William and Robin Sikora

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Wave Express podcast, delivering everything you need to know to stay safe and profitable out on the road. [00:00:11] Speaker B: Well, let me start off by introducing our VIP guests today. We've got William and Robin Socorro from the Riverstone Life, some of our favorite Wave Express contractors, and I've got the general manager of Wave Express, Mike Miles, here. I'm here. Joe Braun. I report to everyone, usually take heat for everyone. So just call me the president if you want, or the overgrown kid in the building. I don't really care. Both apply. But we're here today to talk about the experience that William and Robin have been having in our beloved trade RV transport. And I've got Mike for backup just in case they get rough with me. We've got Corinne helping record, so thank you for that, Corrine. And with that, let's go ahead and get started. William and Robin, where have you come in from today? [00:00:57] Speaker A: Where are we coming from today? [00:00:59] Speaker C: Colorado. [00:01:00] Speaker A: Yeah, Colorado. [00:01:01] Speaker B: Coming in from Colorado. [00:01:02] Speaker A: We've been here for a couple days. [00:01:03] Speaker B: Up in the Rockies, huh? [00:01:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we were in Colorado, but we've been here for a couple days because we had to get some stuff done, maintenance on the truck. You know, the most important thing out there? [00:01:11] Speaker B: Sister wife. Sister wife. That's his truck's nickname. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:01:16] Speaker B: I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I think it's on the truck. [00:01:19] Speaker A: No, she made me take all this stuff off. [00:01:22] Speaker C: I did. [00:01:23] Speaker A: Yeah. But now I made a safety class today. My first safety class with Wave, so that was cool. [00:01:27] Speaker B: Oh, so you're over at the driver lounge in Wakaroosa. Wakaroosa, Indiana. [00:01:31] Speaker A: Only the second time I've been there. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:01:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I picked a load up there once, and then I didn't even know how to use my door code to get in, so that took a little while. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Okay. We got you in, though, right? Okay. Okay, good. Yeah, we have all this tech, you know, and some of it we like, and some of it is just a necessary encumbrance to have because people like to get in places they shouldn't and take units they shouldn't and. Yeah, so now we have all these codes and bypasses and. Glad you got it figured out. [00:01:59] Speaker A: I did. Yeah. [00:02:00] Speaker D: But to be able to provide those benefits, obviously, we have to keep it. Keep it controlled. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Well, if something happens there, you know who the last people were or the person was there. [00:02:11] Speaker D: Right. [00:02:12] Speaker B: Funny story. We've actually talked about doing that to our restrooms in this building. Like, you have to code in. Yeah, that Way, if there's a problem, we know who the feller or the Sheila was. [00:02:22] Speaker A: When you got to go to the bathroom really bad, you run over there and you punch in the code and the door hit that pound the line, standing behind me going, as soon as you get it open, we're all coming in. I'm like, all right. [00:02:34] Speaker B: We actually opted out of that plan for similar, those and other reasons. Yeah. So that's been foregone. Thank goodness. Coming in from Colorado, how was the weather out there? [00:02:44] Speaker A: We had a good trip? [00:02:45] Speaker C: Yeah, it was pretty nice. [00:02:47] Speaker A: It's funny, we went through Nebraska at 19 below zero and we came back through at 68 degrees. [00:02:53] Speaker C: It was 68. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Wow, how nice. [00:02:56] Speaker A: The weather we've dealt with this year has been crazy. Yeah, crazy. [00:03:00] Speaker B: When you go out west like that, I think people learn this after a while, but at first you don't realize when you go from the east to the west of Nebraska, you're gonna be about a mile higher in the atmosphere, and it can change things substantially, especially winds. [00:03:13] Speaker A: And you'll feel the sun just bake you in the. When it's real sunny, bakes you in the vehicle too. [00:03:18] Speaker B: A little less atmosphere. [00:03:19] Speaker A: But I mean, a lot of drivers have never been out west. They've worked for you for four or five years and don't go out west. Surprising. [00:03:25] Speaker B: It's funny. So there. There is some risk management benefit to run lanes that you're familiar with. Less surprises, you know, less last minute diversions and so forth. But you do miss so much. I mean, if there's areas of the map that you haven't covered, there's treasures to be found in those areas everywhere. And our country is so awesome that you. You miss out on a lot if you don't cover certain regions. So I think I've heard you say the number of states, and I can't pull it from memory right now, but have you been in every state yet? Yes. Yeah, multiple. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Multiple times. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Nice. [00:03:59] Speaker A: We even drove to Alaska. So we've. [00:04:01] Speaker B: Have you driven to Alaska? [00:04:03] Speaker A: We drove Alaska highway. We did all that stuff. [00:04:05] Speaker B: Cool. Awesome. [00:04:05] Speaker A: And people complain about the roads, and those roads are nothing compared to the roads we drive in every day. I mean, I was prepared for that. You know, it was gonna be really bad. It wasn't that bad. [00:04:14] Speaker B: Now, what took you to Alaska, out of curiosity? [00:04:16] Speaker C: Well, we flew in and I prefer to fly, but he wanted to drive, and it took me about two months for him to convince me we should drive. Like, why do we have to drive? Just hop on a Plane get there a couple hours. We did. [00:04:27] Speaker B: Unless you've been watching the news recently. And then all of a sudden driving. [00:04:30] Speaker C: Doesn'T look so ordeals. [00:04:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:33] Speaker A: So we spent one month a little bit over. [00:04:34] Speaker C: We did. It was fun. [00:04:36] Speaker A: Had a lot of fun in Canada. That's great. That's. I think everybody out there should do that. And if you time it right, you'll have a great time in Alaska. If you time it wrong, you'll be in a rainstorm like us. But we have more fun in Canada because it didn't rain in Canada. But the whole time we were in Alaska, it rained on us. [00:04:51] Speaker B: That's a bummer. [00:04:52] Speaker A: You got to go there in May. You wouldn't think that would be the time we went what, July or August. August. Yeah. You got to go in. [00:04:58] Speaker B: Maybe the most I know about Alaska is like watching the gold mining shows and stuff where they, you know, they have to beat the coming frost and negative temperatures and have to shut all their equipment down for the season when that happens and they're in a big rush to every ounce of gold. That's my knowledgeable aspect. [00:05:14] Speaker A: Well, we fought snow getting out. Right. [00:05:15] Speaker C: We did. [00:05:16] Speaker A: Started snowing when we were leaving end of August and September. [00:05:19] Speaker C: We flew in. And when we flew, we went in March. We saw the northern lights. We. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Stayed on 80 acre property in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of creepy, but cool. [00:05:29] Speaker A: We've experienced it. [00:05:30] Speaker B: Any sasquatch encounters? [00:05:32] Speaker C: No, but we heard some crazy things. Like two in the morning. We could get him up to go see the northern lights. [00:05:39] Speaker A: I want to go to bed. She wants to go look at the Northern Lights at 2am in the middle of nowhere. Until we heard something. [00:05:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Like some lady chanting. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Some lady chanting out in the middle of nowhere. Okay, we're done. [00:05:52] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Finally I go back to bed. [00:05:56] Speaker D: Well, not only do other drivers that don't travel the. All the lanes that we. That we have now, obviously Alaska isn't one. We don't have any dealers in Alaska right now. But there is a profitability piece that they're missing out on too. And if you. If you want to go west and you only want to go south or you only want to go back home, that's eating into the profitability of your business. If you can't expand those lanes. [00:06:35] Speaker B: Well, it's like Mike says, like running without a fifth wheel, for example. You just have one style of hitch. There's a whole bunch of work you can't do. And you're not going to Pull as much out of the trade as we'd like for you too. So, yeah. [00:06:46] Speaker A: Plus if you don't experience the rest of the country, then this is just another job. If you want to take away that and turn it into something else. It's like I tell people, go up to Washington, deliver in Washington, take your 72 hour reset, grab your passport, drive into Canada, experience all that, come back. And you just got paid to go to Canada because of wave. And that's how we promote our channel. That's how we promote all this. And that's why this lifestyle is what we didn't. We just came. I don't go to. I don't like going to California, do I? [00:07:13] Speaker C: No. [00:07:14] Speaker A: We took a reload to California because it was a blizzard in Wyoming. And so I thought, well, I can either hang out in Wyoming until the blizzard goes past or we can just grab a load and take it to California. And she's like, are you sure, though? I'm the weather apps. Everything looks great. Because I knew I had to go through Donner's Pass. She didn't. [00:07:30] Speaker C: I didn't even know what a Donner Pass was. See, this lifestyle has taught us a lot of pretty cool things. [00:07:36] Speaker A: And we had a good. That was a good trip, good reload. [00:07:38] Speaker C: Everybody says, you get to Lake Tahoe. [00:07:39] Speaker A: Got a reload. I got Lake Tahoe. I got good lunch and goofed off and got paid. [00:07:43] Speaker B: So you've been in every state. Any favorites? Not necessarily states, but favorite destinations? [00:07:52] Speaker A: I don't think that we have. We've been to all of them. I mean, I like Alabama. That's why our fifth wheel is in Alabama right now. I like the people and I'm a cheapskate. [00:08:00] Speaker B: I like the prices. [00:08:01] Speaker A: You can go down there and do everything for 20, $30. [00:08:04] Speaker C: I think each state, each state is unique in its own way. So it's really hard to pick like the perfect or to go to state. Like, I love Maine. Maine is beautiful, but I would never want to live in Maine because it's cold. But it's beautiful. I like seeing beautiful things. [00:08:21] Speaker