Best way to transition from door slammer to open deck

Greetings all.

As the title says, I am considering transitioning to flatbed or stepdeck. I have almost 22 yrs as a door slammer, with a little "in house" flatbed work at a chicken plant that I 1st worked for after getting my licence many many moons ago. Another words, I have no experience in hauling regurlar "commercial" flatbed freight, just chicken cages on a specially equipped flats, forklifts to and from the farms and the occasional piece of company equipment on a 60 ton walking beam trailer. So, the question is...without starting out as a complete novice trucking rookie (as in fresh out of CDL school) what would be the best path to transition from box trailers to open deck? I am not affraid to work hard or get dirty. I am guessing that the biggest hurdle is learning how to balance loads on spreads, and getting good at tarping...I understand, load securement can be challenging on unusually shaped freight, but I have the green DOT regulations bible as a basic guide for that. Anyone on here successfully make the transition? What company would be the best to start with and learn from given my driving experience? And what were your biggest /toughest hurdles to overcome? Thanks in advance.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention...I live in FL, which usually limits my options even more...great place to live, lousy place to truck from.

 

I've seen them advertising for pad wrap vans in my area, but not flats. Guess the rates suck too bad for flatbed freight down here like it does for most box companies.

 

The only ones I have found so far that hire company drivers in my area are Milton, Cypress, Decker, TMC (just barely in their map area) and Hunt(Crete's Hunt, not JB's). Summerford had an ad a while back, but it has been a while since I saw them. I checked Central Oregon...not in my area.