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—

00:18 Advice on how to earn six figures in trucking, and we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing—

00:23 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 space where we elevate and celebrate the drivers of Norton Transport that make our company what it is. Couldn’t do it without them. And you know my fault we haven’t had enough ladies on here but we got a special one with us tonight. Tiffany Davis. Tiffany, it looks like you’re in a hotel room.

00:53 Yes, I am. How you doing? How are you?

00:57 I’m doing pretty good. How about yourself?

00:59 Now, tell us where are you right now?

01:03 So, I am in Birmingham, Alabama. I dropped off a truck here from La Vergne, Tennessee. So, I’m staying over overnight and then I’ll Uber over to Fayette, Alabama to pick up a dump truck.

01:17 Now, Fayette’s in the middle of nowhere.

01:19 Yes, it is.

01:22 It definitely—

01:22 How long a ride? How long of a ride is that by Uber?

01:26 From Birmingham it’s at least an hour. It may be a little over an hour. It just depends on how the Uber driver you know drives, but a minimum of an hour—

01:39 From Birmingham.

01:41 I see you got the Norton Transport shirt on. Got the hat on there. Show us the hat there. Might have to bend down a little there. There you go. So, you’ve obviously been by the office before.

01:54 Of course. I’ve been there once. This was maybe three months ago. It was my first time.

02:02 Yes.

02:03 You were on a run. I presume you were on a run.

02:06 Yes. So, I had to pick up a garbage truck from— What is that? It’s in Alabama, but I had—

02:18 Is it who?

02:20 Hyle.

02:22 No, I don’t think that was it. I can’t remember the name of the city, but I had to go to the main office to do like a trial run in a garbage truck. They make you—

02:35 Okay. You went to Fort Payne?

02:38 That’s where I went. Yes.

02:40 Yeah. Yeah.

02:40 I’ve only been there.

02:41 What’s it like driving a garbage truck?

02:43 Horrible.

02:46 At least you’re honest.

02:48 Yes, it’s rough. It’s very rough, of course. You know, I mean, it’s not meant for long distance, of course, but we just have to transport them. But it’s rough and especially though the trucks, the right hand steer trucks where they have the steering wheel on both sides.

03:05 Those are I don’t like those cuz it feels as if someone is over, you know, in the passenger seat tugging on the steering wheel, you know? Mhm.

03:14 They—

03:14 So, your right hand drive qualified?

03:18 No, I haven’t been on the right hand side, you know. I haven’t driven on that side yet. I’ll get some practice in one day, but not right now. I’m okay for right now.

03:28 Right now, you’re good with left-hand drive?

03:31 Yes, I’ll stick to that. Especially if I have to get into a garbage truck, then I’m going to say no thank you for right now. I’m okay. You’re listening to Tiffany Davis here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Tiffany, I was looking up some of your credentials, your history. You have been with us. It’ll be three years next month. Thank you very much.

03:51 Yes. You’re welcome. No problem.

03:54 What’s it been like with being with Norton? You can be honest.

03:57 It’s been interesting. I had my good days and my bad days, but as far as right now, I’m not tired, so I can at least say that much. Like I said, has it ups and downs, but for the most part, I enjoy myself. I really do.

04:15 Now, how much of a relief is it after you’ve been driving to finally get into a hotel room?

04:22 Not much. It depends. It depends on what you have next. Like what time you get into your hotel room and how many hours you have to rest before you have to get up the next day and get moving. For me, for me it takes me a while to like once I’m in a hotel room like to wind down, take a shower, all that good stuff. And by the time I do all of that, once I do fall asleep, sometimes I feel like I’m right back up. So, it all depend. Yeah, some places.

04:58 How long have you been in the room—

05:00 Today? I got here. I’ve been in here today for maybe about almost three hours so far.

05:09 Okay. So, you’re in relax mode now?

05:12 Pretty much. Yes.

05:14 Okay.

