Episode 109: Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker Part 2 - Do the Job Right

In Part 2 of the Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker series, Tyler Kivi shifts the focus from mindset to execution, emphasizing that having the right attitude only matters if you back it up by doing the job right every single time. This episode dives into what separates average drivers from true professionals: pride, consistency, and attention to detail. 

Tyler reflects on the legacy behind Kivi Bros Trucking and what it really means to carry that forward, not just in name, but in how you show up, operate, and represent the industry. From clean trucks and organized cabs to tight securement and accurate paperwork, the message is clear. The basics, done right every time, are what make the difference. 

He also calls out one of the most dangerous mindsets in trucking, “it’ll be fine,” and how that thinking leads to small problems snowballing into bigger failures. Throughout the episode, Tyler highlights the importance of consistency in pre-trips, securement, and documentation, the real cost of shortcuts in safety, reputation, and income, and how true professionalism leads to customers requesting drivers by name. At its core, this episode is about raising the standard, bringing pride back to the industry, and understanding that while anyone can do the job, not everyone does it right. 

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 toward. 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. Alright, guys, welcome back. This is part two of our series, Stand Firm and Act Like a Trucker. In last episode, we talked about standing firm. No excuses, total ownership, handling pressure the right way. We talked about how the name on the side of the door isn't special just because it's my last name. It's my grandpa's legacy, and I'm gonna continue to drive that up. Like that's my goal. That's what we're here to do. And you can always have the right mindset, but if you don't execute the job the right way, it doesn't matter at all. And so today in part two, we're talking about doing the job right. And there used to be a lot of pride in this job. I think everyone knows that. I mean, all it takes is to look at TV. Back in the day, they used to make movies, and truckers were a centerpiece on a lot of those. Talking about smoking the bandit, right? What a fantastic movie series. Over the top. If you haven't watched that arm wrestling movie, get it up and watch it. You can see the class, the legacy, what everybody wanted to see out of a trucker was there. And it was clean trucks, loads looking perfect, and drivers dressed to impress. And I know clothing is not the biggest impact as a truck driver, you're oftentimes alone a long time. And so why would it matter, right? But think about it. If you take pride in yourself and you take pride in your ride and you take pride in your load, you show up to impress, that's what you do, and that's how it was all the time. I mean, I remember as a kid washing my Uncle Randy's truck, and I know I talked about him last episode how nothing is free, and washing it, and that was just a ritual. You got done at the end of the week, whether it was raining, cold, it didn't matter. It got washed before you put it in the shop for the weekend. And if you were there, you didn't get to sit and watch. You got your hands wet and put a mit on, and you were out there scrubbing. How many today have ever washed their own truck? Now I know there's a lot of caveats to that, but you get where I'm headed with it. How many of you have filled up a bucket, put soap in it, and started scrubbing on your own truck because you wanted to impress? Not a lot. And you don't see it. In fact, you almost see the opposite at truck stops. Now you see people throwing trash on the ground, trash on their drum between the you know, the fifth wheel and the sleeper, there's stuff stuffed all over. It's almost crazy what their dash looks like, and it's too many people just getting by. Why? You know, why did we get to such a lazy culture in trucking when there's so much to be proud of? You guys move America and yet we don't take it seriously. And we just drift to get through the day and hope nothing goes wrong continuously. That's all that's the standard, right? I'm just I'm doing what I can do right now and to get by. Um, and you know, one of our drivers just recently had his whole truck fully polished out, and it was like the most energizing thing to see that, to see someone that took pride in their ride and had the aluminum polished out. And I know we have a lot of drivers that take care of their truck on their own continuously, and I've even seen drivers wax their whole truck. Sean Porter in our orientation has set the standard that I do not think anyone that I know has beat. He even sandblasted his own frame on his truck one time and repainted it because it was starting to pit and rust just from the northern winners and road grime, salt, and he went over it and redid his whole frame. I mean, talk about pride in your ride if you're paying attention to the details like that, sanding your tanks down, waxing your truck, painting your frame, rein Xing your windshield. I mean, the list goes on and on and on, and sometimes it's subtle. You can't see it as you pass by the truck to understand what the inside of that truck looks like, but taking pride and doing it inside is a huge standard, too. You don't get to see it when you pass by. But you as the driver get to experience it, get to feel proud. And I think this is relatable to anything. Think about your workspace at your office. It's not complicated, it's always just the basics, right? These are the simple little things done over and over and done right every single time. And you're back to trucking now, right? Your pre-trips. Continue to look for things that could go wrong. You have to anticipate things that are going to go wrong. In trucking, everything's mechanical. It's not an if when something is going to mechanically fail. It's more of a when. So you need to be prepared looking for that. Always understanding that every day your tire circumstances could change. But you need to be forecasting, hey, can I take a peek at that? Let me make sure everything's good. Your securement, you know, assuming that something could loosen. You know, straps can change tension, whether it's wet, cold, you know, you puts you put frozen straps on and then it warms up, those can become loose. Understanding that if there's tires on your load and you've secured it with chains, that things can loosen up. Your paperwork, knowing that it has to be done right every single time. There's