Time does indeed fly by! It seems like only a few weeks ago, maybe a month or so since I did the last podcast episode - but it has now been more than a year! That's just crazy, because it certainly doesn't seem like that long ago. Anyway... MUCH has obviously happened since then. Like a worldwide plague and widespread civil unrest, unemployment, and massive amounts of stress for billions of people worldwide. Yet we continue ever onward. Instead of just sitting around and worrying - take action. Start researching and learning about income production opportunities that you like, pick something, learn it, and start doing it NOW!  

Just a quick update to let you know we are working on building several YouTube Channels - all at the same time! And we have some other resources we are about to publish including new courses and a couple of eBooks. If you have any recommendations or suggestions for courses or topics you would like us to cover please let me know! Join our email list and send me an email or join one of our Facebook Groups - you can find links to all of our channels and groups on our Free Resources pages at www.ldsewell.com  

In this episode of  The L.D. Sewell Podcast, we focus on why lease-purchase agreements may not be your best option - especially when you are brand new to trucking and just starting out. Often lease purchase programs contain all kinds of restrictions, and you are at the mercy of the company for your loads - yet you take on a tremendous portion of the costs and liabilities of running the truck under the illusion of being an owner operator. Is your name on the title? Can you take the truck and leave that carrier and go wherever you wish so long as you continue to make the payments? In many cases, the answer is no - and if you can't do that then you need to take a hard look at reality. The reality is that some carriers allow you to have the illusion that you are somehow an "Owner Operator" when the truth is that you do not own anything at all. Even worse you can end up working harder yet making less than most company drivers make! So, do yourself a huge favor - hold off on signing that agreement! Start as a company driver and get a few months experience under your belt, learn the job, the business, the lifestyle first while you do your research into whatever program you are considering and then only proceed once you have enough information and experience to make an informed decision. Be sure to check out our new Youtube Channel Trucking Business Success. It should be up and running in a day or two and we will begin posting regular videos there too on all things related to Trucking Careers and Trucking Business Success. If you are serious about building your career and or trucking business you may also want to join our group on facebook. You can find it on facebook by clicking the link below; Trucking Business Success

Some people are in for a rude awakening. They get on a bus or a plane and travel halfway across the country to go to orientation with a motor carrier that has offered them a job. But what many fail to realize is that what they have is a conditional offer of employment and that is far different than actually completion of the hiring process and becoming an employee. There are many things that can and do go wrong during orientation. There may be a discrepancy with a former employer that cannot be cleared up to the carriers satisfaction or a gap in employment that becomes an issue. Some people fail their drug test and in some cases, it can be for prescription drugs that were taken after the prescribed dates, or someone taking insulin or some other issues that no one caught during the initial phone calls. Others will fail a physical or a physical agility test. Some will even fail their initial road test. All these things and many more problems can lead to the carrier deciding not to hire you after all. So what happens then? Usually, they escort you to their front door or the curb and tell you to have a nice life. At that point, they are done with you and really don't care much about what happens to you. You are no longer of any value to them. Sounds cold as hell doesn't it? It is. But it also still happens to unsuspecting drivers and then they have a serious problem. Listen to this episode and then be sure to not ever let that happen to YOU!

How about it, should you become a trucker? It can be a great career option and you can make a better than good income doing it too. But like so many other things there are multiple considerations you need to take into account before you just go and jump in. Listen to this episode of The L.D. Sewell Podcast to find out what you need to consider next!

There are lost of things to think about before you become a truck driver. Your decisions may not seem as important to you right now as they really are - and what you decide to do nest will set the course for years of your life to come. Be careful. Take the time and make the effort to get the real information that you absolutely must have to be able to make the best decisions now for yourself and for your families future. Enjoy the podcast. This one will also be the first ever episode that we also put on our Youtube channel - and my intention is that most if not all future episodes will be on youtube as well as available through our page and on all major places that host podcasts. If you like be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel too!

