Working through the work

As a young entrepreneur, I tend to work a lot.  I mean a lot.  I have been working through this and have a few tips that might help you not work soo much. 

Hustle is one of the most common words used in entrepreneurship today.  “Hustle and grind until you make it big.” “Keep the hustle and you are sure to succeed.” I agree that hustling through seasons is necessary, especially at the initial onset of a new company. It’s not what makes a company thrive.  Morals are what really makes a company thrive.

Know your support system.  We all have a support system whether it’s our spouse, parents, girl or boy friend, kids, friend, dog, fish, whatever, we all have a support system.  Lean on them.  They will help you to realize when you are working too much and need to slow down.  Learn to read the signs they are giving and listen to those signs. 

Numbers aren’t everything.  I’m a huge number guy so when it comes down to it, I love thinking in numbers.  1000 clients at $100 monthly = $100,000 monthly income.  I didn’t say I liked complicated numbers. Lol.  I have stopped letting that drive me though.  I don’t worry as much about the numbers as I do how happy I am and how happy my employees are. 

Try to get stuff done early.  Scheduling is a hard part of every business owner or entrepreneur life.  Use a calendar app that your whole family can see.  If you are having issues fitting in personal time, schedule it.  Before long, it will come natural and you will no longer have to schedule it. Date nights are crucial to bringing your best to the table all the time.  It can even be a date by yourself reading a book or binging your favorite shows.  Personally, my favorite shows are either MASH or that 70’s show. 

Outsource the things you don’t like.  If you are sitting there saying, “how can I pay someone to do something when I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself”.  Let me be the first to tell you that out sourcing the things you don’t enjoy doing will open up your life to more freedom.  Not to mention you are helping another business owner get his or her business up and going.  Don’t be afraid to let go of a few of those items, then sit back and watch your creative juices start to flow again. 

Get up earlier and go to bed earlier.  We are all designed differently but for me I enjoy getting up earlier than the rest of my family.  Heading to the home office and busting out an hour or so of work before my family ever even think about getting out of bed.  Then when they wake up, I get to greet my kids and possibly even make them breakfast before they head off to school.  I have found that first thing in the morning about 15 min after I wake up is when I have the best ideas.  I mean the best ideas.  Don’t start by waking up an hour early tomorrow though you’ll just be bogged down all day. Start by waking up 15 min earlier every week until you are getting up when you want to. 

Eat right.  I’m not super healthy, but I do believe that we all need to eat good food in order to push through those hard times.  If our body is struggling to digest the food we are eating then we are devoting energy there when we could be utilizing that energy for our projects.  All too often, I find myself grabbing lunch in town, and it’s not a good lunch.  I feel like Remy off the movie Ratatouille, the dad says, “Food is fuel, get picky about what you put in the tank and you won’t have any fuel.” I’m the exact opposite.  An old jalopy can run on junk fuel, but I want to run like a Ferrari so I need good fuel to maintain. 

Make time for God.  It sounds crazy, but I’m telling you that by adding 15 min of devotional time every day your schedule will be opened up.  How will adding something to my schedule free up time.  God works in mysterious ways.  I have found that when I take 15 min of my day to read the bible and pray, my day is less stressful.  When I don’t make time for it, I seem to run myself into the ground.  Take time every day for the one who created us. 

I definitely don’t have it all figured out, and I am sure that I will continue to fail at times.  You see here’s the thing, if you don’t fail, you can’t learn.  If you fail and don’t learn, stop everything right now because you are going to make the same mistakes again and soon.  

Age is all in how you look at it.

Thinking back to when I was young, maybe 5.  I thought that my brother was old even though he was only 4 years older than I was.  My parents were really old, even though they were both in their mid-thirties.  My grandparents were ancient and my great grandparents were almost extinct. 

When I was 12 years old, I applied to be a volunteer at our local fire department.  The chief looked me up and down and said, “So you think you can help us out around here?”  I confidently said without a doubt in my mind, “You bet I can!” I was the youngest member of their JR firefighter crew.  That chief took a chance by letting me join the department a full 2 years before he let anyone else.  I learned a lot during my years on the department and stayed active for quite a while.  The thing that I liked most about being there, attending the trainings, going out and working the fires, was that on this department, everyone was glad to have help.  It didn’t matter what you were doing they were glad you were there.  I didn’t realize it at the time but I was learning how to appreciate everyone.  I also learned that those “old guys” could out work me every day.  It kept me humble in respect of age.

