Get out there and take ACTION!

It’s time to take action.  How many times have you heard this?  I know that I’ve heard it way too much.  Why then don’t we listen?  I don’t know how long it took me to finally get off my butt and build my house.  Or when I knew I needed to switch jobs but still stuck with the same one for another year or two.  I mean it’s great to be a dedicated employee and all but was I really doing much good for anyone staying at a job that I no longer enjoyed? 

These are the types of things that I have struggled with my whole life.  I’ll bet if you dig a little you would find that you have done the same.  Today we are going to talk about how to start taking action and stop delaying.

There are seven simple steps.

Figure out what’s holding you back.  What’s holding you back from taking action right now?  Is it your loved ones, fear of losing what you have, lack of confidence?  What is it?  Figure that out and tackle it head on.  Only after you do that will you be able to truly take action right now. 

Pray!  This might not be up your alley but let me tell you that once I started praying more, and giving it back to God.  That was when he really started blessing me with abundance of knowledge and peace.  Most of all peace.  I remember coaching someone on praying once.  They said, “Dan, I’m scared to pray because then everyone will know I’m a Christian!”  Is that a bad thing??  Depends on who you really want to be.  Personally, I hope that everyone I meet knows that I’m a strong Christian that tries hard to live a godly life.  What I told him was, “you can pray anywhere anytime and no one will ever know it unless you want them to.  You can pray with your eyes open, you can pray when you driving, you can pray before during or after a conversation, while you’re sitting, standing or paying down.  It doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that you are taking time to talk to God.”

Listen and take action.  Listening is the first step of taking action and huge risks that will in the end reward you greatly.  Listen to your inner feelings and voices.  If you think that you should call someone, don’t hesitate and call him or her right then.  If you feel that you should stop eating, then by all means stop eating.  If you feel that you should jump off a bridge, then either make sure the bungee rope is tied tight or that the water is deep enough that you won’t hit rocks, lol.  Listen and take immediate action.

Don’t let small decisions take too much time.  The rule that I have is that if won’t affect me in 5 years I don’t think twice about it.  I make the decision and go with it.  What does that really mean?  When someone asks me where to eat, I give them a place.  If they say when do you want this, done by?  I answer with a time.  If they say let’s go to lunch sometime, I answer with ok how about tomorrow?  Those things won’t affect me in 5 years.  Now the decision to start a business, that might affect me.  The decision to buy another house, more land, or another truck.  All of those are big decisions and I take time to make those and do my research.

If the risk is HUGE, the reward will be HUGE.  Have you ever been married?  Or had kids?  Or bought a house?  Or a car?  Or chosen to go to college or start a career?  All of those are HUGE risks that come with HUGE rewards.  You have to be willing to take risks if you want life changing events.  You can’t expect your life to change if you continue to live the same way.  You have to step out of your comfort zone in order to make real changes in your life.  So next time you have the option, go climb that mountain, ask that person out, just do it.

Don’t ask permission.  Asking permission even from yourself will never allow you to grow.  In fact, it takes you back to your childhood when you had to ask for permission for everything.  Dad can I have this candy bar.  Heck if you want the candy bar then buy it!  Who cares?  Stop asking permission from others before taking that leap of faith and moving to the next level.  I remember asking a trusted adviser if they thought I would be ready to start a business.  They said, “I would hate to lose you so I would have to say, that you can do anything, as long as you don’t leave.  Lol” I was asking permission to take a leap of faith.  I was waiting for the stars to align so I could take that next step.  Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that you don’t need to communicate with your spouse or partner.  That is super important.  In case you missed it, go back and read the part about prayer.  That is communicating with the most important person in your life, well at least my life.

