Business View Magazine Feb 2023

94 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Hightower Investments greatlakes@hightoweradvisors.com | (219) 531-4941. You built a successful business. We build successful exits!  Are you ready to take the first step towards the best part of your life? Fiduciaries at Hightower Great Lakes close the gaps between where you are today and your dreams. Contact us to learn to make work optional, prepare heirs, create impactful contributions, and exit your business. You’re an expert in your field.We’re experts in ours. n TrueNorth Companies www.truenorthcompanies.com TrueNorth Companies, L.C. is a closely held, privately held risk management services and insurance brokerage firm with a nationally recognized transportation industry focus. Our mission is to assist companies and their people with protecting and maximizing assets, resources, and opportunities. Learn more at truenorthcompanies. com/transportation. n First Merchants Bank www.firstmerchants.com You have the vision and drive to succeed, but sometimes you need more. First Merchants provides valuable perspective, a reliable source of capital and a team who can see beyond the numbers to help your business thrive. First Merchants offers access to senior decision makers and personal attention from local bankers. Member FDIC lives of her drivers easier will be important because of how fast that technology evolves. There has been a widely documented shortage in the commercial trucking space, and Powersource does hope to add more drivers to its fleet in 2023. That shortage existed even before COVID, and many experienced drivers have retired or taken on fewer hours over the last three years. However, Powersource has a strong enough reputation that many of its drivers have been with the company for an extended time, including some younger drivers relatively early in their careers. While COVID did cause a short-term lull in growth for part of 2020, Bakos’ policies helped to keep employees healthy and allowed them the option to work remotely. COVID did hurt the event and hospitality industry which Bakos estimated comprised about 20 percent of her company’s revenue before COVID. Fortunately, much of that work is coming back with more concerts, festivals, and events. She hopes to find even more event work in 2023 and considers it a fast-growing area in her industry. “We can move just about anything needed in an efficient, reliable way,” Bakos says. With a reputation built on consistency and success, Powersource Transportation is poised to remain among the leaders in the power-only trucking field for the foreseeable future. Bakos will make sure of it.