Bruce Outridge

Your Belief System Starts with You!

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Bruce

We all go through ups and downs in life and sometimes staying positive is very hard to do, however the only person that can keep you motivated is you. I do my best to be positive and even I get down, but I am doing what I love and I have put myself in that position. I enjoy entrepreneurship even with the hardships that it brings. Over time I have met some people who feel a little less enthusiastic about their positions however and wonder if they know how they present to the industry they are in.

In the transportation industry there is a great driver shortage that will be no small feat to get over. A few of the recruiters in that industry however are very negative about owner operators yet their job is to recruit them to their company. How do you become enthusiastic to bring someone into your organization if you don’t believe the applicant will be successful once in place? Owner operator opportunities are plentiful right now so someone negative against those opportunities will have problems hiring people in that area.

If you have something similar going on in your workplace realize the only person that can change your way of thinking is you. If your job is to do something that you truly don’t believe in then you are best to get out of that position or find the benefits of it. Maybe you don’t understand the owner operator position and need to find out the positive of the position so you can be more enthusiastic when explaining it. Your attitude comes through even when you think you are hiding your disbelief. If your position works directly opposite of your belief system it may be time for a new position.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a transportation consultant and author of the book Running By The Mile. For more information on Bruce and his programs please visit his website at www.outridge.ca

Join Forces, Lets Stamp Out the Bad!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Bruce

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If you’re like me right now you are pissed at the world, Too much devastation, too much demolition, too much hurting each other. I used to love old sci-fi movies, they would show a world devastated by aliens, or in some cases humans themselves. Usually it was because of some chemical that got into the water. Some times our world was just taken over by aliens with better technology. Normally humans would save the world and make everything come out all right. That world seemed so far away, something that wouldn’t ever come into play. My thinking has been changed lately by the devastation happening in the world, the latest incident in Boston really got me. My Mother is a marathon runner and although she wasn’t in Boston that could have been any marathon and that could have been any finish line. Enough is enough! It is time to take our world back, it’s getting to the point where you can’t take someone to the movies in case you’re shot by some nut-bar, you can’t push yourself in case the finish line is bombed, and you can’t let your kids go to school in case assassins show up that day. Enough is enough!

If you like sports consider this the playoffs, if you like humanity consider this a call to action, it is time to take back the wonderful world that we know. We can drown out the news of gunfire, we can take back our communities by doing the right thing!

Here is what you do, I want you to take a page from the movie Pay it Forward, lets drown the world in kindness. What if we were to do one nice thing per day for someone, even if it is just a smile, just be kind to someone, if you can help make someone’s day better then do it, don’t become a vigilante, that won’t help the situation, use kindness as your weapon. Offer help to someone in need, I am sick of terrorism, join me and take back the world, the only people that can do it is us, lets stop the terror! Some people say I am too optimistic, too positive, at least I am trying to do something. Let me ask you, what are you doing to change the circumstances? Are you fueling the fire or trying to put it out?

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant and author of the books Running By the Mile, and How to Start an Artistic Business in 12 Easy Steps. For more information visit his website at www.outridge.ca

Being Serious About Where You’re Going is the First Step to the Goal

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Bruce

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I work with many new people looking to start out a career or new business as I instruct at many of the training institutes in the transportation industry. Like many young people when you start going through the information you learn about where they want to go with their lives. When you tell them that you can make it if you work hard they get excited realizing they might have a chance at reaching their goal. As the course progresses it is at this point that the actions don’t add up with the goals at the end. They stop thinking about their goal fearing it is too far away to attain. Instead of looking for ways to attain their goals while completing the course they begin to send in unfinished work, stop reading the information, or stop working towards the goal.

In my class I have two different types of students, both want the same outcome, either a job or owner operator business. One is going through the motions and barely squeezing by, and the other is listening and doing what he can. I have been telling them to start applying for positions while still enrolled so that when finished their course they will have already set up a plan. One is following that plan and realizing the opportunities available and the other is plodding along at the same pace. Reaching your goals involves making the opportunities happen, some call it luck while others call it opportunity. If you are trying to improve your career, start a business you have to make the opportunities and that happens by getting started in contacting people that may listen to what you want to do and making sure you are creating the opportunities that can help you succeed in your goals. Waiting to see what happens is the true way of making sure you miss important opportunities.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership author. For more information visit his website at www.outridge.ca

What Is Your Best Day?

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Bruce

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Recently I was feeling a little stressed and exhausted. I dreadfully needed a few days to recharge. Looking at my calendar I realized taking days off was not part of the program as the next day was lined with meetings. When I ask people what their best day might look like I get answers such as, “I would win a million dollars” or “I would suddenly become a success.” For many of us the day would be focused on us and most of us would feel that is the way it should be. What I found out through my meetings the next day was totally the opposite.

I had five meetings set for that day, three were business oriented and two were people requesting a block of my time. The first meeting started as a breakfast meeting with a good friend and business partner who had come down concerned for my stress level. After a great breakfast and some good conversation, expansion on some business advice we both attended to our busy schedules. My next meeting was with a major client of mine and the business at hand was awarded. My third meeting was with a University student that wanted to interview me for his final project and was so excited from my advice by the end of our meeting he is planning to start his own business. The fourth meeting was with another client and again the business at hand was awarded. My final and fifth meeting was with a person whom I met by chance in a coffee shop and asked me about a project I was working on. I was able to help him down a path he was stuck on and this old guy was in heaven. I had agreed to meet with him again when in the area and today was the day. He left this meeting floating on a cloud.

Now you would have thought that the day would have added to my exhaustion level but it was exactly the opposite. I was pumped up and excited, when I look back on that day the best meetings were watching other people’s dreams come to life. I believe in what goes around comes around and I believe we need to spend time helping others. So I ask you, what will your best day look like? Who will you help today?

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an author, artist, consultant, and speaker. For more information on Bruce visit his website at www.outridge.ca

I Know It All Already!

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Bruce

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I was just finishing a class and a women walked in with a question. I politely told her to go ahead and she asked a general question about a dispatch position in the transportation industry. I gave her the answer as I knew it and we began to talk about the industry in general. That’s where it started, she began with verbal diarrhea. She told me she was in this truck training course because she had a boyfriend that had been a truck driver. She had driven his truck numerous times, her family had a trucking business so she learned from her parents how to treat truck drivers. The tone was not positive. When I asked about her dispatch experience she told me she hadn’t any but did invoicing and had to deal with drivers, and again learned how to put them in their place.

Someone like that is exactly what we don’t need in our industry, the day of the cowboys are gone. We probably all have a friend like that or know someone like that which is always trying to make sure they are one up on whatever you do. You buy a bag of milk and they buy two. My worry is a person with a closed mind thinking they know it all and learning from people that really don’t know what they are doing themselves is the big problem. In my book Running By The Mile the first thing I talk about is listening to others. One of the main problems I hear when talking to new applicants is that they have talked to someone who is negative about the business. Someone told them they wouldn’t make money. I know plenty of people making money in the trucking business and I can go to many companies and find two business owners, one going bankrupt, and the other making a good income. The difference is for those that choose to run like a business or those that have no idea where their money is going. The decision is which business owner are you? Open your mind, listen to people who are in business and have the experience and you will do fine. In business it is said to listen to people who are where you want to go, not the ones stuck at the side of the road.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a transportation consultant and author of the book “Running By The Mile.” More information can be found on Bruce at www.outridge.ca