A better life... That is what most people want - yet few actually ever attain it. Even those who do - take years and go through all kinds of struggles before they do, and for each one who eventually does achieve some level of a better life - there are others too numerous to count who never do. Instead, they spend their entire lives in desperation, struggling from one crisis to the next - until they eventually die. What a shame. What a tragedy. You can avoid all that. You can choose to build yourself a better life by choosing to follow proven and sound systems and using methods and tactics that work to help you make consistent, sustainable and measurable progress continuously in every key area of your life. If you choose to do so that is. Nobody but you can do it for you either. You and you alone must decide to do it and then actually do it if you want the rewards. Listen to this episode of The L.D. Sewell Podcast as I talk about these issues and more.  

There is a right choice for everyone - but it's not always the same choice either. Even then it may change during different phases of life and dependent on specific situations. It may be that you are best off as an entrepreneur for life and no other course in life will ever fit you as well. Others may have the opposite situation - and they may be far more happy, productive and better off as employees, or maybe you would be too. You have to decide for yourself. It is also possible - and probably even - that there are times you may wish to change from whichever you choose - back to the other again, either temporarily or long term. Nothing wrong with that either - so long as it's an intentional decision and makes sense to and for you in your life. There are so many things that need to go into that decision-making process, and in this podcast, we will touch on a few of them. Beyond that, if you want more information then check out our new Udemy course.

All businesses have their challenges and opportunities. Trucking, in particular, has a boatload of both. To start with trucking is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, and it is regulated in odd ways compared to other regulated industries. For example, trucking requires very little in terms of knowledge or money to get the legal right to operate, and what most industries would call license and what trucking typically refers to as "authority". Just fill out a few forms, pay some fees, get and maintain the requisite insurance or bond (for freight brokers) and voila you are in business! And yes that is an oversimplification of it all and there is a little more to it all than that - but not much. Compare that to other regulated industries. Real estate for starters. To get a license to sell real estate you must complete mandatory classes, pass the exams for those classes, the schedule an exam to sit for the state licensure test. You must pass that exam, then find a broker to hire you and then you can finally activate your license and commence selling or managing real estate under that broker's authority. The broker remains responsible for you in many ways. To become a broker yourself you would have to complete a few years as an agent first, then take several other mandatory classes, pass the exams for each class and finally schedule and sit for the broker's exam. If you pass the exam then you can finally get your brokers license and open your own firm. Want to be a lawyer? Then you have plenty of time and study to do first. Plenty of exams - and finally you get to sit for the bar exam, and if you pass it then you can become a lawyer. How about becoming a nail tech? Look up the regulations on what that entails if you like - but you can probably guess. In most states, there are mandatory classes, training, and exams. Pest control technician? Same thing. Mandatory classes, exams and then a license. Begining to see the pattern here? Yet when it comes to trucking - there is no such mandatory training before licensure - even though I would argue that in many cases trucking is far more regulated and complicated than some of the other examples given. Now you may be inclined to scoff at that, but before you do compare the specific regulations of any industry you choose to the massive FMCSR's or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. You can find them at www.fmcsa.dot.gov and take a look for yourself. By the way, I was a real estate agent, property manager and broker for many years and the real estate regulations are childs play compared to the FMCSR's, at least in my opinion. All other industries I know of give you the exam BEFORE they allow you to start operations - yet for some strange reason trucking is different. The government gives you easy access and entry to a very complicated and heavily regulated industry with almost no upfront requirements - then it will hold you fully accountable if you mess anything up. You can start operations and then after the fact they will audit you and every other new motor carrier (trucking company) within the first twelve months of operation. Even before that, you are fully eligible for a compliance review and other enforcement actions from day one. Depending on how that new entrant audit goes the new motor carrier may or may not survive and may or may not have to pay heavy penalties for what violations are found. My point in all that is this - while there is no mandatory upfront education or testing required to be able to legally obtain your authority (license) and begin operations, you do need to take it upon yourself to get your own education on DOT Compliance, overall Risk Management and Trucking Business Management. DOT and other agencies will most definitely enforce all the regulations upon you - regardless of whether you understand them or not. Pleading ignorance will NOT help you one itty bitty bit. Even though you don't have any roadmap laid out for you like all those other industries do, and no extensive list of competent training providers either, you still need to get the education and training you need to not only meet all the regulatory requirements but also to help you become as successful in your trucking business as possible. To do that, you can try to figure it all out on your own or find your own source of help. You can spend hundreds of hours studying the FMCSR's and related regulations and maybe you can eventually figure  out enough to get by, but chances are it would take several years of dedicated self study to gain a true authoritative knowledge of the regulations. Even then the regulations, while very important to understand - are really just the basic minimum foundation you need. To be successful in trucking over the long haul there is a ton of other stuff you need to know too. Things that are important to risk management and safety - yet are not covered in depth, if at all, in the regulations. Other things you need to learn and do consistently have nothing to do with regulations but everything to do with productive and efficient trucking business management. If you would like our help then visit www.transportresourcesolutions.com and take a look at the resources available to you there. If you can, consider attending one of our upcoming live seminar and workshop events. If you do you will get a massive amount of education and information in a very short period of time. You will all get ongoing direct support for 30 days after the event, and you will receive one year of access to online companion course which reinforces, reviews and goes over all of the information covered in the live events. You will leave the event with your own current copy of the FMCSR's, a Risk Management Manual and DOT Compliance Systems Manual as well as a workbook. The training you will receive, along with all the support materials will give you a very good foundation on which to build your trucking business successfully.   Trucking Business Success requires a complete understanding of regulatory compliance, overall risk management and all other aspects of trucking business management. You have to understand the regulations because you can't protect yourself, your company, your drivers, and staff or the public if you don't. Failure to understand the regs, and failure to have in place at least adequate management control systems exposes your company to incredible risks and potential liability above and beyond enforcement and compliance. Just to start you have to have an excellent grasp on the following topics; Driver hiring and qualifications DOT drug and alcohol testing program requirements Financial responsibility/insurance requirements Hours of Service regulations and record keeping requirements Repair and Inspection and maintenance requirements Hazardous materials regulations   Beyond these basics, there are many more regulatory and nonregulatory topics you need to know. Beyond all the regulatory knowledge required, you also need trucking business knowledge in multiple areas. Some of those critical areas include; Recruiting, selection, screening, hiring and onboarding Driver and staff training Communicating effectively Training drivers and staff Team building Leadership Dispatcher and operations efficiency training And much more. Trucking is super competitive and highly regulated. Those who do not learn quickly and adapt will be more likely to fail and go out of business. Even if they survive, they will never thrive - instead, they will always be bottom of the barrel poor performers just barely getting by. Don't let that happen to your company!   Visit us today to find out how we can help you; www.transportresourcesolutions.com

