Episode 108: Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker Part 1 - Stand Firm: No Excuses, Just Ownership

In this episode of the Keep Trucking Personal podcast, Tyler Kivi kicks off a new three-part series, Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker, and sets the tone right away. This one is not soft, polished, or for everyone. With fuel prices climbing and the market heating up, Tyler challenges drivers to rise to the moment and prepare to capitalize on what is ahead. He starts with a practical reminder that every decision matters right now, from managing speed to reducing idle time, because small choices add up quickly when costs are high. But beyond the operational side, this episode goes deeper into mindset, specifically the difference between making excuses and taking ownership.

Tyler reflects on the legacy of his grandfather and father, using their work ethic as a benchmark for what trucking was built on: reliability, accountability, and pride in the job. He calls out a shift in the industry, where standards have slipped and excuses have become more common, and challenges listeners to ask themselves where they might be doing the same. Through real examples like being late, load issues, and miscommunication, he makes it clear that ownership is what gives drivers control, while blame keeps them stuck. He also highlights how leaving hours unused each week means leaving opportunity on the table, especially in a market that is picking up speed.

At its core, this episode is about becoming someone others can count on. Tyler emphasizes that pressure does not build character, it reveals it, and as the industry gets busier, expectations will rise along with it. Drivers who have been preparing, paying attention to details, and holding themselves to a higher standard will be the ones who benefit most. The message is simple but direct: no excuses, no shortcuts, just ownership and the decision to stand firm.

Transcript

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Welcome to Keep Trucking Personal. I'm Tyler Keeby, a third generation trucker. My purpose is simple. Make sure the definition of trucking doesn't get lost in the culture this industry is drifting for. This podcast is about real stories, the hard lessons, and the standards that built this business long before apps and algorithms. If you believe trucking is more than freight and it's responsibility, you're in the right place. Let's get into it. Welcome back to Keep Trucking Personal. My name is Tyler Keevey, and I'm your host. I'm sure everyone's noticed it. Fuel prices are through the roof. This market is starting to heat up, and man, I'm really excited for what this summer is going to bring. A lot of people are talking about a strong quarter one, which we just wrapped up, and we're into the month of April, but it is getting excited. And that's what keeps leading me into these series, right? We just let wrapped up Living Radical. And all of this is to continue to prepare us to strike why the iron is hot right now. We need to be prepared and we need to be the best version of ourselves, the best version of a truck driver that we can be to capitalize on this market. But first, I want to talk real quick about this high fuel cost. You see it when you're putting fuel in the truck. Like you're reading the pump right there. You see the costs that go into your truck every single day. And some drivers, if you think about our heavy hall side, that's twice a day they're doing that. Please be mindful. Doesn't matter who you drive for, be mindful, be courteous. If you can shut that truck off when you're getting ready to load, shut it off. Take the extra steps. If you can slow down and you have time to travel over the weekend and you don't need to be up against your governor, slow down. Think about all that. We talk so much about tire pressures and trying to monitor your equipment and doing your pre-trips thoroughly. Now is the time that it matters most. We haven't talked about it for years to get to this time where it counts most. It's like every fraction counts for so much. We haven't talked about it all this time to just lay down and let these huge fuel prices just surge. So please be mindful, take consideration all of the things that you've learned throughout your career as a truck driver and put them into action now so that you can set yourself up for the best summer possible. And we can be mindful of these crazy costs because nobody's assuming fuel will go down. There might be, you know, some ebbs and flows up and down here and there, but we're trending around $5 a gallon national average. You get out west, you're seeing $6 a gallon or more. Like it's wild right now. So do your part, be mindful of fuel costs and what you can do to help minimize that exposure. But like I said, we just wrapped up Living Radical series. I love that series. I mean, those are things that I think about all the time and I'm passionate about, and it really gets me motivated. And it's going to lead into another three-part series that I call Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker. And I'll tell you right now, this series is going to be a little bit different. It's not going to be soft and cushy and cuddly, and it's not going to be polished. It's not going to be for everyone. Because what we're going to talk about is what this industry was built on and the standards and accountability and pride in the job. And friends, I'm telling you, this is all continuing to lead up to what this summer is going to