00:07 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. This is Justin Scott. Today with me I have Jose Palma, deck driver with Norton Transport. Jose, how you doing, buddy?

00:38 Hey, good, good over here. You know, just driving.

00:41 Good, man. Well, we’re glad to have you. Glad you took some time out to talk to us today. I know you’re driving. I know you got stuff going on, but we certainly appreciate you taking the time out of your day. So, tell me what you got going on, man. Where are you driving to? Where you coming from? What’s up in Jose’s world today? Well, you just called me from a little Vegas thing that I did over the weekend after a load.

01:02 Okay.

01:03 And after that, I picked this up and it’s going last stop is Philly. You know, I dropped two in Virginia and I got one right before Philly and I’m trying to make that flight so I can pick up my next load and get to the skydiving appointment. But, you know, that’s how we do over here.

01:21 So, you’re trying to boogie. So, you got a deck set you’re on right now and you’re dropping a you units there ending up in Philly and then you were in Vegas before that. Now, we got I got some questions that I wanted to ask you, but I’m going to take a I want to take a break from that cuz I want to hear more about this Vegas trip. So, did you deliver in Vegas or was this like a vacation type thing or—

01:41 I had plans. It’s my friend’s birthday and then I got that late because I was busy on a delivery that I couldn’t make in time. So, I left my last exit in Oklahoma City, then took a flight over to Vegas—

01:55 And then the story is history from there.

01:59 I know that’s not where the story is.

02:01 No. Well, like they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

02:06 I was about to say that next. I Yeah, you’re right there. You’re right there. No doubt. Well, did you have a good time, though?

02:12 Yeah. Yeah, of course. Of course, man. I love it, man. I love what I do cuz I’ve incorporated everything I do around work. So work comes fun twice cuz I like what I do. So that’s fun. And whatever I pick to do, obviously that’s going to be fun, too.

02:28 Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you work hard, you play hard. That’s our motto here, man. You got to enjoy yourself. Otherwise, you’re going to get burned out and it’s not going to be any fun.

02:36 Yeah. I mean, Vegas got, you know what? Vegas got gambling, strip clubs restaurants. You stopped at gambling and strip clubs.

02:47 Well, yeah. I mean, I’m not going to a charity event or to church or nothing like that, so—

02:53 Oh, I feel you, man. Well, I was in Vegas last year about this time last year. It was my first time and we had a blast. I loved it. You know, it’s such a cool town, cool city. So, no, I feel you, man. Well, good. Well, tell me about how you got started into trucking. So, you work with us for Norton Transport now and driveaway. What’s your history in trucking? How did Jose get started?

03:15 Well, basically to bring it from the top about five years ago, I left New York. I was tired of the results I was getting with my life. You know, I was like 35. So, getting my CDO is like a game changer, lifesaver for me.

03:30 Sure.

03:30 Cuz everything before that is you name it, you know, I’ve been through it all. So, I just decided to pick up and go. Went to California, was there for a couple months. Then I went to LA, which that was my friend’s birthday. We went to Vegas. So, I went to his house and he’s been trucking for a while. So, he was like, yo, why don’t you just get your CDL? And I’m like, where? He’s like, go to Phoenix. I was like, I don’t know nobody over there. He said, don’t worry about it. You got some money. I had a,000 bucks. He’s like, his plan was just rent the room for a month. You get your CDL in 30 days and you’ll be all right. So I’m in the Greyhound now to LA because he didn’t want me in his house. So I had to do something. So I get to get to Phoenix. I go to the school AIT, you know, an accredited school, whatnot. And then he’s interviewing me. And then he’s like, “Well, you got to have your license for 30 days in Arizona.” And I’m like, “Okay, I don’t have that.”

04:28 So he’s like, “Go to the DMV from here.” I went there. They switched my license the same place. Then I’m looking for work. Then I found a driveaway job with a company that that I started with, a mom and pop driveaway company. There I learned that, you know, if you don’t have experience, they’re going to pay you less and you got to do a lot of deadheading. Deadheading means you don’t get paid for the driving. And I traveled the whole country right before I went to Norton. So by the time I got to Norton, I already knew like every single city, truck stop, every little back road by then. So, it took me like two years to get to Norton and then Norton doing the singles and here I am. Got graduated to the deck sets.