Later at the age of 18, I applied for a job as the manager at a rental car facility.  The hiring manager read my resume and immediately called me in for the interview.  When I arrived, she kind of looked me up and down and said, “Your resume made you seem much older, sorry but I just CAN’T hire someone so young.”  I walked away a little dejected but knew that God had bigger plans for me.  After the interview she swallowed her pride and told me to come back in a few years, she would love to hire me but corporate would not allow her to, I was too young. They allowed their corporate mentality make the call for what society claims to be an acceptable age for leadership over rule their first impression. 

This continued throughout my 20’s.  Finally, I was hired on with an exceptional company.  They immediately put me into a leadership role and I excelled.  They asked me to move up and we accepted the position.  Again, through God’s grace I was able to excel.  Then our company was bought out.  The new upper leadership loved my style and the way I communicated.  Even though I was younger, they still pushed me to excel.  Then all of a sudden, our department changed leadership.  The new leadership went back to the “old school” thinking, you have to have a college degree and be a certain age before you can attain manager status.  I was never allowed to advance after that and eventually ended up starting Eclipse DOT and went to work for myself.

If you’ve made it this far through the blog you are probably thinking that’s great, he just told me about how he was discriminated against for age several times.  We all have stories that are similar to mine.  The reason I’m writing this is so that we can step forward and make a change.  As we move into leadership roles don’t overlook the younger candidate as a great potential in your company or organization.  Also, don’t overlook the older person just because you believe that their ideals might not align with yours.  Take every person as someone who can and will get the job done.  Don’t look at the color of their hair, or how young they look.

As people, we have the opportunity every day to look in the mirror and see exactly what we want to see.  If you see someone too old or too young, then you are either of those.  If you see the right person for the job, then you are the RIGHT person.  Don’t get into your own head and disqualify yourself from the opportunity.  It doesn’t matter if you are the youngest or the oldest person in the program.  Own that. Be proud that you accomplished it and know that you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to.

I’m a relativity young guy in my perspective, in my grandparent’s eyes I'm still kid and, in my kids, eyes I’m OLD.  It’s all about perspective.  If you think you are too old for the job then you are, if you think that you are too young to get that leadership role, then you are.  Don’t let your mind be what stops you from applying yourself, don’t let your age be the determining factor for anything that you might be considering.  Go out there and be strong, own your age because it is all in your head anyways.

The facts about DQ files

We have been getting tons of questions on drive files so we thought we would take a moment and explain exactly what you need and how long you need to keep it.  The federal government did a great job when they wrote the regulations for Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMV’s). We are going to make it super clear.

Here’s what you need in every driver file:

  ü  Driver application 391.21

o   See the notes below

  ü  Annual Driver Review 391.25(a)

o   Must be completed within first year

o   Completed annually

o   Keep the original

o   Last 3 years

  ü  Certificate of Violations

o   Must be completed within first year

o   Completed annually

o   Keep the original

o   Last 3 years

  ü  Driver License

o   Keep original

o   Last 3 years

  ü  Medical Card

o   The National registry number needs to be verified and documented

§  https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/national-registry-certified-medical-examiners-search

o   Keep original

o   Last 3 years

  ü  Motor Vehicle Report

o   Must be pulled within 30 days of employment

o   Pulled Annually

o   Also must be pulled within 15 days of medical card being renewed

o   Keep original

o   Last 3 years

  ü  Previous Employment verification (last 3 years)

o   Best practice is to pull for every employer for last 3 years even if they marked non DOT position

  ü  Road Test

o   CDL can be used as road test except when

§  Required when employee will be operating tankers

§  Required when employee will be operating doubles or triples

o   All NON CDL drivers must have a road test

  ü  Entry Level Driver Training

o   Required for all drivers that come to your company with no experience

o   Best practice is to cover with all employees  

  ü  Drug and Alcohol clearing house results effective 1/6/2020

o   Must be pulled prior to allowing driver to operate CDL vehicle

o   Pulled annually

o   Keep original

o   Keep last 3 years

There you go that’s all you need right?  Not quite it’s a bit more complicated than that, but don’t stress we aren’t done yet. 

