00:04 When Michael dropped them bonuses, that’s a different story. Now, I’m going to go turn up and show up. I just cannot know that there’s an extra four, five, six grand out there.

00:13 Mhm.

00:14 That I know the dog inside of me can go get I’m going to go get my four grand and some. You get what I mean?

00:20 Oh, the dog inside of you, man. I get exactly what you’re saying. 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. This is a podcast where we come together and we look deep into the lives and the professions of the drivers who work here at Norton Transport and others who make this country go round and round by their efforts and their work and the things they do. And we want to look deeper into their lives, their professions, how they got into it, why they’re doing it. And we also want to celebrate them because it’s a unique experience in driveaway transport and it’s something that we appreciate the guys and girls who join us each week. And joining us tonight is a very very special driver to us. He’s been with Norton Transport for some time, Eric Ryan. Eric is on the road right now as we speak. Eric, where are you and what’s going on?

01:37 Well, sir, good talking to you. I’m over here in Albany, New York. I’m about west of Albany about oh I’d say about 20 miles headed to Tennessee deck load little freeway.

01:49 I got you. I got you. So you’re in the state’s capital.

01:52 I guess you could say that. Yes, sir.

01:54 Okay. What’s the weather like up there in New York? I know they’ve had more to the west of you. They’ve had a lot of snow. But what’s it like up there now?

02:02 Well, you know, I try to do what he call round robbins. I try to run in triangles, you know. So, part is being, you know, knowing a little this and that. I knew not to come up here a week ago.

02:14 When they got hammered and I you know this part of our hub where we pick up out of Champlain. I really enjoy it up here. The people atmosphere. I like you know the little communities, the villages, what have you. It’s really my go-to place, you know. So I was keen on that weather, you know, and I knew I wasn’t leaving the house and coming up here last week. But what I will say right now, 40°, no snow on the ground, light rain and hit and miss, but it’s good weather. It’s good running weather. Let’s go.

02:49 It’s a walk in the park for you.

02:50 It better be, huh? Come on.

02:53 I hear you. Now, what do you like about Lake Champlain? You were talking about the villages and the people. What kind of pulled you into it? And kind of a follow-up question to that. Did you know about that kind of atmosphere and culture there before you started driving?

03:08 Well, you know what? If we’re going to say before I started driving, you know, like I’m a third generation trucker, right? But I didn’t pick up till to my late 20s and I’m 37 now, about to be 38. So when I started trucking, I was in a small outfit. I mean, you know, under 10 trucks, old school mentality. We ran local to Oklahoma. I mean, we would go Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri. That had about it, you know what I mean?

03:37 Kept it under 500 miles.

03:39 Yeah. And I’m an Oklahoma guy, you know? So, we’re mixed culture down there. It’s a little bit of everything. But—

03:46 I got to ask you this. I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I looked you up there on your profile. Sperry, Oklahoma. Where in the hell is Sperry, Oklahoma?

03:55 Man, we’re right outside of the best town in Oklahoma. So that’d be Tulsa, Oklahoma. The big 918 holding it down. Green country is what they call it. You know—

04:03 Tulsa is a happening place, man.

04:06 Yeah. I’m about 10 miles north of Tulsa.

04:10 Okay. Okay. I just never heard of Sperry. I didn’t know it was that close to Tulsa. So, you’ve got your feet right there in the middle of everything going on there.

04:18 Yeah, man. Truthfully, moved around a lot as a kid and then was blessed to move in a little town called Kawita, Oklahoma. A little rural, you know, actually moved out in the city and moved to the country. And then you know, me and my wife, you know wanted to relocate and start our own chapter where we could set our roots at. So, we picked Sperry. It’s right next to another great town called Aaso. It’s kind of out country, but it ain’t you only 10, 12 minutes from the big town. When you need to get something, it’s right up our alley. You know what I mean? Come up. Now, Kawita, if I’m not mistaken, I put a load together, a CNG load, and I think there’s a CNG station in Kawita. Correct me if I’m mistaken. Is there a CNG station there?

05:03 There’s one. Okay. So, like there’s one on the outskirts of the county, and there’s another one in Falpa.

05:09 Okay.

05:10 So, you know, me, you know, towards them, I kind of steer clear of them just cuz they’re really a pain in the neck. But what I did learn running a couple of them because I’m not afraid to chase that money, you know, like—

05:22 You can make money in CNG.

05:25 Oh, absolutely. You just got to know how to you just got to do you got to be proficient. And I mean, you got to be proficient at your seance station.

05:34 You got to do your homework with CNG.

05:37 Oh yeah. We got some deck load that go up to Norway, Michigan. All the way to top of Michigan, right? I mean, it’s way up there. Well, if you’re a smart driver, you’ll get one of them CNGs. And I say CGs because 90% of them trash trucks are rolloffs coming out of Norway or CNG.

05:54 Well, man, you’ll get yourself in all type of trouble because the closest one to you is only like 160 miles and that’s about all you’re going to get out of them things.

06:03 You got to fill up. You got to fill up, man.

06:05 Oh, it’s— Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, and I almost got myself in trouble one time on a dang school bus.

06:11 Oh, boy. I learned. Yeah, I learned. Hey, man, you got to tighten up on them things.

06:17 Well, you’ve had the teacher of experience there and from a practical application standpoint from what you want to share with other drivers about CNG, the thing from planning back here when we put the loads together and from talking with other drivers like you, experienced drivers, you need to fill up frequently and top it off every time. Is that what you’ve learned?

06:43 Oh, hey, and the most important thing is don’t go off that fuel gauge or that dummy gauge. It’s not going to be accurate on those things. It’s not. I’m telling you—

06:51 You got to go off the tank.

06:54 Yeah. Because that thing will tell you, hey, I got 3/4, got a half, I got five. No, it’s not. That’s not reading accurate. You have to go off the pressure. And I don’t know how many times people would call, “Man, this thing’s not going to happen.” I’m like, “Dude,”

07:07 You better go about over 120 mi and be looking for another spot. You know what I mean? Because it just that’s just the way they are because it’s hard to read that pressure right—

07:16 Off your gauge. It’s just not calculated right. So—

07:20 Yeah, I just if you’re going to fool with those, you better have your dictionary. That’s all I’m going to say. I—

07:26 I mean, at max, they’re between what 3600 4,000 PSI. It’s probably around 3,800 max. So—

07:33 Yeah, and I ain’t ran one in probably two, three years, but shoot, I know I was trying to squeeze everything I could. I was getting 38 trying to squeeze everything I could. You know—

07:42 It’s important because and it varies because of the gas and the pressure in the time of the in the time of the year.

07:49 I mean, you know, Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you’ve been down that road and that’s a good point on the CNG about topping off as much as you can and when you can because like you were talking about going up to Norway, I mean, you’re not going to find CNG as readily available when you get to those outer reaches.

