The Skill That Turns Everyday Haulers Into Dangerous Operators

Most guys I talk to aren’t growing because they’re lazy. Most of these guys really want to take over the country. Huge aspirations.

Waiting for the right system.
Waiting for the perfect answer.
Waiting for someone smarter to tell them what to do next.

And I totally get it.

Early on, you assume there’s a playbook somewhere. Some secret to the industry. Some special plug that’ll connect you to the elite commercial clients.

That if you just find the right book, or the right course, or the right Facebook post, everything will finally start clicking for you. And you’ll finally feel confident enough to move in what you think is the “right” direction.

But I’ve learned—both in my hauling company and every business I’ve built—is that ain’t nobody gives a rat’s ass about you. They’re not coming. Your SOS has not been received. Help is not on the way.

There’s no manual for your exact situation. And no one will truly understand it either. That person doesn’t exist.

And please don’t try to just copy what the big players are doing. What they’re doing now is NOT what they did to get where they are today. They’re at a different playing field and have an entirely different strategy that will likely not work for you at all.

Which means sooner or later, you either start figuring things out…
or you stay stuck asking the same questions forever. Questions you actually already have the answers to. You just need someone a little ahead of you to confirm what you already know.

And what most people don’t realize is that the real skill isn’t entirely knowing what to do.

The real skill is learning how to learn.

Yes. You read that right. And that single skill is going to be the make or break for you and anyone else trying to level up in the future, especially with AI in the mix everywhere you turn.

Every successful operator I know didn’t start as an expert.

Hell, Tony and I didn’t start that way either. I started trying other business ideas in college and after graduating. I was doing:

sneaker sales

online consignment

smartphone repairs and resale

and then years later, junk removal

and then added in moving

and then dumpsters

and then gutter cleaning (which I sold for a six-figure deal to a national corporation)

and then dumpster bags

and then a resale shop from the good-quality junk we picked up

and then years later, digital marketing and small business consulting

and then a media company

and then AI tools for small owner-operators

This was over a 15-year period of my young adulthood. I became an expert through experience. Through failure and then success.

And the other successful operators I know became dangerous because they trusted themselves enough to try things, mess them up, adjust, and try again. Just like me and Tony.

They didn’t wait until they were “ready.” They got ready by doing. Because the truth is, you’re never going to be ready. No one ever is. But the difference is that some do it anyway, while others just keep thinking about it, waiting for the right time.

Time is an ugly bitch. It waits for no one, and it’s amazing what ten years will do. The compounding effects of effort are incredible. Small forward movements stacked up over years will beat waiting for the perfect moment every single damn time.

Think about how most hauling businesses actually grow.

You didn’t wake up one day knowing how to price jobs properly.
You didn’t magically understand routing, dispatching, or customer psychology.
You learned because you had to. You gave yourself no other choice because you wanted a better life for yourself and your family.

We’ve all had a job go sideways.
A customer complained.
A truck broke down at the worst possible time.

Pressure forced learning. Action created clarity.

That’s how this always works.

But somewhere along the way—especially once the business gets more complex—people revert. They stop experimenting. They stop trusting their judgment. They start outsourcing thinking instead of using it.

They ask vague questions like, “How do I grow?”
“How do I market better?”
“What’s the best system?”

Those questions aren’t really about information. They’re about fear.

Fear of picking the wrong answer.
Fear of wasting money.
Fear of looking stupid (and honestly, who gives a damn).

So instead of acting, they consume. They scroll. They wait for permission that never comes. It feels good to them. I call this mental masturbation. They’re stimulating their minds on what they think is helping them, but without action, it’s useless. It’s just as much a waste of time as binge-watching some dumb shit like Stranger Things.

Here’s the thing no “internet guru” will tell you:

Even if someone hands you the “perfect” strategy, you still have to execute it. You still have to decide what applies and what doesn’t. You still have to test it in your market, with your customers, at your price points.

Meaning—you were always going to have to figure it out yourself anyway.

The only difference is whether you do it now or six months from now after burning more time and momentum.

This is why I believe figuring things out is a muscle.

The first time you do it, it’s uncomfortable. You second-guess everything. You feel like an imposter. But once you’ve done it a few times—priced a job without help, fixed a problem without calling someone, built something from scratch—you start stacking proof.

Not motivation. Proof.

Proof that you’re capable.
Proof that you can handle uncertainty.
Proof that you don’t fall apart just because you don’t have perfect information.

And that confidence carries over into everything—marketing decisions, hiring, pricing, expansion.

Today, there’s almost no excuse left.

If you want to learn something, the information is out there. Google. YouTube. AI. Forums. Books. Other operators. ROT communities. You can get 80% of the way there in an afternoon if you’re willing to try.

The remaining 20% only comes from doing.

Not planning.
Not asking.
Not waiting.

Doing.

So if you’re sitting on a problem right now—something you keep hoping someone else will solve for you—I’ll ask you the same question I ask myself:

What would happen if you just started?

Not perfectly. Not confidently. Just honestly.

Because the fastest way to grow as a business owner isn’t more advice.

It’s trusting yourself enough to figure it out as you go.

That’s the bulletproof cycle, my friends.

C’mon. Let’s get it 🫡

— Justin ✌️ & Tony 🏁

P.S. No one’s coming to save your business. That’s not bad news—it means it’s yours to build. So if you’re waiting for clarity before you move, you’ll be waiting forever. Clarity comes from action, not thinking about action.