00:07 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking, and we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Next, it’s your host, Justin Scott. Let’s get to the show. All right, welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker. I’m your host, Justin Scott. I’ve got Eric Ryan here with me today. Eric, how you doing, buddy?

00:40 I’m doing well, sir. How are you?

00:41 Oh, man. I couldn’t be better. Couldn’t be better. Glad to have you on the show with me today. What have you got going on? Are you driving? Are you hanging tight for the holidays? What’s going on in your world?

00:51 No, man. Right now, I’m actually in a rental car. I’m talking to you via Bluetooth. You know, smart about it. But I’m headed up here to Champlain, New York to grab a load and go to Minnesota on the first drop. Second drop’s going to hit me in I in Iowa.

01:05 Okay. Okay. So, you’re out there getting it right now. So, weather good, weather bad. It’s cold. I know it’s got to be cold.

01:13 It’s cold up here in New York for sure. And I bet you Minnesota ain’t going to be too easy on me either, but—

01:17 It’s not going to be any better, is it?

01:20 You got to pay to play out here, though.

01:22 That’s right. That’s right. That’s the truth, man. Well, again, I’m glad you joined me. I know you’re doing work. Glad you got your Bluetooth headset on, playing it safe, but what’s your story, man? So, you’ve been with Norton how long now? What how long you been with us?

01:37 Almost three years, man.

01:39 Three years. Well, thank you, man. Thank you for the commitment. And what led you to us? What led you to driveaway? How’d you get started? Well, I guess it was start with, you know, I’m like what you call a third or fourth generation trucker. You know, on my dad’s side, you know, his dad and mom, you know, they drove for years. I mean, years. They bought, you know, bought trucks, sold trucks, and—

02:01 Drove for companies, you know, and both my, you know, grandfather sir, that’s what you call him. And—

02:07 My grandma, you know, they drove, you know, and you always you’d always hear stories of them. And then—

02:12 Were they freight? Yeah. Yeah. They pulled Van Reefer, a little bit of that, you know, but you know, he was a man of integrity and he still is. He’s still alive. The grandmother, she’s passed away.

02:22 She was too, but you know—

02:23 You know, he was w you know, he was wild back in his older days, but the truck kind of lined him out, you know, if that makes any sense.

02:30 Sure.

02:30 And he just, you know, he’s a good man and he just drove hard and, you know, did the owner rock thing and then drove for found him a good company. I think that’s who he stuck with. And he just recently retired. You know, he’s getting up there in age and he just recently retired. So—

02:43 Oh wow. So, he’s been he went in at it for a long time.

02:47 Yeah. Long time.

02:48 Well, well, that’s awesome, man. I love to hear stories about, you know, you know, generational type stuff and especially when you got a deep history, you know, it’s certainly you know, it’s a profession that that when it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood and here I am and here you are. And I think that’s how it goes. So, did you have any other family that that was connected in trucking?

03:09 Yes, sir. I did. You know, my mom, she drove you know, she drove reefer and drive van back in the day. And then my dad, you know, he drove concrete mixer there before he went and got him a degree. And then on my mom’s side, you know, her brother, you know, he ran a pretty big concrete company over there as a sales manager. And then my cousin drove a mixer. So it’s I got, you know, half of my family to say, you know, they drove something, you know. Yeah.

03:37 So it’s that was just kind of the deal. But I didn’t actually pick up on it till late to be honest with you, you know, until my late 20s. And I got to give all my respect. And where it really comes from would be a guy, his name is Daniel Sutton. He’s like a big brother to me. You know, when I was 15, my real brother passed away. And—

03:54 Oh, man.

03:55 You know, he— Yeah. No, it’s all right, man. Things happen, you know. It’s the way of life, you know. You gotta— We all got to die someday, you know. It’s just how you cut it if you’re ready to go or not, you know.

04:04 Right. Right. But he, you know, he swooped me up and said, “Okay, I’m going to be your big brother now.” And I’ll be down if he was, you know, he runs him an outfit over there. He got him about 20 trucks and he’s all heavy hauling. And he, you know, I would go with him on trips and we go everywhere and he got them big long low boys, oversized loads. And I just got that itch, you know, and like I say, the families, you know, always did it. So it’s kind of it wasn’t like I never heard of trucking or it wasn’t going to be part of the life, you know. I just he I’m just lucky enough he said, “Hey, look here. Let’s you need to get your crafting gear and I’m going to help you get your license.” And he did, man. He came out of pocket the cash money to get my license. And I took his brother’s truck down there, take a test. And I remember we was waiting to take the test and his brother said, “If you can pass this thing in this four axle truck, you can drive.” And I did. And I did. I was in a four axle truck taking my driving test and I passed.

05:02 So, you know, I went from there and then I kind of that first year was rough for me, man. That first really first and second year was kind of rough for me. You know, I was green as all hell out even though I had all experience and background. You know, it was like, you know, I think it’s like with anybody, you know, you hit your little stop sign there, but like I say, you know, I jumped out there, bought my own truck, got me a trailer, got my authority, got my LLC, and had my mom, you know, who drove back in the day running my back office. And I just really thought, you know, I can’t lose here with my hard work drive. And you know, I just can’t lose here. And I bought me a $40,000 $40,000 old truck, an old Volvo that seemed like it was wellkept. And for the first six months, man, I did good. I was out here.

05:45 You went in. Yeah, you went in, man.