08:10 Sir, you won’t. And I’m going to be honest with you cuz I’ve took probably two or three out of there in the six years running for Norton and I’m telling you, it’s not going to happen. Because I the last thing you want to be as a driver other than a breakdown, it’s stranded on the side of the road, you know what I mean? And if you’re not prepared, if you’re not prepared for that by having your water, your peanuts, and whatever you need, you know what I mean? And you’re waiting. I mean, that just it’s a horrible feeling. You know, we’ve all been there. It happens. But the last thing you want to do is be caught with your pants down because you didn’t do your due diligence. You get what I mean? Oh, absolutely. And you talk about—

08:51 You got to be smart—

08:52 And you talk about Norway, Michigan in January—

08:55 And you’re broken down or you’re out of fuel CNG, that’s not a good feeling at all.

09:01 No, because when that record’s telling you, hey, it’s 50 to 90 minutes. Really, it ain’t that. It’s really four or five hours, you know what I mean? I mean, he’s taking you to a fuel station. And here’s the downfall. Some of those BMGs are not 24-hour locations, right?

09:16 Some of them are not. So, if you don’t know how to read that map, you’re not I think there might be I’m just throwing out a wild card. Out of the thousands of truck stops out here, there might be 10 that have CNZ. So, you’re not going the regular route. Nothing is on the beaten path. Everything’s off the beaten path. So, if you’re one of these drivers that is just used to going off GPS everywhere you go and are not hib to your north, south, east, and west, it’s going to catch you up, man.

09:45 Yeah. You’ve got to plan your route on CNG and from what we’ve what I’ve learned on researching. A lot of the CNG, you know, that they’re put in place.

09:56 It’s been around for some time, but it’s they’re put in place for a lot of municipalities for garbage trucks, utility trucks, and the cities. The cities are, you know, involved in the CNG stations. So, you may find a CNG station. It’s not on I-40. It’s not on I-24. It’s not on I-75. It. You may have to go off of the freeway to find it. Has that been what your experience has been?

10:19 Oh, yeah. 110. I mean, you’re not—

10:21 I can think about all the big cities in my head right now coming out my head. Like, and if I remember correctly, once I pulled out of Norway, I think the closest place to me was 10 miles off the side of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

10:37 Okay.

10:38 So, it was like and I was pushing it. You understand? I was stressing, worried about it, you know, and that’s one thing about me. I’m not, hey, I am not running these things out of fuel because, you know, honestly, I feel like that falls on the driver—

10:53 You know what I mean? Unless that gauge is faulty, right?

10:58 Which is faulty.

11:00 It does happen.

11:00 It sir, I had one on me on a concrete mixer come out of contact. Contact’s one of my favorite places. But a lot of people it’s just hit or miss. If you like it or it’s just there’s rules there. It’s gravel, it’s bad weather. But once you get in there and you understand the system, it’ll work out like butter. Right.

11:19 I got you.

11:20 I took one out of there.

11:21 Was it a CNG unit out of contact?

11:23 No, it wasn’t. But I was just referring to the fuel gauge. I took one out of there on a fuel gauge and that they’re always bone empty, right?

11:31 Mhm.

11:31 Well, there’s a little mom and pop truck stop right down the road. Well, they had shut down and I didn’t know that. I usually go there like I don’t know probably 20 40 times a year. So, that’s kind of one of my places I go, you know, dropping a deck load and then taking a single out.

11:46 I’ll take that money. Give me that money out of there. You know what I mean?

11:49 Sure. It’s a way back.

11:50 They shut that place down and I didn’t know it. So, I had to go, you know, 80 miles—

11:56 And—

11:57 I’m assuming you were going south or west.

12:00 Yeah, I was going back west. You know, it threw me for a loop missing that spot. So, I had to go 80 miles. Well, the gauge said I had a quarter of a tank of fuel. And I thought, well, man, heck yeah, I’m going to win anyway. I was just going to stop and get fuel just because I that was my spot. I thought, man, I’ll be all right. Gage was off, man. I about ran out of fuel. That thing was cutting and bucking. I don’t know how I made it, but I told myself, “Well, I’ll eat this. I’ll eat this if Norton won’t reimburse me.” But knowing how Norton is, I’m not fixing to call Norton and be like, “Hey, it’s this and that.” I call them, they know it’s a problem, right?

12:36 Oh, yeah.

12:36 And if I mess up, they know I messed up cuz I’m going to own up to my— You know what I mean? I got you.

12:41 I’m not I’m just, you know, that’s just where it’s at with me in life. You know, I’ll take my beating when it’s time. But when it’s yours, take it. But let’s work out something where we can both win. I got—

12:51 Well, in this one here, I told myself, “Well, it’s going to be on me.” But really, I was like, “Well, it’s fuel gauge faulty.” And then when I topped the fuel off, it wouldn’t even go to a full tank. It kept bouncing from 3/4 to a half. So then I had to go off fuel mileage.

13:04 Yeah. Something was off there.

13:05 Right. Them trash trucks, they just boy, they just I mean, mixers, they don’t get that deal fuel mileage. They’re big. I get them when I’m five or six. And I don’t even think I was getting that.

13:15 They’re heavy. I mean, you got to be going downhill all the time. You know, you were talking about the you know, some people outside of the industry may find it hard to believe that you can run out of fuel, but our owner and founder, Calvin Norton, the truck driver himself, and he has told us inside the building here time and time again, it’s not that inconceivable to run out of fuel as a driver. He said, you can’t trust the gauges. Because he said back in the day they used to use, you know, they would take a ruler or a yard stick or some sort of measuring device to put down in that tank because, you know, sometimes you got to go old school. Have you done that before yourself?

13:58 Well, yeah. The way I was taught, just take an old tree branch, straightest tree branch you got, break off the twigs and stab it down there if you ain’t got nothing.

14:05 Oh, absolutely. You know, but and then you know a lot of time on these on that you side when you’re on that youth side, you know, you know, you’re trying to save as much money as you can.

14:14 So if you pick it up on E, you want to drop it on E, but you don’t you know, you want to make sure you get there. So it really all comes down to calculation, working that MPG and the full miles you got on the trip, you know.

14:26 I gotcha. I wanted to kind of circle back to Tulsa, kind of here in 2023. Absolutely. We’re coming back. Sylvester Stallone’s got that new series out, King of Tulsa. Have you seen it yet—

14:40 Man? I’m gonna be honest with you, I have not. You know I just ain’t had the time yet. And the only show I’ve stayed on probably is Yellowstone, but really not even that cuz I just been I’ve been working the sweat in my brow here since December. I’ve turned it up. So, to get my bonus—

14:59 You’re working your ass now.

15:02 Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, I’ve turned it up, man. I’ve had to. I didn’t know if I was going to really want, you know, Norton is a blessing, man. It’s one of them. For me, it is for a lot of guys and gals. It’s one of those jobs where once you get financially stable, you ain’t got to bust your ass every day. You know, you ain’t got to be gone three, four weeks at a time. You ain’t got to live on the road. And I’ve been plowing and plowing and plowing. And last year was the first year I was actually able to be like, “Okay, hold up now. We getting somewhere in life.” You know what I mean?

15:37 Mhm.

