Profile For Nicholas H.

Nick, I gave up on you the other day, but now I know I got it right when I said this...

Oh man Nicholas, you are a case study in the very things we are talking about when it comes to soaking in misinformation

Lol, it's been fun guys! Git 'er done!!!

NIcholas in true lawyer fashion continues to argue...by writing this:

I'm a great attorney, and quit by choice. I was also top 3 in the country as a wrestler. I'm great at anything I put my mind to. I'd be a phenomenal truck driver. You guys are missing the point. Once you're well prepared, things become easy. Don't sweat it.

Great attorneys don't quit at age 30 after maybe, 4-5 total years of experience. You were in the job long enough to know that you disliked it. How does that make you great? Potential? Possibly, I don't know, but "great"? Only in your own mind.

I know a great lawyer, been one of my best friends for 25 years. He practiced financial and contractual law for 30+ years and is a multi-millionaire. Although you'd never know it and he certainly wouldn't tell the whole world he was a "great" attorney. Even if it were true, he is far too wise to make a claim like that. A year ago he asked to accompany me on one of my Walmart delivery runs. During the 350 mile round trip he repeatedly kept saying, "I had no idea what you guys deal with". At the end of the trip he looked at me and thanked me for completely changing his paradigm on truck driving and all that it entails. He stated that his respect for truck drivers doubled. He said that I made it "look easy" but he understood by my furrowed brow, laser focus and constant vigilance that even to his untrained eye, it obviously wasn't.

Well said. Just stay in the right lane and keep your foot near the brakes if you're nervous. Set that cruise control to 62 and put on some Stern, and count the cash baby!!! Also, remember that there's a severe shortage of drivers, and being a commodity more precious than platinum, we can tell dispatchers to give us those miles or we'll jump ship. /thread

I'm a great attorney, and quit by choice. I was also top 3 in the country as a wrestler. I'm great at anything I put my mind to. I'd be a phenomenal truck driver. You guys are missing the point. Once you're well prepared, things become easy. Don't sweat it.

Like many other fields of endeavor - in trucking, you prepare BY DOING IT.

You can't read a book on smooth-bore tankers - and expect to be prepared for the experience.

You came in here, looking for advise. When you didn't get exactly what you wanted to hear - you started "trying your case" in order to get the desired response.

That's not the way it works around here. And if you want to disregard the advice of folks that have helped so many people get a successful start in this industry.

Then the "discussion" devolves into trolling - then it's probably time for you to move on.

Since you already know more than the collective wisdom of our board members here - there's nothing more we can offer you apparently.

Best of luck - you're going to need it with your attitude...

Rick

It's all a matter of perspective. If you think it's difficult, you're looking at it the wrong way, or you just aren't well prepared. The preparation is difficult, but once that's done correctly, the job is easy.

Being a lawyer is easy, I don't take offense. It's just not enjoyable, insofar as my interests are concerned. There's nothing wrong with saying a job is easy, I think that's where you're going off track, no pun intended. Most jobs are easy, given you put in the proper amount of work to prepare yourself for them. Even rocket science is easy, given you study enough in school to understand it well. As long as you're well prepared for a job, it becomes easy. Likewise, being an OTR trucker is easy, so long as you enjoy driving for 11 hours a day and living in a truck, and have paid very close attention in your training

That's spoken like it came from someone who has tried very few things in life to begin with and has never been great at anything.

Doing anything seems easy when you're terrible at it. Doing something at the highest level is where the separation shows between those with true talent, a tremendous work ethic, and years of hard-earned knowledge and those without. You think being a lawyer or a rocket scientist or a truck driver is easy but you've never been capable of doing any of them at a high level so to be quite honest, you have no idea what you're talking about.

If we threw you in a truck today you'd literally be a joke to the rest of us. As a rocket scientist, well you're not one. As a lawyer, you're unemployed and going nowhere. You're all talk my friend. Do something, anything, and become competitive with those at the highest level and then we'll see how easy you think it is.

To be terrible at pretty much everything but then put down those who do those things at a high level is pretty embarrassing for you to be honest. In life there are big talkers and big doers. Big doers know the difference.

I'm a great attorney, and quit by choice. I was also top 3 in the country as a wrestler. I'm great at anything I put my mind to. I'd be a phenomenal truck driver. You guys are missing the point. Once you're well prepared, things become easy. Don't sweat it.

Nicholas...you are not approaching this correctly.

First of all there are a half dozen reasons contributing to a newbie's failure that can occur long before the reality of the lifestyle takes hold. I know this for a fact and not because I read it, saw it or heard it somewhere. I witness the struggles of new drivers everyday who have unrealistic expectations and pi**poor attitudes. They fail before ever passing "go".

So this is not rocket science, but then neither is lawyering. Right? It's all in how it's said, admittedly I know very little about the legal profession yet I know it's not rocket science. So as a layperson telling that to a lawyer it's easily perceived as insulting. Get my drift Counselor?

You are NOT a driver!!!

You are an outsider looking in with zero firsthand experience.

Here's the deal,...I will try to be respectful cause you basically diminished the Profession that most of us love and respect. It puts food on your table, clothes on your back and a car under your a**. Without trucks you have none of those things.

