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 and each and every one of you if you join us each week you know this is a format where we elevate and celebrate the drivers that make our company what it is. Now last week we were joined by Jeffrey Njoroge and he is joining us this week to talk more about his personal life. Jeffrey, how are you? Or JB as your friends call you.

00:50 Yeah, I’m fine, thank you. How about you?

00:53 I’m doing great. Doing great. Now, we had talked about before off the air JB is a family nickname, but it’s something that is personal and I guess somewhat private.

01:04 Yeah, it’s somewhat private. Jeffrey means Jeff. B is a family joke that went on and got caught on onto me and it’s been that way ever since.

01:20 I got you. I got you. Now your last name is Njoroge and that is an African name. Is that correct?

01:28 Yes, Njoroge is an African name.

01:31 Now you were born in Africa. And how long did you live there?

01:35 I was born in a country called Kenya. It’s in the eastern part of Africa.

01:40 Oh yeah.

01:41 Yeah. I Yeah, I was there for about 26 years. Then I moved to America. Yeah. Yeah, I was told of a dream called the American dream and me being a—

01:53 Has it lived up to everything you heard.

01:56 Well, we’re getting there. We’re trying to get there.

02:00 Gotcha.

02:00 Yeah.

02:01 Gotcha.

02:02 Yeah. And I decided to pursue the American dream.

02:06 Gotcha. What do you miss about life in Africa? Africa is it’s more loving, more welcoming, more free. Yeah, we do not have the resources but it’s just free. Now the problems about Africa is we have leaders who are really corrupt and they love money. Now, compared to America, systems work in America, and that’s one thing I love about it. The systems do work. You dial 911 and a cop shows up—

02:53 Right?

02:53 In my country, you dial 911 and the cop will ask you, ” where’s the money for fuel?”

03:02 Okay.

03:05 Not heard of that. Happening in other parts of the world Central America namely. Yeah. But that kind of thing does happen where you don’t have systems in place to stop it from happening.

03:16 Yeah, that’s a difference. And—

03:20 Now you had mentioned last week that you love traveling. Have you been back to Africa since you moved to America?

03:27 Yeah, I always try to go back to Africa every once every year or once every two years. It’s just a good feeling being back there. I’m assuming that you still have family there.

03:38 Oh, yeah. I do have family. Plus, the American dollar is stronger back there.

03:43 So, you can do a lot more.

03:45 Oh, yeah. You can do a lot more.

03:48 How long do you stay in Kenya when you go back?

03:51 Probably about a couple of weeks to a month or two.

03:55 Gotcha. Any trips planned in the near future to go back to Kenya? Yeah, maybe sometime next year I might go back.

04:06 Gotcha.

04:06 Yeah.

04:07 You said that you love to travel and— Are you a married man? I think you had mentioned something about coming home last week to the wife when you’re on the road.

04:17 Yeah. Yeah, I’m married—

04:21 Now. Did you meet your wife in Africa or America?

04:25 No, we met out here in America. Did she go back to Kenya with you?

04:30 Yeah, she goes back. We’ve gone once back to Kenya together.

04:35 Yeah.

04:36 Did she enjoy it?

04:37 Oh, she loved it.

04:40 Absolutely. Now, you were telling me in your time in Africa, you were attracted to one sport in particular. What sport captured your fancy?

04:51 I love playing rugby. Rugby in Kenya. Yeah. Rugby is fun. It’s a physical game. You know, you get to tackle someone. It’s to me I usually viewed it as a stress reliever.

05:10 I could imagine.

05:11 Oh yeah.

05:12 You had told me last week that it was for you the only way to get rough and tough.

05:19 Yeah. Yeah. The only way to get rough and tough is to play rugby—

05:24 Because in Kenya you didn’t have American football obviously.

05:28 Well, no we don’t.

05:30 Now a lot of people probably don’t understand rugby. I’ve watched it several times. I get the basic concept of it but how would you break it down for people for someone who played for such a long time as you did?

05:42 Now rugby there I could say there are two categories of it. The one could be two, could be more, but the ones that I used to play most of the time was either the sevens or the 14s. What I mean by seven aside is seven people per team—

06:00 Right?

06:00 And you know, we usually pass the ball on the back and it’s you go and make your try. 14 is where it’s 14 per team.

06:12 Yeah. And that’s more physical cuz there’s more people on the pitch and it’s more engaging. Yeah.

06:21 It’s crowded on the field with 14 per side.

06:23 Yeah.

06:24 Yeah.

06:25 Now, you were pretty good at it. I know you probably are not the kind of guy that will brag on yourself, but you played in high school and you went beyond high school, right?

06:33 Yeah. Yeah. I went to the national teams for rugby and it was cool. That was back when I was in high school. But when I went to Compass, I met a good friend called Alcohol.

06:47 Oh, yeah.

06:48 Rugby players. Well, rugby players, I know a few of them. And they’ve got some crazy reputations to say the least.

06:56 Oh, yeah. And Beer and Rugby, they’re really good friends. And I think I love beer a little bit more than rugby. And you know as a rugby player, we used to enjoy massages and stuff like that. And, yeah, that kind of threw me off my rails cuz life was good.