15:37 My boy 7 years old. I love my wife to death. Let me start being daddy a little bit. Right. So, it’s kind of like—

15:45 But when these bonuses come out, it’s a different breed for me. But I just cannot know that there’s an extra four, five, six grand out there—

15:55 That I know the dog inside me can go get. I’m going to go get my four grand and some. You get what I mean?

16:01 Oh, the dog inside of you, man. I get exactly what you’re saying, man. You got to be Sometimes you got to have a dog in the fight.

16:08 Yeah. Yeah. And it’s really, you know, the first one, second, third, fourth year, I was real big on had to be top 10, be top five. I just had that fire, you know what I mean? I was trying to prove myself to myself as a man, to my family, learn my craftsmanship, let Michael, Justin at that time, Danielle, Jessica, now Leela, my dispatch, let all of them know, hey, you can count on this old dog. I’m going to work. You know what I mean? Because I’m getting rewarded by these great paychecks. You get what I’m saying?

16:40 I get I stepping in what you’re putting down, man. But now it’s kind of stepped to now where it’s like let’s hone in on our craft, right? It’s like—

16:50 All right, man. Been trucking 10 years, been doing this for almost six. Let’s be one of those guys. Like, I got a guy right now. I’m not going to shift too much, but he’s like, if I had one mentor over here in the piggyback game, it’d be Mr. Blackstone, right?

17:05 Okay.

17:05 This guy’s been doing this for 20 something years, right? And he knows everything about everything when it comes to this, right? But he’ll tell you because he’s learned it and it took his time. You know what I mean?

17:18 Well, in driveaway and particularly in deck driving, that’s the only teacher is the experience and the time and going through the process from what all the drivers we’ve heard here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. That’s what it takes. It takes time. You got to go through these experiences.

17:37 Exactly. And it’s really see it was and for me it’s a blessing to say I’ve been here for almost 6 years right—

17:44 But on that also the first four years was like light speed over here for me because I was just going it was almost like I was safe don’t get wrong no accidents I was safe but it was so much about my job just book flights rentals you know undeck two three week you know it was just go go go and it was never enough time to slow down, polish the craft, and continually learning how to be better. So when I do have other men that call me, hey, how do you do this? I can really walk them through it. Or when I train another Norton guy or when I see another Norton guy here on decking, and I see him struggling, I can say, hey, let me show you this or put a little game on them here, a little there. You know, it feels better. That’s really my reward other than the great paycheck. You know what I mean? And I’m just really I’m just trying to be the very best man I can be.

18:37 So that’ll reflect on his family, job, and everything. But really, I’m telling you, in the next 5 10 years, I’m really just kind of seeing how I can continue getting better, you know, at my rap because I got—

18:51 You already know. You already know. This ain’t for everybody over here. This will this over here. Hey, this will cheer you up and spit you out. You know what I mean?

19:00 You got to have a plan. And you got to have a game plan, man.

19:03 Yeah.

19:04 Now, are you a sports fan by chance?

19:06 Yeah. I mean, I live in Oklahoma, so we don’t we far as pros, either you got Dallas south of us or Kansas City north of us, but college, we’re a big college team. We got OU down there and we got Oklahoma State, you know, and we got the Thunder. What—

19:22 What I was going to where I was going with it was what you were talking about there from the profession side how you were running and gunning at the beginning and now you’re talking about mastering your craft more. Would you see it as analogous to being a rookie in the NFL and for you six years in the league? Yeah. I mean, most certainly. Like I if you could give me someone to model, you know, I came in like Deion Sanders and I’m trying to leave like Deion Sanders. Like I, you know, I just I want to come in like, hey, you know, this guy is, you know, when he’s on when he’s playing—

19:58 He’s one of the top tier guys. You know what I mean?

20:01 I just I but I want to be known as that. But I want to carry myself as this guy’s accountable. Do you feel what I’m saying? And he and he’s safe and he’s thorough and when we call and we need this favor or we need something done because someone else has did something, it should be no hesitation. When my number gets pulled, I’m going to get it done. I’m actually on a load right now, sir. Exact scenario. This load should have been delivered a week ago. I was already headed that way. I had a great load going paying very well going west. They called me. I didn’t even bite an eye at it. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? That’s what we love about Eric Ryan here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. You’re pulling a favor for us now. And you’ve been with us long enough to know, you know, it’ll come back to you. We’ll get it back to you.

20:49 I already know it will. And really, it ain’t even, you know and I don’t even want people look at it like it’s assassin or rubbing. No, it’s none of that. I, man, I’ve had five trucking jobs before I came to Norton, and I don’t plan on leaving Norton. It’s the atmosphere. It’s the financial growth. It’s the independency of getting to do what you want, making your own calls, work. I mean, I have my own trucking company, and it’s a partnership, you know what I mean?

21:17 But I’m a contractor through Norton and I thoroughly enjoy it. I get to do whatever I want, work as hard as I want, not work when I want. I mean, if you’re mechanically inclined and you like driving new equipment, flying, staying in hotels, rental cars, getting to do certain things other than being tied to a truck every day, bumping that dock, come over here and get you some. You know what I mean?

21:45 I mean, even if you don’t want to debt, there’s people making singles, running single that I know personally with a toe car, without a toe car that are still living very good now.

21:54 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That’s why we call it the Six-Figure Trucker. But, I wanted to say something on a personal level. I was speaking with one of your former dispatchers on the single side, Jessica Albert—

22:08 And she Jessica said something to me. Jessica’s a team leader, dispatch team leader here.

22:16 And she said, you know, of all my drivers, she said, there’s no one, and I’m quoting her, more trustworthy than Eric Ryan.

22:25 I’m telling you, and I feel the me still. I mean, look, and here’s where See, I had Danielle, right?

22:34 All right.

22:35 And Ino was like a sister to me, right? She got a baby. She left, right? And out of nowhere, they was like, “Oh, new dispatcher, Jessica.” I’m like, “Oh my word.” I’m like, “All right, let’s try it out.” I would have never I could have never guessed. It was like a perfect handoff, right? Perfect handoff.

22:58 Me and her jail perfect justice like my sister. I’m telling you right now—

23:03 We get along great. The atmosphere is perfect. You know, we’re straight up with each other. It’s perfect.

23:11 Well, I mean, like I was saying, she said to me this evening, I told her, I’m talking to Big E tonight, and she said, “He is the most trustworthy driver I have or I have had.”

23:21 Then she gets a promotion. I was so proud of her, right?

23:25 Mhm.

23:25 I said, “I knew you’d get that, girl. I’m so proud of you.” She said, “Well, the thing about it is I’m going to have to go do singles.” And I wasn’t I didn’t understand what she was saying at first. Well, she ain’t going to be my dispatcher no more. But she said, “But I got somebody in mind for you.” I said, “Okay, perfect handoff to Leela.” Now I have Leela.

23:47 Oh, Leela’s great.

23:49 She’s now my sister. You get what I’m saying?

23:52 Oh, yeah.

23:52 And what it is, I think what gels with all three of these women and me—

23:58 We’re honest with each other. I don’t ever tell them something I can’t do. And if I can’t do it or if they mess up, we call each other or we let each other know. They know what I’m doing out here. I know what they’re doing. And then I also try to give them the common courtesy. Hey, I know they work 8 to 5 after 5:00. I’m not messing with you unless it’s a dire emergency. You get what I mean?

