00:00 Oh, I just throw out there what I hear every day. Oh, Master Pete or Michael Norton favorite words. Let’s go.

00:08 Let’s go, baby. Let’s go.

00:16 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Next, it’s your host, Justin Scott. Let’s get to the show. Welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker. I’ve got Dave Skeen, legendary Dave Skeen with me. We’ve actually called him at a good time. This is why I love the Six-Figure Trucker because Dave is actually in the middle of doing what he does best out of a lot of different things he does best. Dave’s an employee with us here at Norton Transport. He’s our transportation system specialist. And right now, Dave, can you tell us what you’re doing right now?

00:59 Well, right now I am installing a brake wire for a driver who’s picking up here because his brake lights are not working and his running lights are not working. So, somewhere in the system, he has a short in his power line.

01:13 Ah. And so, how often do you have to do something like this?

01:18 Three or four times a day. It’s funny.

01:21 That’s just on the yard though. I do it a couple times a day over the phone as well. Just trying to help drivers when they’re undecking trucks and then they have to move a light bar around and they need help, you know, reinstalling the lights or get something crossed and it shorts out the breakers. And so, I mean, it’s we do I do it quite a bit every day.

01:43 Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. And it’s cool to kind of see you in the middle of doing something like that, catching you in the middle. Of course, you know, anytime you call during the day, you’re going to catch you in the middle of something like that. But, you know, I’m glad to have you on. Obviously, you know, we work together every day, but it’s cool to hear some of the guys feedbacks on some of the previous shows at the Six-Figure Trucker of how much of an important role you play with the development of our decking drivers. And you know, the more volume that we get, the more deck drivers that we add on, the busier you are, but all of these guys seem to have one common denominator is that, you know, you’re always willing to help, go above and beyond and use that knowledge to help them and they always have said, you know, how much they appreciate that because you can’t get that everywhere.

02:31 So, I think that’s one of the benefits that that we have here. So, we want to thank you for doing that.

02:37 Well, yes, sir. We got to keep them rolling. So what all do you do for Norton? Tell us a little bit about what you do.

02:45 Oh, manage and inspect the daily operations out here in the van army terminal. Every unit that comes in here has to be processed in. They have to be inspected by either me or ladies that work out here. All the paperwork has to be accounted for. Drivers coming and picking up. We handle all of that operation. We do some dispatching when needed. We do a lot of the paperwork in the system for the drivers, a lot of phone calls. Anytime somebody needs help undecking or they don’t understand a certain piece of equipment or a certain way a truck is, you know, decked up or they need to know how to undeck it, I go out and I’ll run them through that here at the yard. Give them a little training. Electrical, airbags, airlines, you name it. If it has to do with decking or Norton Transport, I do it. You do it. That’s absolutely right. You know, from what I’ve seen, you know, we’ve got, you know, really experienced guys coming in there and, you know, loads are decked in different ways, different types of trucks a lot of different issues with airbags and just different things that guys see every day.

03:53 So, got a lot of different experienced guys that are coming in and they still need help and that’s okay because we’re all sponges and knowledge is power. So, how did you become so confident and so knowledgeable in your trait?

04:06 Before I got into truck driving, I used to do roofs, frame houses, pour concrete, and I’m kind of a perfectionist. I like to be the best of what I can be at what I do. So, I always just I absorb, I learn fast, and I always try to figure out ways to, you know, to make something go easier or, you know, smoother or faster. But without cutting any corners. I like to perfect anything I do.

04:36 Yeah. And I definitely can see that, you know, and that that’s something that’s extremely important in the industry that we’re in, especially the niche of decking and undecking. And so when it comes to you, so when you started driving trucks, you did you immediately start getting into the decking game or was that something that kind of developed over time?

04:56 No, it developed over time. When I first got into driving trucks, I was a flatbed driver. Started out flatbed.

05:02 Just like different types of heavy equipment, machinery and stuff like that.

05:06 Yeah. Heavy equipment. Anything from hay bells to oversized loads or you know piping and steel coming off the ships and ports and I mean anything that would go on a flat bail or a step deck we were hauling.

05:19 That’s awesome. And the company that I started out for was one of the only companies in the industry that went to CDL school, applied for probably 50,000 companies that turned me down. Finally, this one company said, “You know what? If you’re willing to put it in, we’re willing to teach you.” So, I went there, got my training with them. I had one of the best instructors this trucking industry could ever see. I mean, this guy was I mean, this guy was an Atlas. He could tell you every highway in every state, every turn, every truck stop.

05:53 Oh, that’s awesome.

05:54 Anything you could ever want to know, this guy, he I mean, he knew it and he was free with teaching it. He taught me everything that he could, the best that he could, and that’s why I do the same for other drivers.

06:08 I think that that goes to show the foundation. Obviously you know with your attitude about things and that’s why you’re willing to help out. But when you’re in something like that and you have a good mentor or a good teacher to me that you know that goes a long way in your career whatever it is I found myself in different career types over the years and I always remember those first ones that stick out that treated me the way they did and helped me with the success and so I try to mirror that. So it sounds like that was similar when you started out flat betting. It’s like you’ve got a guy that probably been doing it for however long and he knew the right way and he was willing to, you know, bend over backwards to help you. So, a lot of that that you do today stems from that heavily, I’m sure.

06:52 Yeah, definitely. Yeah. When I first got into this, man, I actually got turned down by Swift.

06:58 Oh—

06:59 Imagine that.

07:00 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That school I went to was good friends with the Swift recruiter and he called her up and talked to her about hiring me and she told him she said, “You know, if you was smart, you’d kick that guy out of your school and not even waste your time.”

07:15 And—

07:17 That just that gave me motivation right there.

07:20 Sure.

