00:05 I’m guaranteed a income that I can do whatever I need to do. I don’t have to ask nobody for nothing. I’m always straight. I’m always taken care of. And I’m always long as I can drive, I can make good money. And that’s I can’t even put words on that because I come from a situation in life where I had to struggle a lot. I had to do everything on my own. So being a guy that everybody call for help now. Yeah, it’s a blessing. I would say it’s truly a blessing.

00:36 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.

00:56 Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Six-Figure Trucker. We have with us tonight Andre Parrish. Andre Parrish is one of our drivers here at Norton Transport. We’re lucky to have him. Great guy. Andre, welcome aboard.

01:12 Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate Glad to be here.

01:14 Now, Andre, tell us a little bit. We’re going to start with a little bit of background about Andre Parrish. How old are you, Andre? If you don’t mind asking. I’m what you call a nifty50. I’m 50 years old.

01:26 That’s kind of a milestone birthday. So, what did you guys did you celebrate with family and friends when you got back from driving?

01:33 No, not really. Not this year.

01:36 Now, do you plan some big birthdays down the road for yourself?

01:39 Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I got some celebration. Matter of fact, I’m planning a getaway for myself right now.

01:47 Can you elaborate on us? Tell us where you’re going, what you’re going to do, how long you going to be there.

01:52 I’m going down to Mexico.

01:54 Oh—

01:55 I’m going down there and I’m going to sleep for about three days and then have some fun for about four and then come back.

02:03 Gotcha. What part of Mexico?

02:05 Probably go down to I haven’t been to Tijuana yet, but there is a spot over by like a little beach area. I can’t think of the name right now, but I was thinking about going there.

02:15 Gotcha.

02:16 A little town over there. Now, are you going to work on your way down there or how you going to coordinate that with your driving schedule?

02:23 You know, it’s so good the way it’s set up. I mean, it’s really open. Like, well, probably what I’ll do is just work up to the time I get ready to leave and just take off.

02:34 Gotcha. Get your load plan laid out.

02:37 Yeah. Well, I just probably what I’ll do is I’ll just work and then I just till I get the money together that I want and I’ll just take off to around that time cuz I’m thinking about the middle week in July, you know. So, cuz I do a lot with my family on the 4th and have a lot of family gettogethers and stuff. So, I’ll probably wait to do it in the middle because I want to go in the summer.

03:00 I got you. I got you. Now, you said get the money together. Now, speaking of getting the money together, obviously this episode, this chat we’re having together is a Six-Figure Trucker. Now, I’m assuming you and I talked earlier today in person working on the road, doing the driveaway trucking business. It’s been good for you. Tell me a little about that.

03:20 It’s been good. I It’s literally changed my life in a lot of ways. I mean, because even though it takes a little more, you know, of self starting and everything like that, it gives me more time to just pretty much make my own schedule. I see— Well, you can see most of United States driving a regular truck. But—

03:43 Oh, yeah.

03:44 When it comes to his transport though, it’ll put you all over.

03:47 Oh, yeah.

03:47 I got literally been all over the place. My income is jumped up there. Right now, Andre, you said you mentioned there a little bit about digging deeper into yourself. Kind of explain what that means as far as I guess is that motivation, inspiration. How would you explain that?

04:08 If I drive with a company, okay, and I’m a regular like employee, they tell you black guy say, “Oh, I get to pick.” No, they pick pretty much what you do. They ride you, you know, pretty much they do they decide what loads you get, how you do them, you know, they it’s sort of like lightweight babysitting in a way—

04:31 Right?

04:32 I mean, but when it comes to deck driving and even as a singles driver, you know, you have to manage your own money, you know, you have to manage that money. You have to manage the time. You know, I tell people all the time, hey, I got to get up. I gotta leave by, you know, like say I might have to leave by seven. I might tell people, hey, I gotta leave by seven o’clock and go to bed. We’re gonna leave by seven. I thought you own boss. Yeah, I’m my own boss, but still I have to set the ground rules for myself because you know, you still got to be responsible. So, basically, you’re being more responsible for yourself versus somebody else.

05:08 That sounds like some good advice for everyone. Now, you talked about setting that schedule, and from what I was hearing from you in driveaway trucking for Norton Transport—

05:20 It sounds to me, if I understand this correctly, you have more freedom to make your own choices.

05:28 Oh, yeah. You have more freedom to make your own choices because you might— Okay. Like, for instance, I was just on the road, you know, most of the time. Go home when I need to get, go home. So, like for instance, I need to take care of things for me personally and I need to kind of change my schedule up. So, I’m changing my schedule up and doing some things differently, you know, here and there where I couldn’t just do that if I was working with a company where they assign me a truck—

05:57 Right?

05:58 They would give me problems, you know, if I say, “Well, I want to do local.” Well, I would have to go through so many hoops and change, especially if I’m you’re a good driver. Say you’re a good driver, you get there 30 minutes, 30 minutes to 45 minutes ahead of time to pick up and deliver, they got no problems with you, you know, you just driving a truck. Oh, they’re not going to want to let you do that. You see what I’m saying? Versus in driveaway, if you decide you need to drive singles for a while, you know, because you want to be home every week, you know, they’ll let you do that. You got your own schedule. If you want to stay out here and just see home whenever then you know you can do that. You have complete control over your lifestyle in this trucking game and it that’s the beauty of it.

06:45 Andre Parrish joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. Andre, tell us, you know, you kind of laid that out there very nicely, but how important is it to you in driveaway to have that kind of flexibility where you can switch from, say, doing some deck driving and then bam, pick up a singles, it may put you back where you want to go or where you want to pick up your next one. How important is that to you to have that flexibility?