be. So take into consideration everything and just picture yourself and all this as we talk through it. Because you matter and you make a difference in this industry and you play a huge part in whatever company you're a part of. And if you're at Kiwi, we want you to think about this. But somewhere along the way, this industry has let those standards and accountability and pride in the job just slip. It's just like it water off your back, it's gone. And all of a sudden now we're a whole different industry. And we're going to go over three episodes here, and we're going to cover part one, which is today stand firm. And this is about being the backbone of this industry. This is a no-excuse driver. This is owning your role no matter what shows up. That's part one. Part two is going to be about do the job right. And this is about the details and taking pride in your work and not cutting corners when nobody's watching. Okay, that's part two. And part three is going to be act like a trucker. This is about how you carry yourself. This is about how you represent the job and what people see and think when they see you outside of your truck. This is what it's like when you were a kid and you were pumping your arm to get that truck driver to honk their horn. Act like a trucker. We are a trucking community and we need to act like it. And this isn't gonna be just the series about calling people out, but it's gonna be about calling people up and bringing you back up the standard because this job still means something and it should to you. If you're listening to this, it should to you. Okay, so let's start with part one. Stand firm. Stand firm and act like a trucker. Because I always default back to what my grandfather did and my parents and my uncles did. And I love the concept I had a driver remind me of not too long ago. That although my last name is Kiwi and it is on the side of the door, that's not the name I'm representing. It's not mine, it's not my name. It's my grandfather's name. It's his legacy that I'm trying to carry forward. It's not my name, it's not just because my last name's Kiwi. It's his legacy I'm trying to carry forward. And everyone at this company is trying to carry that legacy forward for something that he built and started out back in the day when trucking was real deal. Like it was it was a different kind of trucking. And that's what I want to make sure that we all understand and relate to and we uphold that. Of course, trucking is not what it, it's not gonna be now what it was then. There's just no physical way. But we can't lose the foundation of what got us there. And this being a trucker and standing firm is gonna really mean toughness. It's gonna mean reliability. And it meant that you could be the person that I could count on you no matter what. That's hard to find nowadays. Like I'm not bringing this up just to sound fun and come at it from a side angle here. This is the reality. People are less accountable now than they were back then. Why? Why is everyone so soft? Why has everyone uh got soft hands, right? I'm sure everyone's seen the TikTok where he talks about soft hands. Why? That's a real conversation that we should be asking. Why is everyone unreliable? What caused it? Is it when things got hard, all of a sudden everybody started to buckle? You just were allowed to back out real quick. Like you didn't care. I mean, my grandfather didn't just fold when pressure got hot, when the circumstances were not in his favor, and it kept every day like a wave smashing into the side of the boat, just kept going into the storm, and he kept going and going and going. He didn't give up. He didn't fold. He stood firm. And that's what we're missing more of. We need to stand firm. And going right into it, straight at it, this job is not easy. I don't need to pretend. Of course, there's so many awesome things that you get to do and see, but it's not easy. The long days, the weather, the delays, the job sites keep getting tighter and tighter, and there's more traffic. And things go not as planned. Every week you can attest to something like that. I'm not just saying that because it's a once a month, once a quarter, once a year. That's every week you will be impacted by one of those. That's the job. That's just how it goes. But somewhere along the way, we started making excuses. Simple as that. We started making excuses, and excuses started to become normal, just like any habit. You start doing it every single day, you make up a little white lie here, and it turns into a white lie there. And pretty soon that's your default. Running late. Oh, we're gonna blame traffic instead of hey, I overslept. I bet you you can attest to that. I'm guilty. I've found ways to find an excuse to cover up my own mistakes, and I'm sure that you have too. A load issue. Let's blame the shipper. Hey, I'm heavy on my drives. Okay, you are the driver. Why did you let them load it on your drives that way? I don't understand why, right? Like you have gauges on your truck, you have gauges in your trailer, you have ways to be prepared to do the job. Why is it heavy on your drives, right? Like, why? Why do we have to blame the shipper? You know, think about it. How did we how did we get to that spot? How did we let them put us overweight on the drives, overweight on our trailer? Those are things that we hear all the time. Miscommunication. Let's blame somebody else. Let's say it was the dispatcher's fault, let's say it was the driver's fault. Let's say there was no phone number on the bills. The reality