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 know as you join us each week. This is where we elevate and celebrate the drivers of Norton Transport and what’s been different here lately. Old man winter has hit us hard. We’re talking now when we’re recording about wintertorm fern that has hit so much of the country now. And joining us is one of our special guests who can really talk about that. That is Malik Beverly. Malik, how are you?

00:56 I’m doing great. How you doing?

00:57 I’m doing good. Now Malik, you’re joining us from Valparaiso, Indiana. That’s about what about an hour outside of Chicago?

01:05 Yeah, about hour and 30 hour and 50 minutes, honestly.

01:08 I got you. I’m sure traffic’s pretty makes it an hour and 15 minutes or more.

01:15 Yeah. Yeah, most definitely. We were talking just a little bit before we got on the air here that it’s about 10 degrees 13 degrees there where you are now.

01:26 Yes, sir. It’s about 13 13 degrees out here, but we I know if I it probably felt like seven.

01:33 That’s cold.

01:35 Not nearly as cold here in Ringgold, Georgia where we’re bracing for some ice over the weekend, but hasn’t really materialized yet, but there’s the chance of it. But there’s so much of the country now that is under ice or huge amounts of snowfall as a driver. How do you react to that mentally? Mentally preparing for that, you know, I kind of attack each week the same. Like for me, mentally, I usually just look at it as like another opportunity to I would say challenge myself. Mhm.

02:15 I like to challenge myself. I like to see if I could do certain things. So if I know if like I know if I could get through this, I could get through anything. Like driving through snow, ice, rain, sleep, like we’re like male carriers. Like we don’t stop. So it’s no way I could complain about what’s going on or what’s happening with the weather. Plus I know that the Most High got me. So, it’s like, “All right, Most High got me. I’m good. I got him. As long as I got trust in him, I’ll be fine.”

02:50 Now, you were telling us I guess it was late last week. You’ve been in some tremendous snowstorms here recently. Walk us through that. So, so I went through Pennsylvania and I actually drove through two snows storms in the middle of the night and it was crazy because it was snowing so bad. Like the roads was covered. People was stopping in the middle of the road. They it was I couldn’t even see probably like a couple of I couldn’t even see like a mile ahead of me. So, it was like one of them days probably the worst snowstorm I’ve been in. And I drove through that because I just was like, “All right, you got to keep driving.” I’m like, “If you stop here, the snow probably won’t stop for a while. Like, it’s going to just keep going.”

03:40 So, I just keep got the car and just keep trucking. I was like, “You know what? That’s what I do. This the part of the job.” And then the second snowstorm I went through was in Buffalo. I picked up in Buffalo and I drove. Now, that one I’ve never been in Buffalo like snowstorm.

03:57 Mhm.

03:57 It was probably the word. That was the worst. Like the roads was the roads were covered and they like the snow was like piled up. So it’s like I was like, “Okay.” I was like, “This is a little bit different.” So I actually just took the time to stop at a what is that called? A service plaza.

04:16 They had a service pl. So I drove to the nearest service plaza and I just waited there until they had got salt trucks out. But for the most part, I’m like I know I could do anything. I’m like, I could do anything that that you could do anything that you put your mind to.

04:33 What kind of truck were you in Buffalo?

04:36 I was in a small box truck. It was a small box truck. I think it was a Chevy.

04:44 Gotcha.

04:45 Yeah.

04:45 Did it get a little squirrely in the back end of that Chevy box truck?

04:50 No, I was going slow. Ain’t no way I was going slow. There’s no way I was driving that fast. Uhuh. Ain’t no way cuz you know sometimes you see like these truck drivers like these semi-truck drivers they are literally doing like they’ll be doing like 50 60 in snow and just because they got like you know they have loads in the back they think that it’s like they’re untouchable. They think that they not going to swerve. But I can tell you, I just see so many—

05:18 Truck so many semi-truck drivers during this winter is just like, you know, jack knifed in on the side of the road or the trailer flipped over. And I’m just like, you know, you got to take it slow, you know? You got to take everything nice and slow because if you take it fast, then I mean, what’s—

05:33 What’s the point—

05:35 Right? You don’t make the delivery and your own safety and everyone else’s safety out there.