You are far too confident and are greatly, greatly underestimating the difficulty and danger of truck driving. Especially in the beginning. If approached as such, this job will figuratively and literally eat you alive. Your lack of humility will not serve you well and likely contribute to your failure.

If an 80,000 pound death machine descending a 9% mountain grade doesn't humble a man or woman, nothing will. But then, I've never been a lawyer.

"Rinse and repeat...right?" It's that easy.

Being a lawyer is easy, I don't take offense. It's just not enjoyable, insofar as my interests are concerned. There's nothing wrong with saying a job is easy, I think that's where you're going off track, no pun intended. Most jobs are easy, given you put in the proper amount of work to prepare yourself for them. Even rocket science is easy, given you study enough in school to understand it well. As long as you're well prepared for a job, it becomes easy. Likewise, being an OTR trucker is easy, so long as you enjoy driving for 11 hours a day and living in a truck, and have paid very close attention in your training. Of course driving a smooth bore tanker can be dangerous, but if you are well prepared to do it, it becomes easy and second nature. I was top 3 in the country as a wrestler years ago, and although most would say lateral dropping someone onto their head is difficult, as long as you've put in the hard work beforehand, it comes easy.

Confidence is based on preparation. Anything becomes easy with enough preparation.

The shortage is because people don't want to live in a truck and have no home life. It's not rocket science. Drive/Sleep/Wait, rinse and repeat.

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We have another Trucking expert on the site that has never spent 5 minutes in a Tractor Trailer rig. Nicholas, why are you here? You already seem to have all of the answers. You really should be running a Trucking Company. Leave the Driving to all of us toothless dumbass redneck hilbillys. After all, It's not rocket science!!!

Relax.

There is a whole lot more to driving a truck than steering and listening to howard stern. Are you sure you know what you are in for?

Many people think they kniw and dont have a clue.. Its complete shock when theyre actually out there. Oh and you can get Regional home weekly positions right out of CDL school.. And yes regional IS OTR.

Yeah I've been watching all the YouTube truckers for over a month, I know what I'm getting into. While there's certainly a lot more than just driving and listening to the radio, especially for an owner/operator, most of the time is spent driving and listening to the radio.

Interesting...for someone claiming to know what they are getting into, you sure are asking a lot of questions, making claims that are false, and changing directions.

If truck driving was as easy and mindless as you make it out to be then there wouldn't be a shortage of qualified drivers and the failure rate would be in the single digits as opposed to 90%.

Good luck...

The shortage is because people don't want to live in a truck and have no home life. It's not rocket science. Drive/Sleep/Wait, rinse and repeat.

Nicholas...have you taken the time to read any of this? Below

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road Training Program

There are many factors that determine your pay, CPM rate is only part of the equation. Trip planning, your availability, and the freight your company has in their system significantly affects your income.

Thanks. I'm reading the Career Guide and Brett's book tonight. I went through part of the High Road last week, and will certainly complete it prior to CDL school.

There is a whole lot more to driving a truck than steering and listening to howard stern. Are you sure you know what you are in for?

Many people think they kniw and dont have a clue.. Its complete shock when theyre actually out there. Oh and you can get Regional home weekly positions right out of CDL school.. And yes regional IS OTR.

Yeah I've been watching all the YouTube truckers for over a month, I know what I'm getting into. While there's certainly a lot more than just driving and listening to the radio, especially for an owner/operator, most of the time is spent driving and listening to the radio.

Nicholas, Please forgive me, but the Lawyer in you is shining through. You are way overthinking this whole thing. Read Brett's Book, available free on this site. Pick a Company Sponsored training program that seems to fit, I chose Swift. Suck it up and give one year of your life to this Gig come hell or high water.(Swift's contract is for 1 year from the time you go soio give or take). At that point you'll know if this is really for you. If it is, you will have plenty of options to fine tune your preferences. If not, hey you gave it the old College try, you certainly have options with your Educational background. This is my 3rd and hopefully last "Career". I'm 56 years old, and came in with a 2 year plan. It will take that long to really get a firm grasp of the ins and outs of the game. Trust me, there is a lot more to this than driving down the road and listening to Howard Stern and Podcasts, LOTS MORE. Like any other Profession, you start at the bottom and work your way up. You will have good weeks and weeks that you will ask yourself "What the %&*# was I thinking!!!!!". Good Luck!

Lol, I know I'm overthinking, I've been analyzing all these programs for over a month now. I think I've narrowed it down to Prime, Roehl, or Knight. Swift's training program doesn't become "free" until 2 years of driving, and that's twice as long as the other companies. Plus, they make you bring "Long form DOT physical and medical card" with you to CDL School, while the other schools take care of that for you while you are there. Roehl and Knight actually pay you during CDL school (Roehl $500 a week and Knight $300 a week). So theoretically, you can complete Roehl's program and put the $2,000 you made during that time towards tuition, and it would only cost you $1,500 out of pocket (if the cost is $3,500). Likewise, you can put the $1,200 you made during Knight's CDL School towards tuition, and pay the remaining $1,900 out of pocket. The problem with both of these options is that it leaves you with no driving experience, and what's more important, that you quit employment for a company which would be problematic for future employers.