05:11 All right. Well, like what was your experience at the other company? So, I know you said you had to do a lot of—

05:17 Compared— Yeah. Compared to compared to Norton, I mean, number one, you got to wait all week to get paid. Number two, they give you cash advances, but they, you know, everything was a tax. So like rental cars I had to pay for, flights I had to pay for, everything I had to pay for. So like when I got I stopped paying for it.

05:40 Oh man, that’s great. Well, that and that, you know, yeah, if you run hard, but that just goes to show folks out there that are, you know, looking to get in trucking, you know, you flipped the script and decided to do something different and, you know, yeah, you had to, you know, had to grind it out a little bit for two years, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, experience you know, time. The time’s going to go by no matter what you do. So, you know, get that experience in while you can.

06:04 Well, what was it like learning how to drive a truck? So, for you, like for the first time, you stopped everything. You’re 35. You’re going to drive a truck. You never drove before. What was that like?

06:14 Ah, man. Nervous.

06:17 Yeah—

06:18 It was nervous. And for me, it was pressure. A lot of pressure. You know, in the school, I was nervous cuz I failed the first time I took the road test. And I failed going straight back. The first manu— No, the second maneuver I fail and he’s like, “Oh, you hit the cone. I hit the cone three times. I had to do it over.” So, super nervous.

06:36 Yeah. Yeah. Well, I shoot. It’s a different world, you know, and that’s and I think that’s why you know, you know, you can respect those that that are out there that are learning to drive that are, you know, taking that leap because it is nerve-wracking. I mean, that’s a big vehicle that that you’ve got to control. So, like let’s talk about, you know, money a little bit. So, you know, you’re able to go to Vegas. You’re able to kind of do what you want to do. Work hard, play hard, like we talked about earlier. So, what’s the money like compared to what you used to do?

07:03 It depends, you know, how you look at it for me. I mean, I this money is more earned and it’s more in the loyal system, you know, as opposed to money I used to earn back when I was younger. Mhm.

07:15 But like now and then, you know, starting from the beginning going, you know, from 30 to 50 to, you know, to the 100th now, you respect it more cuz before Vegas, I was in Bourbon Street cuz I was in a connecting flight. Met a girl. She’s like, “Yo, I live in New Orleans.” I’m like, “Yeah, yo, I’m going to get a load.” And what happened? My next load was going to Florida from Texas and New Orleans is right under 10.

07:39 Yeah. Yeah. It’s right there. I found truck parking hotel for the weekend and I’m like, yo, things like that just happen so randomly. So—

07:48 Yeah, that’s kind of like a rockstar type life right there. I like it.

07:54 Oh, yeah. I mean, ever since doing deck loads, it’s gotten even better. Random things like that do pop up.

08:02 Good stories to talk about, though. That’s for sure.

08:05 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I’m not married. I don’t have kids. I mean, I did have a long-distance relationship in Dominican Republic for almost two years, which I was flying there every like month and a half after a load and then from Dominican Republic going straight to a load. So, I’d pay that way and then Norton paid me from going from there to a deck load.

08:26 Yeah. And I think that’s the cool thing is, you know, when you when you’re delivering somewhere or you’re not delivering somewhere and you’re looking to get a load, you know, it’s like, okay, well, let’s get you there because the quicker we can get you there, the quicker that that customer is going to be satisfied. So, that’s our stance on it. You know, how do we logistically move folks the quickest way around and, you know, it’s flights, right? I had to learn all that cuz there’s no school to teach you logistics as far as like where to get flights cheaper to go here or there, which airports cost more, you know, like all that comes with time. Like, you know, thinking off the top of my head, I would have been, “Oh man, that’s expensive to go to DR or to go to Vegas or any of that.” But with time, you start learning with all the tricks.

09:11 Yeah. Yeah. And that’s something that I think is cool, too. So, what about that? So, what’s the coolest hotel that you’ve visited? So, obviously when you’re traveling around doing dexits, what’s your favorite hotel to go to?

09:23 I mean, I usually do the I do choice hotels, so anything that’s comfort in comfort suits, I know it’s going to be good. Sometimes a little pricey, but you pay what you get for I have co-workers that they be like they I’ll never stay there. They rather be in Motel 6. And be like, “All right, well, you get a pillow a bed without a pillow top.”

09:45 Yeah. You do what you do. I’m going to do what I do.

09:48 Yeah. Yeah. But for us, the biggest thing is truck parking because I’ve stayed in low-end hotels like Roadway or Conno Lot only because they got truck parking. So, it all depends, you know.

