u/arsalamalam

Basically I'm part of an entrepreneurship program which tells u to pick a niche and then do niche immersion (which consists of reading and listening to podcasts and consuming any material u could get ur hand on) + cold calling to find a problem in this niche....I picked this niche, particularly trucking....and got to interview 13 out of 30 for trying to dig for problems and then I asked a question, and the guy (a truck fleet owner) invited me to his office.

Anyways.....he basically tells me that my approach doesn't work in this niche bcz govt regulations don't care about u, and even if u do find one problem/gap a million others arise, the volatility of this market PLUS how tied it is to a million other markets and govtal bodies makes what I'm doing a complete waste of time....BUT bcz he liked my resolve and my attitude he doesn't mind giving me an internship.

I take him up on the offer and show up and:

1. He's working on alimony papers....we live in a different country but his US ex-wife is tryna extort him out of $750k and his only office employee is sorting this out.

2. He carelessly refers me to his employee who is working on this.

3. I ask him about what we're doing and he says we're "doing accounting".

4. I'm like "okay what will we do related to work" and he basically tells me we will cold call and send emails and manage customer relations and visit factories, standard stuff.

5. I'm like "OK....is there any structure" he says "ask the big boss"

6. Big boss refers me back to employee

7. I diplomatically get out of doing his dirty work

8. Smoke....everywhere. 4 ppl smoking in an office that isn't ventilated....windows closed....just....suffocating.

So obviously I concluded that this isn't a good fit.

My questions are:

1. As the title says, what should I look for? Green/red flags?

2. Is he right about how my approach doesn't work in this niche?

3. How do you reckon one should go about finding an internship?

4. Do you reckon I'm justified in stepping back from this "opportunity"? Explain your reasoning.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 🤪

Basically I'm part of an entrepreneurship program which tells u to pick a niche and then do niche immersion (which consists of reading and listening to podcasts and consuming any material u could get ur hand on) + cold calling to find a problem in this niche....I picked this niche, particularly trucking....and got to interview 13 out of 30 for trying to dig for problems and then I asked a question, and the guy (a truck fleet owner) invited me to his office.

Anyways.....he basically tells me that my approach doesn't work in this niche bcz govt regulations don't care about u, and even if u do find one problem/gap a million others arise, the volatility of this market PLUS how tied it is to a million other markets and govtal bodies makes what I'm doing a complete waste of time....BUT bcz he liked my resolve and my attitude he doesn't mind giving me an internship.

I take him up on the offer and show up and:

1. He's working on alimony papers....we live in a different country but his US ex-wife is tryna extort him out of $750k and his only office employee is sorting this out.

2. He carelessly refers me to his employee who is working on this.

3. I ask him about what we're doing and he says we're "doing accounting".

4. I'm like "okay what will we do related to work" and he basically tells me we will cold call and send emails and manage customer relations and visit factories, standard stuff.

5. I'm like "OK....is there any structure" he says "ask the big boss"

6. Big boss refers me back to employee

7. I diplomatically get out of doing his dirty work

8. Smoke....everywhere. 4 ppl smoking in an office that isn't ventilated....windows closed....just....suffocating.

So obviously I concluded that this isn't a good fit.

My questions are:

1. As the title says, what should I look for? Green/red flags?

2. Is he right about how my approach doesn't work in this niche?

3. How do you reckon one should go about finding an internship?

4. Do you reckon I'm justified in stepping back from this "opportunity"? Explain your reasoning.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 🤪

TL; DR: I've joined an entrepreneurship program and for niche selection I selected this one and the idea is that you immerse yourself heavily in the niche for 60 or so days and conduct 30-ish interviews within your niche to find out recurring, painful problems which you can solve by acquiring a specific skillset and then monetizing it. I've immersed myself and conducted 10+ interviews but nothing is clear, I still don't know who to target, not a single pain point which is solvable by me has been revealed, most companies prefer solving their problems in-house....etc. etc. And yea....getting desperate and hitting a brick wall. So what's something that already exists which someone can do by acquiring a specific skillset and solves painful, unsexy problems?

