00:04 So kindness is a battery. Kindness is an energizer that plays a humongous part on the driver’s morale. When the dispatcher is kind, when the staff at the company is kind, it makes you want to go above and beyond for the company. 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.

00:45 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a format where we elevate and celebrate the drivers that make our company what it is today and of course make the country what it is. They move the trucks that bring the food and products to you and your home and we are glad to lift them up here on the Six-Figure Trucker again brought to you by Norton Transport. And joining us this evening is Abdur Matin. First of all, Abdur, where are you—

01:17 At this very moment? I am in Ratford, Virginia.

01:23 Okay, so you’re obviously on the road working—

01:25 For Norton right this moment. Yes, I am taking a food break.

01:30 That’s what I thought I heard in the background. Are you at a diner, a restaurant, a truck stop? Give us a—

01:40 Sure. I am at a supermarket called Food City and it is laid out. It has a bakery in here and it’s almost like a Walmart but it’s in a little small town. So I guess it’s taking the place of a Walmart. So it’s called Food City.

01:56 So you’re in Virginia now. Is that right?

01:59 Yes. I’m in Radford, Virginia. I’m looking at my receipt.

02:04 Okay. Now you chose the supermarket. Tell us why you chose it when you’re on the road driving. You’ve got the whole world in front of you, but you chose the supermarket. Tell us why.

02:15 Okay, so actually the supermarket kind of chose me cuz I was looking for an exit that had diesel. And sometime these signs will tell you that the gas station is right off the exit. It says 0.5 miles to the next gas station. Unfortunately, when I got off, I drove 0.5 miles. It wasn’t there. So, I’m not sure what happened. So, I just put in a my GPS closest gas station and it led me to Food City and that’s how I got here.

02:49 So, they have diesel there at the supermarket.

02:52 They do. Yes, they have diesel at the supermarket. Food City. Yes, they do. And I’ve never been here before and now we know. Food City in Rapa, Virginia. And they have a really nice layout in here. They have a diner in here where you can sit and eat some of their food that they make at their bakery. And yes, I found this pretty much by accident.

03:11 And I probably will come here again in the future.

03:14 So obviously you like it. What’s for dinner tonight, Abdur?

03:18 Oh, so I’ve never seen this before. The only thing I’ve seen close to this is a soup that they make at Pilot. This is called turkey and vegetable soup.

03:33 Okay.

03:33 I’ve never seen this before. I’ve seen chicken vegetable soup, but this is turkey vegetable soup and it’s pretty good.

03:39 I was going to say, have you tried?

03:40 And it’s loaded with turkey. Yes, I’m eating it. I’m eating it now.

03:45 So, it’s loaded with turkey. What else? I mean, obviously, we got some vegetables.

03:48 It has corn. It has sweet peas. It has carrots. It has some type of broth.

03:54 Gotcha. It’s pretty tasty. It is. I will admit it’s kind of overloaded with the turkey. So, I was eating it with the fork. The fork was giving me too much turkey. So, I said, “Let me try a spoon.” The spoon, it wouldn’t get it wouldn’t piss so much turkey on there. I just wanted the vegetables more now cuz it’s really, really loaded with turkey.

04:15 Well, it sounds like you got your money’s worth.

04:17 I did. And not just that. You know what she did, sir? Because I was a trucker. She gave it to me for $2.76.

04:26 Wow. That’s fantastic.

04:28 Yes. Yeah. That was very nice of her.

04:30 She was just hooking you up because she know she knew you were out there working hard on the road.

04:35 Absolutely.

04:37 That’s got to make you feel good.

04:40 It does. It really, really does. You know, we people think we have a easy job. We really don’t. Especially in the driveaway industry. You know, this is hard work out here. We have to drive for other people. We have time to deal with breakdowns. You know, we got to just deal with construction. It’s hard, but it’s fun at the same time for me. I love what I do.

05:05 Now, tell me about, you know, this experience just happened to you. She’s giving you a price break on your turkey vegetable soup, deer. And I mean when that happened, obviously you didn’t see it coming, but and you couple that with the difficulties of the job. How does that balance it out? How does it make you feel better?

05:24 Yeah, it makes you feel good that she noticed that we work hard on the road and she was young, you know, she wasn’t an older person. She was young. She was probably around 22. And she said because you’re trucker and also I got a hat that I always wear. She also complimented my hat. My hat say is it says be humble and she can compliment me on my hat and when we walk in with these you know these headphones on people automatically know you’re a trucker—

05:50 Or assume it so yeah made me feel good she recognized that we were doing a good job out there—

05:57 Tell me a little bit about what prompted you to wear a hat which I’m guessing you do it quite often that says be humble—

06:05 Yes it’s very important to me this is something that I practice is my email address is striving for peace. That’s my personal email. Striving for peace. I created that email maybe eight years ago now. And I’m always practicing bettering myself. So I try to be humble all the time. I know nobody’s perfect, but when I saw the hat, I said that matches something that I’m always trying to do. So I wear be humble. I wear this hat. This is my eye. I wear it very very often because I try to practice what I preach.