09:59 Yeah. And with deck sets, yeah, with deck sets, you can’t go in reverse. So, I be calling these people like, “Yo, I need space to go pull in forward and pull out forward.” This ain’t no regular truck stuff, you know.

10:10 Yeah. I mean, that’s I mean, especially when you haven’t had a drop yet, I mean, you’re 90 feet plus sometimes. And then two is it like when you pull in and you ever see people like look at you like, “What is that?” You know, “What are you driving?”

10:23 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I for me when I explain people what I do, they be like, “Oh, so what you haul?” I was like, “Nah, it’s that this doesn’t work that way. We actually we deliver the trucks. We get our hands dirty. We got to have tools, you know. We actually throwing 200 pound saddles around which is a iron bar that if it lands on your foot, you’re gonna lose your foot. So, it’s more complicated than just trucking.”

10:47 Yeah, it is. So, explain that for a second cuz you know, I know obviously there’s a lot of folks in the driveaway industry that know about undecking, but you know, when you deliver these trucks that are stacked like that, you know, it’s a process to get them set down, get them put back together a lot goes into that. So, you know, was it tough learning how to do that? And you know it’s dangerous work too.

11:09 I mean my boss convinced me when he first was telling me he’s like this that whatever and I’m like nah I’m not ready. He’s like well you might make you gonna make like six figures. I was like ah all right when I start.

11:22 Yeah I’m ready now.

11:25 So then when I went I you know after like the second load I was like oh man I don’t think I could do this. I was at a place where like it was muddy it was raining. It was the winter cuz you know you do this in all the elements. So I was like, “Oh man, I don’t know if I could do this.” But I did two more loads and the rest is history. I mean, you do your little mechanical work, your little electrician stuff. I mean, it gets it’s easy and it’s not easy depending on where you go.

11:53 Yeah.

11:53 But it’s an adventure each and every time cuz it’s never exactly the same.

11:58 Yeah. Yeah, and I think that’s the cool part about it. And that’s cool to share, too, because, you know, there is a lot of work that goes into, you know, a lot of, you know, when you’re not just driving freight, delivering the terminals, you know, you’re actually unstacking these trucks and you got to put them back together, right? You got to, you know, install the stacks, you got to do everything that the customer is expecting. So, sometimes that can be pretty tedious work, especially when it’s, you know, 15 degrees outside.

12:21 Yeah. But it’s like I tell everybody, the most we’ll have is four trucks. It’s like it’s an hour truck, you know, and then the last truck you really don’t the one you’re driving, you really don’t got to do nothing once you get there. So—

12:34 Yeah, she’s ready to go.

12:35 Think thinking about all the hours that you work. If I drove 20 hours and I only worked like physically four at the most, that’s not that bad.

12:44 No, no, not that bad. And the pay’s pretty good, too, right?

12:46 Oh, yeah. Pay is fantastic.

12:48 Oh, so so how do— So, what do you do for fun when you’re on the road? But I know obviously the vacations and stuff like that, but you know it’s a lifestyle that can get you know you’re driving. So what’s some things that you do for fun?

13:01 I mean I well when I was stopping in the singles I could stop on more Planet Fitnesses but I do the little workout thing, the little health stuff to so I don’t I can so I can have a better chance to keep doing this type of work. I mean that’s how I got into that.

13:17 That’s great. You know, in the industry we’re in, talked to a lot of folks that struggle with health. You know, they struggle with how to stay physically active on the road. So, share some of the tips that you did and how you got into that and what made you decide to do that.

13:30 Well, my brother-in-law stepped to me. I mean, I don’t know if I should say the name of the company, but it’s a nutrition company, you know, sell shakes or whatever. And then my decision I was already at 210 215 smoking cigarettes drinking and eating you know oh just cuz I’m all over oh I’m going to eat this and do that.

13:49 Yeah tastes good.

13:50 I was like I needed to change the habit cuz I can’t sustain that for another 20 years.

13:57 So I got into that you know it’s healthy shakes meal replacements. I lost 30 lbs—

14:03 And I just kept the routine going around. You know, lately because of this co thing hasn’t been as many gyms. Yeah. I mean, I still keep up on my shakes. I’ve only gained like four pounds since, but that’s not that’s still not bad, you know, without exercising as much.

14:18 Hey, if you took the average American gain weight during CO, I guarantee it’s going to be a hell of a lot more than four pounds.

