365 days later..a newbie speaks out

[dabluzman1]

Hi everyone,
Linda and I ( Dave ) entered into expediting just about one year ago.
We are still enthused and will continue into year two.
We were not professional truck drivers. We did go into business with an owner
and contracted with FedEx.

If you want a "fresh" point of view on going into expediting, feel free to ask.
I say "fresh" as our experiences are more of reflex re-actions to new stimuli, market conditions, ROI (eheheheh), traffic lanes, financial, and the daily grind.
We do not have the luxury of years of personal experience to guide us.

I wont give you better advice than the more experienced members here, its just my
perspective on being a newbie will still be on going, and not a memory that may be
skewed by years of experience weighing how it use to be vs the current condition.

Generic info I'll try to respond to here.

More personal info, you will have to PM me, and if it is not to nosy, I'll give you
an answer based on one year of expediting experience.

All are welcome to poke into my private life of expediting.

 

[terryandrene]

Thanx for the offer. We need some candid, forthright comments from the newer folks that have a different perspective than those of us that may be fixed in our ways of thinking. Even the EO and expedite veterans can stand to learn through the eyes of others.

 

[highway star]

So, I guess this would be a RONE(Reflection on Newbie Experience). I'm sure the wannabes would benefit from your perspective.

 

[greg334]

We were not professional truck drivers.

So you don't get paid?

I would say if you drive a truck and get paid, you are a professional... maybe more professional than most....

Good post.

 

[TwoMotherTrkrs]

Congratulations on a successful first year!

 

[Turtle]

We were not professional truck drivers.

So you don't get paid?

I would say if you drive a truck and get paid, you are a professional... maybe more professional than most....

Good post.

were, not are

"We were not professional truck drivers [when we got into this business]."

 

[Tennesseahawk]

were, not are

"We were not professional truck drivers [when we got into this business]."

Open mouth, insert foot.

 

[greg334]

Ok Ok I was in a hurry to post something between offers.

 

[Kyreax]

Sweet!

OK, So...what's different than what you expected? The hours? The pay? Enlighten me...I'm strongly considering entering this field (see my long-winded post in Newbie Forum).

What type of truck did you go with (year, equipment, cl**** size, etc)

Is FEDEX a decent company to work for in our niche?

Have you done many West Coast Runs? (What I want to do).

Thanks!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

At least your only what 60 miles from the Nogales border crossing...can be sometimes active crossing for inbound loads from Mexico.

 

[ATeam]

Great post, Kyreax!

Among experienced drivers, it is a natural occurance to forget what it is like to not know what they now know. This business is not hard to learn. That fact is demonstrated over and over again by those newbies who enter with no experienced and are soon putting up numbers that rival or exceed those of their more senior counterparts.

Thank you for your offer to help. I hope newbies and senior expediters alike take you up on it.

Oh yea, you ARE professional drivers.

 

[greg334]

This business is not hard to learn.

What?

A newbie who has never been in a truck has a large learning curve. Even someone coming from the main stream trucking has a large learning curve. There is no easy business, the work is easy the business is not.

Even under a fleet owner there is a mistakes that are made and money lost.

Don't make it look like a walk in the park because it is not and your single statement makes it look like you can just get a truck/van and start making money - that does no one any good making statements like this.

If it is so easy, why are there a lot of people failing at this?

What sets apart the successful people from the failure?

Maybe the company has a hand in this?

This business is complex, most don't see it but it is. For those who are signed on to company, they don't see the complexity and only make decisions on where to sit or what loads they accept. Most are lucky and some start at the top and have no clue what it is like to be at the bottom working their way up the ladder of success.

I do agree with you that "Among experienced drivers, it is a natural occurance to forget what it is like to not know what they now know."

For experienced owners/drivers, there is still a lot to learn but newbies may read stuff like ROI crap and get more confused by people who want to redefine terms and say that you can do this easily. This business is hard, this business will sink you if you don't know what you are doing - driving for someone or owning your own truck.

I am and you are still newbies, I don't expect to be considered an experienced person in this business until I hit 5 or 6 years of being on the road. Driving for someone only gives you a third of the knowledge needed to be successful.

Sorry dabluzman1 for this, I am happy to see your success.