07:09 Well, for me, it’s super important. It affects your paycheck too as well, you know, because if you’re able to if you just stuck in one D. Okay. So, when I got in the deck or at in transport, I a lot of guys at first they made more than I did because they stuck with one little routine and they just that’s what they did and they didn’t go do nothing different. Me, I just focus on the money. A focus on learning the skill set, learning how to manage my money, learning like what loads not to take, what loads to take, when to do a favor, when not to do a favor. I spent the time learning the learning, I guess they call it, learning the game—

07:52 Right?

07:53 And I listen to drivers who have been doing this longer than me. I still listen to drivers tell me other drivers that or I should say, you know, contractors to tell me, “Hey, man, you need to try this out. You need. I mean, I’ve done I did singles for a while. Did decking, went back to singles, went back to decking. I did deck use. You know, I feel like every deck driver, if he want to be want to consider one of the best deck drivers, he needs to go do six deck use for at least six months.”

08:22 It’s a rich fabric what you were talking about there doing the singles, doing the decking, which loads to take, which loads not to take. How do you evaluate that when you’re out there? You’re like, “This is what I want. This is what I don’t want.” And you were also talking about a very key point for me working back here at Norton Transport. Doing a favor.

08:44 Maybe it’s time to do a favor because you know the way we look at it, you do a favor. We’ll return it to you later.

08:51 Well, it is it goes back to the— Okay. So, one thing you got to understand this is not you’re not a driver. You’re self-o you’re—

09:03 Self-employed—

09:05 And so you have to do things based on that. So like for instance I might see a load and it’s paying great but the load going to deliver me in the middle of nowhere and I’mma get there by Friday evening. You see what I’m saying? That’s definitely the wrong load to take because everybody goes home on Friday and a lot of drivers like man nor be closed on it. But some say it ain’t just nor might be the delivery spot—

09:36 Right? I mean—

09:37 Is there a event going on in town? See, you need to know all of those things. So, you have to look at the elements that surrounding the situation. So like you if you know that you need to be in a good spot so that you can move and get you something to work through the weekend, you have to base your lows, take your lows based off of where you want to be at the by the end of the week. If that makes sense.

10:02 Oh, it makes perfect sense. Let’s say on Friday you want to close up. You want to be in a major city. Not necessarily a major city, but something that has, you know, rental cars, an airport, something there. But on the other side, when you’re taking a favor, you’re like, “Okay, I’ll take this one to, I don’t know, say North Platte, Nebraska, there’s nothing coming out.”

10:24 But you take that short, I mean, you take that tough run and you know down the road you’re going to get a good one. Is that something you look at as far as taking the favor, giving it back? I mean, you wash my back, I wash your back kind of thing. Well, when it comes to that is I look at favors like it’s building relationship. Everybody come through the you know and then like a lot of people look at stuff like you said you know going somewhere is I mean a favor is a favor. You know what I’m saying? If they call and I know that I can do it. I mean I say okay I got you. I’m going take care of you. Sometimes it put me in a bind. But I use favors like if I’m doing something for the company, that’s my way of showing the company that, hey, you know what? I’m here, you know, I’m here for not just the benefit of to get paid. I’m here to build the comp your company as well. And when they see that, okay, well, we can count on, you know, we can count on him to look out for us, then they’ll take care of you—

11:22 Right? You know—

11:28 I just was listening to what you said there. You really touched on a key word, relationship. And you know, we were talking about the different relationships that you have because you work obviously on the road. You stay in contact with the drivers. You guys obviously share information about what you want to do, what you don’t want to do. But talk about let’s kind of drill down on your relationship with a dispatcher. How much does that mean to you?

11:54 Oh, my relationship with my to me a dispatcher is everything. If you got a good relationship with your dispatcher or your dispatcher has a good y’all have a good relationship. I mean it if it’s like a flow, you know, it just keeps going. It’s no hangups. You know what I’m saying? If you I mean like me personally, I tell my dispatcher everything because what you got to understand is your dispatcher is your voice in the office. Right.

12:22 If you lose your voice, can’t nobody know what’s going on in your head. So, like I tell my I take care of my dispatcher. Like I tell her in a minute, I might tell them something that happened. I call it and it really didn’t b. I just want you to know cuz you know I ain’t going to leave you in the dark. You need to know because a lot of times a company will go to your dispatcher and ask them questions that your dispatcher can handle. And then that way you don’t need to stop what you’re doing, you know, because you know, you out here, you up under these trucks. You trying to get these trucks decked and your undecked and everything so you can get signed off so you get that paperwork sent in and your phone ringing every five minutes. You had that good dispatcher situation. She they going to he or she they going to take care of you. You’ve been looking for a certain load and you’ve been doing all you can and you know your dispatcher she oh yeah give that to me. I got somebody they’ll snatch it up for you. I mean, I’ve even told dispatchers, “Hey, if this load come through, just don’t even call and ask me. Just put it on me.”

13:20 Right. Right.

13:21 You already know what I want. Just put it on me.

13:24 You know, we had the pleasure of you stopping in the office here earlier today here at Norton Transport and that was a pleasure for me and it was pleasant to see you and I think you had shared with me who your dispatcher is and it’s is it Brittany?

13:38 Yes. Yes, Britney is my new dispatcher.

13:40 Now, have you had a chance to build a rapport with Britney? I think we got a good report, me and Britney. You know what I’m saying? We have a pretty good report. Yeah. It’s just, you know, we getting started. Well, yeah, Britney’s good people.

13:53 Oh, she’s very good people. I mean, working with Britney, she’s a KG veteran. She knows how it is. And you know what you were talking about, I mean, from my standpoint coming in as an account manager, nobody knows the drivers better than the dispatchers, and the drivers know the dispatchers better than anyone else. It’s like a— It’s almost like you’d say your work husband or your work wife. I mean, would you agree with that?

