It's a Team's Life
Have you heard of Dave Ramsey?
Not too long ago a driver was talking to Bob, as Bob was polishing the truck and telling him what a joke Dave Ramsey is including Kevin Rutherford. He went on to talk about the terrible information and lies these two people were spreading. Bob just looked at him and said “Do What?” about that time the conversation came to an end.
Any person that can help you better your life and/or your business is not a joke. The joke is to not listen and figure out ways to keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket. Reading tips and tricks on web sites such and Team Run Smart will also help keep your business in the black.
These past few years several of our friends have suffered devasting life-altering problems, cancer, family sickness, and heart attacks. Some were financially prepared for emergencies and others are still struggling to get their finances back on track, while others are learning to live without a loved one. The struggles are real and hard to watch.
As we prepare to purchase our fourth truck with a custom sleeper the idea of going back in debt weighs heavy on my mind and I question our decisions. A truck with an OEM sleeper will make just as much money as us with our bigger sleeper. The OEM sleepers are really nice and comfortable but…. In the past fourteen years we have built our business by staying out for long periods of time, sometimes as much as four months, but usually two to three months. We do not get hotel rooms and so everything revolves around the truck, work, and relaxation.
Over time our sleepers have gotten bigger and our freight box smaller, but our ability to stay in the income stream has become easier and less stressful. The other argument to this is getting a smaller sleeper and get home more often and that works for many. For us, we enjoy our life on the road and the stress of constantly trying to get home and then get back out is not something we enjoy. Our motto has been to stay out longer and stay home longer and it works for us.
Going back to Dave Ramsey and Kevin Rutherford and how they have impacted our lives. Before hearing the name Dave Ramsey, I came up with my own plan to get us out of debt and low and behold it was pretty close to the Dave Ramsey plan. This happened many years ago and I cannot express the relief of only having a house payment and everything else was paid for with cash. Then we decided to change our lives and go trucking!
When we bought our first truck for a few months our brains turned to a super trucker mentality and put the pedal to the metal. We figured out quickly that fuel was a huge cost and that we could control that cost by slowing down and it would not affect our freight delivery times. Then along came Kevin Rutherford on the radio and he opened a whole new world of ways to fine tune our business. Kevin spoke common sense and our super trucker mindset went out the window and our common-sense brain went back to work. We started out with an aerodynamic Freightliner and the rest was up to us to drive and take care of our truck correctly.
We have business as well as personal credit cards and when they are used they are paid off immediately. Everyone needs to have an emergency fund for business as well as personal emergencies. If the company you are leased to has a fund where you can put a percentage of your settlement into, do
Always expect the unexpected and put away for the unexpected.
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.