I was sitting in the basement of my home playing Madden '11, and my younger brother mentioned that he was going to leave his current job to go to truck driving school. A place that I was three months behind on mortgage payments. I had exhausted loans from family members to make those mortgage payments. To put gas in the car for the week, my wife would go into the negative on her bank account. We used her bank account because I couldn't get a bank account, and I was living payday loan to payday loan, which is worse than check to check. I was struggling as a real estate agent. I had only earned $12,000 in commissions that year, which sounds terrible until I add the fact that I had $15,000 in business expenses. I was on the brink of bankruptcy. I wasn't happy or in love with my wife, and I was on the edge of divorce. I was in a dark place after the passing of my mom. I had blown through an inheritance that included two homes that were free and clear, $35,000 in bank savings, and $150,000 in retirement savings. I was delusional about what I could accomplish with my 2011 mindset. I was horrible at making money, and worse yet, I was awful at saving money. So on the rare occasion where I did get my hands on some cash. Id blow it. I had big dreams and big aspirations, but I didn't have a realistic plan to accomplish those goals. I was a bad fit for my chosen profession.
When I look at the world, I see dollar signs and opportunity. I knew that trucking that would allow me to provide for my familya primary goal of mine. But more importantly, trucking could give me a blueprint to build a million-dollar business.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve, and my wife told me she was having an affair with someone that was "not enough of a stranger" " and I moved in with my Aunt. So now I have no wife, no home. My only possession of any value was my car, a '91 Lexus LS 400. I loved that car, but like everything else in my life at the time. Everything was either broken or on its way to being broken. The car's engine overheated, and now I didn't even have a car. I forgot to mention that my license was about to be suspended in the next few weeks.
Fast forward to 15 months after several conversations about trucking with everyone that I knew; I enrolled in truck driving school. I started down a path that would change my life. I went from not having enough to pay my bills to make so much money that I had to find smarter ways to spend my money. I remember two distinct phrases from that time. I spoke with an older gentleman at a bar who had his CDL, and he called it the "Blue Collar Degree" and my girlfriend at the time calling it my stupid truck obsession. Looking back on it, I was obsessed, and whenever you truly want to make life-altering changes, you have to be obsessed!
Part 1 The Industry
You may be asking yourself why huld u uru a rr in commercial truck driving?
Hfull, b th nd of this section, you will hv enough vlubl information t nwr it urlf. Lt me trt b giving you some finting statistics but the trucking industry.
Did u knw tht f ll the md f shipment in th mmri l tr nrttin industry, th truking sector dmint th field with 83.7% f th revenue? Th rail industry comes in t a ditnce nd with nl 5.6% f the tt l r vnu. The air tr is third with 3.2%, nd th ni freight tr i brl in the running with nl 1.4% f all rvnu bing transported b hi. A u n , the truking industry in't going w anytime n. In f t, the truking indutr ln llt 650 billi n d llr in annual rvnu h r. That's 5% f th nation's GDP! The truking indutr l ut 35 billi n d llr in fdrl, tt, nd highw use taxes per r nd will grw b 21% vr th nxt tn r. Not mn r r fi ld n rmi u u h gr t jb security withut a f ur r llg degree lik th truking industry can.