24:21 I’m not, you know, you know, I know when you go to lunch. I’m not messing with you. You get what I’m saying? And I’m available 24/7. If you need to call me before 8:00 cuz some reason we move, call me. You get what I mean? It’s just a great atmosphere. And maybe I’m lucky. I don’t know. But I don’t really consider luck or faith on none of that. If I’m going to be honest with you, I consider these three hardworking women and they’re doing their job to the tea and I’m doing mine and you’re just seeing a welloiled machine pump very well. And that’s just what it is. There ain’t I’m going to tell you there ain’t no luck involved. That’s just people doing their job and get paid well to do it.

25:03 Well, you know, it’s like when you take the collection of all four of you guys, the three dispatchers you mentioned and yourself, you know, there’s the saying, you don’t you create your own luck—

25:15 Right? And I think among the four of you, all the character traits that you guys all have, yourself and the three that we are fortunate to have had and still have here at Norton, you know, you create your own luck. And when you put the four of you together, it’s a beautiful recipe.

25:31 And I’ll tell you this, and this is kind of personal, right? And I’ll tell you this, cuz I’m going to be honest with you. So I am a Grinch. I am the biggest Grinch you ever seen in your life. I only buy Christmas gifts for my wife and son.

25:48 That’s it.

25:48 But I’m going to tell you two other I’m going to tell you two other people I buy gifts for at Christmas time. I buy Jessica something and I buy Leela something. Now you can ask them if you think I’m lying, which I don’t think you are.

25:59 I don’t think—

26:00 But outside of my wife and son. And now mind you, I have a mom, a son, a uncle. I have a extended family, but I don’t because I know they earned it and I want to show my appreciation to these women. I would buy Danielle something, but I don’t know if she’s working for Jessica. I don’t know her situation, you know. It’s not like we talk. I still regularly talk to Jessica and I talk to Leela. I talk to Leela as much as I do my beautiful wife every day. You know what I mean?

26:28 Oh, yeah.

26:29 So—

26:30 That’s admirable that you would do that. That’s awesome, man.

26:32 Well, look, and I do it because I feel like they earn that. You get what I mean? I feel like they earn that appreciation. You know—

26:40 That underscores the depth of your relationship with them—

26:43 Right—

26:52 Now. We were talking about paying your dues, which you’ve done. You said you’ve been in trucking—

26:59 10 years.

27:00 10 years. And what have you seen as far as the evolution of trucking in a bigger picture from 35,000 ft above the ground and also in driveaway? Let’s start first with what you’ve seen in the industry as a whole. What kind of differences have you seen?

27:20 Well, well, mind you, sir, I’m once again I’m a third generation trucker, right? So, I might not have had my CDLs, but I was around them on long road trips. So, I guess you could say it where it’s just evolving to the different style of driver where I personally I enjoy what I do.

27:44 Mhm.

27:45 I love what I do. This is my passion. My seven-year-old boy when I pull home with a deck load, he lights up like everything and that’s all he wants to be. And I tell him, “No, you can go do something else. If that’s what you want to do, do it.” But I think it’s the driver is a different breed and the technology is way different. I personally like them long hood, short hoods. You know less technology on some things. I mean, some technology is great, but some technology I think is a little more sensor overload. You feel what I mean?

28:21 Oh, yeah. I’ll follow you. I follow you.

28:23 You know, some of the apps are kind of I think it’s a borderline ridiculous on so many apps to have, but then I get the concept behind it. And I think eventually it’ll all merge into one. Just like with this trucking with, you know, like if you look two, three years ago, you had all these Bendix safety alarms inside these new Freightliners and Kenworth and Peterbilts where they were really loud and really would let you know. Now they’re getting or the sounds are a little bit less audible, you know, and I think really it’s taking the driver aspect of the person behind the wheel and making it more of a computer thing and we’re at that stage where we’re adapting to that and want to transition and you know, I’m with the change because I want to evolve as it goes. I’m just going through it right now and some things are kind of like oh crap. You know what I mean? Like the load I brought up here. It, you know, it would stop you. It would stop before you needed to stop. It wouldn’t let you come over it really loud turning this and that.

29:27 And I can only imagine if a guy was green coming into trucking, he might like that. He might like where he doesn’t get to really control everything. But I’m the type of driver I want to shift at 18, 13, 10-speed, 9-speed, 15-speed, you know? I want to do that.

29:43 You want to feel all of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want to have full control of the tractor. I don’t want the tractor doing nothing that I don’t tell it to do. You get what I’m saying?

29:54 Oh, yeah.

29:55 But I get as technology grows, they’re trying to make it safer. I’m just kind of I’m just sitting back here, you know, doing what I need to do and trying to evolve as it goes. And I noticed one thing when we go to drop trucks, you know, we’re switching our apps, though. It’s like I got, you know, I’ll have a customer at Peterbilt. We’ll say like I was at Martin Peterbilt and had that dude sign on two different things on my phone and then found a piece of paper and it kind of looked at me. I said, “Well, they’re trying to merge everything, man. Hopefully it won’t be like it too long, you know.” So, I think eventually it’ll get to where it’s going, but right now it’s just kind of in this haze phase, if you get what I mean.

30:40 And I hope that’s what you’re asking. I follow you. I was picking up on something you were talking about there. You like to be like really in sync with the truck that you’re driving. You were talking about going through all the gears and not letting necessarily sit back and let the technology and the I guess the advancement of these 2023 trucks you may be driving now, but you look to be, you know, really enjoying the moment of actually driving the truck.

31:11 Yeah. Because you know, you got to think I’m I was raised around old men, you know, where you had to look, listen, and feel to what to for to shift the gear. You had to listen for the break. You had to, you know, I come from that kind of era where, you know, hell, you know, look, smell, you know, feel the vibration, you know, now it’s kind of like you got to watch this big screen here in front of you or this other monitor and it’s going to tell you when something goes out. And it’s like I, you know, I want to go off my gut, you know. I want to before I, you know, before I turn or I get 8 seconds behind somebody, I want to stop. I don’t want you stopping me. You know—

31:51 Give me the control. You know, if I run in the back of you and kill you, I’m the one going to prison, not the truck. You know what I mean?

31:59 Give me a little bit of that back. But I’m with the evolving. I don’t want to say I’m not like I’m with the evolving with the ELD and the man because I don’t want to last thing I want to be is one of them old drivers on that CB just talking about the new generation new technology. Don’t take me like that.

32:16 I got you.

32:17 But I want to involved. I’m just working as it works. You get what I mean?

32:21 Oh yeah. You still want to feel the independence of driving that big truck, that beautiful machine, but at the same time enjoying the benefits of the technology.

32:32 Right. Right.