14:27 Yeah. Yeah. You know—

14:29 So you’re— No, you’re right there. So what’s changed with co being out on the road and seeing everything and you know obviously you know it’s—

14:37 I mean—

14:38 It’s crazy now, right?

14:39 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I never stopped. So I was working right in the height that you would only just see trucks. You wouldn’t even see a car out, you know? And it was a bit depressing cuz I’m like where’s everybody at? I’m on planes with four people. I’m like damn this is crazy. And then you hear in the news and I’m at any second I’m like oh it’s going to be all over. But with time, I mean, people most people are like, we got to live. I mean, we’re going to, you know, die if we just lock in forever, you know.

15:10 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, that was with us, you know, we got to survive and, you know, we’re a business and, you know, we’ve got folks like you and many others that rely on us, so we’ve got to keep these wheels turning.

15:21 Yeah. Yeah. I mean I don’t you know well I am single so like I’m trying to like get like a owner property before I call like a home. I mean I got my family I stay there but you know they’re like the beginning I’m like yo they quarantine I’m out here trucking. I might bring it to them so I can’t even go there. I like I got to stay out here.

15:42 Yeah. So So what about like you know your lifestyle versus what you used to do? Do you ever like miss just the regular, you know, being in one place every day and working that standard, you know, 8 to 5, 9 to5 thing or do you enjoy what you’re doing?

15:58 I enjoy what I do and I never really worked at 9 to5 per se because I did a bunch of nightife stuff, club stuff, and everything that’s negative about nighttime. So, I like it now because I don’t worry about nothing. I don’t, you know, I have to watch my back. I don’t you know I don’t have possibilities of police messing with me, going to jail. None of that stuff. So this is like very life-changing for me. And you know, a lot of people that have known me, they’re like, “Wow, you really change. You know, you motivate me.” And I’m like, “I was like, I can’t, you know, at 35 like you know, I don’t want to be 45 doing, you know, 10 years or something crazy like it doesn’t make sense.”

16:40 Yeah.

16:41 Like I want to live, you know? So, I love it, man. I love it. I you know, I wear my headset. I walk into anywhere cuz then people like, “Yo, ain’t they racist over there or this that.” I was like, “Yo, I don’t worry about that. I just go wherever.” And every time the one thing that always saves me is my head. They be like, “Hey, you’re a trucker.” And then that’s it. It takes off from there, you know, whether it’s a bar, restaurant, it always works out. So, it’s kind of cool. It’s like being a cop or a soldier or a trucker. Everybody’s like, “Thank you for your service.” Or I know a trucker. My uncle’s a trucker, so I don’t know. It works out. I like it. It’s a lot better than being, “Oh, I know him from the clubs.” Or, you know—

17:23 Yeah. You mean you’re respected, you know? You get that that badge of honor. And, you know, unfortunately, you don’t have a uniform like police officers and firemen, but that headset can sometimes kind of be that giveaway, you know.

17:36 Yeah. Yeah. Our headsets are uniform. I wear it everywhere. My friends make fun of me. I post social media with on they’re like yo what are you doing landing a plane or taking an order I’m like whatever you don’t get it—

17:48 Doing my thing you know this is what we do but it’s true and you know you can always find some common ground especially with somebody like you said that knows a family member or themselves have been in trucking and you know appreciate the service like you said it’s a it’s tough gig out there you know the work that you put in the amount of that you’re away from home and then not to mention the dangers of the lifestyle I mean— You got to be constantly on your toes. I mean, it’s not about all it’s not always about all how you’re driving, you know? It’s about other people, too, right?

18:19 Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I wish I would have done this at 21, 22 instead of, you know, kind of late in the game, but I still look good. Nobody believes me when I tell them my age, you know, 42 now, and they be like, “What?”

18:33 Now, lately, the women I talk to, they’re all like 27 and 30. I’m doing all right then. Yeah, you’re doing real good, man.

18:42 Oh, man.

18:43 Oh, that’s great. So, so you know what about money when it comes down to money and being on the road and, you know, part of the Six-Figure Trucker obviously with you guys, you know, making a killing in driveaway doing deck sets? What are some ways that you can maximize your earnings on the road or ways that you can save or something specifically that you do that that that you heard from a friend or, you know, what are some ways that you try to save while you’re out there? Well, for me, since I do the Herbal Life thing, I do the meals, the meal replacement. So, I always get the gallon of water. I try to get it not in a truck stop, but if I forget, I’m going have to spend that extra two $3 on the on a gallon of water. But the meal replace a meal. I’m full. Then I can time out where I’m going to eat. It has to be a truck stop cuz that’s the only place we fit. I do the little Subway thing and then another meal replacement later on. And you know, each meal is like a $150.