A: Well, you went to Wisconsin in the summertime. I loved it. I tried to buy a house there. You said, no way, we're not living. [00:08:25] Speaker C: There, not in the winter. [00:08:28] Speaker B: Wisconsin is one of those places that's decidedly different by the season. I think central Wisconsin is one of the most beautiful places places on earth with the rolling hills and the farm, you know, sort of the older Americana look and feel. But then winter comes. [00:08:42] Speaker C: You're from northern Wisconsin. [00:08:43] Speaker A: Well, I Love north Wisconsin. I mean, they don't. In the movies, they don't show the mosquitoes that are, you know, this big around chasing you, you know, but. [00:08:50] Speaker D: Yeah, so you have to be hardy. If you're going to live in Wisconsin. [00:08:53] Speaker B: You got to be hardy. Yeah, those folks are pretty hardy. Okay, you're right. Well, William and Robin, you just recently cleared one year. You. You passed your one year anniversary in the RV transport trade. How'd that feel? [00:09:10] Speaker C: Crazy. [00:09:11] Speaker A: We don't know where the time went. No, but, you know, like that safety class that we went to today, Rob was like, are you going to pay attention? I'm like, I want to pay attention. And I learned more stuff that I didn't know because when you go through orientation and you do all this stuff and then you. When you're out here doing this job, you have so many people telling you their version and their opinion and all the stuff that you have so much to weigh on you sometimes that a lot. You just. You lose a lot of it. And then going to that safety class, because I was that guy saying, why do we need a safety class? You know? But it was a good thing for me because I was in there and they brought things to my attention again that I forgot about or things that I want to pay attention to, be better at. Right. And I told. Came back and Rob's like, you actually sit and listen. I'm like, yeah. I didn't touch my phone. I did nothing. I said, that was a good class. Now when he first sent me to that class, I was like, what the hell? I got time for this class. You know what I mean? [00:09:59] Speaker B: Freaking bureaucrats. [00:10:00] Speaker A: Yeah. But, yeah, after going there today, it was a good thing. [00:10:04] Speaker B: Who was your instructor? Randy. Big guy? [00:10:06] Speaker A: No, no, it was the girl. Same one that taught me. I got my orientation with her. [00:10:12] Speaker B: Okay, so that's Lori. Yeah. She's very good the first time. [00:10:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So she's very emotional and she tells the stories and they stick with you and stuff. And she did a great job. [00:10:20] Speaker B: One of the benefits we have when you work inside, a lot of us have, like, Mike, myself, we've worked out in the field doing what you're doing, and we've also worked inside, so we have the benefit of both perspectives. But one thing you get when you work inside like this is you get hundreds to thousands of points of view. Right? So an individual is a single data point in that sea of intel or logos, whatever you want to call it. Right. But having experienced so many different people's experiences, you learn Trends, right. You learn patterns and you learn sort of best practices and sort of not best practices and what really works out there. And anyways, you try to convey that to people and you learn. It's a funny thing that happens when you've applied the trade as an individual operator and then you come in and you have this vast sea of experiences that you're relating to. You'll find that it is easy to forget that every one of those voices is not representing the entire group. Right. They're representing that one data point of experience, as I am one data point of experience. Mike, William, Robin, etc. And when we're inside like this, it's easy to begin to relate to our fleet as though it were a singular organism. You do that with the best of intention, right. Because you want to optimize the health of this organism, as I call it. But that is only useful in limited ways. So you have to remember that. Okay, yeah, it sort of is this living organism on the one hand. On the other hand, it's a whole bunch of different business units with very unique experiences, preferences, equipment and etc. And so that's just something helps us grow, helps us be better operators from the inside out. When we have all this, the luxury of all these experiences that feed back to us. [00:12:23] Speaker A: Well, see, and I like to have an open mind. I like to look at everything, try it. If it doesn't work for me, go back to what I did. But I'm always trying to find a better way, utilize all my time, money, fuel, everything this job has taught me. When you first start off this, I don't need that comdata card I'll use by my guest, you know, and you start to learn. Wait a minute, there's. This adds up to a lot of money. If you just start doing some of the things that you offer to us. [00:12:47] Speaker C: That I'm thinking, yeah, live and learn, right? [00:12:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:49] Speaker B: You know, so that's a great example. I appreciate you sharing that because, you know, you have a reward card. You're like, I'm going to make some bank on this bad boy. 1%, 2%, whatever it is. [00:12:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:58] Speaker B: And unfortunately, that costs you like 50 cents to a dollar a gallon to get that 1%. That's. That's a great lesson. [00:13:07] Speaker D: And that's the difference between treating