14:18 Right. Right. Exactly. And I mean, you know, they could be a good work wife or they could be a divorce work. Hey, they could put they could throw a sock in your plan or they could, you know, boost you up and make you king of the hill. And dispatcher is everything, you know. I don’t play with my dispatchers, you know, and sometimes it’s good to reward them, you know. You know, they not asking, but you know, just let them know, hey, I appreciate what you do and you know, you know, communicate with me.

14:55 What do you expect from your dispatcher and what do you expect from yourself to give to the dispatcher? I expect for my a dispatcher. I expected first of all, I expect my dispatcher to be honest with me whether it’s good or bad. Let me know what’s going on because I can properly handle and take care of things when I know what’s going on. Two, I expect my dispatcher to look out for out for me and not try to cheat me. You know what I’m saying? Like if it’s certain amount of money on the load or whatever and she give me extra or whatever, don’t just like give me the bare minimum all the time. You know, don’t let me be the last in the in class when it comes to getting the financial rewards when I got a guy on the other side and he don’t work as hard as I do and don’t put in good work and he’s getting making more money because this dispatch is taking good care of him—

15:51 Right?

15:52 You know, and in reward for that, you know, ain’t nothing I won’t do for you. You know what I’m saying? And I’m going to first of all, I’m going to make sure that the loads get picked up, delivered on time. I’m going to cover you the best I can, you know, and going back to those favors. I mean, I’ve had a couple dispatchers if the company needed me to do something, they’ll tell my dispatcher, hey, ask Andre, will he go take this over? Because they know I’m gonna do it for—

16:20 Right?

16:20 You know, probably any one of them called, I’d have been like, no, I don’t think I can do it. But if they call me, you know, like especially like Jessica was my last inspector. If Jessica asked me to come to the shop and clean off the parking lot, I’ll probably go do it for her, you know.

16:35 She’s good. She’s good. Yeah, Jessica’s a good one.

16:38 Yeah. Now, you were talking about—

16:40 Yeah, but I’m just Go ahead.

16:41 Oh, no, no, no. I didn’t want to cut you off there, but you were talking about it’s a two-way street. I mean, you know, you’ve kind of laid out what you expect from the dispatchers, but they also build that trust in you. Because I mean they’re like, “Hey, Andre is going to deliver.” How important it is is it to you to have that kind of trust relationship with your dispatcher.

17:05 It’s very important because if you just want to get down to the b nuts and bare bones of it, it’s your fin affects your finances. If the company can trust the fact that no matter what’s going to happen, you’re going to be a man on the job to hell and they don’t have to sweat. Oh man, that speaks loads. You know what I’m saying? And so that gives you more back to your I want to do this, I don’t want to do that. The company work, which I had it, just for instance, I had a load I was taking and for somehow it was a Z-wing and a little scarf got wrapped up, snatched off, and the fl mud flap got snapped and broke. Okay, I knew I could fix that. A lot of drivers be like, I ain’t doing that. It’s breakdown and they going to pay me and they’ll just sit there. Not me. I went to Pet Pro, took off what I could and packed it up, got a new mud flap, fixed it up, put it together, and got on Highway Bounce and took pictures and sent it to my dispatcher.

18:03 I’m going to tell you from Norton Transport, that’s appreciated to take that kind of initiative and do that because it’s not always how other drivers would treat that. And, you know, I’m sure that everyone here at Norton Transport appreciates that initiative that you took. And why do you do something like that? Why would you take the initiative?

18:26 Well, you know what? I’m going even take it off of, you know, showing the company. If I’m trying to get this load there by tomorrow to deliver and I got a couple of other loads planned and I know that if I don’t get this particular load out the way, it’s going to cost me 1,500 on my pay for this week. But because nine times out of 10 I got to call for them. They got to find somebody to help me. They got to get it authorized. Then I got to get Norton. Got to find out what’s going on. And then by the time it’s done, that 15minute job will have taken 4 and a half hours.

19:05 Yeah.

19:05 My drive time is over by the day. But if I take the initiative myself, get it done, take care of, and I’m gone. Like you say, you can save yourself 15 $2,000. We ain’t talking about no small change. He talking about, you know, big savings. And I just put that on. That’s the first thing. The second thing far as deal for the company wise, you’re showing the company that, hey, you know what I’m saying? If I’m doing that, when I make a phone call, say I have a problem, the attitude to helping me is totally different because they like if Andre calling us, it’s really a problem. And then they’ll work harder to help me versus if I’m somebody calling every day cuz a light bulb went down. You know, you could take your paper clip or something, you know, they, you know, so if they got to always babysit you like, you know, a baby, it kind of I mean, they going to look out for you, but it kind of throws say being a p being an initiative person and somebody that’s like, “Look, I got this.”

20:07 It said, it speaks volume.

20:09 I mean, that kind of goes back to, you know, we may need a favor from you. You do something like that, we owe you a favor for a good long run. Something that’s gonna, you know, put some Benjamins in your pocket.

20:23 There you go. There you go.

20:25 Now, how long?

20:27 Oh, no, no, no. You go, Andre. You were— You had a good thought in mind there.

20:30 No, I was just saying I was getting ready to say too, sometimes it ain’t always the long runs. A lot of guys don’t want to take them little short runs, but little money add up. You know what I’m saying? I mean, and if I take a smaller run for you and I do a couple of them and I’ve been wanting this one run, then you know that gives you leverage. Hey, wait a minute now. Remember all that I did over there? Come on, you know.

