Bruce Outridge

Heat Buster

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Bruce

Spring came in like a roller coaster as far as the heat goes and summer looks like it will be a hot one as well. Heat can take a lot out of you as a professional driver especially if you have to do any kind of hands on work out of the truck. Heat can make you drowsy, irritable, and truly unprofessional. The way to handle it is through proper planning. Take a look at my article called heat of the season http://www.outridge.ca/heatseason.html and gain some tips on how a professional driver can handle the heat.

Stay cool

Using the tradeshow for the entrepreneurial advantage

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Bruce

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Well tradeshow season has officially begun. As many of you know I will be at the Striling Truck Show this weekend myself. For those of you selling wares along with the many other vendors remember a couple of things: one, enjoy yourself. The shows are suppose to be fun for everyone including the vendors. Two, if you sell everything then great, but use this time to talk with customers and find out what you could be doing differently. Three, keep an eye out for new product opportunities. Fourth, get to know your competition and your friends. I have had tradeshows where no one showed up, but I ended up getting work from other vendors because we struck up a friendship. Every person in attendance is an opportunity.

Good luck and enjoy.

Bruce

Building Business Relationships

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Bruce

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It continues to amaze me how important business relationships are to the business world and our own intimate circle. As many of you know the transportation industry is huge and many of us think once we see someone we will never see them again. Then bang! You run into them in another meeting etc. Until you meet them you never see them, but once you know them they seem to appear everywhere. The lesson here is be nice to the people you meet, you’ll never know when you will run into them again. In fact they may become your very own cheering squad.

Until next time,

Bruce

Time Management for Professional Drivers

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Bruce

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Time management in the transportation industry is critical. Loads depend on delivery times, shipping depends on available equipment, and drivers run on logbooks dictating available work hours. So if you are not doing proper trip planning and are a professional driver, then guess what, you’ve missed the boat. Everything works together and at the end of the day it’s your paycheck that shows the outcome. You can make money in the transportation industry, but it takes work. If you need some help in the planning area check out my article called “Get the Lead out!” under the articles section.

Good luck,

Bruce

Take control of your business

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Bruce

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I spoke with a group the other day on entrepreneurship and found most were excited about starting up their own business, but were a little apprehensive about the process. I think business capital is what scares most people. Remember you don’t have to start full time out of the gate. Take baby steps if that is more comfortable for you, do some investigation first, and check out your market. Remember the true pleasure of starting a business yourself is that you have the control. Move as fast or as slow as you wish.

Good luck,

Bruce