“We are a disruptor in the automotive space, and that’s because we operate on the intersection of technology and creative thought.”
George Arkin is rewriting the rules of the game for auto transport companies. His imprint, Nexus Auto Transport, is embarking on a multi-step, multimedia journey with designs to push the transport industry outside its comfort zone.
Founded just under a decade ago, Nexus Auto Transport has grown from a one-person operation into one of the nation’s leading providers of car shipping services. Most CEOs would revel in such rapid growth, especially in an industry as challenging as vehicle transport.
For George, it’s quite the contrary.
In Arkin’s eyes, the moment you stop learning as a company leader is when the company puts a cap on its growth potential. Rather than allowing stagnation to limit customer-focused innovation, Arkin is embarking on a cross-platform initiative to provide essential, entertaining content to prospective customers and repeat clients alike.
Arkin wants you to think differently about what a car transport company can do. And he plans to help you do that with both his approach to vehicle shipping and content creation. From interviews to how-to guides, and blogs to news updates, Nexus wants to keep you guessing in the best possible ways.
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Table of Contents
1. Thank you for joining us for this exclusive ValiantCEO Magazine profile! Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Tell us a bit about yourself and your company.
George Arkin: Nexus Auto Transport has been my passion project for nearly a decade. I started things as a home-office setup in Chicago, Illinois. My hopes were always to do something a little different, something a little more off the cuff and outside of the normal parameters of the transport industry.
It’s what drove me into the office early on, what pushed me to work long hours to build connections and double down on my brand imprint. I started this out in a tiny office space in Rolling Meadows, IL. From there, I made it my daily mission to provide easy to use car shipping services to customers in unique, unexpected ways. With that at the heart of my operation, we’ve expanded our offices globally in under a decade’s time.
So, Nexus Auto Transport was created as a direct disruption to the status quo of the car shipping industry. By focusing heavily on customer service and rooting our entire operation in meeting and exceeding even the most demanding of expectations, Nexus has grown into a national powerhouse in vehicle shipping.
We’ve also developed a cutting-edge price calculator that’s gathered data from eight years’ worth of orders, fine-tuning the process with AI technology to accurately determine a trucker’s asking price. By doing this, we are able to provide a fair price for private customers, dealerships, and carriers alike.
We’re not satisfied, though. We never will be. To continuously diversify and innovate our approach to customer service, we’re branching out in exciting new directions. This includes vast improvements in direct-to-dealer shipping services, a hard push towards building mutually-beneficial relationships with media outlets, and a content creation strategy that places the entire automotive industry under a unique, cutting-edge lens.
2. Let’s focus on your desire to “continuously diversify and innovate” your company’s “approach to customer service.” Can you point to specific inspirations for this modality? Why do you feel it’s essential to your company?
George Arkin: I look at a brand like the National Basketball Association and get inspired. I get pumped. Here’s a company that has worn so many different hats over the years and presents its products in so many different ways. When you look at Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general, the NBA creates passionate fan discourse in a way that’s unique to both the sporting and social media landscapes.
NBA executives have changed the game countless times to fit the viewing habits of their customer base. They’ve also diversified their approaches to highlighting players and teams, pushing their brand out to the ends of the earth to a remarkably profitable degree.
We want to push boundaries like the NBA. We are a disruptor in the automotive space, and that’s because we operate on the intersection of technology and creative thought.
To continue to do so, we have to innovate. We have to evolve. We must try things and keep our finger on the pulse before the heartbeat even happens. You may not know that you want to watch our content or use our car shopping services. Yet, it’s our job to deliver the unexpected so you will.
3. The rise of the electric vehicle has changed the game for everything from passenger cars to transport trucks like the ones you employ. What are your feelings on the EV revolution, and how does Nexus Auto Transport fit in all that?
George Arkin:
We embrace it! Why would we do anything else? It’s not like looking the other way will help our company when things go predominantly electric over the next decade or so.
A huge part of our content strategy is highlighting the rise and proliferation of the electric vehicle. We’re creating reels, YouTube videos, news articles, and think pieces centered on EVs. What are they? What does the EV mean for both the automotive and shipping industries? Where is all of this going?
