00:05 I’m not in it for myself. You know, it doesn’t gain me anything to be in it for myself. I would rather share my wealth and share my knowledge to make somebody else successful as well. 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. Let’s get to the show.

00:38 Hello everyone and welcome to Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. I’m John Madewell and we’re very very pleased tonight to have Michael Kolody on the phone with us here talking with us about all things trucking. Michael, very good welcome to you. How are you?

00:53 I’m doing well. Thank you for having me.

00:55 First off the top here, what are you doing this evening? This evening, I’m actually home getting ready to enjoy the Labor Day weekend with my family and started getting ready to head out on Tuesday morning for my next load from Von Ormy heading up to Grand Forks, North Dakota. Taking a brand new fresh trainee with me as well.

01:12 You know, from talking to some of the people here in the office, I know you spent a lot of time on the road, but let’s talk about time off the road. Obviously, you know, people will hear this after the fact, but Labor Day weekend. What are you going to do this weekend? We actually live fairly close to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and my entire family are all beach bums. So, we fully plan on heading to Nags Head, North Carolina, which is on the Outer Banks, and we’re going to spend three days sitting with our toes in the sand. Man, that could not be better. I myself, not to talk too much about myself, but I myself am a beach bum. I have a very close friend who he has moved to the Outer Banks. It captured him, you know, pulled him in. So, if you live there close to us, kind of take us there because I’ve heard from my friend what attracts him to it, but we want to hear it from Mike himself. What pulls you into it?

02:02 It’s the southern lifestyle for a lot of people hear about the southern lifestyle, but they don’t exactly get to experience the southern lifestyle. We have live a very laid-back life here in the south, especially in North Carolina. We don’t have any major cities that are very close to us. Norfolk, Virginia Beach is the closest one to us. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes away. Everything is around here is brought up on family values, church, religious, you know lifestyle. You know, you work and you have your family time. So, it’s just a very laid-back, very peaceful style of living. Gotcha. And I understand the Outer Banks as far as beaches go. You and I both beach bumps. But the Outer Banks has a very natural pristine appeal to it. Not so much commercialized, but more of just what’s there, the natural beauty.

02:56 It is. Yes. And it’s also a huge nature habitat from, you know, Currituck and Corolla where you have the wild horses that roam the beach to the natural sea life. It sounds scary, but we’re a great white shark breeding ground in the Outer Bank. We have huge crab and turtle populations here. Fresh seafood is very abundant in most of the restaurants around here. What makes the Outer Banks very attractive is it’s not commercialized at all. It’s all mom and pop restaurant. It’s all mom and pop shops. You have your couple grocery store chains that are there. Very hard to find a Walmart. There’s like only one or two Walmarts throughout the whole Outer Bank Strand.

03:37 That’s not a bad thing—

03:39 You know, it’s not. It really keeps that small town feel to it.

03:44 Obviously that’s something that appeals to you about it. But what I mean for somebody who works on the road, drives on the road, makes their living on the road, how important is it to you to unplug, just pull away from it and get to the beach, get your, as you said, toes in the sand and let the rest of your concerns of the day just wash away. How important is that to you?

04:06 It’s very important. And it’s not so much the beach is some place where my family gravitates and likes to spend our time, but it’s more of getting off the road and unplugging and getting back to just spending it with family. I’m one that’s just as happy sitting at home with my wife watching a movie as I am sitting with my wife on the beach.

04:27 Right. Right. How often do you guys go to the beach living so close to it? Usually every day when we’re home when I’m home, my wife will go sometimes two, three, four times a week. It’s literally only a 40m minute drive from our house to the beach. So for her to get out of work at 3:00, she’ll route the kids out of school and they’ll actually just motor her right down to the beach.

04:48 So you guys are true beach mom bombs.

04:50 Yes, we are.

04:51 Gotcha. Now, let’s talk a little bit about I understand talking to one of our dispatchers who knows you from talking with you on the phone all the time, Jesse Chavez. He says you’re one of our trainers and I understand that’s true.

05:05 Yes.

05:06 How long have you been training for us—

05:08 With Norton? I think I’m on training number five. I have coming in now for the guy that’s starting on Tuesdays.

05:14 Walk us through what pulled you into that and what a training session is like. So, a lot of it had to do with some gripes. Kind of touch on a bad point. You’ll you hear a lot of negativity with other drivers that are out on the road about messes being left, damages being put onto trucks, guys getting stuck in areas they don’t belong. So, it was important to me to be able to pass what I know on to a fresh guy coming in. So, not only one that they get put himself into a bad situation, but moreover that they’re successful, they get a good experience out of it and it creates a long-term driver and asset for Norton.

05:54 Gotcha. What does that entail?

05:57 You mean like my training program? Is that what you’re trying to get at, John?

06:00 No. What you were talking about there as far as making it a positive for a driver that you train as far as so they don’t run into those negative experiences which we know both you and I know they can weigh down on a driver but what does it entail to put them in the proper position to come out on the positive not on the negative—

06:18 So it’s essentially taking them in by the hand from day one and showing them your process and then taking the time to explain to them why you arrive at this process I sit down with my trainee at the hotel every night and I show them how to pick loads and I show them how to arrive in the correct city so they have easy access to airport, how to save 15 20% every night when you’re booking your hotel room. Just having that experience all together, it makes a positive experience and shows them yes, you can make money doing this. You know, you don’t have to spend $150 a night in a hotel room. Can get your $75 hotel credit and actually come close to that amount and not go into the negative out of your pocket. It’s just you need to lean on the experience guys, on the veterans that are out there that want to teach the new generation that want to pass their knowledge on and give them a positive experience.