20:56 Now, you know, you made a good point. Short runs are not always a bad thing. Short runs in the right place. Short runs are good money. Good money turnaround on a short run, it’s a time and money thing. It’s like, well, I can make this in a day.

21:09 Right. Right. You know, if you got a running, you know, you going to clear, say you going to clear 650, but you know, it’s going to really be like a day in the morning. You like, let’s clear $650.

21:21 Yeah, exactly.

21:26 Let’s talk a little bit about the life of Andre Parrish. Now, you told me, you shared with me you’ve been driving. Again, refresh me. How long have you been driving? How long have you been driving with Norton Transport and doing driveaway? I’ve been I got my CDL 2015. I’ve been in trucking for 12 years, but then I started in 2015 and got my CDLs and I drove for a couple years. Then I got into this business four years ago. Yeah. What about driveaway has opened your eyes the most, I guess, compared to your other time within that 12 years of in the trucking industry alto together? What about driveaway has opened your eyes the most? I what I love about drive driveaway is freedom and I mean I’m not you know I’m not sleeping in no truck you know I go get a hotel room you know I have to walk a country mile to the to get to the bathroom you know in the middle of the night you know what I’m saying I don’t have to I mean I like to travel I mean that’s all we do is driveaway is travel you know I’m in a plane I’m in the airport at least twice a week.

22:45 You know, I just kept seeing, you know, I was doing flatbed work before I got into this. And you know, a lot of times you running into the fuel station and you run in a fuel stop and you just you try to get in, get out. You, you know, you halfway dirty cuz you climbing always climbing, checking the load, and you got this guy in some jeans with gold necklace on and some tennis and he just taking his time and the truck ain’t seen a speck of dirt. You like, what is he doing? You know, and I used to always look at that. That goes back to what I was saying. We all doing the same job work, but we making drastically different pay.

23:21 Exactly. Andre, I’m listening to every word you’re saying here. And if I’m hearing you correctly—

23:27 Driveaway provides you a different level of not just freedom, but also comfort on the road. I guess you could say, mixed with a little luxury.

23:37 Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I mean, it bumps your status up. Like a lot of us drivers, we fly first class. And people think, “Okay, why you fly first?” No, because every time I miss a connecting flight, cost me $2,000. Like once again, like I told you before, this is business. Now, I don’t fly class all the time, but I’m saying if I know it’s the beginning of the week and I got to get this load, but I miss a connected flight, which I mean, I couldn’t pick up I get do my pickup. So now it’s gonna push me back a day and a half. Then that load that I was going to get after that for the week is gone.

24:16 You see what I’m saying?

24:17 Oh yeah.

24:18 It’s gone because I’m stuck on this little bit. Especially if it’s— Oh, don’t let it be a little bitty load. You know what I’m saying? You still got to do that load, you know? And then by the time you get there and everybody’s right. Yeah. So, so but it’s called business. That’s why it’s called business class. You know what I’m saying? And so I mean these are things I learned, you know, as I was doing driveaway. Another reason I had these I’m out here undecking and some of the trucks had some parts on it that I didn’t have the tools for and this big and this driver that been out here for a while, he had all these extra tools and we got the job done. I was like, “Oh my god.” And we was in a place you couldn’t just run and go get no tool—

25:00 Right?

25:00 You was stuck. And I was like, “Oh my god.” And I said, “Man,” and he I said, “But your bag is heavy.” He said, “No.” He said, “I paid the extra money so that way I don’t have problems.”

25:13 Exactly.

25:13 And I sat back and I thought about that because he invested it’s like reinvested in yourself. Basically, he took the— Yes, it’s going to cost me a little extra money, but I’m gonna be able to get the job done more efficiently—

25:28 When that—

25:28 I’m going look good, too. I mean, when it pops up, if it does pop up, which any truck driver out there knows it’s going to pop up as far as something may happen and you need those tools and you know, you were talking about you put a lot of study into that and a lot of thought into it. When you’re talking about how much I mean, our guys fly and you fly quite a bit. I mean, is that something you’ve put into practice? Is like, “Okay, maybe I should pack some tools, pay the extra for the check-in bag at the airport.”

26:01 Mhm. Is because the thing about it is you want to be effective. You want to be the guy they know that if they need to get something done cuz it ain’t always a favorite. You know what I’m saying? A lot of times it’s a brand new account. Pays pretty good to the company and the driver, but we got to make sure we give it to somebody we can count on that’ll get the job done.

26:23 Gotcha. Andre Parrish. I mean, I was just going to say Andre Parrish, he gets the job done here on the Six-Figure Trucker and absolutely. You know, we’re glad to have you with us and you’ve been a very successful driver with us. Of course, the name of this series is the Six-Figure Trucker, and you talked about going down to Mexico for about a week just kicking back and reflecting and relaxing. How has that changed your life moving into driveaway trucking and the amount of income you’re able to acquire and to see the benefits of that? How has that changed your life?

26:58 Well, it changed my tax bracket. I definitely can say that it put me where I wanted to go and I’m in a situation where like okay once again you know I’m 50 you know so I have to think about you know what my moves have to count you know and so like with this particular lifestyle if I do nothing else even though I got a lot of other stuff planned but if I say you know what I’m tired I’m just going to do this I’m guaranteed a income come that I could do whatever I need to do. I don’t have to ask nobody for nothing. I’m always straight. I’m always taken care of. And I’m always long as I can drive, I can make good money. Unless I can’t put a I can’t even put a words on that because I come from a situation in life where I had to struggle a lot. I had to do everything on my own.

27:52 So being a guy that everybody call for help now, yeah, it’s a blessing. I would say it’s truly a blessing. I wouldn’t. I’m pretty much stuck. I don’t think I can. I mean, if I when I go and help somebody or drive a truck for somebody, oh, I have a price tag now—

28:09 Right?

