It's a Team's Life

Shifting Sand

Whenever stepping out to the edge in business or contemplating a change we often hear the sky is falling, the world is coming to an end, as we know it, and many doom and gloom prophecies... When we made the announcement that we were leaving our so-called stable and secure jobs we were bombarded by many negative comments by many of our naysayer friends.

While talking with a friend, we started discussing how the shifting sands of a business parallel the shifting sands of life. We went from a stable environment at our parent's house to being married and having to adjust to the creations of our own environment. Soon we had a child from an unplanned pregnancy and lifestyle changed again. A second unplanned child created different challenges and twenty years later we were empty nesters, which allowed further lifestyle adjustments. With each change in our life we adjusted and moved on to accommodate the changes. After each change we survived and continued to thrive and enjoy life.

When we left our "secure" jobs and started our trucking business we had time to think about the changes before making them. We were able to plan our future instead of how in our personal lives the changes hit us like a ton of bricks and then we adjusted.

When we bought our first truck we read the sky is falling and with all of the changes coming in trucking it was not a good time get into trucking or to buy a truck. The carrier that we picked many years ago was going through changes and who knows how stable they would be in the future and what their future plans where. Hours of service were changing for the worse and many seasoned drivers were going to leave, as it was so bad we. Most everything we read was the sky is falling and the end as we know is coming.

Well we bought that first truck, leased on to a carrier we researched, adjusted with the changes to the Hours of Service and now we are getting ready to purchase our third truck. Still we are hearing the same doom and gloom and from many of the same people.

I was recently asked "Are you worried about buying a new truck right now?" the quick answer was "NO". We are not stuck to only one business model and our business model can change over night. Maybe the type of freight we enjoy hauling now will not be available tomorrow, that is not a worry as their will always be freight, our business model is to place us in the best possible situation so that we are able to take advantage of what ever we can. We can change our plans over night and continue to be available for freight.

Over the past ten years our business model has changed often as our surroundings have changed. If we were like concrete and could not absorb these changes we would be like concrete stuck and out of business. We are more like the shifting sands constantly moving and constantly looking for ways to improve our business and to stay on top of our game.

We have learned to go with what we know. Our research was done with the company and not at the truck stop counter. Whenever the naysayers start to get to us I look at my spreadsheets, our income, and our expenses and that is how we decide our next move.