06:43 I got you. You’re listening to Abdur Matin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abdur, I got to ask you this. You know, wearing that hat, be humble. How do you do that as a driveaway transport driver? And you know, we kind of touched on it a little bit about the, you know, the breakdowns, construction, just perils of the roads you may run into depending upon where you are. We’re in the winter season. Obviously, you could run into some problems. I know out I-80 out in Wyoming, we’ve got drivers that are stranded out there now. How do you be humble in that kind of situation?

07:19 Well, just do it. Like the Nike logo is or used to be, just do it. In fact, you know, my humbleness, I actually had to, you know, really dive in it today. I actually had a breakdown this morning. I woke up early this morning. You know, they say when you make a plan, they say if you want to see God laugh, make a plan. And—

07:41 That’s good.

07:42 Yeah—

07:43 That’s good.

07:44 Yes. So, I made a plan and the plan did not go through at all today. At all. And I wind up breaking down today. And it was a horrible morning. And I, you know, just kept, you know, my eye on the prize. And you know, the prize was getting my truck to where it needed to go. And I had to handle the situation on my own because where I was trying to get help from the people I picked this unit up from, they did not come to my rescue. So, I had to do everything on my own. So, I had to get a Uber and go back and forth with fuel because they didn’t put enough fuel in the unit. And the Uber driver, she was very nice. She although she was getting paid, she was willing to go above and beyond because I had, you know, fuel pitting in her cars, putting these gas canisters in her car. And, you know, she took me back and forth and talked. I wind up leaving my phone in her car. I had to, you know, go look for her.

08:46 She was looking for me. And, you know, usually Ubers when they trying to get back to you, they charge you $15 just to get you to retrieve your property that you left in the unit in their car. But, you know, she was real nice about it. And yeah, so I was humble and she when you when you’re humble with people, 99% of the time they’ll it’s reciprocal.

09:08 You know, might have that 5% that say, “Hey, man. I ain’t I don’t feel like being humble and nice.” You know, you left your phone in my car and I’m going to charge you the $15 anyway. You know, so my humbleness on this road, being humble on the road, being humble the people 99% of the times it you know, it’s reciprocal either this in the universe or with the people. So just being humble is the way to be, you know—

09:34 It’s going to bring you good fruit.

09:36 It does.

09:37 Yeah—

09:37 It does. You reap what you sow. It’s that’s true. But I’m a I am a I’m a witness to it—

09:44 You know. And when stuff comes your way, that’s rough—

09:49 You know. I think the saying is it’s not how it’s how you, you know, deal with it once it comes your way. So, yeah. So, I deal with everything by trying to be humble. Not perfect, but I try to deal with everything trying to be humble. Try to be nice to everybody, you know, try to treat everybody with respect. I like treating people the way I want to be treated. So that’s why I wear the hat and that’s why I think humbleness should be used. Being humble will it’ll make your life easier. It makes mine easier.

10:18 Gotcha. Now you know drifting around the edges coming back into it. The nature of the breakdown was fuel related.

10:25 It was fuel related because I thought it was cuz the tea cage light came on and then from experience turning the key and it’s trying to turn over. I said it has to be the field. So anyway, the place that I was there’s a place that we pick up from in Mount Holly called Auto Truck. When we go to this place, this place has several locations where there is, you know, they got trucks. They got so many trucks. They got several locations. So they got this location in Molly. You got to go there first, get the paperwork. If you get if you have a Uber and don’t and no toe car, you got to have the Uber wait. So, this, you know, you’re paying more money, and then you got to go over to Gast and Die, get the truck, and if the truck doesn’t have no lights or no mud flaps, you got to go back to the beginning, which is auto truck. Got to go back over to there to the original place and get you your mud flaps and lights on. And in my quest to get back, the truck ran out of fuel.

11:29 So, they did not put enough fuel in the truck. And also at the same time when I got there, you know, these units have numbers on the windows so you can identify which one you supposed to get. I couldn’t see any numbers this morning. So I had to go to each truck, open the truck because it was frost on the trucks. So by the time I got to my truck and found it, I had to cut the truck on. The little bit of fuel they had in there, I ran it for like maybe three full minutes, maybe five to defrost, and that just took away from the fuel. So it was just one of those days. It was just one of those days.

12:03 Now, let me ask you this question. You had mentioned that if you want to make God laugh, make a plan. Now, as this day is unfolding for you today, it didn’t go as planned, but yet you have this Uber driver who was there to kind of bail you out in a sense and was there to be a friend. How does that propel the rest of your day? Well, when I have a day like this, because I usually 99% of the time, I usually have great days. But when I have a day like this, I try to look for the lesson in it. I try to look for what is God trying to tell me. And today, I was just telling the friend earlier about this day. I told her that I think when we have days like this, it’s just God wanting you to reflect on whatever he wants you to reflect on. And also, he just brings you back down to earth. And he’s telling you, he’s to me, it’s like a way of him telling you to reflect and bring you down to earth.

