Adam Andrei about entrepreneurship in international freight transportation: “Don’t listen to those around you who tell you that now is not the right time”

Adam Andrei, a professional in international freight transportation, talks about entrepreneurship, leadership, industry pressure, client relationships and the decisions that shaped his professional journey.

Adam Andrei is a young professional working in international freight transportation. With an educational background in a completely different field, but nearly a decade of experience in the corporate sector, he recently decided to set out on his own path.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence, in a way that would capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Andrei: A consistent person, but deep enough to make the necessary adjustments along the way.

C&B: Looking back, what is the “red thread” that has guided your professional journey?

Andrei: From a positive perspective, I could highlight the joy of achieving a target whose level of difficulty was above average and for which even I wouldn’t have given myself much of a chance. At the risk of sounding cliché, the joy comes from the fact that this has happened several times over the past 10 years, and seeing that it is not impossible fuels me to keep setting goals that are increasingly difficult to achieve.

Also from a positive perspective, another “red thread” is the opportunities that come your way only once in a lifetime, and you have to catch that train. I embrace making as many calculations as possible, but sometimes it is healthy to listen to our instincts and catch that train.

To give an example from a more negative perspective, another “red thread” would be finding the ability to take the best out of any experience, even if that experience was not necessarily on your list. Preparing for what comes next in life or, more specifically, in your career, is not always dressed in pink and is not as comfortable as a seminar in an air-conditioned room.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or failure that truly changed you?

Andrei: I hope that, with further maturity, I will be able to assess the extent to which it changed me. A difficult moment was certainly joining teams where I was definitely not the first choice and being forced, without knowing exactly how, to make the best of what I had. Later, I realized that concessions were once again necessary on my part or, in other words, that I had to be an able politician while also bringing the teams together as much as I could, creating, why not, friendships that I hope still last today. Experiences of this kind “toughened me up,” but they certainly increased my emotional intelligence and, even though it is difficult for me to recommend such an experience to someone, I can say that it would definitely help anyone.

C&B: What is a bold (or counterintuitive) decision that significantly influenced your trajectory?

Andrei: Again, even though I believed this, it is not a cliché, but leaving a job is equivalent to stepping outside your comfort zone. Fortunately for me, I was never a person who was too easily influenced, as that would have made the situation even more difficult. I think you can already imagine what I could hear from the people around me when they received the news: “I am leaving my corporate job, where I had just been freshly promoted into management.”

Another event worth mentioning would be becoming closer to my business partners. It is natural to develop more stable relationships and gradually open up to one another, eventually creating friendships, but at some point I needed to set limits. Yes, it was counterintuitive, and I did not want to do this from the very beginning, but I understood that everything related to my professionalism would have been put aside. You cannot work as seriously with someone who has become more than a business partner, a friend.

C&B: How have you changed over time as a leader / professional?

Andrei: I understood what it means to work with people and how important emotional intelligence is. Before, I used to draw negative conclusions much more quickly, whereas now I can proudly say that I have become more empathetic. Yes, there are still disappointments; it would be impossible for there not to be, but what I do differently now is look deeper and identify some of the reasons why those people might be performing this way.

At the same time, I have learned that pressure is not something undesirable, as I used to think. Having pressure also means confirmation that what you are doing is okay. If pressure were to disappear completely, God forbid, it would mean that we were left without a workload. I have also learned to “make peace” with it and live with it. Of course, with small escapes, breaks, and other tricks.

C&B: What do you think the people who work directly with you say about you — beyond your public image?

Andrei: I want to believe they see me as a professional guy, but at the same time, I would not want that aura of an ultra-serious and unapproachable man. I would like to also be Andrei, the person they would want to have lunch with, for example.

And if I were to think of something less positive as well, I have not received this feedback, but I think that sometimes I get carried away and give too many details.

C&B: What truly differentiates you in the way you build or lead?

Andrei: The first thing worth mentioning would be the desire to also take on work that other competitors are less willing to do. We do not approach things through “cherry picking”; we also go where others stop because of the difficulty.

Another process that differentiates us is that our sales side does not approach clients according to that classic vision in which you have to speak to clients, after getting past that barrier of formality, in a syrupy way and with that personal-assistant attitude straight out of The Devil Wears Prada. I believe we can show respect and willingness to serve our clients in other ways, in fact, in a much more professional manner.

C&B: How has the current context (technology, AI, the economy) changed the way you work?

Andrei: I can say it has changed it for the better. We have saved a lot of time calculating our freight by implementing AI into our routine. As the volume increased, we also considered doing this for the documentation side.

At the same time, I categorize our field as a human one, and we have not yet opted to implement AI in the decision-making process.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has significantly influenced your performance?

Andrei: Here I will give a rather banal answer, unfortunately, but it reflects reality.

Checking — for some time now, I have been checking terms more carefully, details in an email, details in a quotation, the progress of orders that have already been placed. The simple fact that we demonstrate proactivity also helps and gives us a better image in front of our clients.

C&B: What principles guide you when making important decisions?

Andrei: To show that “we have a backbone,” regardless of how much a particular moment tests us. When things are difficult, we need to maintain our position and remain right there, alongside our clients.

C&B: How do you see your field evolving over the next 3–5 years?

Andrei: The transportation industry will become even more competitive. At the same time, it will be much more restrictive for newcomers. This all stems from the changes introduced by the EU through the implementation of tachographs for 3.5-ton vehicles, but especially from diesel price fluctuations caused by the current geopolitical landscape. Clients are resistant to change, while transportation companies are taking an even tougher negotiating position, rightfully citing the current bankruptcies.

C&B: What role do you aim to play in this evolution?

Andrei: Our main objective is to satisfy our existing clients even under the current critical market conditions. In second place, we have the development of the customer acquisition process. At the same time, we want to focus on expanding our client portfolio. On a tertiary level, we aim to increase our turnover by 50%, and this is being pursued through the development of the air & sea transportation sector.

C&B: What real advice would you give someone who wants to build something relevant today?

Andrei: Don’t listen to the voices around you that will tell you that now is not the right time. If we analyze things concretely, there is never a favorable time to start a start-up. There will always be something that does not work properly and could represent an impediment.

Don’t jump to conclusions: it is very easy to rush and say that someone is not a good collaborator, or that a client is not scalable enough. It is very easy to be proven wrong.

Think long-term and behave like a large company, even if you are just starting out.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your industry that few people talk about?

Andrei: Even though I would have been tempted to bring up the issue of honesty in this industry, ultimately I do not think that would be appropriate, because this represents an impediment throughout the entire Eastern European business environment.

Rather, the elephant in the room that many overlook is burnout in our industry. We only need to have ears to hear about cases where colleagues in our profession face severe problems such as heart attacks, strokes, or other conditions of this kind.

I believe it is vital to know our profession, to understand its negative aspects, and to learn to live with them, so that we can be part of a movie with a happy ending, rather than a drama.

Adam Andrei’s journey is about the courage to leave the corporate world, embrace entrepreneurship and build a business in a highly competitive industry. From leadership and emotional intelligence to customer acquisition and the challenges of international transportation, his story offers an honest perspective on building a business for the long term.