28:10 You know—

28:10 The tables have turned.

28:12 I got you. Let’s talk a little bit about that if you’re comfortable with it. About You talked about—

28:17 Oh, yeah.

28:18 You came from a place where you had to struggle a little bit, but now things are different. The tables have turned as you said—

28:25 People depend on you. Take us in a little bit into the life of Andre Parrish. Your family, do they turn to you? Are you expected to be the source of reason? Tell us a little bit about that that’s come about because you’ve been a successful driver on the road. Well, I’m I have a very big family, you know, and you know, for instance, we had family inherited property and things like that, and I was the guy that everybody looked at like, we don’t know about this guy, you know, but now I’m the guy that my parents depend on, you know, I’m the one to get the phone calls, you know, because, you know, I’m stable. I have a financial stability, you know, and I wanted that because, you know, because of who I am and what I believe, my religious belief, a man is supposed to be able to take care of his elders. He’s supposed to take care of his family. And I’m able to do driveaway makes that able for me to do that. I mean, I’m in the six figures now.

29:27 I’ve been in the six figures since I started. And I mean, it’s amazing. I can do things for my I’m actually buying a home and I’m actually supporting some property in my mother’s home, my family home in another state in two different separate states. And to be able to do that is just like oh my god that’s, you know, that’s great. And then you know if you ain’t got the money right away, you say, “Well, how much I need?” Oh, 1,500. All right, cool. No problem. Now get on the phone with Hey, Britney, I need this load over here. Let me get this load. And boom, it’s there. You know, you know, it’s that simple. Or just hit the load board. Let me check. I do this one, then I grab this one. Ah, yeah. I need a little extra. Yeah, that give me some extra.

30:15 All right. You know, I mean, you don’t have that careers, you ain’t got that. You got to sit up and budge and wonder how you going to do it. But when it come to this driveaway, you need to get your hands on some money. And all you got to do is just start pulling them trucks and delivering them trucks and don’t spend nothing but what you have to and see what happens.

30:34 How satisfying is that as a person who’s so close to their family. Say a situation arises and somebody needs some money quickly or somebody has I mean you know let’s say your mother’s plumbing goes down or let’s say something happens within your family a car breaks down something like that. You know life happens but you can you know make a call get a quick load. How satisfying is it to get that paycheck turned around so quickly?

31:00 Oh, that’s what I’m saying. It’s the difference in night and day. I mean, it’s I mean, you to know that that you don’t have to be out here, you know, just like strung out. That’s the beauty of it, you know, to know that all I have to do is I mean I’ve been times I made a phone call, you know, my money I was kind of hurting bad. I didn’t know what I was going to do, you know, I had to take care of something. I got on the phone, my dispatcher was like, “Look, I had to spend a little extra money here to take care of my family. I had to do this. I’m kind of hurt.” They said, “Don’t worry about it.” And I’m talking about within a week and a half, it was like it never happened. That’s an awesome feeling—

31:43 When you’re back above ground there.

31:46 Absolutely.

31:47 Well, well, the fact that I was a week ago or a week and a half ago, I didn’t know what I was going to do and then now I’m looking back like to know what then a week and a half it was like it never happened. Oh my god, that’s that that that’s worth it all, you know? That’s worth it all. I mean—

32:11 I understand. Now, are you fortunate enough being 50 years old, do you have both of your parents with you?

32:17 Well, I got double sets of parents. So, I got my mom and my stepdad and I got my dad and my stepmom.

32:23 Okay.

32:24 You know, so I got two sets of parents and they one’s in Cali, one set’s in Cali, and the other sets in Alabama. So, I’m back and forth, you know.

32:33 That’s a lot of—

32:34 And they both they’re both very strong sets of people. They’re both very independent and you know and all that kind of stuff. So it makes a little bit more harder on me because they’re you know they’re getting older and so I have to kind of like stay on top of things cuz you know I find out I don’t I like to find out stuff ahead of time you know versus afterwards and then I got to scramble to help. So, but you know—

33:01 Well, you’re at that age of 50 where you have to position yourself to think about what your parents or stepparents may need as they get older and are not able to necessarily take care of themselves. How rewarding is it for you to be in that position to say, “I can handle this. I’ve got the wherewithal. I’ve got the financial means to take care of it.” How rewarding is that to have that feeling?

33:30 Well, you know, it’s well, I can’t really find the word. I think overjoyed. I’m an old person’s kid. Like my grandmother and my the elderly people raised me and when they got to that point where God was calling them home and or they had to go to nursery homes, I had to watch them, you know, not really get I can say the best care that I thought they should have had. And I vowed one day to get myself in a position that when it was my turn with my parents and it was my turn to say that I would be able to step in and give them that care. And this particular work, you know, this transport gives me the opportunity. Matter of fact, I have elders that was really beneficial in the family. They don’t have headstones.

34:23 Okay.

34:24 Right.

34:24 I found out about it. My mom say something. I said, “Oh, we’ll take care of that. I’ll take care of that this summer. By the summer, I’ll get everybody to have a head stone.” And she was like, “Yeah, but you know, they cost us. Don’t worry about that. Just pick it out.”

34:39 You know—

34:40 That’s got to be rewarding to you and sat satisfactory to the rest of the family to see that. That’s something you can’t really put a price on.

34:50 It’s that’s why I said it’s— What can I say? I mean, I’m happy to be I mean, it’s like, “Oh my god, thank you so much.” Because you know we have some really influential people in our family and don’t have a headstone. You know what I’m saying?

35:04 Mhm. Mhm.

35:05 So I’m working on that’s a matter of fact that’s my project right now. You know one of my projects right now.

