Options now that school complete/CDL acquired.

I don't know if any of you remember me from asking a bunch of questions a couple of months ago. I am planning to team drive with another female friend of mine who went through school with me.

My teammate and I went with SWIFT to fund our CDL schooling. We are happy with that decision, and feel we got a very decent education. Now we are scheduled for orientation and will go out with our mentors in a couple of weeks. We know we have some options now. We could jump ship now, we could stay and go through training and stick with SWIFT until we get some experience under our belts (this is the current plan A; to stay for 6-12 months before looking elsewhere), or we can just stick with SWIFT until we have a real need to go somewhere else.

I know pay can get better outside of the mega companies. I'd really like at some point to find a company that would let me bring my dog. We are based out of Houston. We are interested in going OTR, and making as much money as comfortably possible for the next few years ("comfortably" meaning we're both small ladies and don't really think we're well equipped for flatbed because of heavy tarps and tie downs and such). We're definitely open to dry van, reefer, maybe even tanker (I have a tank endorsement, she could easily get hers as well). We're a little intimidated at the thought of Hazmat for now... we'd rather be more experienced before attempting hazardous loads.

Any experienced drivers have any advice on how best to proceed for our financial future, with some amenities in mind (would be really nice to have APUs and some appliances, and maybe an automatic truck)? Income is probably at the top of the list, though, or very nearly. A good pay rate is nice, but making sure the miles are there to capitalize on that rate is also essential. We don't have kids, so would just like to be able to make it home to see friends and family fairly regularly, but no "need to be home every weekend" demands. Good benefits are also nice, obviously.

Should we stick with SWIFT for a while, like we're thinking? Or might it be wiser to jump ship now? Are companies even interested in hiring brand new CDL holders at a better rate than the 24 cents a mile SWIFT is offering for teams?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Ok. Message received. That photo was distracting. Maybe the dreaded glasses will get us back on topic?

 

Can't remember right now if it is .24 or .25, but yeah. But that's per person, per mile. So .48cpm to the truck, each mile.