August 29, 2025
August is National Black Business Month – a month celebrating and recognizing the contributions of Black-owned businesses to the United States economy and community! The Port of Seattle is the proud partner of diverse firms, and we’d like to take the opportunity to highlight one of the many Black businesses that have worked to make the Port what it is today. The Diversity in Contracting team was given the privilege of interviewing Markiss Cooper, co-owner of Coopasims Transportation and Logistics, about his journey as a Black entrepreneur.
Background
Tell us a little about your professional background and what inspired you to begin your business.
My professional background stems from working in the community. In 2013, I enrolled at Evergreen State College and studied non-profit business. Through my program, I was able to do an independent contract with the Boys and Girls Club helping them develop their youth athletics program. Then I transitioned to the education field where I was at the SOAR Academy Public Charter School on the hilltop of Tacoma as an educator. Both of those roles not only allowed me to pour into my passion of working with youth with my background, but they also gave me experience in project management and made me a recognizable face in the community.
Fast forward a couple of years later, my wife Ashley Cooper (formerly Simmons), and I were expecting our second child and although I loved the work I did in the schools, some extra income was going to be necessary. At that time, the gig economy was growing so with our entrepreneurial spirits, we thought it would make sense to dabble in some side hustles with my pickup truck. It started with us working with the elderly, helping them transition from their residential homes to senior facilities. We even did small jobs like studio or 1-bedroom apartments moves.
We were using Yelp, Facebook, and the other social media platforms to get our names out there to get gig opportunities. Then we started getting direct bookings through family, friends, and people in the community. These side hustles took a lot more time than either of us expected but the return on investment was far more than what I saw in my role as a support staff in the school. We learned about the courier services business through our side hustle with the pickup truck, and on January 16, 2018, we began IHaul LLC.
Business was good but then the pandemic hit in 2020, and we had to make a pivot from working in the residential space to the business-to-business side. We knew it was important to diversify our services to stay afloat we not only offered on-demand delivery, but we’d even unpack and set up the deliveries. That helped us partner with mom-and-pop shops, big box furniture stores, and bigger businesses. My wife and I then made the decision to combine our maiden names to begin our trademark of Coopasims in 2022.
Can you tell us more about your company, products/services you provide?
We’re an expedited delivery and courier service. Many of our deliveries are incredibly time critical, transporting and delivering mail, medical devices/tools, and even aircraft parts. We still also offer setup support when we have the time in our schedule to do so. There are less things being delivered right now, however, the medical industry has kept us going as well as our white glove delivery service, going into people’s homes and setting up furniture and other things.
To this day a lot of our business is generated through word of mouth, which we’re thankful for. We’ve stewarded the relationships that helped us get started about a decade ago and have made connections with brokers too. We still do organic marketing through social media platforms like Facebook, and Instagram, and continuously getting out in the community bringing us more visibility. I would attribute a great deal of our success to the community of Tacoma that really helped build our clientele.
I think what sets us apart are our relationships. People trust that we will treat their things just like it’s our own. What gets lost in these services meant to bring convenience to the consumer is that sense of community. People know that nine times out of ten they can get someone to speak with them on the phone when they call us. People can have access to us, and they can really see and feel who they’re working with. People that work with us have a relationship with us.
What contracts have you worked on at the Port? What did it take to secure those contracts?
We received our first contract with the Port of Seattle in 2021 providing express delivery and courier services for the Port of Seattle. What that looks like is moving the Port’s interoffice mail all around the Port facilities like the piers, terminals, airport, and other buildings and satellite offices. We were lucky to land the first Port contract we bid on and on top of bringing the most affordable service, we were told that we were the most responsive! Thankfully, we are currently on another courier services contract with the Port for the next five years.
What are things you wished you would have known before you began government work?