35:10 Well good deal. Good deal. Now Andre from what I’ve what I’m hearing from you faith is a very very important thing for you.

35:19 Yes.

35:20 Tell me a little bit about that and how it plays out on the road when you’re on the open road. I’m guessing and you see some of the beautiful landscape that this country has to offer. I’m sure that that is a moment of reflection for you and your faith.

35:35 Oh yes. One time I was driving I think I was coming to I was going to Phoenix. I was going to Phoenix and I was coming up but I had it I somehow I experienced all four seasons. I was like, “This is crazy.” Cuz I was driving, it got hot, then the fog came, then it got warm again, then it rained, then hell, then a little bit of snow. I’m like, “Wait a minute.” I’m like, “God, I know you exist. Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”

36:05 All at one time.

36:06 I mean, yeah, it was. And then when it was all over with, the biggest rainbow I ever seen in my life.

36:16 And that’s something you’ll always remember.

36:19 Yes. Yes. Yes. It was the biggest rainbow. And I knew God existed again. Well, I already knew he existed, but if I needed some reformation, that was it, you know? Oh, man. It was wild. And I like I’m a big western fan—

36:34 Right?

36:35 So, I love traveling out west cuz it still looked like it did when they made the movies out there. I was like, “Huh, okay.”

36:42 This is, you know, I mean, you get to see I think one thing I think it kind of messed me up with transport drive messed me up. I seen so much stuff, it’s kind of hard for me to settle down.

36:54 I’ve seen everything.

36:55 I gotcha. Now, where did you see that rainbow? Where did you see that rainbow? I’m sure you remember.

37:02 It was I want to say it was in between Colorado because I was going down. I was I came from the top and I was going down through Colorado and I was headed to Arizona.

37:15 Okay. So, were the Rocky Mountain did the Rocky Mountains come into play as far as with the rainbow or not necessarily?

37:22 I don’t remember. I want to tell a lot, but I know it was I went through some mountains—

37:27 Cuz in Colorado is one you’ll go through the mountains and then you’ll hit flat land and then you’ll be back in the mountains again.

37:34 Gotcha. Now, let’s we’ve talked a lot about the rainbow, the scenery out there. For you, not to narrow it down to a small category, but what are some of the most awe inspiring, most beautiful places you’ve driven through?

37:52 Oh, yeah. My fa what’s my fa my I’mma tell you my favorite I got favorite highways. Like I love highway 10. Southern Texas. I like that scenery wise, huh? Let me see. You hit me with one. I mean, it’s so many out there. Oh, I know. I think it’s in California. So, like, you know, have you ever been to a rock curry where you like say you going to get some rocks for your driveaway?

38:20 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

38:22 Okay. And you know how they get got piles of rocks everywhere, right?

38:26 Well, this is one on the highway, state highway, that’s out west. When you go there, it’s got these big like mountains, but there rocks. You know what I’m saying? And you know, it’s not man-made, but it’s look, it’s like when God was forming the earth, he poured all his excess rocks in this spot right here. Look like—

38:50 And there are drive through it.

38:53 And you drive straight through it. Is amazing because it’s like if somebody pulled one, they look like if I went and bought a bag of rocks you put in your garden—

39:04 Right?

39:04 If you super size that by I don’t know 40 50 times the size those rock that’s the size. It’s like they look like those rocks but they’re super and they’re not moving. They’re not falling or nothing like that.

39:18 Just a natural backed up.

39:21 Do you remember where this was? I’m thinking it’s in Cali. I know they got those Rams be out there because you got the signs with the Rams on it. Beware of Rams, you know.

39:31 Right. Right.

39:32 And that’s a thing for me too. You know, certain places I drove, you might be wearing an ammo cuz you know I was grew up in Indiana. You might have a deer sign, beware of deer. That’s how you sing. But you get all this beware of a bobcat and all that. You’re like, man, they got that out here. Have you ever come across some of those animals in your travels? Actually seen them. I’m sure you have.

39:54 The most amazing animal that I can say I seen was I was driving one time and an eagle came and flew and dodged right on my windshield. Like if I didn’t had a windshield there, I could probably stick my hand out rub up under his chest. That’s how he dodged and bent out because I was scared I was gonna hit him and right at the last second he shot off and I was like, “Wow,”

40:23 How amazing was that when it happened?

40:26 I mean, I had never been that close to eagle stars in the zoo, you know? You know, I didn’t get that close to him, you know.

40:33 I guess that had to be a jolt of energy.

40:37 Oh my god. You know, sometimes it make you want to pull over. Yeah. You know. Oh, so you talking about sights? I tell you a sight. I’mma help you out. I’mma give my guys something. Next time you pick up a load and you’re going in s southern Texas in the summer, make sure you drive at night. One time I was driving at night and I had to get out, check, and I had looked up and the sky was so clear full of stars. It was like I was in a you know those space when you go to look like doing a lot of time probably the guys didn’t do unless they went on a field trip. You going to these places and they it’s like a dome. You go in there turn the lights off and they cut the you can show you the stars.

41:26 I know exactly what you’re talking about. Yeah.

41:29 You could literally see the heavens clear.

41:34 This was in southern Texas.

41:36 Was in southern Texas on 10.

41:40 Okay. You catch it. You catch it back. You know where you know the fuel miles are like 100 feet 100 100 miles apart. You know what I’m saying? One of the back spots. This was in Texas. And I looked I just looked up and I was like, “Oh my god.”

41:57 Wow.

41:58 You know, and I just had to stop and pray and just be grateful. I just I mean I was just there for a good 30 minutes, 40 minutes just and I mean cuz I mean I couldn’t do nothing like that. You know what I’m saying? So, but just the opportunity to see that—

42:15 That’s some good alone time on the road when you have those moments like that where it just takes you back and you’re like, “Wow, this is some time to reflect.”

