Career Change For A 50 Year Old Contractor, Committing To It.

Thank you for the advice. It helps for sure. I did decide to wait until I have those commitments finished. I'm also completing a few jobs I have coming in for the month of Feb witch will help with adding in some cash in which to start this. The downside of those commitments are that I will have to explain my path to another business partner as well. The desire to enter this phase of my life is great though, and it keeps calling me so to speak.

I had a long conversation with the recruiter from Wilson. He understood completely and said the job was there for me as soon as I was ready and had the CDL Permit and DOT Medical card. I pulled a background and MVR. Background squeaky clean as I knew it would be.

2 speeding tickets last year, 1 in 2019. All state 10-19 over. Long story, Wife bought a 2018 Corvette stingray (Our Baby) for us. She doesn't drive it. I do. Its a beautiful and very fun car that is inordinately difficult to drive reasonably close to the speed limit. In fact, I think I could probably incur speeding tickets while parked in it. Obviously, I need to put my goals for driving a truck ahead of my passion for driving fast cars fast. I also road-race motorcycles. No tickets on bikes in many years though as I almost exclusively ride only at a track most times. I told the Wilson recruiter about the tickets and stated the speed. He stated that it "shouldn't" be a problem as they technically are only at 10 over. So we will wait and see if I can get some sort of confirmation on that. If they do not find that acceptable then I will talk to some of the other companies I have been and am confident I can find one to play ball with.

Again I really like Wilson for the fact that it would be regional , western 10 with a great possibility for runs home through Colorado, it would be a dry van , mostly drop and hook , and would be 46 cents a mile solo (according to the recruiter) after completion of the training. I'm not so sure about driving in the mountains a lot though I still find it worth the other good points. I've taught skiing for many years and worked in the mountains here. Ive spent a lot of time on I70 and US 6 in the Colorado mountains, sometimes with 26' straight trucks, in the winter and those can be bad enough, I cant imagine it in a semi. Again, probably just fear though.

I read all the diaries on here religiously. I really enjoying seeing the process and reading about what its like getting started in this. My apologies that I don't have any account of actual activity yet. I want my foundation of this to be laid well and I want to gain the benefits of learning from others journey as much as I can. I'm pretty slow to start this lifestyle, but I will and I have faith in that. Thanks for putting up with my brain droppings.

Goals for the week: DOT physical on Monday. Continue to study the CDL Manual. Contact Wilson recruiter and attempt to get conclusion on the speeding tickets. And the big one, Talk to Jim, my outside business partner and let him know that Im going to do this. He will be frustrated as he has set up a ton of jobs that I don't really want to do, yet need to take some of them through Feb. Id be perfectly happy to not do a drywall patch and cabinet repair, nor babysit subcontractors for a very long time. Ill keep ya all posted. And thank you for the advice and support. I really like this community.

Update: Talked to recruiter at Wilson: He stated as long as they are below 15 mph over, Im fine. They were all reduced to 10 with no documentation of the original that I could find. Also he stated .46 cpm for dry van regional and that I will be placed there if thats what I want after training is completed. (their email says .44cpm) He stated home time During training will be three to four weeks out. After training, two to three weeks out - should I believe that?

Talked with business partner, let him know my plans. so far so good, but I kind of sugar coated it, so Ill have to deal with that more.

Didnt make time for the dot physical today. Will do after work in the morning.

Also, If any of you were really horrible with time management when you started, any tricks would be greatly appreciated. I have a hunch this is going to be a really big area I need to work on. Thanks.

Still itching to just be done with my life in construction and make the change right now. Trying to be patient and take care of everything I need to in the meantime. Funds are tight, construction market is slowing to a grinding halt right now, so Havent taken med examine and test yet. Getting settlement on an invoice this week, so will do it with that.

Other update is that one of my brothers wants to go for his CDL and drive with me as a team after training. Im open to it, Our personalities gel and we can manage to share a small space without getting on each other's nerves at all. That is definitely not the case with my other brother however.

