00:08 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. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. You’ll have to pardon my voice this time here. I’m a little under the weather, but feeling great. And once again, we’re talking to some of the road warriors, some of the men and women that make everything go. And tonight joining us is Malik Beverly. Malik is fresh off of Thanksgiving as are the rest of us. Malik, how was your Thanksgiving holiday?

00:51 The day was beautiful. Actually, the day was very nice. Spend some time with my family and made a little bit of music and dad I went I ended up going to sleep after that.

01:02 Now talking about music, what kind of music was it?

01:04 I make I do hip-hop rap music. I do more of the positive things your life that nobody really likes to talk about—

01:12 Such as give us an idea of what you talk about on the positive side.

01:16 Like I talk more about like the father who’s up to heaven. I talk about the most high. I like to talk about like what’s more to life than just gun violence and drugs and money and it because there’s a lot more things to life that people really don’t see cuz now in the music nowadays you have more of the you know the aggressive and the killing and I’m not really on that side anymore because I used to do that. I used to be on that side and then I just had an awaken and it just kind of clipped for me. What led to the awakening? I mean I understand that you’re 24, 25 years old.

01:57 25.

01:57 25, I guess. What flipped you around?

02:00 Well, it’s more to do with the father and how he moved in my life and how words are powerful because any anything that you say, it comes back to you. No matter if you if it’s real, if you did it, or no matter if you didn’t do it. So if I talk about killing people all the time, it will eventually it’s going to eventually manifest in my life.

02:23 Speak it into a truth. So now you’re trying to—

02:26 Yeah.

02:26 Take the exact opposite approach.

02:28 Yeah. Take the exact opposite approach and speak life into myself because the more you speak death into your life, it the more your plans will be ruined and the more you won’t have a good life.

02:41 Now h do you have an audience that follows you? Do you do h how do you get your music out there?

02:47 I’m on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music. I really I’m still kind of new within like the within the business and I really don’t have like a secure fan base. But if anybody listens to this, they can always follow me at Gleek. They can always look at my music at a leak. Ah, HK L E K. It’s on all platforms.

03:10 Okay. Plug that one more time. Give it to us one more time in case people missed it the first time.

03:14 You can find me on all platforms at a leak a h k l e eek k you guys you find my music on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, title, everything.

03:28 Now do you set up the music with a little bit of inspirational things as far as leaning into the music or do you is it kind of a talk program too or is it all music?

03:39 It’s all music. I’m trying to I’ve been trying to do a podcast like but it never works and I’ve never had the time to actually do it but I want to do more I want to do more things with it. I want to do more like live shows and stuff.

03:56 Gotcha. We talked a little bit about the lyrics. What about the music itself? What kind of music are we talking about?

04:01 Hip-hop.

04:02 Hip-hop.

04:03 Hip-hop rap.

04:04 Gotcha. I’m assuming you’re the lead vocalist. Do you have any backing musicians?

04:08 Yeah. No. No. I don’t. It’s just all— It’s all me.

04:12 Okay.

04:13 My voice. I do sing a little bit here and there sometimes.

04:17 I got you. Do you play around local venues?

04:19 No, not yet. I’m still working on that portion of it.

04:23 Gotcha.

04:24 I’m working on my first I’m working on my first project right now. That is It’s called Ancestral Ties. It’s going to come out at least between December and January.

04:34 What was the name of it again?

04:36 Ancestral ties.

04:37 Oh, okay. I got you. That sounds pretty cool, man. Sounds pretty uplifting. Sounds inspirational. And you’re listening to Malik Beverly here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, Malik, you said today’s been a good day with the family and the music. What’s in store for you on the weekend? I know you got a load coming up.

04:55 Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have a going out to California. I’m going to go ahead and do that. Get that one out the way. And I think I’m leave pretty soon. Just I probably won’t leave after I go to my assembly on Saturday because I do Saturday worship and stuff. So, it’s more of a different thing for me.

05:17 I gotcha. Gotcha. Now, one thing that kind of sets Malik apart from most of the guests we’ve had here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Malik, correct me if I’m mistaken, but you’re a nonCDL driver.

05:30 Yes, sir.

