My Grange Mentor

Each of us has benefitted from having at least one mentor in our lifetime. 

Mentors come from all walks of life and offer advice, guidance, experience, and wisdom among other things. 

These people are often our friends, family, colleagues, or other individuals that have compassion and interest in helping us develop into being better humans.

I first met Dan Greer back in 2015 when I visited Durango, Colorado during my time as National Grange Youth Ambassador. 

Within 30 minutes of Dan picking me up at the airport,
we had developed a bond that quickly turned into a lifelong friendship. 

Since that time, Dan has become one of my most valued mentors, as I have learned from him the importance of things like family, faith, confidence, intuition, and the importance of laughter and humor in everything I do. 

I am motivated and inspired by his success in his own life, whether it be starting his own company or raising a wonderful family. 

Dan would tell you the credit for his accomplishments belongs to God. 

He would also tell you that he has had his own share of mentors within his life, I am sure his father Harry (or Old Man Greer as some Grange Youth Adults affectionately call him) being one of them. 

Dan has continued to provide me with advice as well as support in times of need. Had it not been for the Grange or my time as youth ambassador I do not think I would’ve had the privilege to meet and build a friendship with my lifelong mentor and friend. 

Dan continues to encourage and advise me in our ever-changing world and for that, I am deeply thankful.

Despite living nearly 2,000 miles apart, Dan and I still find time to get together at least twice a year, once at a Grange event and when I become an adopted member of the Greer family, usually for a family vacation (sorry again for that time I threw up in your car). 

The other 50 weeks of the year, I often find myself talking or texting Dan and getting advice on all aspects of my life. 

I continue to cherish our friendship, his mentorship, and look forward to whatever comes next for both of us on our Grange journey. 

By Derek Snyder 

Putting others first

Why is it so important that we put others first?  

How do we do it without causing our own goals and ambitions to be put on the back burner?

Let’s start with my favorite book ever written, the Bible. 

In first Corinthians 10:24 Paul reminds the church in Corinth about this. He tells them directly, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others”

Have you ever played the Game Catan before?

If you haven’t I'll give you a quick rundown.  You place your village at the intersection of 3 commodities.  (there are 5 total commodities on the board.) Then numbers are placed on each tile.  

When anyone rolls the number on commodities that you ouch you get that commodity.  You use the commodities to build and get special cards.  

The goal is to build settlements, cities, roads, and eventually end the game when you have enough experience points.  Which you get from the building and a few other things.

Anyways, as we were playing this yesterday my daughter (10) was in a great place and she kept getting all kinds of commodities.  

She had so many a few times that the bank ran out of commodity cards.  She would always trade cards in on her turn so that it didn't happen again.

During the game, you can trade cards, but both people have to agree to the trade in order for it to happen.  

As we all started trading with her he was always glad to make the deal.  Even if it wasn’t always in her best interests.  

I'm sure that by now you're thinking, Dan, why are you teaching your daughter to make a deal if it doesn’t benefit her?

Get this, she always had more than enough. And was being nice not ending the game as soon as she could.  She wanted to be generous so that the game would continue on, just a little longer.

She was blessed with more cards and people continued to trade with her so that she could get the cards she needed.

The more she gave the more she got.

So what are some simple ways that we can put others' needs ahead of our own?

• It could be as simple as standing aside to let someone get in line ahead of us.

• It might be giving someone a ride even though it will make us late. (What if we’re on our way to church or work?)

• How about giving up a seat on the bus and standing?

• Perhaps this means mowing our neighbor’s lawn even though ours needs attention.

• Should we take the last piece of pizza or let someone else have it?

• What about walking so someone else can use our car?

• Even bolder, how about giving someone our car because he or she needs it more.

It may seem simple to put others first but it's not as simple as it seems.  As people, we are extremely self-centered.  If we can’t see how it will benefit us we have a hard time doing it.  

Why do we go to work? 

