The L.D. Sewell Podcast: Recent Episodes
LD Sewell
Time does indeed fly by!
It seems like only a few weeks ago, maybe a month or so since I did the last podcast episode - but it has now been more than a year!
That's just crazy, because it certainly doesn't seem like that long ago.
Anyway...
MUCH has obviously happened since then. Like a worldwide plague and widespread civil unrest, unemployment, and massive amounts of stress for billions of people worldwide.
Yet we continue ever onward.
Instead of just sitting around and worrying - take action. Start researching and learning about income production opportunities that you like, pick something, learn it, and start doing it NOW!
Just a quick update to let you know we are working on building several YouTube Channels - all at the same time! And we have some other resources we are about to publish including new courses and a couple of eBooks.
If you have any recommendations or suggestions for courses or topics you would like us to cover please let me know!
Join our email list and send me an email or join one of our Facebook Groups - you can find links to all of our channels and groups on our Free Resources pages at www.ldsewell.com
In this episode of The L.D. Sewell Podcast, we focus on why lease-purchase agreements may not be your best option - especially when you are brand new to trucking and just starting out.
Often lease purchase programs contain all kinds of restrictions, and you are at the mercy of the company for your loads - yet you take on a tremendous portion of the costs and liabilities of running the truck under the illusion of being an owner operator.
Is your name on the title? Can you take the truck and leave that carrier and go wherever you wish so long as you continue to make the payments?
In many cases, the answer is no - and if you can't do that then you need to take a hard look at reality.
The reality is that some carriers allow you to have the illusion that you are somehow an "Owner Operator" when the truth is that you do not own anything at all. Even worse you can end up working harder yet making less than most company drivers make!
So, do yourself a huge favor - hold off on signing that agreement!
Start as a company driver and get a few months experience under your belt, learn the job, the business, the lifestyle first while you do your research into whatever program you are considering and then only proceed once you have enough information and experience to make an informed decision.
Be sure to check out our new Youtube Channel Trucking Business Success.
It should be up and running in a day or two and we will begin posting regular videos there too on all things related to Trucking Careers and Trucking Business Success.
If you are serious about building your career and or trucking business you may also want to join our group on facebook. You can find it on facebook by clicking the link below;
Trucking Business Success
Some people are in for a rude awakening.
They get on a bus or a plane and travel halfway across the country to go to orientation with a motor carrier that has offered them a job. But what many fail to realize is that what they have is a conditional offer of employment and that is far different than actually completion of the hiring process and becoming an employee.
There are many things that can and do go wrong during orientation. There may be a discrepancy with a former employer that cannot be cleared up to the carriers satisfaction or a gap in employment that becomes an issue. Some people fail their drug test and in some cases, it can be for prescription drugs that were taken after the prescribed dates, or someone taking insulin or some other issues that no one caught during the initial phone calls.
Others will fail a physical or a physical agility test. Some will even fail their initial road test.
All these things and many more problems can lead to the carrier deciding not to hire you after all.
So what happens then?
Usually, they escort you to their front door or the curb and tell you to have a nice life. At that point, they are done with you and really don't care much about what happens to you. You are no longer of any value to them.
Sounds cold as hell doesn't it?
It is.
But it also still happens to unsuspecting drivers and then they have a serious problem.
Listen to this episode and then be sure to not ever let that happen to YOU!
How about it, should you become a trucker?
It can be a great career option and you can make a better than good income doing it too. But like so many other things there are multiple considerations you need to take into account before you just go and jump in.
Listen to this episode of The L.D. Sewell Podcast to find out what you need to consider next!
There are lost of things to think about before you become a truck driver. Your decisions may not seem as important to you right now as they really are - and what you decide to do nest will set the course for years of your life to come.
Be careful.
Take the time and make the effort to get the real information that you absolutely must have to be able to make the best decisions now for yourself and for your families future.
Enjoy the podcast.
This one will also be the first ever episode that we also put on our Youtube channel - and my intention is that most if not all future episodes will be on youtube as well as available through our page and on all major places that host podcasts.
If you like be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel too!
A better life...
That is what most people want - yet few actually ever attain it. Even those who do - take years and go through all kinds of struggles before they do, and for each one who eventually does achieve some level of a better life - there are others too numerous to count who never do.
Instead, they spend their entire lives in desperation, struggling from one crisis to the next - until they eventually die.
What a shame. What a tragedy.
You can avoid all that.
You can choose to build yourself a better life by choosing to follow proven and sound systems and using methods and tactics that work to help you make consistent, sustainable and measurable progress continuously in every key area of your life.
If you choose to do so that is.
Nobody but you can do it for you either. You and you alone must decide to do it and then actually do it if you want the rewards.
Listen to this episode of The L.D. Sewell Podcast as I talk about these issues and more.
There is a right choice for everyone - but it's not always the same choice either. Even then it may change during different phases of life and dependent on specific situations. It may be that you are best off as an entrepreneur for life and no other course in life will ever fit you as well. Others may have the opposite situation - and they may be far more happy, productive and better off as employees, or maybe you would be too. You have to decide for yourself. It is also possible - and probably even - that there are times you may wish to change from whichever you choose - back to the other again, either temporarily or long term. Nothing wrong with that either - so long as it's an intentional decision and makes sense to and for you in your life. There are so many things that need to go into that decision-making process, and in this podcast, we will touch on a few of them. Beyond that, if you want more information then check out our new Udemy course.
All businesses have their challenges and opportunities. Trucking, in particular, has a boatload of both. To start with trucking is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, and it is regulated in odd ways compared to other regulated industries. For example, trucking requires very little in terms of knowledge or money to get the legal right to operate, and what most industries would call license and what trucking typically refers to as "authority". Just fill out a few forms, pay some fees, get and maintain the requisite insurance or bond (for freight brokers) and voila you are in business! And yes that is an oversimplification of it all and there is a little more to it all than that - but not much. Compare that to other regulated industries. Real estate for starters. To get a license to sell real estate you must complete mandatory classes, pass the exams for those classes, the schedule an exam to sit for the state licensure test. You must pass that exam, then find a broker to hire you and then you can finally activate your license and commence selling or managing real estate under that broker's authority. The broker remains responsible for you in many ways. To become a broker yourself you would have to complete a few years as an agent first, then take several other mandatory classes, pass the exams for each class and finally schedule and sit for the broker's exam. If you pass the exam then you can finally get your brokers license and open your own firm. Want to be a lawyer? Then you have plenty of time and study to do first. Plenty of exams - and finally you get to sit for the bar exam, and if you pass it then you can become a lawyer. How about becoming a nail tech? Look up the regulations on what that entails if you like - but you can probably guess. In most states, there are mandatory classes, training, and exams. Pest control technician? Same thing. Mandatory classes, exams and then a license. Begining to see the pattern here? Yet when it comes to trucking - there is no such mandatory training before licensure - even though I would argue that in many cases trucking is far more regulated and complicated than some of the other examples given. Now you may be inclined to scoff at that, but before you do compare the specific regulations of any industry you choose to the massive FMCSR's or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. You can find them at www.fmcsa.dot.gov and take a look for yourself. By the way, I was a real estate agent, property manager and broker for many years and the real estate regulations are childs play compared to the FMCSR's, at least in my opinion. All other industries I know of give you the exam BEFORE they allow you to start operations - yet for some strange reason trucking is different. The government gives you easy access and entry to a very complicated and heavily regulated industry with almost no upfront requirements - then it will hold you fully accountable if you mess anything up. You can start operations and then after the fact they will audit you and every other new motor carrier (trucking company) within the first twelve months of operation. Even before that, you are fully eligible for a compliance review and other enforcement actions from day one. Depending on how that new entrant audit goes the new motor carrier may or may not survive and may or may not have to pay heavy penalties for what violations are found. My point in all that is this - while there is no mandatory upfront education or testing required to be able to legally obtain your authority (license) and begin operations, you do need to take it upon yourself to get your own education on DOT Compliance, overall Risk Management and Trucking Business Management. DOT and other agencies will most definitely enforce all the regulations upon you - regardless of whether you understand them or not. Pleading ignorance will NOT help you one itty bitty bit. Even though you don't have any roadmap laid out for you like all those other industries do, and no extensive list of competent training providers either, you still need to get the education and training you need to not only meet all the regulatory requirements but also to help you become as successful in your trucking business as possible. To do that, you can try to figure it all out on your own or find your own source of help. You can spend hundreds of hours studying the FMCSR's and related regulations and maybe you can eventually figure out enough to get by, but chances are it would take several years of dedicated self study to gain a true authoritative knowledge of the regulations. Even then the regulations, while very important to understand - are really just the basic minimum foundation you need. To be successful in trucking over the long haul there is a ton of other stuff you need to know too. Things that are important to risk management and safety - yet are not covered in depth, if at all, in the regulations. Other things you need to learn and do consistently have nothing to do with regulations but everything to do with productive and efficient trucking business management. If you would like our help then visit www.transportresourcesolutions.com and take a look at the resources available to you there. If you can, consider attending one of our upcoming live seminar and workshop events. If you do you will get a massive amount of education and information in a very short period of time. You will all get ongoing direct support for 30 days after the event, and you will receive one year of access to online companion course which reinforces, reviews and goes over all of the information covered in the live events. You will leave the event with your own current copy of the FMCSR's, a Risk Management Manual and DOT Compliance Systems Manual as well as a workbook. The training you will receive, along with all the support materials will give you a very good foundation on which to build your trucking business successfully. Trucking Business Success requires a complete understanding of regulatory compliance, overall risk management and all other aspects of trucking business management. You have to understand the regulations because you can't protect yourself, your company, your drivers, and staff or the public if you don't. Failure to understand the regs, and failure to have in place at least adequate management control systems exposes your company to incredible risks and potential liability above and beyond enforcement and compliance. Just to start you have to have an excellent grasp on the following topics; * Driver hiring and qualifications * DOT drug and alcohol testing program requirements * Financial responsibility/insurance requirements * Hours of Service regulations and record keeping requirements * Repair and Inspection and maintenance requirements * Hazardous materials regulations
Beyond these basics, there are many more regulatory and nonregulatory topics you need to know. Beyond all the regulatory knowledge required, you also need trucking business knowledge in multiple areas. Some of those critical areas include; * Recruiting, selection, screening, hiring and onboarding * Driver and staff training * Communicating effectively * Training drivers and staff * Team building * Leadership * Dispatcher and operations efficiency training
And much more. Trucking is super competitive and highly regulated. Those who do not learn quickly and adapt will be more likely to fail and go out of business. Even if they survive, they will never thrive - instead, they will always be bottom of the barrel poor performers just barely getting by. Don't let that happen to your company! Visit us today to find out how we can help you; www.transportresourcesolutions.com
Nothing is ever truly perfect or complete. Not really. everything can always be refined, improved and made better. Beyond that, far too many people fiddle around with things forever trying to get them just right - and as a result, they never even launch their project or do whatever it is they are trying so hard to get done. Others don't even start. Instead, they wait for the RIGHT TIME or better conditions. Here is the real deal - there will never be a perfect time either, not until you make it a perfect time by simply choosing NOW and doing the thing! I have read thousands of books, taken hundreds of courses both live in person and online, and read tens of thousands of articles, reports, and guides. Seldom if ever have I found one that was perfect. They all had issues. Some had several typos, others had grammatical errors and formatting problems. Some had holes in their information. Others had serious mistakes, errors, omissions or some combination of all of the above. Yet they were done. They exist. And I got something useful out of damn near every one of them - including the terrible ones, which I learned more about what NOT to do from. This comes to mind as I and my wife work diligently to complete numerous reports, guides, checklists, courses, videos and even our massive site and membership areas. It's not perfect. But its getting done and launched. Step by step by sequential step... And that reminds me to remind you... just get started NOW and get it done. Whatever IT is to you, stop putting it off and start making it happen. Get it good enough and get it launched and out in the big bad real world. Don't let another day slip away without you taking action. You will learn as you go, and you can improve along the way. You can go back and tweak your work as needed if you need to - but after you launch it - and that way you get stuff that matters done.
I used to have a drawing of a frog that was halfway down a cranes throat - the only thing sticking out of his beak were the frog's legs and his two skinny arms and hands which he had tightly wrapped around the crane's throat preventing the crane from swallowing him. The look of shock and distress in the eyes of the crane was priceless and underneath the caption read; "Never EVER Give Up!" Those are words to live by. If you have carefully chosen a course in life and are sure you want to proceed that way and you have done your homework and know it is a viable path - then you do it. You keep doing it when you fall and are bloody and exhausted you keep slugging it out. Even if you get knocked down or knocked out - that's just an opportunity to rest, regroup and attack again. Decide what you want and go after it with everything you have to give and more. If you do you will accomplish more than you can even dream of. Know this too - this is not the way or the majority. They quickly and change direction like the wind does. Become your own best friend and ally and work toward your goals. Find others who can and will help you get there. Take classes and learn. Research and learn. Read and learn. Hire a coach or consultant. Find or start a mastermind group. Never let anyone tell you" your place" or your limits. Decide for yourself and take action and recruit other like-minded people who can and will help you get where you are going. Help them do the same in return and flourish together by doing so.
When I first started out learning about the trucking industry one of the early lessons I learned was cost containment and maximization of resources to maximize profit. At first glance its easy to see how a driver or even an owner operator might be tempted to write this off in whole or in part - and many do. That's a tragic mistake that costs them big time regardless of whether they ever fully even realize it or not. For a fleet it has even more dire implications - and the bigger the fleet, the bigger they are. Learn how to manage available time and assets effectively, manage fuel burn and make sure you have excellent systems in place to handle fuel surcharges - including extreme and sudden spikes. Invest in consulting, coaching and training for your company and all key personnel and then make sure EVERY PERSON from the owner to the janitor and everyone in between is trained properly and then is continuous given continuing education periodically on an ongoing never ending basis. Be sure to incentivize those who can be incentivized - and that definitely includes drivers, recruiters, sales staff and dispatchers for certain. Always be learning and refining and always be looking at reports of all available management data. Comparatively, analyze EVERYTHING and EVERYONE and set benchmarks and hard stops. A benchmark - as I am using it here - is a specific target level of performance and a hard stop is the lowest threshold of that tolerance and one that triggers mandatory attention and corrective action. Want to learn more or get my help? Visit our Additional Resources page.
Consider becoming a truck driver first. Drive for a year or two before you launch your main trucking business. Doing this will give you insights and experiences that will help you deal with customers and drivers much better and it will provide you with information and skills that will help you manage your company better from day one. Granted - this is not a route that everyone is going to take, and you may choose to become a fleet owner or freight broker or start some other trucking-related business without ever having sat in the drivers seat of a single tractor trailer. But if you do choose to speed at least a little time in a truck - you will have information and experience that will help give you a few steps of a head start on your competition. You can also decide to go out on the road for a few days or weeks with other drivers. That will still help you gain some information simply not available to others who choose not to do so. We are continuing to build our organization and are adding additional resources for you every day now. In the near future, we will welcome our very first team members aboard who will be focusing on helping you choose the right membership options and courses for you. Keep an eye out on our membership page and on all our pages for a link to Meet Our Team. Select the person you want to talk to and get in touch and they will be more than happy to help you get started. Additionally, we will be adding some very in-depth trucking related courses inside our own Training Center in the coming months as well, so be sure to keep an eye on that and better yet - go ahead and become a member soon so you will be able to get all the help and ongoing live support you need.
It is important to carefully consider what exactly it is you are building. Are you creating a self-employment situation where you must do all the work or most of it personally? If so that business type is severely limited because you are limited in how much you can personally produce in a given day, week or month. If anything happens and you cant work for a while - or just don't want to - then your income stops as soon as you stop working. On the other hand, if you are using other people to help you build and grow your business by building a team of quality people and managing and leading them properly you can scale that as big as your abilities and ambitions can take you. You can even build a combination where much of the work is handled by others as employees, independent contractors or affiliates - while still retaining some of the key things that are profitable and that you enjoy doing personally, so long as you have the time and energy you will need to lead and manage your organization. Figure out your systems and put them in place by design. The core principles and systems can be applied to almost any kind of business in any industry. There are many benefits. The first is that it can be scaled. You can grow it as big as you like. The second is that you are the one at the helm instead of the one in the bilges. Your job is to be the visionary and to lead - others will happily do the work - for fair compensation. They don't want to lead. This world is made up of and needs both types of people. But for you - as the business owner, it is critical that you intentionally and systematically build your business to an intentional design instead of haphazardly as many are built. Just a few things to think about. As another quick update, we are working on our free reports and guides to go on our free resources page and we are making good progress. So check back there often as we begin to upload them sequentially over the coming days.