07:21 I had to, you know, step in there and go above and beyond and prove that girl wrong. And about three years after that, she I put an application in online and she called me and wanted me to come work for her. And I was like, “You remember George at American Truck Training Academy?” She’s like, “Yeah.” I said, “Well, I’m that guy that you called him up and told him one day not to waste his time with. So, you know what? I ain’t going to waste my time with you.”

07:44 You had to prove her wrong. I love it. Oh, I love that. That competitive spirit that drives me that that, you know, I love that drive. It’s like, okay, you tell me I can’t, I’m going to. And I’m going to do it even better than what I was going to do it before. I love that. So, how I guess so, how long did you do flatbeds?

08:02 I did it for a year. The company I worked for, the owner ended up passing away in a plane crash and he gave the company to his son and his son started embezzling a bunch of money, like $55 million, and ended up getting locked up in a federal prison. He closed the company down.

08:20 Oh, wow. Wow. So, it was time to move on. Oh, by the way, let’s get an update. We’re about getting close to 10 minutes in and you’re talking and working. So, how are we with the light situation?

08:31 Oh, we got the brake lights hooked up, but I haven’t climbed underneath anything to run the power line down yet to see where the brake is.

08:38 Okay. So, we’re making progress.

08:40 Yes, sir. You know, usually like yesterday we were doing an episode of the Six-Figure Trucker and one of the one of our deck drivers that that we had on, he was chilling in a coffee shop had, you know, had his coffee, his pastry, so he’s relaxed and then I’m here. You’re multitasking. You’re fixing lights. You’re talking to me about your history. So, it’s always interesting to see what we’re going to find on the Six-Figure Trucker. So, all right. So, they went out of business. You’re left, you know, searching for opportunities. So, what led you I did you go to ride in a driveaway right after that?

09:12 No, I went to another trucking company and I worked there for a little while and while I was working there, I got to messing with my cousin and the truck driving and so he started talking to my cousin about it. My cousin started talking to me about it. We just put in an application one day and went from there. What company was that?

09:37 That was Worldwide Freight Carrier.

09:39 Ah, okay. Okay. And then— So you— How long were you there?

09:43 10 almost 11 years.

09:45 Okay. So you got a ton of experience there.

09:48 Yes. Yes, sir. We did just about everything there. We did cranes, bucket trucks, diggers, singles, pole trailers, deck sets, you name it.

10:04 So that— Okay. So, that’s when you started getting into decking.

10:08 Yes.

10:08 Okay. Okay. Trucks that you that were already decked or was this is this when you started I bet I know the answer to this and you may have told me over the years. I don’t know. But I bet I know the answer because of I bet you started off decking versus undecking.

10:26 Yes, sir. And I think I and I’ve talked to a few guys that that have went in that order and it obviously seems to be a lot easier to understand the concept of undecking when you have decked it. Would that would you consider that a true statement?

10:43 Yes, I would. If you can understand how to put them together, taking them apart, it’s a whole lot easier.

10:49 Right. Right. So tell— So your f you’re at your first set, it’s time to deck. Do you do are you doing this by yourself or did you have a good mentor there?

11:00 Oh no, I had a good mentor with that also the guy who taught me decking and all that had been in doing it 25 years. Guy had all his own equipment and worked for a few companies. Him and his son ran together. So I mean I had a excellent trainer to start that out as well.

11:23 Oh, that’s awesome. That means a lot. So I guess for you know how long did it take you know once you felt like you had had m you know you said you’re going to do it till you understand it. So truly decking trucks and stacking them and putting them together. What was that process like before you said okay I think I got this. I think I can do this. I’m going to be the Dave Sche here.

11:47 Well I ain’t gonna lie to you. It took me about two runs.

11:51 Oh Took me two runs and my trainer Frank, I was putting them together and moving faster than him.

12:00 Damn. Some may say Dave skiing was born to do this.

12:05 It’s just I grew up building houses and doing that stuff. So mechanical in the functions, the way things worked. I was a overhead carrying operator in a steel factory for a union and you know I was a mechanic in a diesel shop. So just understanding the trucks and stuff before I even got into truck driving was something that I already had, you know, going toward my favor.

12:30 Yeah, that’s a good that I like that. That’s that makes sense because the concept of the mechanics and how the truck works, you had a lot of that information and that’s interest, you know, it’s good to see that because obviously it was it’s a way to show that, okay, you learn how to stack trucks and undeck them and whatnot. And you know, there’s a lot of mechanics and diesel folks out there today that that don’t understand that concept, but you know, obviously with them, it’ probably be a little bit simpler for them to understand it versus an accountant or a I don’t know, professional golfer, something, I don’t know.

13:05 Yeah. For people who say, you know, they’ve been in this industry for years and years and yet it don’t seem like it when you get to working with them. You know, they don’t really know what’s going on or they don’t understand how airbags work or the different types of units, you know, like you take a Freightliner or a Kenworth, you know, and none of their airbags are going to be electronic—

13:31 Right?

13:32 So, you can dump the air valve inside one of those units and you’ll be just fine. But on a Volvo, you can dump the airbags inside of a Volvo, turn the key on, and whether the airbags are dumped or not, they’re still going to inflate because they’re electronic. Ah—

13:51 So you know being a diesel mechanic for the short time I was to learn a lot of that different stuff, the airbags, how the axles work, you know, the different types of setups and, you know, having to install a brake chamber on a unit or on a different type of unit and all that stuff. I got to learn how all the mechanics of all that stuff worked before I even got my CDL and decided to come out on the road.

14:16 Right. Right. Right. So you had a great you had a good foundation of the truck and the truck types and I you know I can hear that now especially when it comes to talking a lot about the engines and the axles. You obviously have a very robust knowledge in terms of the truck types go. So so I that makes sense. So So so take me through this. So you learn quick, you learn fast, you were able to stack trucks easy. So So how did you hear about Norton? I was actually in Laredo picking up a load and a driver Torrence Colbert was down there who was a driver for Norton and I was picking up a load for another company and I was training the guy. Well, Norton had just got into doing deck sets and so I was talking to Torrance down there and he was like, ” hey, you know, I just started with this other company. Everything seems to be going great. You know, there’s the owner is really he’s really a good guy. He’ll take your phone calls. He’ll work with you. He talks to you.”