07:13 Well, that’s the platform that we’re trying to reach here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Michael Kolody here with us tonight. You’re obviously a veteran driver, a trainer in the decking world. You know, we’ve talked a little bit about auxiliary things, not actually the training of, you know, the saddles, the horse, that kind of thing. But I wanted to touch down, kind of drill down a little bit more on what you’re talking about. You know, you got to have a way out, airport, hotel, that kind of thing. You were talking to me previously. There’s a Facebook group out there that may be very helpful for a lot of people. Tell us about that. So myself as well as another veteran driver with Norton, his name is Loyd Dittfurth. We have a Facebook group. We actually have two Facebook groups called Deck Hands and Driveaway Professionals. We continuously post content into these groups.

08:05 So I’m known as the hotel guy. And with that, I keep a database in the group on Google Maps of all hotels that specifically deck drivers can fit and get themselves out of every morning without getting themselves into trouble. The only way that a hotel makes it onto this list is a driver has to send me a message through Facebook or post it in the group of the address of the hotel, where it’s at, and then they have to give me notes. They have to in those notes it has to say good for three-ways, good for four-ways, good for zars, lots of parking, food close by, offers a CDL discount, all of that information goes into the notes on this file through Google Maps.

08:51 So, when you subscribe to that Google Maps list and then it’s a public link that’s posted on our page, it will pop up on your Google maps. Is a little green icon and you can click on that icon and you could say it will tell you right then and there must arrive early. Good for a three-way ZBAR. So you know that you have to enter in on Johnson Street, make a left into the parking lot, swing wide, park in the rear of the hotel so you’re not going in there blind and potentially getting yourself into an accident.

09:18 How many drivers out there are aware of this Facebook page you guys have in the two groups Deck Hands and Driveaway Professionals? So, we currently have 190 members in our deck hands and driveaway group, which is our private group, and we have an additional 91 in the public group as well. Gotcha. Well, let’s see what we can do to pump that number up because what you’re talking about is actually nuggets of gold here for deck drivers. I mean, what you were talking about, you know, can you get a three-way, a four-way, a ZBAR in there? And it has to be, from what I understand, it has to be vetted, for lack of a better word, by drivers.

09:53 That is correct. If I get any kind of entry to this hotel list and it does not come with a with notes that it was vetted by a driver, it will not be added to the list.

10:03 What’s the interaction like? I mean with you and other drivers in this group with the hotels as far as with you know the people when you check in the management of these hotels, is that a friendly thing? Is it an amicable thing? I mean what’s it like out there in the real world? Oh, the hotel owners are actually happy to have us and they actually want more of us to come to these hotels. Whenever I check into a hotel, one of the first questions I have is, “Do you offer a CDL discount?” If they do, that information goes right onto that list as well. So, we know that we have a negotiated rate at that hotel. I also add in National Hotel discount codes into this group as well. Choice Hotels, you have a discount code with them. It’s 00228840. If you use that discount code and call their reservation center, you get 15% off any hotel in their portfolio. And that’s sleep in, comfort in, quality in, any one of the choice hotel brands, it’s 15%. A lot of drivers I’ve interact I’ve interacted before in the past will say 15% is not that much money.

11:09 Well, if you’re saving $20 a night and you spend 200 hotel nights out on the year on the road per year, that’s $4,000 back in your pocket. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of money up front. It adds up and it adds up real fast.

11:21 Give us that code one more time if you got it right there.

11:25 Sure. Choice Hotels is 0022-8840. That’s hotels for hotels for truckers.

11:35 Hotels for truckers. You were talking about at the outset of this about being the hotel guy. That makes a big different a big difference because it is a fact of life particularly when you’re a deck driver and you’re dropping two, you know, three or four. You’re going to have to get a hotel and you’re going to spend some money. But you were talking about that 75 80 $85 margin where you’re trying to, you know, park yourself for the night and get a good night’s sleep. How do you select a hotel? How do you make that decision? Whatever city you’re in, it’s like obviously there’s some things you’re looking for, some features, which we’ve already talked about, but maybe some amenities. You don’t expect a lot of amenities for 75, 85 bucks, but what do you look for as a driver? So, when I select hotels, of course, the list isn’t 100% complete. There are areas of the country that we don’t have a presence in yet, and that’s what I lead on interaction with people in this group for to try and add to that list. But when I look for hotels, I’m looking for value based on the rate. We all know that we have $75 a night for 500 miles on a trip, right?

12:39 So, you want to try and make that stretch as far as possible. I am not a $60 a night hotel guy, and that’s just my personal preference.

12:47 I don’t like staying in a roach coach hotel, you know. I will go to $90 because in the end, it’s all a tax write off at the end of the year. But if I can use my discounts and get that down to 85 82 80 tonight, well, I mean, I’m not putting that much more money out of my pocket, but I’m getting a better quality hotel.

13:05 Sure. As far as amenity, as far as amenities, I look for laundry services, especially if I’m doing a 34-hour reset so I can do my laundry. And the biggest amenity is I’m looking for food that’s close by so I don’t have to rely on Uber Eat, Door Dash, or any of the other vacuums that are out there to try and get us through delivery chart.

13:24 Sure. And I mean, even in that choice hotels umbrella, you’re going to have a lot of hotels there that are going to have, you know, breakfast included.

13:31 Yes.

