First six months of trucking industry

oh hello ladies and gentlemen my lady lovelies and my gentle gentlemen let me put this window up so you can hear me so i'm on y'all know now um it's gonna be a little shaky and i'm sorry for the the off-center-ness i don't really know what's going on myself my mouth won't center for some reason so you guys are gonna get a crooked video sorry uh getting to the point since a lot of y'all want to tell me oh you talk too much this is what this channel is for for me talking expressing myself me telling my journey to help others but reason for this video there's actually two first of them which i'm the most excited about is we hit 1 000 subscribers guys my channel is finally official yay actually i have 1079 right now so to everyone see what i mean shaky um to everyone who has followed my journey and followed you know me between instagram subscribed here thank you so much you guys have no idea what this means as soon as youtube actually verifies me we will be going live this is really bothering me but oh it's still not see it's either one way or the other so i'd rather be leaning to the right than to the left but so he hit a thousand just wanted to kind of update you guys on that but the next thing that i wanted to talk about was six months so i've officially have six months of verifiable class a cdl experience y'all didn't think i would make it this far did you i'm here still in the driver's seat actually switching to another truck again now i'm in a year newer so what you got to say about that i'm still here everyone who told me i couldn't do it then everyone who told me i wouldn't last i'm still here in this driver's seat see the steering wheel i'm here supposed to be positive bring it back um so yeah so now i have six months of verifiable experience all i wanted to do in this video was tell you guys about my subscribers and talk to you about what my six months has held in it and the next video i'm gonna upload which i'll probably i'm gonna do two separate is i'm gonna do one more for you guys this week so i know i've been kinda in m.i.a but it's been a heck of a couple weeks and you will find out why six months okay so it's really been almost nine months but i'm only counting my time with the company i'm at now why am i doing that because honestly with swift i feel like i wasn't like as soon as i got out of the training portion with my trainer i was kind of like deuces so that's why i'm not really counting that um so i have about eight to nine months total i i'm not trying to count months right now but six months with the company i am with now so going off this past six months i've had to deal with a lot and i want to let you guys know that some of the stuff you're going to deal with is going to be your normal rookie stuff but i do want to let y'all know that a lot of these things that i did go through you should never have to go through but more than likely you will but you will learn very soon that you won't have to and one of my mentors and dear friends has actually taught me that himself and all i'm gonna say is he's right so okay get this started six months so of course i was with swift for a very brief period of time that's where i got my training no i did not get my cdl through the swift school but yes i did go for their training portion with a mentor so we're not talking about that we're talking about the new company so i get to this new company i'm not considered inexperienced but i'm not considered experienced i'm just kind of somewhere in the middle so i had to do a check ride with another trainer which was my dear friend um which he will be on the channel soon so i can't wait for that and um i was with him for about a week so about four days total with him about a week it's basically just a check ride just to make sure i know what i'm doing did i know what i'm doing no but i did know the mechanics behind this vehicle so was with him i believe we went to new york um most of it i can't really remember a whole lot of other stuff but yeah it was a quick week and then i was moved to my own truck so when i was moved to my own truck i actually got an old truck it was a 2016 i believe i want to say it was either 16 or 17. so it was old and it was one of the real square-nosed volvos that was my first truck and of course i had a name for it which was uh worm i think i called it i don't know um so i was in that truck for a while you know it was it had more miles on it it was close to 500 000 and basically i'm assuming this is kind of their test phase like are you gonna mess up our equipment so typically the company i'm with now they like to sell their trucks um when they get around half a million so it was almost a 500 000 anyway i guess if something were to get scratched it was no biggie it wasn't like i was out here wrecking like a 20 21. so that was our trial phase and i was considered regional so i would run basically the east coast from as far up as massachusetts and as far south as i believe like georgia ish so don't quote me on that but um my first months in the truck i went to new jersey new york pennsylvania west virginia and maryland and let me tell you guys i'm so sorry for the shaking but let me tell you as someone coming in from basically no experience like i said i considered myself no experience at all solo going to those states above pennsylvania was honestly it