Avery-n-Josh, Pivotal Transportation Compliance and The TRUCK FOCUS PODCAST

You can hold of Josh through the links below:
Podcast website: www.pvtlcompliance.com/truckfocuspodcast

Blog website: https://www.pvtlcompliance.com/truckfocusblog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruckFocusPodcast 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truckfocuspodcast/ 

Facebook Post of Avery's ThankATrucker Photo: https://www.facebook.com/PivotalTransportationIndustrySolutions/photos/a.355843381660517/629550010956518/?type=3 

Transcript

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And just before this episode begins a quick word from our sponsor. Hello everybody. We've got our next virtual national recruiting and retention event coming up April 22nd, from 10 till noon, we've put together a phenomenal lineup. Now you're going to hear about inspiring women in transportation. You're going to hear about virtual training and the importance of, and how that can play a role to help your organization. And we're also going to talk about nuclear verdicts and how to get insurance during these, during these times off to get registered, all you need to do is call Kim Seitz my hell at +1 800-771-8171. She's at extension two or three, and you can also email her as well. And welcome to another episode of the dog on it. Trucking podcast. I'm so excited this week, we are helping launch a, another trucking podcast. I've got the, the hosts and that is an S the hosts on, and this podcast is a little bit unique and different. It's Josh and his son Avery. So you've got to stay tuned till about halfway through the podcast to listen to Avery, because it's awesome. We're going to start off talking about PV T L. So I'm going to bring Josh in Josh. How are you? Hey, Chris, I'm doing really good. Thanks so much for having us on this is awesome. Hey, as they say, you're not the star of the show, buddy. Your son is, but just we'll bring him in in a minute. I just wanted you to talk a little bit about yourself, your history in the safety world and PV T compliance. Yep, absolutely. So the trucking industry, that's all I've ever known. So going on a little less than maybe others, but about 15 years. And I've been very fortunate to hold multiple different, I guess, multiple amount of positions in our industry. I used to own my own trucking outfit back home and BC. And then from there, I was able to really navigate the dispatcher, operations, compliance, and safety. And yeah, I do a lot of volunteering in our industry as well. And I'm very fortunate because you get to see a lot of different challenges. People face. There's a lot of honesty when you're in those intimate conversations and through that is what developed pivotal. So initially I started, as my focus would be mostly on compliance, helping small carriers figure out what do you actually need to have in place to operate within the boundaries of compliance. And then over the last probably nine, my focus has really shifted. So introducing industry experts to industry, because it's not just from a compliance lens where there's confusion, I find, but it's a lot of different components. How do you buy a truck? How do you know it's rightly spec what's insurance? How do I know? I actually have the adequate insurance to finance thing and yeah, the more conversations like I said, I had, I'm like, wow, there's a lot of confusion. So pivotal basically migrated to be an industry solutions focused business that can really just tee up healthy relationships. So good vendors that I've vetted to people I care about it or industry. Well cool. And I know that you've been in the industry for a lot of years, just real quick. What made you start the podcast? So let, let's say that the podcast, if you're watching this, you can see the local, the truck focused podcast. And by the way, the logo's missing a name Avery's, name's not on there. So before we bring Avery in what made you start a truck focus podcast, A couple things. So first off, not just saying this, cause we're on the show, but you really helped show that's possible. And that really jives I'd say with my mentality of everything really is possible. So thank you for that. That's why I say that upfront. So for the last couple of years, I've been pretty vocal on social media, through pictures, words, and I feel that kind of can only go so far. Not everyone wants to read, not everyone's on Facebook all the time, that kind of stuff. So I felt it was really inappropriate to use the platform of the podcast to a it's attractive for experts, but also it's really easy to hop on any podcast platform and listen. So if you're saying a dispatcher and you have a half an hour commute in the morning, and you want to think about just different things, drivers go through, it's a good opportunity as well as if you're an over the road expert and you have a 14 day venture ahead of you wanted to provide the opportunity for them to learn from different experts. So it's an hour, an hour and a half episode. Well, that's cool, but I, I, sorry, Josh. I really want to bring your co-host in. So with that, let's introduce Avery, Avery. Good. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show today. It's my pleasure. Let me tell you, so what is your role in the truck focus podcast? Well, like you said, I'm the co-host of the podcast. We, we interview, we're starting to interview more people as we grow with the podcast. And as like right now, it's different because you're interviewing us except from different perspectives. And it just feels weird that we're being interviewed and not interviewing someone else. Yes. I know. I have the pleasure of appearing on some other podcasts. And one of the things as the host, I try to ask the question and then shut up. And when you're being interviewed, it's the opposite. You're being asked the question and you're being encouraged to speak. So it's, it's a little bit different Avery. I understand you are really behind or focused on supporting all those types of words. Thank a trucker. Do you want to talk about think a trucker campaign? Yes. So I was first introduced to pick a trucker by my dad in may of 2020. And it was, it was this movement of just helping, just thanking truckers for their support and their van delivering goods to us so that we can stay healthy during 2020. Yeah. It's been a challenging year. Yes, that's for sure. Josh, how do you support think a trucker? I think the easiest way I can is just by expressing gratitude and that can be from face-to-face. That could be just different appreciation event, different examples. We'll be at a fuel station guy filling up the field station with just commercial gas and you buy them a gift card and say to, yeah, just listening. I think a lot of times professional drivers are kind of forced to limit their way of, or I guess, limit their belief of the value they bring. And I think after a couple of minutes of just genuine interest in conversation, they open up and I'm like, this is where the magic happens because they matter people matter. And yeah, we're big advocates for that. No, and I think quite honestly, trucking has been one of the industries that until this recent health crisis, I guess you'd call it a truck. Drivers have been largely ignored and not given much thought. Avery w what are your thoughts about truck drivers delivering the much needed safety supplies during this time? Obviously they're essential to the community, to the world. And I always say, if you got it, a truck brought in And if they never delivered any supplies, equipment to the warehouses, that we would never have these things that we need in our everyday lives. If you went to Walmart, the shelves would be pretty empty. If the trucks didn't show up. Yeah. Josh, what about safety supplies and trucking? Yeah, I think it's the unsung heroes. The amount that goes in from walking up to completing a thorough pre-trip to ensuring what's on are secured, properly to travel across the roadway, to get to where the destination is. The amount of skill in that process or processes is incredible. And the amount of focused on them, just making sure that you check that initially, obviously we can dive into pre trips, but yeah, cargo securement to checking tools, to checking temperatures, to dealing with road traffic, dealing with shippers and receivers. There's a lot that has to go, right. And that's where we can be champions for our industry. And that's where we are really focused on is just highlighting just that process. And then dissecting how many safe locations are there for professional drivers to pull over with say, a tractor trailer with a 53 foot trailer, how many fielding stations, how many arrests stops and just identifying opportunities to ensure that they have safe travel. So that way they're not stressed about that. And they're really focused on the safety components of their job and the customer service components of their job, being respectful with law enforcement being respectful generally. Yeah. The well truck drivers play an integral role. And before we get into vehicle inspections or pre trips, I don't think we mentioned that Avery and Josh are from Calgary. So this is a cross Canada and they speak with an accent they're way over there. Right? So they're from Calgary, Alberta. And I think I mentioned to you Josh earlier, my sister lives just North of you. Well, three hours North up in Edmonton, but you know, she's been there. She's started at Jasper park lodge and then moved to Edmonton after that anyways, vehicle inspections. What did you want to talk about with vehicle inspections, Josh? Well, I think there's a lot of different components to talk about, and I know you've had different guests on, which is great, that are former law enforcement, still law enforcement, two different types of experts. So I like focusing or the driver mentality of a pre-trip inspection. And the biggest thing is a free trip inspection takes as long as it takes. So when you have professional drivers that are really stressed on time, really. So from an operation standpoint, if dispatch is saying, you got to get up to the door, you got to get out the door. And then the driver feels conflicted