To earn money so we can live.  

Why do we buy vehicles? 

So we can go to the places we want to go.  

Why do we do anything? 

Because we think that it will cause us some sort of benefit from doing it.  

So why should we put others first if our every instinct is to do what benefits us the most.  How can putting someone else's needs ahead of our own make us succeed?

The example of the game is a great one, on a small scale of course.  If my daughter wasn’t willing to trade cards that she had to others, she would not have gotten so many of the other commodities that she had no other way of getting without trading.  

One more thing that we must remember

Just like in the airplane when they are giving instructions, “In the event of an accident, oxygen masks will fall from the ceiling.  Please be sure to secure your mask first before helping others around you.

This is the key.  

First off, if you are not able to help yourself how will you be able to help anyone else?

Here’s what this really means.  

It’s really hard and not very smart for others to take advice on finances from someone who is not doing very good with their finances.

Think about it.  Would you listen to someone on how to get out of Credit Card debt if they had piles of it themselves?

If someone is giving advice on how to grow a business, yet their current business is failing, will you listen to them?

Would you take advice on how to improve your company culture from a leader of a company when their culture is nothing like what you want?

The answers to all of the questions are,

NOT A CHANCE!

So we do have to make sure that we are on the right path before we start giving advice.  

That doesn’t mean that on the way to getting on the right path we can forget about everyone else.  There are still ways that we can help.

Tony Robbins says, “If you don't like money then you have never given enough away.”  I’m 100% sure that some of you just said, but he has so much money so he can give more away. 

In the book of Mark Jesus talks about this too.  Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 

But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 

They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Mark 12:41-44

This amazing lady knew that God would continue to bless her.  She trusted that he would take care of her. 

Today I really want to encourage everyone to go out into the world and look for a way to help others.  

Look for a person who needs you, then offers to help them.  

Look for someone who you can help, then go out of your way to help them.

Get out there and start putting others first, then watch just how much further you are because you gave more than ever before.

 

 

My Origin Story (Part 3, Last Part)

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. - Tony Robbins

Part Three

A quick recap on part one.

I loved trucks ever since I was a kid, so much that I joined the local volunteer fire department just to ride in the trucks. lol

I got my CDL when I turned 18 and have spent the rest of my life trying to get away from trucks. lol

When we left I had just become a licensed CDL tester for the state of Colorado.

Part 2 recap.

I was presented with the opportunity to bring a large company from 0% compliance to 100% as soon as possible after they were audited.

After accomplishing 98% in less than 3 months our company was acquired by a larger company and I couldn't tell how secure my job was.

The great thing was that I was building my network in more ways than I could ever imagine.

So let’s get right back into the story!

Then I got an email from the CEO of the company asking that I fly down to their corporate office in Houston, TX.

I bought my ticket and headed down the following week.

That was the longest week ever! So much doubt and fear crept into my mind.

Then when I got down there and walked into his office Tamisha and the old owner of my company were there too.

I knew it was going to be BAD!

They asked me to sit down.

My stomach was completely knotted up and I knew that this was it, they asked me down here to fire me. To tell me just how bad my system was. How I was a failure, and they no longer needed my services.

Then they all smiled and the CEO said, “So this is Dan the DOT man you told me about Tamisha? Dan these two have not been able to stop talking about you since we started talking about joining forces as companies. After Tamisha’s first trip up there, she said that the only way she would approve this is if we guaranteed that you would come to our team. So what do you think? Would you be willing to work for us?”

My stomach dropped and my mind started flying. My fears were completely wrong.

He continued, “Ez (the old owner) tells us that when you took the position of DOT manager for them they just got audited and were in danger of being shut down. Then you built a DOT program that changed the entire company’s culture and even improved their safety rating and helped to make them more profitable. After Tamisha’s first trip up there, she said that your DOT program was hands down the best one she had ever seen. So what do you say, are you willing to help our entire team get on the same page?”

