Driven for Success
Driven for Success is a podcast for trucking company owners and executives running 20–80 truck fleets who want to scale without chaos.
Hosted by Mike Ritzema, founder of Superior Trucking Payroll Service, the show focuses on what actually breaks as fleets grow—and how strong operators fix it before constant firefighting takes over.
This isn’t a motivational show and it’s not theory-heavy. Each episode is grounded in real patterns seen across hundreds of trucking companies, covering topics like:
- Where complexity quietly creeps in as you scale
- What to standardize—and what not to
- Why payroll, pay clarity, and systems become retention issues
- How to build infrastructure that supports growth instead of relying on heroics
The goal is simple: give you practical ideas you can apply immediately to run a calmer, more profitable operation.
If you’re building a trucking company that needs to work without you carrying everything on your shoulders, this show is for you.
Driven for Success
S1 E17 How to Prepare for Year-End: A Simple Checklist for Stress-Free W-2s
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Year-end doesn’t have to be chaotic — but for most trucking companies, it is.
Not because the work is hard, but because so many small details get overlooked until it’s too late.
In this episode, I walk through a clear, practical year-end checklist that will save you hours of cleanup in January and prevent the most common W-2 mistakes trucking companies face.
We’ll cover:
- Why updating addresses (especially for termed drivers) matters more than you think
- The one state form almost everyone forgets to send their payroll provider
- How to confirm names and Social Security numbers before they become a problem
- What taxable fringe benefits must be added before year-end
- How to audit per diem, detention, layovers, and other trucking-specific pay codes
- The silent issues that pop up with ghost employees and closed accounts
- How to set up your first payroll of the new year so everything runs clean
We also start with our Question of the Week:
“Do I need to issue a W-2 for someone who quit early in the year?”
(Short answer: yes — and I explain why.)
If you want your year-end to be smooth, predictable, and free of surprises, this episode gives you everything you need to get ahead.