05:48 Yeah. The first six months, man, I was really kicking ass. And I was like, “All right, well, like I say, I, you know, I didn’t have it all figured out.” And I came in at the time when the market was just slamming. So, you know, I was like, I was in there. And then something happened, man, about six months in. It just, you know, I had about a month or two, you know, I was ahead on my truck payment, on my insurance. Everything just seemed to be going right. Then I started catching my first couple breakdowns and it just slowly just started just draining me, man. And I went from, you know, going home, you know, and at the time I was calling myself a true otr guy, you know, I was staying out four to six weeks at a time. And when I go home, it was literally two days and back out. I just didn’t—

06:32 I just didn’t, you know, I was trying to be like the old ant, you know? I was trying to store up for the winter. You know what I mean?

06:37 Yeah.

06:37 And so I was doing my best, but it I just couldn’t prevent what was about to happen. And you know, sometimes in life you can do all you can do, but it’ll lead you to the promised land in a sense, you know, and I just I didn’t have enough quarterback vision to really realize it doesn’t matter how many times I fumble or drop the ball or be prepared, you know, I was I’m leading and I’m going to do something else. And I just didn’t know it, but it was still going to be in trucking. It just wasn’t going to be running in my own authority. And I was end up, you know, I stayed in communication with a good friend of mine, Eric Howard. You know, we kind of lost bases there for a few years. You know, you get older, you kind of part ways and—

07:16 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

07:18 I’ll be damned. He told me he was truck driving and that’s one thing I thought I didn’t think he would ever do. Just I just didn’t think, you know, me, you could have probably seen me going down that line just because of the family and like I said, my mentor, you know, you know, I was always around trucking there, you know, and you just kind of would have said, “Oh, I could see that with him.” But I just didn’t see with Eric. And then man, you know, we he came over the house one day and I he seen my truck and he thought I had it going on. He thought I was a cat’s meow, you know. And—

07:50 Then I broke it down to him. I was like, “Dude, I’m not doing worth a damn.”

07:54 Yeah.

07:54 You know, and you know, I just got my numbers back. I ran 146,000. That’s what I grossed that year. But I netted 30,000.

08:04 Wow. It’s crazy to think about those expenses. That’s—

08:08 And I just couldn’t believe it. I was broken. I And I got a CPA that’s a trucking CPA, a good guy, you know, and—

08:16 Doing everything they can.

08:18 Yeah, man. And I said, “This don’t seem right.” And he’s like, “Man,” he’s like, “You alone had almost a $60,000 fuel bill.”

08:24 Jeez.

08:25 I thought, “Holy crap.” Cuz I like to stay in that left lane, you know. And I was like, “All right.” Right. And you know, I didn’t have enough money to go buy that 379 and that W9 that I’ve always wanted. So—

08:38 Oh, yeah.

08:39 I bought a Volvo and I had a clean ass looking Volvo. I ain’t going to lie to you. I put a chrome on it, stacks on it. I made it look different than most Volvos out here, but it was never going to be what I really wanted. It was just a money pit is all it was, you know?

08:52 Yeah. Yeah.

08:53 And he told me, he said, “Man, you need to get over here in this piggyback lane.” And I, you know, I’d always drive that road and I’d see them old trucks going down the road and I thought I’ always thought to myself, man, that’d probably be a son of a gun to back them things up. That’s all I would ever think. You know, I never, you know, I never thought they was really making the money or, you know, I didn’t know how they, you know, cuz I always thought trucking was, you know, you get you a truck and drive for a good company, hope you find a good company, and then you work up to owner op. And that’s kind of the life goals of trucking, you know.

09:25 Yeah. I that’s just kind of what I always thought. You everybody is always saying go get your truck and then you can dictate your own be your own boss. And man, I think a lot of stuff in life is like you got to see it how it truly is. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a bad that’s a good hand to have if you got contracted freight or you know your spot market really good and you got a well-maintenance vehicle and you saved enough money, you know, but I just wasn’t wise enough. And he poured it on me about Norton and he always talked Norton up, talk Michael up, talk you up like y’all was everything. And I thought, well, you know, man ain’t never lied to me yet. Let me try it out. And he said, well, I’m going be able to train you, too. And I thought, well, at the time, I’ve been trucking five years. And I thought—

10:09 You don’t need any training. Like this old boy. I said, you know, you know, we turn on a wrench, you know, back in the day, you know, we worked on cars and I was always the guy showing him, you know, what an alternator was, a starter, how to drive, you know, and—

10:23 This guy going to—

10:24 Yeah. You know, but he sure the hell did. And we got out there, you know, where your strengths and your weaknesses are, you know, he made up for his weaknesses. I mean, you know, with his strength, you know, was cuz over here in this lane over here, you got to know how to book flights. You know how to go to rentals. We got a it’s a different dog out here, you know—

10:41 And it’s kind of a secret, you know, you go back and talk about the trucking industry as a whole and, you know, you had somebody in driveaway and, you know, from my experience being just you, you know, in the business and at trucking shows, you know, not everybody knows about what we do and that’s, you know, that’s been my general consensus is it’s almost like trucking’s best kept secret—

11:03 Man. It truly is. And it’s the cash cow. But with all that comes, brother, you the men and women that are out here on piggyback, I’m telling you right now, are hardworking son of a guns. Because I can speak from experience. You know, the only thing that comes close to this type of labor is them oversized guys.

11:24 Absolutely.