Failure is not an option!  Thomas Edison said it best when he said, “I did not fail once, I just found 10,000 ways not to create a lightbulb!”  I’m not saying that you won’t fail, what I am saying is that you can’t view it as a failure.  You have to see it as a learning experience.  Yes, there will be some “learning experiences” that cost you a lot of money, but hey, it’s just money.  You came into this world without a cent to your name and you’ll leave this world empty handed as well.  The point is that you are going to make mistakes; don’t let them throw you into a depression.  Keep your head and keep moving forward.  Taking risks comes with many learning experiences.  That is just something that comes with the territory.  Don’t be afraid to start taking action today because you are afraid of failing.

With so many people in the world, strive to be the 1%.  The 1% that go out and take action.  Not the other 99% that are still working that 8-5 job hating every minute of it.  Take action today and make the changes that you NEED to make to improve your life.  Remember that time is the new currency.  You have limited time on this earth, but you can earn as much money as you would like! 

Taking in inch of action now will take you closer to your goal than a mile of intervention!

Pump the Brakes!

 Pump the brakes!!!

Have you ever wondered what exactly is involved in stopping your vehicle? Whether it is small or large the basic components and principles of stopping the vehicle are the same; however, there are two different sources that power the brakes, hydraulic (which uses liquid under pressure) and pneumatic (which uses air under pressure).

Hydraulic brakes function:

When the driver applies pressure on the brake pedal in the vehicle, the pedal then depresses a cylinder that is dry on the pedal side and is attached to a small reservoir of fluid that has four ports built into it; two ports on each side. When the cylinder gets pressure from the driver, it compresses the fluid through the ports down these small diameter steel lines all the way to each tire. If the vehicle has disc brakes, those steel lines connect to two small pistons inside of a housing called brake calipers which push up against two metallic pads; one on each side of the rotors(round metallic disc) which then squeezes the rotor to slow the wheel down.

Now drum brakes on the other hand, are mostly found on large trucks, buses and large trailers and various older automobiles on the rear axles only. If it is a hydraulic system, those steel lines come into the wheel and connect to a single slave cylinder which has two plungers sticking out of both sides.

When the driver pushes the brake pedal the fluid forces the two plungers outward to the edge of the drum to push two brake shoes; one on each side to rub up against the inside of the drum which then in turn slows the wheel down.

Now that I have put you to sleep while explaining hydraulic brakes with a more than detailed version of Wikipedia,  the air brakes are basically the exact same as the hydraulic drum brakes with the exception that there is no fluid whatsoever involved. There is a booster cylinder attached to the brake pedal that has air lines connected to it and air lines that run to these round metal chambers with rubber diaphragms inside of them. Attached to the diaphragms, is metal linkage or a slack adjuster which connects to a spinning shaft or cam that goes into the drum assembly of each tire. At the end of each cam there are fingers that grab both brake shoes when the pedal is depressed to force them outward into the inner drum.

Why go into so much detail in a blog about functionality of brakes, we are passionate about educating any and everybody that wants to become more self-efficient in whatever facet of life they can. While we cannot explain how to perform medical procedures on one’s self, we can try to help with the basic day-to-day things that we all rely on like maintenance on our vehicles.

We want to also give you 5 simple items that you as a car, truck owner can check or keep an eye on with your brakes:

1.     Hydraulic brakes should always have fluid in the master cylinder which is usually located directly under the hood up against the firewall on the driver side of the vehicle. Most car systems will use DOT 3 brake fluid. If you are unsure as to what fluid it needs, please contact an auto parts store with your make, model, and year. Many times we have found that if you take your V.I.N. to them it is much easier. This 14 digit number is easily found on the sticker of your driver door or on a metal tag located at the bottom of the dash behind the steering wheel.  If the vehicle is getting up there in mileage like in the 200,000 mile range the brake fluid should be replaced with new. We can go into that procedure in another info blog.

2.     When you are looking under your car or truck, check all around the inside of the tires to see if there are any signs of oil seeping which could easily indicate a leaking brake cylinder or inner wheel seal. It’s always a good idea to look at the tires and wheels on a regular basis to make sure everything is intact anyway.

