OK Dave hit it on the head;
“Liken it to the entertainment/music industry. Many put out a successful first album/CD. That is much different than the ones that continue past the first and remain successful. Maybe one out of ten at best.”
It is not about who is considered successful but more of the amount of failures that happen that worry me. I don’t like to see failure, I don’t like to see people put in so much effort and not getting anything out of it.
Don't you know that there are newbies who are being successful at this and having great numbers - as reported?
Yes I know there are, I talk to one almost every night that has had consistent $8K to $10K months in a sprinter. She seems to grasp the problems I talk about and meets them head on to solve them her way. She seems to think because she is doing well, there are 20 that are not. I can’t compare to her and her little sprinter, but to both of us, it was not about the numbers, it is about keeping a consistent cash flow and not having to be trapped if something goes wrong with a can do attitude is what I have been driving at. By the by, her definition of success is paying her sprinter off and having 2 full years of living expenses saved up, which she says it will take her 4 years to do.
Like Dave pointed out, many put out a successful album but after that, what?
I see a few who go from company to company and can not get anywhere. I know a few who have been with Panther or FedEx and do everything possible but they don’t get those great numbers and get discouraged because of what they read, ‘it is all about those numbers’. It is not what they do that sometimes determines their revenue generation but what the company does or does not do. We are not talking about sitting in BFE Iowa for three days waiting for a load but in a hot area where trucks are moving in and out of. The thought is that they are doing something wrong if they are not generating the revenue is not true, they lack the luck others have or the company is not offering them runs for some reason. This is why I say selecting a company that will fit you, not you fit the company.
Does it bother you that much Greg that a newbie is having success in these hard times.
Your own words "you are a five year newbie". Long time , time to graduate and move up
a notch dont ya think.
Honestly, nope I am not bothered by it, I celebrate the success you and a few others have but wish that success happens to all. But the reality is that you are somewhat insulated from the hard times by the fact you are driving for someone else, you lack that risk that the owner is taking and you can walk away if it doesn’t work out. That is great, really. Maybe the owner you are driving for has 10 trucks on with FedEx or just two, but they treat him differently than a single owner because they know he has a greater investment in seeing success for both himself and the company, I know this because I was a fleet owner and it was discussed.
Is it a bad thing for this insulation to be there? No but then again I also don’t believe that driving for someone else affords you the experience that you get by being an owner, which I know you do agree with.
Does it bother you that someone who had zero knowledge of expediting is making a living and not falling into the hard dire times you love to talk about.
Nope, not at all. I like to see things become easier, I would like to see things for all to go back to what I was told it was like but I don’t think it will.
But being blunt, what was mentioned in other threads is that many get into this employee mode or attitude and they don’t know what to do if something happens to their comfort zone, is something that I don’t see discussed too often. I would rather warn people, be a pessimist and let them read what I have to say or read what I say when I see something I don’t agree with than to have them just be steering wheel holders.
Make sense?
I do wish you luck and success but I also wish everyone else the same thing…. Why did you post here?