13:09 So, I had a day of reflection. So I looked at it a day of reflection and I in that reflection I saw the Uber driver you know being nice to me all the issues I wound up paying off a lot of it took me reflecting I started reflecting on some bills I have to pay on my credit history so I you know went on and paid those off. So I probably wouldn’t have gotten to this type of reflection if I would have just kept if everything would have just kept moving forward and fast. So I got to pay off some bills. I, you know, was treated nice by the Uber driver. I was treated nice by the young lady here. So, and it gave me time to reflect on whatever problems I have that I need to resolve. And so, yeah. So, I’m always looking for the signs and I’m always listening for the sign.

13:54 So, today when I, like I said, when I have days like this, to me, that’s God telling me to listen and, you know, just or reflect. So—

14:04 If I’m hearing you correctly, it was a chance for you to hit the reset button.

14:07 There we go. That’s perfect. You said it in short words. Yeah, that was very good.

14:13 Well, you sound like even though you’ve had a bad day at the beginning, it sounds like at the end you’ve had a good day.

14:22 Yes. And I always try to I always find a meaning in my bad days. So, yes. So, and like I told you earlier, I’m always trying to make a good day. I tell a friend of mine, he’s a pastor, Pastor Williams, his wife always says, “You always in a great mood.” And I always tell her, well, I did tell her, “Yeah, I’m always, you know, it’s very rarely I have a bad day.” Yeah, that’s it.

14:46 Now, we talked a lot about the hat and be humble. Now, tell us a little bit about that email address you got, Striving for Peace. How did that come about? And how does that filter into your life?

15:00 Okay. Strive for peace. So, oh, so I was married for 10 and a half years and I was going through a divorce and that was back in 2014 when the divorce was final and it was a very rocky marriage the last three years and I’m always trying to be a happy person. So, so much joy was taken from me in those la last three and a half years of the marriage. I told myself I will never let nobody take my peace again because I’ve always been at peace. I love peace. And yeah, so that’s how that came about. Striving for peace because I was striving for peace. And I’m going tell you sir, from 2014 up until today, this second wheel on this phone, nobody has been able to break my peace since then.

15:54 That’s awesome. That’s awesome. You’re listening to Abdur Matin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abdur is one of our drivers that well let me just ask you Abdur from where you are. We know you’re in Virginia. Where are you headed? What are you driving?

16:17 Okay. I’m driving a Mack chassis cab and chassis. Is going to McMahon Truck Trucking in Charlotte, North Carolina. They close tonight at 11 and I will be able to drop the truck and that’s where I’m going. Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte, North Carolina.

16:38 Now, you’re a North Carolina guy. You live in North Carolina, right?

16:42 I live in North Carolina. I live in, excuse me, Kernersville, North Carolina.

16:47 Where? It’s right between literally in the middle of Queensboro, North Carolina and Winston Salem, North Carolina.

16:55 I got you. I got you. So, will you be sleeping in your own bed tonight?

17:00 I will. Yes, I will. And that’s the that’s one thing I like about I love about driveaway. You know, if you do everything in an orderly fashion, and you do everything in a systematic way, the way I am, I’m very s I’m very systematic with this, if that’s a word. I want to be home. I try to do something short going out and then something short coming back in. I like to be home. So throughout the week, I’m usually home. Five days out, you see, because I don’t work on the weekend. So, three days out of a week, I’m usually home. And the other two I might be out, but yes.

17:38 I got you.

17:38 So, yes, I’ll be home tonight sleeping my bed. Yes, sir.

17:41 Now, you I guess you would be I guess a little different than a lot of drivers. A lot of drivers like the long runs, but we’ve often said you when you look up on it with further examination, there’s a living to be made on the shorties, particularly if you live in a region like you do that offers a lot of work. And tell us why you like the shorties over the long runs.

18:07 Okay, so the main reason I like the short runs is because for six years, for six years, maybe seven, I watched my daughter and son actually grow up quickly, right before my eyes. Every time I would come home from doing the long runs like California and Utah, you know, Wyoming, I would come back and they would be a half a foot or a foot taller. And I didn’t I got tired of that. That was the ultimate reason for me not wanting to be on the road. I didn’t want to watch my kids grow up like that. I didn’t want to be that driver because I don’t have to be. With driveaway, with driveaway, you are able to make a very comfortable living by doing short runs. And like you said, when you’re in a region like North Carolina like I am and it’s a lot of hugs there and you are able to, you know, get these runs that’s going to Atlanta and, you know, get runs coming back from Atlanta coming right back home to North Carolina.

19:11 So I North Carolina to me is a super place to make a living off of doing short runs with driveaway and but overall my ultimate reason was for my kids. But you can make a comfortable living with driveaway doing the short runs especially when you live in North Carolina.

19:30 Now do you mostly doing the short runs? Are you mostly at home by night? You’re doing day runs?