15:17 He’s not one of them owners that that don’t want to listen, you know? Yeah. Really a great guy.

15:22 So, I was like, “Okay, you know, I let me think about it.” So, I put my application in about a week later or so, never heard nothing back. I called and I’m like, “Come on, man. Something ain’t right.”

15:37 Yeah.

15:37 So, I called Torren up and I’m like, “Hey, man. You know, I got my application in over there and I ain’t heard nothing yet. He’s like, “Yeah, wait till next week.” So, I call two weeks straight, man. Every day for two weeks. I call voicemails,”

15:50 Everything. And I’m like, “You know what, man?” I called Torrance up. I said, “Hey,”

15:53 Most people would be done.

15:55 This is the last opportunity, bro.” I said, “Look, man. I got I’m coming up on 15 years experience and most of that’s driveaway with these deck sets and stuff.” I said, “These people ain’t taking the time to call me back, man. What’s going on?” He’s like, “Hold on a minute. Hold on, brother. I’ll take care of this.””

16:12 So, a little bit later, I get a phone call from Michael Norton.

16:16 So, he called you direct?

16:18 Yeah, Michael called me direct. While I was driving down the road for J&J, I get a call from him. So, I mean, him and I just, you know, we start talking and I’m explaining to him about, you know, what I do and my background a little bit, what’s going on. And he’s explaining to me that, you know, the company and the way that he works and the way the company works. I told him, you know, I was like, “Look, I’m just going to be honest with you. You bring me on over there, we’re going to go a long ways together.” That was our first conversation. I know he liked that.

16:54 Y’all are hitting it off. First combo.

16:57 First convo. So, he’s like, “All right.” Next thing I know, I’m getting a phone call. Well, actually, Michael was handling most of my recruiting, but I got a phone call from I believe it was Alex. Yeah—

17:10 Maybe the end. It was one of those two.

17:12 Yeah—

17:13 I think it was Alex. And, you know, the application was done that the legals was sent to me and we just went from there.

17:22 Oh, that’s awesome. It’s awesome that he did he ever say why you couldn’t get a call back?

17:27 No, he never said why.

17:30 He just handled his business—

17:32 Right? And once we did make contact, I mean, like I said, him and I talked on the phone for about an hour. And I mean, not all of it was even about, you know, work related stuff, we just kind of bullshitted a little bit while I was driving. And I think he might even been driving. Heck, I don’t know. But I think he might have been heading home or somewhere from the office. But now we just we spent about an hour on the phone going over things. And I mean, before we hung up, I just told him I was like, “Look, I mean, I’m guarantee you when I come on over there, you and I we’re going to go a long ways. Just this isn’t going to end with just driving.”

18:04 Yeah. And I can I could, you know, it’s funny and, you know, obviously you’re not going to get that info from a first, you know, call, but, you know, when you see you guys and see you guys work together, you can certainly tell that that there’s some camaraderie there from that’s built from like-minded folks, folks that are built for success, folks that have the drive, have the want, and that that goes a long way when you put folks like that together. So, I love that story. And he told me a story, too. And he’s told me a few, but he told me a story about, you know, obviously you’d been driving for us and running deck sets and then there was an opportunity came up for, you know, hey, I need somebody at the yard. And so he said, how did that opportunity do you remember how that opportunity presented itself to you? Because he told me a story about you getting on an airplane. And I’ll leave it at that. Like, do you remember how that went down?

18:56 I do remember how that went down. I said I think I sent him a text message. I said, “You know what?” I was like, “We should start our own yard in Texas and I’ll go run it.” So, my phone rings and it’s Michael and I answer the phone. I was like, “What’s going on?” He’s like, “Where are you at?” I said, “Well, I’m at the Kansas City airport right now. I’m getting ready to hop on a plane and go to California.” He said, “Can you change your flight?” I said, “I’m looking at the cart down there and they’re getting ready to put my luggage on an airplane. I’m not sure, but give me one second. So, I went to the counter and I’m like, “Hey, I need to get on a different flight.” I said, “I got my boss on the phone right now. I need to, you know, I need to go to Texas instead of California.” So, she called down and had him pull my bags and we changed a flight up and he’s like, “You know, it’s funny that you text me because I’m getting ready to or actually he’s like, I’m in Texas right now and I’m getting ready to look for a yard. Won’t you come down here and help me?””

19:51 Wow. Wow. That’s the stars aligning.

19:56 Yeah.

19:57 So, you were headed to California. So, you get on a plane, you change your plane, you show up in Texas. All right. What next?

20:05 Well, I show up in Texas and go to a hotel. Next morning, Michael comes by, picks me up. I have a trainee with me, too. So, he picks me and the trainee up and we drive around. We look at all these different lots and we finally picked one lot out and me and a trainee, we changed our loads up. So now we’re going down to Laredo to pick up some loads instead of California.

20:28 Yeah.

20:29 So heck, we go down there and pick up some deck sets. We talked to the, you know, the guy where we’re going to lease this property from and they’re like, “Hey, you know, we need to bring some deck sets up here and pull them in the yard and make sure they’re going to come in and out of gate and, you know, stage them and just make sure that this property is going to work for it.” So, you know, we spent a couple days out here. We went down there and grabbed them loads, came back up and we was driving them in and out the gate around the yard and checking everything out and we went on about our business and Michael went on about his business and a couple days later he tells me he’s like calls me up and he’s like, “Man, this ain’t going to work.” You know, where the insurance is just they want too much for insurance and the liability, you know, it’s not going to work. So, I’m like, “All right.” You know, I was kind of bummed about it. Sure.

