Nancy Spelsberg didn’t intend to purchase a trucking company, but looking back she’s glad she made the decision to purchase BCP Transportation in Deerfield three years ago.
“I had been looking to purchase a small manufacturer, but this opportunity presented itself. We’ve gone from four trucks hauling pallets to more than 70 trucks hauling a huge range of products – although we still haul pallets,” she said.
“My philosophy for growth is if we have freight to haul and a good driver to bring on, we’ll go ahead and buy another truck,” she said. “I didn’t start out saying ‘I want to have 50 or 100 trucks.’ My simple plan is if we have a customer that has freight to haul and we have available drivers, we’ll grow. That has worked so far.”
So far, so good. BCP Transportation currently takes in about $19 million in annual revenue. And in 2013, BCP Transportation received the Rising Star Award at the Governor’s Conference on Minority Business Development.
Spelsberg said the key to the company’s success is word-of-mouth. “Nothing is better than an existing customer telling other people what a good job you do,” she said. Some of those customers include big names like Quad/Graphics.
As to being a woman in a field heavily dominated by men, Spelsberg isn’t fazed. “Honestly, people from outside the industry are more surprised. The guys and gals who work in trucking see me as a hard worker and they respect that. This is a great industry; every day is different and we’re having a blast.”