this as a job and treating this as a business. If you're treating it as a business, you're scrutinizing where, where your money's going in your investment and what you're, what you're putting out for fuel, for maintenance, so on and so forth. So that's a. That's a really good example of taking the viewpoint of business owner versus someone that's getting in this and they're just hooking and booking and not looking at the bottom line. [00:13:38] Speaker A: And that's what I try to present to everybody because we meet a lot of people now. So many of them are used to working for somebody and telling them how to do things. And they come into this and I'm like, you can't run it. Like whatever they're doing down there has nothing to do with you. You follow their procedures, but at the end of the day, you're running your own business. And until they figure that out, and those are the ones that fail at this because they haven't figured that part out. And the ones that do, they'll flourish and keep going. [00:14:07] Speaker B: I love the conversation about best practices, especially now that you're a full year into the thing, the COM data card. Capitalize on all the discounts that your carrier has negotiated for you, regardless of who you're running for. Because every carrier has done this that I know of. So there's that, but then there's. There's the other optimization techniques. Like William, for example, I think we were talking about some of the maintenance issues that you've really dialed in to this specific asset that you're operating. And they're all different, whether it's gm, Ford, Dodge. They've all got strengths, they've all got Achilles heels. And the sooner you know what's what with that particular asset, the more money you're gonna pull out of it. [00:14:52] Speaker A: And you can cut your expenses in half once you just learn the right people. Everybody out there tells me you need to work on your own truck. Okay, I'm too busy driving to make a living. I don't have all that time working there. I have all the knowledge. There's nothing I can't fix. Right. But I can't do that all the time. But I want to feel comfortable with the person that is doing it. But it can be $400 here for that job or $800 over here for that job. And if you're not paying attention to that, you don't know how much money that's going to change. And then learning your vehicle like ours, I complained about ours in the beginning. Now I know it's. It's Achilles heel. I know the problems it has, what I have to watch and what I got to stay on top of, and I've made it work. [00:15:29] Speaker B: And Regardless of which brand of vehicle you were operating, you'd have a similar set. You'd have strengths and weaknesses. And you'd have to know, pick your poison. I call it absolutely right. [00:15:39] Speaker D: It's better to know your enemy than. [00:15:41] Speaker C: Exactly pick your poison. [00:15:42] Speaker B: Know your friend. [00:15:43] Speaker A: Know your enemy better. [00:15:44] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Well, I also. You were alluding to something just a minute ago too. That is critically important to success in this or any independent trade. And that is the cash flow piece. My advice to people who are new to this, especially if you're coming from an employment background where somebody's done your payroll, somebody's withheld the taxes. If you're not used to doing that. Stockpile, Stockpile, resource. I call it the war chest. Fill the war chest as a first tier priority. When you've done that, when you've got cash on hand, you have options. You have options to make this thing viable without having to dip into savings or credit cards or, you know, when I got into the trade, this is a true story. I wasn't sure as many people. You know, I looked at it and I thought, so. I was a fleet owner at the time. I worked for this small company out of Tennessee. FedEx. Maybe you've heard of them? [00:16:40] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:16:41] Speaker B: Okay. So I had trucks with FedEx. And I looked at the. I was right next door. I mean, I'm from Elkhart County. So RV transport vehicle, trucks, buses, RVs, we're transporting everything out of here. And I was always curious, I thought, I wonder if those guys are making any money. And so when I bring up a sad story in American history, right after 9 11, my FedEx trucks got really slow. And so all of a sudden I'm looking around for, you know, I've got these talented drivers. I mean, I'm invested in this thing. And Quality Driveways hiring drivers. Well, that's interesting. So several of us went and signed up to Quality Drive Away in their driveway division to see if we couldn't supplement the slowdown from the FedEx clientele. Right. We worked in the custom critical division. So we were like 911 of. I don't mean date, I mean phone call, 911 of shipments. We did some weird stuff, but if it was weird or hazmat and had to be there overnight, our trucks were taking it well. So that group of drivers and I got active at Quality Driveway. And we would try to coordinate a vehicle delivery with a FedEx run. The logbooks were very interesting. That's all I'm going to say about that. But it was Kind of fun. And so as FedEx went through that tough time after that national tragedy that we experienced, we learned a whole new trade at Quality Driveway, one of our competitors now, but still good friends. And it was in the beginning I made less than zero money because I didn't know what I was doing. And it was intentional. I considered that an investment in the trade. So the first several