ATA Featured Member: Faye Stewart Transportation
Although the company was started just eight years ago, Faye Stewart Transportation Service, LLC was named one of the country’s top 500 fastest-growing businesses by Entrepreneur magazine in 2007. Faye Stewart started the company with nothing more than $1000, a 400-square-foot shared office and knowledge gained through 25 years of working for different trucking companies. She grew the business one load at a time, garnering her first $1 million in revenues within a year of the start-up.
Faye Stewart Transportation, LLC leases trucks and has about 70 independent contractors hauling for the company all over the country. The company has been certified as a woman-owned business enterprise by the states of California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona Unified Certification Program, and City of Phoenix. However, Faye has found that the minority business certification is less useful as a competitive advantage than it is for networking with other women business owners.
Faye Stewart was born on a farm in Evansville, Indiana, but has lived in the West Valley since 1957, including in Cashion, El Mirage and Surprise. Her father operated a Blakely Service Station on Buckeye Road in Cashion for many years.
After several decades in trucking, Faye says, “It’s the same business, but every day is a new day.” Faye has a true passion for the trucking industry.
Faye Stewart Transportation, LLC joined the Arizona Trucking Association in 2007 and in October 2008, Faye was appointed by ATA Chairman Dave Williams to fill a vacancy on ATA’s Board of Directors. Of the company’s membership in ATA, Faye says “Upon joining the ATA, I made a decision to jump in with both feet. What I mean by that is attending all the meetings, volunteering for projects, even holding onto fishing nets while someone else nails them to the wall for décor at the ATA conference!
“The point is that if we all carry a small piece of the burden we can move mountains. I think that every member is a link in our success. The energy and strength of each member creates the collective synergy of our organization. So I invite all to jump in with both feet to reap the benefits,” Faye says emphatically!
“The ATA is made of people who own and or manage trucking companies, which allows networking with other fine member organizations such as Western National Bank, Empire Power Systems and Southwest Truck Insurance, just to mention a few. This is one of the great benefits of being a member.
“I also truly believe that success is 98% discipline and 2% luck. In other words, Discipline = Achievement!”
Faye says that her organization is participating in the “The Power of Focus,” by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt. “They say that ‘Energy flows where focus goes!’ We have a place in my office called ‘The Well’. Our staff must go there every day to participate in the program,” Faye says.
“A single page is placed there for them to read. We do not copy the pages and hand them out for their convenience. Life isn’t convenient, it’s Discipline.”