3.     While you are laying on the ground taking a nap under your vehicle there is a quick way to check if your brake pads or shoes are not worn dangerously thin. On disc brakes which are usually found on the front steer tires unless it’s a newer model vehicle, turn the wheels pointing out and you can look inside of the brake calipers to view both pads at the same time. If the friction material is the thickness of a nickel coin or less, they need to be replaced ASAP. On drum brakes, many people will say, “All you have to do with those is just lay down on the ground and pop out the little rubber plug on the small 2”inspection port located at the lower back of the drum to see how the shoes are wearing”. We are here to tell you unless you do well at the casino, you will not get as good of a reading through that little hole that you couldn’t put a peanut through. Most of the time, you need to remove the tire and pull the outer drum off of the axle to inspect thoroughly the shoes.

4.     On Air systems, get out and inspect basic items that are easy to see more commonly; such as air lines, chambers and slack adjusters. Those are the items that will always wear out the quickest. Make sure metal isn’t cracked or loose, and that the airlines aren’t leaking.

5.     A real easy way to check your brakes regardless of what operating system you have, is to get in and make sure the vehicle is on a level surface. Put the vehicle in gear and let it roll forward up to 5 mph and then apply your brake pedal to see if it actually stops the vehicle and doesn’t make the vehicle shift to one side or the other when applying the brakes.

If you ever run into anything that concerns you regarding brakes and you are just tired of trying to chase down an answer, please feel free to contact us any time and we will either help you find the answer or lead you down the right road.

Stay safe and keep the rubber side down.

Hours of Service

This month we will be covering Hours of Service or HOS.  HOS is vital for all Commercial Vehicle (CMV) drivers to know.  First, we need to start with who are CMV drivers.  The federal government states that anyone who operates a vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of more than 10,000lbs in interstate commerce is a CMV driver.  What that really means is that if you are trying to make money using and you use a vehicle that has a GVWR over 10,000lbs and you are crossing state lines then you are a CMV driver & must follow all of the federal regulations. 

In this month’s newsletter, we are going to cover the basics for HOS as well as some of the exemptions that you might qualify to utilize.

We will also talk about some the new potential changes coming to HOS, hopefully in 2020.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and ask.  That’s why we are her, to help simplify the regulations and help your company stay on top of the new regulations.

Let’s get started with the basics.  Each state has their own intrastate regulations for HOS.  If you are operating solely in one state you can operate under their intrastate regulations.  We wont be covering all of the different states, today we will be focusing on the federal regulations.  Here are the main rules for HOS:

Þ 70 hours in 8 days or 60 hours in 7 days

Þ 11 hours maximum driving time

Þ 14 maximum on duty time

Þ 30 min break after being on duty for 8 hours prior to driving

Þ 10 consecutive hours off duty to reset 14 hour day clock

Þ 34 hours to reset 70 or 60 hour clock

Þ Electronic Logging Device Required (ELD)

Þ Properly completed Logbook, ELD, or RODS (Record Of Daily Service)

You might be asking so what's the worst that can happen if I go over my hours?  There are a few things. For starters if an officer checks your logbook and finds the violations they will shut you down for 34 hours until your clock has been reset.  In an audit situation they have the ability to check every drivers logs for the past 6 months, if they find violations then they can fine the company for allowing the violations to occur.  If we go to worst, worst case, lets say you get in to an accident and litigation follows.  The opposing lawyers will go through the past 6 moths of logs and if they find any violation it discredits the driver and the company.  Even if you weren't at fault for the incident if they find violations in the past 8 days the driver and the company could be charged with negligence which could change the entire outcome of the litigation.

