, right? It's called Principles of Winning: 5 Keys to Create a Standard for Excellence.
Desmond Clark 35:07
Right.
Mark Hiddleson 35:11
Yeah, creating, I love that title because you're creating that standard, and I love it. It's not, you're not. Your book doesn't say how to be that standard. But how do we create that? And then we all agree. So we're getting that book, my team, we agree. This morning we were like, we're getting that book. We're going to figure out what the five standards are. We're going to use it because we're trying to create a standard. But, like, I love that. How do you create that standard? And you want me to go through it really quick for you. If you can't, yeah, if you don't mind,
Desmond Clark 35:39
I would love to first thing is your name and your word. What does that mean to you? What do you want it to mean for you, right? And then what do you want it to mean to everybody else that comes in contact with you? Define that? I don't think enough people define what one came to me and me and that becomes your brand. And like I tell people all the time, you if you don't look at your individual self as a business, you get yourself a disservice, because a business is an entity that has a product or a service that they trade for, income, money, something right of value, yup. So that's what we get up and do every single day you go on to a job, whether you own a whatever that is, if you're a secretary for the CEO, your business is terrible. Your business. So what's your brand? If, if you are working in a factory and you go on and you gotta go work on machines every day, that's your business. You are a machine maintenance repair guy. That's what you do for a business. That's just not your work. You are the business. Yeah, I love that. What's your brand? What's your brand? Because when they say your name, it comes with a certain connotation. When they say your name, it comes with a certain standard. It comes with a certain they think something of the name, whether they recognize it or not when they say your name is so let's be very intentional, and let's influence what people think about when they say your name, that's that means a whole lot. The second thing is the power of relationships. And everybody talks about, hey, it's a relationship business, this, that and other but how many times do we tell or or try to coach people on how to build meaningful relationships? Well, that's what talk about in the book. Um, hey, first, first of all, you gotta, you gotta create value. And value is not what you think is valuable, but what the person that you're engaging with think is valuable. So you gotta have a meaningful conversation to get that then no judgment. Hey, just because we have differences of opinion, be more, be more inquisitive, to see how they came to those opinions, and then always be encouraging and be challenging. Like, challenge people to be at their best, encourage them. But also, if you need to, you know, put the proverbial foot up somebody, but to get them going, like, Dude, you're better than that. Let's go, man, like, come on. I find the people that I challenge the most become like my best friends, yeah, oh, yeah. Everybody wants somebody to see them at their highest level. And I try to see everybody at the highest level that I can see them, and I challenge them to get there, right? Yeah. So building relationships, um. And then the third thing in the book, it says a commitment to excellence. If I had to do it all over again, I call it the process of greatness. The process of greatness is executing the details in excellence consistently over time. There's not a single thing that I just said in those five steps that a person can't do, everybody can execute. They just gotta choose to, yeah, everybody understand the details of what they do for whatever job position business. Everybody can study and understand the details right. And now, now it's a choice of what level, what standard you want to do it at. You gotta do it at excellence. And now, here's the thing, because people could do some of those things some of the time, but can you do it consistently, and can you do it for a long duration of time? That's what separates most people, right? So the process of greatness, and then the fourth one is being self motivated. Well, Mark, if I come into the industry and I want to build an empire like you with in storage, right, I can't judge my success or my failure off what Mark is doing. I don't know what Mark role and his path was. I don't know what advantages or what disadvantage. As Mark had getting to where he's at, I have to decide for myself what I want to accomplish and why that's meaningful for me, not for Mark, not for nobody else. My dreams and my goals are predicated on my dreams and my goals, not nobody else's. And I think too many times we look at other people, and we try to set a bar based off of what those other people are doing. And now we get into this whole judgment thing and comparison thing, and that does nothing but take away from your drive and your effort, right? So being self-motivated, and last one is have a passionate purpose. Like, I Yes, you want, you got these goals, but why? And I think one of the things that people overlook is, what's the feeling that you want to have when you get there? What is that feeling that you're chasing? What is that high? So, yeah, I want to, I want $100 million business, right? But why do I want that? Because it's something in me that always kind of rub me the wrong way. When I thought people only see me as an athlete and only talk to me because they thought I can only talk football and sports, I know I got much more in me, and this is that 100 million dollar goal is for me to prove to myself that I'm more than an athlete, because I made $15 million in my NFL career, the average gross profit for the logistics industry, for what I do, is 15% so if I make $100 million in a year, guess how much gross profit that's not gonna be that's gonna be 15 million. Yeah, I couldn't say that I made more in one year than I made in 12 years of playing football. I will have proof to myself everything that I'm trying to prove to myself. And for me, that's a that's a personal, passionate why I want to do and that's what drives me, like every day to get up and do it. So when you combine those five principles together, I think in any industry, any walk of life, it could be applied to anything. If you can put those things together, you're on your way to creating a standard of excellence for yourself. I love that.