How could I say no to that?

We implemented my system throughout a total of six different companies, over 4400 employees, and 2500 drivers.

I worked with them for over 2 years and turned their DOT program from about 40% compliant to being almost 99% compliant. We covered the lower 48 states and had over 3800 pieces of rolling stock in our fleet. Our team was only four people and I was pretty much the only one who traveled.

I expanded my network even further than I could imagine.

The CVSA conference came up and they asked if I would be willing to attend and represent our companies. When I was there, I also accepted a voting position on two different committees. Being the only attendee to have a voting position on two different committees.

CVSA is where Lawmakers (FMCSA, PHMSA) Law enforcers (Officers, Cops, DOT patrol), and Industry (Companies) come together to put their heads together to improve the DOT world across North America.

It was shortly after that, we decided to start a business so we could help more companies with their compliance.

When we decided to take the leap of faith and quit a good job, with great pay (over six figures), and great people.

We had one client.

Yes, you read that right. We decided that we could make it with just one client.

Who Does That?

We busted our butts and put on lots of FREE live events to help share our knowledge with the community.

Then COVID hit and shut down our free events, just as we started to gain traction. Therefore, we pivoted and moved to a digital stage. We held several events where just one or two people showed up.

Every time we did I thought, is this really worth it? Will we ever get in front of enough people to make our dreams of helping more companies a reality?

Then we held one event where we maxed out the capacity for the event.

That was when we decided to pivot again so be able to share more knowledge.

In our first year of business, we 30x’ed our client list, 300xed our email list, 1000xed our followers.

I would call that a GREAT first year of business

There have been so many struggles that we won’t go into every one. However, we are here to help everyone who uses trucks in their business. Our goal is to give every company the chance to have a GREAT DOT program that changes their entire company. We want to give every company big and small the opportunity to have the knowledge of an industry expert on their side.

My Origin Story (part 2)

 “All men like to think that they can do it alone, but a real man knows that there no substitute for support, encouragement, or a pit crew.”

-- Tim Allen

Origin Story Part 2

Part Two

A quick recap on part one. 

I loved trucks ever since I was a kid, so much that I joined the local volunteer fire department just to ride in the trucks. lol

I got my CDL when I turned 18 and have spent the rest of my life trying to get away from trucks. lol

When we left I had just become a licensed CDL tester for the state of Colorado.

So let's get right back into the story!

Shortly after that, I had three companies knocking at my door and calling me weekly to see if I would be interested in coming to work for them. I chose to go to work for a great company that was growing rapidly and I knew that I would have a good chance to move into leadership.

They asked me to come in, create a CDL training program, and make it successful. The first week I was there, I told the owner that within the first year I wanted to have a minimum of two trucks, 3 instructors.

He was doubtful that we could even get the program off the ground.

That was my fuel to make sure that it happened. However, I didn’t have a clue where to start. I had never done any marketing or anything like this. Until this point, I had never been anything but a truck driver and equipment operator.

That didn’t stop me though.

Within 6 months of starting the first training course, I hired the other trainers and brought on another truck and trailer. Not to mention made some great relationships with local companies who were now calling me every time they needed a new driver to see if we had any “good” drivers that would be looking for a job.

My team had a spotless record.

Then the company got a DOT audit. Two officers came in and went through every inch of the company looking for DOT related issues.

When the audit was over, they found that the company had some major issues. Their compliance rate was extremely low. As they left, they told all of us sitting in the audit that they would be back within the year to make sure the company was making rapid progress to get into compliance.

The owner of the company came to me right after that meeting and asked if I would be willing to take on a new task? He wanted me to make sure that the company was in compliance before the auditors came back.

I literally didn’t know what to do. If I took this task on, I knew that it would mean a ton of time. I would be starting from scratch. There were no driver files, virtually no DOT program, and no storage system in place for any part of DOT.

I would have to create an entire DOT program from scratch.