Now lets dive a little deeper into the these requirements.  If your company operates 7 days a week then you qualify to utilize the 70 hours in 8 days.  If your company only operates 6 days week, then you can only use the 60 hours in 7 days.  Here’s how that works.  Lets say that you work 10 hours a day, for 7 days, you would have 70 hours on your clock.  If you want to continue driving CMV’s you need to take 34 consecutive hours off duty to reset your clock.  The regulation doesn't say that you can’t work, it states that you can not operate a CMV after you have been on duty for 70 hours in the past 8 days. 

11 hours drive time maximum.  ALL CMV drivers are only allowed to operate a CMV for 11 hours before heaving to take 10 consecutive hours off duty.  Passenger-carrying drivers can drive up to 10 hours after eight consecutive hours off duty.

14 hours on duty time Maximum.  ALL CMV Drivers can only be on duty for a maximum of 14 hours.  This includes all on duty time.  If the driver is being compensated then it would be considered on duty time.  To reset this clock the driver must take a full 10 consecutive hours off duty.  This 14 hour clock is not currently able to be stopped.  Let say that you come on duty at 4am and start getting ready for the day, you work until 11am then take off 2 hours for an appointment. You come back to work at 1pm, then leave to make some deliveries.  You would have to be back in the yard and no longer driving by 6pm.  Once the 14 hour clock starts it does not stop, even if you are off duty.  The regulation doesn't say that you can’t keep working, but you can not operate a CMV after 14 hours. For passenger-carrying motor vehicles, the limit is 15 cumulative hours.

30 Min Break. After the driver has been on duty for 8 hours they must take a mandatory 30 min break prior to operating a CMV.  If the employee is not operating an CMV then the 30 min break is not required.  Be cautious about taking your break too early in the day.  Lets say that you come into work at 7am, work around the yard for 3 hours. Take a 30 min break, then start driving until 6pm, without taking another break then the driver would be in violation because they drove for 9 hours without taking a 30min break.  Another common mistake is taking a 25 min break, make sure it is full 30 min, we recommend that you take a full 31 min break to ensure that the clock is reset.

10 consecutive hours off duty.  So far we have mentioned the 10 consecutive hours off duty several times.  What is 10 consecutive hours?  Lets say that you get off of work at 6pm, to achieve a full 10 consecutive hours you can not come back on duty until 4am.  The only way to reset your 11 hours maximum drive time or your 14 on duty clock is to take a full 10 consecutive hours off duty.  

34 hours reset.  The 34 hour reset is only used for resetting your 70 or 60 hour clock. 

ELD’s. ELDS could be book on their own, but we will keep it short and sweet.  If you have to have a logbook more than 8 times in a 30 day cycle and your truck is newer than a 1999 then you are required to utilize an ELD.  ELD stands for Electronic Logging Device the is tied into the ECM of the truck and records a ton of information.

Form and Manor.  All logbooks must have several key items to stay in compliance.  Those include:

· Company Name

· Date

· Home Terminal Address

· Main Office Address

· Driver Name

· Unit(s) Operated

· Total Daily Mileage

· Shipper

· Commodity

· Driver Signature

· Notation at beginning every duty status change including city and state

· Totals for every line

Exemptions:  There are several exemptions that we will go over.  Short Haul Exemption (100 Mile Exemption), Oilfield Exemption, Oversize Load Exemption, Adverse Driving Conditions, & Direct emergency assistance

Short Haul Exemption (SHE).  If you operate a CDL vehicle within a 100 air mile radius or a non CDL CMV within a 150 air mile radius of your home base, AND you report back to your home base within 12 hours (CDL) (Non CDL CMV Drivers are allowed 14 hours) of coming on duty. Then you qualify for the SHE.  When you operate under the SHE you do not need to carry logbooks or have ELD’s.  You do how ever need to have a time ticket with your start time, end time, and total time listed for every day that you work.  You also do not have to show a 30 min break.  You do however have to comply with the 70 hour rule, the 11 hour drive time rule, and the 10 consecutive hour rule.  You are also allowed to work one 16 hour day once a week without having to carry a logbook for that day.  Something else to note is that an air mile is the same as a nautical mile so 100 nautical miles is actually 115.078 miles and 150 nautical miles is 172.617 miles. 