drive away deliveries I made were trucks coming out of the Supreme Corporation, which is now Wabash here, right around the corner. And they were delivering, I think to the Milwaukee area. That's a short run. It's if you don't know what you're doing in driveway, that's a money losing run. And I didn't know what I was doing and I knew I didn't know what I was doing, but I didn't want to drive to California with something not having any experience unit. So we made several of these short trips, had people chase us in a little car as our transportation. And believe me, there is no money doing that. But we learned it. And so about 30 days later we had tow cars with tow bars and we knew how to select our trips so that we weren't losing money, that we were profiting from the deliveries. Those first 30 days were not exemplary in terms of my profit margin, but they were a wonderful value added education. And when I compare my first anniversary in the trade, so a year later, if you look at 30 days, then it's a whole different reality. In fact, they don't even side by side, they don't look comparable. It's like the first one was nuts. Don't do that. The year later, 30 days was awesome. I mean, it's hard to believe how far you come in one year from the rookie, you know, walking on the field to something more like an all star on the field, not myself, anyone in that status. So the war chest, the letting yourself work through that learning curve, these are how you end up as a successful contractor in this trade. And I think I heard you going down that road a little bit ago when you talked about transitioning from employment or another business or something to this and get strong and get strong as fast as you can and get lean. Learn to do what, what is smart for you to do yourself and learn what to outsource economically on a wholesale basis, if at all possible. [00:20:14] Speaker A: Well, my biggest problem is I think I have to learn twice as fast because people like you said, I've been doing this for a year, 20 people a day at least. It's like I've Been. This has been my whole career. And I gotta explain to them that, no, I'm still learning. I'll tell you what I did. You look at what I did. Talk to some other people. Don't go off what William said. And I hate using that third person, but that's what it's become is because people can't reach me. Like, well, you're making. No, I mean, I had those downtime. I mean, when I started this job, I didn't need to make a lot of money. No, I needed something to do. [00:20:47] Speaker C: You did. [00:20:48] Speaker A: I needed to get away from your parents house. I needed something to do. Then all of a sudden, why were. [00:20:53] Speaker C: We at my parents? [00:20:54] Speaker A: Well, Robin has. She had to have surgery. She had medical issues. She was down for three months. So I was like, I gotta find something to do. So that's. And I did like everybody. You know, every YouTube video out there, and I'm like, if it doesn't work for me, I'll at least work long enough to get back all my investment. [00:21:10] Speaker C: Well, when you first said RV transfer, I'm like, what are you talking about? I didn't even know what it was. Never paid. Now I cannot not see them on the road. Before, I had no idea. Same with the camper lifestyle. I never paid attention every time one passes. I've never seen that deal before. [00:21:23] Speaker A: We're actually counting. [00:21:24] Speaker C: This is like our new normals. [00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah, we used to count. We used to check off license plates. [00:21:28] Speaker C: For all the states. [00:21:29] Speaker A: Now we count RV transporters going on the road and who they're working for and all that. Or the guy's beeping his horn, waving at us. When he goes by, I'm like, hey, I think we know him. [00:21:40] Speaker B: So you are a recognized resource, though, granted, you know, one year is not 20 years, but it's a full year of experience. And so people do look to you as that resource. And you have referred people to Wave Express, which we appreciate beyond words. And the good people, I will say, have come to us via your referrals. You know, one of the things that I would want any prospects anywhere, both who are partaking of your media channels, but anyone from any sector. Wave Express, we're in our 20th year. We do not expect people to walk into this thing as experts, in fact, we expect the opposite. We expect people to come into this thing green, not knowing, needing coaching, needing assistance. And that is on tap. [00:22:25] Speaker A: Don't you think that's better? [00:22:27] Speaker B: Sort of make your own versus buy? [00:22:29] Speaker A: Well, if you already got that person, it's not 15 years salted. Coming into this, you're getting that new person with an open mind that wants a change. And if you just get them the right resources and, you know, that's what I try to do is try to get them in that right area and get them with the company that I think is the best company out there. [00:22:46] Speaker C: Agreed. [00:22:46] Speaker A: You know, and that's. [00:22:47] Speaker B: Thank you for that. [00:22:48] Speaker A: I think that's. That's what we're trying to do. [00:22:52] Speaker B: I think it's better. It can be. I understand the question, and absolutely. It can be better to have somebody who's untainted, you know, not a cynic like, oh, you know, trucking's no good. [00:23:02] Speaker D: No bad habits. [00:23:03] Speaker B: No bad. Thank you, Mike. No bad habits. Right. Come in like that and learn from people who know what they're doing. That can be great. Absolutely. One of the challenges we sometimes face, somebody has had a commercial driving career, maybe they've been with a big company, Walmart or JB Hunt, somebody like that, and they're used to heavy Class 8 equipment, and they come into this and the things we deliver are quite fragile compared to a semi trailer and semi tractor. And it's. If you're used to the ruggedness of that equipment, it takes a little time to get used to the fragility of the products we're delivering. [00:23:37] Speaker A: They beating this stuff up, you can't. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Rub against a post. That'll break, I promise. Don't do that. [00:23:42] Speaker A: All the potholes, right? [00:23:43] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. Yeah. You know, these things are not made to endure What a Class 8 Vessel of Conveyance is made to endure. [00:23:50] Speaker A: When we started these videos, our whole object was to bring RV people that are already been doing this and they're already taking care of their own stuff and they know what they're going through. And I thought by bringing them people into this, they might take care of your equipment better. They're going to drive a little slower. They're going to launch the potholes. They're not, you know, not from that other type of lifestyle. [00:24:09] Speaker C: Right. [00:24:09] Speaker A: And the ones. [00:24:10] Speaker C: And to supplement our income. [00:24:11] Speaker A: Yeah, and supplement our income. And the ones that we've met that are really close to us right now, that's exactly the people we got. You know, but now that it's getting bigger, we're getting people from every walk of. [00:24:22] Speaker B: So I hear you describing ownership. You know, you got somebody who's an RV owner and who's used to taking care of that asset, and they come and deliver them. They treat them like an owner and they understand the uniqueness of that type of vehicle and what you have to do to deliver it safely. So I 100% agree that those who have experience with their own RVs are ideal candidates for this trade because they know what they're doing when it comes to moving an RV around. We would love that. We love those kind of people coming. [00:24:47] Speaker A: Into, especially if they're retired, pensions and all that. They're not. They're more open to what they're doing. They're not really worried about the bottom line starting out because a lot of people here get so focused on the bottom line when they first start out, and then they get themselves frustrated and they put themselves into a mindset that they're already on a path of destruction, in my opinion. [00:25:08] Speaker B: Great point. Allow yourself that learning curve in those first 30 to 90 days, because you need it. I mean, it's a new trade. And even if you've pulled your own RV around and now you're doing it for hire, and there are these logbook rules and these DOT inspections and scales that you have to be mindful of, it's overwhelming. It's a little overwhelming. And you are allowed to be the rookie, you know, you're allowed to be that new kid who doesn't know all the stuff. Own it, live it. Work through the learning curve. Because as I experienced a year into it, you're going to have a degree of mastery over those things that seem a little bit overwhelming in the beginning. [00:25:47] Speaker A: Well, like I said at class today, I learned stuff today again. [00:25:49] Speaker C: I know. I'm excited you paid attention. [00:25:51] Speaker D: Well, I'm glad you brought that. [00:25:53] Speaker B: Good job, William. [00:25:57] Speaker A: Robin is my jailer. She makes me follow that straight line. Yeah. She keeps me going away. [00:26:04] Speaker D: It's great to hear your perspective on Safety School and your experience, because that is exactly why we want everyone going through Safety School, because you do forget things from time to time. You're not going to remember everything from orientation when you walk out of that class. And to do a remedial, just a refresher, you're walking out basically with a fresh set of eyes. And for you to say, you know, I remembered some things that I hadn't thought about, and that's exactly why we do this. [00:26:41] Speaker A: Well, and the reason I brought it up is because you had to talk to me yesterday. You got a different guy. I was like, I want to go to Alabama. I don't want to go. [00:26:51] Speaker C: Like, well, if you want to work again, you better go. [00:26:53] Speaker A: She's like, it's time for you to grow up. I'm always going to be this kid inside, that's just who I am. But after class today, I came back to the hotel and I told you and you're like, who the hell is this dude? [00:27:02] Speaker C: Like who are you? [00:27:03] Speaker B: Yeah, on the upside, you're good for a year. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't know about the safety class. I thought the only thing we had was that simulator. And you know, you don't. You find out when you get a load and you get an email, it says you're running out of time here. [00:27:17] Speaker B: So we work in an environment of a lot of rules and most of them don't come from us. Right. So the once a year training minimum is actually a federal rule for US carriers. So we, we as a minimum need to comply with that. So that's where the safety school on an annual basis comes from. [00:27:32] Speaker A: It was, it was a good class. I think it was a great thing. You know, I'll probably could play two days before next year, but, oh, there'll be something she'll say, something that clicks in my head. [00:27:42] Speaker D: I'll remind you of the experience that you had. It'll make it a little easier. [00:27:46] Speaker B: You know, I know when, when I, I used to do the safety school like Lori and, and Randy do now and I enjoyed that a lot. But I would learn as the instructor of safety school. I would learn from members of the class, drivers who would come in and they'd recently been somewhere, had an experience that I'd never heard of before and they'd share it with the class. It's one of the best things that happens in the safety school is that you learn from other drivers. And I would encourage everybody to be open minded about this. Some of the best lessons you'll ever learn in the trade, when will be learned from more experienced contractors. That's been my life experience doing this. I've definitely had some things to learn from the company I was connected to, but I learned an ocean's depth of trade knowledge from other more experienced contractors. So you guys have a vast network which is wonderful. But one of the best pieces of advice I can give to incoming contractors drivers is learn to know some people who are doing this and learn what they know and learn from their mistakes and from their successes and avoid their mistakes and, and repeat their successes. It's valuable beyond measure. [00:28:53] Speaker A: Oh, and that's what I do. I talk to everybody. Every day we learn something, every day we learn something. And I just talk to people. No matter where I meet him, at the rest theory, wherever we're at, that's what I Do I talk to them? I try to find out. Because I'm like, I. I don't want to have that. That. What is that telescope. [00:29:07] Speaker B: Where? [00:29:07] Speaker A: I don't know. Yeah, the tunnel vision. I want to be open to all that stuff because sometimes you get older and you get into your set it your ways and you just want to do it your way, you know? Doesn't mean it's always the right way. So I talk to a lot of people. I talk to more people than I want to talk to. [00:29:24] Speaker B: You gotta be careful what you ask for, I guess. I used to work with an older gentleman, and when I say older, he was probably in his late 60s. And he had been a commercial trucking professional, and then he'd. He'd had several other businesses, but he was working. He was retired. I mean, he was retired by a mile and financially independent, but he was having fun. He was working in my department. He was working as a recruiter. This was for Horizon Transport. I'm going back a few years now. And his name was Ron. And Ron had millions of miles under his belt. I mean, literally millions of commercial driving miles. And one day I asked him, ron, I said, you know, you're not the smartest guy I know. Truth be told, you're a great guy. You're not the smartest guy. You're smart, but. But not. Anyways, you get it. And I said, ron, you have like, almost 3 million miles. How is it you got 3 million miles and some guys who seem pretty sharp, they didn't even get 300,000 miles? Like, what? How do you explain that? And he said something like what you just said. He said, joe, every day, every trip, you're learning. And if you're not, if you think you've learned it all, you're a hazard and you should probably do something else. He said, the way I got to 3 million miles without a claim of any kind is just that every day was a learning experience. Every day was a new day. And as I've heard some of our Million Mile drivers counsel other people, is that you may be this accomplished professional in this contract driving that we do, but every new day could be the worst day of your life if you let that happen. Or it could be an awesome day in which you succeed and make some more miles to add to the tally, right? And I think that that frostiness, like that level of alertness to the fact that you may be all that. I mean, you may be everything anybody ever was in this trade, but you let your guard down even a little bad Things can happen. So that advice, both from Ron and from some of our hall of Famers, the new day is not to be taken for granted. Right? There's things to learn and there's lessons to be deployed in that day. [00:31:42] Speaker A: And that's exactly why that safety class is needed, because she tells you a story about how one guy is basically 15 years, done everything right, made one little mistake, and his whole life is over with and kills somebody just by, you know, and this is not a guy that would normally do that, you know, and that then it brings it all to reality. I mean, I have a. What is my little positive potato I have on my. [00:32:03] Speaker C: You do? [00:32:04] Speaker A: On my steering wheel. Positive potato. [00:32:06] Speaker C: Because every time crocheted thing, and it has a little positive potato. [00:32:12] Speaker B: I've never thought this thought in my life, but now I want a positive potato. [00:32:16] Speaker A: You have. When you're out there driving, you have, you know, you're. You. I'm a defensive driver, so I'm already driving for the person that's up in front of me. The things that are oncoming. I think that's from the motorcycle experience and stuff like that. So I'm already knowing what's gonna happen before Robin tells me. But all that, all day long, every day takes its toll on you. So sometimes I just need to look down at that. It's funny, but I. If you're happy 99% of the time, everything else around you will just come together. [00:32:44] Speaker B: Is it an actual potato? [00:32:46] Speaker C: No, it's just a little. [00:32:47] Speaker B: Or is that a euphemism? Because, you