Now for the nitty-gritty:

Oh my God....I've done countless coldcalls and consumed tons of podcasts. I have a very generic background in how this industry works....but to date....no pain points, no idea who to target, no idea how to elicit these pain points....I just have been feeling so incredibly lost guys.

Here's a summary of what I've learned so far from research calls of local logistics companies (mainly truckers, clearance companies, freight forwarders):

• for trucking: local trucking is weak bcz it's a small country that doesn't produce much of anything....international trucking is the larger source of revenue.
• Trucks are distributed based on supply and demand, and most trucking companies handle dispatch in-house through operations dept.
• Lead generation is word of mouth only: no marketing, no active campaigns.
• They do not use load boards; the explanation was essentially that they already have enough work....and even then, load boards in this part of the world are heavily under-utilized bcz like....idk, it's not like the US where many people own trucks. You can't truck independently; if u own a truck u gotta register it with a trucking company.
• Their client base is diverse: humanitarian aid, companies, etc.
• They do not refuse loads because they are too busy; they refuse when they are suspicious of the counterparty.
• They use company WhatsApp groups for drivers to get info from operations.
• They have a dedicated department for truck needs, including maintenance.
• The most time-consuming thing is the legal/bureaucratic side.
• the biggest bottleneck for scaling is time and industry secrets they're not willing to share.
• most said that they could operate 5 more trucks if they were added.
• The business has a department for basically everything a truck might need.
• the ones I've contacted typically do all types of trucking: cold chain, dry bulk, break bulk, etc.
• There are 7 transfers per truck per month regulated by the ministry (local regulation doesn't allow except 7 local transfers per month per trailer.)
• in local trucking, the only real way to scale is to acquire more trucks.
• some have said that they COULD NOT do the “drop off and return loaded” thing unless the shipment belonged to that company, because too much container tampering makes damage tracking difficult.
• some solve the customer acquisition problem/bottleneck by being in an agency network and from personal connections.
• they all prefer in-house acquisition over outsourcing.
• A lot say that none of their trucks stay still; demand is good and they can still accept more work.
• It is very hard to estimate weekly profitability per truck, because revenue gets spread across transport, clearance, and other factors.
• some said that the main culprit for losing big clients is undercutting.
• Parcel services rely on connections as well, but a lot of them are heavily struggling.
• A lot of parcel services acquire private drivers who truck to nearby countries, and they do not really own many trucks.
• Nowadays, parcel services rarely need more trucks because current work fills their existing fleet.
• He said he cannot really access trucking to the more lucrative countries because trucks need to be newer and banks are not lending loans right now.
• They said they could theoretically source hundreds of vans through outsourced connections, but the market is weak.
• He blamed the weakness on COVID and then war/political instability in surrounding countries.

Generic freight forwarders / intermediary companies:

Main takeaways across those calls:

• They usually rely on phone, email, and in-person visits to reach clients.
• Some said they do not own fleets or trucks and work with other transport companies to facilitate operations.
• Some said they have no warehouses, instead using logistics warehouses.
• They act mainly as intermediaries.
• They said systems vary by company, and one answer mentioned company-specific software that helps with invoices, arrival notices, file closing, and finance integration.
• Overall, the responses were generic and did not expose a strong pain point.