05:31 Okay. We’ve had a lot of CDL drivers and deck drivers here on the show, but tell us about how you got into nonCDL and what it’s been like.

05:39 Well, I started off as a driver at Amazon. What I was like about two years ago, about a year ago, I started off as a Amazon driver. And I did that for about a good year and a half. And then one day, one of my old manager, she came up to me and said that she ended up finding a different job. And I asked her what she did. She said she did driveaway. So I then I started applying for companies and I got into this one company and I worked for them for about 3 to 4 months and then I found Norton Transport and thanks to Ryan, he stayed on me and made sure I got all my paperwork in and started working for you guys. Started working for Norton Transport. It’s been like the best decision that I’ve ever made in my life. It actually has made me jump start my career.

06:28 We’d love to hear that. We’d love to hear satisfied drivers on there and Ryan was your recruiter.

06:34 Yes, sir.

06:35 Yeah. Yep. He does a good job. Now, you were talking about it’s been one of the best decisions you’ve made in your life there. Tell us a little bit about that.

06:41 The reason why I say jump started my career is because before this, I was a I was an athlete. I was a track runner and I went professional in track for about six months. And after I quit because, you know, you had co and I never got back into the grind of doing track and field and I just didn’t know what to do with my life. I honestly didn’t know what career path I wanted to take. I thought about getting a trade and doing semi semi-truck driving, but it never worked out for me. And then when I found driveaway and I found out that you can do those without your CDs, I was like, you can do things without having a CDL. I don’t have to, you know, get these other license to drive a truck. Ch. Game changer.

07:27 Very big game changer for me.

07:29 Absolutely. Let’s circle back here. You were professional track runner. Tell us about that. How you got into it. I’m assuming started in high school or earlier.

07:38 No. I actually started running track when I was 5 years old. I’ve been running track since I was five.

07:42 So, have you always been fast?

07:45 No, actually I haven’t. Actually then start coming into my body cuz I’m a like 6’2. So growing up I had a lot of growing pains and I had a lot of different aspects in my body that I wasn’t used to. And I had to go it took me until about my eighth grade year to grow fully to grow halfway into my body. And then once I got to high school, my ninth grade year was okay. But after but once I got to my 10th grade year, I went to state every single year in Ohio and I ended up being a three-time state champion.

08:19 Oh wow.

08:20 And the 4×1, the 110 hurdles and 200 meter dash.

08:27 Run those events by me again that you a three-time state champion.

08:31 It the 4×1 I won that my junior year with my teammates. I ran I then my senior year I won the 110 hurdles in the 200 meter dash.

08:42 Oh wow.

08:43 And that I said I had like six school records five or six school records at my school and I got third in team standards by myself and that was my senior year. I was the only person that went to state that year.

08:57 Well Ohio is certainly a big state with a lot of prep athletes. That’s got to be something you’re proud about.

09:02 Oh yeah. There’s a lot of good competition in Cincinnati. Everybody, everybody out there. I’ve met a lot of good athletes out there, especially like my junior and senior year and it’s just amazing out there. There’s a lot of talented athletes and well, Ohio is one of them sleeper states that nobody really is expecting people to come out of—

09:23 But it’s a lot of talent out there.

09:26 Now, you were talking about the different events that you won state championships in. What was your fastest time in the 100?

09:34 Oh, in the 110 heard.

09:35 Sure.

09:36 And the one I heard it was my fastest time as was 1378. In high school, I ran 13998 or 1398 and I won state.

09:47 And you were able to trim some time off that later?

09:50 Yeah. Yeah. Once I went to college, I went to college at Iowa Central Community College.

09:54 Did you go on a scholarship or did you have a scholarship opportunity there?

09:57 My first year, my first year, no. I actually had signed to Kent State University out of college, but I didn’t go because of my grades. So, I had to go to a jo a junior college, which is like they give you two years to like fix your grades and but they get give you a better chance to go to a different school, have a four-year university that’s better. So, when I went to Iowa Central for my two years, I ended up signing into South Carolina University with the University of South Carolina. So, you went to Columbia, Columbia, South Carolina.

