Another Landmark Day in My New Biz

A very significant day for my trucking company as I double in size from one driver (me) to two! Welcome Mike! I'm not sure who's more excited - him or me.

I am back in Belleville for a week or so to get things in place with him. He has made some significant commitments to this career change - for him - and I am anxious to make sure he is successful. I am incredibly lucky to have found someone willing to make the effort he has and I feel an obligation to do everything possible to make this work, for both of our sakes. I talk to a lot of people who think what I do is 'kool' and are 'interested' but it is most often just talk. Mike has invested time, effort and money over the past couple of weeks to set himself up for this. Starting today it's MY turn to take this to the next level.

I was looking at the load boards this morning to see what was available. Searching with-in 100 mile radius of St. Louis, I found 23 loads on one board that we can do and more than 100 vehicles on another board that need to be moved! I heard on the news last night how there is concern that our economic recovery maybe faltering and unemployment is almost 10%. Just my opinion, but I'd say 90% of those 10% unemployed don't really WANT to work. There is stuff out there if you want to make the effort.

Being successful at ANYTHING (job, relationships, life, whatever) comes down to three basic things: Skill, Knowledge and Attitude. Skill and knowledge can be taught or learned over time. Attitude comes from with-in. A persons success - or failure - can be traced back to one of these three factors and more often than not, attitude is THE ONE.

Ok, enough of the soapbox. What have I been doing that I'm too busy to post for two weeks? My last post was from Florida where I had just arrived with my youngest son. The first half of our time together was great. But the vacation was cut short of what I planned when I over-reacted to what should have been a relatively insignificant event. My relationship with my youngest son has not been as good as it should be. In retrospect, it has been mostly my fault.

I did not go to any "parenting school." I learned, like most everyone else, 'on-the-job.' And I have made alot of mistakes. I am hopeful that in time my youngest will see that my heart is good even when my actions are not, and that will count for something. I use to think my father was the dumbest guy around. It amazed me how much he had learned by the time I was 40! Hopefully my son will see this a little sooner than I did.

Leaving FL, I found an auction car going from Tampa to about 50 miles from here. I added a forklift, also from Tampa, that delivered in Memphis, which was sorta on the way. In Memphis I picked up a second car that I delivered the same day in St. Louis. So the ride back here to Southern IL was good financially.

I will spend probably a week here with Mike and then head back out Sunday or Monday. I have to be back in FL by Sep 3 or 4. There is a kitchen remodel scheduled for one of the rental units there and I'm the plumber as well as the gofer (you know, go-fer-this and go-fer-that). Hopefully there will be some work here with the construction company that is our #1 local client to keep us busy.

Right now, I have stuff to do getting ready for orientation! A significant day for me!