Assistance In Finding A Good Company???

Excellent thread!

Johnn, it seems to me you have little to lose going into a truck driving career.

My situation, however, is quite different. I was an Assist VP at a recently imploded mortgage company. Not sure how I got caught up in the corporate garbage, but I'm guessing it was my constant hunt for money. That proved to be very unhealthy for me and I found myself sniffing around this business and going back on Active Duty with the Marine Corps about a year ago.

Since I was laid off in early May, I have sent out at very least 180+ resume's to companies who were hiring for positions even remotely associated with my profession (facilities management, physical asset management, contract management). I've only had inquiries from schools and insurance companies who peruse the Careerbuilder boards for easy prospects. I even went to a supposed "interview" last week with a company that supposedly placed car salesmen (I've done lots of sales before, including cars) with local dealers. Turned out to be a school that wanted $13k tuition. I told the lady to go insert certain office items into one of her bodily orifices and walked out.

No more dog and pony shows for me thanks.

As far as the Marine Corps, it still pays so little, even with the non-taxable per diem I would receive (I'm in the Reserve now), and the non-taxable BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) that I still will make more take home money driving a truck (after orientation and once I'm solo).

Two months without a job is too much for me and unemployment just isnt cutting the mustard.

So, the house is up for sale, I have pre-hire approvals from Prime (not gonna happen), TMC (my first choice), Stevens (no way), and KLLM.

I'm paying for the school myself out of my savings and will get $100 per month from TMC for tuition reimbursement if they hire me on. That will go back into savings. I have a wife and four year old at home that like to eat food and are kinda used to having a roof over their heads. I know that I wont see them much, but at very least I will be able to provide. The wife got laid off two months before I did, so someone has to start bringing money into this house.

Is this a sure thing for me? Not exactly. I'm going forward with schooling and I will be getting my CDL, but I also have applications in with several government security contractors (Blackwater, SOC, etc) which pay unbeleivable amounts of money to dodge bullets in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm lucky in that I might qualify for a spot there, problem is, they normally take about a year or more before they even call you.

I'm going to drive a flatbed. I'm going to try to enjoy the road and the hard work. I love driving, and love hard work even more. I will not tie myself to a desk in an office or a cube farm anymore. I know I'm not going to make the money I'm used to, but even my mom and dad both agree that even with a college degree, all the money in the world is not worth being totally unhappy. The wife agrees that money has to be brought in pretty directly lest we blow through over $30k in savings (including 401k's). It's a sacrifice even SHE is willing to take.

Will this be the end all for me? Who knows. I hadnt planned on lasting more than a year and a half, but more than a couple truck driving friends of mine swear up and down that I'm going to get addicted to working for TMC and will quit sending out resume's from my laptop at truck stops within 9 months.

We'll see.

Good luck! I think if you think you can do well, and are willing to work your kiester off to be successful, you will. You'll never know til you try.

 

John,

Have you put in an app at TMC? I am not even licensed yet and they pre-approved me. You may want to give it a shot.

Yeah, the mortgage biz is a mess. I wasnt involved in mortgages, rather, I was in Corporate Services (Facilities, Asset Management). Thats what I did at EarthLink too once they moved me into management from Tech Support and Web Hosting.

You worked for TWA????? WOW!!! Now THERE is a blast from the past!!

Actually, this is the first time in my life that I have ever been laid off. I'm 42 years old. But still, I dont like the way large corps tend to hang employees out to dry when they need to save money, but I also know business is businesses and employees are the most liquid expense that can be cut. No biggie, I'm not getting back into that mess. Maybe work for myself or a small company again but I dont want to immerse myself into that he!! anymore.

There is a Schnieder terminal right up the street from me in Fontana, CA. Literally about 2 miles away. I wont go work for them, even though they have the best training according to most posts I've read, because they dont pay very much. If I can make even a couple hundred per week more at TMC, or any other company, than thats for me. So far, it appears that most people believe that TMC does in fact give one the opportunity to earn between $50-60K first year. I know that is no guarantee, but as long as I have the opportunity, I'll give it a shot.

I'm by no means any expert on trucking companies, but it would seem to me that you may be able to earn more at another company, but I definitely understand if you want to get great training and cut your teeth at SNI.

Have a great weekend!

 

I really don't understand why with your background you have not followed a money trail and learned about an arena where students pay thousands of dollars to get a college degree: Marketing! Whats up?

Welcome to the real world of rip off and user unfriendly slave drivers. Lay offs, all kinds of experience, MANAGEMENT, SALES, and I see a lot of frustration at an age where it should not be, but this is the real world today and it will not get better for most people! In fact it will just get worse!

Why? Well, many reasons, but none of them should interfere with people who love Capitalism and have dreams. What about this world few practice anymore and is the reason few are wealthy.

There are three cancers in a Capitalist world:
1. Greed
2. Graft
3. Corruption

There are three dangers in a Capitalist world:
1. Communism
2. Socialism
3. Jobism - or being socially dependent.