One of the many things you are going to have to become knowledgeable of and set up and maintain is a compliant DOT drug and alcohol testing program. It is not a simple thing to understand or do and far too many companies and people screw it up. It is one of the areas that carries some of the highest fines and most severe penalties too. If you own or manage a trucking business you need to become educated on drug and alcohol testing requirements - and you absolutely need to know the difference between DOT and Work Place programs. There are many business consultants and service providers who do not have a clue. Not when it comes to DOT testing and all the regulations that go with it. They know business in general and they are experts or authorities on workplace testing, yet remain oblivious to the fact that trucking is one of the heaviest regulated industries in the country - and it has it own unique and SEPERATE regulations. So following the incompetent advice from a general business consultant or third party can destroy your company and put you out of business. Even if it isn't that bad - it will still cost you thousands in fines and possibly you all kinds of additional problems. Your customers may drop you as a carrier, your insurance may be increased and other unpleasant things may occur. Some companies develop a false sense of security when they have been doing such things wrong for many years - yet have never had anything bad happen - yet. That's because they simply haven't been caught. Sooner or later though the chances are good they will be and it will be painful and unpleasant when it does happen. My advice is don't do that. If you don't know the regulations or have systems in place to protect you and your company don't stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is fine. Instead get some training and learn what you need to know. then decide if you want to handle most of it in-house or if you want to outsource much of your program to a third party that specializes in trucking and knows what they are doing.
We are reworking our Free Resources pages and Additional Resources pages along with the blog and some other parts of our site. We are also updating and changing some of the information on other pages. So if you visit over the next few days please keep all that in mind and be patient. You will find links that do not work and possibly even the site itself down momentarily - just know we are working on it with wrenches in hand day and night now until we get it in shipshape. Though the major structure is all in place (whew...) we are still moving provisions aboard and arranging the furniture - so to speak. in other news, we are also starting to look for our first Independent Sales Associate Membership Recruiters who will be authorities in their own core areas and will help us build and support this community as they also continue to build their own completely separate but allied businesses too. This is a very exciting phase of our business and we are looking for the best people, not the most people. We are also only going to have 24 filling these positions and they will be personally hand picked by me and recruited by me personally. Then they will be trained and supported by me also as it relates to what they will be doing within our membership. They are already authorities in their own right on their core topics, but in recruiting, coaching and mentoring our members - they will get all the information, training tools and support they need - and the compensation they need to do an outstanding job. So if I call you or message YOU be sure it is not random and you have been carefully selected. If you don't want to miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime then be sure to accept my offer quickly, otherwise, you may miss out on something awesome that will never come your way in your life again. For everyone else who wants an opportunity to build your own business - do not worry. As soon as we get the membership up and running YOU will have your opportunity to get the training and information you need and become an affiliate if you like and build your own independent business successfully right along beside us. Thanks for listening and I will talk to you again soon!
Freight brokerage offers you an unusual opportunity to start a business capable of producing six figures - or even seven - if you can do the job, learn the business and become very proficient at it. It can do all that and more and you can get started with very little money comparatively speaking if you know what you are doing. You need a surety bond and that will be your biggest startup cost most likely, and beyond that chances are you already have most of what you need to start your business. You need a quiet place to work. Spare bedroom converted garage, basement, attic etc. You need a decent computer and a high-speed reliable internet connection, printer, basic office stuff - desk, chair, file cabinet and a few other things you can easily get from Amazon or any big box store. You will need some specialized information and training too - and that you can get from a number of different online courses and books - including my own course and soon to be courses and a future book. If you are interested in taking my Freight Brokerage course visit our Courses page and take a look at what we currently have to offer.
Technolgy brings us new opportunities. One such opportunity that is truly exceptional is the ability to teach courses and workshops online with little more than a laptop, camera, decent microphone and some specialized knowledge. You don't need a license. You don't need a degree, certification or any other thing other than a strong desire to teach and something to teach that others want to learn. Add in some serious determination, some hard work, and a little patience and soon you will have your first student. Then before you know it your second, then third - and soon enough your student numbers will begin to grow with each new course you add. Some instructors earn incredible amounts of money on an ongoing basis, with many being multiple six-figure earners - and a few even beyond that. Personally, I'm not anywhere near that - yet. But my student numbers are slowly but consistently increasing across all platforms that I teach on and I am taking a long game approach and methodically building up a relatively large library of courses covering multiple topics on multiple platforms. From what I can see from my own research into online teaching as a business that is a solid path - though not the quickest. For those looking for get rich quick schemes - this isn't the way - instead, it will take time and a lot of work to build a profitable online teaching business. But isn't that pretty much true with any real business opportunity? You can get started by researching some of the top instructors and learning from them. Learn what they did, and what they are doing - then model that. It will help you potentially accomplish more faster than otherwise would be possible, all because of the work others have already done ahead of you - and that they are willing to share with you for a small price. Just the tuition for a couple of their course and a book or two in some cases - and completely free in others. Many have Youtube channels and multiple videos where they tell you most of what you need to know to start, build and grow your own online teaching business. Then as you begin to get some results and earn a little money, then more money - don't go piss it away and spend it on junk. Reinvest it back into your business. Take some courses yourself and learn more, get some better equipment, set up a dedicated recording space - your own little studio so to speak. While that isn't necessary - it sure is nice. It is great to have a nice camera, lights, backgrounds, editing software and not to have to set everything up and take it all back down every day. Instead, you just enter your space and get to work recording your next lecture. Then the next. Before you know it the course is finished, uploaded and live. Then you head on to begin your next course and you keep doing that until you have taught everything you have to teach and have built an extensive library of courses. Even then you are never really done until you decide you are. As you build your business and teach more and more courses you are continuing to learn new things - things you can then also teach. Even your existing areas of specialty will require updates and changes, and as you go further than beginner classes you will learn more yourself with each new course. So it is infinitely expandable. Maybe you have never considered teaching an online course before. Maybe it's time you should.
There are some things you need to know if you intend to build your own trucking business successfully. Our new course is now live on Udemy and it will walk you through the key things you need to be aware of before you launch your own business. The course is called; Trucking - How to Become an Independent Owner Operator It is now live and available on Udemy and you can find it there or through our Courses page on www.ldsewell.com along with an overview of the course too. One of the big considerations when thinking about starting your own trucking company is whether to lease on to another motor carrier and run under their authority (and to a large part their control too) or whether to go the independent route and get your own authority and operate as a motor carrier. The independent Owner Operator route offers you by far the most freedom, control, and opportunity. But along with all that is good about it also comes all of the responsibility too. There is no company staff with multiple departments, divisions, and numerous personnel to handle all the behind the scenes stuff for you anymore - that is all on you and is your responsibility to either do it all yourself or hire your own people to do it for you. Either as staff or more likely as independent service providers, especially when you are just starting out. If you have any interest in starting your own trucking company with your own truck and trailer from the ground up then this is the course for you! We are still adding more and more resources to our site. At the moment there are a few pages that are not fully connected to their links - but we are working on it. So it won't be much longer and the site should be in pretty good shape. As far as an update goes, we did finally launch our own Training Center using Teachable as our platform and that is available from our Courses page under the Classes link and it is available from our additional resources page too. We are working on numerous courses for the Training Center that will be going live over the coming months on all of our core topics. So a lot is still going on. We have not started actively recruiting members for our membership yet, though we do have several facebook groups that are slowly but consistently growing. Soon we will begin looking for a few Independent Sales Associate Membership Recruiters ( they may have that or a different title but the mission will be to recruit members and build the membership as well as sell other select courses and products) which will be a one of a kind opportunity for a fortunate few. Anyway, that about does it for this one - talk to you again soon!
What you do to earn a living is so important and takes up so much of your life it should at the very least be something you enjoy too. It should bring you a certain satisfaction and fulfillment too at the same time. Here is the deal - whatever you do is a matter of choice. I know you know that deep down. But sometimes people forget that they can change jobs, businesses, and careers anytime they want to. So consider this a gentle reminder. You can change your life and what you do for a living anytime you decide to do it. Even if you are content with what you do now - you might want to get in the habit of learning some new skills NOW just in case. Today's world is not so stable as it may have once been, at least in terms of the speed of changes which is becoming ever faster. So think of what interests you and go take some classes and learn some new skills. As far as the site and our business update goes - we are so close to having this massive project finished! At least as much as such a thing can ever be finished anyway. I think of it like a very large boat or a ship, even when it is finished being built it will always be undergoing upgrades, additions, improvements, and maintenance as long as it is afloat - and this is no different. The ship is almost built, but it still has to be loaded out, stores and supplies moved aboard, and the rest of the crew has to be recruited and trained. So kind of like that - and that's where we are at, but it is exciting. Soon our emphasis can shift from all the site design and build stuff to producing more courses and content. We did launch our YouTube channel, for now just our intro - but hey its a start! We also did the same with Vimeo, and hopefully will have our GoToStage channel up and working with its intro in a few days. We have several courses we are trying to get published too on different platforms between all the other stuff - and build out our new Free Resources page and Additional Resources pages on our site. Some of these things have taken a little longer than we planned, but we are still making progress, step by step by step... Thanks for listening and reading and I will talk to you again soon.
Right now almost all of our focus is on finishing the few remaining major tasks to finish our site and link all our other platforms to it, and get some content in them all. That has been a massive project that has taken us almost about half a year give or take. We are very excited and happy to finally get to this point and we are putting in longer hours than usual working to get it all done. Next the work focuses on developing more courses, content, and resources and finally, after that, we will begin actively recruiting members for our membership and our facebook groups. Our founding members in our membership and our first two facebook groups are going to be getting all kinds of special benefits and opportunities that will never again be available to anyone else. Most they are going to get FREE just because they are our founding members and that is our way of saying thanks for helping build our community. Other benefits will include a lifetime Inner Circle membership with all its benefits for less than a cup of Starbucks coffee each month - and that rate will be locked in for life and never go up - so long as they remain members. They will also get massive amounts of help from me personally in the form of coaching and consulting if they want it. Our next course "How To Become An Independent Owner Operator" will be live on Udemy by the end of this week... hopefully - or next week at the latest but it is coming and should be available very soon! So thats whats happening right now. As always thanks for listening and I will talk to you soon in the next one.
We are still making changes and adding things both to our site and our other platforms and adding three channels this week. Finally, we are officially launching our YouTube channel along with our Vimeo channel and our Go To Stage channel. So we have been a little busier the past few days than usual. So what about YOU? How are you doing? I hope you are making serious progress toward your own goals too. Life is too precious and too short to let it go to waste. So make a commitment to yourself right now - if you are not doing the things you want to be doing or making the progress in your life you want to be making - then change it now. We can help you do that too. We have several new courses coming out on our different platforms over the next few weeks so - sign up for email notifications and as we add resources, courses and other things that can help you we will let you know. Find or create the work you need to be doing right now - set goals, use task management systems, stay on course and make progress every single day and you will change your life!
A very short podcast with another quick update. We will be launching our latest new course on Udemy very soon and also our very first courses in our own Training Center here on our site through our Teachable platform, and we also have our first course scheduled to launch on Skillshare too. So there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on day and night here now. I think there may be a lesson or two (maybe a few!) in all this too. If you are thinking about starting your own online training and publishing company you need to clearly understand it will take time and effort to build the business. More time to grow it. More time to scale it and you will just have to hang in there and keep at it if you want to do it bad enough to go out there and actually do it instead of just dreaming about it. Teaching online courses and publishing books and eBooks, manuals etc. is NOT a passive business. I laugh when I hear people say that and it amuses me. You can call it whatever you please - but just clearly understand it will take a ton of work to make it happen. True, once a course is launched it is mostly passive income - but not completely. You still have to update and maintain your courses, improve them, be available for your students, answer questions, do your own marketing and a ton of other stuff. Not to mention the fact you will very likely need a lot of courses - not just one, or a few. Building those courses takes time and effort and a lot of thought and some research too. No matter how well you may already know a topic there are always things you need to cover that you will not know or that you will need a great deal more information on. That takes more time and more work. So I do love it all - the entire process - and I enjoy all of my work, it just takes time. Anyway I am about done for the day as I write this post and as of this moment it is 1031 PM and I think that's about enough for the day since I started very early this morning. More info and resources coming soon!
We Now Have A Free Resources Page! This episode is to let you know more about our new Free Resources page and what is available there now and what we have coming soon as well as a general update on everything else we are working on for you now. On the Free Resources page, you will find access to checklists, reports, quick start guides, worksheets and much more. Many of these are available for your personal use absolutely free with no need to register or sign up to get them required. Several checklists and other resources are available there now and we will be adding a lot of new resources over the coming weeks until we have a fairly extensive library that covers all of our core topics that we focus on and that we teach. Simply pick the available resource you want and download it and use it. Simple, quick and easy. If you find the resources you use to be helpful and want more in-depth information, that will all be available to you too. You can get access to additional resources by selecting the Additional Resources Available button toward the bottom of the page and it will take you to the next Additional Resources Available summary page and give you access to even more resources for you and an overview of what is available there. Many of those resources will still be free to you but they will require an email address and sign up to access them. Others will be available at low affordable prices. You will have even more information, tools and resources that are very affordable available to you too. Some as low as 99 cents. We will also be offering a couple of bundle deals that will give you a ton of courses and resources at incredible values! They will be on the Additional Resources Page within a few weeks. You can also use the main navigation buttons and links for the site to get access to all of our available resources. We had a few site "challenges" as we have continued to make upgrades but everything is back up and under control - for the moment. Keep in mind we are still adding more key components but all of the major build-out is almost done. The site and what we do will always be getting updated and upgraded, evolving and changing as we need to to make it the best we can for you and keep it that way. But soon it will be mostly content instead of apps and platforms that we are adding. Our YouTube channel will be live by this weekend. May not have much on it just yet but it will be officially active and our Vimeo channel will be up and running by next weekend too. So lots of stuff coming together now! The next 90 days or so are going to be very interesting. Thanks for reading and or listening and I will talk to you again soon in the next one!
Thinking Of Becoming A Truck Driver? It is very important to get the right information and clearly understand it before you start your new truck driving career. Far too many new drivers don't. That helps make the washout rates extremely high - and that is a shame for everyone concerned. Especially when the trucking industry desperately needs good drivers - and you need a good job and a good career opportunity. The truth is trucking IS a GREAT opportunity! However - there are some hard realities you must understand and be willing to accept in order to be successful in trucking. Most people don't know what they need to know and others don't want to accept the realities they are getting themselves into so they quit. Here are a few things you need to be well aware of and consider before you start; 1. Recruiters are sales people - That means they are trying to sell you something - a job, so they can fill an empty seat. Some are better than others and some give you more accurate information than others do. Even then it is information that may be second or third hand - meaning they are just repeating what they were told to say without having first hand direct access to the people that actually control the things they are quoting. So the information you get is often exaggerated at best and flat-out wrong in some cases. Caveat emptor! 2. Most new drivers do little to no real research or study on their own. Instead, they rely on recruiting information alone. See number 1 again. 3. You will almost certainly be gone far more than you expect and you will be paid far less. Pay will get better over time - and faster if you truly learn more about what you are doing and how to maximize your benefits. More opportunities will also become available with more experience that will allow you more time at home - though this will always be a balancing act and a challenge in trucking - even if you own your own truck with your own authority someday. If the wheels aren't turning you aren't earning...
Try to visit a company terminal if you can and talk to current drivers there. Ask them about starting pay, time at home, time out on the road, equipment, loads and how the company treats drivers and staff. If you cant make it to a terminal go to your local truck stop and keep an eye out for one of their trucks - get ahold to the driver and offer to buy him or her lunch or coffee in exchange for a few questions. Do your homework. Learn about trucking. Do your research and learn about any company you are considering going to work at. In all cases be prepared - trucking is hard for most people especially their first few months through their first year. For those who survive past that - it does get easier and it does get better. There are big rewards if you are among the best and if you are motivated - but sadly most drivers - even those with years of experience are not the best and many are not very motivated at all. So they barely get by. That is not unique to trucking either - it spans all industries and all walks of life. So if you want to do better than that you are going to have to work at it and put in the effort. Check out www.ldsewell.com for free resources and additional information.
