Frank and India who went from mentoree to wonderful friends
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The definition of mentor from dictionary.com
1. A wise and trusted counselor or teacher
2. An influential senior sponsor or supporter.
It took us two tries to become firmly entrenched in the driver aspect of trucking. Our first try we did without mentors and in a short period of time we found ourselves questioning the wisdom of leaving our secure jobs. The second attempt was done with lots of research and asking for advice. We quickly found mentors that were willing to field our many questions and guide us in the right direction.
As time progressed we graduated from the newbies to the ones sharing our experience with potential drivers and owner operators. We are paying it forward. As a woman in trucking and as a team driver I get a lot of questions from other women about my experiences on the road. There are questions from men and women on what it is like to live together in a small box for weeks at a time away from home.
A lot of our mentorship is with potential drivers entering the expedite industry or making the decision to either go with a truckload carrier or as expediters. Many of the comments that are asked start when the person has a full time job and is considering leaving their secure and what has in their minds become a predictable life. While the job requirements are the same for a man or a woman the questions asked are vastly different between the sexes.
As a moderator and frequent contributor to ExpeditersOnline.com I am often contacted through private messages asking specific questions about a certain problem. Through posts about situations in the forums it is easy to share experiences that help others and they can add their experiences or ask further questions.
Rodney and Mary who are just starting
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It is interesting when we meet someone for the first time and it is as if they have known us for years because then have been reading our blogs on Team Run Smart. We have had people call or send messages on how information in my blogs helped them to get out of a bind or on how they handled something that happened to them.
Even though many messages and sometimes phone calls are made we never meet face to face with the person we are mentoring. In some cases the person we are mentoring becomes a friend and those friendships are amazing. We feel like proud parents as people we have mentored go on to mentor others.
Expediters are often starting a second career. It is difficult to leave a known life with a predictable future and lead the life of what some term a gypsy. In many instances when family, friends, and co-workers are told that they are considering driving a truck they are met with skepticism. The transition from a predictable daily job to the unknown is a frightening leap and this is where mentorship is very important.
Through the years we have worked with many people and some have made the decision to get into trucking and others have decided to stay where they are. I am impressed with both as they took the time to reach out to others and make the informed decision on what will work best for them.
I often think of our initial mentors and how they helped us to get started and without them we would have struggled much more then we did. Some of our mentors have moved on to other adventures and others have become our closest friends and confidants. Thanks to all that have helped us as you hold a special place in our hearts.