©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

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The Successful Owner Operator ... ................Page 2Are You Using the Truck Show Circuit to Your Advantage?

The New Professional Driver ..........................Page 4Lighting Up Your Life

Leading the Pack ................................................Page 5Social Media and the New Driver

Issue T2 July 2011

Welcome to the July edition of the “Owning Your Success” news-letter for the transportation market. In the Successful Owner Operator column you will learn ways to use that beautiful truck

of yours for increased profit in your business. The New Professional Driv-er column shows the importance of keeping your truck within the specifi-cations on the road with “Lighting Up Your Life”. Finally learn about the importance of using social media to connect with your employees in the Leading the Pack column.

Enjoy and look out for our other publications on the website.

Bruce

©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

The Successful Owner Operator

Ah the tradeshow season is among us, the smell of diesel fuel in the air, sparkling gleaming trucks. It is

a beautiful sight to many of us chrome junk-ies. It can be a great time reconnect with old friends, relax a little, and enjoy some time with family and friends. However there can be a whole set of new advantages that can be beneficial to the owner operator that many people don’t think about. Think about why companies are attending the show, to show their wares, talk to potential clients, and promote their staff and much more. Com-panies are there for a reason and that is to get exposure in the industry, no matter what they are selling. So I ask you this question, why are you there? Of course you are there for the pleasantries I mentioned above, but I want you to think deeper than that, how can you benefit business wise from attend-ing the show? I see so many people walking around aimlessly without any direction as if they are window shopping and possibly losing out on precious dollars that can be added to their income. After all many owner operators are talking about how they can’t make a profit from their business because of the cost of fuel, regulations on miles driven and so on, but what are you doing about it? So how do you go about making the truck show a profitable place for you?

. As an owner operator there is one part of business that you don’t have to worry about that most business owner do, and that is marketing. You are leased on with a com-pany and they will handle that part for you. For the rest of us however, marketing is probably one of the areas of business that is the most important, that most compa-nies spend the most money on, and that is always required. Now if you are participat-ing in a truck show your truck is probably outfitted nicely and is unique. You may not realize it but you may have an income earner sitting right under your belt and not even know it. Think about this, how many trucks are in advertisements, videos, publi-cations, and so on. Beautiful trucks are al-ways needs for advertisements, articles, etc. Not everyone but some publications will pay for your truck to be in pictures, used in advertising and the like. So use the show to your advantage. Check out the possibilities, there may be none right now, but it doesn’t hurt to get names of people at the publica-tions and companies and see what they may be looking for in the future. Even no in-come exposure can give you great benefits if featured in a publication. It can elevate your status within your company, possibly lead to other income generating opportuni-ties for the truck, and even a token gift may pay for your weekend fees etc. The point is to be on the lookout for any opportunities. The best place to start is your own com-pany, do they need a truck for display, will they pay for your truck to be featured etc.

“Professionalism is more than training-it’s a mindset!” Bruce Outridge

Issue T2 July 2011

©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

I’ll show you how this works I have a friend that is an owner operator own-ing his own truck and trailer. A friend of his owned a company and wanted to display his logo on the side of his trailer. Arrangements were made, a contract was signed, and logo in-stalled on the trailer. The company now pays him a monthly fee to have their name on the trailer and picked up the cost of installation. His total cost was having the truck down for a few days to have the logo installed. That monthly payment is pure prof-it to his business, and doesn’t cost him a dime. Now I caution you be-fore you go painting logos on your equipment check your company contract to make sure you are not breaking any items there. The point of this story is that income can from many different sources, and if you have your head in the sand you may be missing income sources that you have never realized were available.

“Professionalism is more than training-it’s a mindset!” Bruce Outridge

The Successful Owner Operator

Issue T2 July 2011

©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

The New Professional Driver

John is doing his usual run through to the Carolinas; he is a big burly guy that has always loved the trucks and trucking lifestyle. It shows in

the chromed out version of his Peterbilt 379 that has been his pride and joy since he bought it a few years ago. He hasn’t missed a beat as it has every chrome piece and light is well kept and looks brand new. He is in the middle of Pennsylvania at this point and had heard about some new changes that the state had made to custom light sets on a truck, but had never been bothered by anyone to date. He had to ad-mit that things have been getting tougher out there since the implementation of CSA last year. He rolls through the dead of night like a beacon, his truck mixed in colour of orange, red, and white. He ap-proaches orange flashing lights in the dis-tance, thinking it is a construction site he rolls on only to find out it is a portable scale set up in an unoccupied rest area.