05:41 Yeah. Now, one thing in addition to the snow and the ice and the sle, frozen rain that’s been on the roads here in the last few days, the temperature, I mean, we talked about it, we briefly talked about it there outside Chicago 10°, I think I saw somewhere is wind chills like minus3, but I was looking doing a little research right now as we’re talking here at the end of January. We’ve got zero to negative -14 in cities across the locations across the country. Most of that Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. How do you bear that? I mean, obviously you’ve got the heat cranked up, but you’ve got to stop and get fuel. I mean, and you’ve got to stop for the night. How do you deal with that?

06:29 So main well mainly now I kind of night I night drive a lot. I think it’s better for me to night drive versus during the day because it’s like so many people I try to get my rest in during the day. But how I break for the cold. So I got well now I have long I got long johns. I got long johns. I always wear like a long sleeve shirt with a jacket and then I got my coat and then I got a ski mask and I got a hat and I got some really good winter gloves. But I kind of figured out yesterday cuz I had to when I was on my way to pick up my truck and streeter I had to walk through the city of Chicago down I had to walk through downtown Chicago so I get to the next train station and that wind was terrible. Oh my gosh. I was like I need some ski goggles because it was just it was bad. Like I my eyes started tearing up and then my eyes started freezing and then I forgot my long john so then my legs was freezing and I was just like oh brother. Like it’s it was all bad.

07:26 Yeah. They call it the Windy City for a reason.

07:28 Yeah. It’s like downtown is like a tunnel. Like—

07:32 It’s literally like when you walk through the buildings there it’s like a wind tunnel. Especially if you walking down the wrong street. It’s it could be a very just straightforward that wind is coming straight at your face.

07:42 Yeah. I’ve been there a couple times. I know exactly what you’re talking about.

07:46 Yeah. They that’s the reason they call it the Windy City. But we wanted to talk a little bit about wanted to reintroduce you first. This is Malik Beverly here joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now this is not your first appearance with us. You’ve been with us back a couple years ago when we were doing it without video and I think there was a time in between you came up on your team as a driver of the year and had a little brief appearance with us. Tell us about that. So when I got driver of the year, that was an amazing accomplishment. I think I’ve never been like in a position like that. But I always continue to work hard. Like I don’t think it’s any like I think with any job that you have, you should always like give it your all until you know you either leave or you find something new or you end up doing something new. But you should always like no matter what you do, you should give it your all.

08:47 So, that was a really amazing experience to get driver of the year because I was like, “Dang, I ain’t never got nothing like this.”

08:56 Yeah. You were on the team driver of the year for the team you’re on. And you’re also a non CDL driver. And so, we recognize nonCDL drivers as well as CDL drivers for driver of the year accomplishments. That came with a little monetary gift too there or award for your work.

09:16 Yeah. Yeah, it was I think I take my family out to dinner.

09:22 Yeah.

09:23 Cool. Speaking of your family, how large is your family? I mean, I heard you talking earlier. You’ve got a couple children or one or—

09:30 Yeah, I got— So, I got a wife and I got two kids. My oldest is five, my youngest is one. So, I had a new addition last year. So, he’s just been he’s it’s been amazing being a father to two boys cuz I got two boys. So, it’s been amazing being a father to two little boys just running around here just terrorizing me.

09:54 How do you juggle your schedule when you’re on the road so much when you’ve got two young ones at home?

10:01 Oh, that’s a good question. So what I try to do is I’m I try to spend as much time like on the phone like talking to my family as much as I cuz I’m gone Monday through Friday. Well, as of lately, it’s been like Monday to like Wednesday or Thursday. So, I’ve really I’ve kind of—

10:22 Well, I haven’t really tail my schedule, but the most high really been, you know, blessing me with a schedule that I can actually like work with. Cuz for the past years, I’ve been like either on the road from Monday to Friday or I’ve been on the road like sometimes I’ll stay out. But as of late, like as of like last year, I’ve been home every week. I haven’t missed like not one weekend being at home. So I try to make it home like by the you know start of my week I start off from Indiana. I’ll go to like either Pennsylvania or Ohio or New York or New Jersey and then I’ll go down to like if it’s something in North Carolina, I’ll go down to North Carolina or Virginia and then by the time I get there I’ll go I’ll shoot right back up, you know, I’ll shoot right back up to somewhere close to the house. But as of lately, it’s been so much stuff on the board just going back to Illinois. I’m like, shoot, that be going on.