is we know we need to connect with these people. Why did we wait until we got there for that find out that they need a crane to unload you? And now everybody's stuck. It's costing you money, it's costing the company money, and it just created a bunch of extra frustration that nobody wants. Why? Listen, guys, excuses don't build anything, and they're not going to ever make you better. They don't even earn you respect, honestly. And I know you feel deep down that that was a lie. They're not going to solve any problems for you, and they just keep you stuck in that same revolving circle of lying. And so looking back at the legacy of my grandpa, looking back at my dad and the way they trucked, they had ownership in it. I want to tell you something about my dad. And I remember this profoundly, and I don't understand still how he had that clock, that internal clock. But he used to start his day every single day at 2 a.m. The unique thing about that is he never set an alarm. Not once. He doesn't even know how to set an alarm on his phone right now, and he has an iPhone. So think back to when you know there wasn't an iPhone. He didn't have an alarm. He woke up every single day on his own at 2 a.m. and did it. He took ownership in every situation and he mastered it. He had a good time. He loved trucking. He was proud to be a truck driver. And he kept after it. Now ask yourself, how many times are you setting your own self up for success? Has it become part of you? Is it your DNA? Are you always finding yourself on the tail end or what you might call a losing deal? What do you got to do to change it? Maybe you should take some ownership. Understand that even when it's not your fault, it's your fault. Late? Let's own it. It's my fault. I overslept. Mistake. Hey, I made a mistake. I didn't realize I should have talked to that shipper and made sure they didn't overload me on my drives. Now I know I've learned. I've learned from that. I've got experience now and I'm a better driver. Miscommunication. Hey, you know what? I'm prepared now. I understand that as a truck driver, I need to set myself up for success and communicate with my shipper and receiver religiously. Like it's my job because it is. And that's the ownership. That's the ownership that gives you control. And blame is going to give it away. So get rid of that blame and focus on ownership. And like I said, I look back in history all the time. That's what I'm trying to defend. I'm trying to defend the name on the side of the door that even though it's my last name, it's not my legacy, it's my grandfather's legacy. And that's what I'm trying to uphold. And even to this day, I look at my dad and he still works every single day. And he is the first one to call out that he doesn't take sick days, he doesn't do any of that. And trust me, there's days he's been sick and he's not immune to that. But he has that ownership ingrained into him that he's going to show up every day for you because you show up for him. He's not going to let you down. And that's what I'm trying to get at. That's it distilled down, the ownership. That's what he has. That's what I try to get better at every single day. That's the standard that I work around. So if you can imagine trying to call in sick to my dad when he says he never calls in sick, it's hard to do. You better be, you better be sick, or you will feel it in your gut that you lied and you made up an excuse. And I've seen so many drivers that have had an answer for everything. Honestly, when I get on a phone with a driver, it doesn't impress me that you know every single thing, or you're trying to tell me you've been there, done it. Like that's not sometimes that's a flaw, right? Overconfidence can lead you into mistakes or complacency. And they always have a reason for whatever it is, right? Now this happened, you know, it's like they got a Rolodex with excuses. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, here's what happened here. Here's what happened here, here's what happened here. I'm not making money, I'm not doing this. But when you put a little pressure back or you pull up facts, right? And facts for us are receipts, it's your logbook. Let's go through it. Let's talk about your hours. Let's talk about a 70-hour clock. How many did you use of it? Do you want to know that the average driver typically uses around 55 hours of their clock? That's 15 hours a week that is left on the table. 15 hours a week left on the table. And when they get within 20 hours of using up their 70 or 20 hours left, they start talking about where I'm going to do a reset. Friends, we're too worried about excuses and breaks instead of hammering it down. And if you're listening to this again, look at your clock. Have you squeezed that thing? Have you set yourself up for success? I know when my grandpa was trucking and all my uncles were trucking, my dad, they were not sitting there trying to shut down early. They were using every single thing they had, every resource they had to make sure they got the most out of it. And that's what I want for you. That's what I want for you. I want you to be successful. I don't want it to be someone else's fault. I don't want everybody to always mess with you and you always caught the short end of the deal. Because I'm going to tell you, those people never get better. It's always going to be someone else's fault and they never fix it. And so let's paint the picture of the best case scenario, right? Like let's go back in time. Let's think of the black coffee drinking, hard