19:41 So I spend $3 on the healthiest meal—

19:45 Then I try to eat something healthy along the way. It all varies. But I mean, my biggest thing is I save money on meals like that cuz when I do stop and I don’t have a text, I’m going to spend $20 on a meal, 25. I’m not driving.

20:00 Yeah. Yeah.

20:01 You know. Well, what so what are some other you know you mentioned Subway and you know when I think of places and you go and you know look for healthy options. Subway is a good fresh option. What are some other things that you look for cuz not all truck stops have that option? So are there other things that you look for in terms of nutrition or something that’s—

20:19 I mean basic basically water every once in a while you know they got like hard-boiled eggs or the bananas you know and that that that’ll hold you over you know till you get to where you’re going.

20:31 Yeah. You know, every once in a while if you wait too long, it happens to me and then you’re just trying to get to where you’re going and it’s 10 o’clock because after 10 o’clock it’s rough.

20:41 Yeah. Yeah.

20:42 You’re going to make some bad choices after 10. Likely, right?

20:44 You end up with like Domino’s, Burger King, you’re like, “Ah, why’ I do it?”

20:49 You always feel bad afterwards, right? You always regret it. Tastes so good, but the feeling you have afterwards.

20:54 So, what about Norton? So us, you know, Norton Transport, what are some ways that, you know, we can, you know, give you a chance to make more money on loads? Is there anything specifically that jumps out to you?

21:04 Yeah, just give me runs that are 2,000 miles each and that’ll be fantastic.

21:09 That’s good, right?

21:11 So that that’s what you know, hey, miles, you know, miles is money. That’s what we’ve heard. And you know that’s certainly what we always try to—

21:18 Miles are money but doing deexits doing too long of miles you got to be more responsible of where you’re going to stop cuz you can’t do it in one day. So that that’s the tricky part. I lately I try to do you know 700,000 miles which I can knock out fast. I don’t have to worry about too much.

21:38 Yeah.

21:39 Them long miles you have to worry. I mean, as far as making money, I mean, we’ve been doing good, man. I’ve been happy since I got there. I mean, every driveaway company got the weird little kinks and stuff, but as long as you respectful and patient, Norton will I’ll figure it out. Yeah, that’s the philosophy I think that, you know, you got to have because everybody’s got to work with everybody and we’ve got to figure things out here and there, but you know, I think people, you know, people want to want to take care of other people and we want to make sure that we invest in people and that’s been Norton’s philosophy since day one when Calvin first started in 1999 is, you know, always remember what helps drive us and that’s people. It’s people in the office, it’s people on the roads, it’s our customers, our people there.

22:25 So, you got to be respectful and you got to—

22:28 I mean, there’s a lot of drivers, co-workers that I’ve known that they just they flip out. Like, you can’t flip out. This is business, you know, like at a certain time, at a certain level, you got to be patient. You got to be patient. If you can’t be patient, it’s going to it’s not going to work out.

22:44 No, that’s my opinion.

22:45 No, I’m with you there. So, what about driver reward points? We’ve got Norton Plus rewards. Have you ever looked at the leaderboard and kind of said, “Man, how do I”

22:53 Yeah. Yeah. When they first started that I maintained in the top two when they first started it back like two years ago.

23:02 I’ve seen you up there. I’ve seen you up there.

23:04 Do you ever look at it?

23:05 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, as time goes on, I start knowing running into other drivers. So then I can call them and be like, “Yo, what’s up? Step your game up.”

23:15 Yeah. Where you at?

23:16 They do that to me, you know? So it’s a little friendly push.

23:21 Yeah. Yeah. And I think for us it’s the you know rewarding those that are running hard. I mean we give extra cents per mile for those that are in the qualifying brackets there. So—

23:31 You it used to be monthly and then someone switched it to every three months.

23:36 Yeah. Quarterly. Quarterly it gives a chance to build up a little bit longer. You know like you probably can say this like one month could be a lot different than another month. Like maybe you’d go on vacation or maybe you take some time off to do whatever and then one month you’re just running hard. So feel like you know some months are down, some months are up. So combining all that kind of gives you a chance to make a little bit more money.

