I hear this from many that are sold on leasing, or just don’t care to embrace the challenge of finding their own loads. I think that sometime it either seems too hard or they’re just too lazy to try. Their thinking goes something like this: it’s just too much trouble to get a computer and be responsible for finding my own loads, besides; it’s enough for me to have to drive them, right?  That’s fine but it sounds more like a cop out to me. I guess my only question would be, I know it’s feasible and possible, because I did it, so.what are you doing with all that extra time? Or even a better question, have you ever felt like you’re not paid enough for what you do? Or ask yourself the question, why is so many that work in the office making just as much or more than I am, even though I don’t get to see my family for months at a time? I suppose if you’re bent on not finding your own loads for whatever reason, whatever I ask really won’t matter.

I’ll get my rate next time

, yeah, yeah, I use to tell myself that too when I caved in to a lower price. Some day you just gotta force yourself to stop taken those cheap rates, cause you’re only fooling yourself when you consistently miss getting your rate. Here’s what I did, it may not work for you but it did for me. For a time or a certain number of loads I promise the Lord I wouldn’t take less than a set rate. So help me every time I did that there was absolutely no chance I would take a lesser rate, I was so freaked out that God would remove his grace from me for just a little while, No Way! No way, would I go against it, and guess what, I always found someone willing to pay me my rate, “Always”. Far be it from me to get you started on something that’ll get you in over your head but I think if you respect God like I do you’ll find that his grace is sufficient.

I don’t need no computer

“slang”. This to me is the ultimate cop out, you wouldn’t expect to hire on with a big company that doesn’t use computers, it’s the same thing in your individual case, there’s just too many modern day needs for you to be living in the past. If you don’t use a computer to know the market and make it work for you, then you’re depending on someone else to do for you what you should be doing for yourself and your gona get paid as such. Why even bother to complain if you’re not doing for yourself what you should and can do. If you can drive a truck you can use a computer they made em for dummies like me, and I do pretty good.

Not properly assessing all your expenses

It just burdens me to here some guys talk of there expense and income, because I know their leaving out so much, to do this is to help the brokers pay you less, I cannot tell you how important it is to assess every single dime, I even counted things like ATM fee, charges for cashing Comdata checks, window washer fluid, directory assistance, scale tickets and a number of other business expenses that add up.

Lack of front end work

Neglecting to get brokers to put things like detention layover truck ordered not used, and lumper conditions, on the rate confirmation is fatally optimistic, but guys are so scared their gona lose the load if they demand those thing they are afraid to even mention them, then when they have a problem they expect the broker to read their mind and agree with what they think they should be paid, “bull” grow up, and get it in writing.

I’m gona do this or that

“talking about getting your Authority”, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, heard it all before. I’m from Missouri, the show me state when it comes to that.

Gambling

unfortunately this is where most of society is Truckers included. It’s no longer for fun, this is retirement based serious here! I do feel sorry for these folks, because they are making the ultimate statement of false hope.

I’ve always been pretty healthy I’ll be alright:

One of the benefits to not getting a load some days was; I comforted myself by dropping trailer “locked of course” and finding a YMCA to go work out in, needless to say, I’m a pretty healthy guy. I almost never had to take a shower at a Truckstop and I could even steam and sauna, sometimes for an hour if I wanted to. Back to the point, the physical well being and personal upkeep for so many Truckers has fallen so low that in all of society we’re expected to be fat, nasty, and with a bad attitude; and believe me, many of us hold to it as though it were a religion, but it’s really a crying shame. Don’t let anybody brainwash you. You are not any of those things, you’re a human being, and as such you have a responsibility to humankind to present yourself decent in person, body, and spirit, and thanks be to God there are many of you that are doing a good job of changing the attitude of how people see us.

The brokers can’t be that far off on miles, rate etc:

 Most of you already know if you’ve worked with them any length of time some of them lie about “everything” so, again, you need a computer, and the means to calculate miles and your rate. If you have one, great, never miss on checking the mile, just use zip codes it’s easier and pretty close.

Guaranteeing delivery times:

Here’s one that’s not so obvious, Let me keep it simple, don’t guarantee delivery time, I mostly ended up running loads that the brokers either had rolled the dice on too many times while trying to find a cheap truck, or they had been paid an expedited rate by the shipper to get it there really fast, ASAP with a few exclamation points. Ok, lets be real, first off, don’t let the brokers irresponsibility force you into trying to make up for time he lost by trying to take as much of your money as possible, you are not a machine, you don’t have control of traffic, the weather, the Space Shuttle Columbia, or any number of things that can go wrong.

The broker/shipper wants to believe that expedited means you deliver on time regardless of anything human or act of God. Don’t let that scare you, simply explain when asked about guarantees that, no I do not guarantee delivery time, but short of traffic and God permitting, I’ll get it there on time. That being said, the whole time I owned a truck I ran expedited freight, I didn’t know anything else.