 Oilfield Exemption. The oilfield exemption is strictly for companies operating in the oilfield.  This include any company that hauls oilfield specific equipment or ties directly to the well head.  There are a few benefits to operating under this exemption.  First the 34 hour reset drops to 24 hours.  This means that your 70 hour clock would reset after being off duty for 24 hours.  The second benefit is that if you tie directly to the well head you are allowed to claim off duty oilfield when you are on site, as long as the driver has been relieved of all “on duty” duties.

Oversize Load Exemption.  The oversize load exemption has only one benefit, if hauling an oversize load you are not required to take the 30 min break.  The government has ruled that it might possibly be more dangerous for an oversize load to stop on the side if the road than to drive through the break.  In order to take advantage of this exemption the driver must have a copy of the exemption in their possession.  If you need a copy of that exemption please reach out to us and we will get it to you.

Adverse Driving conditions.  The “adverse driving conditions” exemption allows drivers to extend the maximum driving limit by two hours when certain conditions are met.  When is the adverse driving conditions exemption applicable?  This exemption only works when the adverse driving conditions could not have been known before the driver started driving.  Circumstances include weather changes, such as unexpected fog or snow or the closure of a road due to unforeseen events, such as an accident.  The exemption would not be applicable if the driver had previous knowledge of the adverse driving conditions or could have known of the conditions through basic trip planning or common sense. For example, a forecasted blizzard or rush hour traffic would not meet the conditions necessary for this exemption to be valid.

How does the adverse driving conditions exemption affect property-carrying drivers?

Property-carrying drivers can drive a maximum of 11 hours per shift. The adverse driving conditions exemption extends the 11-hour driving limit to 13 hours.

This exemption does not extend the 14-hour driving period. It means that all 13 hours of driving must still be completed within the 14-hour window.

How does the adverse driving conditions exemption affect passenger-carrying drivers?

Passenger-carrying drivers can drive a maximum of 10 hours per shift. The adverse driving conditions exemption extends the 10 hours of drive time to 12 hours.

Again, this exemption does not extend the 15-hour driving period for passenger-carrying drivers.

  

Direct Emergency Assistance. A CMV driver has to comply with all Hours-of-Service regulations. However, in emergency situations, some or all Hours-of-Service rules can be temporarily lifted.  Who is exempt under the emergency conditions exception?  Section 395.1(b)(2) states that in case of an emergency, a driver may complete his/her run without being in violation of the provisions of the regulations in this part, if such run reasonably could have been completed absent the emergency.  How to know when the emergency conditions exemption is applicable?  Emergency conditions are declared by the President, state governors, and/or the FMCSA. If an official federal or state institution has not acknowledged an emergency state, the exemption is not applicable.  Drivers should always first check with federal and/or state officials.

We hope that this helps.  As you go through this information keep in mind that even if you qualify for an exemption you still must meet the other parts of the HOS regulations.  If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.  We are here to help you navigate your way through every aspect of DOT.

Ditch those RESOLUTIONS and set some REAL GOALS!

Why you shouldn’t make New Year’s resolutions, instead you should set audacious goals

In the past, I have always set a few New Year’s resolutions for myself.  Maybe it was to lose a couple of pounds or to start running again, or even just be a better person.  It didn’t take long, but those resolutions never really worked.  I would give up soon after starting if I ever really got started, leaving a feeling of not having the will power to achieve anything.  The truth was that I wasn’t setting a resolution for me; I was setting one that I thought the rest of the world would want.  I stopped making resolutions and started setting goals. 

Goals are essential in this life to achieve what YOU want and need.  There are a few things that I like to keep in mind when I set goals.  7 Key items because there are 7 days in every week!

