The L.D. Sewell Podcast

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;   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! 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. 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. Online Retail Business - Start selling products on Amazon and using their Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) Program. 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. 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. 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. 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. Soap Business - Make soap and sell it online and at craft fares and whatever other ways works for you. 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. 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. 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. 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.