The Beginning
Well it’s not the very beginning of my change in careers but the beginning of my post. The real beginning started about 3 months ago when I decide that I was going to go this route (no pun intended). I talked to people that drives and did internet searches. I have learned a lot of what is going to be required to do this.
I have gotten my CDL learners permit and my DOT physical. I have applied to Tennessee Tech @ Nashville and now I am waiting to get into a class (hopefully January 2008).
There are a lot of ways to get your training. Pay for it yourself with a private school ($4,000 - $5,000). Or you can go to one paid for by a company and be obligated to them for one to two years. These schools are for about 3 weeks, 5-7 days a week and 10 hour day boot camps. I chose a community college for $1,200 that is 7 weeks and 7 hours a day 5 days a week and am paying for it myself. Quite honest I couldn’t afford the cost of the other schools and didn’t want to be obligated to a company for that long. I plan to work some part time also while going to school, something that I couldn’t do with the others.
How did I decide to get into this field? Well I have looked at many things without finding one that I feel that I could apply myself to. If you look at my profile you see that I have been in manufacturing for 40 years. I love to build things and recently have built a couple of houses and remodel a couple including the one that I am in now. I enjoy that and even started a remodeling company. I did a lot of quoting, spent the time and travel just to have people to do it themselves or not at all. I was getting too much quoting and too little work. It is hard physical work and I wasn’t established enough to make any money at it. I could probable have stayed with it and build a reputation and made it work but it was going to be more work that I wanted to put to it. Besides the jobs that I was getting wasn’t jobs that I enjoyed.
I have always tried to live by my motto; if you aren’t excited about a job, don’t take it.
I try to live life to the fullest. I do things with enthusiasm and make ever effort to be the best. If I don’t enjoy it or be good at it, then I can’t do it. I won’t settle for mediocrity.
I am not delusion about driving a truck. I know that it is long hours, hard and stressful work, neither of these brother me. I have always worked hard and long hours. If I am doing something that I enjoy then it isn’t hard. I can make more money doing what I have always done if I was willing to stay with it but I am not. I am burnt out and want to change. I will be 60 in March 2008 and plan on working at least 10 more years. I can not bear to think of doing what I do now for 10 more years.
What do I want and expect from driving a truck? I want to do over the road for a few years. I love this country and have been in 44 states with my other travels. My wife is going to ride with me so we can see the county together. I can travel and be paid for it. I want to visit all 50 states before I go to that big truck stop in the sky. I am sure that it will grow old but doesn’t every job.
I am now in a holding state waiting to go to school so much is not happening here for a while. I plan on posting regularly but for now it will be more about my life than about trucking. Once I get into school and on the road, I will focus more on the trucking aspect.
I hope these posts will help someone or at least that you enjoy them. I welcome your comments positive or negative.
Well it’s not the very beginning of my change in careers but the beginning of my post. The real beginning started about 3 months ago when I decide that I was going to go this route (no pun intended). I talked to people that drives and did internet searches. I have learned a lot of what is going to be required to do this.
I have gotten my CDL learners permit and my DOT physical. I have applied to Tennessee Tech @ Nashville and now I am waiting to get into a class (hopefully January 2008).
There are a lot of ways to get your training. Pay for it yourself with a private school ($4,000 - $5,000). Or you can go to one paid for by a company and be obligated to them for one to two years. These schools are for about 3 weeks, 5-7 days a week and 10 hour day boot camps. I chose a community college for $1,200 that is 7 weeks and 7 hours a day 5 days a week and am paying for it myself. Quite honest I couldn’t afford the cost of the other schools and didn’t want to be obligated to a company for that long. I plan to work some part time also while going to school, something that I couldn’t do with the others.
How did I decide to get into this field? Well I have looked at many things without finding one that I feel that I could apply myself to. If you look at my profile you see that I have been in manufacturing for 40 years. I love to build things and recently have built a couple of houses and remodel a couple including the one that I am in now. I enjoy that and even started a remodeling company. I did a lot of quoting, spent the time and travel just to have people to do it themselves or not at all. I was getting too much quoting and too little work. It is hard physical work and I wasn’t established enough to make any money at it. I could probable have stayed with it and build a reputation and made it work but it was going to be more work that I wanted to put to it. Besides the jobs that I was getting wasn’t jobs that I enjoyed.
I have always tried to live by my motto; if you aren’t excited about a job, don’t take it.
I try to live life to the fullest. I do things with enthusiasm and make ever effort to be the best. If I don’t enjoy it or be good at it, then I can’t do it. I won’t settle for mediocrity.
I am not delusion about driving a truck. I know that it is long hours, hard and stressful work, neither of these brother me. I have always worked hard and long hours. If I am doing something that I enjoy then it isn’t hard. I can make more money doing what I have always done if I was willing to stay with it but I am not. I am burnt out and want to change. I will be 60 in March 2008 and plan on working at least 10 more years. I can not bear to think of doing what I do now for 10 more years.
What do I want and expect from driving a truck? I want to do over the road for a few years. I love this country and have been in 44 states with my other travels. My wife is going to ride with me so we can see the county together. I can travel and be paid for it. I want to visit all 50 states before I go to that big truck stop in the sky. I am sure that it will grow old but doesn’t every job.
I am now in a holding state waiting to go to school so much is not happening here for a while. I plan on posting regularly but for now it will be more about my life than about trucking. Once I get into school and on the road, I will focus more on the trucking aspect.
I hope these posts will help someone or at least that you enjoy them. I welcome your comments positive or negative.