Little did I know how ironic that title would be. After I tried to upload the post Monday the whole site crashed! Actually, the server went down and apparently so did many other sites too. But we are back! We have also taken many steps to hopefully minimize problems in the future - but in this life and certainly in the cyber world - there can never be any total guarantees. So you do the best you can and roll with the punches. In this episode I talk about being prepared out on the road - and the same principles apply at home too. Always be ready for bad weather and extreme conditions. Carry extra water and food in your vehicle at all times. Have extra blankets and warm clothing and always keep your fuel tanks filled - much more important in the winter than it is in the summer - so when you get below half your total fuel capacity - starting looking for a place to fill up. It just snowed here again - and when that happens and the temps are very low - especially when it is unusual for an area, people get caught off guard. They cant get to the stores so they run out of food and supplies. They lose power so they have no water (wells and pumps) and worse - no heat. Pipes freeze and burst because people do not have basement heat - and they do not have exposed pipes insulated properly. The list goes on and on. You can help avoid such hardships by making your own list and getting ready BEFORE you have an event or crisis where you need stuff you don't have. Make a list and use it to help make sure you are ready. Start getting the things you need, and making the changes that need to be made now and you will be far better off when something happens - and sooner or later - something WILL happen...
In case you missed it - we disappeared from the cyber world for almost an entire 24 hour period, thanks to a server malfunction at our hosting company. They eventually managed to get everything back and operating again and we have taken some steps to make some more behind the scenes upgrades too. Enjoy this episode and I will talk to you again soon in the next one!
There are many different views on life. Yet there are two that are far-reaching and overriding, and one is the victim mentality. Poor me, I am so unlucky, and the world is out to get me. If only THEY (whoever THEY are depends on who the victim wants to blame). This is a terrible way to go through life - especially since it is NOT true! The other view - and the correct one - is that each person is ultimately responsible for themselves and the choices they make and the actions they take. Those who see life this way realize THEY are in charge and that they are the captains of their own ships sailing through this life. They know their decisions and actions lead them to either success or failure according to what they choose. In other words, it is not a preset fate or destiny bestowed upon them but their own fate to create and their own destiny is by their own hand. For those in the first group - sorry - I have nothing for you. Nor does anyone else really. You can not help someone who doesn't want help and isn't ready to receive it. However if you find yourself in the first group - leave it NOW! Get your head screwed on straight and open your mind - join the second group and then I and many others can and will help you if you want help! Now let's talk a little about your work. Since you are going to spend so many hours of your waking life doing work and since you will be doing it in large part to earn your living (unless you are a trust fund baby or a ward of another) then doesn't it only make good sense to intentionally choose your work carefully? Sure you have to make a living and earn enough money to do that. But there are many ways to earn money. so choose one that doesn't stress you out and make your miserable for starters. Then go beyond that and find a way to do work that brings you fulfilment and maybe even joy to be able to do it - and that still provides you with a better than good income. Forget whatever your dipshit guidance counselor told you - and what anyone else pushed you towards doing. Never mind the degree or the experience you already have - what do YOU really want to do for a living? Think about that. Write down some notes. Imagine there are no limits. What would it be? That is your starting point. Then start trying to figure out how you can find a way to move closer towards that ideal - maybe you can go straight toward it - maybe you cant. The realities of your situation will have to be dealt with (I don't believe in fairy dust and bull shit and you will have certain realities to deal with too as we all do) and you may have to take a zig zag course instead of a direct course - but if what ever you choose is really truely that important to you - then you will find a way to work at least much closer toward it and keep on getting closer stsp by step until you have it - or until you have given all you have to give and done all you can and made it as far as you can go. But where ever that is - it will be of your own intentional choosing and doing. Start taking some online classes and reading some books. Learn something new. Start a part-time microbusiness. Change careers if you like (become a truck driver - and yes I am serious!) do something different and change your life. Stop allowing others to set your course - stop allowing others to choose your work - stop allowing others to run your whole damn life and start running it yourself! The point to all this is this - If you are happy with your life, cool - then keep on keeping on until you are not. But one the other hand if you are NOT happy and not getting fulfillment out of your work and your life - then CHANGE IT! You have the power and the right. Your choice either way.
It's a great time to start changing your life! Figure out what work you are meant to be doing - what will bring you the most fulfillment and purpose while at the same time allow you to earn a better than good living while you do it. Do that instead of remaining trapped in a job and or a career that you hate. Life is to short - so don't wast another year! Find your best work and start building a better life and do it NOW! While you do that, also consider and figure out how you can gain more control over your ability to produce income - think about starting and owning a microbusiness of some kind. Even if your chosen work is working at another company and even if you are really happy with that - why not also start figuring out how you can take those skills and your experience and redirect some of it into something you control as a part time microbusiness of your own? That way you have more independence and self reliance in case something ever happens to the primary job - or just in case you decide to leave it someday. Let's say for example you love to teach. Then start teaching some online courses of your own. Maybe you are passionate about doing workshops or you counsel and help people with various issues as part of your primary job - then consider becoming a coach or a consultant in your own practice too. Just stuff to think about. I also wanted to let you know we are excited to be getting ready to release all kinds of new information, products, and other resources over the next ninety days or so - and the first of it will begin this weekend! We finally finished our MANIFESTO and that will be published on our site Saturday along with more information on the same page about exactly what it is we are working to accomplish and how we are doing it all. There are several new courses coming out and some new books too. As each one is published I will let you know about it in the next blog post as we launch them. One of those things also is going to be a new Free Resources page. On it, you will be able to download free checklists, reports, guides and other informative and helpful resources. There will also be free lists of other tools and other available resources including where you can get them from. We will also tell you about other resources we offer such as each of our facebook groups - what they are about, who should consider joining them and how to go about it. There will be information too on that page about all the other additional resources we offer and how to use them all. Well, that does it for this one - I hope you are having a wonderful and happy new year so far and I will talk to you again soon!
This time of year people are setting all kinds of New Year's resolutions - sadly almost all will fail - and most will be done, over and by the wayside before February ends. So do yourself a favor and skip the resolutions. Instead set specific goals and use sound proven methods and systems to reach goal after goal and continuously improve your life in all areas as you do. Think about it another way - how many years have you been setting resolutions? How many of those have you actually kept? The point is to find and use stuff in life that actually WORKS... So what have you got to lose? This year try something different - set goals and then go out and accomplish the goals you set. If you want help in doing that then visit www.ldsewell.com frequently - We have plenty of resources for you now and more coming!
What Are You Doing For A Living And Is It The Right Work For You? Whatever you are doing you are spending a huge chunk of your life doing it - so it only makes good sense to choose something that you can be passionate about and excited to keep learning more about and keep doing new things. Hopefully, you are already doing that now. But if not, then why not change it? There are plenty of options - you just may have to be brave enough to go outside of your own comfort zone a little. You also might want to consider a total career change if you are not happy in your current field. Think about becoming a truck driver or a freight broker. Trucking is a huge industry and it has all kinds of opportunities available to you. You can start as a driver and learn the business and then proceed as far as you wish. Trucking is just one option - there are many others too. Regardless of what you choose - choose something that is the right work for you and you will have a much happier and much more productive life. Check out my courses available at www.ldsewell.com on the Courses page.
Where Are You Going? As a professional driver you would never head off down the highway with a load that you have no idea where it is supposed to be delivered to, would you? Then why do that with your career? Far too many drivers are out there working hard and delivering freight day in and day out week after week, year after year just getting by. Their only real focus is the next load and the next paycheck. The problem is that is not much of goal or a plan! So predictably their careers are not so much careers as they are jobs. Sure they get the lifestyle - which some love and others hate - but there really is no career plan at all. Think about how much more is possible and available to you if you have a plan and if you work the plan consistently. You can get to whatever level your ambition, drive, skills and abilities can take you if you know where you are headed and work to get there - for some that will be owning your own fleet some day. For others it might be owning and operating a freight brokerage. It could also be any combination of all kinds of other opportunities. Opportunities that you will probably never even get close enough to be able to see, not without some clear goals and plans to get you from where ever you are now to where you would like to be. So what are your goals?
Have You Ever Been Taken Advantage Of By A Company? I'm sure you have, and probably many times. I know I have and everyone I personally know has too. How does it make you feel when that happens to you? That's why it is so important to take extra care in your own business and in every transaction that you have with other people and make sure you have a win-win situation. That simply means that the customer or client is getting at least the value they were promised and expect, and that from a company standpoint, ideally they should always be given more value than they paid for. When you do that you build relationships that can last many years - some even a lifetime. Not only that, but every person you come in contact with and deal with has other people in their lives. Most have many other people in their lives - all of whom have people in their lives too and so on and on it goes. Treat people right to the best of your ability and it will come back to you tenfold - and they will bring their friends and families! Treat them wrong and it will come back to you in a bad way one hundred fold too! So always treat people fairly and honestly and do the best you can. Do not set systems up to be a predator and to intentionally try to take advantage of people. When companies and people do that they lose the opportunity they could have had to get referrals and repeat business. All for what? A quick buck? Instead, work to build mutually beneficial long-term relationships. If you do you will enjoy life more, sleep better and make a lot more money too over the long haul! src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6048229/height/0/width/0/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/" height="" width="" placement="bottom" theme=""
A Fleet Owner And An Owner Operator Have Very Different Roles When you decide to make the transition from being an owner-operator, or from whatever else you are doing now - If you want to build your own fleet - you are about to enter a whole new world! So start getting ready NOW before you make that move so you will be more prepared for your new role. You will be doing many things of course, especially in the beginning, but as quickly as you can your focus will need to be more and more on your people. Making sure the right people are selected, hired, trained and then that they have a crystal clear understanding of what their own responsibilities are and that they have all the tools, resources and support they need to get their work done. Leadership and management are your focus. You decide the overall course and your people carry it out. Some never seem to learn this and they constantly focus on all the wrong things. They spend massive amounts of time and resources messing with things they should not be doing themselves at all - and as a result, their companies suffer. Some eventually fail and the rest struggle for decades, more often than not barely scraping by. I highly recommend that you don't follow their lead. Instead decide now - before you start your fleet - what it is specifically that you want to accomplish. Then get the information, training and support that you need to make it happen. With that in mind consider our new Facebook group, Trucking Business Success. The focus of the group is on helping you to build the most successful trucking company that you possibly can and to be a resource for you all along the way.
Whatever Attracts You To Being An Entrepreneur - Knowing Your Why Will Help You Succeed! There are all kinds of reasons to start a business. Reasons given by new business owners often include the desire for more control over their own lives and the opportunity to do things in what they believe are the best ways, instead of being constrained by management in a typical job working for someone else. Some do it for more money - or at least the hope of more money. Some do it for ego. Others feel they are pursuing a cause and that their work will have a positive impact on other people.A lot of people just want more control over their own lives instead of always being told what to do by someone else. What Are Your Reasons? In today's uncertain and sometimes volatile world - having another source of income at least - instead of just counting on a job - is a good idea. There are so many different businesses you can start and run that will meet that need. A business that can support you and your family in the event the primary job unexpectedly just goes away. And many do every year. So having a source of income that you control is kind of like having your own insurance against job loss - and having that makes even the time you do spend at a job more pleasant because you are no longer relying completely on that job. Anytime is a great time to consider starting your own microbusiness - but since we are rapidly coming up on the end of this year and the beginning of a brand new year, so many people are thinking about their plans for 2018 and beyond. Maybe even you are considering starting a business. If not - maybe you should!
Which Is The Better Choice For You? Simple question, but a complicated answer. That's because there is no one answer that is right for everyone. It all depends so much on YOU - your knowledge, skills, abilities and your goals. Beyond that, it depends on how willing you are to learn, and there is a lot to learn if you intend to be successful. Then there is the amount of additional work involved - are you willing to do it, or willing to pay someone to help you with the critical tasks that must be done? Too many drivers think they want to be Owner Operators - yet few truly fully understand exactly what that really means and what the price will be if they are to become successful. So most do not become successful - they fail. How About You - What Does Being An Owner Operator Mean To You And Why Do You Want To Become One? Do you understand the FMCSR requirements that you will be responsible for compliance with - and the penalties and risks for violating them? How about your cost per mile - what will you need to generate to cover all your expenses before you begin to make any profit? Emergency Reserve Funds? Getting freight? How freight rates are calculated and what they currently are where you are operating? Trip planning strategy? DOT drug testing requirements and penalties ( maybe per load moved in violation!) and overall risk management? What you do not know at a minimum will hurt you severely financially and expose you to all kinds of risks - and can very easily result in your business failing and worse. What could be worse? Being forced out of business and still owing tens of thousands of dollars for starters. Independent Owner Operators Have Big Responsibilities They also have much to gain if they understand the business and all its requirements and are willing and able to do the things that must be done consistently. Those who do will make far more than any company driver ever will - and enjoy life in the process! However, it won't be easy or simple - far from it. Lease Drivers and other Independent Contractors/Lease Purchase Program Drivers Most of these programs are terrible - though there are a FEW that are beneficial to the drivers who understand them fully and are willing to work hard and smart. There are some good companies with good and fair programs - but you have to know what you are doing and even then you have to be able to find the good ones while avoiding the bad. That's often very hard to do because for every good program there are dozens of rotten ones... so be very careful if you intend to go this route. Also, keep in mind that leased on drivers and lease purchase drivers are CAPTIVE and do not have the same freedom over their own business as an Independent Owner Operator operating under his or her own authority does. That's BAD. It means the motor carrier you are with really controls your business more than you do. You are not free or independent and they control your freight so long as you stay there. If you are leased on (but own your own truck financed or not) you can at least leave the company and go elsewhere if you choose - but it will be the same business relationship at the next company too - meaning the company will always have more power than you ever will, yet you will be taking much of the risk and most of the expenses on regardless of where you go. Is that acceptable to you? The company driver has a better deal. If he or she knows what they're doing and runs smart and hard and treats their job like a business - they can benefit more in most cases than the captives can and have none of their risks or and far fewer headaches in the process. In many cases, you will be better off as a company driver while you learn the ropes, gain experience, and save up the money to buy your first truck and pay cash for it instead of going in debt. You can also use the time to take courses and study the business you are about to start so your chances of success will be much better. In the end, it is a choice that you will have to make for your self, and regardless of what you choose, I wish you all the best. Want more info? Then keep reading my posts and listening to our podcasts. You might also want to join our new Facebook group Trucking Business Success too if you are serious about your trucking business. Its free and we will be covering everything trucking business related on an ongoing basis - so come and join us there!
There has never been a better time than right this moment to start setting your goals. Why wait until New Years Day? Goals are targets. They give your life intentional direction toward a specific purpose. Then as each goal is reached and attained and new goals are set and worked towards you continuously set sail for new course after new course - and you constantly improve your life and live better in the process. There are no secrets. There is no magic pill, lotion, potion or premium product that can fix everything overnight with no work. Just simple proven basic principles, methods, and tactics coupled with good old fashioned effort. That is how you get from where you are to where you want to go. But even though the concepts are simple that does not mean they are easy. Take weight loss for example. We all know how to lose weight - including you - at your core you know it is as simple as eating the right stuff and not the wrong stuff, reducing the quantity down to what is needed instead of what is wanted and then moving much more than most people ever do - right? Simple. But is it easy? Hell NO! It is not easy at all, which is why billions are made selling lotions, potions, and programs that promise some kind of short cut or magical results without a bunch of effort. This year try something new. Be brave. Be bold. Do something different. Set your GOALS NOW! Don't wait until January 1, 2018 - do it now! Then get started...put the work in, stick with it long enough to make it your new habits - then stay with it! If you do you will already be ahead of millions - and you will be different. Different is GOOD!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a great weekend. Another year is quickly coming to a close and so it's always good to do some reflecting on your life and how it's all going for you. As you contemplate everything remember that you are the one at the helm. It is your life. You decide how to live it. So maybe its time to think about trying something new if you want a different life - a better life. Only by doing something different will you ever be able to get different results. Keep in mind nothing is ever perfect. Your assumptions, mental images, and expectations won't always line up exactly with reality. Never the less - if you keep trying you will make PROGRESS. And that is as close to the secret as it gets. Just keep trying, keep taking action, take more action, adjust - rinse and repeat. You will fail. Failure is the price of success. But if you keep trying you will ultimately succeed too. So decide - then go do it.