05:15 What do you do when you’re not on the road as far as when you’re in a hotel room? Do you read, watch TV, listen to music? What do you do? Probably watch TV for the most part until that gets boring. So I don’t watch much. Maybe on my phone, you know, playing a game here or there or just on the phone talking with family members.

05:39 Do you keep a close eye on the weather for where you’re headed next?

05:42 Oh, yes. When especially if I’m going anywhere north during the winter season, I definitely keep it on the weather like anytime I’m in like right now the TV is on the weather channel. So every time I stay tonight in a hotel room, the TV goes on the weather channel. I watch nothing else but the weather channel. So, I definitely do I make sure I keep up with the weather during the especially during the winter seasons because I that’s how I pick and choose certain loads that I will take because if I feel like it’s too much for me, I will not go.

06:23 You don’t like going to the north in the winter?

06:26 No, I don’t. I’m from Florida, so I’m not used to the snow to that degree. Now, I have driven in snow.

06:34 I feel like I handle myself pretty, you know, pretty good, but if it’s just outrageous, I’m not going to go.

06:42 I got you.

06:43 Well, you’re in the South now and you’re heading south tomorrow, right?

06:48 Yes, I am.

06:49 Is that a one-day run? I know you’re in a dump truck.

06:53 Yes. So, basically, it is. So, I’ll pick it up tomorrow, which is Wednesday, and I will deliver in Winter Haven on Thursday. And that’ll put you close to home.

07:03 Yes, it actually like two hours south from home, but I’ll still be close to home.

07:11 Now, are you going to run anymore after you get down to Florida this week, or will you stay at home?

07:17 I think I’m going to wait. Yeah, I’m going to stay home since I dropped that truck off Thursday. I’m going to stay home and then I’ll start to look on the load board maybe Friday. Starting Friday. If I find something decent come Friday, then I’ll be ready to go back out Monday. Monday morning.

07:37 Gotcha.

07:38 You like to run. You drive a lot.

07:42 I do. And when I’m tired, I’ll go home, but that only lasts like a day or two and then I’m ready to go back out cuz I don’t like sitting at home too long. Now, I was looking at your stats and you and I were talking last night—

07:57 Off air.

08:00 You’ve been doing this with the CDL for 23 years.

08:04 Yes. Yes, I have.

08:07 How did you fall into it?

08:10 So one day I decided I needed a real job. I was 20, so I was still young. I decided I needed a you know, a real job. So, I said, “You know what? I can drive a city bus. So I went to apply for city bus. But at that time that was in 200 when was that? That was in 2004. They told me that you already had to have a CDL. So at that particular time, if you didn’t have a CDL, they were not going to hire you. And one of the ladies there told me to go apply for the LRO County School Board. She said to drive school bus and that they train you for free to get your CDLs.”

08:56 So I was like, “Oh, okay. I’ll do that.” So I went I applied. I applied like that March of 200 the beginning of March 2004. And they told me they would hire me. So we were going to do the whole process, but then they came back and they said, “Oh, you’re not old enough, so you can be a bus aid.” So, I was like, “Okay.” But then the secretary, she came back. She said, “You know what? The training class isn’t until June, July. You’ll be 21 by then. Go and fill out the application. Go study for the your written permit and, you know, have that ready for when the class starts over the summer.” So, I started driving school bus. I was only, my plan was to only stay there for like a year or two and then go drive city bus. But I became very comfortable and I ended up staying there for 10 years.

09:47 Gotcha.

09:48 Mhm.

09:48 Now, this is probably a good piece of information you can share with people who will watch this who may be considering going into driveaway trucking.

09:58 How hard is the CDL test?