This was way out of my comfort zone. Therefore, I went home and prayed for some guidance.

The good Lord sent me the message through an old friend, “Why not give it a try, if you fail it can’t get any worse.”

I accepted the position and went to work right away.

The one piece of advice that the leadership of the company gave me was, “Dan we need this fixed ASAP. Oh yeah, and do it as cheap as possible.”

Therefore, the first thing I did was go back through the audit to see exactly what the issues the officer found were. Then I made a punch list of everything that I needed to do to address those issues.

After I discovered those issues, I set out to learn everything I could about DOT. I started by watching free webinars. TONS of webinars.

Then I started paying for courses so I could learn more. I created a driver application that meets FMCSA standards. Then started coordinating with the field to get drivers to complete this application.

Before I could do this, I had to get HR on my side. Therefore, I met with them several times a week. Brought them coffee and breakfast at least once a week. Before long, we were talking about more personal stuff than business-related when we would chat.

I didn’t realize it at the time but I was building my networking skills. The most important skill to have in the DOT industry is networking.

HR granted me access to files so I could go in to extract the information I needed. As I did this, I created a driver field for every driver in our company. When I started, we were in more than 18 states, had over 1800 employees, and about 750 drivers. To top it off no one really knew who a DOT driver was.

That led me to an even bigger obstacle, training every supervisor, driver, & laborer. Everyone in the company needed to know what a DOT driver is so they could make informed decisions before asking someone to drive a specific vehicle.

More to come on that later though.

The more I learned the more changes I made to the DOT system I was creating. I changed how files were labeled, how each document was labeled, and how I tracked the documents.

Every time I would try something new and it didn’t work out, I would change it again to make it better. If I saw something someone else was doing that worked great, I implemented it. Even if it meant more work for me.

In a short 3 months (felt more like 6 months to me, tons of long days) the company went from getting a letter from the FMCSA stating that if we did not improve our DOT scores they would revoke our operating authority - to being at 98% compliance.

During this time, I spent most days in the office grinding out the program. There were tons of calls to DOT enforcement officers across the country to ask questions. I found that if I called different officers where we were operating then they were extremely willing to help us get back on our feet and move in the right direction.

When the officer’s teams met our drivers in the field, they would talk about our company and mention my name most of the time. Letting the drivers know that I was in communication with enforcement trying to make their lives easier on the road.

Growing my network even further. Inside and outside the company. The officers didn’t realize it, but they were giving credit to what I said or sent out within the company.

The next thing we started working on was the company culture. When I first took a position the culture was a “get it done” culture. I knew that we needed to pivot the culture to be more directed towards, “We can move mountains if we do it right.”

As I started traveling from location to location throughout the company I spent time talking to the drivers and the leadership in each area to see what their struggles were.

A few keys here that I learned FAST were, always talk to people, not DOWN to people. When you talk down to anyone, you automatically lose his or her attention and will have to work 10x harder to earn it back.

Second talk about them. I always started every conversation by asking something about themselves. When they started with the company, questions about their personal life (married, kids, where they come from, etc…)

Last when you start to see their eyes glaze over it’s time to change the topic back to them and get them re-engaged with the conversation.

Back to the real story though.

I continued to grow my network within the company.

Skip ahead 3 years, our company was acquired by another construction company in the oilfield. It was, to say the least, scary.

The new company sent in their DOT manager to look over our program. Tamisha was awesome. She came in, looked through our DOT program and we talked about everything.

Then when she left, my mind started running away with doubt again. The company that was going to acquire us already had a team of three DOT people, and they were managing ⅓ of the drivers I was. Would they even need me? What did she think about the rink-a-dink DOT program I created? Why would they take me onto their team?

They finished the acquisition and pretty much left me alone. They didn’t ask me to make any changes. Which brought more doubt into my mind.

Can’t wait to share part 3 with you soon. Stay tuned!