00:05 I actually focus. I pray before I get in this truck. Every day before I start it up, I pray. I meditate. And once I get in that truck, I’m all ears, nose, eyes, everything.

00:18 All senses are on the road.

00:20 All senses are on the road. Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:46 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport where we join you each and every week. And you know, this is a format where we elevate and celebrate the driver. We give them the best that we can because, you know, it’s not always an easy stretch of the imagination to do the work that they do on and off the road. Now, let me set the scene here. We’re coming to you from the home studio, not the home office of Norton Transport, but from my home. So, you may hear a little traffic going through. Sitting out on the front porch because like to call this the southern exposure of the sun for the winter and early spring. Of course, I’m having a cigar right now. But that being said, we have a very special guest with us tonight and that would be Veronica Campbell. Veronica, how are you?

01:33 I am doing good. How about you?

01:35 I can’t complain at all. Like you said earlier, no reason to complain.

01:40 Yeah, none at all. We all living. We all safe. So, no need to complain.

01:45 I like the outlook. Like the outlook. Now, let me kind of set the scene here, paint a picture here. We know who Veronica is because she was in the office today. We saw her drop in and it was kind of a spontaneous thing and I said, you know, it’s been a while since we’ve had the perspective of a female driver and that’s shame on me, but it’s time for that to happen. Now, Veronica, tell us a little bit about yourself, how long you’ve been driving, and how you fell into it.

02:15 Well, actually, I’ve been driving for five and a half years. I actually fell into it because I have a lot of my family members also drive trucks, too. And I also like was one day just thinking like, h what is a good job where I can really don’t have to do too much, but do enough without having to break my back and get paid good money. So I decided to go into trucking and it did just that.

02:42 It’s important as you and I were talking in the office to strike that balance.

02:48 Yes.

02:49 And five and a half years in how have you been able to maintain that balance?

02:54 How I’ve been able to do it like honestly I will tell anybody this. I wouldn’t come out trying to burn myself out. Like when you trying to maintain your home balance and your trucking life balance, when you’re ready to go home, go home. Home will always reset your mind for you to get back out here on the road for you to, you know, be able to focus on everything. Home is always a good thing for a driver to do. You have to balance that out. I just know when I’m ready when I want to go home, I go home. And I know when I come back out from being home, I feel so re-energized to where I can just keep going and going and going. Like it’s good to go home. It’s healthy to go home. Always remember that.

03:42 That is some very sage advice there. Healthy to go home. And I kind of picked up on something you said there earlier. Reset your mind for the road. What? Give us a from the driver’s point of view. You’re behind the wheel, you’re in the cab, you’re in that dump truck, you’re in that garbage truck, you’re in that concrete mixer, the box truck, whatever it may be. What is the driver’s point of view? What’s your mindset when you’re behind the wheel? When you’re behind that wheel as a professional driver that we all supposed to be, my mindset is the safety of everybody out here on this road, including myself. Every time when I leave my door and it’s time for me to go out here on this road, I let myself know every day I’m going to come back the same way that I came. And that’s in one piece, alive, and safe.

04:37 So behind that wheel, because I know I want to come back in one piece, the way I left, I’m going to make sure everybody that’s around me in the vehicle with me or whatever it is, we all safe because safety is everything.

04:52 Our safety director would love to hear you saying that. I’m sure it would bring a smile to Rene’s eyes. A smile to her mouth and a glamour to her eyes to hear that. But you come by that you’re not just saying that but five and a half years in the business you’ve probably seen some things that have shaped that mentality for you.

05:13 Yes, I have.

05:15 I actually have. Like I have seen two trucks collide with each other cuz one of them have fell asleep. I’ve seen all that. I have seen the deaths that truck semis have actually caused for not paying attention either being on the phone or just not even just paying attention. I have seen how it all done happened and played out like it’s ridiculous. That’s why I say safety. Oh yeah, you have to thank for everybody. But I also don’t seen where cars try to actually like cause a wreck with semiis or commercial vehicles just you know try to you know collect a little bit of insurance money and stuff. I’ve also seen that happen too and that ain’t always work out well for the car.

05:59 Right. I gotcha. How do you keep your senses sharp as far as what do you go through a certain routine practices policies you follow to keep your senses at their absolute best? What do you do?