was hectic it was crazy i didn't have fun i honestly i hated it um not only the traffic was crazy but i feel like the exits came out of nowhere and the roads i'm not saying they're different but from someone who is again virginia who not only doesn't have a lot of traffic um but isn't used to you know exit right exit left you know an exit on an exit it was very crazy for me and it was very scary i'm not gonna sit here and lie there were times where i'm calling um my best friend and my mentor like hey like what do i do where do i go like i am complete i'm freaking out i'm in tears you know like it was very it caused so much anxiety and i don't want to say this um in a bad way but it was like you know you're in this big vehicle don't make the wrong turn you'll get out of it but you might have to back out of it don't go under a bridge that you can't fit under so you know all these things are rolling through my mind like holy crap i'm in this big city i didn't even go through new york city so don't get that to us i'm just in the around like on the outskirts of the cities like not even really just like the major interstates leading to these cities um and i mean it was so scary and i had a very hard time finding the customers um my gps which i use the qualcomm would tell me like hey you're here i'm not here where am i i'd either miss it or i wouldn't go far enough or you know it just it was so confusing it was so scary that my feelings got to the point where like i didn't think i could handle it and it was mainly my upper north states above pennsylvania um and even you know my southern states like it was just normally the ride there was smooth but the last 20 miles was so just anxiety ridden because i was like oh what if i can't find this place like you know what is the backing situation like what is the parking situation am i gonna have to do a u-turn like what kind of street am i gonna be on so rookies if you are feeling that trust me it is normal i'm pretty sure almost everyone goes through this phase and again like this was up until about three months i felt like this and finally as i learned like hey you have to figure it out and that's kind of the light bulb like you have to figure it out if you pass that place you have to figure out how to turn around and get out of there you have to figure out like where this place is there's no honestly there's no turning back and that's something to think about with this like yes we are in a big vehicle just make sure the place you are pulling in make sure you can get out like don't pull into a blind alley just be like no some of these things end abruptly i had that experience with swift where i had to basically make a u-turn in a regular roadway that just abruptly ended like was i following gps yes but should i have kind of paid more attention yes and i learned that the hard way and had to figure it out at 3am so trust me rookies and i'm sure some of the vets on here you guys can back me up this is a normal feeling and i'm not necessarily saying it's always anxiety but it's a little bit of panic it's a little bit like uh and it's always like as i was getting my load assignments i'm thinking okay oh oh i thought someone's at my door i'm always thinking oh i'm going to new york great i'm going to jersey great well guys that feeling that changes now when i see new york okay i got this when i see jersey okay it's another load now because i know not only do i know how to navigate the roads and the traffic better but i also know hey like you're okay you're gonna find it you're gonna get out of it and as long as you keep that mentality you'll be okay now i'm not sitting here saying go you know 90 miles an hour i'm gonna be okay i'm gonna get out of it or turn down some random road i'm gonna get out of it no have common sense about it just have common sense just calm down relax because when you panic that's when some of the scary situations start to happen you know you're going to do something that is out of character or you know you're going to do something in a panic that could cause an accident or just a you know preventable incident um so that's about the first three months and i was honestly i was all over the place you know i did go south some um i'd say my first three months i was more focused on how to find these places in the backing situations um honestly the backing got easier every week it was like okay and especially if you go like repeat the same places you learn how to get in there so there's this one place and it's really tight and i learned how to inch back inch back inch back and finally get in the dock because what was happening was i had to make major movements with my trailer but i couldn't because where my truck was i was in between literally a fence in a dumpster so not only having someone talk me through it who's been there before uh but also kind of just paying attention and remembering these things if i ever come back and eventually that will click in your mind to where you see those similar setups and similar situations you think okay this can be an easy 45 okay this can be an easy straight back if i just turn and then turn forward trust me the backing started to get easier after about three months and some take longer and if you are on your six months or even a year still struggling backing lady or gentleman it is normal i still struggle i am a rookie rookie