21:15 Interested coming off the road and opening the yard and doing all that stuff.

21:20 Absolutely.

21:22 Then a couple weeks after that, it turns out that, you know, the company that, you know, we’re bitting our trucks from, you know, I guess they agreed to cover some of the insurance. So, Michael calls me back and he’s like, “You still want to do this?”

21:34 I’m like, “Hey, you know, let’s do it.” He’s like, “All right, come on down to Texas then. Let’s go.” And so you lived you didn’t live in Texas, so you obviously have a family. You’ve got kids. What was that? I mean, was that easy to do? Just say, “Hell, let’s move to Texas.”

21:53 Well, I talk about moving all the time. I’m a entrepreneur and I like to go and do stuff anyway. Right. So—

22:00 Right.

22:00 I was telling my wife and kids, I was like, you know, we’re gonna go to Texas and we’re gonna open this yard up for Norton and we’re gonna do this. So, I guess, you know, my wife’s Barb, she talks about it. She’s like, the kids would always be like, “We’re not really going to Texas, are we, mom?” And she’s like, “You know, your dad, your dad’s always trying to do something, you know, you know, we to go to Texas.”

22:21 So, hey, Michael calls up and says, “Hey, come on down to Texas.” I So, I go down to Texas and we start picking trucks up and bringing them to the yard. And next thing you know, I tell the wife and kids, I’m like, “Hey, we’re gonna have to move to Texas. So there, you know, there it was. I mean, one of my kids was still in school, so we had to wait hard her to graduate. So Barb and I came down and it was just me and her at first, just, you know, working the yard.”

22:52 Sure. Sure. So now I guess that takes me back. So now obviously we, you know, we’ve got you guys down there working together as a family. This is a family company. I feel like it’s, you know, we’re all family here, but you are actually working directly with your family every day. What’s that like?

23:12 Come on, man. Don’t put me on the spot.

23:16 Yeah.

23:17 Remember, remember we can edit anything out of this, right? So—

23:20 Right. I mean, honestly, it has its up and downs. You know, it’s a little harder to be, you know, you know, rough on your kids versus a regular employee, but at the same time—

23:33 With the way I am, you know, like I got a brother that that drives for us. I got a dad that drives for us. I got a cousin. And you know, with me, I expect more out of them than I do someone else.

23:48 Absolutely. That I you know just because they are related to me and then I have worked so hard to get to where I’m at you know that I expect more out of them but at the same time it is harder to you know be hard on your kids than it would be if I just had an employee here that you know it was just an employee.

24:11 No doubt. Yeah. No, I can see that because you still, you know, you’ve got a standard to uphold that, you know, the Dave Skeen standard and you’re represented by, you know, your family in multiple ways with Norton. I mean, like you said, you know, you got your family that works at the yard. You’ve got, you know, your dad, you know, your brother, these folks are driving with us. So, you know, it takes a lot to meet that Dave Skeen standard. So, I could understand how that would be tough, especially when it’s your own kids. I mean, I’ve got kids. I know how that is. I mean, hell, they don’t listen to me half the time. So, I couldn’t imagine if they work for me.

24:46 Well, they listen better at work than they do at home.

24:48 I believe that. I believe that.

24:50 You know, I’ve got I got one that works out here, you know, Shelby. She’s just like me. She’s hard-headed. She’s driven. So, when her and I are at the office together, it’s like two bulls butting heads most of the time.

25:05 Oh I believe that. I believe that. But I mean, they’re great, though. They’ve learned quick. They, you know, they come out here, they drive trucks, they help with airlines, they help with electrical issues. They’ll take phone calls and they’ll deal with drivers if I’m busy or on the phone. I mean, they’re great. They’re a lot of help. And I mean, they do a lot out here for me that they probably wouldn’t do with another job just because I mean, I’m their dad.

25:33 Right. Right. Well, no, I completely understand that. Well, how long did it take you guys to kind of get your process down? Because when I and I, you know, obviously what I do, I’ve visited our, you know, our yard a few times. Would love to get down there more, but you know, sometimes the saying the squeakiest wheel gets the grease. So, not a lot of squeaks out there, which is good, but at the same time, you know, that means, you know, or, you know, we know that that, you know, it’s efficient. You know, it’s doing what it needs to do and it’s doing it well, which is great. And so, how did it how long did it take you? Obviously, you were, you know, used to being on the road. You know, you had driven multiple different companies, different things that you did over the course of 15 years. Now, it’s completely different. You know, you’re using your knowledge in different ways, good ways, but you know, you got to get this process down.

26:21 Now, you’re coming in every day, you’re doing something different. Was there a little bit of adjusting to that? Not just with the move, but with what you were doing and then how to learn how to manage a yard to be efficient. How did that go? It’s there’s never a system that’s set here. I mean, so we’re still learning even though it’s been open for a couple years. I mean, when we first started out, everything was done by phone call, text message, pen and paper, right?

26:49 You know, we didn’t even have computers here for a long time. So, all of our loads was, you know, Michael would text me, “This is the loads we have to pick up in Laredo.” Or, you know, he’d call me on the phone. I’d have to write it all down. We go pick the stuff up, bring it back here, and I’d have to send him a message every day or after every load, you know. So, I mean, it was really hard to start this up, you know, moving to Texas because when we first come here, I mean, we was staying in the camper that’s here at the yard.

27:19 Yeah.

27:20 You know, and we was trying to have the yard 24 hours when we first come here, but it was just me and Barb. And the way it would work is 5:00 in the morning, we would leave here. We would go to Laredo. She would drive us down in the van and me and the guys would pick trucks up. We’d bring them back. When we would get back here, you know, about 10, 10:30, I would have to stay here for an hour and let guys pick trucks up.