11:24 They’re booming, strapping, load. I mean, yeah, the flat betterers, they got to get out there and bust change, throw tarps, but nah, you the only thing that comes close is them oversized guys, cuz they really got to get out there and hump it, and they got all that heavy load or tall load, so they get it. But, you know, over here, man, it’s run hard, be safe, and then when you get to that location, you’re out in the weather. Like right now it’s 23° snow on the ground and if I had a the load that I had if it’s coming here, you know, I know I’m out there for four to five hours, 3 hours, whatever it is, I’m out there till the job’s done. Let’s just put it that way. Ryan, sle, or snow, I’m in it.

12:01 Yeah. And you’re up against time. You’re up against, you know, being able to get the job done. I mean, I know a lot of you, you know, a lot of you guys run into places and, you know, you got to sit because there’s another guy taking up the, you know, some of these small dealerships or some of these manufacturers, they don’t have a lot of room for you guys to work in. So, not only— Yeah. Not only dealing with— No, no, not you. Go ahead. Not only are you dealing with the weather, but you’re dealing with so many other variables—

12:30 Right? And, you know, like us, you know, we’re non-union. And so, I call us and a couple our smaller competitors, you know, we’re the go-getters. You know, we, you know, we’re not getting paid all day, you know. You know, they we make our big bulk money in the driving aspect, you know, and you know, we’re blessed over here in Norton. We get paid on deck, but it’s not the that’s not the bulk of your money. So, your mind frame is to bust ass and get it. And you pull up to a location and it’s 1:00 and they cut them off at 4 or 5 and you got this slow guy in front of you. You know, if you’re smart and got a brain on you, you’re going to get out there and help bust ass and help put his axles in. That’s what I do. And I love to hear that. I love to hear that.

13:10 I tell you, I learned that from my buddy Eric, you know, cuz you know, like I say, he trained me and we would go places and if the gate was open and the light was on, we was undecking. And if it was 7, 8, 9:00 at night, we was undecking. And then we’d go hit the hotel, turn our paperwork in, or turn it burn the next morning, you know. But some of these places they just got, you know, and that’s their right. They got rules and you got to play by them. So if you get behind a slow poking and shaw at four and you don’t want to be sit there, you better get your butt out and helping him bust down. No matter if he’s union, non-union, or your competitor. And I’ve did that multiple times and not one guy has ever said, “Hey, leave me alone. Let me do it by myself.”

13:50 Yeah. You know.

13:51 Yeah. Because they know, you know, I think it’s one of those things, too. It’s like, “Hey, this is great.” And, you know, you don’t want to burn any bridges out there. You never know when you’re going to be working right alongside that guy. You know, it’s a tight-knit community. And you know, we could all, you know, don’t burn any bridges. And, you know, they know that, you know, they’re hope to, you know, they’re probably going to return that favor. And, you know, that hopefully if you’re in a situation where you need help and they’re there, then they’ll return that favor.

14:16 And there ain’t nothing that a better feeling is pulling up. And, you know, cuz it’s like this. I don’t know if it’s like this for every driver, but I can speak for myself. If I pull up to a location and I see that placard or if I know he is because right now I got a pretty good feel but you know we’re you know Norton we’re growing like wildfire so I don’t know all the drivers but I you know I got my hands full I know a good majority of them you know so it’s like but even if I don’t know you and you tell me you’re Norton Transport oh I’m helping you off the rip and I don’t hey you ain’t got to ask no questions and I can think of probably 10 or 20 drivers I’ve helped that’s Norton and they all help me— No, that’s—

14:53 I can’t say that about I can’t say that about everybody else. And it don’t bother me because I’m not I’m doing it so I can get under that horse because—

15:02 You got to get to your next load. You got to go.

15:05 Yeah. And if they see you under that horse or see you putting the axles in, they’ll most of the time they’ll sign that paperwork. You know what I mean? Yeah. And if they leave at 5, you know, service manager or somebody will write that paperwork and they’ll get you on because they know what you’re they know you’re a go-getter, you know, and that’s the good thing about it.

15:23 So So the first time that you, you know, when you started out training and doing piggybacking and, you know, the decking thing when you, I guess, pulled up to the first drop or the first location that you were going to undeck at, you know, what was your initial thoughts going into it and the experience? Yeah, I would. Oh, man. If Eric Howard listens to this, he’s going to laugh. I thought I made the worst mistake.

15:49 Listen, I tell you what, I thought I made the worst mistake because at the time I still have my truck and trailer. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I ain’t got I was down and out, but I didn’t I wanted to have kind of that plan B. You know what I mean? So, cuz I didn’t know what I was getting off into. Boy, I’m telling you, it was about this time right now. I know it was in December. We hit Minnesota. Oh my word. We had these Freightliners. There was three, four foot of snow everywhere. Manual hoist. And mind you, I didn’t know what a manual hoist was. Now, I know what it was cuz I pulled motors and stuff before, but I didn’t know when he told me. We was talking on the phone.

16:29 You’re about to pick up a truck.

16:31 Yeah. He said, “Look, you know,” he’s like, I remember Eric saying, “Hey, if it’s a manual horse, we going to be here for a while, but electric horse,” he’s like, “We should be in and out in five, six hours.” I said, “Man, we got eight trucks.” He said, “We going to bust ass.” He said, “You get my side, I get your side.” You know, we had this chemistry when we would just bust his four out and bust my four. He’d work the left side, I’d work the right side. And it just, you know, it was just butter, you know.

