I'm interested in becoming a trucker

Well

 

The most difficult part for me, was learning to drive it confidently. when you first start, you feel nervous. That nervousness will make you hesitate at a crucial moment, and can lead to an accident.

just going into this, you don't want to own your own truck. You don't even know if you like this job enough to commit to something that will potentially bankrupt you.

 

You've done your homework.

You need to know it all.

Both of those statements can't be true. Look around. Use the search feature. Read a bunch of threads; you have a lot of options and a good variety of different types of trucking to choose from in the main forum list.

If this topic were a horse, it was beaten to death, buried, exhumed, beaten again, set on fire and its ashes assaulted once more for good measure.

 

Just you mentioning about leaving the family, that alone means your not gonna make it OTR .

 

Check out this thread for starters.

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/finally-got-my-own-truck.332033/

 

Become a company driver for some trucking company and run the roads for a couple of years, then make a decision on what you think is best.

Do you have a cdl yet?

 

You conflict yourself in the post. Do you know everything about trucking? Or do you need to know what it is like? Apparently leaving family and battling 2400 dollar a month or more truck payments, then insurance, then fuel, then tires, then damage, then then then... In your first year? Where for everyone of me 10 have been sent home or fired for accidents preventable?

Which is it?

There are thousands, no.. tens of thousands of posts on this forum about trucking. Hundreds of truckers have posted good and bad things here.

Im not your opponet, you seem new and for me that means NO buying new trucks right now. You need to learn the industry first. And survive your first few years with a good record and health intact.

 

You have to like driving. Driving out west is fun but the northeast not so fun.

 

As TROOPER to TRUCKER said Well!!
First off, your homework will never be done,! Just when you think you have it all figured out, (surprise) you don't!!
If you are a company driver your expenses will be low, if you are an o/o then everything is an expense!!
If you are worried about leaving your family before you've even started then you shouldn't be a truck driver! Truck payment is the minimal thing to worry about, it's keeping the truck running and maintenance, (you could make a 1500$ payment on a Monday and have a 2500$ breakdown on Tuesday)
What my life consists of is paperwork, driving, Crappy truck stops, knowing the law in every state, knowing the mechanic's of the unit so I can fix it at 3am at 20below with no cell signal!
Listen trucking isn't a job it's a calling, it's not something to take lightly, you get out what you put in!! FYI there's no better smell then a diesel engine running on a cold crisp morning!