13:31 Gotcha. Now, one thing you just brought up there that I want to kind of expound on the tax write off. You know, we have here at Norton Transport, these are 1099 independent contractors, but you talked about something that people that may be listening to this thinking about getting into driveaway trucking. Kind of take them down that path of the tax write-offs that are available to you as an independent contractor.

13:54 So, what I’ll do is I’ll actually add a little bit of a caveat onto what you question you just asked me. I actually have a degree in accounting. I graduated from Missouri University with a degree in accounting in 2002. So, I was a little bit more knowledgeable about the tax writeoffs that are in this industry when I got into it. All right. So essentially almost everything that you touch and everything that you have out on the road is going to be a tax write off as a 1099 contractor from your boots to your clothes to your laundry. Your food charges are going to be on a per PDM that you’re going to claim that properly and to have your tax documentation for that. Your logs are all you need and you can go into the keep trucking app or I’m sorry what’s it called? Motive now and download your logs per month and put them on a file on your computer and that’s all you need to show your accountant proof that you’re out on the road—

14:42 Right—

14:42 And claim that PDM and at the end of the year that is a huge write off your hotels are not part of that pdium that is a separate line on your tax—

14:51 Gotcha—

14:52 But any tools that you buy that can they can be depreciated your accountant is not taking depreciation on your tool he is missing something so as a 1099 contractor there you should be saving every receipt that you have out there. Luggage, airfare, anything. That is a tax write off.

15:09 You can write all of that off. And talk about we know that on the Six-Figure Trucker here, we talked to drivers who are successful, come out in the positive, do well, six figure men and women that make their money on the road there. But talk about the write-off aspect of it in real dollars and cents there. What are you talking about on a particular tax year as far as a benefit for Mike Kolody? Oh wow. If I knew you would ask that question, I would have busted my taxes out from last year. Give Yeah. Give us an approximation.

15:42 I believe last year alone I wrote off about $30,000 of my income and my taxes.

15:48 That’s that is a substantial number.

15:50 Last year I wasn’t on the road full-time either.

15:53 Right. Right. That’s a substantial number though. I mean 30,000 on a partial year on the road. And I just want to let you I mean somebody who has a background in accounting obviously you’re very versed in some of the tricks of the trade on the road to communicate that to people who may listen to this and be thinking about driveaway as an independent contractor. You know some people may have some reservations about going at it alone as an independent contractor. But what you just laid out there for the tax write-offs. What would you say are some of the advantages of approaching driveaway as an IC, an independent contractor?

16:29 It’s the increased deductions that you could take over and above being a W2 company driver.

16:36 Being comp W2 company driver, you can’t take PDM, you can’t claim your hotels, you can’t claim your meal, you can’t claim any of that. So, your tax write offs are drastically depleted over what you would get as a 1099 contractor. Now, one of the things that you need to be disciplined with as a 1099 contractor is putting a money aside for taxes. I religiously put away 30% of my settlement into a bank account all year. I have the Fidelity Investments account that what I normally do is I put 30% of my weekly salary into that Fidelity Investments account and I let that build throughout the year and then I will pay my taxes off in full at tax time. Or if you want to be stingent and you can be disciplined, you could ask the IRS for a payment plan and never touch that money and just pay it off monthly throughout the year.

17:28 Gotcha. That was leading me to my next question. If you were a monthly guy, quarterly guy, or annual guy.

17:34 So I am a quarterly guy. That’s what my accountant likes to harp on so I don’t get behind. So I am a quarterly guy. Gotcha. Want to shift gears here a little bit. No pun intended, but shifting gears here. You and I had talked a bit a little bit off the air. You had mentioned there that you didn’t drive full-time last year. I’ll leave this up to you, Mike, how much you want to talk about it, but last year was not—

18:04 No, that’s fine. I’m going to talk about it.

18:06 Last year was not the strongest year for you. Not the best year last year.

18:09 No, no. Last year in October of last year I was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. You want to talk about a wakeup call at 46 years old being diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. It was an eye openener to say the least. The doctor had told me it was very aggressive. So they took me in and performed what was called a radical prostctomy on me. So I had to have my prostate removed and then heal up past that. One of the things I will tell you though and tell the listening public who’s listening to this podcast, get yourself checked. You are not invincible. Take care of your body. Money is great, but take the time to go to the doctor and get yourself checked. I am living breathing proof that I have something growing inside my body that could have killed me and I didn’t even know about it.

18:59 That’s pretty heavy. But the other side of it is you’re in remission now. Is that correct?

19:05 No, no, they actually cut it out. Everything is gone.

19:08 Well, that’s fantastic to know that that is something that is gone removed from you. And like you said, I mean that’s something that could hit anyone and no one’s invincible. I mean, what would you relay to drivers out there who are, you know, trying to live the best years of their life on the road and take care of their families?

19:26 It goes back to what I had just stated in the last question. Take care of yourself. You may think you’re invincible. You’re not invincible. You know, make a doctor’s appointment. Take some home time. Go get checked. Even if it’s just a physical, you know, even if they have high blood pressure, you don’t even know about it. And that could be leading into something else. Don’t be afraid of the doctor. You know, it’s I can’t stress enough and about it because it happened to me. It truly happened to me. I felt I was not sick. I was not showing any symptoms and it just showed up on a scan and the doctor said you have cancer and I didn’t have words, you know, I was just I was in this in a spot, you know, I had to, you know, go to counseling, you know, because I was I thought a bit of depression over it that it was really happening to me. And it’s just one of those life-changing moments, one of those wakeup calls to say, I am getting older, you know, we’re not invincible.