rookie rookie but i'm telling you this now if you think you know if you hear these people on youtube instagram whatever you may follow oh i was good at backing out a class i was doing parallels at truck stops right out of class i was okay if that's you then fine i'm not saying you didn't but i'm telling you it's normal if you're not i still struggle to back i cannot and you guys are gonna make fun of me for this i cannot do a45 to save my life i am better at a 90 degree back than i am at 45. my setups are horrible still now they're starting to get better i've noticed the last two weeks they're getting better but i'm telling you all this stuff is normal so don't worry about it don't pressure yourself to where you want to quit just because you might not be up to par with someone else that's another big thing i learned stop comparing yourself to other people especially in this industry people learn at all paces i i learn some things at a faster pace like going forward i can go forward all day long going back parallels forget it i had the longest time struggling just to learn how to get my trailer straight going forward so i just want to throw that out there i know we kind of got off in a tangent but don't compare yourself to other people especially when it comes to your learning pace because as we all know even in school everyone learns at a different pace and it is okay as long as you are not really messing up like i mean hitting people hitting objects left and right which again i want to tell y'all as a rookie almost say something hitting something is almost gonna happen whether it's a scrape on another trailer which i have not done i didn't do that with swift or nicking something and i'm not talking about crashes that no i'm not saying that's normal but i'm telling you you will mess up and it's okay is i'm not sitting here saying that crashing running into people's okay but those small little incidents trust me ladies and gentlemen they're gonna happen i've seen it with almost everyone i've talked to i've experienced some little things like that whole u-turn thing that happened that could have been an incident should have been an incident because swift has a very stern no u-turn policy i mean you turn in the middle of the road and like a regular like one way this way one way that way road so i'm just saying that's normal oh what else have been my first three months so like the anxiety of finding these places got better with time and i do want to come back to that because what you want to do is just read read signs like really pay attention to your road signs like when you're about three miles or even two miles from the place where you're going start reading signs hopefully your shipper will have a sign saying yeah trucks here typically don't turn into employee parking lots that's another tip so that got a lot better the backing situation is continuously getting a lot better and it is normal even when you're three months in to not be the best um a lot of things that i did go through was dispatch um i started off with a dispatcher great at their job i mean great kept me moving i was running like i mean every day i'm doing you know 12 hours in a sleeper birth i know i know 12-13 i was rolling rolling and then as they saw what i was capable of i got switched to another dispatch now okay i knew that was gonna happen i was told that was gonna happen and all i'm gonna say is dispatches try you and i learned that within my first i'd say four to five months so again we're on month six with this company um and i just want to do a disclaimer this is not to anyone this is just generalized so i'm not hurt nobody's feelings nothing um it started to slowly get to where it was almost like they're trying you like okay how far can we push her until she just goes no how far can we push her until she pushes back i've talked to a lot of people and this is the case uh especially within their first two years of experience otr i don't know i don't know if maybe it's just the companies i've been with but more than likely it's normal i've talked to multiple people from multiple different companies multiple you know walks of life multiple you know um steps in their career all of that uh so they were kind of pushing me to see not only like what i would put up with but different types of what i would put up with so first it started off with you know screwed up time so they would give me a load that has to be i don't know in carolina by 7 a.m yet in order for me to drop the load i have off now i have to drive till 10 p.m i'm at the end of my clock so all of us know that's not possible if i have to do a 10-hour reset there's no way i'm making it so it'd be things like that um it would be things like waiting sitting around and that was when that was closer to month five where i was like this is enough so one thing i want to share with you guys don't be scared to say no i learned that the hard way because my sensitive little butt would always suck up suck it up and be like all right i got you and then i'd get hit with a late like a late load which we get bonuses so now i don't get my weekly bonus i didn't say none because i didn't want to be a problem and then i turned into a problem driver in the eyes of some simply because i said no one time that will happen i learned that that the minute you say no you are the bad guy but remember and i was told this