Assuming that any load is better than no load. I would often just accept any load offer because any load is better than sitting. Sometimes, sitting is better than a load, if that load is putting you in a bad freight area where you will have to spend a lot to deadhead out of there. Patience can be your best friend in this business. The biggest mistake I made starting out was not talking to enough other drivers about the important things. I would look at the toys people had in their vans or how people had their sleepers laid out, but some of the best information you can get is what areas are good to go to and what areas whould you avoid unless you get a lot of money going in there.
Starting out, if I sat somewhere more than a day, I would get to where I would take any load offer out of there, and sometimes I ended up doing loads that actually put me in a worse position than if I had stayed where I was and waited for something better. You don't want to get into the habit of turning down a lot of loads, but there's nothing wrong with not doing a load because in the long run it's going to cost you more than it's worth.
By all means talk to the experienced people and also take note of everything you notice when you're on the road. If the area you're in is a good freight area, you can afford to be picky and wait for the great load, but if you're in an area that isn't that good for freight and you have an offer, you might want to take it just to get out, provided that it's getting you into a better area. After a while you will get an idea of what areas are good freight areas and which ones aren't, but the more information you can get from experienced people, the better. You can learn from your mistakes, but if you can learn from someone else's mistake and maybe avoid making the same one yourself, then that's even better.