32:33 Now, I had to ask you, I wanted to circle back to something you said about your seven-year-old son seeing you when you pull in—

32:41 With a deckload there and his eyes light up. What does that say to you as a father—

32:47 Man? For one, you know, next to my belief in God, my family is second important, you know. So, when I see my son, I love him to death. And when I’ve been gone two weeks, you know that it, man, it just means the world to me. And for him to see me in the life that he sees me in, he doesn’t know me in my wild 20s when I was just selfish and had no accountability. He doesn’t know that, man. He sees the hardworking accountable man, right?

33:20 So when I show up and he just lit up and all the kids in the neighborhood are looking at the trucks, I look at them as future truck drivers. Like, hey, giving them a goal, giving them something, you know, something to think about and he’s all, my dad drives at Peterbilt. He’s got a four-way and he knows the technology and, you know, he knows how to go over, oh, that’s a dry tire. That’s and he’s seven and he’s talking about certain things. They’re like, “How’d you know that?” Oh, and my dad told me, “Look, man, that’s an asshole.” You know, it’s like it I’m blown away. I’m like, and I’ll be talking to him in passing and you sometimes forget how a kid will look at you and what he enjoys. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah.

34:02 And it just means the world to me. Really, safely.

34:06 You know, that’s got to be a great feeling to see the glimmer in your seven-year-old son’s eyes. You know that’s dad driving those big trucks stacked together. And that’s my dad—

34:20 Right? Like I left Sunday at 5:30 in the morning, right? Got up at 5:30 and I was home for like three days and he didn’t want me to leave. He didn’t know I didn’t want to tell him I was leaving cuz he start he’s at that age now where he starts get kind of sad and I don’t like seeing him sad.

34:38 But I couldn’t just walk out the house and not tell him I’m leaving.

34:40 Right. So he’s next to our 90 lb pit bull and I go over and I tell him I said, “Bubba, I’m leaving.” He, “Oh, hang on. Let me go out with you.” I’m like, “Bub, it’s 5:30. It’s all right, Dad. I’ll go out there with you. We’ll do the truck check.” It’s like, “All right.” So I’m literally out there and he’s right beside me in his pajama. You know what I mean?

34:59 Doing the pre-trip inspection.

35:01 Yeah. Going over with me, raising the hood, you know? And it’s just something I’ll never forget. And I live in a residential neighborhood, but where I park my trucks at, it’s a big old culde-sac and no one messes with me and HLA leaves me alone. So, I’m the only one that parks down there and it’s a good safe spot. And but it’s about 100 yards from our house. And as I’m leaving, he’s running beside me the whole time. Do you know what I mean—

35:26 Right?

35:27 And I see him starting to cry, you know, and I stop the truck and I say, “Bubba, don’t cry. I’m just going to go make this money. I’ll be back.” If you better be back in a week, I’ll be counting them.” So, of course, I video chatted him last night and I said, “I ain’t going to make it till the 17th.” And he’s like, “Why?” And I told him, I said, “Look, brother, I just got to make this money.” I said, “It’d be over. I’ll be I’ll go home for I’ll be home for if I get home on the 17th, I’ll be home for two weeks. How about that?” All right. You know what I mean? So, it’s just it’s a bond. And it all goes back to I’ve been running so hard for four or five years. I never spent time with him. Last year was the first year I got involved in his football team and be there every day. Took two months off work and so it’s just part of that involving spending quality time or quality time need to be invested you know.”

36:17 Oh absolutely. How important is it to you when you’re on the road and like you said Bob making the money but you can still have that facetime with him through a FaceTime chat or on your phone. How important are those critical moments for you? Those crucial moments. Well, Mia, the loving father is very important. You know, we video chat in the morning, me and my wife and my son and at night and that’s really our only communication. Other than that, I’m not trying to be like a ball or nothing, but I need to be left alone when I drive and I need to be focusing on my job. If it if I’m not spoken speaking of somebody’s job related, I really ain’t answering the phone because my goal out here is to make as much money as I can, be safe and efficient and turn and burn—

36:58 Right? So I’m not you know now my wife calls me I answer you know I answer because I don’t know what’s going on at home but for the nutshell those two contacts are very important in the beginning and the end but it’s just part of it man being a trucker that’s just part of it and I and I’m blessed that my wife has our priorities straight I have mine straight and you know it ain’t like we started doing this yesterday and I would tell anybody you got to get into trucking whoever your partner is at home understand your roles and your responsibility— And if you can’t understand that concept, trucking is probably not going to work for you. You get what I mean?

37:34 I do. I totally understand what you’re saying. And you’re listening to Eric Ryan here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. It sounds like from what you’ve told us, Eric, you found that balance with the dog inside of you and being a loving father and a loving husband, supportive husband. Have you through your years and time and experience on the road, have you found that balance or are you still searching for it?

38:02 Well, I’m gonna say this. I think the next this whole year of 23 is going to find that for me because this year is going to be the year where I see because the finance are there now. You know, I’ve had five years of silent hard and now that sixth year is just really okay, let’s maintain now. You get what I’m saying? Let’s just focus on what do we got to have truly? What do you got to have a week? You know, a guy will tell you got to have two or three grand a week. Do you really got to have you can make that guaranteed running these dick loads—

38:40 But do you got to have it every week in on out? And if you do, you got problems, financial problems—

38:47 Right?

38:47 Well, we p we paved the way, man. Those financial hardships are over with now. And now let’s just maintain and enjoy. With that enjoyment, I’m going to go back to investing more quality time at home. You get what I’m saying? But I’m still like with this opportunity, I only got to go run one or two, three loads a month and I can go turn in. You know, now when Michael drops them bonuses, that’s a different story. Now I’m gonna go turn up and show up. You know, I’m glad you said that because I meant to double back on that. The bonuses. Tell us about the bonus that you’re striving for right now.

39:27 Okay. Well, we they name them different things and you know whatever they do, but—

39:32 I think it’s chestnuts now. Is it chestnuts?

39:35 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To get the bonuses that we qualify for out here, you’re going to have to run. There’s no question about it. I truly feel like it’s set up for the guys that are single or divorced or don’t have a really a home setting because if and if you do, it better be by one of our big hubs and you’re not going to spend a lot of quality time at home. I mean, but if the bonus was qualified for every driver, it’d be hard to get a bonus. You get what I’m saying? Oh, sure.

40:05 Yeah. So, you know, you got to sacrifice and there’s nothing wrong, but you’re sacrificing for the bigger pleasure of the bag. Well, I’m at 18 now. 18 is what you had to qualify. And I’m going to end with 21 or 22. Cuz I knew if I got out here and hustled, I’m going to make it worth my while. You know what I mean? H—

40:25 How much are you gunning for in this bonus? What’s the price?

40:28 21 or 22. 21 or 22—

40:31 On the break that down for me. Or for the people that may be listening that have that desire to get into driveaway trucking, break that down 2122. What that means.

40:42 Well, you got to have 18 to qualify for the bonus. Okay. But so I’m at 18 with this load that I’m on now and I want to get 21 or 22. That equals out to four grand if you get 18. Well, anything after 18 is 500 per load. So—

41:01 So you’re looking at five or $6,000.

41:04 Yeah. I’m trying to get I want my target is 556 grand. But we’ll just see what happens. When’s the de— When’s the deadline on that?

41:12 April and the 15th.