because they're like, well, I still have to inspect 70 some feet of equipment. Plus the cargo. I just always encourage professional drivers that just take a deep breath and focus really on what's the task at hand. And that's always protecting yourself, effecting the safety and operating within the compliance or the boundaries of compliance. I'm sorry. So again, I, we can talk technical, but I just want to really focus on this episode. Just it's all about the mindset and staying dedicated to that is what's required and you like, yeah, not everyone's at quote unquote professional, but that is what's required. So making sure mine stay focused on that. Avery, how important do you think fatigue is to truck drivers? They definitely sleep in order to proceed in the day, because if you don't get enough sleep and you're working a 14 hour shift, then you're definitely going to be in a lot of trouble. Like you could fall asleep behind the wheel, possibly get into an accident and you don't want those things. So it's important to just get sleep and be ready for upcoming days. Yeah. How much sleep do you get in a day in a night On weekdays? Probably nine hours. Weekends. Probably 10 hours. Okay. And you're a little bit younger. So adults, what, what do you think your dad gets? And then we'll ask him, well, how many hours of sleep do you think your dad gets during the week With my brother, maybe seven hours. Well, I hope Josh, what do you think you get? But that would be nice. Seven hours. Yeah. We do have another little guy that anyone that's apparent knows the transitions that two year old gets or ghoster. So yeah, some days it's two, three hours of solid sleep and seven hours. This is really nice. I feel it. But yeah, the talk on fatigue quickly, too. This is a fun conversation because in Canada, at health carriers, Chris, obviously you're a master of legislation. We don't provide my opinion. We don't provide enough opportunity for drivers to arrest because remember drivers a human, they have families at home. They have young families, they got little kids. And the say, if I'm only getting sometimes two, three hours of sleep at night, I'm not behind the wheel. So those that are, that are only getting two or three hours of sleep at night. That's a, that's a big concern. Well, you are behind the wheel though. You know, you, I assume at least that you drive a passenger car, correct? Yeah. Good price. So I'm not buying a commercial vehicle anymore. You're no longer legislated as to how much sleep you're or how much rest you're supposed to get. But we all have a, obviously a, a duty to watch out for everybody else. And of course, you've got your, your sons, your wife, perhaps in the car while you're driving. So what are your aspirations in the future? Do you envision yourself getting a job in, in transportation or in trucking? That is one of my big jobs. I have two big jobs. I even want to be in the NBA because I love basketball or I could be in any role and the trucking industry and I in the future, I might like run PVTs when my dad retires or something. Yep. That's good. Now let's go to the NBA first. How much time do you, well, I mean, not talking about it now, but before this health thing, how much time did you spend playing basketball? We couldn't really much because there was like what we're used to live before. There wasn't really any place that we could just walk up to and just start dribbling. But like, there was a park, but there was like, there'd be like 50 million kids there. So we couldn't even really do anything. All right. Did dad fix that now for you? We did get a basketball hoop, but the base was a bit broken, so we had to return it. And we're just going to buy a new one. Well, I'll say when you said you got a basketball hoop I was going to, but you know, if your dad hasn't fixed it yet, then that's no good, but every now and again, we get the yellow truck that goes by. All right. So if the NBA doesn't happen for you, Hey, how about a referee? Would you, I mean, obviously basketball players need to know the rules and they need somebody to be the referee. I actually haven't tried a lot. I don't know. Anyways, I just throw that out to you. So if you had your pick of jobs in the trucking industry, what do you think? And I know that you haven't worked yet, but you've been hanging on your dad. What do you think would be a cool job in the trucking industry? Sure. There's a lot of jobs that, that are really cool. I can't just name one. Yeah. Well, can you name some of the jobs I consider doing what my dad does and being a judge? A truck manager. Yeah. And the safety manager. What do you think about a truck driver? Would you like to drive an 18 Wheeler? One day? Depends on how tired I get in the future. I'm getting really tired that I wouldn't really consider. Well, yeah, you can't drive when you're tired. That's for sure. And if you get easily tired, you shouldn't be a truck driver. Yes. Josh, where do you see pivotal, your safety and compliance company in Calgary going in the future? Because don't forget, Avery wants to take it over when you