Notwithstanding. Three weeks till I Head out for training. Never heard back from Knight, despite repeated pestering and phone calls to the recruiter, so thats ok by me. Ill stick with Wilson.

Still itching to just be done with my life in construction and make the change right now. Trying to be patient and take care of everything I need to in the meantime. Funds are tight, construction market is slowing to a grinding halt right now, so Havent taken med examine and test yet. Getting settlement on an invoice this week, so will do it with that.

Other update is that one of my brothers wants to go for his CDL and drive with me as a team after training. Im open to it, Our personalities gel and we can manage to share a small space without getting on each other's nerves at all. That is definitely not the case with my other brother however.

Notwithstanding. Three weeks till I Head out for training. Never heard back from Knight, despite repeated pestering and phone calls to the recruiter, so thats ok by me. Ill stick with Wilson.

Still following, Davy. Wishing you the best! Wilson Logistics (fka Wil Trans) is an awesome company. If they want ya, heck yeah!

Best wishes, for sure!

~ Anne ~

Thanks.

So, Update. Wilson Rescinded. Cant blame em. It was me that decided to treat the local roads as my personal race track and rack up speeding tickets. Old adage applies, If you crap in your underwear, don't blame your underwear for the mess. Had been in contact with several other carriers, Knight and Swift both declined. Schneider said yes, but they are a reimbursement based program.

Prime said no problem, and they will take on my brother as well (He had a DUI 4 years previously). We are both going to attend their school, do our respective training and then team drive after completion of our training. Both of us want refer or dry van. As far as I understand, Prime doesn't have dry van , just refer, tanker or flat bed. The recruiter said that I need to have the tanker endorsement. From everything I have read on this site and others, I do not want to do tankers until I have more than a year of experience, so Im a tad confused on that issue, but will follow up with the recruiter on it.

So, onward and upward. Taking CDL permit test march 2. (Soonest appointment I can get). If for some reason Prime rescinds, Ill keep beating on doors til I get the response I want, but Im planning on heading to Prime as soon as I get the permit in hand.

Oh yeah, sat down and had a good conversation with my business partner on the restoration business, told him this is what Im doing and where Im going. It went well and put some lagging reservations and fears to rest.

Its probably boring to hear about a bunch of decisions and things that seemingly to me don't have anything to do with driving a truck, but I want to get the thoughts and emotions down on paper so to speak. Perhaps it can help someone else that might be similarly cautious about changing careers. The litany of small things that must be dealt with are things that can cause us to falter from a path we choose. I also think in reading conversations on this site, that its the little stuff that we pile up and cause to inwardly say "I cant" or "It wont work" if they don't push through it.

I'm really excited to embark on a new way of life, but I also like to be prepared and invest in successful endeavors. I want to make sure, to the extent that I can, that I have my life stowed securely, left nothing loose and no lingering problems, so that I can move into my next phase as smoothly and successfully as possible.

The tanker endorsement is to cover you for some of the liquid cargo we haul. Big plastic totes that can be upwards of 500 gallons sometimes. Refer and vans can haul some odd things, too.

Stuffs getting real. Prime said the Monday after March 2nd school starts. Pay for refer solo after training at 51 cpm. She said call her the minute I get my CDL permit. 100 dollar deposit and good to go. Also that she sent offer through pulse I think, although I havent seen it show up yet. Please tell my head to quiet the hell down, this is the right choice. Its go time!

Stuffs getting real. Prime said the Monday after March 2nd school starts. Pay for refer solo after training at 51 cpm. She said call her the minute I get my CDL permit. 100 dollar deposit and good to go. Also that she sent offer through pulse I think, although I havent seen it show up yet. Please tell my head to quiet the hell down, this is the right choice. Its go time!

Please keep us in the loop, good sir.

~ Anne ~

Prime said safety dept cant sign me on. Pursuing Western Express to sign me before I start school and then reimburse. Heck Id be happy just to land the job even if i have to pay for the school myself.

Okay...Prime approved, Sent offer letter and request for the 100 bucks deposit for school. Recruiter called and sent email yesterday.