Freight Broker Boot Camp

Recently I was asked to share some freight broker productivity tips so I thought long and hard about my own good and bad habits.

Regardless if you are a freight broker, agent, w2 employees, truck driver or an entrepreneur of some sort, being productive is important to your success and your state of mind.

The most productive freight brokers and agents are not only the most successful but also the happiest so today I am going to share with you 5 bad habits you need to break that are killing your productivity!

5 Bad Habits the Kill Your Freight Broker Productivity

1. Putting off the most important tasks until later in your day

Researchers have found that humans have a limited amount of will power and it decreases throughout the day.  So it is best to get the most important tasks done early or there is a good chance they will still be on your list tomorrow.

Everyday I rank the things on my to-do list A for the most important, B for next most important and C for the rest.  The key is make sure you finish the A’s  before you move onto the B’s or Cs.  You will be tempted to just grab the easiest thing on your list…don’t do it. 🙂

2. Checking email all day long

Did you know a recent poll showed that workers spend 6.3 hours per day in their email. Crazy right!  Develop a schedule for checking email and if possible avoid it first thing in the morning.  It’s easy, just close your email, turn off notifications and it might be a good idea to even shut off your phone when its necessary to focus.

My email schedule is 10 am and 3 pm, this may or may not work for you or your business but the fact is it saves me a ton of time and helps me to be more productive.

3. Multi-tasking

Did you know that studies show that only 2% of people can effectively multitask.  The fact is, multitasking makes us less productive.  Freight brokers are notorious for juggling too many balls and the end result it slows them down on the most important tasks and in many cases can service issues due to mistakes. It is better to prioritize your tasks and approach them one at a time, to completion if possible and then move onto the next one.

4. Too many meetings

There are way too many unnecessary meetings so unless there is a clear agenda and time frame avoid them at all cost.  Shorter is better and rather than meetings use tools first like email, skype, chat to communicate more efficiently.

Always make sure there is a clear agenda and make sure someone takes notes and sends a copy of them to each participant with highlights of the discussion including agreed upon action plans based the outcome.

5. Perfectionism

I think you’ll agree when I say that its not always laziness or being too busy, why we don’t get things done.  The fact is, its fear of not doing a good job.  When you are struggling with this always remember, “Progress over perfection” is the key success!

If your like most people you probably didn’t even read this whole article because you are getting distracted by your phone, the TV or trying to multi task. 🙂  If you are reading this I strongly suggest you focus in on one or two things on the list and work on them today.

Remember if you only improve our freight broker productivity by 1% per day, after a year you will be 365% more productive and that can add up big time.  Just imagine how much that increase productivity will add up to in profits for your business.  It’s your choice!

Did this post help you out?  If so, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d comment below or SHARE on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and be sure to click the g+1 logo and let Google know too!

P.S. If you are still curious about “How to become a freight broker or freight agent in 30 days or less” don’t forget about my 60 Day 100% Money Back GUARANTEE

Cheers,

Dennis Brown
Owner/Trainer, www.FreightBrokerBootcamp.com