I have a Dream

Whether you’re a truck driver dreaming of your first big truck, or you have saved up enough money to finally open a brick and mortar business, regardless what it is, you have just made a commitment to yourself and your family for a very long time.

This commitment is, no doubt, gonna take you away from home daily. There’s no calling in sick, you are married to this thing.

Lets look at a truck driver for example. Brand new big rigs runs somewhere in the neighbourhood of $100,000 to $130,000 and in some cases, that doesn’t get you much on, or with the truck. So now you just commited to over a hundred grand, lets go trucking right? Not exactly. Most men or women drivers would love nothing more than to have a new truck, it makes you feel good, and confident. You probably have warranty for a few years and you’re already thinking you are going to upgrade before that runs out. Sounds like a good plan. Once you have your first few thousand miles under your belt in your new shinny ride, you start to look for your first pay. You’ve kept up the maintenance, washed it a hundred times by now, polished it, you take your cheque out of the envelope and…

Disappointed right? All those miles, the time gone, the money you have aready spent, for what, a $1500.00 pay. By this time you have already shelled out thousands in fuel, truck washes, meals, chrome shop, you probably thought your first cheque was going to be at least 3 – 4 thousand. It only makes sense, you are getting a dollar and change per mile. Plates, insurance, holdback, tolls, all that adds up faster than you might want to otherwise believe. You might be lucky if your first pay covers your first truck payment. Fact is, whether it’s a brick and mortar business or an 18 wheeler, you gotta have pretty deep pockets before you start.

As time goes by, you do seem to break even. You have good weeks and bad, when they’re bad, they are bad. It seems at times there are more bad than good, nevertheless, on the good weeks, all you think about is owning more trucks. More trucks, more miles. More stores, more product sold. Ya, to a certain extent, but you also have more headaches and more stress.

Dumb questions to ask people

If you are so determined to have a business, why would you pick one that’s going to cause you grief? Stress will cost you more money than you could ever dream of making. You must like stress. Are there no other chioces you could have made? Did you do any research? There is a certain amount of training and a learning curve to any business, some not as painful as others.

Mind set.

Before you turn your dream into reality, there are a few things you need to consider.

where do you want to be in the next 3 – 5 years

you must have a strategic plan on how you are going to get there.

physically write out your plan (in your head isn’t good enough)

set your goals, smart goals

write your goals down, get pictures of them, and put them out in front of you where you can see them on a daily basis

reward yourself for your accomplishments, no matter how big or small

study your business, take notes so you can improve cash flow

don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done

focus on your plan and don’t get swayed by mediocrity

Lastly, it’s your business, you are the only one that can make a difference.

There’s more to life than life on the road

Get Rich Trucking

   

Do you do your best thinking behind the wheel? Behind the wheel of a big rig is where I have my best thoughts, PayPal was one of them.   

I have downsized quite considerably, and make more money.   

Just shortly after the dawn of the debit card, I had a brain wave for being able to allow people, that were not fortunate enough to have a credit card, to still make purchases online, via their debit card or straight transaction from a bank account. I had taken the idea to Invention Submission Corporation (ISC), but due to overwhelming excitement, I didn’t explain the idea  the way I should have. If you ever get to this point in your life, I strongly suggest you have all your ducks in a row before you go ahead. The idea I conveyed to ISC, led them to think I wanted to patent an idea for a card swiper integrated into your PC allowing you to do this. ISC did a wonderful job on the $1200.00 book I paid for with all the excellent research they had done. What I should have asked for was the technology (programming) to ALLOW the use… big difference.   

If YOU believe in it, don’t ever give up.   

Frustrated, I put the idea on the shelf for a while. Not knowing much about computers or programming, I searched for someone who did. I found 4 different people who said they could help, for a very hefty fee. So, I tried to find private funding. Each Person I went to (multi-millionaires) thought it was a very good idea, but they were very pessimistic, (how they became wealthy is beyond me). All of them had asked me the same question, they asked, “with the technology that is out there now, how is it no one has thought of this yet?” I told them there was…ME! Who was I to them? I had no credibility in this area. I’m just a truck driver to them.   

Today, PayPal is a household word and is responsible for hundreds of millions of transactions. Unfortunately, I let that negativity knock down my self-confidence, and the idea became a reality for someone else. For the record, PayPal was not the name I had come up with.   

On to the next one.   

Several years pass, then another idea hits me like a ton of bricks.   

I was on I-90 in Montana and stopped at the Broadway Truck Stop, exit 495, to see if they had what I was looking for, a key chain retractor. You’re probably wondering where the hell I’m going with this, but wait, it gets better. How many of you have your CB mic hanging from a mini bungee cord, that swings around from the ceiling of your cab, occasionally hitting you in the head?   