10:32 I No, I almost did, though. I almost did. I didn’t go cuz I was actually missing a credit and that’s why I ended up going pro. Oh—

10:39 Okay. So, tell me how that works in the track and field world where you I guess you, if I understand correctly, you ran competitively in high school, obviously, won three state championships and then you had a little bit of a gap there when you were in JO or were you running in JO as well? Yeah, I was running in Jo. I ran in JO for about a year. What? A year and one indoor season because I got hurt my outdoor season my second year.

11:10 I’m assuming that’s something you got to stay active and—

11:14 I mean just if you take a just a little bit of time off, I’m sure you lose some of the edge and the speed.

11:20 Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. If you if you’re not training and doing the current things yet, you’ll lose some time. But it would never really work like that for me honestly. I was more of this I could take a break and come back and still progress in ways that a lot of people can’t.

11:39 Right. Right.

11:41 It’s a fun experience for me. After I had got hurt, I could have went to I did drug relays and I could have tried out for the USA team and I didn’t because I was still hurt. I’ve still hurt that year. So, and that was at the end of the year, so I never got back on my feet.

12:00 Wow. You could have tried out for the USA teams, but you became a pro runner. Tell us how does that happen? What’s the path like to become a professional runner? I’m assuming there’s some qualifications involved.

12:13 Well, how I became a professional runner is a little bit different. I met this guy who he had his own track company in Texas in Dallas, Texas. And I met him online on Facebook and he asked if I was ready to go professional. And at first I told him no because my high school my college coach was telling me that I should just focus on my grades and just go to university instead of going pro cuz he knew I wasn’t ready. But after I didn’t get, you know, after my credits, I was missing one credit. I just decided to just do it and go professional. So, the way it works is you don’t get if you’re not one of the top athletes in the world, like as far as like a Grant Holloway or like you’re not well known, like you’re not a name, a household name, you more than likely won’t get an endorsement deal.

13:05 Gotcha.

13:06 Until you run professional.

13:07 I got you. Who’s the fastest guy you’ve gone up against that people may know by name?

13:12 Probably Aaron Mallet. Aaron Mallet. I raced him a couple times in college and he always beat me. But there’s a lot of good competition. I think I got close to being him one time.

13:23 Gotcha. Gotcha.

13:24 One time.

13:25 Gotcha. Now, coming from such a competitive background and knowing what it takes to reach that level of running, how does that help you in your preparations for a driveaway employment? It actually helps me organize everything like my moves and where I’m going to go and how much money I’m going to spend cuz when I was doing professional track I was still I still had a job and I was still working. So I still had to manage my money and I still had to find time to make sure I could give things for myself or and when travel extensions came even though I didn’t get a chance to experience the travel part. My co and my coach went over some budgets for me to so I wouldn’t over spend especially on the travel portion.

14:16 Gotcha. Now I spoke with your dispatcher Sierra just before we got rolling here and she pointed that out. She said that Malik’s very resourceful. Now, you were talking about that came about as some experience running track. I’m assuming that was that something that was taught to you through your formative years as well? No. No, that was something I had to learn over the years through bad decisions. And so, I learned through a lot of bad decisions of just spending money and not making it back. It was terrible. Terrible. Now, having that ability to budget, how much does that help you? Because you’re on the road. How many days in a given, let’s say, in a month, how many days are you on the road and how many nights are you spending in a hotel?

15:03 Probably on the road for 15 15 days cuz I work Monday through Friday.

15:08 So, I’m on the road probably a good 15 14 15 days cuz I come home on the weekend. So I try to pick moves that are closer to Chicago so I can just take a bus back—

15:19 Instead of flying.

15:20 And majority I actually know a lot of people in different states so I go stay with my friends instead of being in the hotel so I won’t waste money.

15:30 Sure. Hey, whatever works. You got to be resourceful. And that’s what Sierra said. She said you were very resourceful.

15:36 You have to be it. It. I do I learned the hard way to buying hotels all the time and just spending my money on things and I would come home and I’m like you ain’t made that much. And then you got and then you also have to worry about the buying the plane tickets back if you go too far out and getting the bus tickets back if you or the train tickets. It’s just it’s a lot of stuff that you have to take in accountability and be like, “Okay, is this going to help me or is this going to hurt me? Am I gonna make more out of this move or less?”