16:56 And I’m telling you what, that first one we hit, I was unprepared. I didn’t have enough winter clothes. Yeah, I’m from Oklahoma. So, wasn’t prepared—

17:06 And it was cold, man. I was not prep and I was cold, wet, it started sleeping on us and then it started getting dark on us and it wasn’t one problem after another. And then when I thought we was about done, I said, “Well, what do we got to do now?” He said, “We got to run that manual hoist.” I said, “God almighty.” I said, “So, what have we been doing?” He’s, “Well, you got axles and lines.” He’s like, “Bro, that’s the easiest thing.” I thought, He’s like, “You got to think of it this way. There’s levels to this shit.” He’s like, “That’s the first step, second step, third step by your fourth step. All you got to do is clean up.” I said, “So, we’re only at the first step?” He said, “We’re working on the second one. Let’s go.” And he’s over there whistling and he’s like, “Man, this is good, ain’t it?” And I said, “Nah, this ain’t worth a damn.” And I said, “I’m be honest with you, bro. If I was half a man I was. I said I would done quit and went home. He said, “It ain’t that bad.” I said, “Bro, it’s 13° out here. Raining, sleeping on us right now, and I’m in snow and I’m freezing the cold.””

18:08 And I said, “And the hotel is 30 miles away.” And you know what he says? “We ain’t going to no hotel right now. Not till we’re done.” And I thought, “Man, it was one:00 when we got done.” You hear me?

18:21 Wow. Wow.

18:22 Yeah.

18:22 Talk about tired, right? That’s a new level. Hey, and then he’s come beating on my motel door at 7:00 talking about, “Hey, we ain’t going to do no driving, but we got to go over there soon as they open up and get our paperwork lined out.” I thought, “Oh, here we go.” He said, “You want to make money, right? We got to get it.” But that type of training, I’m forever grateful.

18:43 Absolutely.

18:43 I’m forever grateful cuz I was already a go-getter anyway, but I was in a different type of transition. You know, like I said before, brother, I didn’t really realize how serious it was on time management. You know, you can come over here on the decking world and you can make, you know, honest God, you can make a thousand in seven days or in nine days, you can make 3,000. You know what I mean? Yeah.

19:07 But it’s how you cut it. You know what I mean? You know, if you want to slack off and sleep in every morning till 10 o’clock and whatever, you know, and not get your paperwork done and you know, that’s also a big part of it. It’s a lot of paperwork. It’s a lot of make sure people are signing in the correct position. I don’t know how many times I went to location and didn’t pay attention to where they’re signing in or whatever and then turn in my paperwork and it not be right, you know? So, but it’s all a process, man. And I think this is the best I think this is the best lane out there. Hands down.

19:41 Yeah. And you’re so right. It is a process and it’s so, you know, to see the intricate levels of, you know, the satisfaction of the customer and getting the trucks put back together after you’ve undecked and getting everything signed to where it’s got to be signed. And, you know, there’s it’s not just driving. You know, there’s a lot more to it than that. And that’s what’s cool to let people know of. And you know, you see folks talk about, oh, this truck’s stacked, piggybacked, and you think those guys are the drivers. Well, they’re not just drivers. You know, a lot of times, you know, they’re doing more manual labor than m, you know, I’ve even had, you know, talked to mechanics about, you know, undecking and things of that nature. And sometimes these mechanics just have no idea what all goes into it. And they’re the ones that are working on the trucks a lot of the times—

20:28 Right? Like you know like when you break down that lead truck and you got to call and that’s another blessing about this job over here you know like let’s go back here a little bit I told you I made one 147,000 but I really netted 30,000 a lot of that was because of breakdowns—

20:44 You know breakdowns towing all that—

20:48 And that was when you were owner operator right—

20:51 Yeah you know the coolest thing about over here the times I do break down I call warranty— Yes.

20:58 And then when I have to call warranty, I’m sitting. I’m getting paid while I’m sitting.

21:02 Yeah.

21:02 You know, it’s like, okay, I got my bottle of water with me, my peanuts, and I’m sitting out the truck and waiting and everybody going by me and the coolest thing. I don’t know if they’re looking at me because I got the coolest W9’s on or the coolest 379’s on or if I’m just broke down. I don’t know what they’re I know they’re looking at me because I got cool rides on me, you know? That’s true. But the whole time I’m really waiting on the record and then I go to the record and I’m still getting paid. And then I go to a hotel. You know, Norton’s paying for my hotel for a breakdown. Yeah. It’s like—

21:34 You know, you I got you know, you can’t go wrong. I mean, yeah. Let’s talk about this right now. What just literally just happened.

21:40 Yeah.

21:41 I you know, I bust I’m busting my ass right now. You know, you got Christmas coming up or whatever. You know, these holidays. So, you want to store up for these holidays, right?

21:48 It’s time. And yeah, I got done Monday with my load and my Danielle, my dispatcher, you know, I really like her. You know, I’ve had her for about two years.

21:56 She’s great, isn’t she?

21:57 Yeah.

21:58 And you know, we just I call her sister when I you know, I speak to her like a little sister and I don’t think she takes offense to that. I just, you know, sometimes you just get along with people really well.

22:08 Absolutely. Hey, this is a relationship business on either side, you know. I feel like she just got me figured out, you know, and but she called me, right? I mean, right as I got done and said, “Hey, look, I need a favor.” You know, and most companies when they call for a favor, you think you dread that, right? You’re like, “Dang it.” You know what I mean?

22:27 I know.

22:29 But not me.

22:30 What now?

22:30 Not me. Yeah. My dispatcher call. This is how it goes. Hey, I need a favor. Okay. What’s that? Exact words out of her mouth was, “Hey, I need these little three-ways run from Chillicothe, you know, over to New York.” And I said, “Okay.” She said, “But we’ll pay for the rental and it’s a $200 $200 incentive.”