Sking f j b security, in M of 2013 thr w n timtd 1.5 millin hv truk nd trtr trilr drivers rning n average mdin lr of $38,700 a year, which lult t rughl $18.61 n hour. In ft, th Buru f Lbr Statistics timt tht truck drivers wh wr t the lwr nd f th scale still md $25,330 a year nd truck drivers who wr t th high end f th pay l made $59,620 r r. Hw mn other jobs n bt uh a wid rng f lri without a fur-r r two-year llg degree? Nt mn. S, where r more truk drivr employed thn nwhr l? Tx, Clifrni, Pennsylvania, Flrid, nd Illini. Th tt f Tx hired 157, 260 trukr in 2013 whil Illin i mld an estimated 66,050 truk drivr. But, dn't think u will have t relocate t one of these fiv states in order t find a decent truck driving jb. Th ntir t coast i full f states tht have n average 40,210 to 157,260 wrking truk drivr. If you're lking for th tt with th hight nntrtin of truck driving jb in th U.S. look n further. Nrth Dkt bt 15,310 trucking jb with n vrg mdin lr f $47,580 while Arkansas, Nebraska, Iw, nd W ming fllw ll. Truk drivers in Alaska hv th hight median lr at $53,440, whil trukr in North Dakota, Mhutt , Di trit of Clumbi, nd W ming mk an average $47,000 a year. If u wr t lk t a m f th Unitd Stt hwing the r whr the most truk drivers r mld, you wuld that truk drivr r hvil mld from Tx ll the w vr t Pnnlvni nd Fl rid, and all th way u t Mihign. Clifni nd th Pacific Nrthwt also employ mn truk drivr. Whih r hv th lt amount f wrking truck drivr? Th midwestern tt. Tht i why truk drivers in these states mk mr r r. Hr' n mr thing to nidr. U.S. intrntinntl truk driving jb cannot b uturd.
Hr r m more finting ft but truckers. Th tt l di tn traveled b truk drivr per year i 93.5 millin highway mil? T ut th t in rtiv, that's 256,197,260 mil r d, 2,965 milr r nd, and 3.7 million tim rund th rth r 195,713 round tri to th moon! That's a lot f truckin'! Of ur, with ll th miles it wuld b ni to get good g mileage. Unfortunately, tht' nt ging to happen. On vrg , l ng hul truk n rr 300 glln of ful, but n only trvl ight mil r glln. Tht' about 6.8 gallons of ful an h ur t 55 mil r h ur. Tht mn it would take a l 8 trtr trilr 44 hours and 347 glln f ful to trvl fr m L Angeles t Nw Yrk Cit. Of course, with a 300 gll n fuel t nk, you would only hv to t fr g n time. With all th mil to trvl, n f th perks f lng haul truk driving is bing bl t th beauty nd splendor f the Unitd States untrid nd gtting id t do !
The value f shipped gd tht th mmril truking industry trnrt r r i $139,463,000,000. That's $382,090,411 r day nd $4,422 r second! Tht is how vlubl th truking industry nd th truk drivr themselves r t th citizens of the Unitd States. Think but thi, if u will. Almost every facet f our nm i dependent upon th truking industry, from fd t ful, mdiin t machinery, r t lthing, nd ntrutin to m nuf turing, th r ll d liv rd nd dependent upon th mmril trucking industry. To put it another w, if it wasn't fr truk drivr, u wouldn't have a bd t l n, nd hm t clean yourself with, clothes to g t dr d in, fd t t fr br kf t, a tthbruh nd toothpaste t brush your tth with, a r t drive to wrk in, gas t fuel tht r, a mutr t wrk n, f d to eat fr lunch, a car t driv back home in, a rfrigrtr, tv and microwave t store nd cook dinnr with, lt nd utnil nd a tbl t eat on, hir t sit n, and a tlviin t wth th game n whil you it in ur f and drink ur ice ld br tht w trnrtd b truk drivers. Of course, I lft a lt f stuff ut but, u gt the itur. Oh, I lmt frgt, u wouldn't hv a hu t live in either, unless it w md ut of something thr thn bricks, concrete, w d, m tl, r stone. Remember, if you bought it, a truk brought it.
Nt nl i the commercial truk driving jb mrk t ri with possibilities, th t you have to tk t ntr the job mrkt r ir than u might think. T b rtifid to operate a commercial mtr vehicle, ll u need is a commercial drivr lin, dut hil hlth, nd th ability t rt a commercial mtr vhil. That's it. Of course, gtting ur CDL i a whole diffrnt story. It takes specialized knwldg nd trining to the ruird tests, nd that training is uull bt ind t a rivt r mn-nrd truk driving h l. M t truck driving hl will giv u th CDL training u need to pass the ruird CDL tt and bt in ur mmril drivr lin in as little as a 3 weeks.