11:22 Yeah, we were talking about that couple days ago. You had a great week where everything just connected. I mean, it doesn’t always connect, but you planned for it to connect and it happened up stars align last week.

11:35 Yeah, I give all— Yeah, I give credit to the most high, but then also too, I got a great dispatcher in Sierra. Like she’s amazing. So like she really helps me and I’m able to work with her and ask questions like, “Hey, do you think this will work?” Or, “Hey, if I do it like this, what do you think about that? You think that’ll work?” Or, “Should I push this out?” So, we really kind of coordinate, you know, our thoughts and ideas with one another. And if she’s unsure, she’ll kind of let me make my own decision. If she’s unsure and I’ll be like and sometimes I got to do some convincing like yeah I’m pretty sure I could do it at this time. So—

12:15 With that last week I had a couple of moves I forgot where it was. Oh yeah. So the first move I had was going down to Georgia and then—

12:23 I was going to take the bus but I ended up not being able to take the bus. So, I ended up getting a rental that I drove to Creedmoor, North Carolina. And I got to North Carolina, picked up my truck, and I drove up to Virginia. No, I Yeah, Virginia.

12:42 What’s Virginia? Yeah, it was outside right outside of Virginia. Right outside of Richmond. So, once I got— No, it was No, it’s Washington. My bad. No.

12:49 Dang. No. Oh, no. It’s Frederick, Maryland. That’s where I drove to. I drove to Frederick. Frederick, Maryland. So once I got to Frederick, I literally the Uber I got was like 30 bucks. I got paid like 30 bucks Uber to go down to Washington. Caught the train from Washington, which was like $25 to Salem, which never happens. Usually the trip from Washington to Salem is like maybe 40, 50 bucks. I got a deal with $25. So I paid $25 for a eight hour trip. You know, I got on the train, slept on the train, got down to Rowan Oak, and then Ubered over to Salem. Picked that truck up, went up to Marietta, Ohio. And then from Marietta, I caught the I caught a $20 bus over to Columbus that took me— Where did that truck take me? Oh, Michigan. It took me to Lston, Michigan. And then once I got to Lance, Michigan, I just Ubered over to I Ubered right over to Detroit and picked up my truck and I it took me back home.

13:53 That’s awesome, man. When it all lines up like that and you mentioned a couple times in there you got the bus. How much how many times would you say you take a bus versus a rental or Uber? Do you try to seek out a bus? I mean for your plans? Yeah. So I as of late I’ve learned like and it’s just like what I’ve learned like just doing like the business I’ve learned like okay it’s okay to like spend money cuz usually I’m a strictly with money. I don’t really want to spend it. So, I’ve learned like I thought getting Ubers was like I mean I thought getting rentals was my best bet. But when I realized I’m like, “Okay, I’m wasting a lot of money on rentals because they’re always going to be like maybe 100 to 140 bucks.” I’m like, “Okay, I’m paying that on the back end.” I’m like, “Shoot, I might as well pay a bus ticket. I’mma pay if I especially if I’mma pay sometimes the bus is cheaper than a rental.”

14:46 So, if I pay for a bus, I’m like, I get sleep and I get to get there on time. And yeah, I’ve learned that just taking a bus is a lot better. It’s a lot easier on the body.

14:58 Yeah. Yeah, I got you. You know, you don’t have to drive. I mean, after you’ve been driving a truck and driving rental, but I want to kind of double back to wintertime driving. We talked about the temperatures. We talked about the road hazards. You being a nonCDL driver, you get a lot of gas vehicles, but you’ve had some diesels. And I think we talked about jelling and running into that problem. That’s always frustrating. It You’ve hit it before.