06:13 I actually focus. I pray before I get in this truck. Every day before I start it up, I pray. I meditate. And once I get in that truck, I’m all ears, nose, eyes, everything.

06:29 All senses are on the road.

06:31 All senses are on the road.

06:33 Now, you and I had the pleasure of chatting at the office this afternoon or this evening before we parted company. And tell us about your next run, what you’re driving and where you’re going.

06:43 Okay, so the next run that I’m doing right now, it is actually going to Memphis, Tennessee. I’m driving a garbage truck, Peterbilt garbage truck. And yeah, I’m going to deliver it tomorrow morning. Yeah, after that I’m taking my next garbage truck, which is the right-hand drive CNG. Taking that to Spokane, Washington.

07:06 Oh, you got a long one. Yeah, I got a long one with that one.

07:10 Got a short one then a long one. You and I were talking about this. You’ve driven quite a few of the garbage trucks and you know, we were saying that some drivers would kind of say, “Well, it’s a bumpy ride.” But it’s something that you’re worth sacrificing because you’ve seen the perks of the ride. Tell us a little bit about the perks or the benefits of driving these garbage trucks.

07:30 Well, the perks of the ride is they have very very very good incentive. Like you get hotels paid for. After each 500 or 400 miles. I think it’s 500 miles. Yeah, it’s 500 miles. Yeah, 500 miles. You also get extra pay like if it’s right-hand drive and if it’s CNG, like me personally, I like doing CNG because I know either way my money going to be up more than what it’s already supposed to be because I got to go out a route with a CNG.

08:02 That could be very draining, but it’s worth it. Now, Spokane, Washington. That run that’s going to be about I’m just doing this off the top of my head. That’s going to be what 2,800 miles, something like that.

08:16 No, like 33,300.

08:18 3,300. I guess some of that’s for the CNG routing, too.

08:22 Yep.

08:23 So, you’re going to have to go it’s not a straight shot. You’re going to have to go west, southwest kind of come down through Arizona, then wake your make your way all the way up the coast of California or all the way up California.

08:38 Now, have you made that run? Have you made that run out to Spokane before or out to Washington?

08:42 Yes, I have.

08:44 How long is how long of a run is that? How long does it take to go that far in a garbage truck?

08:48 Go see G. That is five, four and a half, five days. Go at a regular diesel that’ll take you three and a half days.

09:00 Gotcha. Now I looked a little bit Veronica. We’re listening to Veronica Campbell here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Veronica is one of our veteran drivers as far as your experience before she got with us. Now you’ve been with us for what we were talking about this evening, four months. Is that right?

09:16 Correct.

09:17 Now you don’t like to let the grass grow between your toes. I saw that you do 607 miles a day. So when you get ready to go, you’re ready to go.

09:28 That’s true. That is true.

09:30 And where does that come from? I mean, you know, some drivers drive less miles per day just try to, you know, pace themselves. But 67 miles, what is that about eight hours for you? Eight, nine hours.

09:44 No, that’s like, yeah, like nine and a half. Nine and a half hours.

09:48 Gotcha. Now, we were talking about this earlier. This is something that’s in your family. You come from the background of it, but as far as it really got tight in the family as far you as how you ended up at Norton Transport. Tell us that story.

10:04 How I ended up at Norton? Honestly, I need I wanted my freedom. Like my brother, he was telling me I need to come over here because I wasn’t enjoying the lifestyle in the semi anymore. And by that I mean like those people there were actually paying me very good. I was having no issues or anything. I just was unhappy. So I know if I’m unhappy it’s nothing or nothing nobody could do or pay me to make me happy. So my brother who’s in the bank division with Norton, his name is Edward Thomas. He just told me to come over here you know and I can you know I’ll be better. I’ll have my freedom. And it was the truth.

10:48 Now, Edward has been doing this for a while and so his recruitment paid off for you and I guess any regrets now that you’ve been with us for four and a half months or has it been good?

10:59 It’s been good.

11:00 What would you—

11:01 It has been good. That’s the honest truth.

11:03 Well, five and a half years, you’re a veteran driver, experienced driver, and you spent a lot of that time in a semi. How do you contrast the two? How do you compare the two? Honestly, to compare it, I don’t know. Either way, you gonna do 11 hours. You gonna drive 11 hours in both. But honestly, other than dealing with the logs and your drive time, like regular DOT stuff and safety, it ain’t no other compares to it.