we are in charge honestly of what we do yes we do not get to pick our loads and we do need dispatch as much as we need them we do they need us remember that so if they're sitting here making in this again this is all in what company you go with my company promises home us home for our resets that's one of the biggest perks we get home for our resets well when they start telling you you have to stay out unless you want to but you should not have to feel bad for saying no if they threaten you okay i do know what i signed up for and honestly i know my cdl is valuable not only to me but to other companies i can have another job in two weeks again i'm not telling you guys to go out here and be ignorant but i'm letting you know hey there you need to say no sometimes because they will try you i learned that within my first five months that was when it ended like i was done um other than that i i mean i learned different things i mean there's just so much within the six months that i've learned and i've picked up on in this industry that's crazy i've kind of learned more of how to carry myself not only as a professional aspect but i'm going to bring it up again but as a woman i've learned how to carry myself i've learned how to get out of situations i don't want to be in i've learned how to honestly protect myself in diff different ways on how to live life out here um i'm not really going to go too far on that because i do in all my other videos but another big thing that i've learned and this is one of the biggest ones that i want to point out so at 20 minutes and 30 seconds you guys tune into this and listen if you don't listen anything else having your cdl will be no working for a company going especially to a company that is big even small it's not just a job it's not just a career it is a lifestyle and when they say it believe it i did not believe it i was like ah you know even though this is the career i want i'm gonna be fine it's gonna be like along in the park it's gonna be like any other job i'm here to tell you this that's the truth that is not the truth so here's the biggest changes i'm no longer at my house every night i'm in a vehicle in a truck that's the first one i'm confined to this space so i'm used to a house now i'm in the truck eating situations i don't always have access to a stove you know a microwave pots and pans again i'm in the truck and this is starting out i no longer can just stop and then go use the restroom or make a phone call or be on my phone no i'm in the scene i'm driving i can't just get out and walk i can't go to the gym every night i can't eat like you know anything i want i can't get in my car and go these places like i'm restricted this is a lifestyle change relationships will change and why am i so intense because i'm trying to get it through to you relationships will change health will change health will change everyone it's just so much your sleeping patterns they will never almost be consistent unless you're maybe dedicated uh even then things get messed up it's and i'm not saying any of these things are not possible but it's such a change your weight will change i told myself i will not gain more than five pounds here i am 20 pounds every year i think it has to be in eight months i went from a job where i was standing 10 hours plus a day to now i'm sitting 14 hours plus and then i'm eating and going to bed it's a complete lifestyle change i don't get to see friends i don't get to go to events like i used to i don't get to hang out after work you know with the people i love my relationships has changed i've lost best friends i've lost a lot of best friends it sucks it's not either of our faults but i'm not home i'm not available when they call i can't answer the phones more than likely driving around sleep so but but i will tell you this is worth it it is worth it to me it's worth it so it's kind of a couple of things i've learned within the first six months currently i got my big break so i'm actually doing something a little different which i'm not really gonna go into detail just know i'm doing something different i'm no longer technically doing the same thing i was before but yes i'm still technically regional i am with the same company still and i am happy and that is what i will tell you you will have to go through some dirt you will have to get drunk through the mud you will have to get stuck in accidents stuck in weather you have to sit you will have to do your do before you get your break your big break it's gonna be hard work i'm not gonna lie there have been times where i want to give it up where i don't even want to be in this industry where i never want to see another truck again but at the end of the day it's worth it it is totally worth it and that everyone is going to be my next video um i'm going to go ahead and make it tonight that way i'll be able to post it later but having a seed class a class b cdl will change your life it will mostly for the better some for the worst and i will go through them all but that will be on my next video so to all of you closing this video we're almost at 25 minutes and i kind of want to keep it short cuz i am at the shipper and i'm hoping that i will be ready soon but still hang in there things are gonna be rough especially your first three months but after you hit that mark things will get better you will start learning you will