19:37 Yes. Yes, I’m mostly back home at night. So, what I try to do is I try to do so I’ll grab a run coming from out of let’s say High Point—

19:48 Right?

19:48 Go to go to go to Atlanta. That’s four hours. And then get something else from right back either to High Point or even Charlotte. And if I have to, I will get on the Amtrak. It’s another good source of getting around getting on the Amtrak and get back home. So, yes, I’m 99% of the times I’m back home at nighttime. And I’m not going to lie, I really I even like runs like from High Point to Charlotte. It’s not a far trip, but and then I’ll, you know, make that money and try to get something coming back. If I don’t, I’ll take a train back and I’ll just relax for the day. With driveaway, you’re able to really take advantage of the day, you know, if you don’t want to really go out. This is a perfect career.

20:30 Well, you laid out a good point there. You know, you’re able to see your children grow up and not grow up with, you know, so fast when you’re not there to see it, but you’re able to see them grow up and also in the shorties, you’re sleeping in your own bed. But the other obvious thing there, you’re not spending money on hotels.

20:51 Yes. Never. Yes. Yes. You’re right, sir. That’s another good thing. When you’re doing long runs, you’re spending money on hotels, you’re spending money on food. You know, you’re spending money on showers. Yeah. You a lot more money is coming out of your pocket when you when you’re doing long runs. Yes. So, and you made a excellent point. You save a lot of money.

21:13 Now, do you pack food with your with you when you’re making a run or I know you’re sitting at Food City now or do you eat on the road? How do you tackle that particular challenge?

21:25 It’s a great question. No, I don’t pack food because my intention is always to be back home—

21:32 Right?

21:33 So, yeah, I never I don’t pack food. But when I’m at home, I leave out in the morning. I’ll grab me a bowl of cereal. I only eat I eat very light. So, thank God because I would be spending a bunch of money. So, no, I’ll go out in the I’ll eat some cereal and throughout the day, I’m eating, you know, bananas and fruits and stuff like that. And by the time I come back home, you know, I got I’ll get something to eat. But if I have to eat out, I will I’ll eat one meal. And a lot of times it is either the Waffle House, same meal for the last 11 years scrambled eggs and cheese, grits and toast, no meat, orange juice, and then if I get hungry throughout the, you know, the rest of the day, I just grab a bananas and oranges, apples, add loves or flying jay, and yeah, so I try to keep it very minimal when I’m trying when I’m eating out like the night. Yeah, this is very rare for me cuz I you know I folks have been home.

22:36 So yeah. So you know so yeah folks that have been home said no I don’t pack food sir because my intention is always to be home.

22:42 I got you. Now I wanted to ask you about that meal at Waffle House. Is that always with coffee? Are you a coffee guy?

22:49 I’m not a coffee guy. I don’t drink coffee. I always was—

22:53 That’s another savings right there.

22:56 Yeah. I don’t drink coffee. I never I always I was always scared of getting coffee and this is a thing coffee tea. I never wanted to have brown tea. So I’m always been scared of coffee because I didn’t want my teeth to turn brown. But I always said I didn’t want to look silly by slurping sipping on some coffee out of a straw. But no, I don’t drink coffee. So the same meal, scrambled egg and cheese, grits and toast. I had to slow down on the amount of eggs cuz I was getting three eggs and that’s it. So, no. Yeah, I don’t drink coffee and I do put sugar in my grits, by the way.

23:33 I got you. That’s a good— That’s another topic right there. Sugar or not in the grits. What about salt and pepper?

23:41 No, I don’t piss salt. I don’t piss salt and pepper. But I will tell you this, within the last 6 months to 8 months, I don’t know what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. I have just found out how much I like pepper on my eggs.

23:58 Oh, love.

23:59 I love pepper on my eggs.

24:00 Oh, I’m a huge pepper guy on the eggs.

24:04 Really? Yeah. Me, too. Now, I have not I just found out about this eight maybe six months ago. I’m like, well, I don’t even know how it happened if it happened by accident, but I love pepper on my eggs.

24:15 We’re diving into the life and times of Abdur Matin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, Abdur, you had said earlier you’re a systematic guy and we’re seeing that proven true here when you’re talking about you have the same thing at Waffle House each time when you’re out there. Now, being a systematic guy, I’m sure that helps you out. We’ve talked a little, we’ve touched a little bit on how it helps you on the road, but you take shorties. Is it important to you? And you also mentioned if you want to make God laugh, make a plan. But taking shorties, do you have to have as much of a plan or do things just seem to fall into place?

24:54 No, you still have to plan. I think you still should plan because something can always go wrong as we seen today. Today was supposed to be shorties and it didn’t work out. God laughed at me today. So, Mom, no. Yes, sir. You should always plan, you know, look at the weather, you know, where you going, no matter if it’s the same place you go to all the time. I go to Georgia all the time. I go to Salem and Ren, Virginia. I’m constantly looking at the weather, seeing how the weather is. You want to, you know, you know, look at the news to see about or listen on the radio about traffic, you know. So you should always plan because but always understand your plan may not always go through. But yeah, taking shorties to me the benefits to me is you’ll get home a lot. I’m a homebody.