 

[davekc]

Apparently no one have been to a truck auction lately.
The majority of failures in the truck industry are in the first 5 years. The majority of those that leave from financial distress is considerably higher with new folks, than ones in the business for a considerable time. That would apply to many other businesses as well.
One can find that information by talking to anyone who is involved with truck financing. Many now are requiring X number of years in the industry, before they even consider you.
That doesn't happen by accident. It is knowing the risks.
Doesn't mean new folks can't be successful, but I wouldn't characterize it as a walk through the park.

 

[highway star]

Those that find this occupation hard to learn.... probably find learning hard.

Well said. There's learning, and there's also adapting. I see people who've prospered in a relatively short period of time. I also see people with many years of experience that are on the brink of bankruptcy. The latter are those that refuse to adapt, thinking they can do it "their way", whatever that may be.

I'm not saying there is no learning curve, just that the one for rocket science would be much steeper.

 

[greg334]

Ok Dave, I could not find any other way to put it, maybe it is a walk in the park with geese?

For others I said - and listen closely.... I said - "I am and you are still newbies, I don't expect to be considered an experienced person in this business until I hit 5 or 6 years of being on the road."

There is a very specific reason for this as Dave pointed out. There seems to be a demarcation at the 5 year point in this industry, you don't have to believe me, just look around.

Newbies may have higher numbers - there are a bunch of examples but where are they in 3 or 4 years?

Will they make it to five years?

What about the 10 newbies who failed for that one who is making money?

Will they be able to hold on to that 'let's do better than Sam' attitude come $4.50 or $5.50 a gallon fuel prices?

Maybe, maybe not.

When statements are made about how much people make, there are things left out, maybe some important facts like what the goals are for these people, what do they define success, how are they helped to get those numbers. It does not happen over night, you don't sleep with a expediters manual under your pillow and wake up with luck and offers coming out of your....

Just because you are making money means little, it matters how you use that money and how you gather that knowledge to stay into the business during hard times. Entering during hard times, the strain of things for newbies may even be worse when faced with issues like truck problems, or sickness, they may not handle having a truck sitting there at $100 to $250 a week doing nothing.

And as for learning, hey it seems that we are all different. What comes easy for one does not come easy for others. Business terms and facts are easy to learn but when I say learning this business is hard, I figured that we were talking on the same level ThibodeauxBayou but maybe not.

When I am talking about a learning curve, I am speaking of a few things that are about this specific niche market and how things operate but mainly I am talking about discipline, getting into good habits and keeping them.

I am not talking about taking the Phil approach to study the market place to see where a company like FedEx will be heading or predicting the CPI for April, just talking about learning discipline. This means to listen, read and learning all the time. Adapting is natural part of discipline and so is understanding your limitations and what you can and can not do.

This business is hard, ask any trucker who really works for a living. This business can sink you quick.

Oh, outside of being completely independent, the company holds your future.

 

[Paul56]

This business is not hard to learn.

It is pretty common knowledge in the trucking industry that there is a high rate of newbie failures, so how do we reconcile that with your statement above?

That fact is demonstrated over and over again by those newbies who enter with no experienced and are soon putting up numbers that rival or exceed those of their more senior counterparts.

Can you support this theory with citation?

 

[ATeam]

It is pretty common knowledge in the trucking industry that there is a high rate of newbie failures, so how do we reconcile that with your statement above?

The failures failed because they did not learn the business. It's the same as driving a four-wheeler. It is not hard to learn how to drive a car safely and well. Sadly, there are not a lot of people out there driving cars safely and well. While it is easy to learn, and the how-to information is placed right in front of them, it does not follow that people actually learn.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATeam
That fact is demonstrated over and over again by those newbies who enter with no experienced and are soon putting up numbers that rival or exceed those of their more senior counterparts.

Can you support this theory with citation?

Do you mean a citation as in a quote from a book or a link to an online encyclopedia? No, I cannot. But I can substantiate the statement with the names of newbies I have personally met who did indeed enter the business and put up numbers that rival or exceed their more senior counterparts. Most any recruiter from any carrier can provide names of newbie drivers that have done the same. It happens. Kindly note that I said "over and over again" and not "a majority of the time" or "in most cases"

Thank you for not putting words in my mouth and for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions about what I actually meant. The forum would be a better place if that kind of respect were accorded by and to all members.

 

[greg334]

Which one is it Phil?

The failures failed because they did not learn the business.

or

This business is not hard to learn.

Your telling me that people are lazy because the business is easy to learn, right?