Then I contacted another trucking company:

• He said he internally operates at about 10% because of local regulations of 7 loads per truck per month, as I've stated before.
• He acquires loads/customers through connections, and rarely depends on clearance companies because direct relationships give him more control and more flexible terms.
• He said finding loads is easy if 5 more trucks were added internationally, but locally it is trickier.
• He said he never rejects loads, even when fully loaded, because reliability is very important.
• He said he does not have a bottleneck for scaling; he is always updating and developing.
• He said lane profitability does not matter as much as long-term partnership length.
• He said tracking lane profitability is easy because work is predictable, both internally and externally, and they test lanes briefly before committing long term.
• He said they do not struggle much with figuring out how much a truck makes monthly; experience makes the leaks obvious.
• He said payment info does not get lost.
• He said he never accepts loads below what he likes; if it gets extreme, he changes the scope of work / sector.
• He said he niches down into foodstuffs because it is easy operationally and time-sensitive.
• He said humanitarian organizations are good and profitable, but his trucks are not mainly bulk-oriented.
• He said backhaul management is mostly governed by international regulations, and that some countries cannot be loaded back from and must return empty, so they charge more.
• He said he sits on the board, which keeps him up to date with regulations.
• He said Turkey is a hot market right now and that he currently has trucks in Bab al-Hawa (border crossing that only very recently opened, it's a large gateway into a big market....this is like the only revealing and serendipitous source of info that I've received....bcz prior to this, most goods needed to arrive through sea....but now due to this border crossing opening, it could allow for land transport which might be better, cheaper, faster, more convenient, and more available).

Calls with food suppliers / trading companies / FMCG-type companies

Source: the foodstuffs-focused calls I ran later.

The main findings were:

• Most of these companies are FMCG-oriented and fairly generalized.

• For foodstuffs, Turkey was not attractive.

• Reasons given included:

  • not competitive prices
  • frequent price fluctuations
  • tariffs
  • political uncertainty
  • Bab al-Hawa not being powerful in this sector
  • Europe being viewed as better at similar pricing
  • most Turkey-related food shipping being done by sea

• I found that European shipping prices had risen sharply, reportedly around 70%, because of the regional situation.

• I considered whether trucking from Turkey to Europe via alternative routing could be a workaround, but it seemed like a bureaucratic nightmare.

• After about 10 calls, my conclusion was that Turkey is not it for foodstuffs.

• A side insight was that Bab al-Hawa was not really being used for this sector, at least in your sample.

Brief call with a Ukrainian dairy importer

Source: my short conversation notes.

• He handles all logistics himself except clearance.
• That includes trucking from the port to the warehouse and the paperwork associated with it.
• He said he avoids logistics companies because they chase him for money.
• He prefers dealing directly with suppliers because supplier credit terms are more flexible; he can sell first and pay later.
• He said Turkish products depend on the specialty of the product; some importers focus on specific Turkish goods.
• He said he is not opposed to Turkish products, but he does not know much about that market.
• He mentioned fuel surcharges tied to the Israel/Iran situation.
• He said Maersk and similar shipping lines were not supplying much capacity to the region because of the war.

Other brief call signals:

Source: scattered remarks across the thread.

• One person told me the main problem was undercutting ruining the market.
• Another implied that some companies can use agency networks rather than proactive sales.
• I repeatedly heard that some companies can absorb additional trucks if they come, but many are constrained by relationships, timing, or regulation, not pure demand.

---

Cross-call patterns that showed up repeatedly

• Relationships beat marketing in a lot of logistics flows.
• Long-term partnerships often matter more than single-lane margin optimization.
• Many firms prefer control and flexibility over external logistics providers.
• Undercutting is a recurring complaint.
• Clearance / paperwork is often present, but in your foodstuffs sample it was not the main wedge.
• For foodstuffs, Turkey looked weak relative to Europe and other sourcing options.
• Some operators are highly optimized and stable; they do not feel obvious pain.
• Many of the best operators were not desperate for more work; they were optimizing for reliability, predictability, and control.

