It is hard not to feel inspired by Carolyn Gable’s experience and achievements. A mother of seven children and founder of New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc., Carolyn has an interesting message to pass on. Her faith and the passion for what she does, for her team and her clients contribute to her company growth.
Carolyn Gable
Not having gone to college never stopped Carolyn Gable from thriving in her life and business. She opted to become a beautician and worked as a waitress for 15 years before lending a job in the trucking industry. She mentioned that her people skills came in handy to provide the best customer service, and she soon became a sales representative. The owner of the third company she worked for in the freight business encouraged her to work on commission. In 1989, Carolyn Gable found New Age Transportation in the basement of her home, as an independent commission representative for trucking companies.
Even though trucking was a mainly male dominated industry, and many people were skeptical she could succeed, Carolyn Gable kept going and realized her clients were happy to deal with a woman, and were pleased with the quality of services she was providing. It didn’t take long for her to move out of the basement into a bigger location, and the business has continued to grow since.
New Age Transportation has had tough times when it lost one of its major accounts. Carolyn Gable made the decision to regroup, renew and change the business in order to survive. The company restructured and became a broker, handling all the logistics of transportation, distribution and warehousing. The move definitely paid off, and in 1995, they won a major account with Time Warner and their revenue doubled. Today Carolyn Gable’s company is known as New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc. and has offices in Lake Zurich, a warehouse in Elk Grove Village, IL and is preparing to move into its own 800,000+ SF warehouse. Carolyn is already looking into buying 10 additional acres of warehouse space, as she knows the new one will be filled quickly. She notices that it is crucial to plan ahead, and she studies her business and the market, forecasting 6 months to 3 years in advance.
One of Carolyn’s main challenges is finding motivated individuals who share the company’s vision, care about the clients and understand the importance of their jobs. Maybe that is why the company’s management team brought up the issue that workers should not be sitting still longer than two hours, and they came up with the idea to have an energy break, and “Dancing Away Office Stress” was created. It is a fun concept in which everyone participates. Even people who are in a meeting with Carolyn may take a break to dance, and overall it increases the workers’ moral and productivity.
Carolyn Gable cares so much about her workers as well as her clients, and family, although finding balance is a challenge. After winning the Time Warner account, Carolyn immediately started thinking about how she could give back to the community and help others. She is a single mother and understands first hand the challenges and difficulties single parents face by not being part of the system, and often with no benefits. Single working parents who can’t afford to pay for extra curricular activities, such as dance, karate, after school programs, tutoring and a lot more, have an option. Carolyn created the “Expect a Miracle” foundation to help children of single parents enjoy life, and achieve their full potential. It is a great project and kids and parents show their appreciation by sending beautiful notes and pictures that show how Expect a Miracle has helped their lives. Carolyn Gable
Carolyn Gable
”God let me be the best that I can be today. I don’t know where he wants me to go, but wherever it is, I’m going.”
Carolyn Gable shares that she does not believe someone can be in business and not be spiritual, and believes that one must take a leap of faith when things seem to go wrong and know that better times are yet to come. She also advises entrepreneurs to have a purpose for their businesses and to think about whether they’re in business to make money, save the world, or a combination of both. Carolyn argues that the purpose should not be solely making money, or the business will not get very far.
Carolyn learned and grew from every challenge and milestone, and she recommends that entrepreneurs focus and listen to their inner voices. In the beginning, when things got tough, Carolyn Gable considered going back to what she was most familiar with, but she realized it was just the “darkness before the light”. Carolyn recommends that entrepreneurs pay attention to their own thoughts and how badly they really want their businesses to succeed and always keep going.
To learn more about Carolyn Gable, her business and her foundation, visit http://www.newagetransportation.com and www.expectamiraclefoundation.org.