I bought a key chain retractor, bent the belt clip at a 90% angle and fastened it to the ceiling of the cab, hooked my mic on and… it didn’t work. The mic was too heavy for the spring inside and the chain was too noisy. I took the retractor apart, twisted the spring tighter, replaced the chain with a mason’s string and… the spring still wasn’t strong enough. The cord worked like a charm. I bought another retractor and some JB weld. I did the same modifications to the second one and welded them together…voila! I would only use it at night so no one would see it. I don’t think Hugh Hefner had anything pulled as hard as I yanked on those two retractors, trying to break them. For 3 months I tested out my prototype.   

Back I went to ISC, another $1200.00 later for a book on the research they had done. They do excellent research when you’re specific on what you are asking for. I only needed another $14,000.00 and they would have taken it to market.   

I scrounged around looking for someone with the same vision as me and came up empty-handed. Every effort I made to save money was shot down by my wife (now Ex-wife). It’s very hard to achieve something when you keep getting shut down. So, I put that one on the shelf for a while. A year later, I was in a truck stop in Michigan and nearly had a heart attack. There it was, on the shelf for $16.99 (at the time). ISC estimated my cost at producing it at about $2.75. I was so furious. I bought one, took it home and threw it on the kitchen table in front of my wife and said, “not such a bad idea now is it.” She was speechless.   

Hypocritical   

The sub heading in this article “If YOU believe in it, don’t ever give up,” well I did, give up that is. Advice is only good if you take it. It was always easy for me to give advice but I never took my own. I have learned the hard way. That’s what mistakes are made of. I have a number of other ideas I’ve been working on over the past few years, and my biggest one yet has been in the works for the past 25 years. I’m not giving up on any of them this time, and the big one, well lets just say, I’ll give you a little hint…maybe in another article. It’s so ridiculously simple, you’ll probably kick yourself for not thinking of it.   

Check out my articles to come, I’ll be giving hints.   

Don Ferris,   

The loneliest person in the world is an Entrepreneur

What’s next?

 

The death of two great men. 

Smoking killed my great grand father, he was 96, and my grand father smoked cigars and a pipe till he died at the age of 83. I’m confused at what’s worse, the effects of smoking, or live long enough to see changes that’s going to make you beg to walk the path of eternal light even sooner. Either way, do you really win? By the way, I don’t think you can smoke in heaven. I guess if you’re a smoker, you don’t have to worry about going there, you can spark one up with lucifer. 

Trucker fined 

The Smoke – Free Ontario Act took effect on May 31, 2006 which states “no person shall smoke tobacco or hold lighted tobacco in any enclosed public place or enclosed workplace.” Since then many other places have adopted similar laws. In Ontario, Canada, a truck driver was fined $305.00 for smoking in the cab of his truck. How ridiculous is that? So, when does the cab of your truck become your living space? 

I smoke, but I do have respect for others that don’t. I have never smoked in my house, and I would never smoke in a vehicle with mine or anyone elses kids. How is it that for decades people smoked in homes, workplaces, cars, trucks, legions, dances, bars or pretty much everywhere and no one gave a rats ass. I think all this hype has just created a bunch of pussies. If there not crying about smokers, you can bet they will be bitching about someone else. Here’s a novel thought, mind your own f–king business. It’s a pathetic fact that some peoples lives are so dull, they find the need to stick their big fat hairy nose in where it don’t belong. I do realize there are some real prizes out there that don’t give a shit, but for most that do, this creates a little bit of a problem. If it doesn’t directly concern you, mind your own business. For the record, I do realize smoking isn’t good for us or the people directly around us, truth is, there are so many other things much worse than that. For instance, the very food we consume. Chemically induced chicken, beef, pork, vegetables etc, to speed up growth for supply and demand. And then milk, oh, I could go so far with that one. 

Driving distractions 

Some analysts say smoking is a distraction, reaching for your smokes, lighting it, perhaps dropping it on the floor, are considered distractions because you have taken your eyes off the road. I guess jamming a cheeseburger in that gaping hole of a mouth and dripping mustard on your clothes, or changing radio stations, no, thats not a distraction at all, is it? There are lots of distractions while driving. Now that the ban on cell phones behind the wheel has also taken effect in a lot of areas, I don’t call the cops on any one of the hundreds I see doing it on a daily basis. It’s none of my business. What about the sexual favours some drivers get while driving? I’ve seen it many times, and I’m sure many of you other drivers have seen it too. Whether it’s self-inflicted pleasure or from a passenger, tell me thats not a distraction behind the wheel. Point being, there are so many other things that should, or could be looked at other than smoking, just a thought. 

What’s your take? 