27:44 Right. Right.

27:45 Because they couldn’t come into the yard and just pick up. We didn’t really have a system. So—

27:51 So we would do that and then once they all left, we’d go back to Laredo. We would pick up. We would come back again. I’d have to let guys pick their trucks up then. So, you know, that take about an hour. When that was done, we go back to Laredo. So, I mean, there was times we wouldn’t get back here till 2:00 in the morning and then back up at 5 and do it again.

28:10 Damn—

28:12 That’s a grind. Yeah. Some and some of these guys probably don’t know that that that are on the show and I’m going to really encourage them to listen because a lot of guys that that are talking about, you know, how grateful they are for you and what you’ve done, it’s like, think about that grind. You know, that’s a hell of a grind. Yeah, we did that for a couple months straight. I mean, we were using rental cars. We were using Ubers. We had an Uber driver that was taking our guys to Laredo and every morning when it got to where I would be at the yard, I would take him up to Love’s and put gas in his car and we’d send him down. Well, one morning I just gave the dude cash. I was like, “Here, you know, run up there and fill your car up and take.” The dude didn’t put the gas in his car. Well, needless to say, he ran out of gas miles from Laredo.

28:58 Come on. This—

29:00 In the middle of the summer, I got my shuttle guys out on the road walking down the road. So, I call had to I had to call an Uber in Laredo to come 30 miles up the road to pick up the shuttle guys cuz they were walking to Laredo.

29:12 Damn, we’re going to get these damn trucks—

29:17 Right? Yeah.

29:18 But I mean it was a process to start up and it’s still a process. Like now, you know, I’m changing the yard up a little bit. We’re I’m staging the trucks different so it’s easier when the guys come in. It’s easier for them to go out. Things are changing all the time. The way we do things in the office, the paperwork, it’s constantly changing because, you know, when a driver makes a mistake and they’re picking up whether it’s here or somewhere else, then it causes a, you know, a whole shift in the operation for everyone else. So then we have to implement a new piece of paperwork or we have to implement something else. It has to, you know, it most of the time it starts out here and we give it to the drivers until, you know, everything gets up and it’s emailed to them and all that.

30:03 So, I mean, things are changing daily, you know, here all the time. And so, the system is pretty smooth, but it’s constantly changing.

30:12 Yeah. And I get that. I mean, I think with this industry for me, it’s, you know, it is constantly changing because there’s going to be something that that you learn from, you know, something that goes wrong, you know, and you learn from it, whatever that process may be, whether it’s yard management or customer management or sales management or driver management or, you know, just issues with trucks in general or you know, picking up at some place. And there’s just so many processes that that you’re learning every day and they can change because of a new development. So that’s one thing stays on I stay on my toes, you know, and knowledge is power and try to make sure I’m a sponge and continue to learn every single day that I come to work and remember that stuff for you know be more successful in the future. So I love the way that it’s changing. That means you’re you know you’re not you know this you’re not so set on a process to where if it goes wrong like well that works, you know, this is the reason it didn’t work. You’re going to change it and make it better. It’s perfect—

31:08 Right? Like a coach, you know. What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results.

31:17 You know what I’m saying?

31:18 Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, we definitely don’t do that here, man. We try to change the results. We don’t want them to be the same. But, I mean, it’s a process all the time. You know, Auto Truck, you know, we have their guys that bring trucks to us. Plus, we have our guys that bring trucks to us. So the inspection process is different depending on, you know, who’s bringing them up because our guys do a better inspection or they secure loads better than, you know, when their guys bring them to us.

31:45 That makes sense because you can control it more.

31:47 Yeah. Yeah. When their guys bring them up to us, most of the time we don’t know if there’s any damages. The nuts and bolts on the U-bolts or the J-bolts or, you know, the skirting on the Z bars and just the different equipment, you don’t know if it’s actually secure. So, that causes like it causes an inspection on those trucks to be more intensive and take longer than when our guys bring them up.

32:11 Yeah, I could see that. I could see that. So, I’ll shift gears a little bit. How are the lights good? Are the lights done? I don’t hear a lot of clanging and banging anymore.

32:19 What’s that?

32:20 The lights. You get the lights fixed up. Yeah, they’re done.

32:22 Oh, they’re done. Okay. I didn’t hear—

32:25 They been done. It was a lot of times with the ZBAR units, they have those boxes up on the back of them that your equipment goes into—

32:34 Right?

32:35 And when they wire the trucks up, they don’t leave enough slack in the line so that when you have to make a good turn and it causes the wires to get pinched into the Zbar and then underneath the truck, it pulls them tight and they end up ripping. Mhm.

32:51 So, usually you just have to climb underneath the truck. But you can always troubleshoot. And this is what I do over the phone most of the time. You know, when a driver calls me with an issue on lights, I always troubles troubleshoot it. You always start at the source. So, you always go to position one. You make sure all the wires are hooked up whether they’re into the pigtail on the back of the truck or, you know, the tail lights themselves with adapters.

33:15 Mhm.

33:16 You always start there and then you go from there and you work your way back. If you put your light strap on a truck or lights, if you can turn your blinkers on and your blinkers work, then that means your ground wire is good from front to back, or else your blinkers wouldn’t work—

33:30 Right?

33:30 If you turn your lights on and you have no lights, but the blinkers work. So, you know there’s a short and a power wire somewhere. So, you go to the second truck, you put your lights on, your marker lights on the second truck. If they work, then you know the short is from those back. So then you go to— So you go to the third truck, put your marker lights on. If they work, then you know the short is from there to the fourth truck. If the marker lights don’t work, then you know the short is between where they work and where they don’t work. So it’s easy to troubleshoot and figure out where the short is.

34:02 It’s just a process of elimination—

34:04 Right?