You can't have it both ways, it takes some fortitude to learn any business and this business is not easy to learn. The failures didn't all fail because they didn't learn the business, there were (and in the future are) a lot of issues that cause failures.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Ok... let's get nitpicky here.

Yes, this business is easy to learn. You have company babysitters, in most cases. You drive to point A, pick up, steer to point B, then ask the qc babysitter where you should go for layover. Easy as suckling from a teet.

It's HARD to SUCCEED at this business. Like Greg said, it takes discipline. It also takes a lot of LUCK!!! Learning the business is a helluva lot different than KNOWING the business.

Expediting... so easy a caveman can do it. So hard, a trucker usually can't.

 

[dabluzman1]

Hi everybody, nice thread who started it anyway.....oh that'd be me.
Time to join in.

First, the thing that got the most initial comments.
"were", okay okay, so my grammar sucks, life goes on.
But let me try again.

"Linda and I were not professional truck drivers prior to venturing into the world of
expediting."

Whew, I know that resolved a major issue. Thnx for all the inquiries and comments about it.

Hi Kyreax,
You have a lot of questions and so you should. Our point of view:

"what is different"

The number one answer without a doubt is.....me and Linda!!
We had to overcome our anxieties, fear of failure and most importantly the
pre-conceived ideas we had about expediting. We learned as we went along as we were
exposed to the logistics of this business.

"Hours"

At times the hours are overwhelming. I dont think this will ever change.
Trying to get enough sleep so you can take over your share of driving while on
a 1200 mile 30 hour run is tough. It is especially tough for me as I dont sleep well
while the truck is moving.
Down time must be equally managed or you will go nuts waiting for the next offer.
Have a hobby, be it guitar, sewing, art, online education, whatever, as long as it
entertains and relaxes you while it fills the empty hours.

"Pay"

We started off receiving 60% of the gross + all the fuel surcharge and we pay the fuel.
Then it went to a 62 / 38 split when we got into the DR unit.
We prefer this system even with the high cost of fuel.
For us it provides 3 to 4% more net dollars every month. If you were to Gross $150,000.00
for the year that would be an extra $4000 to $6000 in your pocket. We did considerably
more than $150,000.00 gross this past year and are quite pleased.

"Truck info"

We have been in two trucks our first year.
Both were brand new Columbia Freightliners with a Bentz SST100 condo. The motor in
both is a MB 4000 w/ 450 hp and a 10 speed auto tranny.
Both units were White Glove equipped from the first day.
The first truck was a dry box. We drove it for 6 months and 80,000 miles, and the last
two months we were DOD certified and White Glove. This boosted our income significantly.
The second D unit is a reefer or DR unit. We ran temp control loads for three months and
then were asked to join the T-VAL Division. Again this increased our earnings.

"Is FedEx a decent company"

For us, yes!

"west coast trips"

Not one yet, and that is okay with us.

Kyreax, I hope our experiences, though brief by others in this community, are a help.

Hi Gregg334,

Is Expediting a simple or easy business. I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the
most difficult, expediting is a solid 8.
Why? Long hours driving, weeks maybe months away from home, fatigue, small quarters
with your partner 24/7( If you walk out and slam a door, you just made a booboo).
Anxiety and uncertainties, hopes and realities can make you loony.

Can you make money at this today? Yes!!
How? By Working a lot, and a lot smarter.
Dont just work hard driving long hours, better your odds of making money. Get your
hazmat, Fastp**** DOD Clearance, Pursue White Glove or similar services if available
in your Company.
Hire an Accountant, ASAP.

The learning curve will vary greatly from one individual to another.
All will fall and scrap their knees learning, but some will adapt quicker.
I think it is best to work for an owner. Learn the ropes and then if comfortable with
it, buy your own truck.

Here-in lies what I believe are the most important things to being successful.

WORK ETHIC and GOOD ATTITUDE.

Success is more a function of these two things than anything else.
Combine them with with the ability to adapt and learn and I think you
will have a very good chance of success in whatever the venture.

Before starting, have a plan. What do want to get out of expediting?
Set goals. Dont be afraid to adjust them if unrealistic or to easy.
These should be written down to review as you move foreward.
A Business Plan is a must especially if buying a truck.

Greg thanks for taking interest in a newbies point of view.

Well I hope this insight into a newbies first 365 days helped answer some questions.