20:27 So my advice were to be is don’t let your pride hurt you. Take care of yourself while you’re out on the road. If you’re tired, if you’re not feeling well, don’t be afraid to go to the doctor and take care of yourself.

20:38 Gotcha. This is Mike Kolody, veteran driver here for us at Norton Transport, joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker. Mike from what I’ve gathered here from talking to you here, we’ve been talking for about 25 minutes here. You’re a family guy. Family is very important to you. You were struck with that wakeup call as you put it there with the prostate cancer and you also spend a lot of time with your family at home out on the Outer Banks. How does that interact kind of weave together with your working winning the money there as a driver? How do you balance the two?

21:15 So, I’ve never been a winning the money kind of guy. I live to be comfortable. When I make a certain amount of money per month, I’m done, you know, and I’m not afraid to go home for two weeks to spend time with my wife. That’s the beauty of doing this as 1099 contractors. You get to dictate you your own home time. If you don’t want to go out, you just don’t go out. If you want to spend a month at home, you spend a month at home, you know. So, you have that freedom to just say no. Everyone’s financial, you know, situation is different. You know, I don’t fault guys for going out for two, three, four, six months at a time if that’s what, you know, they need for their financial situation. That’s what they need. But as far as myself, I go until I know I have my monthly house bills paid and money in our pockets, and then I’m home to spend time with my wife and my kids.

22:03 So for me, I’m normally a two to three loads and then I’m on a plane to go home and then I’ll go home for three, four, five days and I’m coming back out for two or three loads and I’m going back home for three, four, five days.

22:16 How refreshing is are those three, four, five days for you at home?

22:19 Very refreshing. Very.

22:21 What kind of things do you do when you’re refreshing at home?

22:26 We go to the beach. We also have a boat as well here in town. We have tied up. We live right on the out of town. So we take the boat out and we don’t feel like driving to the beach. But you know, everything in our lives has revolved around the ocean and the water.

22:40 Fantastic. Fantastic. Now you have three children. Is that right?

22:44 I actually had six children. I have three sons of my own with my ex-wife and three stepchildren with my current wife.

22:52 Six children. How do you manage that?

22:54 All six don’t live with us at once. We have one in college and then we have two 14y old, a 12year-old, an 11year-old and an 8-year-old.

23:04 That’s kind of stair step and then an extension of the steps there.

23:07 Yes. Yes. When all the kids are here, it is a very busy place—

23:11 I would imagine. So, I would imagine so. Let’s talk— Let’s kind of circle back to the training. We’ve talked about the stuff outside of the physical training, the mechanical part of it, but kind of tell us what it’s like to train new guys on the decking side as far as I mean, if we look at the whole enchilada here as far as from the horse all the way to the back, where does it start? Where does it end?

23:36 So, I am a huge process guy. So, I teach a system. I don’t overwhelm my trainee when I have them. It’s I teach on day one. You’re all you’re going to worry about is strip it off the electric electrical and then we’re going to go to axle and airlines. All right? I don’t want you to worry about saddles yet. We’ll get that get to that down the road. I want to teach you baby steps. One process to one process. We’re not going to jump around to doing axles to doing this, doing that all in one truck and get you all confused. We’re going to concentrate on one process until you have it down. Then we’re going to go to another process until you have it down. Then we’re going to go to another process until you have it down. Gotcha. Now, what to you is the biggest hurdle for deck drivers to overcome to become a successful driver.

24:30 So, the biggest hurdles for a deck driver, a new deck driver.

24:34 Sure. So for a new deck driver, it’s going to be that aspect of running your own business while you’re out on the road. You are taking, you know, vehicles that are longer than a normal drive van and tractor that are out the road that have different pivot points as you’re turning into turning in your into your hotels or turning down street. And just getting used to the way the trucks handle, you know, from running to your own business on the road to knowing how to pick a load that’s going to be profitable for you that’s not going to have a $100 Uber charge or have it or be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, Kansas to get back to an airport. Just because it shows $4,000 on the load for it doesn’t mean it’s a good load. And making guys understand that so they are successful when they go out there and don’t lose all their money and just transportation cost to get that.

25:23 What do you look at? What you just said was a great point. $4,000 on a load. What kind of components do you look at to determine if it’s a good load or not?

25:32 My biggest is going to be the number of stops and where it’s going to finish. Where it’s going to finish is the biggest factor of when I what I choose for a load. It’s always going to be how close am I to a major city with a major airport. And then before I sign up for the load, I’m actually going on to Delta and I’m checking out how much do flights look like getting out of there. Cuz not all airports are cheap. They’re not. You could go to Minneapolis St. Paul and catch a flight back to San Antonio for $200, but you could go to De Mo, Iowa, and that same flight to get to San’ be almost 600—

26:06 Right?

26:06 So doing the homework before you select the load is huge. You know, we had a previous guest in we he talked about it so much we titled the episode do your homework, but as a deck driver, he was a singles drivers, but as a deck driver, is that somewhat more pronounced than a singles driver is about the importance of doing your homework?

26:28 Yes. Yes, that is the name of the game. I actually did a video that is on the deck driver Facebook group about free planning, about selecting your flights. When I select my flights, John, I will tell you, I always buy the main plus refundable pairs. Yes, my flights cost me an extra $50, but I’ll book my flights three, four, five days in advance. I just booked my flight to come to San Antonio tonight and for Tuesday. I’m already looking to book my flight out of Grand Forks when I deliver my load for next Friday already, but I’m buying the main plus refundable because if something happened, I’m not losing that money and I can use that e credit towards my next load.