34:05 And is that easy to teach? It really is easy to teach guys when you’re on the phone with them or you know you get them to send you I usually have them send me a picture to start a conversation. I’m like send me a picture of this, this, and this and then we’ll go from there and if they have FaceTime I’ll FaceTime them. But usually with a picture I can walk them through anything.

34:26 Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, that’s, you know, that’s awesome because I feel like, you know, a lot of times when we talk, you’re repairing a lot of light issues that that we need to be responsible for because obviously if somebody else has to do that, we have to pay, you know, service, you know, to do something like that. That cost a lot of money. Add that up, you know, for however many loads that you fix lights for or help fix lights. That’s a big old bill.

34:50 Yeah. We usually do, I say, probably a 100 calls a month.

34:54 Wow. Is that regarding everything or just— We’re talking light issues.

34:58 We’re talking light issues.

35:00 Wow.

35:01 And that’s— Well, that’s guys who I mean, even some single drivers, that’s guys who call DSG and since I get the emails, you know, I’ll see the email pop up and when I see anything from DSG, I check it right away because if it’s an axle or airlines or, you know, electrical or something I could do, then, you know, I send them an email and I let them know, hey, you know, I acknowledge this. I’m going to call the driver right now and I’ll see if we can figure it out. And then I have a lot of drivers who will call me personally, you know, well, they call me before they call DSG and then usually we’re able to get the problem solved and then there’s no notification to, you know, DSG that there was even an issue—

35:40 Which is great. Right.

35:42 Right. Yeah. I mean, the less issues that we put out there, the better—

35:47 Right? Right. Shows us being more efficient. So, if the phone’s ringing that much, let’s talk about that. So, we’re talking anniversaries, birthday parties, dinners. Let’s talk about Barb for a second. How do how does she deal with that?

36:01 Sometimes it’s a little rough. I mean, she does get aggravated at times, but at the same time, I was a driver and, you know, there’s been times where I’ve been stuck on the road over an anniversary because of a dispatch issue or, you know, a lack of communication with the company I was working for. So, I mean, she understands and she like I said, sometimes it bothers her. Like we took our grandson to SeaWorld and the whole time we was there I was on the phone. So, you know, but I mean she does understand because I mean even drivers will call her or they’ll email, you know, Shelby or Gracie, even when they’re home, they’ll, hey, you know, I didn’t get my rental confirmation or there’s a billing issue here and I can’t pick my rental up. Can you guys help me out?

36:53 So, I mean, they don’t like to see the driver stuck, you know, and keep them moving. So, I mean, it’s they understand. And bar—

37:02 Barb’s gotten me way better. I mean, it has been I mean, she has gotten my ass a couple times about it, but—

37:11 Shoot, I know, man.

37:13 Yeah. But she’s I mean she understands even after she gets frustrated, you know, she calms down a little bit and she’s like, you know, I you know, I understand that that that driver would have been stuck if you didn’t help him out. So, I mean, you’re doing your job. I’m proud of you, but I mean, she does get frustrated.

37:29 Sure. Sure. I get that. I mean, I only say that because I know, you know, when we’re in the industry that we’re in and you deal with it a lot more than me, but you know, there’s no there’s not a 9 to5, you know, there’s no, you know, obviously there’s office hours, there’s yard hours, but you know, it’s there’s stuff happening at all hours of the night and our phones ring and, you know, we got to deal with it. And sometimes, you know, on my end, it’s like I got to explain, okay, well, you know, here’s why I got to do this. You got to understand and it may be in the middle of something important, but it may be something that’s got to get done. So, no, I’m completely with you there.

38:01 So—

38:02 Yeah. Yeah, like I said, it the only thing that is is I mean mo I’m okay with it, you know, most of the time, but it does get frustrating like I get a phone call at 2 o’clock in the morning and the guy’s like, “Hey, my lights aren’t working.” I mean, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning, dude. Go to bed.

38:18 Yeah.

38:19 But I don’t do that to them, you know? I’ll help them out. I’ll help them get going what needs to be going so they can get rolling. Some of them had deadlines to make or, you know, they have stuff going on that they obviously need to keep rolling or most of them would just get a room, you know, but I mean it happens more often than it should. But yeah, I’ll get phone calls at 2 or 3:00 in the morning.

38:40 Yeah, that that that one wouldn’t go over. But no, that’s it’s you know that and I think saying all that it just goes to show you know the willingness to help and what we’re hearing from some of these guys that that have been on the podcast and you know Charles Lome, Eric Ryan, Robert Stevens, Larry Jordan, these are guys just to name a few that have all said it that that that were on and I’m sure there’s more. So obviously you saying that type of stuff shows that you know what they’re saying there’s plenty of truth to it. So—

39:12 Oh yeah, that but I mean those guys right there, Charles Lone, that dude’s excellent. He calls no matter what issue he has because I mean I don’t know if he just thinks, you know, every issue could be, you know, settled without DSG or without causing a big ruckus, but that guy right there is excellent. If he has a rental issue, flight issue, airline, anything, he’ll text me like, “Hey Dave, this is what I got. Can you help me fix this?” Or, you know, I didn’t get this taken care of. Can you help me with it real quick? If not, I’m going to be stuck. And, you know, most of the time he’s he we’re able to take care of him. But that guy right there is sharp. He learns quick. Eric Ryan, he’s another one. He’s another guy who will call. He would rather call than make a mistake.

40:01 Right. Right.

40:02 And that’s what I would that’s what I like in a driver. Robert Stevens, he’s another one. You mentioned him. I’ve had that guy send me pictures where he’s pulling into a lot and he’s trying to get his trucks to a hoist and he’s video recording this parking lot and the fuel island and the way this Penske was set up and he’s like what you know what way should I go? How do you think I should do this? And you know those guys that would rather call and have you help them out than make a mistake and cost money or you know cause an issue for the company. That’s how we need all of our drivers to be.