25:45 So that’s another reason why I don’t mind the shorties. I love being at home. So but yeah, planning is very important. No matter if you’re going to California all the way from North Carolina or if you’re just going to Charlotte, you want to plan. Gotcha. I want to go a little philosophical with you here. You just said that God laughed at you today. And I’m guessing now, correct me if I’m mistaken, but I’m guessing you didn’t laugh back at him. You laughed with him. There is a difference.

26:13 Yeah. I laugh with you. Yeah. I ain’t going to laugh back at you. Yeah. I laugh with God. Yeah.

26:21 Now, how do you explain the difference?

26:23 Well, I guess with laughing with him, I understand that there’s nothing I can do, you know. This is his plan. This is, you know, it’s already written and within this, I know that he’s teaching me a lesson. So, I’m I might as well Hey, look, they say if you can’t beat them, join them. Can’t beat them, so I might as well go on and join them.

26:43 I gotta All right, Abdur, I wanted to ask you this. You’re going to be home tonight. How far from home are you?

26:51 Well, right now I’m in Ratford, like I said, Ratford, Ratford, Virginia. I will be delivering this truck, God willing, by 9:44. They close at 11:00. I’m going to leave right after this interview. And once I drop it off, I will be an hour and a half from home. And I have another unit already for me. That’s why I love driveaway because you can have another company under your belt. I will be getting that unit from a 247 location and taking that home. I live in Kernersville. This unit is going to High Point, North Carolina. And High Point is literally 15 minutes from my home.

27:31 So, you’re going to deliver at 9:45, give or take, this evening, and pick up another unit, have no travel costs, and be ready to hit the road again tomorrow.

27:43 No, tomorrow, Saturday, I don’t work on the weekend. It’s another good thing about driveaway. You don’t have— You can pick and choose your own schedule. No, I will not be working tomorrow. I will take off tomorrow. I plan to go to the flea market. I’m a flea market person and that’s what I’m gonna be doing tomorrow. So, no, I will not work tomorrow.

28:02 But you can stage that other unit.

28:04 Yeah, that other unit where I live, I have the safest locations. The truck will be parked at my home for the weekend.

28:13 But the truck that I’m picking up is already it’s secured already. I got to go check it out. It’s a 24-hour location in Cleveland, North Carolina.

28:23 I gotcha. So, bottom line, you’ve been able to minimize travel costs and you’ll be home for the weekend.

28:31 Yes. And when I plan something, I’m always trying to find something that’s not too far away where I can go get it and go home. Yeah. I try to go wherever I go, I try to have a truck where I can get out of that situation where I deliver to. So—

28:45 That’s smart planning. Smart planning. Now, you’re a flea market guy. Now, you’ve already planned on going to a flea market tomorrow. Is this an indoor or outdoor flea market?

28:54 It’s a outdoor flea market. Tomorrow will be my first time ever going to this particular one. It’s in Salisbury, North Carolina. So, I don’t know nothing about it, but I will be going tomorrow, God willing. And notice I said God willing, because I’m making a plan. And yeah, so I we’ll see. Now, will you be looking for something in particular or maybe just whatever comes your way?

29:21 No, actually tomorrow I will be selling stuff.

29:25 Okay. Okay.

29:26 So, that’s what I’m doing tomorrow.

29:28 You know, that’s what I call what would add up to wham. Are you familiar with wham?

29:34 No, I’m not. Tell me.

29:36 Walking around money. You’ve got some walking around money. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

29:41 There we go. No, but guess what? But I told my fiance, I said, “Do you know what I’m going to do with that money?” I said, “Guess.” She says, “What?” I said, “Cuz I telling you, I reflected today and I paid off some credit card.” I paid off some bills that was on my credit karma. I said, “I’mma pay more bills off whatever money I make tomorrow. I’m going to pay some more bills off on my credit report.”

30:02 Good deal, man. I wanted to ask you, you kind of led me into it because you had talked a little bit about of a kind of a painful divorce you went through back in 2014, but you’ve mentioned a fiance. So, obviously, you’ve turned another page here.

30:17 Yes, I did. It took me a long time because after my divorce, I didn’t date for years. And I really was taking time out for myself because that was a brutal divorce. And so 2020 I, you know, 2019 I actually late 2019 I actually got back out there and I met my fiance. She is a police officer and you know she is one of the nicest persons one of the nicest people that I’ve personally all my life. I said it took all this time in my life, you know, to go, you know, go do what I, you know, go do a girlfriend here and there, then getting married for me to get to her.

31:05 So, we have been together for two years in April. I must admit, I’m calling her my fiance, but she’s not technically my fiance. I call that because I did give her a promise ring as of I want to say it was November. Her. I know it’s been a long time. She been gave me mine, but I was just being patient. I wanted to get her the best one I could get. I got a really, really, really nice promise ring. So, if she doesn’t hear this broadcast, she’ll know that I’m going to propose to her on the 14th of February.