16:08 And Sierra also told me just a few minutes ago, she said he’s a good planner. Tell me a little bit about that.

16:16 Well, before I do any move, I like to take out three moves that I like. And I like to plan them. The way I plan them is I always try to leave as close from Chicago as possible. So, say it’s a move in Bristol. That’s like a $20 bus ticket to Elkhart, $26 Uber ride down to Bristol, Indiana. So, I have to go pick up the truck.

16:38 Mhm.

16:39 Majority of the time it would take me down to Walton, Kentucky. I’ll go to I went down I would go down to Kentucky and my dad he’s a truck driver. So, his company is down the street from where I would drop off my van. So, I would have him come pick me up and either I’mma go stay the night with him or I would have him take me to the Greyhound station. Then I would plan from there and be like, “Okay, it’s a move in Orville, so let me go to the Greyhound station and go up to Akan with like 20 $30 bus ticket.” And majority of the time when you get to Orville, you can go I could either go to Indianapolis if they have move that go to Indianapolis. I have friends that stay in Indianapolis, go there, drop off the truck, go stay with them—

17:26 Go back to the bus station, and then go to my next move. And it’s all little pieces of just trying to make sure everything makes sense—

17:35 Right? It sounds like a— Do you play chess?

17:37 No—

17:38 But it sounds like a chess game.

17:40 It kind of is.

17:42 You got to plan your next move.

17:43 You have to. And I’ve been in the positions where I overspent and I spent I think the most money I ever spent on flight was like $300 and I never did that again because I lost more than I was making.

18:00 Mhm.

18:02 And it came back and bit me and I that next week I had to go out and work even harder. So the goal for me is to be able for that next week is to go out and not work and not have to like work as hard.

18:15 Work smarter not harder.

18:17 Yeah. That’s one of the things me and my wife were me and my wife we talk about all the time is more of us like work less make more money.

18:24 Mhm. And has driveaway been able to provide that to you on the regular?

18:29 Yes. Since I’ve been better at my plan. Ever since I gotten better at my planet it has worked for me a lot more. So I was I’ve been able to go out for five days because I mean I like I mean a normal job you’ll work five days out the week. You’ll work Monday through Friday. So that and that’s how I treat. I was like okay I’ll go out Monday through Friday and then I’ll be I’ll come back on Friday night or Friday evening or sometimes I’ll be there Friday morning. So sometimes I will work until Thursday night.

18:59 Mhm. You were talking about the planning and riding the buses all the time. How do you spend your time on the bus? I mean, a lot of people may not be too into that, but do you read books? You’re online? What do you do when you’re on the bus?

19:13 I listen to a lot of podcast. Either if I’m not listening to a podcast, I’m listening to music or I’m writing music.

19:20 Mhm.

19:20 I’ll go to sleep. Majority of time, I’m sleep.

19:23 I gotta— Well, that’s got to be I mean, you know, have that time, that downtime to kind of recharge. I guess that’s a good way to spend that time.

19:32 Oh, yeah, it is. One thing I’ve learned is like cuz I used to be the guy was like, “All right, we could get a I could get a rental and I could be to my next move quicker, but then I realized how much money I’m spending on rentals and how much it was costing me to get there, fill up the tank, then I still got to go get the truck and then I really ain’t get no sleep at the end of the day.”

19:56 So, it just made sense to do it the way you’re doing it now.

19:59 Yeah, it just made sense though. I try the rentals are the last thing that’s on my mind when I’m out traveling cuz at the time and that’s the other reason why I don’t stay in hotel. I don’t normally stay in hotels a lot is because I would drop off the I would drop off my truck and I would get a bus that’s leading out that same day. So then I’m already headed on to my next move without having to worry about that. I can sleep because majority of time the buses are overnight or the trains are they run overnight. Mhm. How would you convey the way you operate, the way you plan to someone who may be considering moving into the driveaway world? I guess in a sense, how would you sell it to them?