07:20 I’m going tell you a quick story, a rugby story. I was playing ultimate frisbee and we went to a local bar after we would play. They were one of our sponsors. There was a rugby team there and they were initiating a player. Now, I’m sure you’ve seen some of these crazy initiations of other rugby players, but in this one in particular, he was on a table. Well, another player was on a table bent over and he had his shirt off and they were pouring beer out of a pitcher down this one player’s back. And the player being initiated had to drink it. How can I say this delicately? Right before it hit a very private part of this player’s body.

08:08 Yeah, that’s something.

08:11 Yeah—

08:11 That sounds like something rugby players would do.

08:14 That’s something rugby players would do.

08:16 Did you ever see any crazy initiations like that or take part in them yourself?

08:21 Not that crazy. We w we’re not that crazy, but yeah, we did pretty wild stuff. Do you miss the days playing rugby or do you could you play? You’re 39 now. Could you still play?

08:34 I would play but not that much. Probably just to get myself in shape. That’s about it.

08:41 Gotcha. Now being a national player, what position did you play?

08:46 I was a scrum half. Scrum half is the way you get to you’re like all over the field.

08:53 A lot of running.

08:54 A lot of running. I’m imagining you got pretty big legs still today.

08:59 No. I’m actually a five 5’5 guy. I was pretty athletic back then, but— Yeah.

09:09 Gotcha. Do you miss it?

09:11 Yeah, I miss it. I miss it.

09:13 The brotherhood.

09:15 The brotherhood. The just getting out there and just doing your thing, coming back with dislocated shoulders and scratches all over. Yeah, that was it was fun. I like it.

09:28 Gotcha. Now, did rugby a lot of people talk about this in team sports, how it helps them later in life. Did rugby give you a good basis, a good base to work off of?

09:40 Yeah, rugby kind of taught me about more on the discipline side. Yeah, you have to always anticipate someone’s move. And that’s the same thing you kind of do on the road. You kind of anticipate someone’s next move.

09:55 You might get it. You might miss it. Yeah. But you’re out there just constantly thinking, what might they do? What might the next move be? Where might they run to next? How can I block him next? How can I get the ball from him? How can I do this?

10:10 You’re always thinking ahead—

10:12 Right? No.

10:13 Tell us about your claim to fame on the field, on the pitch rather. What was the highlight of your career? I mean, you had a long career. Do is there one highlight that sticks out in particular?

10:26 Yeah, when we got selected when I got selected to the national team. Yeah, that was a highlight of my here. I it was, you know, being ranked one of the best rugby players. And I not even from my country cuz I did it in a different country. That was awesome. That was my highlight.

10:53 Now, you were telling me earlier last week, not playing rugby now, but you still like to hike, walk, and get on the bicycle.

11:01 Yeah.

11:02 Is that something you still do to the day to this day?

11:05 That’s something I still do. I take hikes most of the time. Just go hiking, but I haven’t brought myself to the level of camping. So, it’s usually I go and I make sure I bring myself back home. Biking just around the park or around the neighborhood. Just nothing too crazy.

11:26 Well, I wanted to kind of bring it full circle here. You’re at home now in Dallas, Texas.

11:30 Yes, sir.

11:31 When’s your next road? When’s your next run?

11:33 My next run I was looking at a run in Lebanon, Tennessee. I was just trying to figure out the math of how to get there—

11:42 And the load ends up in Everett in Washington.

11:48 Well, that’s a nice run. That’s—

11:50 A nice run. Yeah.

11:51 You got to get something from Texas to Nashville or the Nashville area.

11:55 Yeah. Yeah.

11:56 All right.

11:57 I’m sure your team’s looking. I’m sure they’re looking and watching for you.

12:01 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Either that or hopefully something out of Tala maybe. Because that’s close to me. But Lebanon seems like a pretty decent run. Think I can make some money off that. Yeah.

12:16 Gotcha. Last thing I wanted to ask you, JB, before we wrap up here, what would your advice be to someone who’s considering going from like we heard last week you were a trainer otr, had your own company, maybe someone going from that aspect of trucking to driveaway. What would your advice be to them?

12:38 I would advise them be open-minded. There’s a lot that you do not know. You might think you know, but you don’t. For instance, I can give this example right now. A lot of truckers are saying the market is bad. There are no loads. There are no you know these things are not happening. But as a driveaway driver, I’m delivering new trucks to customers. So, how is it that the market is bad and there are people still buying trucks? So, it kind of opens up my mind to, okay, I think I might be missing something as a truck driver. Cuz if there guys buying trucks and there others saying the market is bad, then there’s a misinformation somewhere.

13:28 It’s not adding up. It’s not adding up cuz I’ve delivered those trucks. So, I would tell a new truck driver, you have to open up your mind a little bit more, get the experience, come see what it’s all about. Then—

13:47 All right.

13:48 From there, you can, you know, you can understand the trucking world a little bit better.

13:55 Gotcha. JB, that’s some solid advice. We thank you very much for joining us, being on the program. We really appreciate what you do for Norton Transport. And I got to tell you, your dispatch team, they brag on you all the time.

14:07 I appreciate that. I appreciate that. But I love them, too. They’re wonderful. Yeah.

14:12 All right. Thank you, JB.

14:15 All righty.

14:20 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.