22:51 I said, and this is what I said to her, and ask her when we get off this inter this message here.

22:56 Oh, yeah. Yeah. I said, “So, you mean to tell me you’re calling me for a favor and you want me just to do my job and you’re going to pay me more to do my job?” She said, “Well, yeah, kind of.” And I mean, I’m here to tell you, I ran 567 miles and I’m getting almost $700 to me. That’s—

23:16 I mean and you know, and let’s be honest, I got it done in 32 hours. Less than 32 hours.

23:23 That’s not bad. That’s not a bad hourly rate right there. No, it’s really not, you know, and really it was quicker than that. I’d shave off a few hours, but anyway, it I’m just thankful to be in this opportunity, you know. I don’t have to run as hard as I initially did three years ago. You know, it was kind of, you know, I was number one, number two, number three, number four, number five three years ago, but now, you know, Norton’s got some hitters over there. We got some hard hitters. And you know, for you to be in the top 10 or Norton or top 20, you got to really be humping it, you know.

23:58 Yeah, we got some guys that, you know, and you’re always up there now. I don’t I see you all the time. So, I don’t I see your name up there. Don’t be out like you’re not one of them. But we got a lot of great guys now, you know. We’ve put a name out for ourselves. So, it’s we got some of the best, you know—

24:16 And it feel and it feels good, you know. It feels good, you know, like you run into a guy like, you know, like Logan or, you know, his name is Deck Demon on there. You run into him out here and it’s like it just feels good to run into other hard-hitting guys that you— Oh, yeah. And mind you, you know, we’re going home, you know, like me now and, you know, I go home, you know, I don’t stay gone four to six weeks at their time. I’m blessed that the Denton yard is 200 miles from me. Von Army is 568 miles and 90% of my loads are going north—

24:47 From Denton or north from Vaughn Army and I can go by the house for two days. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And continue with my load. Now, mind you, I’m communicating with my dispatcher. I’m letting her know I’m not—

24:58 I’m not, you know, you know, my percentage is up there really high on my pickup and delivery times because I want Norton to look good and I want to be good. So, when those favors do come across the board, you know, they can recommend me for that, you know. So—

25:12 But you made a good point. I mean, you know, you know, you can go, you know, in this business as hard as you want. You know, you can stay out on the road. You can take it at your own pace. You know, we’ve got some guys that are well, they consider themselves retired, but they’ll take a load here and go home and, you know, another next one, you know, you know, take another one maybe the next week. And, you know, they’re just kind of going at their own pace. They’re not at the level that they were where they could stay out on the road, you know, six weeks at a time. And you know, that’s what’s cool about it, too, is it’s appealing to all ages. I’ve got young guys coming into it. I’ve got older guys that still enjoy it.

25:46 Right. Right.

25:48 You know, and really, it’s the best thing going you like, you know me, I’m a big boy, but it’s like one thing I love about this job is you’re going to stay active, you know, you’re going to stay active and it’s a sense of pride—

26:00 You know, and you know, I call it your physical therapy because you’re going to get out there and you’re going to sweat from your brow and you’re going to earn it. You know what I mean?

26:06 You’re going to work. You’re not going to have what do they call the soft hand type mentality. I mean, you’re going to be pulling on some chains. You’re going to be turning some wrenches. You’re going to be, you know, you’re going to be working. You’re going to be working.

26:22 Right. Right. And damn sure on that used side, boy, I went down there and got me some of that with Dave, you know, our yard guy down there. I ran and got me some of them used saddles and tried that out. You really want to bring that man out of you. Go run that new side because I’m here to tell you got to put tires on and off. I mean that—

26:42 But I mean that’s where it’s at. If you want to be Mr. Top Dog, you go get that. And that’s really where them guys on that number on that load board, you know, on our leaderboard. And that’s the one thing I like about Norton. It kind of got a little competition there. You know, you can always see you can look—

26:58 You know. Yeah. The top 20 and you know who your competitors are. You know, it’s all a good rivalry, but it, you know, and it generally stays the same. The names that are there are the names that are the producers, but them guys that are in that top five, those are the guys running on that youth side and that new side.

27:14 Yeah. They do a little bit of both. But we love that, you know, I think and that’s kind of a part of who we are. Like all of us, you know, myself included, we’re all competitors and friendly competition, I think, can sometimes spark a little bit more from within. And I always like to include that in the things that we do, not only just with drivers, but in the office with our dispatch team, with our recruiting team, you know, just to put something in there to, you know, maybe put a little bit more fire in the belly, cuz sometimes a friendly competition brings a little bit more out of you than not having it there. So, I love it. I think it’s fun. I think it brings out the best. And a lot of us here have played sports at some point or did something and sales or whatever it may be. So, it’s always fun. So, I always like talking to the drivers about that because, you know, everybody notices it like you’re saying, people look at it. It’s, you know, we put it out there and everybody’s, you know, constantly checking like, “Hey, I want to get up there with some of those guys, you know.”

28:11 Right. Right. Right. Like I got a— It’s kind of a sense of pride for me, you know. If, you know, if I’m not in the top 10 or top 15, I know I’m slacking, you know? Right. So, it’s like and that’s that I’m now I’m speaking for me because like I you made it very clear everybody’s different. You know what I mean? And it’s just and then it’ll reflect your money too. You know, you want to make your big money. Well, you need to run. But I guarantee you even if you’re in the top 50, you’re going to clear over 100,000. You know what I mean?

28:39 Absolutely.

