I want a mentor

I am not a mentor, though.

And, please tell me, how many 23 year olds get into trucking - and stick with it?
Bleee has already stated he has no intention of sticking with it past a few years. And I doubt it will even be that long once he actually starts.
He wants it for the joy ride, that's all.

 

Moosetek, I get where you are coming from. This indusrty has an incredibly high turnover rate.

But at the same point in time, I don't think that it's fair to set his future in stone as you have.

He is 23 years old and is interested enough to come onto this forum and ask for guidance. That sounds mature to me.

Will he become the ultimate supertrucker of the future and drive forever and ever? I don't know. But he has politely asked for someone to help.guide him through this.

How many guys come on this site with no experience ready to spend grandma's money on the biggest pete they could find?

How many guys with no experience talk about having guys drive for them, and they think in no time they will have 25 trucks?

He's way ahead of those guys.

 

Some people are more positive, some are less. Don't let those less positive squelch your interest. The world is full of people ready to tell you that you can't do something. You gotta do what's best for you, whether that involves trucking or not.

Bergey said it best. This is like being a farmer. A job takes up part of your life. This becomes your life, and often other things have to work around it. It requires a deep commitment that most people don't realize when going into it.

But there are plenty of farmers that couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Bleee, I gotta go to bed. Feel free to pm me, if you like.

 

I'm right there with you Blee. I'm also 23 gearing up for trucking. I've been researching for about 9 months straight and seriously thought about it several times before. My current life is 7 nights straight 7pm to 7am as a dispatcher for law enforcement at a local hospital, but it is getting me nowhere and I basically don't do anything special on my off time. Trucking is going the best way to get to my end game of owning rental properties and/or a business.
So the way I see it is add 2 hours to my total legal work day.
Then factor in the extra mental exhaustion of driving 11hrs compared to sitting in an office alone for 12hr waiting for something to happen, which I believe I could handle because the department used to drive a pediatric ambulance (Navistar international 5700 series converted into an ambulance with walk through to the back from the cab) on emergency traffic as far as Middlesboro, Athens or Crossville and I loved it.
I’ll still get to listen to my podcasts and talk radio and I can pay for internet for my down time. I prefer to be alone most of the time anyways.
My big decider is I can't really see many Cons toward my current lifestyle and a list of Pros that will increase my potential in life and I know I can work my butt off to figure out the equipment, skills, and business to make it a career. What I think I'll miss most is attending my Church in person with my daughter and wife.

 

My little sister was working at Fed Ex looading planes. Had a driver job come across the board. She mentioned it to me and I told her to check into the local community college and let me know how much it would cost. 7 week school for $1200. I told her to sign up and I would give her the money. She signed up, Fed Ex offered her jobs. Cool. Right?

They had bad weather in Tennessee last week. Got cold and the snow was blowing. She had another female driver tell her how dangerous it was driving on Monteagle, and my sister freaked. Temps were in the single digits and snow was blowing. My sister wanted to turn around and go back home. She said, "They didnt train me to drive in the snow." She called her boss and started telling him what she would do and what she would not do.

I told her that the temps were in the single digits. Snow is dry in the single digits...IT WONT STICK. It looks worse than it actually is. "If the road is open, keep going." She kept telling me what the other female was telling her and I told her that the other woman is spooking her. "Are you going to do the job or not? You cant just truck when the weather is perfect."

She made it. No troubles. Snow just blew across the road.

Anyways, before you jump in, figure out if youre tough enough to weather the storms and deal with the stresses that come with the job. Some people cant sleep in a truck. Some people cant drive at night. Some people cant ever be alone. Some people cant deal with stress. Some people cannot adapt to change. But they all jump in and try their hand at driving. Most fail.

Someone mentioned the average pay for a rookie. I never go into anything to be average. If you're going to play, bring your A-Game. And dont think badly of Moosetek...he's shooting straight.

It's like going to the gym. The regular crowd sees hundreds of people come through. If you're a big guy in the gym, people are going to come up to you and ask about tips on how to get their chest and arms big. You tell them about heavy back training, shoulder work and legs, they will ignore you. They're going to bench and curl. 6 weeks they wont even be in the gym. They put down the money for a years membership, but they wont be there long. If you walked into the gym and asked Moosetek about training and he told you that most of the people like yourself wont be back enough to ever see a difference, Is he wrong? You have to exert yourself, go all out in order to see gains. Most people are not willing to exert themselves. They THINK they are, but when the stress comes, theyre out.

That hardcore guy in the gym, thats exactly what he wants...the STRESS. "No pain, no gain." That hardcore trucker has the same mentality. When that pressure comes, when things get stressful, watch him shine. "Truckin Up!"

So, how bad do you want it? We're not tourists. We're not driving to Grandma's house for family vacation. Either you can drive or you cant. If you cant, dont make excuses, just get out.

Now if you want to drive, and get dirty, and do some work, come see the Cool Kids in the Flatbed Forum.
Adios.

 

23 and determined, that's great But driving is not what you perceive it to be. You want a GF, continue your music business, and continue your education while being an OTR trucker. The DOT says 70 hr max in 8 days but the reality is you dedicate closer to 100 hours in 8 days to the job. The 70 hours is On-duty time and driving time. All the time: waiting your turn to park, waiting your turn to get to a pump, waiting at shippers, waiting at receivers, waiting for pick up appt, waiting for delivery appt, ect...... a whole lotta waiting is not charged to the 70 hr clock. Then acct for all the time getting: food, showers, sleep and you come to realize the job takes all your time. Then when the OTR company allows you 3 or 4 days a month at home, try congesting all your activities into that short time frame. The GF alone will expect a large chunk of it. The reason truckers call it a lifestyle and not a job is because you really have to devote nearly all your time to it not leaving much time for anything else. Exactly why as a previous poster noted, the success rate is much greater for us middle aged folk than it is for the younger rightfully so ambitious folk. Ambition regrettably does not add time to an ever ticking clock.

 

How's your gf feel about this?Is she supportive?

 

My question is......after only three years....you really don't have a clue...yet...come back in 17 years or so..when you are a true experienced driver. You are making assumptions for another person without hardly any back-ground on him...