not a room for caveats to just keep happening over and over. Oh, sorry, this happened. A dog ate it, blew out the window, got wet, got spilled coffee on it. I mean, things happen, but if you start to see that being your normal, what's going on there? And people aren't just failing because they don't know what to do, they're failing because they choose not to do it consistently. Like I said, it's right there on the tip of our nose. Let's bring this industry right back to where it needs to be. And as a truck driver, you deal with so many things. I had a driver last week, and I know he listens to this podcast frequently, but he was going through construction and someone didn't merge in properly and didn't like the way that uh from their standing, didn't like the way that our truck supposedly was supposed to let them in or give a different following distance. So they stopped right in the middle of the interstate, you know, one-lane construction zone and got up on our driver's step to give him a piece of their mind. What are we dealing with, guys? It's crazy out there, but you have to stay calm and collective and professional, and which he did, and I thank him for that. That's hard to do. It's really easy to spout off what you want in those moments because nothing is easy. Everything comes with a challenge in trucking, and you have to focus on doing the job right. And as I continue to try to build a pathway for drivers to continue to elevate their career, one of the things, you know, is not like we've talked before, someday you gotta just get rid of that out of your vocabulary. It'll be fine, is another one I want to add to that. Get rid of that out of your vocabulary. You cannot continue to get better by just looking at something going, ah, it'll be fine. That'll be fine. You know, those loosen up all the time, that'll be fine, or this tarp slapping, it'll be fine. Take care of business, get the job done and do it right. And that's the mindset where that problem is going to continue to start becoming an issue if you don't handle it. Take care of it. Like I said, I've learned through my own failures so many times. And when I get to be in the captain's chair here and find out all of our internal failures, a lot of things happen from it'll be fine, it's okay, someday it'll get better, and we start to see failure show up. And it's not instantly, and a lot of times it's a snowball effect, it starts really small, and you've seen it before. I think of my grandpa, I think of my uncles again. This is this is such a deep, profound meaning to me when I think of all of my family and what they've done. And so look back, understand when you're part of a family company, you're driving a legacy, and you are a huge contributing factor to that. Understand that you change and can move the needle. One person, that's all it takes, is one person to make a huge difference. And that's what sets a professional driver up from a rookie driver. That's the difference. It's in the details. Check things twice, know and be confident in what you're doing, stay organized and keep your truck clean, be proud of what you do, dress to impress. I had some comments that uh people disagreed when I was talking on a previous episode about show up and dress to impress. And they didn't like that. They thought, why? Why do we have to dress? You know, why do we have to do this? Why do we have to go that way? And you know, I I think that's if you don't if you can't see that already, then you know that's maybe where you and I would disagree. Maybe we're already two different pathways, but I think that's the game changer. I think if you want to bring trucking to a professional career where you can stay proud, dress to impress and control what you can control, and that's one of them. And so take pride, stand firm, take pride. You have a lot to tell about how you conduct yourself, and you can do so much and so much to improve this industry and inspire other people to get into trucking and inspire customers to want to work with you. I think this is the most important part of this. We oftentimes get customers that request the same driver back. Why? Why? Well, it's because that driver brought something unique. He dropped he brought a high level of professionalism and he knew what he was doing, and he was confident in his abilities. And customers, they crave that. That's what they want, and that's the difference right now. That used to be the standard. Now the standard is laziness, and when you show up and you drive it through the roof and you act and show that you know what you're doing, and you dress to impress, and there's pride in your ride, and things are organized, they see it, and that's what makes the difference. And they start recognizing that and they ask for you by name, and you start to become a part of this business. Like I said, it takes one person to make or change a whole day, a whole week, even a month. And none of that happens by accident. That's intentional. So just get rid of shortcuts. Let's show up, let's create opportunities, let's do the things that need to be done now instead of waiting. Because things get worse as you procrastinate. And things that can cost you by not living a lifestyle like this are money. It's your reputation. I know everybody wants to grow because I get asked all the time, how do I grow? How do I grow? How do I become a different? How do I become more? Right? Like that's that's what people want. That's the life that people pursue. I'm the same way. That's what I want. And safety is the backbone of all that. So you combine your earning potential, your reputation, and then understanding safety is all the foundation of that. You need to make sure you do it right every single time and operate at a high level every single time. And just understand that your emotions can cloud that judgment. If you have a bad interaction with a shipper or bad conversation on the phone with somebody, or your inner circle is somebody that consistently spews negativity, that's going to affect how you feel every single time. So understand that you got to block that out and that you go default and you go right back to your standards. And this is how I do things every load, every day, every time. Remember that. You can do it. So at the end of the day, anybody can do this job if you put your mind to it, but not everybody does it right. And that's the difference. On the next episode, part three, we're going to close this series out with Act Like a Trucker. I'm going to reel it all in and I'm going to talk about how you carry yourself. So thanks for listening to the Keep Trucking Personal Podcast. 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.