40:36 Absolutely. It’s, you know, they’re maybe they know the answer, but they’re wanting, you know, someone to help work through it to make sure they’re thinking the right way because if you make a mistake or choose the wrong way, it could be costly on all different ends. And, you know, we’ve talked about that before, man. These deck sets, these four-way deck sets, I mean, there’s a lot of money that you’re in control of right there. And if something goes wrong, you know, there’s a lot of bad eyes and a lot of bad looks everywhere. So, we all got to be successful. We’ve all got to eat. And it’s great that those guys do that because that just shows, hey, they’re not just, you know, obviously their job is important to them, their career is important to them, but the whole, you know, the whole system of a whole as a whole, you know, Norton’s important to them. And they’ve all said that, you know, they want us to get loads and if we, you know, make the wrong decisions, then that could jeopardize that—

41:28 Right? And I mean some of the drivers we you know we don’t really hear from a whole lot because they’re you know they’re pretty good at what they do and they’re kind of out of sight out of mind like you know Courtney Booth.

41:42 Courtney Booth is awesome.

41:43 Yeah.

41:44 You know that guy he calls when he needs—

41:46 Under the rad he rides under the radar don’t he?

41:49 Yes he does under the radar.

41:51 Yeah he does. I mean he’s— Yeah. That I mean that guy right there any issue he has he calls. And I’ve never had an issue with him where we wasn’t able to fix it over the phone.

42:02 Yeah, that’s awesome.

42:04 You know, and like I say, he does he flies under the radar because you never he don’t have claims. You never hear from him. He’s, you know, but he’s here all the time. The guy’s running like crazy. And—

42:17 Yeah, I think he’s he does run. He runs like crazy. I mean, I’ve saw I think just for, you know, end of March what so far what he done. I was like, “Wow, this guy’s killing it.” But and I didn’t heard much, which is good. You know, he’s just like you said, he’s just running under the radar doing his thing.

42:35 Yep. But I mean, he lost his light strap or something happened to the light strap he had. And I mean, I had to make him this makeshift deal. So, what I did was is I just took, you know, the tail lights, the four tail lights, and I wired them all up and I screwed them to the 2×4 on his truck cuz I didn’t have the material here to make him an actual light strap. I was we were in between ordering and he used that and ran with that for like two months.

43:06 Yeah. He would unscrew it from his 2×4. I mean, it had a plug on it, so he was able to plug it in. But, I mean, he was unscrewing those lights from the 2×4—

43:14 Putting them in his bag, flying down here, screwing them to another 2×4, and he was rolling like that for about two months. And the guy never complains. Never once, you know, he just came in one day and he’s like, “Dave, man, do you by any chance have a new light strap?” And I was like, “You know what? I just got through making one, so here you go.”

43:31 That’s awesome. Yeah. He was just rolling with it with makeshift fast light bar and you know, it was working. It made him money.

43:39 Yeah. And like I said, that guy, he never once complained, man. And he’s that dude right there is awesome.

43:45 Oh, man. That’s awesome. Well, I guess for me and you know, you can you know what, you know, what has made your experience here at Norton different than, you know, what you’ve done in your previous roles. And I know you’ve done and not just the fact that you’ve done yard management. I mean more as a whole like you know what did you see in the beginning say hey you know I do want to drive there. I want to call these guys cuz they’re you know obviously they you know it was hard to get on at first but you know what kept you going and then once you got on you know what was some things about your experience that you were glad you chose to? No, I mean just to be honest with you, you know, I had some conversations with Michael and it was just there was just something about him that I believed in.

44:32 Yeah.

44:33 You know, when you talk to him on the phone and you hear the confidence in him and the way he talks and then you meet him in person and you get to work with him and you get to you see even, you know, just like driving when I came on here, I came on here as a trainer. I went out. I was training, you know, two, three guys at a time. So, him and I would talk on the phone quite a bit. He’d call me up. Hey, I got this other training. Can I throw him on top of you, too? And right away, he believed in me.

45:04 Yeah.

45:05 So, that right there from anywhere else I worked, I mean, I worked for another company for nine years. I worked for another company for 10 years. And I and the transactions between, you know, me and Michael and the way things went and the confidence that I had in him and the confidence he had in me, that never happened anywhere else.

45:28 Yeah. So, I think, you know, I completely get what you’re saying. You know, knowing somebody that’s going to believe in you and go to bat for you and trust you and, you know, for me, those things make me want to work harder. You know, that’s, you know, I agree 100% with what you’re saying there. And obviously knowing that, you know, you guys are like-minded and so, you know, it’s gonna shit’s gonna get done.

45:50 Yeah. And you know, and then like when Michael and I opened the yard up and then he ended up going back to Georgia, I don’t know, he had something going on where he had to leave. So Calvin came out. So then I spent, you know, a week out here working with Calvin—

46:05 And Calvin was the same way. Calvin’s a little quieter. You could when you’re having a conversation with him, he you could tell he really thinks about what he’s going to say before he says it and but you get the same feeling from Calvin that you did for Michael.

46:21 Yeah, absolutely. I mean obviously two great guys to work for and you know it’s been an incredible journey for myself and I know for you two but you know that’s something that I see you know when you visit and you know first meeting and you know talking about the opportunities you know right then and there you’ve got some you got some folks that that have got some really good head on their shoulders and they you know invest in the people that that work with them and I think not just the people within the office but the drivers and everybody that’s a part of the team it’s family and I know Calvin, you know, he’s his commitment is to keep it that way and, you know, that’s what we certainly try to do. So, it’s awesome. It’s awesome. Well, on the back end of that, I’m going to switch gears a little bit on you. I know, you know, we’ve talked about a lot. I know you got stuff to do and I don’t want to keep you from that, but I want to talk about San Antonio a little bit. Been there a few times. Riverwalk, you know, let’s talk about, you know, some of my favorite places. Salt, is it salt grass? Is that what it’s called? Saltass.