The questions and answers related to the EV are changing daily. It’s a new, exciting process and one that our customers have a vested interest in. We want to educate and inform. We also want to help change the conversation.
That’s why we’re racking our collective brains each day to push our content in interesting directions that parallel the imaginative, cutting-edge machinations of the EV revolution itself.
4. In your opinion, what does true leadership look like in a company like yours? What’s the key to leading a staff to the next level?
George Arkin: Leadership is a 24/7 mindset. It’s about the brass tacks of running your company by example and how you approach your life. If you let your self-doubt snowball into inaction in any part of your day, it will snowball into everything you do.
True leadership is not being fearless, nor is it about making people fear. True leadership is pushing the envelope regardless of potential failures. It’s about rewarding your employees for their creative ideas and giving them ownership of said ideas. It’s about hiring people and letting them be people. And it’s about holding them and yourself accountable from day to day, situation to situation.
The keys to pushing a staff to the next level are transparency and vision. If you want to grow as a company and facilitate concurrent employee growth, you have to be honest, and you have to be quick. Don’t wait for the big break, and don’t let your employees do the same. Be proactive by example and reward the same in those who work for you. That’s leadership, in my eyes.
5. You talked about wanting to “grow as a company.” Can you expand on that? How do you see Nexus Auto Transport evolving over the next five years?
George Arkin: I think it would be silly to view my company’s trajectory from a 2023 lens, although I do have my ideas. I plan to make educated, instinctual decisions that change the course of this company in profitable, customer-centered ways. We refuse to be stagnant. We refuse to be boring.
In five years, of course, I want this company to continue to pair the best truckers in the business with a growing customer base. No matter what you ship and when you do, we will always strive to give you a fair deal for efficient, quality, five-star vehicle shipping services.
We will continue to expand our network of car shipping providers, and we will continue to expand our customer service team so customers always get the help they need right when they need it.
There’s also much more. We want to build media relations partnerships through quality videos, articles, social media posts, and event planning. We want to brand the best, most entertaining interviews, how-to, news updates, and whatever else we can do to inspire and provoke thought. We want you to know Nexus. And we want to surprise you.
6. Why is your new multimedia content development strategy important to your business? It’s much different than most car shipping companies we’ve encountered…
George Arkin: Well, we’re not just being different to be different. That would be a trivial, short-sighted way of running a business. It’s not our place to tell other car shipping companies how to do what they do. We want to stay in our lane.
Now, that lane doesn’t have to be a straight path. As I said before, we’re a vehicle transport company that wants to do vehicle transport better and better each day.
Yet, what if we did more? What if we informed you about the latest automotive news and put a spin on it that is worth your time? What if we went all over the US to car dealerships, truck stops, conventions, and other automotive events to highlight the most interesting, forward-thinking people and companies? What if we became an essential content provider worth checking out daily?
Nexus Auto Transport is an auto transport company at heart. But, we’re not content coloring within the lines. We profit off our ingenuity. And we profit off of giving customers more than they expect. Every time. Every day. In every which way.
7. To finish things up, can you sum up your approach to business in five words or less? Why did you choose those words?
George Arkin: “We’re here to be bold.”
Boldness is the heart of the best, most profitable companies. That’s not just in the auto transport world. That’s in every industry.
If you’re afraid to push the envelope, you’ll stay in the envelope. And that will limit your revenue streams, customer base, and ability to reach new clientele.
To be bold is to change even when the current methodology works just fine. Our car shipping network might be big enough right now. Yet, is it big and well-coordinated enough for us to climb three more rungs up the ladder? Four? We have to think ahead, and we must keep the spirit of innovation in everything we do.
If you ship a car with us, you’ll see how this strategy can benefit you as a customer. And if you see everything else we do, we want you to be impressed with how unusual and atypical we are. We’re bold because we’re not satisfied otherwise. And tomorrow is a new day with opportunities abound.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO, and our interviewer would like to extend our most sincere thanks to George Arkin for taking the time out of his busy day to speak with us.
To get in touch with George Arkin and learn more about the mission of Nexus Auto Transport, connect with George via his – Linkedin Page
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