20:43 Sell it? You know, I’ve actually had a couple talk with my friends about like getting in the driveaway and some of them they don’t they want to, but they don’t like they look at how much I’m gone and they be like, “Well, I can’t be gone that long.” And I just told I always tell them like this. I’m like, at the end of the day, no matter how long that you’re gone away from your girl on your kids, at the end of the day, they will understand that you’re out providing. You’re doing your best to provide. And if this gives you if this gives me the best option to provide for my family, I would do with it. I would take full opportunities of trying to be the best I can be. And that’s that that’s exactly how I tell him every time. You’re listening to Malik Beverly here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport.

21:49 Malik, how long have you been— Let’s see. I think you said a couple years you’ve been doing driveaway now.

21:53 Oh, no. I did actually my first year.

21:56 Okay. Okay. I was thinking the other company you ran with. What kind of trucks? I mean, being non CDL. Give us a list of some of the types of trucks you’ve driven.

22:05 I do box trucks, UPS trucks. I’ve done— Yeah, I’ve done package cars. Mainly the main thing I drive is mostly box trucks are high cubes, but I think the ones I like driving the most are box trucks. I love the box trucks. 26 ft, 26 footers. Just running on the road. Don’t have to worry about a lot of things. I mean, unless it gets windy, then you have to I pull over cuz there’s nothing in the back. So—

22:34 You can get tossed around a bit there.

22:37 Yeah, I’ve experienced that one time and I was like, “Nah,”

22:43 Not for me.

22:44 I was going through Arkansas and I was driving this box at night. I was driving overnight and I was just driving and it was super windy and all of a sudden I saw the truck just shifting. I’m like, “Hold on.” So, I hit the brakes and I was like, “Oh no.” I was like, I pulled over. I got off the highway immediately. I was like, “No, we’re going to go to a rough stop tonight. We just going to call it the night”

23:04 Until this storm blows over.” Cuz I was like, “You’re not going to blow me off the road.” Cuz I seen I see a lot of trucks lately. I’ve seen a lot of trucks flipping over and having all their cargo dropped out. It’s been see a lot of stuff over the road.”

23:18 Was that a hard decision to make or an easy one?

23:21 Oh, that’s pretty easy. It was pretty easy. It’s pretty easy. I’ve never I’ve not been in one car accident since I’ve had my license.

23:29 Oh, good deal. We like to hear that.

23:31 To keep my record clean.

23:32 Yeah, I want to keep my record clean.

23:34 Yeah, we like to hear that, too, man. That’s a good deal there. Now, you were talking about the box trucks. You enjoy driving those because I would imagine by comparison, they’re easier to drive.

23:45 They are. And actually, cuz I worked for a moving company, too, when I lived in Dallas, Texas. So when I worked with this guy, he had just started his own moving company and he would get the Penske box trucks and he would tell me he told me he was like, “Man, you really need to learn how to drive these.” And I was like, “No.” I was like, “These are like too big. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.” And then my first time driving it, I was like, “You know what? This is like a super big car.”

24:12 Mhm.

24:14 And that’s exactly how I treat it. It’s no different from if I’m driving like a pickup truck or if I’m driving like a regular car and you know you got the air brakes and air brakes was something I learned I had to learn about through like online and stuff and just trying to learn more about the trucks that I drive.

24:34 Did you know then that that experience working with a moving company would be helpful for what you do now? Did you know then or is that a path you had selected or not necessarily?

24:47 You know, I actually didn’t know. I honestly thought cuz I did move in for about 6 to 8 months. 6 to 8 months I did move in and I wanted to start my own moving company and it never worked out because when I moved back up to Chicago and I moved back up to Illinois, I just that dream kind of died cuz I was like I don’t really want to live like couch the rest of my life.

25:11 Gotcha. Now, have you given any thought to moving into the CDL world or are you satisfied with a non CDL driving? Thought about that?

25:21 Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’ve thought about that. I’m actually right now I’ve been studying to get my Class B CDL and cuz I know my dispatchers, they tell me all the time that I like, you really need to move up. You should move up so that you can, you know, do the more the CDL load. Cuz I sometimes I’ve seen some of the CDL’s and I’m like that that’s a lot of money. I was like I really could do that.

25:45 Yeah, there’s a lot more opportunity if you have I mean you could still obviously do the non CDL but if you get the CDL you’ve got the whole package in front of you.