Time is yours to use and control how you spend it. You may not believe that at this moment but it is true. Don't like your job then modify it or quit. Don't like anything else that is eating away at your time then change it. If you don't then your life is and will always be a miserable and stressful experience. Some human beings (a lot actually!) will absolutely test you, push you and manipulate you constantly - IF you LET THEM. But here is the thing - you are in charge whether you realize it or not. So if people are wasting your time (your life) then stop letting them do that! Start saying no to time-wasting tasks and time wasting people. Start saying no to things and activities that you do not wish to be involved with. Simply say " Thanks for considering me - but I'm going to have to decline your offer at this time." and that is the end of that. Will it rub some people the wrong way? Probably so - especially the inconsiderate manipulative ones who are used to taking advantage of you! But that's their problem, not yours. Don't worry - they will immediately find someone else to push around and manipulate. But it won't be you. Not anymore. When you start saying no to the things that squander your time and then you have the time to start focusing on the things that matter, and in the order that matters. Then your life starts changing for the better fast. Set goals - use a task management system and prioritize your daily tasks - then take action and be amazed at the results. Invest in yourself and learn new things and develop new skills that can help you be more successful instead of letting other people just waste your time. By the way for those interested in building and running a successful Trucking Business - and who want access to lots of free information and resources - then come join our new Facebook group Trucking Business Success. Up to you, but the time you spend there will be a very wise investment if you are serious about building and running any kind of successful trucking business.
There will be challenges. That you can always be sure of. But you can overcome what you need to overcome and reach your goals and build a better life - if you have the courage and the drive to do it and then you go and actually do what needs to be done in spite of your fears and doubts. People will support you - some of them anyway - other people will most definitely try and tear you down along the way. There will be all these things and more to deal with. You will be scared. You will doubt yourself. You will feel insecure. You will feel like an imposter. You will have knots in your stomach - but if the thing is important to you - then go do it anyway... Many years ago I decided to go take a skydiving class. I didn't want to do the tandem thing, where you are basically cargo for your instructor. I wanted my own chute and full control of it. So I chose to take a static line class. For those of you unfamiliar with this, basically you have your own chute - but they hook a line to it so that as soon as you exit the aircraft and jump - as you drop away from the plane, the static line deploys your parachute so you don't have to worry about doing it yourself. Once that happens you are free and on your own - good bad or otherwise... It just so happens that I took about a dozen or so other people with me too - all first-time skydivers - with exactly zero previous experience. Were we scared? HELL YES! But guess how may quit and changed their minds? Not a one - every single one of us jumped that day... and since the school was happy that I brought them so many students I got to jump again for free. Check the gallery on my site and see me hanging under the wing of a Cessna moments before letting go. Fear and doubt? You better believe it. But I did it anyway. So did everyone else with me that day. Over the years I have had many such experiences - though perhaps not quite as intense as that. I have taken scuba classes and gone diving in lakes, bays and the ocean. I learned to drive a tractor trailer and then drove professionally all over the country and throughout much of Canada. I have taken countless other courses, classes and various training programs on multiple different topics. Started new jobs. Started businesses, tried new things - some worked some didn't - but all were valuable personal experiences and learning experiences. With each and every new thing, there is always some level of apprehension, fear, and self-doubt - but the only way to have a shot at the rewards each one offers is to push on through and do the very things that scare you anyway. Are there real risk? Hell yeah! Some things are absolutely dangerous and quite possibly even fatal if things go bad. But these things are the things that make you feel most alive when you survive them too. There are many other things that require courage and have risks other than physical danger. These other things have emotional danger and sometimes that is even scarier. Life is full of opportunities. In recreational pursuits, business and social pursuits as well and all require some level of commitment and risk taking to get the rewards offered by each one. But what if someone ridicules you for even trying? or tells you that you will fail, you're not good enough, you are too young, or too old. They may say "Who do you think you are anyway - you are no expert on that!" Here is the deal - no one ever is until they are. Your biggest critic is most likely to be the one in the mirror - yourself. Even when not a soul tries to impede you in any way, chances are there will be something inside knawing at you. Self-doubt - fear - maybe even panic. Keep in mind that you are not alone - everyone else pretty much has the same challenges too - whether they admit it or not. It's OK. Acknowledge your fears to yourself - then move forward anyway. In life, you have so many opportunities. So what will you do? Start a business? Start a new career in another field? Try a new hobby or sport? Take a course? Go to a seminar or workshop? Meet new people and make new friends? Whatever it is is totally up to you - but all new things require that you overcome fears. At some point, you have to make a decision. Choose something. Then go for it - just go do it - and damn anything or anyone that gets in the way! You have to find your own courage and overcome that fear that holds you back - otherwise no guts no glory.
Whether in trucking or any other business you absolutely have to get a grip on your finances if you are going to be successful - otherwise you won't be. In trucking, because of the nature of the business, this is especially critical. Take for example, say you have a transmission go out on the road hundreds of miles from home and you are under a load. What will you do? If you have an adequate emergency reserve fund it will be an irritation and an inconvenience and nothing much more than that. You will have some calls to make and some arranging to do to get the load taken care of and get your truck fixed and keep yourself warm, comfortable and fed while it is being repaired. On the other hand, if you do not have any money or very little set aside and cant easily cover all the expenses - then what? In that case, you will be in an immediate crisis situation. You also will have a customer service failure and may lose that customer forever because of it too - depending on how you handle things. I can tell you that regardless of how you eventually come out of the fiasco that it will be a painful and unpleasant learning experience. These type things put a lot of hopeful owner operators out of business. Some before they even get started good - and others who have been in business more than long enough to know better in the first place. So make sure you have good systems in place to manage your finances, that you establish and always maintain a good emergency reserve fund at all times - and if you ever use it then immediately start replenishing it and building it back up to its full level. These things may not be flashy or fun but they are critical to your success in business.
What are you doing for a living? Next question - WHY? I don't know about you but many people wind up in jobs that become unintentional careers without intentionally choosing to do so - it just kind of happens. They needed a job to eat and put a roof overhead (same as everybody else) so they took whatever they could find. The first few may not have lasted long and they drifted from one job to the next thing they happened upon that was hiring. Somewhere along the way, they got a little training either on the job and from experience of doing the tasks day in and day our. Other times an employer may have sent them to a school or training program at company expense. Next thing they realized was that they had some specialized skills. That's how it happens for a lot of people anyway. How about you? Others intentionally set out to go into some profession or another and believed at the time it was what they really wanted. But how the hell could they know what they really wanted at 18 to 20 years old? Most kids are HEAVILY influenced by parents, teachers and peers, as well as overall societal conditioning and all this conditioning often leads to false choices being selected. That causes millions to endure four years or six years of programming called college to very often find out afterward that they HATE what they have chosen to do! But they feel trapped... Ringing any bells? Afterall it's too late - all those years, all that money - all that debt. Once you have gone that far you have to keep going in the same direction... or so some believe. To that, I say Bull Shit! You do not have to do anything for a living that you do not want to do - not if you have the guts and the drive to change it that is, regardless of what anyone else may want you to believe. So why keep climbing when you realize your ladder is on the wrong damn building! Climb down - move it and start climbing again on the right one instead. Will people call you a quitter, a loser, and a failure? Maybe and maybe not - but screw them all if they do - because you see - listening to the prodding of others is what leads people down the wrong rabbit hole and into a lifetime of misery to begin with. Listen to the most important voice in your world instead - YOURS! Your life is precious and your work is a huge part of your life. Don't let others set your course for you - instead think about what you want then start working toward making it happen!
You Already Work For Yourself - Whether You Realize That Yet Or Not... The way you go at your vocation, whether that is in trucking or in another industry, and regardless of whether your position is as an employee, independent associate or company owner for that matter - your results are always going to come back to your own mindset again and again. How you see yourself and what you do as a result of that matters. Trucking is ideally situated to be beneficial to people who understand this concept from day one. If you approach trucking like a business and treat it as such (whether you are a company driver or not) you will perform far better than those who just don't get it. You will make more money, drive better equipment, get better loads, get home more predictable and generally have a much more profitable and enjoyable career. While you are doing so the whiners and complainers will be out there saying there is no money in trucking and what a terrible lifestyle it is (notice they stay though) and just saying the same old crap they always have and always will. Never mind them - the best thing you can do is ignore them and stay away from them! People with such attitudes drain your mental energy and waste your time - and time is your most valuable commodity. Try hard to avoid letting others squander it! Instead always be planning and taking action - reviewing your goals and your progress and working to be better every day. Find information and resources that are informing and helpful - learn new things and refine the things you learn so you perform better and get better results. If you want more details on all aspects of professional trucking, then take some of my courses which you can find at http://www.ldsewell.com/udemy/ and join our new facebook group which I will have available before the end of this month (November 2017). This facebook group is going to be a free resource for my current, past and future students and those interested in trucking and looking for more information to help them decide whether to seriously pursue it further or not. So if you really want to know about trucking as a business and as a lifestyle including the good and the bad then this is a good place to get your information and access to other resources. I will also be offering heavily discounted coupons and other benefits available only to group members. Well enjoy the podcast and talk to you again soon!
There is no single right answer. It all depends on you and what you intend to accomplish and how you want to spend your time. The choices are infinite. Time isn't though. And that means choices must be made. Either make them yourself intentionally or others will choose for you - but choices will be made. I highly suggest that you take the helm of your own life and steer a new course of your own choosing instead of just going along for the ride. Beyond that what should you do? The real question is what do you really want to do most? How do you want to spend your life? Who do you want to spend it with? Doing what? Life is so much better when you know what you want and when you are actively working to get it. Even better still when you find and surround yourself with other like-minded people on similar life paths. There is a big difference between living with intention and purpose - having and diligently working toward specific goals of your own choosing vs just working some damn job that you aren't even sure how you wound up there in the first place let alone why you stay year after year. Consider this - whichever course in life you choose - it is yours to choose if you want too. So if you don't like what you have, then change it now! Don't wait for somebody else to show up at your front door and save you either - take the initiative and make the commitment right now to getting up and going and finding the solutions and the information and resources you need to change your life. Life is an adventure - start living yours for all it's worth!
There are many reasons to do good inspections but at the heart of them all is SAFETY. Safety of you as a driver, the safety of other peoples property and equipment and most importantly- the safety of those around you that can be hurt or killed in the event some critical part of your equipment fails. Most schools are boring as hell and they do a piss poor job of teaching this stuff. I know - I was on the receiving end of such training on various topics more times than I care to count. Then I got my road trainer and the way he taught his lessons was a lot different - he told stories. The terrifying part of his stories was that they were not fiction but true horror stories from the road and all the years he had been out there doing what he was doing. One of the first such lessons was exiting off-ramps. I apparently had a bit of a habit coming down the ramp too fast and then braking hard at the end of the ramp just before the stop sign. He didn't explain right away - he just simply said "slow down... slow down now! Slow down more ..." until I had the speed where he felt it was acceptable. Later when we stopped for lunch he said he once had a team partner when he first started because that was the company's way of handling things. After their new drivers had completed their initial training and passed everything - they went out for a few weeks with a trainer. Then after they passed another test they were paired up with another new driver who just finished the same thing with another trainer. Then instead of just allowing them to go out on the road alone they had to drive together for a few more weeks before getting their own trucks and finally being allowed to drive solo. The guy he was paired up with went flying down a ramp one day way too fast... it was in Georgia and the asphalt had been rippled up from the crazy heat and the numerous trucks over the years braking as they were going down the ramp. The other driver said " Relax, I know what I'm doing..." and those were his last words on this earth. There was a log truck stopped at the bottom waiting to turn - they were going too fast and when their wheels hit those little dimples on the road they lost just enough traction to make it impossible to get it to a stop in time - but they were close. They only needed about 4 more feet... Sadly they didn't have 4 feet to spare - the logs took out the front of the truck as it slammed into the rear of the log truck - the logs took out the windshield and took the head off the driver. My trainer showed me the scars where another log tore his shoulder apart narrowly missing his head - and though he was badly injured he was happy to be alive. My words here do not do his story in person justice - suffice it to say I have NEVER forgotten his lesson though - and I never went down a ramp too fast again in my entire driving career either. Over the years as I began to get more and more into driver training and began teaching everything related to trucking I started incorporating lessons where I didn't just say do this and don't do that --- I showed graphic pictures of carnage and gave the stories of each unfortunate event. THEN I explained what should and should not be done and why, along with more examples of what happens when people fail to do what they should be doing. I have had many students return YEARS later and say " You know, in all the years I have been driving since I sat through your class I have never forgotten what you taught me about ..." and then they would usually go on to give me some examples of what they had experienced over the years. The point is that there are reasons behind doing inspections properly that go far beyond the school, or company said so or DOT said so or whoever or whatever said so. The true reason is that when you do your inspections right you have an opportunity to save lives. Yours included as well as other people you will encounter in your travels. While there are other reasons too - like preventing breakdowns and lost revenue and avoiding fines and out of service violations along with other risk management and business reasons - SAFETY is reason number 1. Please take your inspections seriously - learn how to do them well and then DO THEM every single time and do them right.
Study Those Who Have Done What You Want To Do... Then go do it. Even the Wright brothers used models - and I'm not just talking about model airplanes either. I mean they studied everyone they could who had any notable experience with flight - then they tried to replicate what worked for others and take it even further - they tried to improve upon it and put their own ideas into it. It's funny how many people seem to think Orville and Wilbur invented manned flight - they did NOT. There were many people flying gliders long before the Wrights brothers ever had a foot off the ground. They get the credit for powered flight - and that comes in part on the shoulders of many that came long before them - without whom they may never have been successful at all. As interesting as the history of flight is - including the arguments about who was first at what - that is not the main point here. The point is that regardless of what you may want to accomplish the chances are there have already been many people who have done it - and probably many more doing that very thing this very moment - or at least something in part and close enough to benefit you. If you study them and their work you can learn enough about how they accomplished what they did and how those doing it do what they do that you can replicate a large part of it yourself. You can also save years - maybe even decades - of trial and error of learning the long hard way by modeling them. Their success has an added benefit too - one of motivation. If they did it, then maybe you can too! We all need a little encouragement sometimes. We all need instruction, help, and guidance too. Some of that we can get through attending training courses and classes, seminars and webinars. Some we can get from books and videos. Some from direct observation when possible. Some through research and study using multiple sources, methods, and platforms. So what is it that YOU want to do? Figure out what that is first - then see if you can search for and find 10 people who are doing that very same thing right now... Go look at their blogs, websites and facebook pages - buy their books or take their courses or go to their events if you can. If not look up as much as you can about their work and how they go about it and see what you can learn and model.Remember them anytime you start to get tired and frustrated and maybe feel like quitting - go back and look at their accomplishments and then get right back in the arena. That's a wonderful thing about all the technology at our fingertips these days - a world of information is just a few clicks away...
So many times over the years I have seen driving careers end before the driver was ready. Usually when a driver fails a physical, and other times for other reasons. But in such cases when people are not prepared and ready their lives become chaos immediately. Everything is now in complete crisis. It happens. In other cases many times a driver just tires of being gone after decades on the road and would like to be able to be home with the family more - but they still need income and have no other marketable skills that can pay as well as trucking. So they feel trapped. Don't let any of this happen to you. Instead, start learning and developing another skill outside of driving a truck - It may or may not even be related to trucking. But it needs to be something you could continue to do even if you lost your physical. There are many things that fit that purpose - but none of them will do you a bit of good if you fail to learn them before you really need to be able to use such skills. NOW is the time! Pick something then study it. Take some courses, read books and get some training. Then start doing it and get some real-world practice and experience and be ready.
