100: How to Run a Business with your Ex-Husband… Lacy Starling of Legion Logistics

Background on Lacy Starling of Legion Logistics:

Lacy Starling is the Co-Founder of Legion Logistics. As the daughter of a truck driver and a part-time librarian, she grew up seeing first-hand how the logistics industry affects working-class Americans. It was that work ethic that drove Lacy to want more than small-town life, and she believed a career as a newspaper reporter was the way to accomplish that. The world had different plans, however, and as she was getting ready to graduate from college, the entire world of print journalism was turned upside-down by the advent of the Internet and the subsequent slashing of editorial staffs nationwide.

In 2007, she moved to Cincinnati and began her sales career in earnest, working first in development for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and then as an independent consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics, eventually working her way up to the position of Sales Director and setting records in her national area for recruitment and sales. Selling cosmetics wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, though, when she set out to conquer the business world. When the opportunity came along to open Legion Logistics it felt like the right move. Lacy was able to combine her knowledge of freight, gleaned from years of watching her dad earn a living driving tanker trucks, with her beliefs about how company culture should be formed and nurtured. She often says that she didn’t really care what Legion was selling, as long as they were selling it the right way and treating their employees well at the same time.

Since starting Legion in the basement of her house in 2009, Lacy has indeed fearlessly led the company to incredible success, including three appearances on the Inc. 500/5000 list and two appearances on the Top 10 Fastest-Growing Women-Led Companies in the world list. Individually, she was honored as a 2015 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and included in the 2015 Class of the Business Courier’s Forty Under 40. Legion is now a $279 million company with 32 employees. Lacy also finds time to teach sales as an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati and facilitate several sales intensives for local business incubators and accelerators. She always jokes that she doesn’t have any hobbies, but she spends her free time mentoring students and startup business owners, guest-lecturing at local universities, speaking to women’s groups, and serving on local non-profit boards. She shares her home in Union, Kentucky, with her daughter, Catherine.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:25] Lacy Starling runs the business with her ex husband. They have a daughter, who is 7 years old, and they are working together and running Legion Logistics.
[2:40] Legion Logistics are considered as logistic brokers. They find the truck to help customers move their freight. Legion Logistics connect their customers with trucking companies.
[6:17] Lacy considers her company as a sales organization. Half of the Legion’s employee and all the interns are under the sales department.
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[13:23] Lacy agrees that it’s the right decision to move towards autonomous vehicles and autonomous trucks.
[17:35] During college, Lacy joined a group of students who were starting a business in web design and media marketing. This experience made her more passionate about sales and entrepreneurship.
[20:51] She worked in a jewelry store while taking up her MBA. Lacy emphasizes the importance of getting actual business experience and applying it to her studies.
[22:22] In 2009, Lacy and her husband started Legion Logistics. It was her husband’s idea to start a logistics company.
[25:15] She wants to create a company where employees can be themselves and feel excited to come to work every day.
[29:44] In the first few months of their business, Lacy found out she was pregnant. They were not making any profit and there were a lot of payables.
[32:58] When she gave birth to her daughter, Lacy had $67 on her checking account. The baby served as a huge motivator to make their business profitable.
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[37:58] Her advice to people who want to start a business is to bring down or limit their personal expenses.
[42:07] In 2011, her company made $3.4 million in sales. In 2012, they made $12 million, and then the next year they made $15 million.
[44:26] Lacy emphasizes the importance of making the tasks and processes in their company more efficient. She recommends the book E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber regarding the value of systematization.
[47:39] In 2012, Lacy and her husband decided to get a divorce but still remained business partners.
[54:42] Her last advice to business owners and entrepreneurs is to keep your mind open to new opportunities. Just say yes to these opportunities and see where it leads you.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? You are a Badass by Jen Sincero, Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink, The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss, The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, everything David Sedaris has ever written
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? My Adidas gym bag. I work out during the day, and it keeps all my stuff clean and organized. It's fabulous and indestructible.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Lately, I'm all about Calendly, my calendar app. It has eliminated the need for an assistant because it makes scheduling appointments so much easier. Before that, I would say it was the Entrepreneurial Operating System, by Gino Wickman. Totally transformed how we do meetings/strategy/planning as a company.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Finding people. The labor market is tight, and it is a struggle every day to find folks who are good.