Comments By Aaron M.

I've been lurking on TT for a couple of months now. I finally decided to join up and put myself out there to seek advice. This is where I'm at presently.

I'm pretty much hired with Roehl Transport. I've done the DOT physical and passed the hair and urinalysis drug test. All that is left is to get the CLP, which I plan to do this coming Tuesday. I'm set to start with Roehl up in Wisconsin on the 5th of September.

Presently I have my own landscaping company. Last year my revenue was just at 30k, but revenue is not what you actually make. My taxable income was only 6k, and I ended up with 4k worth of a "tax return" due to "earned income credit." Not bad seeing as how I paid no taxes. Due to my low income I actually made money. I have two children and a wife. My children are both boys ages 4 and 7. My wife is a photographer and is also self employed. In the past I was an EMT for an EMS agency for 6 years, and I worked for a convalescent transport company for 2. Before that I was a roustabout tending bar all over the U.S. Before that I was a nuclear engineer in the USN. I was on the USS Carl Vinson when 9/11 happened. We dropped 3 million pounds of ordinance on Afghanistan and it amounted to the first bombs dropped.

My father made a career out of Truck Driving, as did his bother and my grandpa. My grandpa actually died OTR in a motel six when I was 8 years old...massive heart attack. I have found memories of going with my dad OTR when I was 8-10. I fell in love with the sound, with going to sleep in the sleeper while the truck moved on down the road, with the smell of diesel. I never saw my father growing up due to many of reasons, beyond him being an OTR driver, my parents got divorced when I was 4. I saw him a couple of weeks out of a year and that only occasionally, and that when I went with him OTR. I mention that to give a snaps shot of my life long love affair with driving a truck OTR.

Now I'm 37. My business does well, but I'm in South Carolina, and once the leafs have dropped, and I get them up, I'm out of work from about December to mid April. That is, my business makes no money for about 4 months out of the year. I go from about 3k a month in revenue to 0, and it stays that way for 4 months. We moved in with family five years ago, so we have no mortgage to pay, and that's how I've managed to be self employed in a profession that only provides money 8 months out of the year. In the years past I've survived on savings over the winter months. Last year we ran out of money around February. My credit suffered due to that.

Now that I've introduced myself, and given a bit of my past. I'd like to ask some advice. I red Brett's ebook. He said, in so many words, that if you have a family you should not go OTR as a truck driver. He pretty much pleaded. I know it's hard on families. Everybody in our little sphere of influence has horror stories about trucking, and how bad it sucked, and how screwed they got, or someone they knew. Everybody says it's a mistake to even contemplate it, much less do it. Still, here I am, getting ready to do it.

Roehl has offered me .39 cents per mile after training. I'm going to be a flatbedder because that's what they are hiring for in my area. They say I can expect 2300-2600 miles per week. Granted, I understand the nature of freight, and nothing is guaranteed. Still, I figure I can gross 40k the first year. My attitude towards this is good. I'm all in. I'm excited about the prospect. I realize that it's many 18 hour days, alone, and that I won't be a part of my families daily life anymore. I realize that to exceed in the business you have to be willing to break some rules. I'm all in, and I aim to be the top driver with Roehl.

My wife is supporting the decision. We made the decision together. Due to my nature, working in some plant, or going to the same place everyday to do the same repetitive thing, over and over is a hell I won't do. I am a loner by nature. I like people one on one, but in groups I can't stand them. Left to my own devices I read books and write, and I have always been that way. I'm very solitary, and so I welcome a profession that mostly leaves me to myself. I really don't like people much at all. However in person I'm cordial and respectful, and I know how to handle people. I know how to act to get people to do things for me.