10:02 For me, I mean, for me, it for me it wasn’t hard. The trainer that I had when we, you know, when we did the training and they wanted us to do a tour of the county and the school bus and everybody had to take turns behind the wheel. So when he said it, he when he asked, “Okay, who’s getting behind the wheel first?” Everybody was looking like, “Oh, you’re not going to train us.” And he said, “Well, you can’t sit in my lap. You have to get behind the wheel.” And he said, “Driving is driving.” So once it was my turn, I got in the driver’s seat, put my seatelt on, and I don’t know, it just from there it just, you know, it became like second nature to me. So for me it wasn’t that hard. You know, they taught us, not necessarily taught us, but you know, you had to practice with the backing and what is alley docking and straight backing and you know, try not to hit the cones and parallel parking. And I felt like once I had that down packed, I was good to go.

11:04 That’s cool. That’s cool.

11:05 Yeah. Natural. For me, it was fine. To be honest, like as a kid, I had a go-kart. Like my dad bought me and my sister a go-kart when we were kids, but it was a two-seater. You know, at one point in time, the one-seaters were very popular. So, when we got one, I was like, you know, this is very rare to have a two-seater. So, for me, I’ve been driving since I was young. My dad used to drive semi-trucks. So these and my mom has always had large vehicles. So I’ve always driven you know like a large vehicle for the most part. So when I started driving the school bus it was quite you know I you know it didn’t take me long to get used to it.

11:46 Got you said your dad drove a semi too.

11:49 Yes, but I was very very young so I don’t remember but I knew for a fact that he did. But I was very young. And then he went from driving semi-trucks to other large vehicles. And then he retired at CEMEX. It used to be called Rinker. They the CE the cement trucks. So he did that for many years. So he’s always had his CDLs.

12:18 Would you say driving is in your blood?

12:21 I would think so. Yes. Because like I said, I’ve had my CDLs for like about 22 years. My sister just recently got hers maybe three years ago, but she has her Class A. I’m still, you know, lagging behind with the Class B and I need to step up.

12:39 You don’t have I mean, there’s only one more level to jump up there, but 23 years with the CDL and I was looking at your statistics with us. They’re really good. So, we should share them. That’s what we’re going to do here. Now—

12:55 You’ve got 100% checkin.

12:57 Okay.

12:57 100% completion. And this one is probably the most meaningful one. So far you have an on-time percentage of 74%.

13:10 Oh, okay.

13:12 How important is it for you to be on time? Well, for me at first I didn’t know it until my dispatcher was telling me that you get a bonus for it. So, you know, at one point of time, the on-time bonus, it helped a lot. Like the on-time bonus isn’t as much as it used to be, but that’s what got me on the okay, let me, you know, deliver my trucks on time. I didn’t know that we get a bonus. At one point in time, I didn’t know that. So then when after I let that go of, oh, I need this bonus or I want the bonus. It was just always, okay, if I say I’m going to pick up a truck on Wednesday and deliver it on Friday, let me pick that truck up on Wednesday and let me deliver it on Friday, there’s no need in, you know, taking extra days to deliver a truck when it doesn’t, you know, take that long.

14:08 Right. Cuz in my mind, okay, once I deliver that one, you know, go either get my 10 hours off or if I have more time, I can go get another truck and try to keep it moving instead of in my cuz in my opinion, you know, of course, we’re responsible for our own travel expenses and all of that. So, there’s no need of me spending money if I’m sitting out somewhere and, you know, not picking up another truck.

14:35 So, got best to keep moving. Now—

14:38 Now your on-time percentage is good. What’s your secret to being on time? Because you and I were talking about this last night. There’s a lot of planning that goes into your driveaway.

14:48 Oh, yes. I was just about to say that planning for me because I used to drive charter bus. So, when I did that, everything was pretty much mapped out from the time I started to the end of my day. Wherever I was taking a group of people, I knew what time I had to pick them up. I knew what time they needed to be somewhere. We had all the addresses. So, I would look up where they’re going. I would, you know, read the directions so I’ll be aware of where I’m going versus just listening to a GPS tell me where to go. I don’t like that. So, for the longest, everything was planned out with me driving charter bus.