25:54 Yeah, it’s more opportunity then and that’s I told them that I’ve been studying for my Class B driver’s license cuz I still I got to switch my license over here at Indiana. I got to switch my license a little bit and get my Class B driver’s license.

26:11 Now, what kind of how are you approaching the studying? I mean, are you a textbook? What’s your game plan on getting that Class B—

26:21 Textbook? Textbook and online. I’ve been doing a little bit of both. So, I look up some of the I’ll look up the test online. I’ll take like practice test—

26:32 And to see if I know it. But I also have to book cuz I remember when I was working at Amazon, they wanted me to get my Class B driver’s license because Amazon has been moving up and eventually you’ll be you won’t be able to work at Amazon without, you know, a Class B driver’s license.

26:48 Mhm. Mhm. Now, for someone who may be listening to this and is considering going into driveaway, give us an idea of what is required to get that Class B. It’s more about air brakes and what to do with the truck is what I’m what I’ve learned so far. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. I don’t know verbatim. I have no idea verbatim.

27:12 Oh, that’s I mean that’s why you’re learning, man. It’s a— That’s cool. That’s understandable.

27:15 Yeah. Yep.

27:16 Cool. How long do you I mean being 25 years old, how long do you see yourself doing this?

27:21 10 to 20 years cuz I like LA being over.

27:25 Now, what are some of the cooler places you’ve seen? Because you were talking about going out to Oregon and some of the other places. What are some of the cooler I mean kind of took your breath away or I’m glad I made that trip kind of places?

27:36 Oh man, Arizona. Arizona hands down. Seeing like I know I’ve only drove through like the top part of Arizona, but being able to see like a little bit of like the Grand Canyon, it’s been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s one of the most it actually changed my life and I was just it made me want to see more of the world and I was like wow cuz once you get to Colorado you get the Rocky Mountain the Colorado mountains all you see is just after that all you see is nothing but beautiful mountains is downhill uphill got all these different turns and the rocks the way the rocks are shaped that majority of the rocks out there are flat.

28:21 Mhm. And that was one of the things that took my breath away and I was just like, “Wow.”

28:26 Yeah. Colorado is a beautiful state. If you’ve never been—

28:29 Oh, yeah. Colorado is beautiful. It’s one of the big, you know, they have the little the springs that they have.

28:36 They’re beautiful.

28:37 The hot springs.

28:38 It’s almost like clear water.

28:39 Yeah. It’s almost like clear water. I’m like, “Oh, I didn’t know this existed.” Cuz you hear about them, but you never really until you see them, you can’t really experience it. That is too cool, man. Now, you got your next run is a long run. Is that right? If I remember correctly.

28:57 Yeah, I’m going to Hayward, California.

29:00 Gotcha. How many days will it take you to get there?

29:03 Probably about probably 30.

29:05 What’s your way out? How are you getting out?

29:07 First, I’m going to see if it’s a move that’s out there. If it’s a move that’s out there, then I’mma do that and then I’ll probably just fly back home. But more than likely, San Francisco. San Francisco is not that expensive to fly out of. Actually, LAX is more expensive than San Francisco.

29:25 Which city will you be closer to when you drop?

29:28 San Francisco.

29:29 Oh, I got you.

29:30 I’ll be right outside San Francisco. So, I’m going probably just take the public transportation over to the airport and sit there. They have a beautiful airport.

29:38 Mhm. And book it on back home.

29:41 Yep. Book it on right back home and probably do a run in Jamesville if they have anymore. And that’ll get you to next weekend.

29:52 Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That will set me up because it goes from Jamesville to Minnesota and I could just take a bus back home from Minnesota. It’d be something that’s really short, but it pays good.

30:04 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, you said you have not had a traffic violation since you’ve been doing the driveaway thing. Have you had any close calls out on the road?

30:14 No, not at all. Cuz trucks only getting 70 mph. The speed limits are majority of time 70 until you get out west and it become 75. And majority of time I’m doing about 70. I make sure that I am not over the speed limit. I trying to make sure I’m following all the laws of the road. I don’t want to get I don’t want to get hit with nothing.