23:59 Yeah. I mean it’s October 2nd now. This is running hard season because drive slows down in January.

24:06 Yeah.

24:08 The smart guys that do driveaway, they don’t work December, January, and February.

24:14 Man, that’s nice. Take the holidays off, huh?

24:16 I know. I know. I know. I mean, I’ve always said that and it never happens for me cuz I’m still a little nutty up there, you know. But—

24:25 We want to keep you moving, too—

24:27 You know. I don’t save enough to, you know, I don’t do like the bears to hibernate, man. I don’t store enough. I could just stay in the—

24:36 You got to keep rolling.

24:38 Yeah, I got to keep rolling.

24:40 Oh, that’s cool. So So you headed to Philly. Anywhere Philly that you like to stop like you like to go anywhere up there that you like?

24:48 Philly cheese steak all the time. I go to a place called Tony Luke’s. It has truck parking. It’s I’ve been going there like four years now.

24:56 Tony Luke’s.

24:57 So that that’s what I know. Yeah, that’s what I know cuz I went to all the, you know, attractions Philly cheese steak places, but I didn’t like them. And you can go with a rental car.

25:09 Yeah, that’s true. Yeah. Yeah. They’re like touristy looking ones like downtown and stuff.

25:13 Yeah. Yeah. Not worth it. No.

25:16 Tony Luke’s is pretty good.

25:17 Love a good Philly cheese steak. What So you’ve been on the road, let’s say, for what? I guess what? Seven years. Is that right?

25:23 Seven years. Five. Five, six years. Something like Yeah.

25:26 I’m sure you’ve learned a lot, saw a lot. What’s one of the coolest things you’ve done or the craziest thing that’s happened to you while you’ve been on the road? I mean, I can I can’t say the craziest thing, but like the best thing is is those random cool people you meet, whether it’s, you know, a girl or just a friend you meet along the way cuz you bump into people that you thought would never speak to and end up like you feel like you know each other for a while. So like you know for me certain times when I stop to eat or when I’m in connecting flights or depending who’s sitting next to me in a plane and you know I tell them my story and tell me theirs and that that that’s like I have a lot but it’s like I like those random ones that I’ve met. I’ve met people that that give me religious stuff like yo do you read the Bible and this? I said no not really but yo tell your story.

26:28 Please keep telling like you did you helped me and or I meet someone I said, “Hey, give me a number. Call me later.” Like it’s all that’s like the greatest thing for me.

26:38 Yeah. I feel like it’s like living, you know? You’re out there living and you can connect with cool people, hear their story. I mean, that’s what’s cool about our industry, I think, is everybody’s got a cool story, everybody’s got something. And, you know, some people are passionate about some things and some people are passionate about other things. And I’m with you, man. It’s cool to hear that. It’s cool to listen to what people have to say and I’m like you share your story, man. Let me hear it. You know, there’s nothing that’s off the table. So, that’s awesome, man. It sounds like you’re out there having a good time, enjoying it, and definitely really like what you do. So, what’s—

27:11 Team Norton?

27:12 Team Norton, man. Team Norton. Well, shoot. Well, appreciate you. I know you’re driving. You’ve spent some time with me today, but I think you know if you were to look back and say, you know, what is one thing you’d like to tell yourself at 30, at 25, what’s something you wish you could go back and tell your younger self?

27:32 You should have got into trucking earlier. Life would have been a little less bumpy.

27:40 Well, man, we’re glad to have you. We’re glad you got in it when you did. It sounds like you’re killing it out there on the road. And we appreciate that. You’re making money. You’re having fun while doing it. You’re connecting with people. And that’s what it’s about. And you’re trying to stay healthy while you’re doing it, too. And I’m going to tell you, man, out of all the people I talked to, that’s tough. You know, that’s a struggle for everybody. So, kudos for sticking with it and being out there doing your thing, man.

28:04 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I strongly believe in that, you know. Do my shakes. I take supplements. I take every pill under the sun cuz I can’t eat an organic salad every whenever I want, you know. It’s not possible.

28:18 So, yeah, I try. So, if I keep it consistent with at least supplements I should be all right. I mean, I don’t know. At the end of the day, I Nobody ever knows.

28:26 No—

28:27 You just know. Oh, damn. You’re 80. Still here. Yeah, I’m still here.

28:33 You’re trying to control what you can control. You’re right, man. Nobody knows our expiration date, but you know, do what we can to be active and take the right supplements and the right things to keep us healthy, especially when you’re on the road cuz it’s a lot of idle time, right? You’re sitting, you’re driving.