42:23 Yes. Now, let’s— We’ve talked a lot about being on the open road, but you know, from when I talked with you earlier in the office here in person today. Is it true for you, there’s no place like home?

42:37 Well, I’m recently single, you know what I’m saying? And everything like that. And so, I mean, I kind of just got an open feel, but I’ve always loved going home, you I’m a family man at heart, you know. And when I was younger, I wanted to run, but now kind of like I like being at home, you know, so it’s more of my me going out. It’s more of a business still, you know. Let me go get this work done, then let me get home. I get my fun at home, you know, but now I’m focusing on building, building, and securing. So, but my children, when I see my kids, that’s my burst of energy right there. Let’s talk about that. How many children do you have? And how important is it to you to be able to provide for them? I mean, you’re kind of in between because you’re providing or being a rock, so to speak, for your parents and stepparents and you’re also being a provider for your children.

43:34 How important is that?

43:35 I mean, it’s very important because I mean, if you don’t people like, you know, people say, you know, we got to always remember we’re always teaching our kids. We don’t realize it. You always teaching your kids because they’re watching you cuz you’re their example on how they supposed to be in life. So if you don’t take care of your parents when you get old, you know, they probably going to take care of you, you know. Mhm.

44:00 You know, so I mean it’s important for me to be not only is it important for me to be a good adult and a good a productive member of society, you know, just a certain everybody can say he’s a good guy, but I want to show my sons, it’s important for me for my sons to know how important it is to be a good man in society. You know to be an upstanding righteous upstanding person in society where people can depend on you and society can count on you as a human being.

44:29 How old is your son?

44:32 Well, I have my oldest son is 31 and my youngest son is nine.

44:41 Gotcha. So, you’re able to make an impression on both of them yet in different ways. And I guess driveaway trucking, driveaway trucking has lent you the ability to do that for each of them.

44:55 Well, I’m g tell you what driveaway does for me as my kids is concerned. I have a 21 year old I have a 22 year old and I have a 15 year old. And my 15 year old, he says, “Dad, I’m going to be a truck driver.” And he said, “I want to do what you do, Dad.” And I said, “You know what? You have a blessing because you don’t have to work. You’re a kid that’s getting ready to start working and you can hang with dad and you can make money and learn by the time you get old enough you’ll have a head start. I never had that. You see what I’m saying?”

45:31 Mhm.

45:32 And that was good for me to be able to give him something and then the extra money, you know, I’m going get involved in real estate and I teach them about carpentry and I can go out and help them. And I mean, that’s just to me, I couldn’t see myself doing nothing else unless it could pay me, give me that opportunity to do that. And there’s nothing else. There’s not a lot of things out here in trucking that’s going to do that for you. They say it, but once you get in it, you find out you’re never at home because you gonna have to stay in that truck—

46:06 To make what I make. Andre Parrish here with us on the Six-Figure Trucker. Andre just turned 50. He’s celebrating the big 50. And Andre, you and I talked earlier here at the office here at Norton Transport and we were talking about as many conversations turn this way. We were talking about food. Now Andre, you live in Tuscaloosa.

46:33 Tuscaloosa, Alabama. No shortage of good food there. But there’s you are selective in where you go. Tell us what really gets Andre Parrish fired up—

46:45 Far as food wise.

46:47 Absolutely.

46:48 Okay. Okay. So, I love Mexican food and that Mexican food, soul food, you know, that kind of thing. So, I have spots where I go, you know, when I get down, I’m going there. I’ll tell you a good spot down there by the everybody goes to the yard and sit in and vine army.

47:08 Right.

47:08 So, right. Right. So, right there in Vine Army and you could pull a four-way around in there. You go down there when you come up, go get on the highway and then like you go past Lo’s which is right past Love, go past Loves and the next jump off at the shell. There’s a Mexican restaurant there. Oh my god.

47:29 That good, huh?

47:30 Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m telling you, it’s I’m telling you, I’m going in there.

47:36 What are you ordering? What are you getting there at that place?

47:39 Well, my goto is the fiesta. Like the steak. I get the mixture, too. I get the steak, chicken, and the shrimp fajita. They bring it out to you on the plate. It’s still cooking. That that get me cuz it’s cooking. And then you got your vegetables on the side with your guacamole and your cream and your sour cream. Yeah.

48:02 Well, that you know, we got a lot of drivers that get in and out of Von Ormy, so in case they don’t know about it, give them a little heads up here.

48:10 Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you. It’s the next exit down. It’s the Shell gas station. You know, you can get fuel there, too, as well. But it’s you got the truckers notice, the drivers notice that the Love’s is right there. So, when you come out and go like you’re going to Love’s, but don’t go to Love’s. Get on the highway. You know, get on the highway going south and go up to the next exit and get off. You going to take you to that shell right there on your right hand side. Pull in there, you know, find a nice comfortable place to park down in there and eat and you spin around the corner, get your fuel, and boy, you can get you a good six and a half hours off that meal drive time.

48:54 That’s some valuable information, Andre. We—

48:58 I we thank you and I’m sure many drivers out there thank you if they did not know about that already. But let’s take it back to Tuscaloosa. Now you’re a bar you’re a guy who likes some soul food and if you were telling me earlier today that you’ve got some tradition when it comes to barbecue.

49:20 Yeah. And say, “Well, my dad, you know, is a cook and he showed us about cook raised us.” And so, I’ll tell I’m telling you, I’m spoiled. Like, I just can’t eat everybody’s barbecue. So, I barbecue my family. We barbecue. So, I always I a matter of fact, when I’m going home, you know, I quit eating, you know, I don’t really be eating too much because I want to get as much room as my stomach till I get home because I know I’mma eat good—

49:48 Right?