30:38 Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Now before we started this, you were working with your little one with your child there. I think he told us that he’s two years old and he’s in the formative years now where he’s learning some of the basics of life there.

30:53 How is it being on the road and with your wife as far as dividing up the time on watching him grow up and learn all these things?

31:01 Oh, it’s been tough. I’m not going to lie. It’s been real tough cuz I sometimes I miss some of the things that he does. So when I come back home after a week, he’ll show me something new. And I’m just like, dang. And I’ll be like, do you know how to do this? And my wife all the time. She like, yeah, he been doing this for a while. I’m like, he has. I missed it. But also at the same time, I know what I’m working towards. And I know that eventually I’m working towards to be able to be home more and to have more, you know, save my money the way I want to. So that I don’t have to worry about, okay, I don’t have to go out like all the time or I don’t have to, you know, I don’t have to bust my behind every week. Some weeks I can some week I could take a week off or some weeks I could take, you know, three four days off and be at home more. And that’s one what I’m working toward.

31:57 So my goal is to be able to probably like be able to go out like probably four days out the week—

32:05 Right? When cuz once he starts getting older, you got to be there more because it’s predicated for men to really be a part of their children’s lives. Especially when they once they start getting there, once he learns how to know how to talk for real and be able to say a lot of sentences cuz you got to deal with, you know, does he know how to control his anger? Does he know the basic rules of life? And my wife, my wife, she does a wonderful job of teaching him the things that I not that I’m not there for. But I do talk to him on the phone a lot when I’m on the road.

32:38 Is he a big talker?

32:39 Yeah. Oh, yeah. He’s a big talker. He’ll be on the phone just saying any and everything and I’m like, I can’t understand you. Yeah. Can’t understand you. But we have a we have conversations over the phone and I try to talk to him as much as I can. And from what I’m picking up from you, it’s important for you to have a big role in his life and teach him the things that you want to guide him and bring him up the way you want him to be to learn how to be a fine young man.

33:06 Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I know for me, I didn’t my mom and my dad, they split up when I was three. So, I really didn’t have a dad in the household. So, I know I don’t want my son to grow up the way I grew up. And you were talking about you want to your goal is to get to where you can work a 4 day week and are you looking at a three-day weekend where you can have some more quality time with your wife and with your son?

33:30 Yep.

33:31 Yeah, sure. That that is the major game right now.

33:35 You’re listening to Malik Beverly here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, what’s in store for you for December? How do you look at closing out the year?

33:46 Working. Work is and just trying to cuz I know I don’t celebrate holidays at all. So for me the end of the year really is really going to be predicated on working and getting my getting the funds right for Christmas because you know Christmas Eve and Christmas the year you have to turn around a couple days after and do New Year’s and not a lot of people are open on those days—

34:10 Right? So those days will be predicated more to really the first three weeks of December will be more of me working so that I can save up my money cuz I know during those days I’m not really going to be out like that. Nobody’s going to be open. So I will be when those days roll around I just want to be at home more and spend more time with them.

34:33 Well 2022 has been a good year for you in driveaway. Most of that with Norton Transport. And what do you look forward to in 2023 as far as your life in driveaway?

34:45 In 2023, I plan on getting my Class B’s and starting to work on my Class A’s so that I can do more move I can do more bigger moves and I can do different just different things that give me opport different opportunities in my life and driveaway. Mhm. How much different do you think it would be driving a box truck versus driving a Peterbilt tractor?

35:12 Oo, I don’t know. I never drove a tractor. Oh my gosh. A tractor. I would like to try that though. I would not mind trying that. That sounds fun, actually.

35:21 Okay. Well, that could be something that’s in your future right there, Malik. And we certainly appreciate you joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Anything you want to add before we wrap it up? Hey, everybody’s blessed. And I hope everybody is just— Yeah. Stay prayed up and stay safe out here during these times cuz these are I know this part of the year are difficult times with drunk drivers and more liquor and alcohol are bigger than anything around this time of the year cuz you know just want to say that everybody stay safe out there on the road and just try to just keep moving forward.

35:55 All right. Well, that’s some solid advice from Malik Beverly. Again. Malik, thank you so much for being on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Enjoy your weekend. Hey, you too. Thank you. You bet.

36:10 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.