Nothing is ever truly perfect or complete. Not really. everything can always be refined, improved and made better. Beyond that, far too many people fiddle around with things forever trying to get them just right - and as a result, they never even launch their project or do whatever it is they are trying so hard to get done. Others don't even start. Instead, they wait for the RIGHT TIME or better conditions. Here is the real deal - there will never be a perfect time either, not until you make it a perfect time by simply choosing NOW and doing the thing! I have read thousands of books, taken hundreds of courses both live in person and online, and read tens of thousands of articles, reports, and guides. Seldom if ever have I found one that was perfect. They all had issues. Some had several typos, others had grammatical errors and formatting problems. Some had holes in their information. Others had serious mistakes, errors, omissions or some combination of all of the above. Yet they were done. They exist. And I got something useful out of damn near every one of them - including the terrible ones, which I learned more about what NOT to do from. This comes to mind as I and my wife work diligently to complete numerous reports, guides, checklists, courses, videos and even our massive site and membership areas. It's not perfect. But its getting done and launched. Step by step by sequential step... And that reminds me to remind you... just get started NOW and get it done. Whatever IT is to you, stop putting it off and start making it happen. Get it good enough and get it launched and out in the big bad real world. Don't let another day slip away without you taking action. You will learn as you go, and you can improve along the way. You can go back and tweak your work as needed if you need to - but after you launch it - and that way you get stuff that matters done.