retire. That's right. I'll start my own basketball league for Avery. So right now we're really focused on the expertise part and part of that, sir, education and building strong relationships with different industry associations in the West. And then obviously our relationship East to West, which is awesome. So I'm part of it's education. Part of it is aligning ourselves with technology, so different tech companies. So that way we're a resource for when different challenges happen. We have solutions for that. And part of my focus too, is building a, like, what's the best way to wear it at industry coaching. So part of my background is more in the life coaching space. And I think that's where my holistic approach of just being kind and empathetic comes from. And I think that could be something that we'll really focus on too, because you can do that in schools. And that's where I see Avery really getting involved in the next couple of years. And then there's different volunteer events as well. Yeah, no, it's, it's cool. So the truck focus podcast, Avery coming back to the reason we're talking today, the focus podcast, how many episodes have you recorded? And then tell me how many episodes have you released Release? We have three episodes of it and record it. We have six episodes. Beautiful. And how often do you release an episode? I don't know. That's more of a dad question. Okay. Dad, how often are you releasing episodes? Yeah, our game plans or at least whatever two weeks I'm working for full time, as well as doing our, this truck focus full-time full-time on the side. We wanted to make sure that we were releasing valuable content in a consistent manner. So it's about every two weeks. Perfect. And Josh is on every episode, sorry. Avery is on every episode. Right? So for the first four, my promise to Avery was we would do it together because we want to build this together. We always say it's a family mission. And from there it'll be when it's appropriate. So if there's a topic that's potentially more in depth, then maybe your, every wouldn't even like it. So no, but when it's more, just a good conversation. Absolutely. Wow. Sorry, Josh. I think Avery's the star of the show. So you should get him on as often as possible. The links to the truck focus podcast will be in the show notes below for our viewers and listeners to this. And as well as the links to the show, social media. Now last words. What we're did we want to cover that we haven't yet talked about Josh. I'll throw that one to you first. Thanks, Chris. I think one of the most important things that as leaders we can do, and it's not just because you have a title, it's because you're taking ownership of a direction. Don't let a Sydney boundary provincial boundary, urban national boundary confined it because I've learned so much from crest. I have a friend in the States, that's teaching me stuff and I have people right around the corner. So as we develop safety focused leadership focused as professionals in our industry don't feel confined with because maybe you don't have access to something right, right today. And that's something that we want to just continue to push out. And again, Chris, thanks so much for just being a mentor, an encourager, and then having us on today. Hey, it does ask it. It's awesome because you reached out to me on Facebook is how we first met. And I want to go back to Avery because one of the topics that your dad and I had, or one of the interests that your dad and I, we also follow passive income and Pat Flint. And I know Pat has a podcast that he does with his son. Have you been listening to that podcast? Every episode He sat on it, but I wasn't really paying attention as much. Okay. Because I really encourage you. You are very well-spoken individuals. So I would encourage you. Maybe you become a podcast host. Not that I make any money with this, but there are people out there who are making you look at Brogan. What's his first name? Josh? Yeah. Joe Rogan and his Spotify deal. Incredible. You'd never know what happens in the future. Only Time can tell that's awesome. Avery, last word, have anything that you wanted to say that we didn't get, give you the opportunity to express yet. So you're going to talk about the tanker truck of movement. Again, I don't know if you've seen it, but I drew a picture for the movement and my dad posted it on social media. All right. So make sure that, tell Josh to send me the link and we'll connect that in the show notes down below. All right. All right, guys. I really want to thank you both. Thanks for taking the time out. We recorded this on a Saturday morning, out in Calgary, Saturday afternoon, here in the East, but I really want to thank you for getting up and I see Avery that you shaved and everything today for me. So that was, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show today. I hope you love the show as much as I did. Please leave us a, like a thumbs up a review, a comment, a rating. If it is, thank you so much. And I do really appreciate the time and join us again next week for another exciting, interesting <inaudible>.