know, some people have those little. Looks like a potato, those little turd emojis. It's not that. Is it okay? It's not. I probably. I went too far. [00:32:57] Speaker A: I apologize. [00:32:58] Speaker C: That is crochet. It has a little side on. It has eyeballs. [00:33:01] Speaker A: It used to be on our dash forever, but it was messing up our dash cam when Robin was video and stuff. So I brought him down and I said, I put him right there in front of me because. How do I explain it? I am. When you almost run me out of the road, I let out some four letter words. [00:33:17] Speaker B: It's just. [00:33:18] Speaker A: It's my way of pushing, releasing, and releasing it. She's over there going, are you mad? For the longest time, she's like, are you mad? I'm like, no. That's how I get rid of it. I just let those words out. I get rid of it, and it's like it never even happened. [00:33:27] Speaker B: That's better out than in. [00:33:29] Speaker A: Yeah. That's what I do. So, yeah, it's just one of those funny things. But that's what I liked about that safety class this morning. She reminded me, no matter how good you are, no matter how you can do everything right, that one time you don't do something right, it could just ruin your whole life. And I think that was the best thing I got from the classes listening to that. [00:33:47] Speaker B: One thing I've observed along the lines that you're describing, William, is that folks driving these days, first of all, there is more congestion. It gets worse all the time. And I'm sorry, a lot of these commuters are just getting stupider. I have to call it like I see it. I think a lot of them are ex gamers or maybe current gamers, and they think you get more lives, right? Like they don't realize they're a hair's breadth from death. We all are behind the wheel on the road, and that's a reality that we want to stay alert to. A lot of drivers are not alert to it. And I don't mean our drivers, I don't mean commercial drive. I mean the wannabes, right, the commuting drivers. They're sleepy. They're whatever they are. They think they're in a video game or something and they'll cut us off and they'll stop hard or make moves that don't make any sense. It becomes probably one of your higher order skills as a commercial driver to tolerate that and forgive it on site instantly. Because you can't get even. You can't get justice. The purest justice that exists out there is for one of us pros to go, I'm gonna let you have that, all right? And we're gonna, we're gonna move on. And to be able to repeat that ad infinitum is how you get to be that multi million dollar dollar dollars. Yes, Multi million mile producer. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Well, what people forget is their actions. It's not they look at when they get ready to do something like that. All they're looking at is the action that's gonna do to them. Your actions affect so many things around you. And that's how you got to look at things. Because you can just do one little thing. You don't know how many other lives it's going to screw up. Anything you do in life. I mean, just by not giving people the right, when we help people out, if we help them wrong, it can change a lot of things, right? So that's what I'm always thinking about. It's just you got to really think of and that's hard for me because I'm one of these guys that I just say with whatever I'm thinking. Right. I'm getting better. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah. But there's a big difference in saying something in the privacy of your cockpit versus doing something and the reality of the roadway. And. And I like. I like what you're saying. I like how we're kind of talking about the fact that the best commercial drivers, in a sense, are sin eaters. Right. They. They just absorb it and. And flush it. Whether you cathartically blurt out some cuss words, which, believe me, I have some of this. Yeah. Anyway, the. I own the T shirt for that. But again, you know, but maybe we're saving lives, too, Right? Because we're not getting even. We're not. We're not doing. We're not teaching them a lesson. We're just like, cow, man, that really sucked what you just did. And you say something and you move on, and life is good because you've handled it well out on the road as a professional driver, and the other person making the error is no longer a factor. [00:36:27] Speaker A: And I think if you can conquer that, the rest of this job just comes together. [00:36:30] Speaker B: I would agree. I think that's probably one of the toughest parts. [00:36:32] Speaker A: If you're conquering all that, when you're dropping your load off and it's taking them forever or you're getting that DOT inspection, those skills are already going to flow over into that, and you're probably going to come out better on top. [00:36:43] Speaker B: It sounds like you've met that dealer. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm very upfront with people. I try to help them and do anything I can. But as soon as you step on me, I let you know that you're stepping on me. Right. But I usually work it out with them, don't I? [00:36:57] Speaker C: You do. [00:36:57] Speaker A: Some dealers are just. They're having a bad day. They're letting their life control their job. They're controlling what the people they're dealing with. And I know that because I dealt with the public for 37 years. [00:37:07] Speaker B: So thank you for listening to the Wave Express podcast to hear more on our conversation with the scores. Make sure to listen to part two. Stay safe and have a good day. It.