Just made another cold call and I found out that bab al Hawa is the same price as shipping by sea but takes twice as long and isn't safe at all....so nobody uses it. Gofigure

So like....idk....I'm literally more lost than ever before. Anybody that can help is more than welcome. Thank you guys in advance 🙏

TL; DR: I've joined an entrepreneurship program and for niche selection I selected this one and the idea is that you immerse yourself heavily in the niche for 60 or so days and conduct 30-ish interviews within your niche to find out recurring, painful problems which you can solve by acquiring a specific skillset and then monetizing it. I've immersed myself and conducted 10+ interviews but nothing is clear, I still don't know who to target, not a single pain point which is solvable by me has been revealed, most companies prefer solving their problems in-house....etc. etc. And yea....getting desperate and hitting a brick wall. So what's something that already exists which someone can do by acquiring a specific skillset and solves painful, unsexy problems?

Now for the nitty-gritty:

Oh my God....I've done countless coldcalls and consumed tons of podcasts. I have a very generic background in how this industry works....but to date....no pain points, no idea who to target, no idea how to elicit these pain points....I just have been feeling so incredibly lost guys.

Here's a summary of what I've learned so far from research calls of local logistics companies (mainly truckers, clearance companies, freight forwarders):

• for trucking: local trucking is weak bcz it's a small country that doesn't produce much of anything....international trucking is the larger source of revenue.
• Trucks are distributed based on supply and demand, and most trucking companies handle dispatch in-house through operations dept.
• Lead generation is word of mouth only: no marketing, no active campaigns.
• They do not use load boards; the explanation was essentially that they already have enough work....and even then, load boards in this part of the world are heavily under-utilized bcz like....idk, it's not like the US where many people own trucks. You can't truck independently; if u own a truck u gotta register it with a trucking company.
• Their client base is diverse: humanitarian aid, companies, etc.
• They do not refuse loads because they are too busy; they refuse when they are suspicious of the counterparty.
• They use company WhatsApp groups for drivers to get info from operations.
• They have a dedicated department for truck needs, including maintenance.
• The most time-consuming thing is the legal/bureaucratic side.
• the biggest bottleneck for scaling is time and industry secrets they're not willing to share.
• most said that they could operate 5 more trucks if they were added.
• The business has a department for basically everything a truck might need.
• the ones I've contacted typically do all types of trucking: cold chain, dry bulk, break bulk, etc.
• There are 7 transfers per truck per month regulated by the ministry (local regulation doesn't allow except 7 local transfers per month per trailer.)
• in local trucking, the only real way to scale is to acquire more trucks.
• some have said that they COULD NOT do the “drop off and return loaded” thing unless the shipment belonged to that company, because too much container tampering makes damage tracking difficult.
• some solve the customer acquisition problem/bottleneck by being in an agency network and from personal connections.
• they all prefer in-house acquisition over outsourcing.
• A lot say that none of their trucks stay still; demand is good and they can still accept more work.
• It is very hard to estimate weekly profitability per truck, because revenue gets spread across transport, clearance, and other factors.
• some said that the main culprit for losing big clients is undercutting.
• Parcel services rely on connections as well, but a lot of them are heavily struggling.
• A lot of parcel services acquire private drivers who truck to nearby countries, and they do not really own many trucks.
• Nowadays, parcel services rarely need more trucks because current work fills their existing fleet.
• He said he cannot really access trucking to the more lucrative countries because trucks need to be newer and banks are not lending loans right now.
• They said they could theoretically source hundreds of vans through outsourced connections, but the market is weak.
• He blamed the weakness on COVID and then war/political instability in surrounding countries.

Generic freight forwarders / intermediary companies:

Main takeaways across those calls:

• They usually rely on phone, email, and in-person visits to reach clients.
• Some said they do not own fleets or trucks and work with other transport companies to facilitate operations.
• Some said they have no warehouses, instead using logistics warehouses.
• They act mainly as intermediaries.
• They said systems vary by company, and one answer mentioned company-specific software that helps with invoices, arrival notices, file closing, and finance integration.
• Overall, the responses were generic and did not expose a strong pain point.