28:49 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s another thing, you know, most of us, you know, we got to stretch. Stretching is the biggest thing.

28:57 Yeah. The blood clots is dangerous.

29:00 Yeah. That’s why I stopped smoking. I mean, I was like, I can’t keep smoking. I mean, it’s crazy. I see I’ve seen a lot of people get the big giant cup that it looks like a helmet. Fill it up with soda.

29:13 Let me get two cartons. Let me get two cartons and a big soda. I’m looking at I’m like really—

29:19 I know.

29:19 What are you doing?

29:20 I know it’s tough. It’s you know you get and that stuff’s good. So I know it’s with it’s like hard to hard to stop. I’m—

29:27 The hardest thing is entertaining yourself while you’re driving. You know it’s your mind messes with you. So it’s like you got to process it. Like I listen to TV show. Well, not a t you know, radio different radio show. Like I just don’t listen to music, you know. I listen to a book like space it out, you know, something positive, something that that’s going to tweak your brain a little, you know, some positivity like personal development or you every once in a while you’ll listen to some hood. Well, like how we say some hood, some—

30:02 Some ghetto. Yeah—

30:04 But you have to switch it up and have a routine cuz if your routine is going to be just drinking soda and having a bag of chips cuz that they just feeding a routine, you know, and that that I think that’s the hardest thing for me is a little easier. I’ve had idle time. I know what it is to sit somewhere for like, you know, it feels like forever and not talk to anybody. So going into trucking was a like a perfect transition in a way cuz now I could be idle time and I’m making money and whenever I get out the freaking truck I got money.

30:38 Yeah.

30:39 So it’s a perfect transition for me. I don’t let it mess with my head. I’m all right being quiet for a few hours.

30:47 Well, that’s a good point though, man. Yeah, your mind needs massaging. And you know, I love listening to music, but if when you’re on the road that long, you got to got to throw some different things up, you know, in the you know, in the fold there. Maybe it’s the Six-Figure Trucker podcast. Maybe it’s a you know, an educational book or you know, maybe it’s a comedy show or so, you know, whatever it may be. You know, throw something different in there. Change it up.

31:12 It’s a pretty cool idea, man. Like I told you, like not a lot of people don’t know what we do, man. So—

31:17 Well, that’s why we want to get it out there and have people learn and know that there’s an opportunity in trucking that’s different than I guess your traditional freight style trucking. So, Jose, man, I appreciate it. I appreciate you having on. I appreciate what you do. You’re killing it with Norton Transport. We thank you for that. It’s been a pleasure. I hope to have you back. We’ll share some more stories.

31:37 All right. I got plenty.

31:38 All right. Be safe. Enjoy that Philly cheese steak in Philly, man.

31:42 Oh, I will. I might get two later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cool, man.

31:47 Oh, whoa. By the way, hold on. If you don’t mind, you think I can share like my Instagram and stuff like that?

31:55 Yeah. Yeah. Let us know. Let us know what you got.

31:57 Okay. Well, my Instagram is Chepe QBX. That’s— Well, CHP is a nickname for Jose for Colombians. If nobody knew. QBX stands for Queens in the Bronx cuz I’m from New York City. So, it’s C H E P QBX. You know, I do my trucking job number one and my part-time is a urbal life coach. You know, I do the coaching. I mean, I could just motivate you on the phone. I can’t force you to work out. I can’t force you to buy products. But if you buy products and you’re really into it over the phone, I can motivate you, plug you into chats, do the internet stuff, cuz if you follow me, you see that I do it every day. And you know, other than that, I do that at the same time as trucking. Trucking is number one, though. Well, I can agree to that. I follow you on social media. I don’t remember which platform it is, but I see your trucking pictures and your stories all the time and they’re always cool. You’re always sharing what you’re doing for breakfast healthwise and then you’re always sharing, you know, where you are, what kind of trucks you have.

32:59 So, I can attest to that is there is some cool stuff that you’re posting out there. So, thank you for that, man.

33:05 I try to do it mostly positive, but you know, I’m only human. Every once in a while you might see me partying, but you know, you got to have a you got to have a little fun with your little, you know, you got to earn it.

33:15 Hey, we’re not here.

33:16 It’s all good.

33:17 We’re not here for a long time. We’re here for a good time.

33:22 I like it. I like it.

33:24 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.