There is a certain mindset with it that goes sorta like this, You learn to make time at absolutely every moment, “every moment” because, in the expediters mind he is saying “just in case anything goes wrong, I’ll have a little time to sort things out, and get there on time. I manically kept that mindset on every single load the entire time I was in trucking, the brokers began to know me and I kept a good reputation as an expediter.

Zero tolerance for late deliveries, “zero”. And if you are going to start getting your rate you will have to either set your mind right about that or you are going to cost yourself and a lot of people more money than you can possibly imagine. So if sitting around at the TruckStop and jaw jacking or playing games and having loads that really don’t matter or not staying up on your maintenance is your thing, then this is not for you. Also, you don’t have to think of yourself as an expediter to learn and earn from this book.  

The back haul will get me back on time:

Truckers and brokers argued me down that I should return from the weak areas with a load, I already knew two things: One, I refuse to oblige anyone that didn’t think enough about me to pay me what I’m worth, and Secondly, I knew I was suppose to rest after delivering that morning, not looking for a stupid two bit load, so I rested, got up and went to the YMCA and worked out, got a bit to eat, and left that evening and was “directly” back in my hot spot the next day ready that afternoon and well rested for another run. I thought it important to be fully rested for all my runs and in this way I could take my time live life and get my rest. Besides, the way I figured it the brokers were probably going to the gym and working out, why shouldn’t I as a Trucker work out? Or do I have to start back on some of the brokers that expect me to be fat, and nasty, and always running so much I can’t even wash, let alone work out because I’m giving so much of my money away. Don’t get me started!  

Using very few brokers:

This is a very fatal flaw I see in some Truckers, they are lulled into some kind of idea that this person that they are doing loads for is somehow looking out for their best interest. They operate almost as if they have something good going on with these people that they can’t get anywhere else, although they have not tried. In talking to a lot of them I find that their brokers are ripping them for all they can. I caught some drivers almost as if to be somewhat proud to say “I do all my loads through XYZ brokerage”.

Sometimes I can wake them up, some time I can’t get through. If you operate in a market based industry, the only way to get your rate is to either find a rock solid bread and butter run or make yourself available to the entire market, or at least as much of it as you can. You can’t let your fear convince you that because you don’t know these people they won’t pay you, or all these other different kind of hang ups Truckers have. I probably use over a hundred different brokers the time I was in trucking, all of them paid me. Any of them could have not paid me, but you can’t let fear shut you off from the rest of the market, that’s just insane.

I’ll get enough trucks running I can really make some money then:

Buddy if you don’t learn to make the most of the market, you are going to only be losing more. Yeah, you’ll gain a little more but to multiply a failed business plan out many times over is just that, multiple failure and that’s not going to solve your problem. Learn to use the market.

My family will understand that I have to stay out so long:

I’ll tell a little bit of how much families understand your work program: I remember I worked graveyard shift, got off work, went to church to help prepare the foundation for a pour or was doing a concrete pour, or dig or something heavy. Sometimes I would get home about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. My mom would want me to take her shopping or to pay bills, this was an ongoing thing until I finally realized she’s just not going to understand, she could not put herself into my tired sleep deprived body long enough to get it, so, I finally had to make some adjustments to accommodate her, even though other family members could have helped her, no one else in her mind could take my place.

Listen to me, it’s an extremely cruel bitterness of soul, tormenting and vexing to the limit of your imagination to lose your family, but I promise you most brokers have so completely and absolutely and totally shut their minds off from those things. When it’s within your grasp to earn the kind of money you deserve, you had better know how to use the market to work for you, for your family sake.

How do you want to remember Trucking

You’ll want to look back at your trucking day someday or you’ll want to avoid the mere mention of it. The thought of it will either light up your face or make you just want to vomit. It’s all in your hands right here and right now. I’m sick and tired of hearing the Independent Owner Operators are a dying bread, no we’re a living bread and we’re going to show the world that a new day is coming in trucking a day that holds forth as much promise and opportunity for us as any other business person our there.

Some of you might say going for something better is about getting in the spirit. Now you may not even believe in God or follow spiritual things, but everyone can understand opportunity, and when opportunity in life knocks, you had better get tough and answer the call because most likely, that opportunity may never be offered to you again. Is every opportunity a good one? No, but if you become a student of your business and keep yourself ready for whatever the next step is, and always be gathering information, you’ll know which ones are real.

I would always encourage you to test, confirm, prove and be sure about any opportunity before you commit. It takes wisdom and patience, but more than all those things it takes faith, yes “faith” a willingness to take that one step that will lead you into a whole new life, the step that can’t be fully known or understood until you take it, the step that reserves all the highest and best things in life for those willing to walk in that dark valley of no return to get to the other side. No you may not make it, and yes there’s a chance you could fail, but the real stuff life is made of is the fact that you tried.

Prov: 24:16 For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
  In fact, if you don’t go for it, you’ll never know whether you would have been successful or not, and that’s the kind of stuff that just eats your butt up when you get old and look back and realize, you’ll never have that chance the way you had it again.