28:40 And the guys that are up there, you know, we’ve got, let’s see, we do our quarterly bonus program. Let’s see. We got one, two, three, four. We got five guys that are already hitting that Norton Plus status. So all next quarter in 2021, they’re going to earn additional cents on each mile just by hitting those statuses. So that’s another thing to look forward to.

29:01 And you know, one thing I can say I thoroughly enjoy—

29:05 About this company, and that’s no lie, is you guys aren’t greedy. You know, and you really you know, you say it is what it is type of deal. You know, we’re going to give you this. I don’t want to say what we really get a dollar a mile, but I can tell you right now it’s better than any competitor out there by far. And what you put on our rate for us to get, we get that. And then you’re always throwing incentives like even on these singles. Let’s speak about that. You know, a guy coming over Norton on the single side, you know, he’ll make a living, but he ain’t gonna make a strong living. The money’s on the deck side. But now y’all invented a little thing there right after co about the bidding thing. For I think that was genius.

29:47 I mean because you know and I’ll speak on this—

29:50 You know I kind of got an idea of what the rates go for because you know running my own business and dictate my own lane and all that. So I’ll throw a bit out there and honest to God I’ve only been denied once and then what I was denied they countered—

30:05 Right—

30:06 You know for like $20 cheaper and I thought well I still can’t lose on that. Well, that that we I love the bid. You know, you’re right. I mean, most of the time if somebody places a bid, if we can’t do it, we’re going to counter to something better. And you know, that we implemented that as a way and you know, co has been such a crazy year for everybody. And you know, I’m so thankful of where we are, but you know, we did tried a lot of new things. And then honestly, a lot of this stuff, you know, we’re going to come out. It was a blessing because we learned to do things a little differently than probably what we were. And it’s made things work better in a weird way. Everything happens for a reason. So yeah, we got guys that say, “Hey, you know, you got loads on their bid. What will it take? You guys are contractors, so give us an offer. We’ll maybe go with it. Maybe we won’t. But what’s the worst we can say?” Right.

30:52 And true. And that’s another thing we probably need to briefly speak on. You know, we’re not employees. We’re independent contractors. So I truly see this as a partnership. You know, and—

31:05 Got to be. It’s got to be, right?

31:07 You know, and I feel like it’s on the other end because, you know, I’ve never had a load, you know, I’ve canceled one load in the three times I’ve been here, you know, and there wasn’t no hard feelings on it. It was just I just wasn’t able to do that load, you know, and it’s I’ve never been, hey, you’ve got to take this, you know. It’s always, hey, can you take this or are you available? You know, and you just got to be honest about it. And Danielle’s never said, “Well, I can’t believe you can’t take that. You know, you’re gonna lose your job or we’re gonna— It’s never— It’s like, “Okay, don’t worry about it.” And I said, “Are you sure?” She goes, “Hey, look, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” You know, and it’s like, “Oh, okay.” So, if a guy was to ever lose this position and have to go work back for somebody, running that old ELOG and doing all that crap and, you know, and being forced dispatch, I just think you would really realize you screwed up, you know.”

31:59 Yeah. And I think once you realize the flexibility there, you know, a lot of folks in from other industries that have been affected by co have come on and of course it’s benefited driveaway. They’re like, “Wow, this is crazy. I go pick what I want and do what I want.” And we’re like, “Yeah, yeah, what do you want to do?” And you know, of course, like you said, we call for favors and we call, “Hey, can you do this?” But we’re asking and you know, we’d be cra, you know, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t try to get the loads covered for the customer. And I think that’s the thing, you know, both—

32:27 You know, you guys and us, you know, we’re all working to deliver trucks where they need to go. And, you know, that’s just what we come in and try to do every day. And our customers are, you know, saying, “Hey, we trust you. We trust your drivers with these, you know, large amount of money assets.” And, you know, that’s a big responsibility. So, we try to take pride in it in every step. And the only way that I think we can be successful is to take care of our drivers and take care of folks like you that are in that 13 degree weather with, you know, sleet and rain and snow and, you know, That’s a tough place to be in. So, if you don’t like your job, you’re not going to do that—

33:04 Right? Yeah. And that’s the thing. It all boils down to you got to enjoy—

33:09 What you do for a living. And I enjoy being a truck driver. I truly feel I’ll probably be one of those guys that’ll always be involved in trucking in some aspect. Most likely it’ll be driving, but who knows, you know, whatever else it is, I will take that door and run with it. But it’ll be trucking related because I enjoy the whole aspect of trucking, you know.

33:30 Yeah. And you made a good point and I want to go back to that. I for you know when you were talking about a breakdown and you were talking about sitting on the side of the road and people looking at you know the new trucks you know the pets you know the Kenworth whatever they may be that you’re in and you know even to this day and I’ve been to our yards and I’ve been around it for a long time seeing a massive four-way of these new trucks it’s a sight to see no matter what—

33:53 It truly is—

33:55 And I know you know wherever you’re going I know I bet you see it is people are turning their heads when you pass them—

34:01 Right All right. And I think, you know, I want to speak on this. I feel like the arm pump has went away for little kids.

34:07 I know, right? What happened to that?