27:07 It’s almost like—

27:07 But I’m always trying to take advantage of the cheap the cheapest flight.

27:10 It’s almost like insurance if you look at it that way.

27:13 Correct. Yes.

27:14 Now, were you a singles driver before you moved into the deck world? I’m assuming you were.

27:19 No.

27:20 No.

27:20 No, I was not. No, I was an experienced driver coming in. Gotcha. So, tell us a little bit about how long you’ve been driving, the experience, how you came in as a deck driver.

27:30 So, I came from auto truck, believe it or not. So, I was an auto truck driver for a couple months before I came over to the contractor side. You know, I got my license when I was 21 years old. So, I’ve been out here for oh my god, 25 years now. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long, but I have been everything from a driver to a supervisor, company owner, regional manager. You know, I went into the management side and then got back out and I’m back in the truck. It’s very hard to get the diesel fuel out of your veins once it gets in. And I’m truly I’m tr I’m truly happy being black.

28:02 That’s the diesel residue there. Tell us a little bit about a company owner. So, when I came out of college, I was already a full-time CDL driver. And when I put myself through college for my degree, when I came out of college, I applied for an SDA loan, bought my first truck, and at the time, I was living in Pennsylvania, and we had a huge boom in the natural gas industry. I went bought my first truck in October of 2013. By February of 2014, I had eight trucks going. The growth was explosive in the first six months. Let me tell you something. You want to hear about another wakeup call, John? You know, laying in bed in the morning, you open up your eyes and you can look at the ceiling and say, “I’m a billion dollars in debt right now.”

28:42 Oh my goodness. That’s a shot in the gut right there. That’s a shot in the gut.

28:46 That is a shot in the gut because that’s what I have when I with all my truck loans at the time. But we were doing phenomenal. I had 20 guys working for me until the fateful day when the gas price dropped. And I will tell you, if you’re ever thinking about becoming an owner operator in this field, do don’t do it in a specialized because if the specialized falls off, your truck can’t work. And that is exactly what happened to me. The natural gas prices dropped. They had no work for my truck. I had all my trucks sitting idle. I had to lay all my guys off. And then we made it because we had enough liquid cash to get through it when the work fired back up, but the damage was already done. I was lucky enough that I found a group of investors that bought me out. So, I managed to get out with my shirt on, but it was an experience that taught me you could ride the roller coaster all the way to the top, but be prepared because the roller coaster is going to come all the way down, too. So it really taught me about learning and managing my expenses.

29:39 What’s it like to ride that roller coaster? I mean, for a guy from your standpoint, coming from your background, to have to absorb those highs and lows, what was that like? It was a true great experience and I say that because again it taught me about the highs and the lows of the industry. I got so excited with my success when I started my company called Tucson Suns Trucking. It was an incredible high to be able to have this explosive growth to have my trucks working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on two ships. It was incredible to see the amount of money that was coming in. But when everything shut down, it was scary because like I said, I had all these truck payments. You know, each truck was an $1,800 a month truck payment that I had to float that cash all the way through. The truck shut down, so it was scary. And I learned how to clamp down and I learned how to not spend anything, you know.

30:40 So, it was just a real great experience to learn the highs and lows and ride that roller coaster down. Shortly after that, I went into management. And as cavalier as I’m talking to you, that’s how I got my first job in management because I was able to learn how to manage expenses, how to that income isn’t the only thing you have to worry about.

31:00 You know, we’ve talked about the financial discipline of locking down when you had to. What about from a mental standpoint? How has that helped you grow as far as a driver being an independent contractor a after having gone through that? So, it helps me grow by being able to manage the money that’s coming in to be mindful of how I pick my load, you know, to try and spot what’s profitable and what is not. Does that make sense, John? It’s, you know, again, you know, I mean, taking a load to Wisconsin just because it says it’s worth $3,500 bucks, but if you have a $200 Uber ride to get back into Green Bay to get a flight out, you know, plus your $400, well, you just took your $3,400 and put it to 3200.

31:46 Well, I could have taken the $3,000 load, got it done a day earlier, and flown back and been on my next load already. It’s managing the income to expenses and the exp setting the expectation for yourself that hole. Gotcha. Now, we’re talking about the Labor Day holiday. We know you’re going to the beach, sticking your toes in the sand, but then it’s back on the road. Tell us what your load plan looks like for I guess you’ll start back on Tuesday.

32:10 Yep. So, the low plan is I got my trainee meeting me at the yard at about 10:30 in the morning. We’re going to go over a pre-trip, how to do paperwork, and then the first day, I’m not going to push this guy too hard. I’m not. We’re going to drive to Norman, Oklahoma. I’ve got a great hotel that’s on our list to sleep in at the Riverwinds Casino. You know, hashtag good sidef fun.

32:31 Sure.

32:31 You know, but don’t put your money on all on one number there.

32:35 No, no, absolutely not. But that that’s a hotel that I put in the list. They’ve got a 24-hour security guard gated parking lot with a shuttle to the hotel. Food’s close by and I get that for $90 a night and then I get 15% off it using that choice discount code that 00228840. So, I mean, I get a world-class hotel right next to a casino with great food, and I usually get it for about 80 bucks after tax.

33:01 That’s a win-win regardless of what happens in the casino.

