IT'S WHO YOU KNOW

MILEMARKER # 20

It's true, to get to that next level being a nobody, it's who you you know. Until reality TV shows came along, you rarely heard about the success stories from people like you or I. Some enjoy their ten minutes of fame, and for some, the exposure drastically changes their lives. I'm not saying that these shows aren't hard work, but there is not a lot of thought that goes into it. I'm not going to eat some nasty African bug standing with some dude who decides he wants to walk around bare-assed!
In my 42 years of living, I tried numerous things/ideas that were affiliated with what I know...truck driving... I've spent a lot of time with the thought process, and spent many hours trying to bring an idea to life. About 10-15 years ago, one of my biggest time consuming ventures was inventing a truck driving board game. I had the United States game board with the truck spaces, load cards with rates and mileage, bad luck spaces with log book fines, speeding tickets, etc. I even had the diesel prices jiving with the mileage for fuel-ups. That's all in the basement somewhere. I guess the only thing I would have to change today, would be the diesel prices. The out-dated freight rates sure didn't change much! Furthermore in today's world, I would have to change the object of the game to "The Fastest Person To End-Up Bankrupt...WINS..." I wrote a couple of business letters and sent them out to board game companies pimping my idea, but the response was always " This is not what we are looking for." A person needs that little extra help sometimes. It's who you know.
Back in the day when the website concept started to surface, I probably was one of the first truck drivers to create a website. I got the traffic hits, but again, nothing panned out. I didn't have the knowledge at the time on how to generate money flow with my site. More numerous hours and precious time, but the rewarding factor that I accomplished it, was good enough for me.
Two blogs ago, when I thanked Road King for mentioning my Road2Trucking blog, that meant a great deal to me. Finally, somebody acknowledged my efforts. I know my blog isn't for everybody, but if it helps a select few, it's worth my time. We at Road2Trucking.com support the "No Trucker Left Behind Act."
As I mentioned before, songwriting has been a hobby of mine for some time. I shared two of them with you so far that are related to truck driving or driving. I will share my last and final song with you the next blog. I've entered a few songs in the worldwide "Song Of The Year" contest to see where my writing was at. My next blog song "SIX FEET UNDER" scored very high with the industry/artists judges. This next song actually was the "Runner-Up" last year. It was beat out by some song written by a spouse of a spouse serving time in the Iraq War. It was called "Christmas In An Envelope" or something like that. That was cool though, my song couldn't complete with a song like that at the the time of war. I'm going to put the blame for my success on President Bush! Again, I do not know anybody in the industry. It's who you know. It was great to get the runner-up nod, but in reality, I was the first loser.
Everybody has a dream. They say to never give up, but how much time, money, and effort a person wants to invest is up to each individual. My two younger boys are at the age where their asking questions like " Do you think I can make it to the NBA? " As a parent, you can't tell them the truth and crush their hopes and dreams. Life is based on hopes and dreams. I will encourage them and let them find out in 42 years, that the world is a brutal place. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, they will know somebody.
I am worn out at this point to chase out-side-the-box ideas any more. From now on, I am just going to stay optimistic (unless I get hit by a car) and live the dream that God gave me. Truthfully, I am OK with that. I will keep truck'n it up and I will try and entertain you with my blog and that's about it. I should have learned in early adulthood when I asked Betty Sue out on a date, and she replied with, " You're just not what I'm looking for."

P.S.
If anyone is interested, I have a great idea for a commercial wireless back up camera and a cab monitor for trailers. It has to be detachable, because we switch trailers all the time. :)