49:49 Yeah. Now, what’s your secret to a good barbecue? Because I know I’ve always heard I always do it myself. If you’re going to roast something, if you’re going to barbecue something, low and slow.

50:03 Yeah. Well, the thing is that’s called— Okay. So, you need to like know your grill. Like if you know you get your grill hot, I like to get my grill fired up, get it going, and let it sit there and let it get to a temperature of where it’s going. And then I take my meat. I season my meat well. And preferably I like to marinate my meat—

50:28 Over.

50:28 And then that seasoning—

50:30 Over a dry seasoning. You like a wet one or which way? Which way do you go on that?

50:36 I put dry seasoning over and I just put it in a bag and put in refrigerator. I like to sit for two, three days.

50:42 Oh yeah, I hear you, man. You’re talking to me.

50:44 I’m talking about— Yeah. But if you can season it or some really good seasoning, like we have our own homemade seasoning and matter of fact, I was going to fire the grill up tonight. And I’m telling you, it nothing’s beating it. Nothing’s beating it on earth. I’m telling you, you and then you slow, you cook it. You keep your fire going. And I turn my meat often. I don’t just sit up there and let it cook. I let it sit there for a while. I get up and check it.

51:11 Let it rest.

51:11 Do it again. I get my chicken.

51:13 Let it rest. And get you a chair. Sit out there. Get some good music. Oh my god.

51:18 Oh, you’re talking to the choir. You’re preaching to the choir right now. Now, you were talking about you’re going to throw something on the grill. What are you going to throw on the grill tonight?

51:26 I haven’t made my mind up, but one thing I did say once again, back to being a deck driver, being a transport driver. I said, I’mma get me a real piss expensive piece of meat and throw on that grill.

51:42 Well, you should, man. You might as well. Some baby bags. Some You know what? I always said this and I don’t want to take up all the time, but I want to get one thing I want to get out. Everybody has a pet peeve, something they always wanted to do. And I’m learning that when I get in situations that I feel down, then things didn’t go right for me, I do I go do something to bring me back to my reality. Hey man, you ain’t got to worry about that cuz you’re over here now in life. And one of the things is if I want to eat a steak dinner every night, I can do that. Now—

52:18 That’s sweet.

52:19 Now I don’t eat steak. I’m trying to you eat steak. I love steak. But what I’m saying is if I want to eat I can eat what I want to eat.

52:29 That’s a good feeling, is it not, Andre?

52:32 Yes. Yes. It’s a great feeling. Yeah. I was thinking about getting some rack of lamb or something.

52:38 Oh, lamb’s good, man. It’s good stuff. Now, lamb’s a little bit more difficult to cook than a the steak. You got to be careful with that. Have you cooked lamb before?

52:48 Well, I mean, I got phone calls, you know. I got I just called my dad, a couple cousins, but yeah, you it’s slow. You have to just— It’s just paying attention to it, you know, slow cooking it, you know.

52:59 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

52:59 Yeah. Slow cooking. Slow cooking. Not being scared to try something, you know.

53:04 Well, Andre Parrish here with us on the Six-Figure Trucker. Andre, how long do you plan on driving? You’re 50 now. You’ve still got many good years before you. You’re in the prime of your life right now. What do you see down the road?

53:16 I plan on I want to open up shop myself one day. I want my own company and I want to want to be a little bit more driver base for guys that love to come pull trucks and car trucks for me and whatnot. And I want to get it started and get it rolling and turn it over to my boys.

53:34 Okay. I would assume that the 15year-old’s one of those that’s pivotal within your plans.

53:40 Oh yeah, he’s been on it ever since I started. You know, he called me like he’s talking like he graduated from school tomorrow. I’m like, whoa, Kemosabe, you know, you got a long time yet, but I hear you.

53:52 Pull it back just a little bit. Pull it back just a little bit. Now, what are you—

53:58 Are you off this weekend?

53:59 No, actually. Well, I normally like roll hard all the time, but now I got to take care of some business. So, once again, about the schedule. I’m changing my schedule up cuz I got to take care of some business. And so, I’m rolling. I’m like pull like 700 miles. I got like three 700 mile runs. I’ll probably take that, drop that off, come back, chill for the week, you know, a couple days, then go back, finish the next one, you know, things like that before I get in the hard. And I’m already start doing some training. So I got I want to make sure everything’s straight. So in a few day about a week when I pick up my trainee, I can give him my undivided attention cuz it’s very important to me, you know, that they have what they need.

54:40 Well, it’s important to us here at Norton Transport, too, with a guy like you with the quality of driving that you do and the success that you’ve had that you can pass that along to other drivers. And we’re about to wrap up here, Andre, here on the Six-Figure Trucker. What would your piece of advice be to somebody who’s considering going into this line of work?

55:00 My piece of advice would be focus on the skills and learning the business. If you focus on the skills and learn all you can and don’t worry about the money, you’ll make the money. The money gonna chase you down, but learn all you can and focus on the business and learning everything you can about this and get you, you know, and it’ll come to you. Andre Parrish, those are some wise words right there. I couldn’t think of anything better to add to it. That’s a good place for us to stop. We wish you well on the road. Safety always and may the miles be good to you and may you find the runs you want and may everything that you want for yourself and your family happen to you. Andre Parrish on the Six-Figure Trucker. Thank you for joining us.

55:52 Thank you so much. It was a pleasure meeting you in person and being on your show. I appreciate it.

55:58 All right, Andre. Be safe out there and have a great week.

56:01 All right. You too. 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.