31:39 Okay. Oh, okay. All right.

31:41 So, then she’ll be officially my fiance, sir.

31:44 I got you.

31:44 But yes, I’m back out there. She makes me happy. She’s a good lady.

31:48 And I was going to ask you something there kind of philosophically, too. You said you it took you this long to get to her and obviously you didn’t have a plan but things kind of came full circle and worked out for you.

32:02 Oh yeah. See I like that. You know you’re absolutely correct. Sometime when you’re not looking for a lot of times when you’re not looking for something you a lot of times when you want something and you just don’t look for it comes right to you. Like I have a friend, this is what they used to do when they would lose something, they would say, “I’m not even going to look for it cuz it’s going to show up.” And I watched how that would show up. And it’s the same thing they say also, if you forget something, if you’re trying to remember something, just don’t just go about your day. It’s going to come back to you. So yeah. So yeah, I wasn’t looking— Well, I did go looking for her to be honest with you. I got back out on the scene, but I took time out for myself and it eventually just God lined it up and here we go. Me and her and we going strong.

32:48 You’re listening to Abdur Matin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now Abdur, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to ask you to keep your fiance or not technically your fiance just yet away from this podcast. We’re on many different formats. We’re on many different venues. But I got to ask you this question. Now, you got to keep her away from it before you answer this question.

33:12 You’ve already selected the date. A very popular one. Valentine’s Day. How are you going to do the proposal?

33:19 Well, be honest with you, sir. I don’t have a plan yet. I don’t have a plan. It might be a good thing.

33:25 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

33:26 Yeah. It might be a good thing because God might laugh at me, but right now I don’t have a plan. I know it’s gonna be on that day. But I will tell you how I gave you the promise ring. We were watching a it was a Christmas special and it was about a man. It’s about a woman who was dating a man and he was taking too long to propose to her—

33:49 Right?

33:50 And she said, “When are you going to propose to me? When are you going to propose? It’s been like seven years.” He said, “I’mma get around to it.” So, I paused that film and I asked her, I said, “Do you what do you think about this guy you know, not proposing to her and it’s been seven years?” She’s as she was explaining that she thought it was wrong. I said, “Yeah.” I said, “Well, when I bought then I asked her something like when I get you this promise ring, I took out actually like a video or like I looked on Google. I said, “Which one of these rings would you pick?” She said, she picked one. I said, “Well,” and then I pulled the ring out. I said, “Well, how about this one?””

34:30 And that’s when I pulled that. Yeah. So, as of now, I don’t have a plan for how I’m going to do it, but it’s going to be on that date on February 14th.

34:39 Now, when you did the promise ring, which the story you just laid out there, was that planned or just something that happened spontaneously?

34:45 No, that was planned and it worked good. So, God was with me that day. He didn’t laugh at me. So, no, that was planned. That was planned. It was planned and I was gonna give it to her that day. But the part came that came in with the movie and me that was perfect. That was God. God that’s another thing God was I had to laugh with God that day because God made that special because he made that lady and this man talk about marriage and you know that was just perfect. I just fell right into place. So God was—

35:14 Laid it out right in front of you.

35:16 He laid it right out in front of me. Now, we’ve talked a lot about planning in your personal life and on the road in your professional life as a driver here for Norton Transport. This is Abdur Maten here joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker. You mentioned to me Carson, your dispatcher, Carson, who is a great planner.

35:35 Tell us a little bit about Carson and how she works with you and working in a plan together.

35:40 Yeah, Miss Carson. Now, I think her and God may work together because her plans usually work out perfectly. I think that they working together. She’s just an excellent dispatcher. There’s nothing that I can ask her for that she won’t give me. And that’s why I really because she’s such a good dispatcher, because she has such a great attitude. And I tell people and I also express to other drivers that companies will be very very successful if they are kind if the dispatchers are kind to their drivers. That plays and I tell it’s another company that I’m with. I tell them the same thing. That plays a humongous part on the driver’s morale. When the dispatcher is kind when the staff at the company is kind, it makes you want to go above and beyond for the company.

36:38 So, Miss Carson with her attitude towards me, I’m assuming she’s like this with all the other drivers with her attitude of, you know, just being kind to me and, you know, always being understanding. She’s really one of the best dispatchers, if not the best, because Miss Carly was really nice, really good. She was my first dispatcher with— So, they’re probably running neck andneck. But yes, Miss Carson is such a nice person. She and she’s understanding. It makes me want to go above and beyond. And I understand when you guys have these scheduled dates, I try to really make it happen for Miss Caution and myself. But yes, she’s just very understanding and very nice and I just like her attitude. Her makes me want to deal with her. I do have a dispatcher at another company where she’s horrible. And if she’s so bad, it’s not just with me. Yeah. She’s horrible. She actually has drivers who when they call in, although people may know that you guys when y’all see our names when we call in, they’ll they don’t want to speak to her.