There are always critics - and not a damn one of them matters... What matters is that you are the one in the arena and slugging it out toward achieving what you set forth to achieve. Figure out what you want to do. Figure out how to do it - then go do it! There are plenty of classes and training. Plenty of books too. Then there is the mighty internet itself, so there is no shortage at all of information for you. Will you fall down? Absolutely. Will you fail sometimes - yes you will. But you will win too - if you try hard enough and often enough and learn from all your experiences - good bad and otherwise. So when it comes to choosing a business do some research and choose one. Then figure out where you can get some help and training and support and go get it as you need it and as you can afford it. You can afford it too, just reprioritize some of the other junk in your life and you will find the little bit of money you need to improve your life if you want to. So invest in yourself and start building a better life NOW! Don't let fear of failure and fear of what you think others may think stop you from ever even trying...
Trucking offers massive opportunities for some people and bitter disappointment for others. The question is what would it mean to YOU right now? With decent jobs still hard to come by for millions - trucking may be the perfect solution if you are looking for a new opportunity - if you can handle it and if you want to once you figure out what it really is. Trucking is much more than just any job. Trucking is a Lifestyle, and for some, it is wonderful - while at the same time others find it to be a miserable and frustrating way to attempt to make a living. Like so many things in life, you will do far better at it if you love it, or at least really like it. But if you hate it and hate being out on the road and away from where ever it is you call home then it's simply not worth doing for you. You would be far better off doing something else entirely. So which is it? If you think it may be something you are seriously interested in then take the time and effort to do some homework. Read some books and do some research. Take some online courses and attend a workshop or webinar. Talk to anyone else in your life that the decision may affect and make sure as best you can that all sides are willing to accept what will be coming if you become a driver. Especially two things. You will be gone and starting pay will be low and slow until you are through training and have some experience and skills. In some cases - if you are single it can be great. If you are only currently involved with one other person, and they are willing and able to go on the road with you - then that can be even better! Look into your options. Then make a decision and then pull the trigger. Your life is already underway - so do SOMETHING about at least trying to make it better! Want more information? Check out http://www.ldsewell.com From the Books tab you can follow the link to Amazon to get my books and from the courses page, you can access my current courses on Udemy.
If They Are All In Somebody Else's Basket Then You Best Beware! The reality of life these days is that companies don't really give a damn about their employees. Not the vast majority anyway. In fact, employees are seen as little more than a necessary evil and as just a means to an end toward reaching company objectives. When it comes right down to it you are replaceable and expendable. When the day comes where the company decides that you are no longer in its best interest you will find yourself suddenly unemployed. That is what has already happened to thousands upon thousands of people - and is going to happen to a great many more regardless of whether they have any idea it is coming or not. Others will lose their jobs not because the company decided to cut them loose but rather because the company itself will go under, fail and close its doors. Bye bye employees! Think it can't happen to you too? Better think again. That's what many of those who lost their jobs already thought too. When you work for a company you are putting your eggs in a basket that you do not own and can't control. There is a ton of risk with doing that, especially if that is your only source of income. Consider Starting A Side Business Now that you are fully aware of this - just in case you weren't already - then why not be proactive and do something now to protect yourself? Start your own business and grow it slowly as you learn and develop your knowledge and skills. Keep growing it at least to the point that it can easily provide you with enough income on its own - after all expenses - to comfortably live on and maintain your current lifestyle. When you do that you take half of your eggs away from your employer and put them in your own basket. One you control instead of one controlled by anyone else. That alone will give you more security, and a lot more peace of mind. Since you do not need any of that income so long as you keep working the job and it keeps being available for you to work - you can build a sizable emergency reserve fund very quickly and very easily. After that you can eliminate your debt if you choose to - and I highly suggest you do. The less debt you have the less indentured you are, and the more freedom and independence you have. The less you owe the more money you have to continue doing things that constantly improve your situation and your life more and more with each passing month. So what kind of business could you start? Here are a few for you to look into and consider. All of these are what I would call microbusinesses and could be started for very little money, then slowly grown over a period of time. Beyond that many of them have opportunities to grow them into a substantial business if that is your goal - or you can keep them as small as you like and just big enough to meet your own requirements. 1. Online Retail Business - Start selling products on Amazon and using their Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) Program. 2. Driver Recruiting Firm - Truck drivers are in high demand and most trucking companies have numerous trucks empty they are desperate to fill. That's where your services as an independent driver recruiter come in. 3. Become An Instructor - What skills and specialized knowledge have you already accumulated? Chances are that you have information, knowledge, skills, and experience that students are ready willing and able to pay you to learn more about what you know. Look at Udemy or one of the other numerous platforms where you can become an instructor and start sharing what you know. 4. Write A Book - The same things we just mentioned above can be covered in a nonfiction book and or eBook and you can publish your work directly through Amazon yourself. Take a look at Createspace and Kindle for starters. Keep in mind you will probably need to write a few books to begin to earn decent recurring income from - but if you like to write and have something to share this might be a great opportunity for you to look at further. 5. Furniture Business - There are several ways you can do this. One is to find old furniture people are willing to sell cheap and in many cases will give it away just to get rid of it. Take it and clean it up, repair and or repurpose it and then sell it through Craigslist, yard sales etc. Another way is to get some basic plans for farm tables, benches or Adirondack furniture and make it yourself then sell it the same way. 6. Soap Business - Make soap and sell it online and at craft fares and whatever other ways works for you. 7. Candles Business - Candle making is fun and can be relaxing. Try it out as a hobby and if you like it then start a candle making business. 8. Freight Broker - Chances are you may have never even heard of freight brokers or if you have you probably don't have much of an idea what they really do or how they do it. This is a multi-billion dollar industry and one you can enter with little more than a computer, phone, good internet connection, some software - a little specialized information and a few hundred dollars in fees to uncle same and to a surety bond company. Then learn and grow slowly until you become comfortable and then just increase the number of loads you handle per day. As a freight broker, you act as an intermediary between shippers and motor carriers arranging transportation of loads all over the country. 9. Custom Decorative Signs - With little more than a few inexpensive woodworking tools, a good router, a few board and some patience you can learn how to make and sell wooden signs. Lots of people love these things for their homes, garages, workshops and even for campers and boats. 10. Trucking Business - OK... This one will be better pursued on a full time basis instead of part time. But if you really want to change your life completely and change it fast then become a truck driver and then once you have a little time and experience under your belt there are NUMEROUS part time business opportunities for you while you are out there on the road.
All these things, of course, will require research and study on your part if you want to pursue any of them. But anyone of them can help you build a more secure and better life for yourself and your family.
Self-limiting beliefs and other peoples opinions often discourage people from taking the very actions that could help them change their lives for the better. What about you? Anyone ever tried to talk you out of doing something you really wanted to do? It happens all the time. The thing is though, you are the one with the ultimate power to decide to listen or disregard what you are told. In the end, it is you that must decide - and always remember it is your responsibility good bad or otherwise. Other people are not going to live your life for you. They aren't going to pay your bills either - so decide for yourself what it is you want to do. Trucking is a way to change your life and change it fast. In some ways, it is like a Tiny House or an RV that comes with a paycheck, provided utilities and other benefits too! Now don't get me wrong - there is no free ride in trucking - you will earn everything you get. But it is a way that you can make big progress and make it fast if you can handle it. So do some research and look into it - then decide if you want to pursue it further or not. Check out www.ldsewell.com for links under courses to my existing Udemy courses and keep an eye out for new courses that will appear in our own training center on our site over the next few weeks too.
So how exactly can you begin actually making progress toward building that better life? Believe it or not - it is simpler than you may think. In fact, it all hinges on just a few critical elements necessary to get started; 1. Mindset 2. Goals 3. Task Management Systems 4. Personal Financial Management Systems
You may place a higher priority on one over the other and rearrange the order - but one way or another you are going to need all of these things. There are many other things you may need and use along the way too - but all these are critical elements necessary to make serious progress in changing your life for the better. Visit www.ldsewell.com and sign up for our email list if you want to be informed of resources and tools as they become available. We have just released several new courses on Udemy and have more coming in the next few weeks. We are also getting ready to launch our own Training Center on our own site so there will be new courses available there too soon and our Shop will be open in the next few weeks and will feature products, tools, and resources to help you design and build your own version of a better life. A centerpiece of our products in the shop will be our Planner, Journal and Task Management Systems, We will also feature many other products and resources to help you. Enjoy this episode of our podcast and I will talk to you again soon!
The key to making things happen and getting things done isn't in making single big moves - but rather by consistently making small but steady progress each and every day. In other words, step by step by step - that is how you can realistically get from where you are right now in life to where you want to be. You can and should also use task management systems to help you see where you are going, stay on course and on schedule and assist you with getting the important things done each day. If you do that you will be among the two in ten who actually accomplish meaningful things in life. Too many people work their asses off - but in reality, they are just spinning their wheels and wasting their lives - they focus all their effort on things that in the big picture of life overall are near meaningless... So all they are really doing is just enough to get by in the normal world and the normal system. People I choose to work with don't want that anymore at all - they want to get ahead in life instead of just being normal and just getting by. To get ahead - as I repeatedly mention - requires a few key things; 1. Vision 2. Goals 3. Plans 4. Task Management Systems 5. Support (Information/training/feedback/community etc.)
Part of a good task management system will include checklists. Think about that for a moment - who uses checklists? Pilots, surgeons, the military, astronauts and many many others. Why? Because they work! There are simply too many things to keep track of and with all the noise and clutter in the world constantly competing for attention and the fact that it is very hard to always remember everything needed to be remembered time after time without ever forgetting anything, and in some fields forgetting a single switch or setting or key task will have severe consequences. That is where a checklist steps in and saves the day. In some of the things - such as the ones we mentioned - failing to remember key things can be fatal and otherwise catastrophic on much more massive scales depending on what is involved. That's why they use checklists - to do everything possible to make sure they don't skip or miss a critical step. You may not be handling life and death situations as a matter of business or part of your daily routine - yet in your personal and business life missing key things can still cause you and others in your life serious problems. So why not use a checklist when needed as part of your own personal task management system to help you accomplish more and enjoy your life more in the process at the same time?
Everybody wants more money and a nicer life... How about you? There are many ways to get it too. You can start a business of your own with very little money. Some cases you can do it with almost no money - if you have the right information. That much is true. It is also where the gurus come in - ready and willing to give you that magic formula information right now! They can show you how to start your own cash making machine that does not require you to know jack about jack, learn anything much, do any work, or wait for the payoff - you can have it all right now so quick and easy with their super duper secret sauce program. Just as fast as you can get out your credit card and pay. But it won't be cheap - it will be several hundred to several thousand dollars. But don't worry - it is pretty much a sure-fire thing - almost guaranteed (read the fine print - not really guaranteed at all!). Now don't get me wrong either - I love specialized information, training, and all kinds of courses - and I have taken hundreds of courses over my lifetime - some great, some not so much. But what I don't like is when people prey on other people and make promises they know are just very high priced slickly presented utter BS. There are many that fall into this category. Some other courses and systems ARE worth thousands of dollars and a very few are worth tens of thousands - but they are not entry level courses targeting the masses! They are highly specialized courses targeting a very select group of people who can afford them and who need the information they offer. These courses are good - and they are NOT the problem. The bad courses and systems are those DESIGNED and INTENTIONALLY targeting and preying on the working people specifically to extract as much money as possible from as many as possible in exchange for little to nothing of any real value. That type program is what I don't like - those that prey on other people and make promises they know are just very high priced slickly presented utter BS - and ultimately help no one - instead, they leave them far worse off than they were before. Even worse than that - they destroy their hope - so many just quit even trying and think everything is some kind of scam just trying to take advantage of them. Entrepreneurship is great - and you can make a great living - but it will require work, effort and a workable plan that is consistently acted on daily toward achievable goals. Should you take courses and get coaching, counseling, and support? Absolutely yes! The key is to choose a good company to get your training, products, and support from - and when choosing one keep in mind - any real true and long-term success will require WORK from you. You will have to learn new things, take action, and DO things consistently - new things that will be hard to understand and harder to do in the beginning... So choose something that makes sense and that you can make real step by step progress and that you don't have to go into hock up to your eyeballs to start making that progress either! The Bottom Line - There are SOME good and useful programs for beginning entrepreneurs - that have useful information that can really help you and that you can relatively easily afford. But for every good one there are at least 10 terrible ones out there just trying to fleece you - so be careful and proceed - but proceed with caution and buy what you need when you can afford it - and don't fall for way overpriced hyped up garbage in the process...
It's always going to be more about how you manage what you make than just the amount you make. If you make a million but spend a million and a half you have a problem and you will always be screwed financially. Insert any amount you like - whether you earn $300 per week, $3000 or $30,000 per week and anything in between - what matters is the ratio. You must spend far less than you make if you want to get ahead instead of just getting by. Look at all the movie stars and others who make or have made multiple millions - yet are broke or struggling now. Look at athletes and lottery winners - same thing. They have made massive amounts of money - yet they managed to piss it away faster than it came in and that is a perfect illustration of the problem of the perception that income alone is a solution - because it never is. Not by itself. The same thing happens on a smaller scale but still a ratio problem with most truck drivers - and others too by the way - and people always spend equal to or in excess (debt through financing all kinds of stuff) of what they earn. So there is where much of your attention should be focused if you want to get ahead instead of getting by - first get the ratio right - live below your means. Far below it. Next work to increase your income to - more income is better - if you have your finances under control. Use extreme methods - if you dare - and change your life dramatically and quickly. Use good systems for time and task management and plan out your trips to maximize your income. Consider other things you can do while you are on the road to increase your income, cut your expenses, manage your time better and overall improve your life...
How do you see yourself in your job? do you have a BOSS or do you have an Employer? These subtle word choices seem innocuous enough on the surface - but they hint at something far more serious - your own internal references and how you see your situation and your place in your job and the world around you. The dependent mindset leads people to feel they are not really the ones in control of their own lives. They see their boss as having more control over them than they have over their own lives! Sounds incredible and it is - yet this is how multiple millions of people see themselves and their roles in whatever they do for a living. On the other hand, the individual who sees him or herself as an Independent Employee and maintains an independent mindset doesn't see their situation the same at all. They view their work as a mutually beneficial professional relationship that is at will - one which they make the major decisions in and if at any point they are unhappy with their employer, they are ready willing and able to fire their employer and find a new one. They are confident in themselves and their knowledge skills and abilities and will act when necessary to preserve and protect their own interests. Now when faced with ultimatums and pay cuts and loss of benefits these people are far most likely to stand up for themselves and also reduce their contribution to their employer in terms of duties and responsibilities as well as overall time and effort - or simply to leave and seek better employment elsewhere at a better company - or to take their skills training and knowledge and start their own company of some sort. When the dependent mindset employee encounters the same situation - they cave immediately and they just put up with whatever their boss dumps on them - and with every new insult they lose a little more self-respect and become even more dependent on the company and the system as a whole than they were before. Any of this ring a bell - sound faintly or glaringly familiar to you? In the end, it's always your choice how you see yourself and how you live your life. Really. You DO have a choice ... So I recommend that you consider changing your mindset - if you are not happy with your lot in life - and try thinking and doing things differently.
Which Is Better - Buying Your Own Truck And Having Your Own Authority Or Being A Lease Driver? You have to ultimately decide for yourself - but in general becoming an independent owner operator is the best route to go in most cases - if you have what it takes to do it. Many don't. To be successful as an independent owner operator you need to be a business person in addition to being a good truck driver. Otherwise you can be the greatest trucker who ever lived and you will still fail. Too many make the mistake of assuming that since they are good truck drivers they are going to be good owner operators too. Often that is simply not the case. On the other hand being a lease driver requires little to no knowledge of the business of trucking. The company that is leased on to will handle most of it for you and point you in the direction of the rest - probably specifically on what you need to do. The down side is that they also control your freight and that means they control your fate - even more so if you are buying a truck through them. In that case you are captive. Now if you own your own truck and don't have it financed through them under any program - then at least you can cancel your lease and leave if you want to. Thats at least a little better. The reality is that many company drivers earn more and have fewer headaches than many lease drivers do. If you are brand new to trucking I highly recommend you get some experience as a driver and learn the business before you bite off on a lease purchase program of any type - and be aware there are still companies out there pushing these programs hard. Do what ever you choose to do - but make sure you know what you are getting yourself involved in first and what the risks are vs the rewards. If you take the time to do some research and learn about the business of trucking and get some experience as a company driver before you go buy a truck then you will do far better than those who don't.