47:22 Salt grass on the riverw walk. Been there a few times. Really good steaks. Love going there. It’s one of my favorite places to visit. Right down the road from the yard. Keith Holiday took me to this little like this little Mexican restaurant. It’s like down in the back. I don’t even remember how we got there, but it was back in the back way, you know, probably 10 minutes or less from the yard. Little cabin-like thing. You never would have thought anything. Some of the best freaking Tex mix that I’ve ever had. And you know, God, I can’t wait to go back so I can go back to this place. So, those are probably two of my favorite places. So, talk about what Dave likes. And you’re going to have to talk some about that home smoking, but talk what do you like to eat in San Antonio?

48:08 Man, I just like to cook at home.

48:09 No, let’s talk about it. I’ve seen the pictures.

48:13 It’s either the Texas Roadhouse for us.

48:15 Well, I’ve been there with you—

48:16 Or I cook at home, man. We come from a small town in Missouri and I kid you not, this little place we come from in Missouri had better Mexican food than anything I’ve ever eaten in Texas. We thought coming to Texas, you know, we thought, damn, we were going to Texas, man. We’re going to have there’s going to be good Mexican food there. And there’s really not.

48:36 I guess that it’s more TexMex, right? And that’s—

48:40 Yeah, that’s what they say. It’s just they say it’s got that little, you know, Texas twang to it, but no, I’d rather cook in home than anything else.

48:50 No, that’s I’ve seen the pictures. I’ve seen some badass looking ribs. I mean, I’m— You’re talking about— You’ve got, you know, new ways to cook them, perfected them with a little butter, brown sugar in the middle here. You’re talking about some stuff that I’m like, you know, I’m it’s right after lunch and I’m already hungry looking at these pictures. So, but I you know I dabble a little bit at home. Do a little bit of ribs. You know, I love you know I cook you know barbecue, you know, pork butt. I love doing that. Doing steaks on the grill. Is that what you prefer? Throwing some ribs on it. You smoke slow smoke it. That’s how you do it.

49:27 Yeah, we’ll smoke them or I’ll grill them up. Yeah, we just prefer to do home cooking. We could go out to eat. I could take the wife and the kids and the grandson out to eat and usually we’ll get into a conversation. And it ends up in an argument, you know, just butting head with the kids or something like that. Hey, we could be at my house and we could all be in we could all be in a deep argument and I’ll go bust out some ribs. Hey, that’s like soul food, man. Everybody calms down once the ribs come out.

49:57 Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

50:00 No, I’m with you. I love it, you know. And I think that that’s awesome. And I’ve seen, you know, I you get gifts from our drivers sometimes, right? I see a little stash of gifts that that’s added up over time. Maybe a little bit of stuff that goes in the cabinet. Eh.

50:16 Yeah. I got we got some good drivers that they like to—

50:21 They like to butter me up. You know, they might want a certain load going somewhere special or something like that. So, yeah, they’ll bring something. They’ll show up with a bottle of Jack Daniels or a bottle of scotch or they’ll show up with something nice.

50:36 That’s awesome, man. But hey, it comes with a price though, man. I mean, it comes with my I got to help them out or give them some knowledge or something. Don’t think our drivers are just nice and hard.

50:48 Yeah. They ain’t nothing for free, right?

50:51 Nah, these guys are great, man. A lot of these guys, they are they I mean, they come through the yard and they’ll have issues here on the yard or there’ll be, you know, something wrong with the truck, airline, something that’ll need fixed. And I mean I know I manage the yard and I mean technically I know it’s not my responsibility to go out and fix it for them. They should know how to do it. But I’ll go out and help them or I’ll train them or you know we’ll have guys that come in that can’t undeck a Zbar. So I’ll go out and train them on undecking a Zbar. You know I give a lot of them hands-on training at the yard.

51:28 Yeah. You’ll take it upon yourself to get it done. You know—

51:32 Right? And a lot of them show their appreciation for that. You know, they’ll, hey, you what do you drink? What do you like?

51:39 Yeah.

51:39 I So I’ll tell them anything that will go in a can of Dr. Pepper.

51:46 If it’ll go in a can of Dr. Pepper and a cup of ice, then I’ll drink it.

51:50 Doing it.

51:51 You know, a lot of them do it. They’ll bring stuff, you know, it’s they’ll come up and they’ll bring me lunch or they’ll bring the girls lunch or breakfast. Gabriel Chavez, that guy’s really great about it. Every time he comes to the yard, he’s like, “Hey, I’m going to be there in 30 minutes. What you want for breakfast?” But we have a lot of guys that do it. They’ll come in and they’ll take a rental car back Enterprise or something. So, they’ll swing by and grab lunch and bring lunch for everybody. And it’s just a way of them giving back for the help that we do give them, you know.

52:21 Sure. Sure. No, I love it. I think that’s great, you know. Hey, show your appreciation. So, man, that’s awesome. Well, well, Dave, I know I’ve taken up a lot of your time. I appreciate you being on the show again. I’m probably going to have you back on the show, but you know, this was 6 months in the making cuz I guess nailing us both down to do this is was harder than I thought. But anyway, it’s been great. Anything you want to leave with before we kick it off here?

52:48 Oh, I just throw out there what I hear every day. Old Master P or Michael Norton favorite words. Let’s go.

52:56 Let’s go, baby. Ah, let’s go. There’s there might be a word in the middle of that that we, you know—

53:03 Leave to your imagination, right?

53:06 Coming from master key. I don’t know. I think we got a lot of sets coming in, fellas. It’s a lot of work. Get out here and get at him.

53:13 Let’s get it done, man. Dave, thank you. I appreciate it, buddy.

53:17 Yes, sir.

53:18 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, 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.