Mark Hiddleson 42:17
I'm glad thank you for doing through the book too, because the homework for this week was to figure out what the five, what the five was like. Let's figure it out. We're getting the book. They all in here, man. Well, we're getting the book, but by next week, everybody on the team is supposed to have the five, and we're going to discuss it, but we're running short of time. But I saw some on your website, and it's a chapter. I have a book that's coming out to you, and I don't want to make it too much about that, but one of my chapters, chapter six, after the five things, chapter six, is make it a part of your DNA. And I saw that on your website. They're like, this is our DNA. So share a little bit about what you mean by that. And it's not the exact same thing, but Right? When you make it a part of your DNA, it was like, you just show up. You just show up. You don't have to think about it, right? You're tired, you're hurt, you're lonely, you're angry, you're tired, you show up anyways, right? And make that share a little bit about that. And
Desmond Clark 43:09
so you started your company, Mark, right? And so that company, it has your DNA all over it, yeah, whoever you are, as the founder of that company, they have to take on part of your DNA, because that's how it was founded, right? That's how it was. And when I say that, bear down logistics, you know, here's the DNA we want to read that. Oh, I'm saying that I've been in the spotlight, you know, since college, since I was 18 years old, right? I understand how to handle that spotlight. I understand what it takes to constantly be in that spotlight. And I'm talking about in a spotlight in a good way, because people are looking at you because of what you can do, what you can accomplish, what you can achieve, what your talent is, what you know your just, how high can you go in life, right? And, and being in that type of pressure cooker, you understand the work that it takes to maintain. You understand the works that it takes to execute every day. So when I say that, bear down logistics, here's the DNA. That's the DNA that I birth this company with. The process of greatness is one of our values that we talk about all the time, executing the details and excellence consistently over time, right? I just had a refresher with my with my team this morning. Hey, we're professionals here on our low boards. We shouldn't have things that pass and y'all hadn't updated yet. No, if we're going to be the top cent that bleeds through everything that we do, and that's when I say, Hey, that's my DNA. I. And that's what this company has been birth in. That's the standard that anybody who comes and work with me to build this company, that's the standard that they're measured, measured at, because that's that's what I know. I don't know anything differently. So that's the DNA
Mark Hiddleson 45:19
awesome, the ability something great, and we're this flew by. I love, I love spending time with you. I love, I love your energy, and I want it so share us. What's the best way how do you want people to reach out with if, if you're looking for broker partners or clients, like, what's the best way to contact you? Yeah, how do we get a hold of you.
Desmond Clark 45:41
So here's the thing, I want more good broker agents. I haven't had to go out and search for broker agents since I've started. I have seven broker agents, six broker agents with me now, all of them found me right one way or another, and I want to keep attracting that type of talent. People who want to be over here. People say, hey, Desmond, tell me about your company. And then they say, okay, I can identify with who you are and what your company is doing. I want to be a part of it. That's how I want to grow this company. And listen, I'm I'm not even going to tell those people how to find me. I'm not that hard to find. So if they, if they want to be a part of an organization like mine, I'm not that hard to find. I'm very, very accessible. I'm very easy to get in contact with, and I answer my phone and I answer my emails all the time. But for the companies who say, You know what, I would like to get that guy shot because I like I want to, I want him to show and prove that he can actually do this stuff that he's talking about, because that's the type of company that we want to be aligned with. Well, go right to go right to the website, www.beardown-logistics.com Don't get it mixed up with bear down logistics, because there's other companies out there. We're beardown-logistics.com, and just, um, yeah, shoot me an email at info@beardownlogistics.com, or, like I told the other people, I'm not, I'm really not that hard to find. I'm very, very accessible. And look, I want to, I want to connect with people. I don't want to just connect with freight. I want to connect with people that's, that's doing freight, because that's, that's what it's all about to when it really becomes meaningful and it really is fun, it's, it's honestly engaging in and now you look forward to getting up in the mornings, because I got to go and have a conversation with Mark today, looking forward to that today. So that's, that's how I like to look at work. And what we're building here at Bear Down Logistics. Man, I
Mark Hiddleson 47:49
love that. I love that I want to be the first to thank you for coming on the show. This has been awesome. We're going to stay connected. Uh, absolutely. Thank you so much. Man,
Desmond Clark 47:59
I appreciate it. Man, yeah, we, I mean, because we started having this interview, and I was like, We got to shut this down. We talked about too much now. We got to save some of this for for the interview. When we started talking earlier this week, we got a lot of conversations to have. We're connected in a lot of ways that we haven't expound on yet. There are some people I want to send your way. I know there's some opportunity that I could bring your way, and I know there's opportunities you can bring my way. So, man, I just look forward to the next week, the next months, the next years, as we continue to build as people.
Mark Hiddleson 48:33
Yeah, me too. Thank you so much, man, this has been awesome. Absolutely.
Outro 48:38
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