“Professionalism is more than training-it’s a mindset!” Bruce Outridge

Knowing everything works he rolls through until flagged to the side by the wave of an officer standing on the line. John parks and hauls his big burly frame out of the cab, “What’s the matter officer?” The officer re-plies, “Your headlights look funny, we might have a problem?” John looks at the lights and finds nothing wrong, both are working, as are all the other lights on his rig, he has been through numerous scales over the years and not once has he ever been told that his headlights were out of compliance. The of-ficer says, “I am going to have to write you a ticket for obscure headlights, those covers over the top of the headlight cover parts of the corners causing an odd shape, cars may have trouble knowing you’re a truck. Also you have too many clearance lights; we have a new rule that says you can only have the basics.” John shakes his head, “How could they not know I’m a truck, my whole rig is outlined with lights. A person in the next state would know I’m a truck!””Don’t matter, here’s your ticket!” says the offi-cer. John looks at the ticket in utter disgust.

Issue T2 July 2011

©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

Leading the Pack

Things have changed since the implementa-tion of CSA and what used to be the norm is now causing problems especially for those with custom parts on their rigs. John in this scenario could have received a violation for “obscured lighting” and “non-compliance with headlight requirements” each of which comes with a point rating of 6 points each. Under the CSA guidelines they say they will only give out one violation per category meaning that John would have received one ticket for 6 points. Still six points is a fair-ly serious violation to fight or have stay on your record. The point of the whole story is to be aware of the violations and how they may affect you. I had the same thing hap-pen on an old truck I used to drive, I had headlight covers, ran all over Ontario and Quebec and never had a problem until one day a new scale guard pulled me in and made me take them off. I was lucky that I didn’t get the ticket. New officers are com-ing on every day, regulations are changing before our eyes so you need to keep up the best you can. If you have custom parts on your truck you may want to take the regula-tions and do a walk around on your truck to make sure you are in compliance. Certain-ly don’t wait to be told on paper like John.

Social media has become one of the true wonders of the world and it can be used for both good and bad. The idea of social media is to be, well so-

cial, but this can lead to all sorts of problems if not handled in a timely manner. In the old days word of mouth spread one person at a time; to-day it spreads by the thousands at a time. That can be bad if the message is negative that is go-ing out, and can be great if people are speaking positively about your company. Of course how will you know if you are not on the platform? Many companies restrict people from being on social media at work, however at lunch hours with the multitude of cell phones and tablets people don’t need your work network to get online. From a management standpoint you need to be on the platform. Even if you don’t plan to participate go on once in a while and check what is being said about your compa-ny. If you are a recruiter then this should be one of your reference areas to check up on a new driver. If they have posted it then you are allowed to view it, and many do. We have discussed in prior articles about how social media can be used to help get the company message out to thousands of potential driv-ers, but it can also be used to keep watch those interested in applying to the company. If they found you online then they are online. So how do you use the platform to your advantage?

“Professionalism is more than training-it’s a mindset!” Bruce Outridge

Social Media and the New Driver

Issue T2 July 2011

Lighting upYour Life Cont....

©2011 Outridge Consulting Services / Outridge Enterprises Inc.

First create some guidelines about what will be considered a problematic issue, what topics will raise a red flag with your company, and what topics are totally un-acceptable. The platforms may have their own guidelines but you should have your own company standard. Create a list of actions to be taken should you find one of those offences occurring online. Now create a system for monitoring the plat-forms to see what is being said. There are many ways of doing this on the platforms themselves such as changing your set-tings to be notified by email of any com-ments made about your company, etc. Look under privacy setting under most of the platforms. Now you can monitor comments and be able to keep an eye on the employees, you can also type in their names to see if they have signed up and read their walls. Be careful not to abuse your power or someone else’s rights..

Leading the Pack

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant for entre-preneurs and the transportation industry. He has over 30 years

of experience from driver to owner operator to fleet supervisor and works to create professional drivers for the industry. He is a regular speaker within the industry on a variety of topics from complacency to marketing, and business. To view more information about Bruce or any of his many publications and topics please visit his website for Outridge Consulting Services at www.outridge.ca

“Professionalism is more than training-it’s a mindset!” Bruce Outridge

For new or potential drivers make sure you check them out with social media. It will give you a true picture of the type of people they are away from work. The reason is that many people on social media forget that they are on the internet so they let their hair down. Don’t comment, just monitor! The point is if you are hiring this person you may have to have a discussion before signing them on about com-pany culture, etc. if they are not doing any-thing wrong you can get to know them and can mention their family or hobbies in the inter-view. This will give them a little nudge to let them know you keep an eye on the platform informing them to watch their comments. So-cial media is a great thing in more ways than one, but like everything else every great thing can cause additional problems. Make sure you know who or what your problems are!

Issue T2 July 2011