Often people get frustrated with themselves when they fail to meet a deadline or a goal they have set for themselves - then they just quit trying and give up. They go back to being normal, and normal doesn't accomplish much. In case you don't know it already - you will fail sometimes - that's life. But what you do when you do is what really makes the difference in your overall success or ultimate failure in this life. You see the quitters quit trying - so they lose. They always will. That will always be their fate until and unless the day comes when they they decide to get up, dust themselves off and try again. If you look at the real back stories of the most successful people in history - in business and in all other areas of life - you find that common theme again and again. They never quit. Sometimes they fail. They get bloodied bruised and beaten - they get tired and pass out from exhaustion, and they lay there and rest a few minutes. They gather their wits about them and they get back in the arena and start slugging and kicking and making progress. Then they do it again and again until they accomplish what ever they set out to do. That's how you make things happen. Keep working at it and improving and day by day you get closer and closer until you reach your goals. So keep at it and NEVER quit!
In the world of trucking there are some things you don't have complete control over - particularly as a driver. Your load schedule itself may be set but what you do with the time between pickup and delivery is largely up to you. If you use a specific task management system and work toward written goals following a sound plan you will make progress. That is how you can begin building a better life and making more and more money in the process. This same principle applies to others in the trucking industry, dispatchers, freight brokers and anyone else. For that matter it applies to everyone regardless of what industry they are in. People who have written goals, specific plans and use a task management system effectively consistently outperform those who don't. So get a system and start using it. Nice systems are nice - but the essential elements can be accomplished even with a simple cheap spiral notebook. Take charge of your time and your life. This is so important in all walks of life - and it is critical to your overall success...
Everything in life has an opportunity cost associated with it. To choose to do one thing means to choose not to do another thing - or at least not to do it with full focus and attention. So you will have to continuously evaluate what needs to be done personally and what you can get someone else to do for you. We all live at a great time to be in any kind of business! The tools and resources now provided by technology give us all the ability to hire someone ANYWHERE in the world virtually and do all kinds of work for you efficiently, and that makes it very affordable to get access to all kinds of skills and specialized resources and labor too when needed. Even on a local level for simple labor - there are staffing companies and providers that can have how ever many people you need at your door step tomorrow morning ready willing and able to work - and then if you don't need them again the following day no problem at all. They are not your employees and the staffing company will simply assign them to another work location as needed. This works better for people choosing to do such work too since they aren't locked into an everyday of the week schedule and they can choose what days and time frames they choose to be available. Fulfillment centers have the resources, systems and personnel in place to process, pack and ship almost anything you can imagine from subscription boxes to individual products - all very affordably - and best of all, in a way that can be scaled with you as you grow and need the additional services and capacity. Computer platforms that are fully automated can sell, track, process and deliver all kinds of digital products for you even while you sleep! Personally I think all of this is great. Now anyone trying to cling to the old ways of doing things entirely is like a covered wagon manufacturer right after the automobile was invented and growing in popularity. In other words the companies insisting on the old ways of doing things have a very limited time in life left to adapt now - or they will perish too. When you are building your company do NOT model it entirely on old ideas, patterns and management systems because they will not work properly today and may not work at all in the coming future. That doesn't mean there are no lessons there to learn - and in fact there are some useful methods and systems - and parts of systems that will work. Just not entirely - so you do have to evaluate what works and what doesn't continuously as things continue to develop and change. So what are the most important tasks that YOU need to keep doing personally - and what can and should you outsource as soon as possible?
Make Life On The Road A Little Better Each Trip... When you drive for a living and spend a lot of time living out of your truck on the road the things you bring with you make a lot of difference to your comfort and happiness out there. Some things are obvious but others you may not consider until you need them. Thinking about how you live daily when you are at home and all the things you use out of habit without even thinking about it consciously can help. Try to pay attention to what you are using and write everything down over the course of a few days. Use that along with the information I mention in this podcast and you will be off to a good start. Then as you are out there doing the job and find you need something or think of something you would just like to have write it down. Next time you get to a store or back home again then go get it and add it to your truck so that way each trip is a little more comfortable than the last. Be sure to check our blog frequently too for ideas and information.
Regardless of whether you run a microbusiness or a relatively large and growing company, well developed systems can make a ton of difference in your success. Think of franchise operations or any other big nationwide company you can imagine - every single one of them without exception uses standard management control systems of of some type - regardless of what name they choose to call it. These systems are a large part of what allows such companies to not only survive long term but in many cases to thrive and to continuously grow and improve. Every once in awhile you see such a company falter and sometimes even fail - and if you do an autopsy on the remains of it you will often find an incompetent manager or management team that strayed away from the management systems that built the company to start with. In other cases it may be because they failed to continuously refine and improve their systems and tactics to be able to adapt to changing markets and other variables that will always require periodic revision and updates to even the best systems ever developed. Systems well thought out and well designed, properly developed and implemented allow any organization large or small to repeatedly and consistently kick the stuffing out of its competition. So what about you? How are your current systems?
You can choose how you want to live your life - independent and self reliant or dependent with other people controlling you. Make no mistake about it either - it is a choice but it is a choice that will be made with or without your intentional consent and active participation. Trucking offers you a realistic escape plan from the rat race and all that goes with it. If you can handle it that is. Trucking can allow you to build a life you may have only dreamed of - and a life beyond your wildest dreams at this moment too - but only of you can handle the price of admission.Trucking will test you and stress you and separate the weak from the strong - the driven from the lost and the top performers from all the rest. The rewards are many. The rewards are huge. But only those who are driven to succeed and who are smart enough and willing to do the work to get there will ever experience it. What about you? Do you think you have what it takes to make it in trucking? If you do how far can you take it; 1. Independent Company Driver 2. Rolling Recruiter 3. Road Trainer 4. Owner Operator 5. Fleet Owner 6. Freight Broker 7. Multi Terminal Fleet Owner
Decide what you want. Then go do it. Life is now not some future event you are waiting for - its already happening NOW! So choose your own course and start building a better life... If you want some help doing that I have several new courses coming out on Udemy soon. Links will be from the courses page on www.ldsewell.com
We just started a new Facebook group - Microbusiness Entrepreneurs - so consider coming and joining us there. It is a group intended to be a support group and sort of mastermind alliance type group focused on helping people start, operate and grow new businesses or improve existing businesses. If you are interested in becoming an IMR NOW IS THE TIME! We are now accepting applicants and there are only two easy things you need to do to be considered; 1. Sign up for email updates at www.ldsewell.com and be sure to look for the confirmation email and hit confirm (check your spam folder) . 2. Send me a message through the contact form on our site telling me you have signed up for email and state in your message that you want to be considered for an IMR opening.
That's it... simple and easy. I will contact you within 24 hours and schedule you for a live meeting with me online to discuss the opportunity, the benefits and the requirements and then you and I can decide together whether it is the right fit for you or not - and if it is I will provide you with the information you will need to get started. This will be the only announcement for at least a couple of months on this opportunity other than an ad I will put on our blog page that will stay up for about a week or two then be taken down. So if you want it come and get it before you miss out on the opportunity of your life!
Let me share with you one of my personal stories from many years ago. In this podcast I will tell you about a day in my life that ended just fine - but almost didn't go well at all, and the lesson I learned from it all. For those interested in the becoming IMR's be sure to sign up for the email list and send me a personal message from the site www.ldsewell.com and let me know you are interested in it. What I am going to do is let everyone selected know the date and time of a private webinar that I will do in the early part of next month where I will go over everything they need to know to be able to start recruiting immediately thereafter. So if you are interested get on the list now and then come to the webinars and hear all the details you need and then get to ask any questions you have. An IMR will be much more than just a recruiter - he or she will also be a subject matter expert and have opportunities to lead groups, participate in podcasts as a co presenter/facilitator and many other chances to build or continue to grow their own businesses right along with us. I know this may be a BOLD Statement to make - but I'm going to make it anyway... if you are reading this now - or have heard me make the offer to you in my podcast - you will KICK YOURSELF if you miss out on this once in your lifetime opportunity (I know that once in a lifetime things sounds cliche but it is true in this case!) . If you become part of this - it will change your life in good ways more than you can possibly even imagine at this point. But make no mistake - it will require WORK, determination and consistent action - it will produce results that will astound you - but it IS NOT a get rich quick or easy with no work opportunity. So fair warning - if you are lazy or unmotivated then save me and you both some trouble and skip it - but if you are one of the few key people I am looking for and you are ready to make stuff happen now then come and join me while you still can!
The objective isn't the collection of little green pieces of paper. It is not the collection of shiny precious metals either... The objective is the freedom and the independence and the control you have over your own time when you control your own income. That is much different than when all your income is from any single employer - who may choose to cut your hours, your pay or even cut you loose at any time. The solution in part is becoming an entrepreneur. There are multiple opportunities out there available to you right this minute! Pick something and take a chance. Start building a business of your very own. Something you choose and you control. Consider joining our brand new Facebook group too... Microbusiness Entrepreneurs. We would love to have you join the group. Until next time take care - talk to you again on Sunday.
Ever Thought About Becoming a Trucker? If not, maybe you should! It has many opportunities available to you. Whether you are looking to start a new career or looking to start a second career or maybe just escape from what you are doing now - it might be just what you are looking for. There are some things you do need to seriously consider first - to make sure it will be a good fit. Just a little research over a few days will tell you enough to make that decision. Then if it is the right career for you the learning curve is pretty short to get you to the point where you are out in the truck on your own and making money. Beyond that there is a lot to learn if you want to take your own career as far as you can possibly take it. How far that is will be determined by you alone. Think about it....
You Can Own Your Own Business Now! Start small - in fact start a micro business with little to nothing and then continuously reinvest your money and grow it. There are numerous things you can start that fit that need and we will be talking about all of them we can find in upcoming shows and in our blog. Its a good idea to test the waters and make sure you have what it takes and are willing to get in the arena and slug it out until you get it done, before you go out and make a big mistake by taking on a ton of debt only to find out it wasn't the right business for you to start with. Start something that is much less risk and then see if you can pull it off successfully. Learn as you go. Reinvest and parlay that into something you really want step by step. So what are you waiting for? If you want a business pick something and get started now! Be sure to check out the site and join the membership at www.ldsewell.com
What Are You Waiting For? Now is the time to become a truck driver if you have been thinking about it for awhile. Today there are plenty of great opportunities for you in trucking right now. Many companies are paying huge sign on bonuses and offering bucket loads of other benefits because the driver shortage is making it difficult for them to move all the freight that is available - and for some its impossible to expand or even hold what they have because they don't have enough drivers! That means more opportunity for you - if you are willing to do the job and learn how to do it efficiently. The reason the driver shortage exists is really not one thing but many things; 1. Older drivers (Baby Boomers) and others are aging and retiring or leaving trucking 2. Existing drivers sometimes are no longer able to meet medical or insurance standards in some cases 3. Younger prospective drivers are not as interested in trucking because of time on the road and away from home and other reasons 4. Relatively low starting pay and misunderstandings relating to pay realities 5. Industry has done a poor job of promoting its opportunities 6. Most carriers SUCK at recruiting! 7. They are worse at retention
Regardless of WHY - the fact is trucking companies need more drivers and they need YOU NOW! Even if you stumbled upon this and have never even had the thought of becoming a truck driver cross your mind before - don't write it off - not until you check it out and see what all it has to offer you. Those interested in becoming entrepreneurs - here is your chance! You can use trucking to start and build your own business. Either inside of trucking or another business entirely not related to trucking - by just using trucking temporarily as a stepping stone long enough to make it happen. If you would like to learn more - join me personally live online for a FREE webinar on August 25 at 6:00 PM eastern to find out what you need to do to get started and more about various opportunities and options available to you. The link can be found on the courses page and then the webinars button on our site. That will take you to the webinar site where you can register now and up to the date of the event - as long as there are open seats left. Seats are LIMITED! So sign up now if you want to attend... Visit www.ldsewell.com for more information and learn how to do your research, select the best company and make the most money as fast as possible while avoiding a ton of common mistakes most new drivers make. Take my course on Udemy now or attend the Free Webinar on August 25th.
It used to be that you needed a ton of money and a lot of resources to get most modern business ideas off the ground. Even then many were never going to make it to begin with - and failed as soon as the business loans or other seed money dried up. Thanks to modern technology and the world we all live in now - there are opportunities available to you right now that cost you little to nothing at all to be able to launch your new micro business. Then as you begin to earn money - reinvest it right back into your micro business and grow it. You will also be learning your own ropes and gaining valuable experience with each new day and each new opportunity. You will be getting better at what you are doing. More efficient, more confident and more profitable. With enough time and determination you can turn nothing more than a fledgling idea into something real! Then continually refine and improve and make more money until you are either ready to expand into a small business that can support you full time while continuing to grow - if that is your chosen course, or use your funds to launch something else of your own choosing entirely debt free. There are many options to choose from. You don't need much to get started either. Just some drive and determination and a half way decent idea... mix in some effort and take consistent action, and you will be well on your way. Just another update for you - we are going to be looking for a few IMR's (Independent Membership Recruiters) very soon! Definitely between now and the end of August - if you think you might like to start your own micro business as an IMR then get on our email list now! www.ldsewell.com Sign up for email notifications and hit the confirm button when you get the first email and you will be on the list! When we start actively recruiting IMR's I will send out several emails on how to contact me if you want one of these very limited positions. Those chosen will be able to attend free live training sessions and get the information needed to get started and then get at it immediately there after. There is NO OTHER OPPORTUNITY LIKE THIS! If you even think you want in then don't miss the boat! Sign up now before its too late...
It's great to be a great driver - but it's not enough to be able to become a successful owner operator. Many drivers find this lesson out the hard way too... If you haven't already taken the leap yet then pause for a moment - just long enough to do your homework and see what it is you are about to leap head first into! Then get the knowledge, skills and information you need to be able to do it and do it right when you do launch your new trucking business. There are really many opportunities available to you and there has never been a better time - despite what some nay sayers say - than right now to start your own trucking company. Whether that is as a single unit solo independent owner operator - or even if your ambitions include becoming a fleet owner and then growing that fleet to as large as you can imagine, and as far as your own determination and drive can take you! Want more information? We will have some new courses coming out very soon on Udemy and we have a coaching and consulting program through our membership available to fleet owners as well as numerous new courses coming out on all aspect of trucking for anyone wanting the information.Stay tuned... We will also be looking for a few Independent Membership Recruiters within the next few weeks - between now and the end of August ... so if you are thinking about that then NOW IS THE TIME to get on our email list before it's too late and you miss out on this opportunity! Visit www.ldsewell.com and then check out the Courses button for more info. Also be sure to sign up for email updates - and PLEASE - Hit the confirmation button when the system sends you the first email!
How Fast Does Your Clock Turn? The speed your day seems to go by to you is a good indicator of how you really feel about your current job, whatever that may be. Whether you are an entry level employee in a big or small company, a manager or supervisor or even the owner. If your day is dragging by then you probably don't much like what you are doing. On the other hand if your hours and the whole work day and even the week flies by - not just once in awhile, but day after day - then you have passion and drive and genuine interest in what it is you are doing. Most people aren't so fortunate... But here is the deal, you CAN be that fortunate too even if you don't have that right now. You can get it. You may even be able to get it right where you are right now by changing the perception of the work you are doing and looking at it in new ways. How can you learn from it, develop skills and talents and gain experience that can serve you well in the near future? Whether that means moving over or up into a more desirable position - or moving on, but taking that knowledge, skill, ability and experience with you and then putting it all to direct use on your own terms. Its all possible. If you believe in yourself and start doing the things you need to be doing then you can change your life. How can you tell when you are on the right track? A good indicator will be when your clock starts spinning and your time begins to fly by!