15:34 So for me that I carried that on with delivering these trucks. So if I pick up a load first of all, most of them I’m trying to figure out where they are. Are they near close or bigger cities or you know popular cities, I’ll do that and then I’ll map it out. For me, if I plan it out like I’m supposed to calculate how long it’ll take me to get from point A to point B, considering the fact that some of these trucks only do 60 or 65, then I’m good. Then I’ll be able to say, you know, because most of the time if I’m telling my dispatcher, hey, I’ll pick this truck up on such and such date. I’ll deliver it on, you know, such and such date. I’ve already kind of, you know, calculated how long it’ll take me to deliver a truck.

16:21 You’re talking about trucks that go 60 or 65. That’s what you’re going to be in tomorrow.

16:27 Yes. Yes. So all the trucks out of Fayette, they either do 60 or 65. That’s it.

16:35 Now you’re going to be in that dump truck and you’ve been driving for 23 years with a CDL.

16:40 Do you face out on the road? Do you see do people treat ladies differently than men? I mean it we know that there we’ve got a lot of women that drive for us and you being one of them. Do you run into any funny looks or anything like that? I won’t say necessarily funny looks, but of course you’ll get a stare. It’s almost a shock a little bit, but almost intrigued or you know fascinated or you know and they’ll speak. I get a lot of that as far as driving trucks. Not to keep going back to charter bus, but when I drove that I got a lot of oh you know what you’re doing. Oh, you know how to drive this bus or you know where you going.

17:26 So, but doing this, no, I you know, I just it’s either a nod or a smile. Like if I go to a truck stop and fuel a truck, you know how you pump and then you walk in, if somebody’s walking, right? You know, they’ll open the door and like there you go. How you know, it’s you know, it’s nice and pleasant. I haven’t had any, you know, any mishaps or anything like that with anyone.

17:48 That’s cool. That’s cool.

17:49 Now, I looked also at your you like to run. You’re a runner. You do 2,63 miles average per month with us. But you and I talked you run with other c other companies.

18:06 Yes, I do.

18:06 So, how much would you estimate if you do 2,000 a month with us? How much do you think you do total?

18:14 Total if I was to add the other companies, maybe another two.

18:22 So, you stay on the road?

18:23 Yes. Yes, I try to as much as possible. I do. The— Yeah, I do because some sometimes I’ll say I’m in a drought to where there’s nothing really on the load board. I know one point of time Norton I don’t know what was going on, but the load board I could count the number of loads on one hand, you know, I’m exaggerating, but at one point of time there was like nothing. And I’m like, what’s going on? So, I was home more than I was out on the road because they didn’t have much to choose from. Everything was like scattered out everywhere. Like, you know, just too far out of the way to where it’s like, I’m not driving to go get it. I’m not flying to go get it. It’s not, you know, it wasn’t worth it. Cuz it would have made no sense.

19:13 So, for the most part, I want to say whenever they went through that little drought, as I call it, that’s the most I’ve probably set at home, you know. So, yeah, I try to stay busy.

19:26 Now, this obviously people that watch this are people are some of our loyal drivers, people that like to see other drivers, see what their lives are like, what their life on the road is like. Running for us and other companies. Of course, we want you 100%. But running for other companies as a and you’re a runner and you’re on the road a lot. Is the income pretty good?

19:50 You don’t have to tell me what you make obviously.

19:52 Oh, no. No. For the most part it is. I always tell people because I do get a lot of people who ask me do I make a lot of money or do I make enough money doing this? And I tell everybody it’s a hustle. So you can make it, you know, it just depends on if you’re going to get out, you know, go out there and run these trucks cuz I tell everybody if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. So you definitely can make the money if you stay busy. So I feel like I do pretty good for myself. I do.

20:26 Yeah. Your dispatch team said that. One of them called you girl boss. I’m have.