11:33 You were saying in the office that it kind of the semi you felt kind of—

11:37 Yeah, trapped. I felt like I was trapped inside the semi. Like closed in, caged in. When you’re driving like driveaway, like you’re not caged in. Like you have the freedom to actually get out that truck, walk around, go to a hotel, go get something to eat, you know, go to the shippers and receivers and stuff to your pickups and all that. Like you could do that in a semi. They want you in that semi where everything that you got like your food, everything is in that semi.

12:04 I got you. Now, wanted to ask you this question cuz as we said at the top of the show here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, it’s been a minute since we’ve had a female driver on the show and again that’s shame on me, but because we’ve got a number of great female drivers within the company. Is it a different perspective being a woman being a driver or is it the same? How is it on the road? I mean, you guys interact with each other, men, women, both. What’s it like from a female perspective? I feel like it’s the same to me because like we both interact both genders, men and women, we both interact. Like if one driver need help no matter who it is, men or woman a like other drivers will get out to help that driver like no matter the gender like I just feel like it’s equal out here and that is just my opinion.

12:55 Gotcha. Talking about help, we come across that topic a lot here on the show. What are some of the things? Give us some situations where you’ve helped out others and where others have helped you.

13:08 Honestly, backing. When you have to back a truck up, no matter if it’s a garbage truck or a semi, you could be in a real tight situation like you got a blind side, but you got other cars and other like could be a wall on your blind side. Somebody got to help you see. These are total stranger drivers. Drivers but strangers—

13:33 But that’s there’s a network a bond I guess among drivers—

13:36 Understanding. Yes. It’s a very good understanding on drivers like it’s basically the saying what’s understood don’t need to be explained.

13:45 Gotcha. Just like an unwritten rule of the road.

13:48 Yeah.

13:49 I gotcha. And everybody knows that after you’ve been behind the wheel for a while.

13:53 Yeah. Everybody knows that. Like even if you haven’t been behind the wheel for a while, like you could be a rookie. Like I been a rookie before and driver still had to come out and help me. I’m a rookie. I’m not as good as the other driver because I just started out, you know? So either way, you’re a driver going to always help another driver, especially if they’re going to end up hitting their truck.

14:15 I gotcha. I gotcha. What would you say, Veronica, is the strong point of your driving profession? What for you personally, what do you think is the strong point you bring to the table?

14:25 I can read the cars on the road.

14:27 Elaborate. What does that mean as far as their behavior? That’s about anticipating what’s about to happen.

14:33 Yeah. Yeah. Anticipating on what’s about to happen. Like I can really see what a car is about to do before they actually even do it. So that actually gives me leverage on a lot of things to where I know what I need to do. Like I done seen how cars done wrecked out just based off one small movement. Oh yeah, they about to lose control. Back on up, give them their space, do what they need to do so I won’t get involved in the accident cuz it happens like that.

15:01 I guess it’s pretty reassuring to you to know that you have that skill set. It’s like I see this in front of me and when you do back up and increase that distance between you and the other driver and then what you thought was going to happen does happen. Do you think to yourself, I’m glad I made this adjustment?

15:18 Of course. Of course, because I don’t want to be involved in a wreck.

15:22 Oh, sure.

15:23 I never have been. So, yes, I thank God every time.

15:27 Absolutely. Knocking on wood for you.

15:29 Thank you. Thank you.

15:30 Now, we were talking also, you’ve got your Class A, you got your endorsements, your tanker, doubles, specialty qualified for driving the for driving the garbage trucks and such. And I got to I’m going to put you on the spot here for just a second here. I saw you had the no manual restriction. Now putting you on now, can you drive a manual or do you just don’t have the classification?

15:57 Just don’t have a classification.

15:59 And I don’t like to drive it.

16:01 That’s what I thought.

16:02 I don’t like to drive it.

16:03 But you can drive a manual if you had to.

16:05 Yes. I just don’t like to. I got you. Well, I mean, you know, for a lot of trucks coming down the pipeline now, newer ones, you know, most of the newer ones are not manual, but has that held you away from some loads that you wanted because it was a manual truck.