Truck Driving as a Career Can Be a Great Way to Build a Better Life - But Success Requires Knowledge and Hard Work... There are a lot of people who try to make it as truck drivers. Most quit very quickly too... Many other drivers who do make it a few years and some who make it in the industry for many years, manage to earn a living - but not much more. Yet there are the others, these drivers are a different breed entirely. They are not the ones you find making sad sack videos pontificating about all that is wrong with trucking today. They are not the ones you hear on the CB and in the truck stops bitching whining and complaining either. While others whine and complain these drivers are out there earning money and checking off blocks on their written goals. They are accomplishing more in a few months than the others will ever accomplish in decades. These drivers are top performing company drivers, future and current successful owner operators, and small fleet owners. They have learned how to become successful in trucking - and while others just talk - they are out there getting it done, making their lives into what they decided they wanted. So what about you? If you are currently a driver and are not getting the results you want yet then visit www.ldsewell.com and become a member. For those of you not yet drivers and who are just now looking at the possibility, same thing - visit the site and become a member - or take our course on Udemy. Information is key to being able to make better decisions and get better results faster. Sure you can learn from trial and error alone - or random information here and there. Sometimes it works and sometimes it ends badly. Even when you do learn good lessons through experience - it takes TIME. This is money, and your life. If there are ways you can get the equivalence of years of information in hours, weeks or months - instead of years and decades on your own... would you do it? If so then visit www.ldsewell.com and become one of our first members. You will have direct access to decades worth of information and as the membership grows you will have a whole community of other like minded people working to build their own careers too - and together everybody helps each other become more efficient, more profitable and do it all much sooner.
We Will Be Looking For Independent Membership Recruiters Soon! In this episode I will give you another brief membership update and discuss upcoming Independent Membership Recruiter positions available. In a couple of weeks or so I will begin actually looking for a few good highly motivated recruiters. This is a unique opportunity that will not last long, and that offers you a generous compensation plan. Listen to the podcast if you are interested and then send me an email to ldsewell@ldsewell.com and put "membership recruiter" in the subject if you want more details. Set your own goals, take a chance - try something different and get a different result - repeat what works, modify and make corrections when it doesn't until you find the right path and then repeat until you achieve your goals. Then set a new goal and repeat.
New Course Completed, Membership Site Now Available and Much More Coming Soon! Its all about working toward gaining more independence and self reliance and determining our own futures instead of following the normal course of indentured servitude and struggling just to get by year after year. There is a better way... Instead of living that way - adopt a new MINDSET - and start thinking differently. Gain some information and training and choose a different course. Do something different to get a different life - and do it now while you still can. Before it is too late. Time is your most valuable commodity and how you use it determines everything else you will ever have or not have in this world. Every single day that passes is either used to the fullest - or it is a lost opportunity that is gone forever. Each of us only has but so many days in this life. How will your spend yours? Its all about choice. Debt is one choice - though I don't recommend it. Being normal is a choice, just keep doing what everybody else tells you to do and remain assimilated. Don't recommend that either, but never the less it is your choice to make. Another choice is to become intentionally abnormal... maybe even a bit Extreme. Choose something much different and you can get much different results. If you have the guts. if you want it. If you want it bad enough to get up and go actually Do Something about getting it that is. Come join the membership at www.ldsewell.com and become part of something different, a community devoted to helping each other build better lives...
Dump Your Debt By ANY and ALL Means Necessary - Then Think About Starting a Micro Business... If you want a better life - something entirely different from what you have now - you can have it - IF you are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. But doing nothing but the same will get nothing more than the same. Think differently and try something else for a change. Consider becoming intentionally abnormal - be different for a change and change your life. Focus on getting out of debt first - then focus on some kind of entrepreneurial activity - a micro or small business, then investments of specific types. Especially real estate. Then you begin to line things up so you can live a long happy and independent life hopefully. Too many people realize too late that they don't have enough resources to live comfortable when they can no longer work - and often that day comes early and unexpected. We all think we have longer than we do... and sooner or later it happens. Age, or illness or an injury or any and all of these things in some combination or another and thats it. Don't wait until its too late - line things up in your favor now while you still can. Otherwise your only hope will be the mercy of others... On the other hand if you get out of debt and build up assets sufficiently while you still can - then you will be able to take care of yourself and those you care about. Then maybe you will even choose to help out someone else who didn't manage to get it together in time. What ever you do, do it intentionally - and start NOW!
Start Your Trucking Career With Eyes Wide Open - Get the Right Information, Have Realistic Expectations and Be Prepared! You can have a great career in trucking and make very good money while building a much better life for yourself and your family - but you cant do any of that if you quit within your first few weeks in trucking! So don't let that happen to you. Do your homework and research all the things you need to know first. Look at all the propaganda without the rose colored glasses and cut through the sales stuff and all the exaggerations and see the real truth. Get an accurate idea of what you are really going to be making. Figure out how much time you are most likely going to spend out on the road away from home and then when you do finally go home - know how much time you will be there before they require you to head back out on the road and do it all again. Get the information you need - then get prepared, set goals, have a plan and get to work on it. While you are at it - if you really want to get ahead and have a much better life - then GET OUT OF DEBT ! That starts the same way - with a decision and then, information combined with effort. Investing a little hard work and effort now will save you a ton of work and frustration and will help make sure you are successful at becoming a professional truck driver - and a top performing one too - instead of just another wannabe who quits...
Design and Build a Better Life of Your Own as an Entrepreneur You have the ability and the power to change your life right now if you want to and are willing to do it. But nobody is going to bring it to you on a silver platter either... If you want something different you have to try to do something different. One way to do that is by running your own business of some kind. But what? Well, for starters it has to be something that is marketable and that there are customers willing to pay for what you want to sell and are able to provide. Too many people choose something solely because they're into it - maybe even great at it - but it wont matter if there is no market for it - what ever it happens to be. Then even if there is a market and there is potential profit available - you must be able to produce and make things happen - not just creating the product - but making sales too. Either you do it or find someone who can who is willing and able to work with you to make it happen. Typically they are going to get paid based on the success they bring - maybe even half of everything that comes in. In some cases less and others more - it just depends - but they will not do it for free, and anyone worth having help you that can actually produce meaningful measurable results - consistently - is going to require that you pay them in direct proportion to the value they bring. So find help. Even if you want to keep working a job - maybe even the very job you now have if that is your choice - you can still better your life immeasurably by working there as an Independent employ vs a Dependent employee. Its a mindset different that changes how you see everything there and how you spend your time and energy. You benefit in numerous ways other than just the paycheck. The knowledge and skills you intentionally acquire can be used later to take you anywhere you can imagine in life if you are willing and able to do the work. The dependent employee doesn't get that - and never will. The dependent employee thinks the company will take care of them, and they wait... Usually they will be sadly and bitterly disappointed. Don't be a dependent employee and don't wait - go get it done yourself for yourself and those you care most about. Line up your finances and your life so you have a surplus of income that grows with each paycheck instead of just scraping by. That way - if you stay there - you do it truly because you CHOOSE to and know that anytime you decide and want to you can easily leave with relative security and confidence because you built your circumstances that way. There is a lot you can do to improve your life both now and for the future. You can also get help with learning how to do almost anything you need to figure out by taking courses online and going to seminars, attending webinars, listening to podcasts, reading books and getting access to other specialized information. There are coaches, consultants, mentors, mastermind groups and all kinds of people who can help you along your journey - but remember you have to do the work. If you cut your expenses and eliminate all big ticket debts asap you can reset your life. You can begin to rebuild it into a new life in all ways that matter. Your choice - make some hard but temporary and extreme changes now - or pay the price and suffer all that indentured servitude brings with it for life... You decide. You have my recommendation - Choose Your Own Course, Build a Better Life!
Trucking Now vs. The Good Old Days They Weren't That Good! Today is the Best Time Ever to Start Trucking... Its funny to listen to some people bitch whine and complain about trucking today and how much they miss the "good old days" . The hard cold truth is they were never that good to begin with. Trucks were nothing compared to what they are today in terms of driver comfort and amenities. Who can honestly tell me they would prefer to have an old cabover with a dog box and a single bunk - with suspension that would knock the filling out of your teeth every time you hit a pot hole, to a modern condo - with almost apartment like features? How about the dimly lit crater sized holes in the parking lots greasy spoon shit holes they used to call truck stops - compared to a modern travel center with all its bells and whistles? Stand in line for a pay phone - if you could even find one that worked and that you could hear good enough to hear the other person speak on or they could understand you either for that matter. Technology and the internet make this the best time in the history of trucking to become a truck driver so far - if you are motivated and willing to work hard and smart, you can build yourself an incredible life. While some are bitching moaning and complaining you can be raking in the cash and working toward building yourself a secure and prosperous future. But you have to do it. Not the trucking company. Not society. Not the government. Not the past either... your future is what ever you make it. It can be great or it can suck rocks. But you are the one in the drivers seat of your own life. Become a rolling recruiter. Run as a team with your significant other - if you have one. Educate your self - not for some BS degree that means not jack shit, but with real information that matters in the real world that you can actually use to do something. Don't get me wrong - a degree in and of itself is not a bad thing necessarily - but there are a hell of a lot of highly educated baristas and waiters out there... Just saying... Credential themselves don't mean much if there is no market for what you have credentials in - or if practical skills to keep the job and excel at it aren't really there even after you get the job. Getting through the door and being successful are two significantly different things. There are a lot of people who have the degrees and who have the credentials and who can't find any jobs at all in those fields! WTF So if that is you - you can whine - or you can choose a different path. Meanwhile at the same time you are working some shit job you hate for chump change - trucking is thousands of drivers short and just waiting for you! It offers you massive opportunity... and it doesn't hold over priced damn near worthless degrees against people who have them either. If you can handle being gone, and what trucking requires from you - it will give you much in return. It will give you opportunity - opportunity to take it to what ever level you are motivated and smart enough to achieve - if you do the work. But be fore warned lazy, whiny people expecting something for nothing need not apply - it spits such people out after chewing them to shreds before the ink even dries good. Consider yourself - can you handle it? If you can then what are you waiting for? Start doing your homework and get the information you need and then get started!
Is There a Problem With Normal Living? Normal living for most people means going off to work day in and day out week in and week out, year after year to earn a living. Taking almost all of what they make to make ends meet - and for some the ends don't meet and they fall further and further behind in spite of their efforts. Other people do a little better and are able to afford a few more luxuries in life - by financing them all of course. The ski boat, motorcycles, RV - maybe even a vacation home on the lake or in the mountains. The weekends are great ! But come Monday morning, back to the grind. The mortgages and the loans on all this stuff have to be paid. So many other people never have to worry about that second home or all the big shiny toys - they are far too busy trying to just keep the lights on and the roof over their heads and food on their tables and take care of their families. Its hard to do some times. For far too many its hard to do all the time. For them and many more like them - the only thing separating them from being out on the street literally is just a couple of paychecks. What about you - how are you doing? So long as nothing falls out of alignment too much - and if they can just hang on til the pay hits the bank account on the next payday - then all is OK and they live to do it all over again the following week. Of course there is a lot of stress at times. Maybe even some finger pointing and blame when something comes up unexpectedly and there is no money to take care of it. Maybe a car repair, or appliance that breaks down. It could be a medical bill not covered by insurance - if there is any insurance. Other times it might be an opportunity to go on a vacation or a trip - but one that has to be passed on because there is no money. Spending money on that would mean the rent or mortgage payment couldn't be paid, and or something else would have to give. Do that and its just a slippery slope to the homeless shelter or worse. Some people would like to go find a better job - but they cant. To do that would mean taking time off work to go look. Then the current employer may find out and the existing job goes away - that would give them plenty of time but no transition money. Not good. So what do they do? They stay that's what. They just keep plugging away getting a little more bitter year after year. Why do you think get rich quick programs and all manner of sleazy internet marketing programs do so well so often? They are not all sleazy or BS programs - some good ones exist, even a few really good ones that teach fair ways to make good money by providing products and or services that add value to their customers lives - more value ideally than they even pay for in some cases. But for every such product there are thousands of gimmicky crappy programs pushed hard too - because they still sell! Some sell very very well too. This is because so many people are desperately searching for a better way to make a living and have a life in the process. A way to earn good money without giving up everything else in exchange for it. Some way to do meaningful work that is somehow both satisfying and that truly benefits other people - to make a difference in the world. Some can't see that far. They are just sick and tired of working their asses off and having nothing to show for it - except debt and stress and a bunch of junk bought on credit. There is danger there too - even for those who don't yet personally have a problem with living a normal life at all - in fact they embrace it and cant seem to understand the fascination with entrepreneurship, minimalism, unconventional housing - and especially the tiny house thing... To them all such things are just silly - or maybe even stupid. Unrealistic childish ideas, nothing more - so far as they are concerned anyway. In their lives everything is more or less good. Sure they are busting their tails working insane hours. The work isn't their ideal - nor any kind of calling at all - other than for the paycheck. That part is good and that is what they are there for int the first place. So everything is more or less going along just fine. Big money - got it. Title - got it. Prestige - ability to impress friends, family, coworkers and damn near anyone else too - yep got all that. But what happens as soon as there is a little hiccup? Say the company shuts down? Or their position is eliminated after a merger. Maybe they get sick or injured and can't keep pace and or do the work at all anymore? Divorce? Stuff happens as they say. Sure - most people can get another job - eventually. Sure they can find a job doing something at least if they try hard enough. The problem is that takes some time - meanwhile all the bills still have to be paid - don't they? Even when the new job is found it may be at a lesser amount. Sometimes much less. Creditors and merchants don't care. Your debt remains the same - except for the addition of the fees and interest they keep jacking into it! Fail to replace that high paying income fast enough and start losing all that financed stuff. That will really get the ole stress pump going and make its meter go off the charts pretty fast too! Imagine instead of being trapped under a mountain of debt and expenses - having no debt at all. Now imagine having minimal monthly expenses that are half of what ever they are now - but still having the exact same income. Imagine that. If you could have that could you finally get some traction in your life and make some real and noticeable progress finally? How would your stress level be if you earned so much money and had so few expenses and no debts - so you could save half or more of your income each month? Would that be good? That might allow you to pursue other options easier. Or even if you stayed in your same line of work - even doing the same thing - you would have a whole new perspective, and look at everything completely different - because then you would be there only because you choose to be and want to be - knowing full well that you could easily leave anytime you like and would have plenty of time to find and start a new job making more than enough. So no stress. No feeling of being trapped. No more wage slavery. Then you work by choice - not compulsion. Then you get ahead instead of just getting by. Got it? That's the general idea as I see it anyway. You may see it how ever you like - how do you see it by the way? Are you really happy with your your job, income, finances overall - and your life just as everything is now? There are options available if you want to change your life. If you don't want to change then keep doing as you are and keep expecting the same old same old too. So long as that is what you want, more power to you and its all good. But the moment you decide you have had enough and you want something different - you want a better life. A life of your own design - what ever that may be, then you can start figuring out how to go out in the real world and go get it. All of life involves choices. You can go with the flow, be normal and keep on keeping on - or you can choose a new course and head off in a different direction entirely. That's another choice too. You have to figure out who you really are, what you really want - then get up off your ass and go get it if you want your life to ever change. Nobody is coming to serve you a new and better life on a platter. Serve yourself or go without. So in the end whether normal is good, bad or something else - it all depends on what it is to you. So what say you? Happy as is - or do you want to shoot for a better life of your own? Join me for a free webinar in July and tell me all about your plans... sign up for email updates and or go to our webinar page if you are interested.
Be A Professional Truck Driver - Not Just a Truck Driver... Yes there is a difference! How you approach what you do, how you see yourself within it and whether you constantly work on improving your performance and yourself or not makes a huge difference. Pursue the business of trucking with an owner mindset - not an employee mindset. Always be looking to do everything better - and have your eyes wide open for opportunities as they arise - and they come up all the time... The problem is most people don't recognize them because they are covered in dirt and grease and look like more work as the old saying goes - but the truth is they are gold in disguise! Reach out and take everyone of them when they show up. If you are willing to bust your ass instead of following the typical bull shit routine everyone else follows then you get the good stuff that comes from your efforts. That's how you build a better life as a professional truck driver. Be efficient at the work - then get more efficient. Manage and use your time. Communicate with people that matter - start with building a good working relationship with your dispatcher. If that's not possible shit can your dispatcher and get a new one that you can work with. And yes you can really do that... Think of yourself as an entrepreneur and an owner in all you do - even when you are an employee - own your profession and pursue it professionally and far outperform damn near everyone else. Most people are too lazy to do that. Don't be lazy. Instead get up and go work for what you want - make progress not excuses and you can make things happen. Develop a healthy amount of disrespect for what other people think - stop letting their opinions hold you back. Are they going to pay your bills, put food on your table ... I didn't think so. So damn their opinions. They don't matter. Your opinions matter and they control your mindset which controls your habits which controls what you do which gets you results - good or bad, and that is your life. So take charge of it and run it intently with focus toward specific goals of your own choosing.