37:47 They don’t even. And then when she asks for them to do something special if Miss Carly was to ask me to do a run for free for her going and coming, I would do it.

37:58 Wow.

37:58 That would I would do that for I would do that for Norton. That’s how good of a company you guys are. If you guys said, “Hey, we need this thing and we can’t we need this r this rant today. It’s hot, but we ain’t going to be able to pay you for a year.” It would get done. So—

38:16 We appreciate it.

38:16 Yeah. And I mean that. Oh man, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. But yeah, so anyway, make a long story short, Miss Carson’s attitude makes me her attitude and understanding makes me want to go above and beyond for Norton. That’s why I said she deserves a raise because she can get you motivated. So kindness is a battery. Kindness is an energizer. Kindness is very important. And she and Norton. You guys, I got to give it to you guys. I will pitch you guys at number one cuz I’ve worked for these Broadway companies. I pitch you there. Number one, because you guys are very very understanding and you’re kind and you do what you say you’re going to do for the drivers. You really do. I called Mr. Levi one day, Levi Scutchins.

39:04 Oh, yeah.

39:04 I asked him to do— Yeah. I asked him to do something and every time I ask him to do something, he does it.

39:11 Oh, yeah. And it was one day I asked him to do something he because I and I really thought that day he was going to forget because it was just so hectic that day and he did it. It was done within 15 minutes and I had to call him back. I said I called him back right after he done. I said Mr. Levi I was just call I was just calling to tell you are a man of your word and I thank you. So bottom line is miss caution kind and understanding. Levi Scudge is the same but Norton overall is an excellent company. Excellent company and I’m happy that I was told about you by a guy I can’t remember his name I can’t remember his name right now but I met him up there in Rel Georgia at Morgan Bodies and I’m so happy that he introduced me to Norton Transport—

40:00 You’re listening to Abdur Maten here sharing his stories times on the road times off the road here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport Abdur we’re very appreciative of a guy of your ability, your outlook, your personality, and just attitude that you have. And thank you very much for the compliments you paid our way. I was going to ask you this question, which you’ve already answered it, but I’ll ask it still the same. Obviously, I know you work for another company. Don’t name that company, but you’re pleased with what we’re doing for you, and I wanted to ask you what you’ve kind of laid out what we’re doing, right? Where could we improve?

40:37 Okay. It’s very hard. When you all you know they say when if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Let me think. And that’s amazing. It’s hard for me to figure out something. If it’s taking me this long, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

40:52 Right.

40:53 You guys are on point.

40:55 All right. Well, we’ll take that. Where’s your next load going to take you? Let’s see. Oh, you got the one out of Cleveland. Where’s it going?

41:03 It’s from Cleveland. It’s going to High Point. And then on Monday, I have one coming out of Mount Holly going back up to was it Roanoke, Virginia. And then I got another one for you guys. Going from Salem down to Ryel, Georgia.

41:17 Man, you got this thing figured out.

41:20 I really do. I really, really do. This is something I really got figured out. You know, before I started working with Norton, I actually owned a few convenience stores. I sold them and then I got into boarding houses. I had 50 tenants and seven boarding houses. So, I’ve always been good at putting things together business-wise. I found out about driveaway. So, I run this like a business.

41:46 Right. I got to ask you, owning convenience stores, running a boarding house, and driveaway. Which one do you like the best and why?

41:56 Oh, Lord. 100% driveaway. With the stores, I had to deal with so many customers. With the boarding houses, I had to deal with so many people. It was a different class of people that I was dealing with. I had to be the police, the jury, the judge, a mother, a father because it was just so much going on with adults there with driveaway. I’m in the truck by myself and the only person I have to see, the only people I have to see throughout the day is the person that’s signing out the truck, signing for the truck, and the Uber driver. So, this is so peaceful. So, remember, I’m striving for peace. And this right here, this is it. Driveaway.

42:45 That’s fantastic, man. I got to ask you this question. Not philosophical, but well, probably a little philosophical, but on the personal side. You’re dating, hope to be engaged very soon, technically have the promise ring for the woman in your life there. You said she’s a police officer. Does she keep you straight? Does she keep you straight?

43:08 Absolutely. Absolutely. When I tell you she is the there’s only one other person I know as nice as her and I tell her this all the time because they act just alike and that’s my dad. That’s my hero. And yeah, she’s very nice and she knows how to tell you off in a very kind way. So yeah, she keeps me straight. In fact, when they need to do negotiations, she’s one of the people that they call.

43:33 But yeah, she keeps me straight. Yeah, she keeps me straight. She also recently told someone that I keep her straight as well. So anyway, we keep each other straight. So yes. Yeah, she keeps me straight though.

43:46 Sounds like a good match, man. If you guys keep each other’s perfect match.

43:51 Fantastic. How did you meet her?

43:53 I met her through social media. I met her on Facebook dating app.