Those who are in business for themselves are the only ones who obtain riches in this world. However, the trucking industry is not one of those Small Businesses with a huge margin of income. In fact most just turn money over and over and stay in debt all their life making payments.

JOB = Just Over Broke

Dependency = Broke and sliding into the lower class as the middle class is all but gone.

Choices: We are no longer a manufacturing power within the world as we buy most of our good from foreign countries.

1. Start a business.
2. Represent a business that is already in existence.

They all need people to market and sell or at least market their products and services anyway, so whats the big deal?

Oh, No! He must be talking Multi Level Marketing?

The top company in the MLM world netted $785 million last year with a 21 year record of nothing but increased profits every single year.

In 2003, between 27,000 and 28,000 brand new millionaires in this country from various MLM businesses, and most people stick their noses up at these companies? Why?

I don't know one single driver that has ever earned a Million Dollars in a year and without any real overhead. Not even close.

I am really curious as to why you spent so much time in sales and marketing and to top it off in Management and still do not have a clue?

Really, I would like to know. You don't have to respond here, but I would really like to know! There are so many books written and you can go to the University of Illinois, at Chicago and learn the world of MLM as part of their curriculum. Amazing that there is such a stigma on a perfectly sound capitalist opportunity.

Perhaps the reason is the history of promoting Get Rich Quick.

Well, that is just not the case, but it happens to those who understand and work the system. It is pure common sense.

We spend money.

How? In a one way direction. From your pocket to the person selling you something over a counter or at a cash register.

The simple fact is, there are companies you can belong to that will profit share with you for buying their products; but not Wally World.

Common Sense was discussed by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richards Almanac many years ago. It might be a good read while on the road, as I think most people have forgotten who he was.

In any case, I loved driving myself, but I hated working for practically nothing; even when I made good money. Just not enough of it to cover the cost of life and retirement.

Don't be blind. Be skeptical, but learn the facts. If you don't you are the one that will pay.

If I had put it all together years ago, I would still be a millionaire driving truck because I loved the profession. I had to quit driving to learn the real world of business. I do miss driving sometimes.

Good luck!

 

If you wanna play in MLM, knock yourself out. Been there, done that. Realized that 1 out of 1000 get any substantial income from that. Yes, it is taught at many schools, but not quite my cup of tea. I put it right up there with selling encyclopedias door to door.

Clue? Trust me, I have quite the clue.

Read my post again. I have no intention of being a truck driver forever, but I'm going to do it for at very least a year or two, depending on how long it takes me to figure out which direction (back into management in preferaby NOT a mega-corp, or my own yet to be named business..... again).

 

Hey John,

Well, it really remains to be seen whether or not I am going to be a driver, that depends on whether or not they like what they see in orientation.

Anyway, you can call Jen Patterson at 1800-xxx xxxx, ext 2. I wont get any credit because I'm not an employee, but please do not let that stop you!

 

Yes, slaves usually go with the purchase! But drivers are a little more than slaves; they all have numbers on a board! hey, thats my e-mail address. xxxxxxxxxxx@wwwwwwwwww

 

I would never ask you to join me! Why? You are not qualified!

Lets see where you are going my friend because you don't have a clue, even as you state this is a temporary job for you!
Fact is, after driving truck as a truck driver, your resume won't reflect management during this time. May not give you any points.

Start your own business? Lets see how qualified you are. Lets take a quick overview of the business world:


a. Name the top 5 MLM companies in the world. Name the top 5 Fortune 500 companies in the world.
b. Name the Corporate List you find the top MLM Companies on in the Business world: Not the Fortune 500.
b.1. Name the two corporate lists in the business world.
b.2. Explain the difference in the make up of these companies.
b.3. Can you invest in companies on either list? If not, then why?
c. Name the Highest Honors any company or corporation can earn by being in business.
d. Name just two of the companies that have the highest award for business excellence in the US today, and what list are they on.

Lets Take a Look at some of your objections:
Depends on what company, and how you handle business. As far as the potential for success, 80 to 90 % of all businesses fail; commercial or MLM. (What does this tell you?)

Fact: I have been there and done that: (Yes, I have)
a. Company Driver
b. Owner Operator
Fact: There was no real money out there for the majority.
Fact: A Great Many owner Operators have gone bankrupt over the years because expenses ate them alive.
Fact: Many newbie drivers don't earn enough to take care of personal business at home with the cost of being on the road.
Fact: Many Truck companies have gone bankrupt, or forced into mergers and acquisitions over the years since deregulation (1980).
Fact: If you are doing the Truck Driver bit for just a year or two, you are just spinning your wheels.
Fact: There are two types of wealth distribution:
a. Taxation: Robing Peter to Pay Paul (supporting welfare)
b. True Profit Share from companies you don't like, based on a lack of understanding, education, and/or motivation.