41:13 So, I understand more of what a lot more now that you’ve kind of given us some background and depth to it. I understand a lot more about our conversation last night. You’re ready to run. You’re driving right now. You got your head down. You’re pushing the miles through.

41:28 And just so you know, I had four in November. I had four in November and I said, “Okay, I’m about to turn up here real quick.” So from December till now is when I plowed away. You get what I’m saying?

41:40 Oh yeah. You went from four to—

41:41 Yeah. I’m an 18 now. But the blessing behind all that is they make it achievable for the guys. Here’s the good thing about North. Say you can’t turn and burn and you can’t hustle. Well, they make it set up for the guys who can’t that you’re not as quick, right? That you don’t know how to work. These customers are getting there or you don’t want to work at nighttime or you don’t want to get up early that you’re one of those guys, right? But you still want this bonus, they still make an avenue for you where it’s like, okay, well, if you go to the North Carolina yard yards or you go to Champlne, we’ll give you 1.25. So, let’s say there if all the chestnuts are worth one, right? And all the other yards, but then if you go to North Carolina or Champlain, they’ll worth 125.

42:28 Makes it worth your while.

42:30 Yeah. You can literally every fourth one on the fifth one it’s a free one. You get what I’m saying?

42:34 Oh yeah. So yeah, absolutely.

42:36 It’s really set up for you to win, you know? Now a lot of those are shorter runs, so you’re going to have to knock out two—

42:43 But you get that extra quarter point on each one—

42:46 And it matters in the long run. Like right now I’m at 18, but I’ve got three on me. You get what I’m saying?

42:52 Oh yeah.

42:52 So I’m good.

42:53 Yeah. Absolutely. Now, you said you came into this through family as far as into trucking. And, when is your birthday? You’re going to be 38 here pretty soon.

43:05 June 9th. Yes, sir.

43:07 June 9th.

43:08 Yes, sir. Now, let’s talk a little bit about I mean, it’s clear that you are a guy who is big on your family, loves your son, loves your wife, and yeah, through your time in driveaway trucking and being a deck driver, have you guys been able to experience something as a vacation or as a family that you would not have been able to take in or soak in otherwise? So that that’s a very good question. And you know, so like most people, right, and most truckers, you know, if you go back and listen to season one that I was on, right, you I’ll explain. I came over here struggling, right? I was in a financial spot.

43:58 So it took me years to get out of this hole, but it didn’t take long to get out of the hole. And with in return, you can enjoy life.

44:05 Mhm. So me and my family holes went on three or four or five different vacations and I’m going we’re going to Jacksonville in March to go see our family and we’re going to go down to the Everglades and ride on boat, you know, boats and do all that, you know. So we guaranteed every year take one vacation. Now we turned it up to two vacations.

44:24 I got a big time. And then now, you know, with last year being such a great success, being a coach for my son and football and taking off two months, I mean, I plan on this year taking off another two months for football and going to two different vacations and still making over 120 130,000 a year. I mean, that’s what taking off two months and going to two vacation. I mean, I’ve I wouldn’t be able to do this running my own company, you know, running my own trucking trailer, pulling a dry van, flatbed, step deck. You know, there’s only two other outlets that I think are successful in trucking. That’s heavy hauler bullhauling, right? But they have their own different things too about them. But this right here, this is where the money’s at, Jack. And this company here, hands down, will treat you right and take care of you. You know, you know, I just can’t say nothing bad about it. You know, it’s a financial blessing and the best thing about it is go on a vacation and not have to worry about the damn checkbook like that.

45:30 You know—

45:31 I gotta—

45:33 You can go to a vacation, spend all your money, and then go and go run one load and be right back good where you was. You know what I mean?

45:41 Don’t even feel it. No, I mean it’s like, okay, well, let me go work for four days and I’ll have 1,800 bucks or 2,800. You know what I mean? It ain’t like you’re going to earn it, but well, it’s four or five days. I mean, we get literally get paid every time we drop a load before 12. We’re guaranteed to get paid that day.

45:59 That’s a wonderful thing.

46:02 Yeah.

46:03 Now, in 23, here we are in January. Where’s the Ryan family going on vacation? Has that been planned yet or still up in the air?

46:12 Yeah. Yeah, we’re going to Jacksonville in March for spring break and then I don’t know what we’ll do in July. I don’t know what we’ll do then—

46:20 For the second vacation. That one hasn’t been planned yet.

46:24 No, no, I don’t know. We kind of think about doing one of those cruise things, but a lot of reviews on those just really overcrowded and it’s kind of chaos. So, I don’t know. But it looks appealing, you know. Would the seven-year-old go with you or—

46:40 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He We move as a unit.

46:44 I gotta— And we’ll probably take my seven-year-old mama with us on the next on the next vacation. Just let her get out and have fun, too. Yeah. I’m big on moving as a unit, you know.

46:56 I got you.

46:58 And now, how does the seven-year-old how does he feel about getting out? I mean, have you approached him with the possibility of a cruise?

47:06 Yeah, I haven’t said anything to him about it yet. I just brought it to my wife and she started looking into it. I know as soon as he sees the big slides and the arcades and all that, he’s going to be for it, you know, but he’s in. He’s in.

47:18 A lot of— Yeah, a lot of parents are saying it’s not really it’s more for the kids, but— Well, I mean, really, that’s what it’s for. That’s what it’s for. I’m not against it because I haven’t did it. We went to Gatlinburg last year and stayed in a really nice log cabin down there and that was an awesome experience.

47:36 Right. Right. Right. I got you. Now I wanted to kind of double back a little bit about the Biggie Eric Ryan here on the personal side here. Just before we came together here to talk to this evening, I was talking quickly with our CEO Michael Norton. Yeah. And you’d mentioned Michael and Justin, and Michael spoke very highly of you.

48:00 Oh, yeah. I was I respect him also, sir.

48:02 It’s a mutual feeling. I mean, that was clear to me when he spoke of you. How do you think you’re able to gain that kind of respect from your employer and from your peers out there on the road?

48:16 Honesty. It’s honesty. Michael knows. Whenever he asks me, I’m telling the Justin knows that. You know, Charles Lone knows that. LeBron knows that. You know, all these people I interact with through Norton, I’m telling them truth. And I’m a straight shooter. You know what I mean? And you got to own up to your mistakes. I remember like when I had first started, I just got trained and I didn’t get trained very well to be honest with you. And I left a saddle on a truck.

48:49 Mhm.

48:50 I was tired. I was rushing to get to the airport, just left the saddle on there. Well, PP heard about it and a customer complained and Michael got involved and he asked me, “Hey, man, what’s going on with that? We cannot do that.” I told him the truth. Said, “Man, I left it on there. Hard to get to my plane.” He’s like, “Well, don’t do that.” All right. I said, “All right, I hear you. I won’t do it again.” And to this day, I clean my area up. I help out other Norton drivers and other drivers, but mostly Norton drivers. I clean my area up cuz I don’t want no stain on my name.