34:09 But I tell you what, I get a lot of them though on that four-way. And cuz them kids will just be at awe. And it ain’t just the kids. It be the mom or the dad, you know, and you know, I get more favoritism coming around another truck on a four-way or a car. And, you know, cuz they see I’m long. I’m like a snake. You know, you’re over 100 foot long most of the time. Yeah—

34:30 379, 389s, and them W9’s, you know, you’re over 100 ft long. So, they give into you, you know, and if the thing’s got a CB on it, they’ll yak to you. Oh, where’s that going, man? What kind of truck is that? You just give them the spill, you know. It’s, you know, you tell them what it is, you know, and when you hit a truck stop, for one, you’re getting fuel because a lot of these trucks, you got to put fuel in not only your lead truck, but your second, third, and fourth truck. I mean, you’re not filling those trucks up, but you’re putting five gallons in them just because when you get to the shipper, you know, you want the thing to run, you know. Yeah.

35:05 And so—

35:06 You know, them guys, you know, I’ve never had a guy saying, “Hey, you’re holding up the line.” Plus, it’s kind of one of those deals, you know, you’re only spending 20, 30 minutes tops. You know, you’re not trying to spend all day. But it takes a process of pulling up, putting five gallons on, pulling up, putting five gallon. But, you know, while you’re doing that, you know, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had drivers, “Hey, man, you make any money doing that?” And I tell them all, “Hey, I make more money doing this than I ever have my whole life.”

35:34 And like, yeah, well, they’ll say, “What kind of money you made?” And I’ll say, “Well, three years ago, I made 160,000. Second year I made 150. And this year with co I’m probably going to make over 120, 130, 140.”

35:49 What?

35:50 Yeah. And they’re like, “Do you own these trucks?” No, man. These are going to— And I’ll tell them, “These Peterbilts are going to, you know, wherever they going. These Kenworth, these Freightliners, and you know, I’ll have some sexy ones, too. Man, I ain’t going to lie. I’ll have some that the customers ordered with,”

36:08 You know, two-tone paint jobs on them, you know, and they’re stretched out 300 wheelbase. So, they look real cool, you know what I mean?

36:15 I love seeing those.

36:16 Oh, yeah. And you know, of course, we, you know, we get our, you know, we get our, you know, our rider trucks and we get all the box trucks, we get the dayc cabs, we get all we get them all. That’s a blessing about what we do, you know.

36:30 Garbage trucks sometimes, right?

36:32 Yeah. Oh, yeah. Speaking of that, that’s the one that I rejected up there in Norway, Michigan. I just couldn’t do it, man. But that’s the only one I ever turned down. But—

36:43 It’s just cool, man. It’s cool running for him. And it’s like how in the world will I ever go back, you know, if a guy was to offer me a job and I lost this great position and he’d say something like, “Well, man, I got these brand new trucks.” You know, if that was one thing for them to entice me with, it’d be really hard to entice a guy like me because I know I’m not going to get what I paid per mile right now. Ain’t nobody going to touch me on that, right? And for two, they’re not going to be able to put me in nothing nicer and newer than I’ve ever drove. Cuz I’ve drove the nicest that Peterbilt offers, the nicest that Kenworth, Freightliner, you know, and Volvo, and not so much of the Internationals, but you know, they’re all kind of the same anyway, you know, but I don’t know, man. It’d be hard for a guy to leave this and leave this lane. This is by far the best paying lane out there, you know.

37:31 Yeah. You get, like you said, you get the new trucks, got the plastic on the seats still, you know, that’s something to say, you know, when you’re driving these new trucks all the time. But so, so what’s life like now on the road? So, you’ve got making good money. You’re delivering deck sets. How does that bode with your personal life? Do you kind of go home more now than you used to, but you’re still making good money, right?

37:53 Well, that’s a good question, sir. So, here’s the deal on that. You know, I don’t run as hard. Here’s the thing. I don’t run as hard as I used to, you know, because now it’s like I, you know, I know it’s only been three years in the decking world, but I go to a lot of the same customers sometimes and the lot and I know how to look on that load board to dictate where I’m going to go and I don’t, you know, I pretty much got it figured out on a four-way, three-way, or two-way of how long it’s going to take me, give or take 30 minutes here and there, but I’ve got it kind of figured out. So, it’s like I don’t need to run. I don’t need to run, you know, five, six, seven, eight loads a month. And to a lot of people, that might not seem like a lot, but what I just need to run about three or four loads a month because I’m thankful that the money that I’ve made the last previous years, I bought a house, bought a wife car, got my truck paid. I’ve just got everything in line where I don’t have to run as hard, but I still have a sense of pride in me that go get inside that I want to stay in the top 15, top 20, and get around that top 10 just so I can.

39:01 You know what I mean?

39:02 Absolutely.

39:02 And—

39:03 But it’s like this, man. If when we need money and all I got to do is tell my wife and my 5-year-old son, well, I’m be gone for about two, three weeks. And for a guy over here, if you’re in the hole and you see you need to make some money, well, just go bust your ass for about two weeks and if you’re not ahead, there’s something wrong. It ain’t because you ain’t making the money, it’s cuz you ain’t spend the money where it needs to go. You don’t have your priorities in check.

39:29 Yeah. You know what I mean?

39:30 That’s a good point though. If something happens like you got your own pace now and it works for you, it works for your family, but hell, if something happened, you know, life always throws us a curveball. You know, okay—

39:39 Always—

39:40 Well, I got the option to run my ass off and you know, you can make more. You know, you’re not necessarily living on a set amount, you know, all the time. You can choose to make more if you wanted to. And that’s probably a pretty good feeling—

39:54 Right? No, it’s a great feeling. Like, you know, I you know, I’m a big boy, like I said before, but and I consider myself to be healthy, but the first time I ever got kind of sick was a couple months ago. I got this dieticulitis for some weird reason and I was down for like seven days out there in Michigan.