16:20 Yeah. But at the same time though, I know if I’m the one who refusing it or whatever, then really it ain’t even holding me back because I’m refusing that because if I wanted it that bad, then I just get in it and do it.

16:31 I got you. What is it you don’t like about manual driving?

16:34 It hurts the knee. Oh, just the constant shift. Constant shifting.

16:38 Yeah. And I don’t have I don’t like my knee being all swelled up like that and stuff like I’m all right with that.

16:45 I got you. Well, that sounds I mean that’s a very good reason. Very good reason. Veronica Campbell joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’ve talked a lot with Veronica here and she expressed her recruitment by her brother. Now, how long has Edward been behind the wheel? Is he older or younger than you?

17:06 Older.

17:06 Okay. Has he been in the industry for a while as himself?

17:10 Yeah, I think he got like seven, eight years in it.

17:14 Okay. Okay. Now, when you say it was in the family, was it your parents? Did they drive or uncles?

17:21 Siblings.

17:22 Siblings did.

17:23 Yeah. Older siblings.

17:24 Okay. Now, do you guys talk about it on when you get home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, that kind of thing? Or is it something that’s like, you know, we’re finished with it right now. Let’s talk about something else or do you guys talk about life on the road?

17:36 It’s we’re going to talk about something else because see the difference is with my siblings though, they drive local. I’m the one that’s otr.

17:45 I got you. Yeah. You’re out there all over the place. Especially if you’re heading Spokane, Washington for your next long run. So, you’ll get to Memphis what when will you get to Memphis?

17:58 In the morning. Okay.

17:59 Right when they open.

18:00 Gotcha. Then you’ll turn back around and come pick up the truck for Spokane.

18:05 Correct.

18:06 Now, with all of your experience we want to kind of tap into that knowledge you have. What would your advice be to someone who may be on the fence to going into driveaway or may not have any experience beyond the minimum required experience to come into driveaway like you who came in with a lot of experience? What would your I guess advice be to someone who may be considering this as a profession?

18:33 Driveaway. Honestly, somebody that’s actually just getting into it, they I would basically recommend them actually to go to like a starter up company, driveaway, to where they can actually, you know, be able to make some type of money because if they start off like as independent contractors with a driveaway company where they have to pay for everything, you know, even though sometimes, you know, depending on the type of loads that you get, you know, the job will cover this and cover that, travel lodge and all that stuff or whatever, but starting out. It won’t go that way because you still have to go through your little qualifications to actually meet to get those type of loads. So, starting out, I would recommend going to a driveaway company that actually pay for everything before you go as an independent contractor to where you got to pay for everything and you don’t really see too much money because you starting out new. You’re starting out fresh.

19:25 I got you.

19:26 You got to take baby steps. Now, one thing we were we got the advantage of seeing tonight when you were in the office is the relationship between you and Bri your dispatcher. You guys obviously are pretty tight.

19:38 Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Yes. Bri, she’s a wonderful dispatcher. I will never deny that. I have a strong loyalty to her. I mean, I was sick. Real sick when I had started with the company. And Brie, she looked out. She helped me out a lot. Like I was man down. I’m like, “Oh my god, I was so sick.” And yeah, like and Rei, she looked out for me and my loyalty that that alone was enough for me to have my loyalty with her. No matter what Bri need me to do, I always do that for her without no questions asked.

20:12 That’s awesome to hear. And this is a common topic we have on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport is the relationship between the driver and the dispatcher. And it’s always underscored as very important, but it’s always great to hear in a driver’s own words. How would you describe that relationship? You I mean, if you were going to characterize it—

20:33 It’s like a family thing. It’s a family bond—

20:36 With a dispatcher. See, as a like with me actually like have done have actually dealt with different type of dispatchers with a dispatcher, that’s how you make your money at the end of the day. So your dispatcher, you got to have some type of form of relationship with them because that level of respect, it has to be equal with each other and it has to be there. That trust, it has to be there.

21:02 Honestly, I see Bri like a sister to me.

21:06 I’m sure she would love to hear that. You’re listening to Veronica Campbell here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Veronica, thank you so much for joining us. And next week, Veronica is going to be sharing her happy place. What her happy place is. Veronica, thank you for joining us.

21:24 You’re welcome. You’re welcome. Anytime.

21:29 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.