49:19 Right. He took a chance on me to get Norton. I told him I would make him right and do him right. I’m forever grateful to get him this opportunity. This is hands down best opportunity I’ve ever had in my life. And I want to do everything in my power not to lose it. The only way I would ever leave Norton, it would have to be a family issue or unless they promoted me inside the company. I’m not I have no plans or desire to leave Norton.

49:46 Man, that that that’s great to hear. We certainly appreciate hearing that kind of feedback from the drivers that we have. You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eric Ryan sharing the wisdom, the insight, and the importance of honesty to him and how it plays out in his profession, his life as a father, as a husband, and as a driver for Norton Transport. Wanted to ask you this quickly. Eric, you’ve been in it for 10 years now. How long do you anticipate being in it?

50:21 Until I can’t hold the wheel no more. I’m just one of them, man. Either I’m going I’m either going to drive or I’m going to be running a show somewhere. I’m going to be doing something in the office somewhere pertain to trucking. Trucking, it’s just in my blood. I just can’t. I’m telling you, there’s a lot of us out here that that feel like the this is not just a job. This is a lifestyle for me, you know. This is a lifestyle to my core. Something about trucking will always be involved in my life. If I’m not driving it, I’m telling guys how to drive it, how to operate it, how to move it, how to pick the load up, you know. There’s so many different aspects of trucking and especially on the piggyback side and truck moving side that there’s never enough not to stop learning.

51:12 Right. So until I’m able, until God calls me to go away, I’m not going to stop what I enjoy doing. You know what I mean? So, you know, if I’m 70 80 years old and I can’t drive no more, well, this is what I enjoy. I don’t aspire to be a 70 year old man at this age of being 37. So, this is why I’m saying 37. Who knows when I get 70. Right.

51:37 Right. But at 70, I don’t aspire to just sit there and watch the TV every day.

51:43 I enjoy doing this. It’s it just it’s what I enjoy and I want to be around other people that enjoy doing this.

51:50 What about it do you like the most? Man, I guess on this side of it is driving the newer equipment, you know, and delivering, you know, when you deliver a $250,000 piece of equipment to that owner operator or that small mom and pop shop or even to these mega Peterbilt Kim Worth Freightliners, they’re excited.

52:14 Oh yeah.

52:15 You know, they want this. They want this unit. You know—

52:19 It’s kind of like you’re a Santa Claus of the highway—

52:23 In a sense. Yeah. I mean, you’re taking this like right now. I literally I This is no lie. I backed in this three-way into this parking spot here at this flying jet. I had about five drivers looking at me and they were looking cuz I’m a three-way backing into a down parking spot next to two drive.

52:44 You get what I mean?

52:45 Oh, yeah. And they, you know, they’re looking for one, this wasn’t easy. It took me about five minutes to get back in here, but I got it in there. For two, I got three brand new Kors on here. You know what I mean? And I’m paranoid since I’ve been here for almost an hour and no one’s came up and asked me, “How do you get this job?” You know what I mean?

53:05 Well, yeah. Cuz that’s what most drivers do.

53:07 You’re moving more than threequarters of a million dollars is in your hands right now—

53:13 Right? It’s the joy I get out of it.

53:15 How big of a responsibility is that?

53:18 It’s huge. It’s huge to me when I go to Denton and I pick up them 389 and I got a pull away and I know I got about a million dollars going down the road and they’re to catch me out of the road and I’m rolling down the road. You know, just the drivers alone will get out of my way cuz they see me coming to a truck stop, you know, or I go to a hotel. It’s a conversation. Hey, where are those going? What’s that? Blah blah blah. Oh, is that a new one? It just that little bit of last joy that you get doing this. I didn’t get that joy pulling a drive in. I didn’t get that. It was hauling macaroni and cheese, hauling newspapers, whatever. You get what I mean?

53:57 Oh, yeah.

53:57 There’s it.

53:59 It’s still the I still get the excitement is what I’m saying of doing what I’m doing. And I hope that desire never leaves me because that’s what really keeps me pushing. Not to be presumptuous, but I have to ask this question. You’re 37 years old. You’ve been in it for 10 years. Do you feel like right now this is the top of the game?

54:21 Well, honestly, no. And I’m going to tell you why it ain’t. So, this time last year, I was weighing 487 lbs. Right now, to date, I weigh 330.

54:30 Oh, nice. I am right now getting into my peak and I don’t even think I’ve touched it yet because my goal weight is 255, right?

54:40 Mhm.

54:41 So, and I’m going to get there and I’m going to be there before May. That’s my goal or June. We’ll just say June. So, I am working my body out. I’m mentally strong. I’m spiritually strong. And right now, I’m getting physically strong. I’ve seen a huge improvement just in the way I undeck by getting all that extra weight and garbage off of me.

55:03 So, I’m excited. I’m really I mean this I’m excited to see what the next 5 10 years holds for me.

55:10 How are you doing it?

55:11 Well, truthfully, sir, I went and did my two-year physical right.

55:15 Mhm.

55:16 Around February. And I’ll go to the same DT doctor, old man. And I don’t go to doctors. I’ll go to a dentist, but I won’t go to doctors. I just don’t want to fool with them. Right.

55:26 Mhm.

55:27 Well, he told me the truth and he said, “Look, Eric,” he said, “you’re 487 lbs.” He said, “I don’t know how you don’t have high blood pressure, high all this stuff.” He’s naming off diabetes. He said, “I’m going to pass you on this physical, but you really need to focus on your weight.” You know, mind you, I’m a headstrong individual, right?

55:46 I think I can outwork anybody, and if I can’t, I’m going to give it 110 and I’m going to show you I can’t, right? And I don’t feel like no man can beat me because that’s just the mentality I have. Yes, there’s people better than me. Yes, there’s people that do and I know that I’m not a fool, right?

56:02 But I’m not going to let myself nothing hold me back.

56:05 Well, the fool inside me didn’t realize I was 487 lbs. Yeah, I’m 6’4 and I carried myself big, but I just didn’t realize the impact I had, you know. And when he told me like I got a mark on here obese, he’s like when I see you in two years I need to see a big improvement and I would tell you that you need to do you need to change now. Have you thought about weight loss surgery? Now here’s where the blessing comes in. Working for Norton, I got three different checking accounts. Right.

56:40 Right.

56:40 But one of them I try not to touch. It’s what I call an emergency fund. It’s got about 12,000 sitting over there. Normally don’t mess with it. That’s what generally I put that for like taxes and not messing around. I said, “Okay, a lot of things we do in this world is financially moved, right?”

56:56 Well, I thought I to lose some weight. I lost 50 lbs of my own. Right.

57:00 Right.

57:01 All cool, cool. Cut off the sugar, cut off the breads, cut off the greasy, all this truck stop crap. I started looking at weight loss. Right. And I seen a program they had in Kijiji, Mexico, and they wanted $6,800. $1,800 for the surgery. You got to fly down there, blah blah blah. So, I booked the first class ticket. Flew down there, had surgery, came back. I went down there wearing 428 and now I weigh 330. Right.

57:29 That’s money.