40:09 Oh, I remember that. Yeah, you were up north. I remember we texted and I don’t remember about what, but you said, “Oh, man. I’m out.” And I’m like, “Oh, man. What in the world?”

40:17 Right. Yeah. And I just try to play it off like it was nothing serious, but it was pretty I waited too long, so it was getting pretty damn serious. But I end up being off work. I end up finishing the load, you know. I powered through and I went home and I was off work for shoot three weeks and but I already had enough money stored up, you know, and but right when it was getting close, I went out there and hammered it for two weeks and you wouldn’t even know I took off three weeks. Like right now, sir, I’m going to run to the 20th and I’m probably here going to take off five, six weeks. Yeah. Why? Because I can.

40:50 Absolutely.

40:51 You know what I mean?

40:52 Absolutely. And there ain’t no better feeling than that, you know, than just knowing you can’t out. Now, let’s be honest, if I’m only able to stay off two to three weeks because I just get kind of I love my home life, you know, I love my son, love my wife to dearly, and I love leading my household, but this road when it calls you, you know, when you don’t and you know, we got a new app now with Norton, so it’ll let you know when there’s good loads down there. And man, sometimes it’s hard to pass up. You see them by design going from—

41:23 Yeah. Yeah. When you see them suckers going from Bon Army to Maryland, you know, and ain’t nobody bid on it. Oh, you— It takes everything you can not to take that sucker. So—

41:33 You’re like, “Well, I could go out for a few days.”

41:36 Yeah. It’s like, “Oh, I might I’m telling you, I’m’ll be off five, six weeks, but let’s just be honest. I got maybe two, three weeks in me at the most.”

41:44 Happens all the time.

41:45 Yeah, man. And I’m going, you know, cuz it just that’s what it is, you know. I think the wife’s like, “Okay, you need to go.” And my son, he’s he, you know, he don’t want me to go, but he understands. And, you know, I’m thankful enough in the housing edition that I live in, there’s a big old lot towards my house, and he always knows when daddy’s coming home, you know, cuz he’ll see them trucks over there, you know.

42:08 Oh, that’s great.

42:09 And I got all the little kids in the neighborhood and the dads. I tell you how many times I’ve seen dads out there taking pictures of the load—

42:17 Checking those trucks out. First I’m thinking, are they calling HOA on me or what? But no, it ain’t that. You know, I had a guy, man, that’s a good looking Kenworth. What is that? I Well, that’s a W900. He said, how do you how you going to get out of here? I said, I said, well, record me when I leave here Monday morning about 7. Well, I ain’t going to be up at 7. I said, well, just know I can make that turn. All right? You know, and it’s just nothing but a better feeling to have a sense of pride. And I know we go back to that again and but it I recommend this, you know, to anybody. I tell anybody, hey, go get your year experience. Do all your little oh’s, what I call them, and get that out of the way. And then, man, go go go hit up Norton Transport and apply for the position, get you some training, and come over and make the big bucks. And I tell you what, if you can’t retire here in 10, 20 years, there’s something wrong with you. You know what I mean—

43:09 Man? We love that. And the sky’s is the limit here. We want, you know, we want to keep growing and keep grabbing those drivers and keep doing what we do. And it’s been wonderful. And I think everybody’s enjoying it from who I talk to. So, all right. All right. This is great. I got to ask you one more thing because I can’t I know I don’t want to keep you. I know you’re in a rental. You’re between loads, but I got to ask you one thing. I’m a foodie. I like eating on I like going to places. I like eating when I travel. What’s what you know what do you like to eat on the road or where we’re where somewhere that that you can’t wait to get back to or what’s some of your favorite places you visited food-wise?

43:45 Man, I’m I love Mexican food.

43:47 Me, too.

43:49 And I’mma tell you right now, I got the best spot for you, Justin, right now.

43:53 Oh, let me hear it. Let me hear it.

43:55 It’s in Tyler, Texas. It’s called the P Ponderosa.

44:00 The Ponderosa. Tyler, Texas.

44:02 Yeah, Tyler, Texas. Man, I’m a fajita guy, right? I like my steak and chicken.

44:07 Oh, yeah.

44:08 And they will bring you the steak and the chicken and the way they do it and they make special sauce.

44:16 Oh, man. You eat that and have you about two Melos, you’re in the game, man.

44:20 I’m in.

44:21 Yes.

44:22 It’s the best place.

44:24 It’s the best place. I’m telling you. And I—

44:26 That’s the best, you know, food spot. Every time I’m going east. That’s another good thing is like if I ain’t going home, if I ain’t going north and I’mma draw east because we don’t too often go west, you know, for some reason I don’t go really west of like Colorado with a deck load now. I’ll grab something, you know, every once in a while out of Cali and come back east, but you don’t really go west for some reason. So, but when I draw east, man, I’m hitting Tyler, Texas every time.

44:52 And they got plenty of trucking parking and they’re trucker friendly there and they just treat you like you’re down home, you— Well, I can’t wait to go and I love going to places like that because, you know, I like to talk. I like to meet folks that are in the industry, what they do. Obviously, love to talk about what I do. You know, I could talk about it for forever. Well, Eric, man, this has been great. I you know, I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, but man, the stories, it’s great. I can’t wait to have you back on. We’re going to have to do this again if you’re in.

45:20 Oh, I’m in for round two, man. I surely am, man. And I really want to thank you for letting me do this. And man, you have a wonderful day. Hey, Eric, you too, man. I appreciate it. We’ll talk to you soon. You be safe on the road. Enjoy New York. Enjoy Minnesota and try to stay safe and warm.

45:37 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.