Mastermind Alliances and Mastermind Groups Napoleon Hill was one interesting guy. He interviewed and studied most of the super successful people of his day and one of the things he learned was that they all had other people who were in some way shape or form part of an inner circle or group that met and worked together on each others problems. The power of the many always far exceeds the power of any one person alone. Sometimes it can be as simple as having a different perspective from a detached point of view. Other times it may be some unique skill and or experience that a member has that another doesn't, and it may be a skill or experience that took decades to learn and develop - all of which can be shared instantly. Combine that concept with multiple other people and you have a powerhouse of experience and insight that would take hundreds of years to develop - which of course is impossible for any single individual to ever accomplish. The good news is that such power is available to us all - if we can only find and become a member of a group that is interested and capable of working together to solve common problems and can help each other reach individual goals. I am working to build just such a group of highly motivated people - people who want to get out of debt, build businesses, effectively manage divisions, departments and companies. People who are entrepreneurs and take pride in independence and self reliance - yet at the same time want to work with other people seeking the same things. People who understand the value and the power of an alliance. People who want to escape the rat race and build successful careers while at the same time build better lives for themselves and for those they care most about. Abbie (my wife and business partner) and I are hard at work daily building out the structure and systems of our membership site. The structure is now in place (mostly) and the internal community board is up and running fine - just waiting for you! If you are serious about changing your life for the better and want to be part of our community on the ground floor - then sign up and come on in! Be patient though... its is a work in progress. New areas and content are being added daily.
Be Safe and Get Home Again They say trucking is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country industry wise. It can be. But there are a lot of things you can do to minimize your risks as much as possible. Fathers Day is an excellent time to think about such things. Whether you are a father or a son there are people at home who love you and who need you - so don't be in a hurry. Though the business of trucking is a rush rush all the time thing - you just have to constantly remind yourself what is truly important. WHO is important to you and who you are important to... Then be careful and be safe so you live to get back home yet again. This applies to all drivers men and women - not just on fathers day, but every day. When you sit in the next boring ass safety meeting - listen up and pay attention. It may help save your life. Till next time, Be Safe
Site Updates and Membership Area Work In Progress We have been and are still busy building everything but it is coming together - step by step. The membership area is up and running to the point it will let you in - though we are just now beginning to plug in content. So if you want to be among the first - and if you can be patient for a bit while we get everything else in place - then come on in! Next week we will be adding a Community system inside our members only area - and we have chosen to use one of the top systems for doing so. It offers each member a chance to have his or her own personal blog within the system as well as be able to interact with all other members easily and clearly. There are many features available in the system.... and those brave enough to sign up now will be among the very first members to join. I focus most of what I do on helping people who want help choose their own courses and build better lives... That is what I see as my primary mission in life and what I intend to focus on for the rest of my life. Living in debt and working your ass off to be an indentured servant and a wage slave is not much of a life. The good news is that you can choose to change it anytime you like - choose a new course and head off in a direction and on a path of your own choosing. That is what I want to help you do. And what I want to build is a community of other like minded people around the same idea. One for all and all for one - to borrow the phrase so to speak. A community where people work together to get out of debt, build careers and businesses of their own choosing, invest and build near passive income streams, manage businesses and lives effectively and accomplish amazing things. To share ideas, experiences - both good and bad so we can all learn together what works best and help each other avoid what doesn't. To have fun and enjoy recreational pursuits too - nobody is ever served well by work alone. We all need rest, relaxation and just plain fun too! So fun is part of the whole thing too... Visit the site www.ldsewell.com and check out sign up to become a member if you dare... or sign up for email now and I will let you know when we are a bit further along.
When you want better then start by bettering yourself. Some people are able to perform well in just about any job and situation in life - they are able to quickly and calmly adapt, improve and become efficient at getting the job done in minimum time. Other people - not so much. For some they cant seem to do much of anything right. Everything is always in turmoil and crisis and they create it whenever they cant find it. Everyone they encounter has a bad day as a result too. What about you? Which extreme are you at, or are you somewhere in the middle? You can improve your own attitude, mindset and your entire life while you are at it - if you want to. Start with adopting a new attitude and see things from a fresh perspective. Have clear goals and objectives and approach your job and your life with intent. If you do you will improve. Not to mention everyone you encounter will appreciate it too... Develop teamwork - teamwork with others, and team work with yourself. That may sound a bit odd but it simply means work toward intentional specific goals and a positive consistent manner - and stop working against yourself and others too. Your performance will dramatically improve if you do...
7 Things You Can Do To Be More Effective In a New Leadership Position Getting a new position whether you are moving up in an existing company or going to a new one - or even starting your own for that matter - is a wonderful and an exciting thing. But getting it and being successful at it are two very different things. Many people are not adequately prepared for the extra responsibility or the leadership role that comes along with it. How about you, are you ready? In this episode I give you 7 things you can do that will help you be more successful; 1. Get Specialized Information and Training 2. Use a Task Management System 3. Document Events 4. Learn to Say NO... 5. Develop Self Control 6. Set the Example 7. Continuously Learn and Stay Current
This fast paced world requires a new level of never ending education, training and skills development as well as continuing education and training to keep your skills current once you have them.
Your attitude and overall mindset determine how you think about pretty much everything. How you think affects everything else in your life. Everything... In trucking and in life you will have numerous opportunities to choose to either get mad and impatient and behave negatively - or use the time and the situation to your benefit. If you choose to use the time constructively you will have more success in everything you do than those who fail to see this and act on it. Its interesting to look at people who are successful and more importantly look at their attitudes, beliefs and philosophies on things. They all have the one thing every other person has - the same amount of time in each day, week and month. Its how they choose to use it that makes all the difference in the world. So what are your goals? If you know and have them written down great - if not then now might be a good time to think about what you want and then go ahead and formalize it by writing it down. Then next time you have to wait at a customer, or an appointment anywhere for anything - instead of getting upset - pull out your goals and read them. Then think about what you can do toward making them happen. Money and debt are critical issues for everyone alive today. You need money to live in this modern world. Even Richard Proenneke needed some supplies and materials - and it all cost money too... Look him up. Fascinating story - and while he certainly was much more capable than most - there were things he needed and couldn't make for himself. The things he had brought to him came by airplane - and everything associated with that cost money too. But the amount of money you need can be minimized - just as he minimized what he needed. Although I doubt you want to go quite that extreme. The more important aspect is to get rid of debt as fast as you can so that what ever you do make can be used by you for you and your family. Things to think about anyway.
Today's episode is just a quick update of what is coming up and what we are doing behind the scenes at the moment. I would also like your input too - This is all about helping people who want help build better lives - and that means you too! So I would like your help. First of all I would like to know what you want to hear. Interviews? Who? What about, etc. Got blog post recommendations? You can send me an email at ldsewell@ldsewell.com but please put the word "Topics" in the subject line otherwise it may go in file 13 before I get a chance to see it. My first Udemy course is in progress and will be uploaded by Saturday of next week or before (not sure when they will make it publicly available but they will have it by then anyway). As I was researching podcasting and scratching my head trying to figure out how to actually get mine going I read in several places that most new podcasts only last a handful of episodes before they disappear forever - and I have already seen several go that way. Others seem to disappear for days or weeks and then crop back up every once in awhile. As long as there is at least one person listening I will keep making them and they will get better with better content too as we go forward. I'm not going anywhere so long as I can still talk and the microphone works... you will get two episodes every week as promised.
What are your expectations? If you are considering a career in trucking, or even maybe have already started - what is it specifically that you are looking for from trucking? How much do you expect to earn? How often do you want to get home - and how often are you LIKELY to actually get home? Do you have big picture goals -or are you just taking it day by day and week by week? Have you made an effort to educate yourself about trucking? A real honest to goodness effort, like reading books, taking online or in person courses, done your own research, attended a webinar, visited a truck driving school in person - talked to any truck drivers face to face? To get an accurate picture you need information from different sources - NOT just what a recruiter tells you. That's part of it... but not the whole story and if you rely solely on recruiting information you are more likely than not in for a few hard lessons and unpleasant surprises. Do your own research. Get clear with yourself on what exactly it is you are trying to do. Then figure out how best to do it - write it all down. Have very specific written goals - then take action. If you do your chances of success go way up.
Whether you are looking for adventure and more independence or just looking for a way to escape from a crappy job you don't like Trucking might just be the answer you have been searching for - a way to a better life. For some it will be all they can hope for and more... but for others it sadly will not be the right choice. As much as we may want it to be trucking can't and won't meet the needs of everyone equally - nothing in this life ever can nor ever will. But is it for you? Or are you one of the folks who would be better off to keep looking until you find something else that will work better for you? That you have to decide for yourself. What I can tell you is this - you do have choices... It may not seem like it sometimes when things aren't going the way you want them to go. You may feel stuck - or trapped even. Feeling like you have to just keep slugging away day after day at a job you hate doing things day in and day out that bring you no sense of accomplishment and little if any real satisfaction either. If you find yourself in such a situation and not happy at all - then why not change it? Try something different. Do your homework and get accurate information about what ever it is you may decide to try regardless of what it is and then pull the trigger and do it. If you dare... Do your own rocking chair test. Imagine yourself many years in the future. You are sitting on your front porch in a rocking chair reflecting back on your life. You are very old now, and no longer able to do the things you want. You know that soon enough your time left on this earth will be done and the book called your life will be finished. As you reflect back over all the things done and left unfinished, all of your accomplishments and all of your missed opportunities - thinking back from then to this day, and this moment in time what will you think? Will you be happy that you took a chance and did something bold and changed your life - in what ever way that may go - or that you never did even try. That you just kept slugging away day after day after day ... until you landed in that chair on that porch? I don't remember for certain where I read or heard that basic story the first time - though I have heard it many times in many different versions from different people over the years, but I think it was from Tony Robbins where I first encountered it if I recall correctly. Seems like (and I may have it wrong so don't put much weight on it without looking it) he was responding to whether he should take the risk and make the effort to become a helicopter pilot or not - or just take the safe route and stay on the ground or do something less dangerous instead of learning to fly a helicopter. He made his choice - and he didn't stay on the ground. Your turn now. Do your own rocking chair test - make a decision and do what ever you decide to do. It's your life so choose your own course before you run out of time. What ever you do whether or not that may involve trucking or something else entirely - do it right. Do it to the absolute best of your ability. Get good information, a good instructor, a good coach and the right training so you can achieve all that you are capable of.
How well you communicate with your dispatcher and how effective you are at trip planning directly impact how much money you earn as a professional truck driver. That is one of the great things about trucking as far as I am concerned - that you have the ability to to earn much more than those around you doing the same job as you, but who are neither as motivated or as efficient as you are. Work hard, work smart and follow a good plan and you will out earn all the rest every time. After you get some initial experience with your new company and have the fundamentals of your new career down then it may be time to consider the next step in significantly increasing your income. One way to do that is to become a rolling recruiter and start earning additional pay for doing so. It can add up to hundreds and even thousands of dollars more per month than you will ever make from driving only. Just like trucking itself, recruiting is not for everybody - some people will be better than others at it too. But here is the deal - if the company you chose is good enough for you and you are happy working there then it will be just as good for other drivers interested in the same thing. Learn how to be a rolling recruiter and make use of that time out on the road and help your company, help other drivers looking for a good company and help yourself to much better total pay at the same time. I will tell you more about that in episode 8.
If you run a business, manage a business, or work within a business in any capacity using systems effectively and consistently can make your organization and your life much more productive and efficient. More enjoyable too. Ever heard the story of McDonald's ? The most fascinating thing about it is NOT its food at all... but rather the system behind how the food is made. The system about how critical operations are handled. The system for quality and uniformity - how one is just like the next and the customer in return comes to count on that experience and trust it from one to the next to the next. Ray Kroc was something else... a milkshake machine salesman with big ideas. His version of franchising was based on a system too. He realized what worked and what didn't early on and that the only way the McDonald's empire he envisioned could actually grow into reality instead of just his crazy idea was if the system he envisioned was enforced uniformly and included every single restaurant. People thought he was crazy. Turns out he was right and their opinions didn't really matter at all. There is a lesson in that too. What matters is not anyone elses opinions - but only whether something is true or not, and whether a given thing actually works or whether it won't. That's what matters in the end. Systems work. He got it. Because he got it he was able to build an empire that practically every human being on the planet is intimately familiar with or at least has heard of - all from little more than just key ideas. You can tap into the same power and use systems to improve your life in every way too.
More things to consider when thinking about how to get started as a truck driver. Realistic expectations are critically important if you want to succeed and knowing what to look out for when picking a truck driving school and your first company can make all the difference in the world. Check out www.ldsewell.com for more details.
Task Management Systems don't have to be expensive of complicated. In this episode I share with you how you can use a simple inexpensive spiral notebook to start getting more out of your days immediately.
Too many people quit soon after getting started in truck driving - in large part because they expect much more pay then they get when just starting out. Over time pay does go up and it is possible to earn a very good living as a professional truck driver - if you know what you are doing and after you gain some experience.
But the usual expectation do not often match the hard reality of what awaits most unsuspecting new drivers.
When you combine this harsh reality with the other stresses of getting started in trucking - for many it is too much so they quit.
If the shock of much lower than expected pay doesn't do them in then the failure to get home as much as they were counting on usually finishes them off.
The end result is the same - they quit.
It doesn't have to be like that for you!
Learn what you need to know before you start your new adventure in trucking and greatly improve your chances of success!
Truck Driving As A Career
Trucking offers great opportunities and a great way to earn a living - if you know what you are doing.
That's the problem for too many people who attempt to start new careers as truck drivers each year - they do not have enough information before they head off to truck driving school and before they start their first job at a trucking company.
Others have the wrong information from sources that either have their own agendas that are not in the best interest of the driver - or they simply do not have competent relevant information to provide to start with.
Either way hopeful new truck drivers enter the trucking industry misinformed and have unrealistic expectation of what life as a trucker really is like, and as a result they usually do not survive more than a few hard months if they last that long - before they quit.
They go home angry, disillusioned and broker than they were before they started.
The fact is that trucking can be an excellent well paying career for a lot of people - but it is not for everyone.
Even if it is for you - there is much to learn even before you start and more to learn along the way if you want to be successful.
In future episodes I will cover more details but this episode will give you a good idea of why so many people don't last long in trucking - and how you can avoid becoming one of those who fail.
Find out what you need to know to help you decide if trucking is for you or not - and if it is, learn how you can build a successful career and a better life!
When the same old same old doesn't work - then perhaps its's time to consider doing something different.
This episode is about something much different.
Using Tiny Houses and other things that can be lived in or aboard long enough to make serious progress at getting out from under debt - especially the biggest debts most people have - their rent or mortgage payments and car payments.
Get rid of the mortgage or rent by getting rid of the house or apartment and choosing to live temporarily in something that can be owned paid for in full from day one.
Use the freed up cash to either pay off the car or buy a good used car that you can afford and eliminate those car payments forever.
This is NOT for everyone - but if you are sick and tired of the rat race then you might just want to consider this!
Welcome to the L.D.Sewell Podcast!
This is episode 0 - the first ever episode of this podcast.
It is about ways to live a better life starting right now by using unconventional thinking and extreme methods and tactics when needed to get results fast.
In upcoming episodes we will discuss Personal Finances and especially Debt Elimination as well as go into detail on Trucking, Real Estate Investing, Mortgage Free and Debt Free Living and many other topics.
We will be looking at ways to use Tiny Houses and other Little Human Habitats such as boats, campers, RV's, conversions and many other things temporarily to dump your debt and start building a better life fast.
Temporary Minimalism can also be used as a fast way to change course and choose a new course in life too.
Consider becoming a truck driver - at least long enough to build yourself a new foundation for a new life quickly or maybe even as a longer term new career.
Trucking offers independence and opportunity for people who are willing to work hard and smart - but there is a lot you need to know BEFORE you head off to truck driving school!
If you want a better life then you need to think differently and be willing to try something different!
If it works and if it can help you then it will be in an upcoming episode, without the fluff, without the filler and without the BS.
Check out www.ldsewell.com for more details!
Life is all about choices - you can keep doing what you are doing or if you want something better you can try doing something different!
Choose Your Own Course, Build a Better Life