The driver application needs to contain:

    ü  Name and address of employer

    ü  Date the application was completed

    ü  Applicant name

    ü  Applicant address for the past 3 years    

    ü  Applicant Date of Birth  

    ü  Applicant social security number

    ü  Applicant driver license number

    ü  Applicant driver license state

    ü  Applicant driver license expiration

    ü  Applicant previous experience

    ü  Applicant accidents for the past 3 years

    ü  Applicant traffic citations for the past 3 years

    ü  Applicant driver license requirements page

    ü  Most applications contain a fair credit reporting act  

    ü  Previous employment (10 years CDL applicants) (3 years non CDL applicants)

o   Each previous employer must include

§  Dates of employment (Month and Year)

§  Company name

§  Address (City and State)

§  Reason for leaving

§  Was this a DOT sensitive position

§  Was the employee subject to FMCSR’s

For all documents, it is best to keep the original and the past 3 years.  We suggest only keeping the necessary documents in the driver qualification file.  If you keep, more you might think that you are doing what is best and having more information is better.  During an audit or lawsuit, they can analyze your company on the information provided.  Let’s say that you messed up and didn’t pull an MVR soon enough 5 years ago and you give that to the auditor, they can issue a fine based on the documentation you give them.  We look it as you have to give the gun to the auditor when the walk through the door, you don’t have to give them the ammunition though.  Make them look for it.

There are many different ways that you can store your Driver Qualification (DQ) files.  We endorse keeping them digitally.  They are easier to navigate through and you can easily audit your files.  The other suggestion that we have for all companies no matter what size they are is to have your documents completed digitally.  This eliminates many issues with not being able to read someone’s hand writing.  This also makes it extremely easy on the auditor because they don’t have to struggle to find all of the information.  If you have questions about fallible forms or would like us to look at your DOT processes please reach out to us.  We are here to help make your life easier.

Picking the RIGHT leaders, just got a little easier!

The world is full of people who think that they are great leaders.  The truth is that there are not that many GREAT leaders.  In fact, if we look back in history we can find only a hand full of amazing leaders.  Some of those might include Moses, David, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, & Winston Churchill, just to name a few. 

All of these leaders had a few things in common.  They did not really want to be a leader, and they did not really feel qualified to be in their position.  Power and leadership was thrust onto each of these individuals, they did not inherit it. 

Why do we continually promote those individuals in our companies and organizations that ask for the position instead of finding the best leader?  As leaders we need to start watching our people, I mean actually watching them.  Who is the one that others already follow?  Who is the one that does not need the credit for every idea? Who is the one that does not complain or give up when they are faced with a tough task?  Aren’t those the ones that we want in leadership positions?  When they see an issue they do not have to ask for permission to go fix the problem, they go out handle the situation and do not ever say a word. 

These people do not usually register high on management’s radar because they get the job done.  In fact, most managers think that they don’t do anything all day long because they don’t have to tell their boss everything that they do.  In turn, their boss doesn’t realize what an asset they are until they leave the company or transfer to a different division.  Then all of a sudden, the boss is overwhelmed with problems that they never encountered before.  You know why they never encountered all of those problems in the past.  Their “lazy” employee took care of all of those problems and never said a word.  They just did it.

Most of the great leaders feel that they are not qualified to be in leadership when they are first invited into a mentor position.  Did you know that Moses argued with God saying that he was not qualified to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?  He even bartered with God saying that he was not eloquent with words, he convinced him to allow Arron to be the one who speaks to the Israelites and Pharaoh.  Moses was convinced that he was not the person for the job.  It turns out that he was exactly what the Israelites needed. Not only did he get them out of Egypt but also lead them through the desert for 40 years.

How often do you find a young person in your company that you know would be a great leader but you don’t insist that they take a leadership role?  I have seen this repeatedly, we promote the one who’s been there the longest, and not who is best suited for the position.  All too often, we miss out on the opportunity to have a great leader because we are too set in our ways.  If you don’t live in the city you aren’t qualified, if you haven’t been here x years, you aren’t old enough, you are too old, you have tattoos, if you haven’t been in management before.  All of these are horrible reasons not to allow someone to progress. 

Here is what I am asking of all you who read this, don’t judge a book by its cover.  Look for the leaders that already exists in your organization.  Look for the one who others reach out to daily for advice on all kinds of situations.  Those are the ones who will benefit the organization the most.  They already have a following of people that truly trust their advice.  Don’t hire strictly based on previous experience, hire on personality and attitude.  The best leaders are the ones that you find and then have to convince to take the role.  They will be awesome in the position because of their humility. 

Take time to step out of your comfort zone and look for a GREAT leader for your organization.