start picking things up until then until then do your research listen to the people who are trying to help you just listen because a lot of people out here do have good points i've had you know men and women people walks of all life coming up to me saying hey if you tried this this might make it easier okay next time i'm gonna try it then i go to trucks i'm like wow they're right people will come at me nicely and give me advice nicely people will cuss at me and give me advice really rudely but i just sat back i listen and then i try it because it might help and i've had a lot of people help i've had a lot of help from everyone i've had secret mentors that have no idea they're mentors to me um i've had friends help me who have been to these places and that's the thing the company you're working for make friends call your trainer if that's how you know your trainer rules call them because they're going to help hopefully because that's kind of their job so and they're big things coming so hold on tight and just know like this is all going to be worth it in the end especially if this is really something you want to do and one of the biggest things i learned through the six months don't take this for granted uh the job we do is dangerous we do hold a lot of our a lot of lives in our own lives in our hands every single day we get out on this road it's just something that comes with it and we need to not only respect that but we need to understand that as professional drivers as cdl holders um i call these trucks i mean they're murder machines i don't say that meaning they kill a lot of people but they have the potential i can make one small mistake and hurt a lot of people and i can walk away scratch free but with saying that just remember even if a four-wheel which is a car a regular car truck makes a mistake we can put be put away for life for vehicular manslaughter or whatever i don't know all those terms but for basically um killing people even though it's not 100 our faults and we need to remain humble and remain serious and focus when we are behind the wheel and i hate to get all serious with you guys but it's the truth i have experienced some things to where i never wish i'd saw and i've experienced some things where it made me of my eyes be like okay i don't want to do this i've had people pull out in front of me i've had people cut me off i've had people break test me which is really weird i've had a person actually step off the sidewalk in front of my truck i don't know what their intentions were but it opened my eyes like they know what we're capable of yet some of them i'm sure they care but they don't pay any attention so it's our job as the professional driver as a cdl holder that we have to make sure we are prepared for that i mean this is something serious and i learned this and it took me a very short couple weeks to realize like this is not a game we have to remain serious about this i mean dude 80 000 pounds going 68 65 in my case miles an hour it's deadly very deadly we might walk away from hitting someone but do you think they're gonna walk away their chances are probably below half like i'm telling you like keep it in mind and i know i'm making this sound scary i know the thought of holy crap like someone can pull out in front of me but if i was the least bit distracted or anything like i can be put away for it i can get my cdl taken for it and it's not only that the guilt do you think you can live with hurting someone like that i know i couldn't i mean i understand like if it's their fault but that doesn't take that away from what you did so that's enough depressing i'm just saying it's something that i've learned in these past six months that i see a lot of guys out here maybe not taking it as serious as they should guys and girls um between you know eating and swerving all over the place i understand eating i eat chips i eat finger foods but i'm not sitting here eating a bowl of cereal i'm not sitting here eating a hot bowl of soup what are in your i mean you're swerving you're doing this you're running off the road no take it serious i see oh the one thing that i see on the phone dude lady get your stuff together not only if a cop sees you there goes your cdl but i mean so think of the lives that you could be hurting could be ending that's what i'm saying take it serious you guys this career this lifestyle is so worth it if you make it and things get easier as time goes i'm still learning so much every single day and i don't expect that to stop anytime soon so that's all this video is about it has been six whole months with this one company about eight to nine months of experience total and i am still loving it i'm still pumped about it i am still again learning every day there are still struggles there are still problems i run into and as i run into them i will share them and that's it so again thank you guys for the thousand subscribers keep them coming i will have live soon i can't go live yet because apparently my is still not verified i tried going live today but it won't let me get so you guys have a good night keep it between the ditches don't do anything stupid and i will catch up later see ya

Channel: The FABulous Trucker

Views: 8,770

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Id: CoJ_ydpl508

Length: 31min 46sec (1906 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021