15:23 Yeah, I’ve had it like one time and I didn’t know what was wrong and I was just like, “Oh my gosh.” So, I had to I just once I finally I got the truck, I just let the truck heat up cuz I was like, “Oh, no. We ain’t shutting you off.” I was like, “We’re not going to shut you off. It’s too cold.”

15:37 Yeah. Now, you know, a lot of drivers will try to and we stress to them to use either diesel one or get some anti- gel, particularly when you’re going to North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

15:50 And we drop and pick up a lot of trucks in Minnesota and Wisconsin. So I mean as a driver, how much value would you put on it as far as spend just a few cents more per gallon or whatever the anti- gel costs versus what could happen if it gels up on you? I would say you probably I ain’t going to lie, it’s more than like it’s more than worth it like spending the little extra dollars. I know everybody just trying to save money, but I say it is worth it to put the little bit of extra money in your tank so that you can like actually so you won’t run into those issues cuz now I’ve never picked up in North Dakota in the dead of well actually I dropped off in North Dakota in the winter and that was I know that was terrible but I was driving like a walk-in van and the cold was getting through the van. I had the heat on full blast but it was still freezing in the vans. Cars. It’s like, man, like, but I would say it’s worth it. Most definitely worth it. Like, spend I’ve even spent a little bit extra money on diesel, like getting just making sure cuz after I had that jelling problem, I just was like, “All right, I’m just going to spend a little bit extra money cuz you just don’t want to run to that problem again.”

17:04 I’m going to brag on you here a little bit. I was doing a little research here on now this is Malik Beverly joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Malik’s one of our nonCDL drivers. You’ve been with us did you know it’s going to be four years in June.

17:19 Oh, it is. I thought it—

17:22 You’ve spent some time on the road. I’m sure you’re aware of it, but 7,800 miles a month is what you’re averaging and you’ve done 350,000 almost 351,000 total miles. I say that to put it into perspective. You’re on time this year. Your on-time percentage is 75%. That’s pretty good. And you know, we talked about your planning. Is that something you take pride in?

17:53 Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t say I take pride. I just I’m just joyful to get people stuff there cuz I’m like, you know, everybody it’s like I said, we mail car. We I we’re like I treat it like we’re mail carriers. So, everybody wants their stuff. Everybody wants their package. You know, truck to these companies is like a brand new package. It’s like, oh my gosh, I really and a lot of people be like, I really needed this truck like as soon as possible. So, and I know sometimes on load board lowers be sitting there. So, I sometimes look at the loads that nobody’s taking. Like especially like if it’s going like sometimes it’s going in the middle of nowhere. Now, I always make sure I could get out of there before I take it. But if I could get out of there, I’m like, “Shoot, I’m going to go ahead and take this load cuz they going to be ran for a while.”

18:37 And I want to I keep my I keep the trucks no later than 24 unless it’s over the weekend. That’s different cuz—

18:44 Nobody’s open. But like if it’s during the week, you going to I pick up your truck, you going to get your truck in less than 24 hours because there’s no point in me keeping it. It’s not my truck. I’m not going to be able I’m not going to do nothing with it. So I’m like shoot your stuff so I can get to my next load cuz I try to average around maybe I think I average around four to five loads a week.

19:05 That’s good.

19:05 Yeah, between four and five. Yeah, between four and five loads a week. And I realized I was like time is money. If I drop the truck off as soon as possible, I get paid quicker. Malik Beverly here joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now Malik has told us a lot about wintertime driving, some of his experiences he’s had where it was so cold inside the van. Even with the heat all the way up, you could still feel the cold. And Malik, you’ve been telling us a lot about the life on the road and we appreciate that everything you’ve shared with us. But there’s I noticed there in the in our conversation you mentioned most high a couple of times. I want to talk with you next week about most high and I understand something else that has a lot to do from the soul that you participate in. Can you join us next week?

19:56 Yeah.

19:57 All right Malik, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.

20:01 No problem. No problem. Appreciate it. 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.