33:04 Yep. And then after that, we’re going to head up to Sioux Falls. Got a Best Western Hotel on our list, going to stay in Sioux Falls. And then Thursday morning, we’re going to wake up. We’re going to drive the last 300 miles in the Grand Forks. We’ll get on deck. We’ll get a good night’s rest on Thursday on a plane for Friday. And you know, hopefully if we can make it back on time, we’ll pick up Friday afternoon. If not, it’ll be Saturday morning.

33:24 So, are you one-on-one with your trainee? Is there any other students involved or just one?

33:30 So, I have been asked by Norton to take multiples and I kind of resist it. I like to take one guy out at a time until he’s done. I do feel that something is lost when you have multiples. You know, you don’t get that kind of one-on-one attention. You know, you have one guy trying to teach two guys everything he knows and you really don’t you really lose that connection. So, I will I like I will take out one at a time. I really don’t like to take out two.

33:56 I mean, yeah, from what I understand there, it’s for you it’s the quality of teacher student.

34:03 Correct.

34:09 Now, I did want to ask you here kind of back up just a little bit. The casino. Are you a— Have you been to the casino before? Is that something you do? Are you good at it? Do you enjoy it?

34:20 I don’t think anyone’s truly good at it. The house is always in favor to win. But, I do like to go to the casino. It is a hobby of mine. We don’t have any here where I’m from in North Carolina, you know, so I do like to go when I have the opportunity to. I am a craft guy, blackjack guy, and most importantly, I like to go to the poker room, play poker. What’s your poker game? Is it Texas Holdem? What do you play?

34:45 Oh yeah, Texas Holdem. I play Omaha, too, but it’s very hard to find an Omaha game out there.

34:49 Yeah, that’s less common there. But do you play seven or five cards on Texas Holdem? How do you play it?

34:54 It’s seven. Two in the hole and five on the board.

34:57 Gotcha. Now, how long you’re 46 years old. You’ve been through a lifealtering event with the prostate cancer. Fortunately, all that is is gone behind you in the rearview mirror. What do you see in front of you? So, I see a pretty long career with Norton. I really do enjoy this company a lot. The people are great in the office. You know, Michael Perry is great in the office as well. He’s a great outlet if you have any kind of issues that are out there. You know, I really don’t see myself moving to any kind any other kind of driveaway company. My kids are all at school. You know, my wife is pretty self-sufficient when, you know, when she’s home alone. But the big thing is is I don’t stay off the road that long. I make sure my face is seen in the house a lot. Though she had that support, you know, so I see myself staying here quite a while.

35:42 That’s fantastic. We’re happy to have Mike Kolody here on the air with us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. We’re glad to have you in the fold here. Wanted to ask you a couple questions about life on the road as far as some of the strangest, most bizarre things you have seen as a driver that you thought you’d never see anywhere else. But behind the wheel of that big truck, what are some of the strangest things you’ve seen? Oh god. Strangest things I’ve seen. I mean I have seen Drag Queen out on the road.

36:17 Tell us more about that. Where was that?

36:19 Oh, no. That’s I It was just a very scarring moment. I was on a back road heading towards Wisconsin, I think it was. It wasn’t too long ago. It was up at the UP of Michigan.

36:30 Okay.

36:30 And I’m driving down Route Two and the guy just jumped out of the woods in a dress. Almost trying to and bumping a ride. I mean, he had a full-on wig on, but this was you very hairy in a dress and I was like no. Sorry, dude. Keep walking.

36:49 You just never know what you’re going to see.

36:52 Nope. Nope. You don’t, you know, but I mean I’ve seen, you know, guys get into fist fights on the Fuel Island, you know, shouting matches. I mean, accidents. I’ve seen a lot out. I did want to touch on one thing if I can go off topic on there. Sure.

37:06 You know, going back to the whole trading of the lifestyle. I want to say enjoy the lifestyle when you’re out doing this driveaway thing. I’m a huge proponent of taking time when you’re out on the road, you know, or making time if you’re a little bit early. I’ll touch base. I was just in Denver, Colorado, and I actually dropped a day early. The dealership took the bus the day early. Right.

37:29 Right. Got there and I couldn’t change my flight because the flight would have been $1,000 more to change my flight. So, I was staying an extra deck, you know. I went out and I rented the car and I actually got to see the Rocky Mountain National Park and I got and I put pictures on that. Yeah. And I put pictures on there, but it was one of those moments where I was sitting there on a rock staring at these 14,000 foot peaks and I was just like, “Wow, what when am I ever going to be able to see something like this?” You know, seeing, you know, Indian statues that are out in the middle of South Dakota, in the middle of nowhere. You know, take time. If you see something cool, stop and take a look at it. Enjoy it. You, this is your job, but your job is to see the entire country. Take time out and enjoy it. Send pictures home. Mike a collage. You know, you’re saying, “Wow, this is why I do what I do.”

38:15 It’s a job that gives you the opportunity to be presented on the front row seat. I mean, of so much that the country has to offer. Now, let that kind of leads me to my next question. You were talking about South Dakota, Denver. What are some of the most majestic places you’ve seen in your time on the road?

38:32 So, the Rocky Mountain National Park definitely takes the cake. That was my number one on my list so far. You know, the Pacific Northwest, driving through volcano country in Eastern Washington. You know, that takes I’m a huge nature buff. I would say probably running a close number one or close number two number one is British Columbia. And I know everyone’s thoughts on getting vaccinated and going into Canada. I do. I go into Canada every opport every opportunity that I get. There is nothing on this planet more beautiful than British Columbia. And if you ever get a chance to go take a ride up there, go take a ride up there. It is worth every second.