44:00 Okay. And I had been introduced to the dating apps by a friend of mine when I got back into you know wanting to get back out and see if I can meet somebody. So right—

44:11 Some of the dating apps that he was telling me about. I did try them and they were horrible and but the Facebook dating app was excellent because the first thing that people on Facebook would ask for is your Facebook page and I like that. And so they wasn’t able to you know what you call it?

44:30 See your interest or that kind of stuff.

44:32 They can see my they can see if I’m being honest. I can see if they’re being honest. They couldn’t catfish me. I couldn’t catfish them. Not that I wanted to catfish nobody, but yeah. So, Facebook dating app was the best dating app that I ever came across and I started recommending it to people, too. It’s a— It was an excellent app to meet people. It was a lot of professionals on there. But the biggest thing about it to me, you was able to see their Facebook page. So yeah, that’s how I met on Facebook, the Facebook dating app and you know, I see people, you know, people frown upon the dating apps, but I don’t care because you can meet somebody in the library or the supermarket or at church and you could be, you know, headed for a divorce, you know, just as fast as you could meet somebody on the app. So I’m proud to say I met on Facebook dating app. We really, really hit it off.

45:21 You’re listening to Abdur Martin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abdur, I got to ask you, how long have you been doing this? And how long do you see yourself continuing to do this?

45:33 I’ve been doing this for 11 years now, this April coming. And I see myself doing it until I retire.

45:40 I really love it. And matter of fact, yeah, I do. I actually see this as because my dad does it. My dad actually works with Norton.

45:48 Okay.

45:48 I actually introduced him to Norton. Yes. His name is Arthur Kennedy. That’s my dad. That’s my hero. And he actually loves Norton as well. But yeah, he actually retired. He took care of us, you know, he actually retired from a trucking company in New York doing regional work called Border Products. And that was my first summer job at that company. I was 15 years old. But yeah, I look at myself like him. You know, he’s retired and he came back in to do this cuz this is a perfect retirement. This is a perfect retirement. Position. You work when you want to work. You make your own schedule. As long as you do one run a month, you’re with, you know, the company. As long as they’re in existence. So, I see myself doing this until I actually I’m not I can’t even say retire until I don’t want to work anymore.

46:41 How far away is that? I mean, I don’t know if you can see future.

46:44 I can foresee. Yeah. I mean, I’m making a plan, God, so don’t laugh. I There was a young— There was a gentleman. I’m going to call him a young man. He was with the other company that I’m with and he retired at the age of 79.

46:58 Oh my.

46:59 So yes, he’s and he had his toll car. I used to ride with him sometime. He would pick me up from out of Florida at the age of 78. And he was in excellent shape. He kept himself in shape. And that’s another thing I want to tell you too. I keep myself in shape. I work out almost every day.

47:17 Oh wow. But I work out constantly because I take doing this as if I was a basketball player or a football player or you someone in sports. You should always work out because you know your job depends on you being healthy and strong. So yeah. So yeah, I work out keeping in mind that I want to continue to be able to do this, get in and out these trucks and, you know, turn the steering wheel and be able to turn my neck. I keep healthy by working out because I want to continue to work. I think if you work out, you will be able to continue to work. So yeah, if you want to continue to, you know, do your job for another 20 years, work out and cuz you know, I like your, you know, like a boxer, a boxer has to work out in order to, you know, be number one in the ring so forth with the basketball players on the court.

48:09 So if I want to be number one in the truck, I got to continue to work out and keep myself healthy. So yeah, I look I see another 20 years. I could do this. I could do 15 years. God willing. God willing.

48:21 All right, you’re listening to Abdur Matine here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abdur, we’re about to wrap it up here. You’ve been great. We are very gracious or very grateful rather that you’ve spent the time with us. And I want to close it out by what would you say to someone who is considering driveaway as a career? What would your advice be to that person?

48:47 Go for it. Go for it. It’s something that I would I till this day it’s like a dream. Sometime it’s a saying that things sound too good to be true. And when I’m explaining driveaway to someone, I always throw that in there. I always say, I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s real. This is one of the best things that I ever encountered. Yes, go for it. Go for it. Go for I said it three times those two words. If you considering a career, go for driveaway. Go for it. It’s— You can’t be there. You can’t there. What other job out there where you can choose your own schedule? You get paid every day. You only have to work one time a month or maybe twice a month to stay with the company. I don’t know no other company like this unless you actually, you know, out there owning your own business. You know, this is perfect. This is great.

49:48 Abdur Matin joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Absolutely. We enjoyed talking with you, hearing your philosophy of life, how you treat things, how you roll with the day, how you let the day not take over you. We really appreciate you, Abdorin working with us here at Norton Transport and the gratitude you’ve showed us. It’s a mutual feeling.

50:11 Well, I really appreciate Norton. Yeah. And it’s sincere.

50:16 All right. Thank you very much, Abdur Martin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abdur, I hope you make it on time and you’re in your bed this evening by 11:30, 12 o’clock.

50:29 Yes, sir.

50:30 All right. Thank you very much.

50:32 You’re very welcome.

50:40 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.