As Angela Griffin and her husband, Scott, made the decision to become team drivers almost ten years ago, they each had counted many years in their career in individual trucking.
They had also proven their expertise in trucking through impressive finishes during national and national competitions – not to mention millions of kilometers without accident at work. However, they found that none of this was preparing them to live well when they were driving in a team, pulling doubles for Fedex Ground.
“The first six months, we were so distraught; we were so lost,” said Griffin in a Interview with Land Line now. “It’s like:” How can we know all of this about truchenage and then feel like recruits? ” »»
For his part, Griffin had spent eight years as a solo driver – and her husband had a longer story at work than that. They met when they were employed by the same company, after having decided at 22 years that trucking would be a more viable way to achieve its financial objectives than the graphic career for which she had trained at university.
But despite their experienced curriculum vitae as drivers, they found themselves in a deficit of knowledge with regard to life in a truck five days a week.
Griffin therefore spent about a year finding ways to have a house on the road – refine a kitchen configuration and cooking techniques, determine how to best organize their small space and get better driving on time management, to name some improvements.
Then, knowing that there should be others needing the same answers they had searched, Griffin chose to start a YouTube channel. It did not expect years later, the chain would have more than 17,000 subscribers and history of the great help for other truckers.
“We have so many successes about the possibility of mentoring other drivers or our content that really helps them stay in industry,” said Griffin. “They say that if they have never come across our channel, then they would have stopped.”
The canal, called simple lifeSharing content that goes from truck advice to cooking tutorials to transform a truck cabin into a small house – and beyond. Griffin also teaches healthy habits that are achievable even with a time and limited resources, such as high intensity intervals in which it is part as a regular exercise routine wherever it is.
“We are very different, because our channel is considered a lifestyle,” she noted. “You can go to any trucking school – you don’t even need to go to trucking school – and you can learn to drive a truck. You can learn through your distribution in a few days how to work a loading board … but nobody teaches you the lifestyle of trucking.”
She added that in terms of content, few limits are prohibited – with videos that even attack subjects like how to go to the toilet in a truck and how to manage conflicts as a husband and wife driving team. She can of course talk about the experience of all of this, as well as other difficult realities in trucking.
“In trucking, you work one of the most deadly and dangerous jobs in the world. And the stress that comes with this – if you do not make your truck a house, if you do not do these little and tiny things that are simple … The industry will eat you,” said Griffin, adding that she believes what some call one driver’s shortage is actually a high rolling of the driver caused by this type of professional exhaustion.
In terms of making their trucks a house, Griffin and her husband found that the small amenities – like a mini -refrigerator, an air fryer and a water tank that provide lukewarm water to make dishes – go very far. And with the approval of their employer, they also installed a small dining table, a bed that turns into a sofa and even wallpaper.
In addition to these ways and other ways to improve daily life on the road, Griffin also makes sure not to miss special opportunities – as evidenced by Valentine’s Day videos, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners made and shared inside the truck.
“After having been in the industry for 17 years, I honestly missed a lot of life,” she said. “Lots of birthday parties, a lot of holiday celebrations, often where my family and my friends hang out – and I’m just tired of missing things. And I said to myself:” What do you know? You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to miss this kind of thing. “”
Although improving their quality of life on the road is a large part of what supported Griffin and her husband during their nine years as a team drivers is not all behind their stick. They will also hard after a goal of repaying the mortgage on the property of their dreams – a log cabin at the top of a mountain in Maryland, surrounded by wood on almost 8 acres. And to cross this milestone, which they have been on the right track to do for about a year, will allow Griffin to achieve another long -standing goal: to be without debt and retire at 40.
As for what is happening then, it noted that there are many possibilities. One already underway is a church that she and her husband began last year, with the intention of devoting more time to the ministry once they are no longer trucks.
But in the meantime, they will continue to make the kind of ministry for other truckers that their YouTube channel has allowed – aimed at providing their brand of hope and practical advice which makes the lifestyle of trucking not only manageable, but also a way to make great dreams.
Griffin saw this happen with YouTube subscribers who stretched out to say that they were at the end of their mind and almost ready to leave the trucking. But after having helped them examine and correct what did not work for them, they discovered the desire to stop spending a significant amount of their income in truck restaurants and putting it in the place to pay for their home – a goal they were able to achieve as a gift last Christmas.
“These are simple things that have a powerful impact,” said Griffin, adding that it was good to know that his YouTube business is making a difference. “I think so many people enter (content creation) for bad reasons. But our intentions, our hearts, were pure – to just help people. ” Ll
Ashley Blackford of Land Land Now contributed to this report.