39:09 What would your season be recommended to go for people? No. In spring, summer, fall. In the winter time, it’s brutal. Gotcha. You know, I had talked to your dispatcher back in the past, Jesse Chavez, and he said that you went to Canada a lot. How did that fall into your plate?

39:27 I in 25 years on the road, I’ve seen the lower 48. I’ve seen everything in the lower 48, every state. There’s not one I haven’t missed yet. Right. But I haven’t seen all of Canada. So, every time opportunity that I get to go to Canada, I will take it just because it’s a new place to go. So far, I’ve seen British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan Ontario, and Quebec. But yeah, I still I’m still missing Nova Scotia. I’m still missing Newland. I’ve been up to the Northwest Territories, the Yellow Knight, almost near to Alaska. But I mean, I want to see as much as I could possibly see before my trucking career is over.

40:00 What’s your favorite part of Canada?

40:02 British Columbia, hands down.

40:03 What sets it apart? Is it the deep forest there? What sets it apart for you? It’s the deep forest and the mountains, you know, it’s majestic, you know, to try and give it a description. Kind of a, you know, breathtaking, all inspiring to see nature in its purest form. You know, there’s portions of British Columbia in northern Alberta, you know, the Northwest Territories where you’re able to look off in the distance and you can say, “Man hasn’t even walked out there yet.”

40:37 Right? Because there’s just nothing—

40:39 Just it’s a beauty that’s unexplained—

40:43 Because completely undisturbed.

40:45 Gotcha. Wanted to ask you another question more about the I guess the appreciation or possibly the lack thereof for drivers out on the road. You’ve been in it for a long time. How do you look at it from your position sitting behind the wheel and your value in the whole system? The system being the economy.

41:08 So, the mistreatment of drivers as a whole throughout the industry is problematic to say the least. You know, I have been mistreated, you know, dealerships, shippers, receivers, not being allowed to use the restroom. I mean, it’s a travesty that’s out there. However they need us, you know, and I view us as drivers as the bigger party because if they combined and they shut the country down or went on the trucker strike or everything that you see on here on Facebook to organize and stop the mistreatment of truckers, you know, that all that’s going to do is bring more negativity to us, you know. So, I’m one of those smile and continue on with my day. There’s just it doesn’t benefit me to make a seat.

41:51 Why do you think the mistreatment’s there? What do you think? I really couldn’t tell you. I mean, in 25 years, I haven’t been able to understand why. I mean, I know cleanliness is a huge one. We kind of are our own enemy out there, you know, and I’m sure other drivers that are listening in on this can understand when you pull into a rest area and you see bottles or jugs of urine sitting on the ground, you know, piles of feces, you know, sitting on the ground. I mean, it is disgusting. We need to change our own outlook, our own what’s the word I’m looking for? Impression if we want to earn that respect out there.

42:30 Well, let’s kind of shift on that. And you guys are obviously a very well the important cog in the wheel that moves our society. I mean, when you look at trucking, shipping, or rail, it’s those are the three. And you know, there’s a lot of mileage covered across this country by you guys. Is that a sense of a pride for you? How do you look at that as far as like, you know, this wouldn’t happen if I hadn’t delivered these four trucks today to go on to the next delivery for those four trucks? I mean, is that how do you view that as far as being such an integral part of what happens in this country?

43:06 I mean, regardless of the mistreatment that’s out there, I take pride in the work product that I present to my customers. You know, when you arrive at a dealership, you know, you know, that that truck is already ordered. There’s very very few trucks that are being delivered nowadays that are stocked, you know, so I take pride in my appearance when I go when I show up at a dealership knowing that customer is going to get their a clean truck, you know, if a truck is dirty, you know, I have no problems calling the dispatch saying, “Hey, should I get this washed?” You know, nine times out of 10, people yell and tell you yes. You know, so it’s it in the pride of how you present yourself and the product you present and there was actually a posting on LinkedIn I saw today from Freightliner of Toledo showing all new Freightliners that that were being put in there and in the background somebody was offloading and that salesman actually said, “Thank you to this driver who’s bringing us more units for our customers, you know, and to see that was refreshing.” How rewarding is that to get the, you know, the thank you, the pat on the back from someone?

44:08 Although, you know, I mean—

44:09 It’s very rewarding, John. I could tell you because it doesn’t come too often—

44:13 Right? It means more because it doesn’t come too often.

44:16 Correct.

44:16 Now, talk a little bit about the professionalism and the impression. This primarily, we want to say this for someone who’s considering going into driveaway trucking as an independent contractor. How important is that component for the driver to embrace?

44:33 Well, first impressions last lifetime. All right. So, if you show up looking like a scumbag and talking like a scumbag, you’re going to be treated like a scumbag. You know, I will always try to show up for my assignments when I’m on decking at a dealership. You know, I don’t wear trashy clothes. Cuz I wear a pair of coveralls that I keep in my bag, you know, and I make sure I’m clean when I go and present to the dealership, you know, and I’m always respectful to them, you know, whether they have an attitude or not. I still try and be respectful, you know, eat a plate of crow if you have to, you know, and you’re not going to get that push back. Nine times out of 10, they’re going to thank your people work have a nice day—

45:09 Right? You’ve obviously put some thought into that as far as, you know, if you wear coveralls and then, you know, shed out of them and have, you know, obviously some clean, fresh clothes when you go into the dealership. Does that make an impression on them? Are they’re like, “This guy has taken an extra step.”