1.       Make at least ½ of your goals attainable in the next 1-6 months.  By doing this, it helps to keep you motivated.  If you need to move that up today, do it.  If all of your goals are completely unattainable then you will lose your motivation and stop trying altogether.  So make sure that you keep a few goals that will help to boost your motivation levels to the next level.

2.       Make at least one goal that is far out there that even superman isn’t sure it can be done.  That goal might look like this: “I would like to have 20 vacation houses in different countries, and 2 private jets for myself and my family to travel the world.”  That’s just one example.  Here’s why you need to set that one crazy goal.  It means that you will most likely never achieve it, but if you try to achieve it then you are a lot further than if you never thought about it all.  One of my favorite things bring up in leadership coaching is that if you set your goals for another galaxy and you don’t make it, who cares?  You still made it further than if you never tried at all! 

3.       Write your goals down.  This is another important part of the process.  Write your goals down in several places.  Personally, I use a notebook that I usually have on me, another notebook that I keep different notes in, and on a whiteboard in my home office.  The two notebooks are just for me.  That way no matter which one I have with me I can look at my goals.  The reason I use a whiteboard is that then when my family comes into the office, they read my board and ask questions about my goals.  It keeps me motivated and holds my feet to fire to stay on my goals.

4.       Don’t be afraid to share your goals with others.  Again another key part of achieving your goals to have some accountability.  When you tell someone your goals and dreams, it brings them to life in a completely new perspective.  Let’s say that your goal is to lose weight.  If you don’t tell anyone and just start working out, they might be supportive but not as supportive as if you told them what you are really trying to accomplish.  After sharing my goals, I have seen friends drop everything and help me stay on track to accomplish my goals; I have also been that friend that dropped everything to help spur the motivation. 

5.       Be specific when you choose your goals.  If you are too broad with your goals then they are too easily achieved, or even worse, you lose motivation because you can’t get to the objective.  I’m going to share one of my goals with you for our business: be able to purchase a grill / cook trailer, use it to support our customers, their employees, and our community by June 2020.  If our goal was, “buy a grill to give back to our community.”  This goal lacks a lot.  There is no period, no size of the grill, the intention is there, but all of the details are missing. 

6.       Set different goals!  Don’t just focus on work or personal goals, set both.  Make a list of goals for your career or business.  Don’t forget to make one extremely audacious, like be the CEO of a multi-100-BILLION $$$ company, or maybe retire by the age of 35, or maybe not work more than 40 hours a week but still make enough $$ to live a good life.  Some goals might transfer over to both lists, Retire by the age of 35, or, my career will be so enjoyable that it doesn’t seem like work.

7.       Don’t be afraid of your goals.  Set some goals that don’t scare you.  If all of your goals scare the living crap out of you then you’ll never look at them again.  Make sure that you have a good mix of goals that do scare you and those that seem like you can easily overcome and obtain . 

This is just my way of setting goals and keeping myself on track to ensure my success.  There are a few more things that you should keep in mind though.  Try setting family goals and goals with your spouse.  Both of these have been extremely beneficial for me.  My wife and I set goals about 7 months ago and it’s amazing how many 2-year goals we set that are already in full force.  It’s also amazing how many 30-day goals we haven’t even started, lol. 

When I do anything, I do my best to keep God at the front of it all.  That doesn’t mean that I go to church every Sunday, or that I feel that I’m a perfect person, in fact, I feel that I am far from the person I need to be most of the time, but that’s for a different blog.  Keep your faith in every aspect of your life.  For the longest time, I thought that, God didn’t belong in my work life or in my goals.  He was someone that I talked to when I needed something.  I have realized that he is much more important than that, especially to me.  Therefore, I make it a point to keep him involved in every aspect of my life, personal, and business.

I hope that this helps you to ditch those yearly resolutions that most us lose by the end of January and set some very attainable, and a few not so attainable goals that will really help us change our lives.

Happy New A year and I'm sure this is going to be a GREAT year.