The Road That Built Me

Then everything changed. I was in a crash. A bad one. An illegal immigrant operating an unregistered farm vehicle hit me, and I ended up needing a spinal fusion from my hips to my mid-back. That accident didn’t just take my physical ability to drive full-time initially. It changed how I saw the industry. I was an outlaw. I was known to frequently drive with countless logbooks or loose-leaf grid logs, running as many as 40 hours without sleep. I had always prioritized efficiency and revenue, but now I saw firsthand how safety and compliance mattered in ways I hadn’t fully appreciated before.

I sold the business to a carrier I had helped grow from an owner-operator to a fully independent fleet. From there, I transitioned into fleet safety, compliance and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations. I started building scalable safety programs, integrating systems and working with some of the biggest companies in the world, both independently and through TruckSafe Consulting. The deeper I went, the more I realized that trucking isn’t just about moving freight. It’s about moving it legally and safely. The industry doesn’t care how much money you make; you won’t stay in business if you aren’t compliant.

To stay ahead, I kept learning, sharpening my skills in every avenue, including on some things people said I would never need. Some said I would never use those skills in trucking. I learned Spanish to better communicate with fleet employees; learned PHMSA and pipeline safety for pipeline logistics for specialized clients; crash reconstruction to better manage claims; HR compliance to understand the hiring, recruiting, and retention of employees; labor law, drug and alcohol testing, management, and collection to manage drug and alcohol programs; autonomous vehicle safety; and took vehicle courses to better understand vehicle dynamics and maintenance and driver training and coaching to understand better how to coach and run drivers to improvement. I immersed myself in everything because knowledge is leverage, and mentorship is the shortcut. You can read every regulation and policy, but 90% of success in this industry comes from experience or the wisdom passed down by people who’ve done it before you.

That’s why I believe mentorship is everything. I didn’t get here alone. I learned lessons from those willing to teach, and I believe in paying that forward. I’ve helped dozens of new drivers become owner-operators and an equal number of owner-operators operate under their own authority.  I answer messages, give advice and help people without charging them because that’s how this industry should be. Trucking isn’t a competition. There’s room for everyone. The winners are willing to learn, evolve and pass that knowledge down to the next in line.

For me, it has always been about being better than I was yesterday. I don’t have an ego too big to learn from anyone, and I don’t believe in gatekeeping knowledge. If someone is willing to listen, I’ll help them however I can. That’s what trucking should be. That’s what life should be. It should be an industry where people look out for each other. The dog-eat-dog mentality of modern-day trucking is toxic. Mentorship builds the next generation. Your success is measured in the knowledge you pass down to those coming up behind us.