Rick. I need advice to assure my wife about me becoming a trucker

by Rick Pyles
(Montgomery, al)

I have always wanted to be a Trucker, or at lest as long as I can remember. I have been a traveling electrician for over 6 years now and recently ( back in 2008 ) was laid off. This to me was a blessing in disguise. I finally got the opportunity to go to school locally and will start on the 16th of June.

I will be in school for 6 weeks, and then I'm sure that I will be given to a trainer for 6-10 weeks with this company that I am trying to drive for.

I know that this will make me happy and i will enjoy doing this. but my wife on the other hand is not all that happy about it. My kids told me "we need a man at the house daddy, your the man of the house" they are 10 and 8 both Girls.

My wife is worried that I will fall in love with the road and stay out there forever, but this is not what I want. I wish to run dedicated routs. I have tried to tell her that to do this you have to put in OTR experience.

She is afraid that i will run into a "LOT GIRL" (for the lack of better words) or find my self in a bad situation like getting robbed or in a wreck. I understand that with any job comes a risk, and that there was greater risk as an electrician. She on the other hand don't see it that way.

We have a great relationship, we never argue or fight, we are always loving, and have been together for 11 years. I am 27 and I want a better life and financial standings.

How can i reassure her that everything will work out? How can i put her at ease?

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May 25, 2010
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Advice for drivers who has a wife on the fence
by: Hervy

Rick,

I hear your compassion for her and desire to make things better so that is a good sign already that you two are in the right space.

The best two things that you can do is plan for taking her out with you in the future for a week or so.

And this....

Come up with a game plan, a strategy about how you will migrate from the truck to doing something else.
Or getting a local or dedicated trucking job.

If you actually sit down and draw up the planned course of action, it may be easier for her to accept that the scenario is likely to happen and it give you clear goals to work towards.

Have her keeping her eyes open around the house while you are on the road for local opportunities so you already have leads when you get your year of experience.

She may even take courses related to trucking. Brokerage, Dispatching, etc so that she has better understanding or is perhaps in position to help you go into business for yourselves later keeping more of the profit that would otherwise go to a broker.

This means you can haul when you want to make more money with less time away from home or you could actually build the brokerage so you can make enough money for brokering loads and you run every now and then.

See what I mean, there are man options that could come in to play.

Sit down and discuss possible routes to research during your training period. This keeps you guys in constant conversation about trucking and progress to more time back at home which will fill some of the current space that is occupied in her mind for fear of you becoming distant and possibly disappearing.

Read this page.Make sure that your family is ready to take this on.

impact on the family

Jennifer also has some great advice here that you might initiate with her and the kids.
advice for staying connected

May 25, 2010
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It will be okay
by: Anonymous

I can see how your wife feels, my husband just left a decent job at a company we both work for to become a trucker. We also have 2 girls, and I have a son from a previous relationship. I was nervous, and scared, for the same reasons she is. But like you he wanted to be a trucker and I knew it was a career choice that would be better for us in the long run. He went to school, finished, and headed off to train. He went to work for US Express, and was very fortunate to get a dedicated route right away. I have seen him every weekend, and sometime quickly during the week. All the worries and fears I had were for nothing. I trust him, I know he is working very hard to provide for his family and I think he made a great decision. I hope your wife can see the benefits of the choice you want to make, and agree to give it her best shot and trust you! The accidents and robberies are a possibility, but we take risks in everything we do every day.

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