059: This Company Saves Drivers $$$ at the Tollbooth (John Andrews of BestPass)

Background on John Andrews of BestPass:

John Andrews is President & CEO of BestPass. John has more than 20 years of experience in technology implementation, senior management, and development/deployment of scalable services and solutions. John was selected to serve as President and CEO of Bestpass in the Fall of 2009 when the organization had four employees, processing $15 million in tolls annually. The company has since grown to more than 60 employees, processing more than $500 million in tolls annually. Outside of the office, John enjoys a busy home life with his wife and three kids and is a home brewer of craft beer.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:20] John Andrews is the CEO of BestPass Inc., which is a company that helps trucking companies handle their electronic toll across the country.
[3:06] John is a tech guy before BestPass. He was a software developer and worked for different software companies before joining BestPass.
[6:05] He got the job in BestPass by making a joke about the company hiring a tech guy as a CEO.
[9:05] From 4 employees, they now have 65 employees and has a revenue of about 15 to 20 million this year.
[10:02] An opportunity came to handle all the tolls, which dramatically changed the business from local to a more regional based service.
[13:06] The transition to sales guy was difficult. John learned that it was better to conduct personal meetings rather than talk on the phone.
[15:18] He learned that having a mentor or someone to guide him is very important.
[15:45] Being a CEO can make you feel lonesome, so it is good to find people that you can be honest with.
[17:55] A CEO has to withhold or guard information because divulging new ideas carelessly might cause some problems for the company.
[18:56] “As CEO you need to gain patience and tolerance.”
[21:14] It is important to make connections with leaders and groups of people who have the same philosophies and vision.
[26:08] Direct and clear communication is much more effective.
[28:50] The processes that encourage communication and destroys barriers are the ones that are vital to the company.
[36:08] Being a CEO makes you feel lonely because it can be risky to be friends with the management team. CEO makes tough decisions that can compromise friendship for the benefit of the company.
[37:50] John’s best advice is to “always think you can, don’t ever doubt.”
[38:38] BestPass is handling over 200,000 trucks and they have new opportunities in the ferry operations.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? The Southwest Way by Jody Hoffer Gittell
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Death Wish Coffee
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Geckoboard.com
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Finding people with solid interest & big picture problem solving skill/talent.

Key Point from the Interview:

“As CEO you need to gain patience and tolerance.”