Regardless if you’re a truck driver, cab driver or deliver parts for a living, many of us are affected by the, almost daily, new laws, most of them conflicting. If smoking is that bad for us, I guess we don’t really need to worry much about the H1N1 virus. People are disgusted by cigarettes, what about using a pay phone after the hundreds before you, or the shopping carts at the supermarket, grabbing a door handle, that’s disgusting, wait a minute, there’s hand sanitizer for that. 

Don Ferris, 

Inviting any and all comments

There’s more to life then life on the road

So…How about those 1000 mile days?

 

Ya right, back in the day when you could run 3 or 4 different log books. So what’s the real reason the hours of service was cut back anyway, and what the hell is with the dam speed limiters in Canada. I can remember when trucking was fun, now it’s just a job. 

Remembering back 

Going back a number of years, I can remember running from Toronto, Ontario to Winnipeg, Manitoba twice in one week, Toronto to California in 5 1/2 days, with a little help of course. My co-drivers never took up much room and never said anything, when I got tired, they took over. I’m almost certain, some of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about. Talk about packing on the miles, when the co-drivers started to wear off…I mean, get tired, a cup of coffee or a pop and you’re back in business…or wake up a few more. Many times I got to my delivery and counted the buttons on the ceiling of the bunk. Each time that happened, I always came up with a different number. I tried several times to regulate it, but would always end up telling myself “one more will get me to the door” meanwhile the last 5 haven’t kicked in yet. 

Finally, a caring friend of mine, saw what I was doing to myself, and gave me some advice. He gave me the whole speach about how crazy I was and that I was doing it all wrong. He said, “if you want to sleep, drink a glass or two of milk.” What can I say, it worked. Good thing for me he was experienced. One driver I knew, use to soak tooth picks in the same shit they shoot race horses up with. For years I hardly saw the man without one sticking out the side of his mouth. 

Days gone by 

That was a lot of fun, but it wears on you really fast. I quit the day I thought I was dying, OMG what a feeling. I made tons of money, but in the end it really wasn’t worth it. I’m glad I quit when I did. A few guys I know suffered severe health complications as a result, from a 26 year old having a heart attack to others suffering from breathing difficuties and nervous system disorders. Where’s the fun in that. Lucky for me, I quit when I did. 

After I quit, the miles couldn’t have come harder. It was all I could do to stay awake for more than 3 – 4 hours at a time. It was roughly 6 months of hard running before I was back to my old self. The funny thing was, after I got that shit out of my body and got back to normal, I was able to run the same amount of miles without any little white co-drivers. 

Time has passed by rather quickly and the fun is nearly gone, with log book regulations, and electronic tracking, it’s almost impossible to run more than 600 miles or so by yourself in a day, without getting caught eventually. 

What’s next? 

Ridiculous diesel fuel prices, low rates, logbook regulations, speed limiters. I guess the only thing left is Communism. Wait a minute…aren’t we already there? 

Don Ferris, 

Inviting any and all comments

Here’s what can happen when you open your mind

Truck Stops in the United States.

 

Truck Stops originated in the United States in the 1940s as a common place to by diesel fuel, and provide parking not normally found at smaller filling stations. 

As the Interstate highway system grew, so did the population of Truck Stops. 

How many are there? 

In the United States there are approximately 10,000 Truck Stops. 

Some of the largest chains are Petro, Flying J, Wilco, Loves, T/A (changed to Travel Centers of America as a marketing theme in the late 1990s), Pilot and the list goes on. 

What is the biggest chain of Truck Stops? 

The merger of two giants on January 1st, 2007, Great Savings Network and Truck Stops Direct, created the largest Truck Stop chain in North America. The merger allowed a greater buying power for all independent Truck Stops that joined the group. In the summer of 2009, they had just under 300 signed on, to more than 400 now and growing. Welcome to Roady’s. 

Who’s the best? 

Being a Truck driver myself for more than 20 years, I personally enjoyed the Sapp Bros, Iowa 80, Bosselman’s, Loves, and the odd T/A, of course the traditional Mom & Pop Truck Stops/Diners found just off the beaten path. Always more personable and of course, home cooked meals, almost better at times than my own mother’s. A survey of drivers revealed, Petro was the best of the larger chains, and if I were to choose among the big ones, Petro would be my first choice with Flying J coming in second. 

Where is the Biggest Truck Stop? 

Founded in 1964 by the Standard Oil Company, Iowa 80 was born in Walcott, Iowa. In 1965, Bill Moon took over management of the Truck Stop and in 1984, bought it from Amoco. As an appreciation to drivers, in 1979, the Walcott Truckers Jamboree began, and to this day still has its home at Iowa 80, with a barbeque, truck show and shine, live entertainment and a few antique trucks as well. 

Loads of parking, fuel islands, wash bays, cat scales, showers, chrome shop, and the most businesses under one roof, makes Iowa 80 the largest Truck Stop in the world. 

Don Ferris, 

Inviting any and all comments

Put your future in overdrive