57:29 It’s really knocked off. Listen, sir, and I’m gonna be honest with you. It’s a game changer because, you know, I’ve always been a big guy, 275, 300 lb, but I just didn’t realize how bad I was neckly infecting my life. And then, you know, when you get around other people, you don’t really see things. And I’m just I have a pride about me. I hold myself chin up everywhere I go.

57:55 Just didn’t realize how bad I’d let myself go. Right. And that’s the truth about it. I just let myself go. I was winning financially, winning physically, winning the mentally, but physically I was letting myself go. And I just had a enough of it. Right. Right.

58:10 And I said, “You know what, man? Enough’s enough.” And if I wasn’t financially stable, I couldn’t have made that decision for one, and two, I don’t care how people say, “Well, you got to go weight los.” I don’t care what you think of me, buddy. I’m doing this for me and my generation behind me.

58:26 You get what I mean? And I want to live 60 or 70. When that doctor told me, man, you’re very close of having diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, he thought I probably should put you on a sleep apnea machine. It man, it tore me down.

58:44 Mhm.

58:44 You know, I was like, what?

58:46 I’m a hardwork. What do you do?

58:49 Yeah. And I, you know, my wife, my mom, people I respect, you know, I’ve always been a big guy. And some people just don’t know how to approach me. You get what I’m saying? So, they don’t want to tell me my flaws. And that’s probably a lot of it. But I had to realize, hey, let’s get this in order. So, when I see you, when I do come see you, and that’s going to be soon cuz I’m going to come up there and get a picture of my big check.

59:13 Oh, yeah.

59:14 You know, this is me and I and I’m still working on me. And that’s a beautiful thing about life. We need to be growing and evolving in all aspects of our life to be better for the ones we love. Cuz eventually our ticket is going to be punched. And when it gets punched, you ain’t taking nothing with you. But I want to leave a legacy and I want to speak people to speak good of me. You know what I mean? And I care about that now.

59:39 I care about that now being 37. But I know that I it’s something I got to work on to do better. You get what I mean? So, I got to tell you, Big E, because the people that I’ve talked to internally here who know you better than I do think very highly of you, and that speaks well of you. We’re proud of you and what you’ve done and the steps you’ve taken for longevity in your own life and the things you do for us. I mean, so you are definitely doing the right things—

1:00:10 Right? And you know like I you know I talked to a buddy of mine who’s physically fit and all that and I told him I was going to do it. He said if you do that I’m going to look at you different and I said look buddy I don’t care. I said there’s nothing wrong with getting a tool to help you. You know what I mean?

1:00:27 Mhm.

1:00:28 And you know some people just don’t understand they’re still in that mind frame like as a man when you reach out for help there’s something wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong in my opinion for another man reaching out for help. There’s nothing wrong with being smart—

1:00:43 Right? We have— We do not have it figured out. And that’s my problem. For a lot of years, bullheaded and stubborn, right? Thought I had it figured out. No, man. I have flaws and I know I need to work on things. And you might have everything else balanced out, but my weight was a factor, you know, and when you can’t even get your ass off the ground or struggling to tie your shoe, that’s a problem, Jack. And it would come in my brain. Oh, dang. Struggling here. But I just would push through.

1:01:12 Mhm.

1:01:13 Every night when I stop, I try to run half a mile or jog half a mile. I’m doing my cardio. I’m eating. So, I’m working with this tool that I have. I’m not just letting it do everything. I’m being selective about what I eat. I’m getting the right protein. I’m eating the right grains because I want to be there for my wife and son like they’re there for me. And I don’t want to dishonor them. You know, if I’m being truthful with you and I want people to look at me how I feel inside. Inside, I feel like I’ve got it figured out and I’m working to get it figured out. I don’t want to look at them. You know, I know this is kind of going off beat here.

1:01:51 I just want to be the best I can be and I want to work on my flaws. And I still have a lot of flaws, but I’m trying to do better. And my biggest thing about me was my weight. And I encourage any man or woman listening to this, save your money up and get the surgery if you cannot beat this own device. That’s, you know, I struggled with it. It was a struggle of mine. If you can’t beat it, there’s help out there.

1:02:18 Well, that’s awesome. You made that life-changing decision and you’re moving forward with it. You said you run every night.

1:02:25 Yeah, like right be like, you know, we spoke to you at 5:55. I got here at 4:40 and the little truck stop after that back then. Yeah. I ran five laps. Well, dog I call it a walk, jog run, you know what I mean?

1:02:38 Keep moving. Keep moving—

1:02:39 Because I’m in— Yeah, I’m in transition here with my big body, you know? So, but my body is adapting well. I mean, 150 lbs ain’t nothing to joke about losing. So, my body is like, “Come on, let’s go.” So, I’ll start out at a walk and then I jog and then I’ll run and get that old heart rate up moving, turning and burning. Then when I hit a hotel, if it has a I’m a tight wad, so if they don’t have the facility, you know, little workout, I’ll just try to knock out some push-ups. And I’m not ashamed to tell you I can do five push-ups, but you know, at least I’m working at it, you know, and I’m trying to do better and that’s all that matters to me.

1:03:15 That’s awesome, man. That is fantastic. That’s great to hear that news from Eric Ryan, Big E, as we know him here. That’s your handle, Big E.

1:03:24 Yeah, they’re g they’re going to start calling me Big Slim. I’m keep messing around. They’re going to start calling me Big Slim.

1:03:28 Big Slim’s next. Big Slim is next. Wanted to ask you this Eric, before we wrap up here this evening. You were talking about, you know, you’re in a great position financially, you’re in a great position with your family, spiritually, and you’re working on the physical aspect of it. When you bring that all together, you’re in a good position for a great 2023.

1:03:52 What would you say to someone out there who may hear this episode who has not been in driveaway trucking but may be thinking about it? Give them your sales pitch. What would you say?

1:04:03 Stop procrastinating and come on. Come over here. Run these fingles. Start learning customers. Start learning less Ubers’s rental cars. Okay? Start learning how to budget your money. Start at the ground. Start to the ground up. That’s what I would tell everybody. Knock out the groundwork first. Learn the basics and then come over here and get one of those good trainers. Me and go, you know, anybody, you know, Charles Mcome—

1:04:33 And get trained the correct way, the Norton way, what I call it.

1:04:38 And then hit the ground running and change, man. We’re here. We ain’t going nowhere. We’re a big dog now. We ain’t going nowhere, baby. Come over here. Get you some. Quit waiting. You know, you want to make big money, we are here. We need drivers. We want quality drivers. So, when you make that jump, know that this is a lifestyle change. We are not swinging doors over here. Okay. So, I that’s what I would tell everybody. Just come on. Stop waiting.

1:05:10 Fantastic. Thank you so much, Eric Ryan, the big E, soon to be the big slim E joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eric, I’m going to shut up on my side here. Anything else that we may not have covered.

1:05:26 No, sir. I want to say thank I appreciate your time and you have a wonderful night, boss.

1:05:31 All right, Eric, thank you so much. Be careful out there on the rest of your transport and thank you so much for joining us. I’m sure we’ll hear from you again.

1:05:40 Different.

1:05:41 All right, have a good evening.

1:05:49 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.