Fact: The Stock Market is not a place of Investments and the Fortune 500 are all debtors companies because they borrow money from people like you and I with the idea you will receive returns. No guarantees.

Fact: The Stock Market is not Investments: It is Calculated Risk because you get no Guarantee with the papers you receive for handing over your hard earned money to be handled by someone you probably don't even know.
Fact: More people have lost their savings and financial security through losses in the Stock Market than any other method.
Fact: Not one person has lost their shirt because of an MLM.
Fact: The Job stands for Just Over Broke and that is where 66% of all the people are today out of 95% dead and alive at the age of retirement (65). US Department of Labor Statistics. (29% dead/66% dead broke)

Fact: Money is only paper. The paper must be traded in order to be of value. Trading this paper is called, "Circulation!" If it does not circulate in enough pockets it is of little or no use to individuals or to society.

Facts anyone can look up.
Fact: MLM statistics showed well over 27,000 brand new millionaires in 2003. (Who else got rich that year?)
Fact: Not one Truck Driver ever became rich driving truck, yet I loved driving truck and would be there today if the income was reasonable.
Fact: Multi Level is just a term for Management levels.
CEO
Senior Management
Middle Management
Junior Management (What does this tell you - a manager?)
Fact: No business is ever successful without Management
Fact: No business is ever successful without Team work.
Fact: It does not matter the Pay Plan of an MLM. What matters is the Management of those engaged. There is one Preferred pay plan. What is it?

Fact: If you are not willing to engage then you have no business in business.
Fact: If you are not a team player you have no interest and you will not be successful, and you will hold back the team.
Fact: If you want to work for someone all your life, you have no chance of preparing for retirement. There are few jobs today outside of Government or Medical fields that pays a living wage.
a. What is Temporary Linear Income?
b. What is Residual Income?
Fact: The only people who ever become Rich, own and engage in business.
a. When you buy a conventional business you must work that business.
b. when you buy an MLM business license, you must engage to earn.
Fact: A conventional business that can pay you just enough to get by might cost you between $500,000 and $10 Million.
Fact: An MLM profession might cost you from $10 to $5,000 and can give you an income of far more than corporate executive's on a payroll earn.

Fact: You can spend your hard earned money at corporate stores who might give you a receipt, and may even say thank you.
Fact: You can spend your hard earned money at a store that profit shares and you stand a chance of earning more than $1 or $2 Million within your first year, if you are good at organization, education and management. If not, you may earn nothing or at least a good income. However, the rebates in the form of income can reduce your cost of living or even save your paycheck for other things.

Fact: The Market is wide open for those who seek it. If everyone was doing it, there would be no market. Why do you think so many become rich every year while the rest of the world goes hungry.

It is called, "Being Independent and that is what Freedom is all about!" That is also why many want to be Owner Operators, and that is very commendable even though it has proven to be a huge mistake for far too many.

Now, I can go on and on about this, and you can't give me one example where you or anyone else has this kind of opportunity. You can't put it down because of failure because the world is full of failure. Fact is people either hold a half empty or half full glass in life. It is your perception.

Why do people stick their noses up at business opportunities like this:
1. They got roped into something that failed.
2. They got roped into something, did not know what they were doing and failed.
3. They just did not take time to understand the business.

Fact is, it is all business and that is one thing you served in the United States Marine Corp to protect; the American way (CAPITALISM). If it is surrendered to socialism, you wasted your time in uniform.

So, it does not matter to ME if you want to be a truck driver for one year or for life. That is your choice, but don't put down something you don't understand just because you FAILED. Failure is just one wrung in the ladder of success and many have failed before reaching the top.

One more thing, I won't ask you to join me in what I do;ever!

Why? Two reasons.

1. You are not ready to learn
2. You are not qualified.

When or if you ever want to learn, you can ask me, but don't expect anything unless you can answer some questions that will convince me to spend time teaching you.

The best money in this world is not made by just anyone, as just anyone is not qualified because of attitude, attitude, attitude, and most of that comes from Ignorance which is cured by education!

If you ever read "Poor Richards Almanac" you understand that most people have a great dislike for change and would rather starve before they do what they know nothing about.

Poor Richard: "No Gains without pain!"

Poor Richard: The generous mind least regard money, and yet most feels the want of it. For one poor man there are one-hundred indigent. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the Stuff Life is made of. Good Sense is a thing all need, few have, and none think they want.
Benjamin Franklin 1746

Poor Richard: It is common for Men to give SIX pretended reasons instead of ONE real one. 1745

There are a number of Millionaires who only had high school or less for an education and made it within the MLM world of business. Business is basically common sense, or which is not all that common.

I give facts and truth. Never, do I deal in HYIP!

Those who don't do their due diligence, do do!Trucking, MLM, or any other aspect of earning a living. Don't put down a business because you don't understand it. Few do, and that is a good thing.