20:34 She said, “No, they were just they were telling me because the way you came about as a candidate to be on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport was when I saw your numbers, I looked at your numbers and I said, “That’s good.” And yeah, your dispatch team paraphrasing, they said, “She takes care of business.””

20:54 Yes, I try to.

20:56 That’s good.

20:57 Yes. Now, what would your advice be to somebody who’s on the fence about jumping into driveaway trucking? I mean, what are some of the factors you need to weigh out or consider before making that decision?

21:12 Knowing that you will have to you have to spend money to make money. That’s number one. You can’t be scared to run by yourself. What else can I say? You got to be willing to do it. You got to be willing to do it because like I said before, it’s a hustle. So, if you’re not used to getting out and working for something, then it’s not going to work. Some people don’t get it. Because I have run into some people and they have said, “Well, I don’t see how you making any money because I’m losing so much money XYZ.” And for the most part, most of those people I run into, they’re like doing one truck and then it’s like, “Okay, you spent all this money to go pick up a truck, you’ve delivered it, you know, now you have all your expenses because you still have to put fuel in these trucks.”

22:16 You know, we all know they don’t have any fuel in them. So once you do all of that, deliver the truck, and then you come home with the rest, but you’re going back home. You’re traveling all the way back home, and then that’s it. It’s like, you know, you have to keep it, you have to keep it rolling or else it won’t work. And you can’t look at, you know, when you look on the load board and some people looking at these prices that are like $1,000 or $2,000. I feel like that’s all they’re looking at. They’re not looking at where these trucks are coming from, where they have to go. What type of, you know, I cuz I ask questions because you have to ask questions. What type of truck, you know, is it worth it? It I mean, the price may look good, but you’ll end up spending about half of that depending on, you know, where that truck is going and how far you have to travel to go get it.

23:05 So, I feel—

23:08 Yeah, they’re not. I feel like a lot of people try to compare driveaway with drivers who just drive semi-trucks. You know, it’s completely different. 100% different. So, for most people, it’s like, you know, for the like you said, for the ones who don’t get it, they have to sit down and just really like, you know, like I do, plan, map it out, and you can make it work, but they have to get that other part out of their mind that it’s like driving a semitr, but oh, I don’t have to drive the semi-truck with the trailer on the back. It’s completely different, you know.

23:46 Now, we’ve established that you’re a runner, that you like to hustle.

23:50 And when you’re on the road, you and I were talking about earlier, music is a big part of letting the miles pass by.

23:58 If we’re on the road with Tiff—

24:01 What’s in your speaker? What are we listening to?

24:05 It depends on the mood that I’m in, it depends on the day.

24:09 If I feel like there’s a day, you know how some days it just feels like a drag. You feel so bored or you may just feel tired and it’s like what’s gonna keep me going?

24:20 So for me, a day like that, I’m gonna listen to like rap music or something that’s very very loud. You know what I’m saying? Almost as if something is screaming in my ear. I’ll do that. If I’m on chill mode one day, I’m listening to R&B. In bad weather, like if it’s storming outside and it’s raining to where you can barely see in front of you, I’m like this on the steering wheel. So, I’m listening to my gospel music the entire day because I need something to, you know, keep me grounded because I’m like, you see, I wear glasses. So, it’s like bad enough I can’t see. So, when it’s raining and— Yes, I have to. So, it just depends on the day and it depends on the mood that I’m in. So—

25:05 All right. Jesus, take the wheel.

25:08 Yes—

25:10 Please.

25:11 Yeah, please.

25:13 Well, Tiffany, we really appreciate you joining us and sharing your secrets of the road—

25:19 Opening up the road to us and sharing all this knowledge and experience, but we want to have you on next week and we’re going to talk a little bit about what Tiffany does for fun.

25:28 Okay.

25:29 You want to join us next week?

25:31 Sure, no problem.

25:33 All right. Thank you, Tiffany. Davis.

25:35 You’re welcome.

25:44 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.