Then I contacted another trucking company:

• He said he internally operates at about 10% because of local regulations of 7 loads per truck per month, as I've stated before.
• He acquires loads/customers through connections, and rarely depends on clearance companies because direct relationships give him more control and more flexible terms.
• He said finding loads is easy if 5 more trucks were added internationally, but locally it is trickier.
• He said he never rejects loads, even when fully loaded, because reliability is very important.
• He said he does not have a bottleneck for scaling; he is always updating and developing.
• He said lane profitability does not matter as much as long-term partnership length.
• He said tracking lane profitability is easy because work is predictable, both internally and externally, and they test lanes briefly before committing long term.
• He said they do not struggle much with figuring out how much a truck makes monthly; experience makes the leaks obvious.
• He said payment info does not get lost.
• He said he never accepts loads below what he likes; if it gets extreme, he changes the scope of work / sector.
• He said he niches down into foodstuffs because it is easy operationally and time-sensitive.
• He said humanitarian organizations are good and profitable, but his trucks are not mainly bulk-oriented.
• He said backhaul management is mostly governed by international regulations, and that some countries cannot be loaded back from and must return empty, so they charge more.
• He said he sits on the board, which keeps him up to date with regulations.
• He said Turkey is a hot market right now and that he currently has trucks in Bab al-Hawa (border crossing that only very recently opened, it's a large gateway into a big market....this is like the only revealing and serendipitous source of info that I've received....bcz prior to this, most goods needed to arrive through sea....but now due to this border crossing opening, it could allow for land transport which might be better, cheaper, faster, more convenient, and more available).

7) Calls with food suppliers / trading companies / FMCG-type companies

Source: the foodstuffs-focused calls I ran later.

The main findings were:

• Most of these companies are FMCG-oriented and fairly generalized.

• For foodstuffs, Turkey was not attractive.

• Reasons given included:

  • not competitive prices
  • frequent price fluctuations
  • tariffs
  • political uncertainty
  • Bab al-Hawa not being powerful in this sector
  • Europe being viewed as better at similar pricing
  • most Turkey-related food shipping being done by sea

• I found that European shipping prices had risen sharply, reportedly around 70%, because of the regional situation.

• I considered whether trucking from Turkey to Europe via alternative routing could be a workaround, but it seemed like a bureaucratic nightmare.

• After about 10 calls, my conclusion was that Turkey is not it for foodstuffs.

• A side insight was that Bab al-Hawa was not really being used for this sector, at least in your sample.

8) Brief call with the Ukrainian dairy importer

Source: my short conversation notes.

• He handles all logistics himself except clearance.
• That includes trucking from the port to the warehouse and the paperwork associated with it.
• He said he avoids logistics companies because they chase him for money.
• He prefers dealing directly with suppliers because supplier credit terms are more flexible; he can sell first and pay later.
• He said Turkish products depend on the specialty of the product; some importers focus on specific Turkish goods.
• He said he is not opposed to Turkish products, but he does not know much about that market.
• He mentioned fuel surcharges tied to the Israel/Iran situation.
• He said Maersk and similar shipping lines were not supplying much capacity to the region because of the war.

9) Other brief call signals

Source: scattered remarks across the thread.

• One person told me the main problem was undercutting ruining the market.
• Another implied that some companies can use agency networks rather than proactive sales.
• I repeatedly heard that some companies can absorb additional trucks if they come, but many are constrained by relationships, timing, or regulation, not pure demand.

---

Cross-call patterns that showed up repeatedly

• Relationships beat marketing in a lot of logistics flows.
• Long-term partnerships often matter more than single-lane margin optimization.
• Many firms prefer control and flexibility over external logistics providers.
• Undercutting is a recurring complaint.
• Clearance / paperwork is often present, but in your foodstuffs sample it was not the main wedge.
• For foodstuffs, Turkey looked weak relative to Europe and other sourcing options.
• Some operators are highly optimized and stable; they do not feel obvious pain.
• Many of the best operators were not desperate for more work; they were optimizing for reliability, predictability, and control.

So like....idk....I'm literally more lost than ever before. Anybody that can help is more than welcome. Thank you guys in advance 🙏