Every Truck Driver Learns This Business Lesson Eventually!

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]All right, so I say this all the time on the channel.

[00:00:05]When you come into trucking, you need to approach it like you're starting a business.

[00:00:11]That don't mean like you're going out to buy a truck and become an owner-operator tomorrow. I'm just saying that trucking is not a job like a lot of people think.

[00:00:21]It's actually more like you're running a whole operation. So, if you come into trucking with just a regular employee mindset, you're going to get punished in trucking even when you don't own the truck. Because all this profession really cares about is how you execute.

[00:00:34]And if you don't understand that early, this industry going to teach you the expensive way. Point number one, trucking punishes inefficiency when it comes to your time. I talked to new drivers regularly who come from the background of being an employee. So, like that's kind of how they think. I pulled up to a spot the other day, a drop to drop off a load, and I pull in behind another truck. And like I call the people when I get there, look on the paperwork, get the number, let them know I'm there, make sure I'm at the right spot, all that good stuff. They said they're going to be over in 10 minutes.

[00:01:08]10 minutes they come over. They start working on the other truck in front of me that's that's been there already. So, while they're unloading this guy, I'm talking to him. And he tells me he's been there waiting 2 and 1/2 hours. He starts telling me he didn't really know what to do when he got there and that he's tired of his company sending him to these places and he don't know what to do when he gets there. So, he's just been sitting there waiting for the last 2 and 1/2 almost 3 hours. And there was two things that stood out to me about that conversation. One, I could kind of detect just from the way he was talking, like he actually felt like he was doing his job just because he was present, just because he was there. And the second thing, he kept talking about how they was going to have to pay him detention pay. And like, you know, ain't no problem with him. They going to They going to give him detention pay. Now, I'm not really familiar with all the specifics on his relationship with his company and how he gets paid and all of that good stuff. I just know that generally speaking, just sitting and waiting, that's not neutral time. That's costing you something. And it kind of doesn't even matter how you get paid.

[00:02:13]When you're sitting there waiting unnecessarily long, it's closing your window for getting however much work you can get done for the day, but maybe even for the week. Like sometimes having your day thrown off on Tuesday throws off the rest of the week after that. A moving truck is putting money in your pocket.

[00:02:33]And if you understand that, then it should make sense that a truck sitting still is taking money out of your pocket. Even if you're just a driver.

[00:02:41]When the guy left and they started working on me, unloading me, I'm talking to the loader driver and he's telling me he didn't know that that guy was there.

[00:02:52]Almost 3 hours that guy was waiting and the loader driver didn't even know he was there. He pulled up literally like 8 minutes after I got there once I called him. And that's what I mean by approaching this profession like you're starting a business. Wasting your time like that and wasting your clock like that don't have nothing to do with the company. That's a bad approach.

[00:03:11]Employees, generally speaking, are used to being paid for their time.

[00:03:16]Self-employed people and people with the mindset of starting a business, they're going to treat their time differently.

[00:03:21]They're going to plan. They're going to check ahead. They're going to call when they get there. They're going to communicate. And they're going to treat their 14-hour window like inventory.

[00:03:29]Meaning, when it's gone, it's gone. So, they take care of it differently.

[00:03:33]Because out here, you're not going to keep getting paid for being present. You get paid for being effective. Employees, generally speaking, are used to showing up and getting paid regardless of how efficient the day was. But people running a business don't think like that. They think, did the job get done?

[00:03:50]And that changes everything because now you're not thinking in terms of time spent, you're thinking about outcomes produced. So, if you think like an employee, you'll tolerate inefficiency when it comes to your time, because you kind of look at it like it's somebody else's time. But, if you think like an operator, you naturally work to eliminate inefficiency when it comes to your time. Because even when you don't own the truck, inefficiency costs you miles, and it costs you options, and it costs you control over your week. Point number two, trucking exposes emotional drivers. Us drivers sometimes take stuff personally. You get a load you don't like, you get sent somewhere tight, you get a rough shipper, dispatch give you something you don't feel like doing, and you want to take it personal. Like, all right, I got the ass. I'm not going back to this spot no more. I'm not dealing with this situation no more. I'm not doing that for them ever again.

[00:04:44]But, here's the thing, when you take that attitude, 99 times out of 100, you're not hurting them, you're probably only hurting yourself. Because the company still moves freight, the broker still books loads, and the dispatch still assigns loads. But, now next week, you notice your runs are off, or your miles ain't there, because you tried to get them back, and you end up sabotaging your own money. And trucking will let you be emotional right into being broke.

[00:05:10]A professional understands you don't let emotion make business decisions. You pick your battles without destroying your own check, because the goal is not to be right. The goal is to keep getting paid. Point number three, even owner-operators miss this, in my opinion. You are a service provider.

[00:05:28]Even as a company driver, that's what we all are as truck drivers. We are providing a service through these trucks. And here's what I mean by that, because this is the part that a lot of people might not like, and might not want to hear. Your customers matter.

[00:05:44]Shippers and receivers are customers. If you're an owner-operator, brokers are your customers. If you're a company driver, the company you drive for is your customer. So, when drivers start talking like, "These brokers are trash."

[00:05:58]Or, "Dispatch don't know what the hell they're doing." Or, "These shippers are stupid." You got to understand what you're really doing, you're talking about the people that are paying for the service. And this is a business principle here. You can't build a business while at the same time disrespecting the people funding the business. You can be frustrated, but you still got to be professional. I'm not saying be naive. I'm not saying accept nonsense. But I am saying, if you show up entitled, you lower your value immediately. Because service providers don't get paid for attitude. They get paid for smooth, trouble-free execution.

[00:06:33]That's the only language trucking respects. Point number four, employee-minded drivers think in terms of paychecks. And that is why they're just employee-minded drivers. Because they're not tracking anything.

[00:06:45]They don't know where time is getting wasted. They don't know where miles are getting lost. They don't know what habits are slowing them down and what patterns keep repeating. So, they just drive and wonder why the money don't feel right. That's like running a business, but refusing to look at your bank account. But when you start thinking like a business, you start tracking your operation. And that changes your approach. Because now you can see that maybe the money ain't right because the money's not here, like people aren't getting paid in trucking.

[00:07:14]Somebody's making some money. I'm just not one of those people. So, maybe the money ain't right, not because it ain't here, but because maybe I'm inefficient.

[00:07:23]And that's a hard truth, but it's a powerful one. Because in seeing that, you realize that your focus might not need to be on working harder. You might just need to work cleaner, smarter, or more disciplined. Because sometimes the money ain't really missing in this profession, it's just leaking. So, that's what I mean when I say, "Treat trucking like you're starting a business. Even if you're just a company driver, you're still running a whole operation from this seat. And taking responsibility for that is the difference in a person with a job and a driver with a career.