One thing you don’t really reflect on when you’re doing the contracting are the payment schedules – the net 30s, 60s, and 90s. What this means is that I need to work 30, 60, or 90 days before getting paid. You must be prepared and organize your cashflow to ensure you can stay afloat. You still have to pay employees, fuel the car etc., even though you won’t be paid for the first month or more of your contract. This was a huge learning curve for us and luckily, we had a decent book of business, so we were getting paid elsewhere before we got paid on our first Port contract. Also, not being paid on time was something we had to prepare for. When there is a change in leadership, systems go down, etc., things will get delayed. We were on contract with the Port when the Port had their cyber security crash and if we didn’t have money saved and other jobs, we would’ve been in a bad place.
Advice for Business Owners
What advice do you have for other WMBE/small businesses when it comes to finding opportunities and bidding for Port contracts and what advice do you have for other WMBE/small businesses who have just secured their first Port project and are about to begin work?
You’ve gotta show up. Show up to the networking events, online meetings, pre-bid meetings, etc. When you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind so even if you show up to an event that doesn’t benefit you all that much, you’re going to be kept in the know of the next event that could be really beneficial for you. At least you’ll be privy to the next upcoming RFP that will be out. You’ve gotta show up and shake some hands.
The other thing is, you’ve gotta know your cost. Going back to the net 30s, if you don’t properly understand your numbers, it’s hard to stay afloat. I know people who couldn’t complete their first year of a contract because they didn’t have enough cash reserves to get through the month. The route we are on for our jobs is 129 miles and I’ve gotta pay for gas. The longest we’ve ever waited to get paid was 60 days yet I have to show up to work.
Black Business Month
What are some unique hurdles you’ve faced and feel other Black business owners face in running their business?
My saying is: I’m an entrepreneur by circumstance and not by choice because what I experienced routinely was being overlooked. In my previous jobs, I’ve been a big contributor and built programs that someone else would end up getting credit for. A different thing I experience in this line of work is I’m one of the few of my kind in these trucking meetings and transportation meetings. I’m not saying that I’m actively being discriminated against, but you hear enough stories about your own predecessors who have faced explicit harm because they didn’t “look” the part and at the very least there’s an added pressure for me to ensure I’m taken seriously.
What impact does it make on the local and Black community when Black businesses thrive?
I really think it’s important for our community and the rest of the communities to see that we have an entrepreneurial and academic drive. Our drive for greatness doesn’t only fall within sports or music. When our businesses do well, it shows our community that there isn’t anything we can’t do that we put our mind to. Also, becoming an entrepreneur has changed my life. I can share so many testimonies of how my personal life, mental health, and overall well-being has changed since we went into business. The fact that we own a house today is huge because I never lived in a house in my entire childhood. I went to five different elementary schools, three different middle schools, and for so long all I knew was instability.
Now, I get to watch my daughter be able to go to one elementary school, and one middle school, and being able to provide that stability to her is why my wife and I work so hard on this business. Not only am I able to provide for my family but I’m creating a legacy. I come from a single-parent household where my father wasn’t in the house. As a Black man married to a Black woman, raising Black children, and having my oldest being able to see her father start from nothing with a pickup truck to having a warehouse, vehicles, employees, I’ve now inspired her to be an entrepreneur. You don’t see entrepreneurship passed down in our community very often and I’m a first-generation entrepreneur.
How can people and organizations support Black-owned businesses? Do you have any resources you would refer them to?
There’s a good number of resources out there for Black business owners or people looking to support Black businesses. The first one that comes to mind is the Black Business Warehouse led by Craig Dawson. This has a vast network of Black businesses. There’s also Black Owned Business Excellence (BOBE), Urban League of Seattle, Tabor 100, the list goes on!
The Port has been one of the many beneficiaries of Markiss and Ashley’s tremendous business and we are thankful for the opportunity to hear about Markiss’s journey of legacy building. Whether you’re a minority, woman, small, or business owner, we would like to support your entrepreneurial journey as well. Please sign up for our distribution list to see how Diversity in Contracting at the Port can be supporting you and check out the resources above to support local Black businesses!
