If you’ve been reading our posts for any length of time here, you know that we spend very little time talking about our company. In fact, we make a habit of hardly ever linking back to our main site, BuyBigTires.com , in any of our work , save for a link at the top of the page. We never make a sales pitch, as it is our practice to only report on news that concerns the mining and tire industries.
Today, our site, our company, and the news converge. Mobile Fleet Service, Inc. (Our company), and BuyBigTires.com are approaching their anniversaries very shortly. Mobile Fleet will be turning 7, and BuyBigTires.com hits the ripe old age of 3. Like all living things, we’ve seen our share of sunshine, and weathered more than a few storms(including the one our industry is experiencing right now.)
Regardless of what state we find ourselves in at any given time, there is one word that has come to define our company, and that is Independence. We’re an independent tire dealer, we make decisions and take on projects that cut against mainstream thinking in the tire industry. Often that independence gets framed as a lack of sanity. I’ll never forget the reaction our President heard (from a prominent person within our own organization), when she said that she had bought a domain name, and we were going to create a website: “What’d you go and do that for?”
Thus began our journey in the online world. We started out just offering our tire list, broken down by category on a few web pages. It was the height of the OTR shortage, and our meager little website was growing steadily. If I didn’t have 15 messages from Chinese tire dealers in my inbox when I woke up in the morning, I felt I was missing out on something.
As traffic to our site grew, we began thinking of ways that we could reach out to our clients(and prospective companies), by providing them news and education. Out of that desire, Heavy Treaddin’ was born. We try, as always, to give our friends something to think about, free of any influence from manufacturers or mining industry interests. Have you ever noticed that there isn’t any advertising here? It’s not for a lack of paying traffic. If we accept advertising from a company, then there is the temptation to pull punches when a manufacturer does something unseemly, or questionable. That wouldn’t leave us with much of our independence (although it might add a few digits to our bottom line).
Since we didn’t have enough on our plate, we decided that we would begin producing a video magazine for our customers. Once again, free of charge, and for the general information of our clients. In the beginning, the goal was to produce one new video per week, so we called it “OTR Weekly with Tom White“. Unfortunately, the work that it takes to put everything together has reduced us to OTR Monthly. At any rate, it’s still free of charge, advertisements, and wallabies. We can’t promise that it will stay wallaby free forever, as our readers seem to love the little fellas.
So what’s the point…I mean, we’re just tooting our own horn, right? Yes, in a sense we are. We’re not saying we’re the biggest OTR Tire company the world has ever seen. We have made great efforts to be the most customer focused OTR company the world has ever seen, whether you buy from us, or just pop in for the free info now and again. Like the Motley Fool, our goal is to educate, enlighten, and entertain you. We don’t ask for anything in return.
As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch (much less, free beer). Somebody is paying the piper for the information you receive. Those people are our founders, Lavonne Summer and Tom White. They have continually invested time, resources(money and personnel), and thought into what you see, read, and hear. They are the embodiment of the independent spirit that runs through our company.
This spirit flows from the original ideas that our nation was founded upon: The freedom to worship, say, and do as we please, without infringement from any other person, even though they may be in the majority. In short, the right of David to walk straight up to Goliath, point at his forehead, and say “I’m putting a rock right there”.
If I am waxing overly patriotic here( along with taking the Bible a bit out of context), you’ll have to forgive me. While we are a company that operates worldwide, our drive, determination, and overall stubbornness are entirely American in character. On the other side of that coin is our desire to see other businesses succeed. That, too, is part of the American ethic. Because no matter how “independent” we might be, our success can only be measured by the amount that we have contributed to the success of others.
Kevin Garnett once made a statement that stuck with me. He had just been signed to an outrageously rich NBA contract, and the reporter noted that he brought all his childhood friends with him. They lived in his house, drove his cars, and charged expenses to his credit card. When Sports Illustrated asked why this was the case, this was his reply:
“My idea is, I shine, you shine,” Garnett says. “If I’m doing well and you’re with me, you do well. I don’t have a lot of friends. I have a lot of acquaintances, but that’s different. Friends have been with you forever.”
While I am not keen on adopting an NBA player’s philosophy for our company, it does sum up how we feel about our friends/clients, and those who are a part of our business: We shine, You shine.
This seventh year contains many challenges that we, the mining and tire industries as a whole will be facing head on. We have committed ourselves to giving back as much as we can, and making sure that you have what you need in terms of education and information. That’s our commitment to you, and to your business.
While the website may change, in terms of both features, and content, we’ll be right here, delivering the best and latest news and views of interest to the tire and mining community.
Until next time, we’ll be…
Signing off…
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