45:26 Yeah. I mean, I’ve actually had dealerships tell me, “Thank you, you know, for not coming into my dealership all greasy, you know, you know, or thank you. Thank you for cleaning up and making sure not telling us that we had to come out and inspect it. We saw you cleaning it up when you take that extra step. I mean, I had my last trainee we went to Morgan Body in Wisconsin, you know, and we had to clean up somebody else’s mess, but you know what? They came out, they actually wrote an email to Norton, you know, to thank us for it, you know, and got a couple nice t-shirts out of it. But, you know, to get that recognition and the impression that’s left, you know, was, you know, a positive one.”

46:06 Sure. That’s got to give you an extra kind of pump in your system there for the next load that you take.

46:11 Correct.

46:12 Now, we talked a lot about life on the road, life off the road, toes in the sand. What would your advice be to people considering this as a profession? Maybe if it’s somebody who’s come from the industry with an O and O, some other type of trucking, but for people that are kind of testing the waters and driveaway, what would your advice be to them?

46:32 Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You know, no, no one’s gonna bite your head off. You know, anyone in our group, you know, or for that fact any driver that I’ve spoken to in Von Ormy, being a new guy or not, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I mean, I give my phone number out to guys who just, you know, randomly instant message me on Facebook. Can I ask you a couple questions about the industry? The answer is yes, because I want to see guys succeed when they come in. So, you know, don’t hide in the shell. Don’t hide in the corner. Don’t be afraid to ask questions because what we do is not easy. You know, the easy part is the driving. The hard part is the undecking. You know, if you do something wrong, you could get killed, you know. So, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I would rather have a guy ask me a thousand questions and get it right, then take it upon himself and get it wrong. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re just trying to get yourself into it, don’t be afraid to reach out and say, “Hey, how do what’s this like? You know, what’s picking a load like? What kind of money are you bringing home after a load? How do you control your expenses?” Get yourself educated before you before making the jump so you don’t get let down.

47:35 Gotcha. Mike Kolody joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. You can check it out on social media, iHeart Radio, Apple, Google Podcast. They’re all out there for you to listen to this. Also on Stitcher. And Mike, I wanted to give you a chance to plug again some of the things we talked about at the very top of the our conversation here. Deck Hands, driveaway Professionals on Facebook. Anything that you want to say? I mean, is I open it up totally to you for people to get in touch with you because you’ve got some invaluable information for everyone out there.

48:12 Absolutely. Absolutely. So, our Facebook group is driveaway Professional. You know, I’m actually going to send you a link, John, that you can actually attach to the podcast if you’d like, you know, so they can go get right to right to the Facebook group. We keep all kinds of databases in there for hotels that specifically deck drivers are able to get in and out of without getting themselves into trouble. We have YouTube videos that are put in. Boyd makes YouTube videos every single week of how to put an axle in, what to do if your differential lock dropped, putting it in, how to get yourself out of jam, you know. So, we’re really huge on educating the public that are in our group. And we welcome anyone to come in if they have a better way and show us their way so we can share that with other people. Other people learn. I share hotel discounts. Again, I’ll give one of them out right now. It’s Choice Hotel. If you call the reservation center and give them code 0022-8840, you’ll get 15% off whatever the rack rate is every single night.

49:15 It doesn’t matter what choice hotel brand that you use, you know, that save you that can save you 15, 20 bucks a night, 200 nights a year, you put $4,000 back into your pocket. Every little bit helps, you know, and we’re constantly looking for other ways to save money out the road. I have a Windom code, too, that is posted in there that’ll give you another 20% off your Windoms day. And, you know, it’s all about helping the other driver. That that’s what our community is all about, helping the other driver be successful. How important is it to you to be a part and a spearhead in that brotherhood?

49:45 It’s huge. It really is. And Lloyd was the one that approached me about joining this group and becoming an advent and sharing my knowledge with it. And I was all for it. It’s something that I think is needed out there. If we don’t share the information, then all we’re doing is we’re in it for ourselves. I’m not in it for myself. You know, it doesn’t gain me anything to be in it for myself. I would rather share my wealth and share my knowledge to make somebody else successful as well. There’s plenty of food for us to eat out there. You don’t have to worry about going out stealing your thunder.

50:18 Mike Kolody joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Mike, I got to tell you, you’ve left us with some incredible nuggets for all the drivers out there, the potential drivers, people thinking about making this a career. Mike Kolody, he’s given you ways you can get in touch with him on his Facebook the Facebook groups he has. Reach out to Mike Kolody. He can help you out. Particularly if you want to go down the deck driving channel. If you have already put some experience in on the single side and are ready to move to deck driving, Mike Kolody is a guy that you can talk to. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Anything else you’d like to say to close us out here this evening?

50:54 No, John. What I’m going to do is I’m going to send you an email with some links and in the email is going to be my phone number as well. You know, if any of the people that are listening to this episode have questions, shoot me a text. I will answer you and I will get you the information. If you want to call me, call me. But join our Facebook group, get educated, watch the videos. If you have questions, no one is going to chastise you and our group. We will actually give you the right information and we’ll point you in the right direction. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us. It is a great career. It’s a profitable career and we have a lot of fun out there. So, it’s all about living the life and enjoying the life. So, reach out, ask questions and we’re there to help you. Thank you so much, Mike. Mike Kolody joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. One of our greatest guests we’ve had today. We appreciate it, Mike. Thank you so much. Be safe out there and enjoy your Labor Day weekend. Get your toes deep into the sand and whatever else comes about that really tickles your fancy. Good.

51:54 Exactly. John, thank you so much for having me.

51:56 All right. Have a good evening. You too.

52:01 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.