steel-toe boots wearing, dirty jeans, button-up shirt with maybe pearl snaps on it. Those type of drivers. Let's think about how they operated back in the day. They took responsibility. They knew if they broke down, they had to handle it themselves. There wasn't even a cell phone. And we had the luxuries of all of this now, and we've gotten softer versus leveraging it. Everything may not have been their responsibility, but in the moment they took 100% of ownership. And because of that, my grandpa got better. He became a better operator. He learned the ins and outs of the business. And he became a guy that people could count on, which garnered him more business. And that was not luck. It was not luck at all. Because sometimes I even sit back and say, whoa, we got lucky on this. Like did not expect this rate or this customer. That wasn't luck. And sometimes I need to stop telling myself that because we go through so much and try to raise the standards all the time that when you look at it, you start to realize your standards are what got you there. And it's awesome. Look, if you don't think the way you practice is the way you're going to play, then I got news for you that you're going to fail. You're going to fail. That's the truth. If you're cutting corners and trying to slop this and late to every single thing, and you haven't realized that it's time to step up, man, it's going to happen. It's going to hit. And I hate that. I don't want you in that position. I know that as a truck driver, like I just said, this season is heating up. There's room for you to make big money. Let's truck. That's what it's all about, right? You want to make money, look good, feel good, and put the miles on. And that's what's coming right now. And so you need to prepare for it. And if you've been practicing sloppy and you haven't been getting yourself in the right mindset, what's going to happen? It's going to breeze right by and you're going to be the one standing on the sideline going, What happened? Where was I? How did I not get a piece of that? How come I wasn't on that project? Why didn't I get in that emergency job? Well, maybe you can answer those questions yourself. Because, you know, we all can look really good when it's easy. When freight gets busy, it's hard. It's what we all want. It's what I've talked about for years. We need this market to turn. And when it starts to turn, it does not just get easier. In fact, it gets the opposite. I've always said the saying that you're either finding freight or you're trying to cover freight. Like there's really no in-between in trucking. There's never just a perfect balance where, like, oh, every truck's loaded, let's go home. There's never a delay. You're either trying to find freight or you're trying to cover freight. And it's just that dynamic. And as the market gets hotter, the pressure increases. And that means there's going to be more expectations. You're going to be going, find another driver for that load. Why do I have to take it? Well, that's because I cannot find another driver. Everybody is planning. We need you to step up. You need to step up. This is your chance. Take advantage of it. And that's when you're going to find out who you are. Right? Pressure gets hot. Are you going to lose your composure and get frustrated and melt down? Are you going to stay steady and handle it and say, I've been practicing and I've been getting ready for this time? And now is my time to capitalize. We talked about moving up in divisions in previous episodes. Man, now is your time. You want to show up and show out? Buckle in. Let's see it. Let's see you handle it. Because pressure doesn't just build character. No, it doesn't. It's going to reveal who you are. It's going to reveal who you are. And so standing firm means you don't fold when things are going to get uncomfortable and the pressure turns up and things get hot in the kitchen. You don't look for the easy way out. You understand that nothing is free in this world and you're going to have to work for it. I've learned that my uncle Randy used to tell me that all the time when I was really young. And he'd say, it didn't matter what you got or how it was given to you, nothing is free. And you know, even when you're young, you try to understand that, and it's like, how? Like, I mean, I this was given to me free, right? Or in this circumstance, and even in trucking, more than ever proves that to me. Like you might have a really good week, but be prepared because you could break down next week. Nothing is free. Everything makes you pay for it. So don't look for the easy way out. Get in, get your hands dirty, step up, take the ownership, and handle it every single time. And at the end of the day, this job's gonna test you. Like I said, I wasn't gonna lie to you. I'm gonna give it to you straight. This job's gonna test you, it's gonna challenge you, and it is hard. That's guaranteed. That's guaranteed about this job. The only question is when it does come at you like a wave after wave after wave. Are you gonna stand firm? Are you? Next episode, we're gonna talk about part two, and that's do the job right. And because standing firm alone is the foundation, but how you execute the job, that's what is going to separate you. And so thanks for listening to Keep Trucking Personal. Until next time, be safe. Appreciate you tuning in. If you got value out of this, subscribe and send it to someone who takes pride in the job. We're not just moving freight, we're shaping the culture. Catch you on the next one.