You have your CDL. You got hired. Now what? CDL school taught you to back into a cone course. The real world requires backing into tight docks at 2 AM while a dock worker shouts conflicting directions through a crackling radio. CDL school taught you the rules. The real world requires professional judgment, relationship management, and practical knowledge that only comes from experience. Getting that experience the hard way—through mistakes and expensive lessons—can damage your career before it starts. Road Tested Book 1: Getting Started Right is your survival guide for the critical first 90 days. This isn't another CDL manual. You already know how to operate a truck. This book teaches you how to BE a professional driver. What you'll master: Know Your Team – Build relationships with dispatch, maintenance, and safety that make everything else possible. Essential Equipment – What you actually need in your truck beyond DOT minimums, and what saves you when things go wrong. Mastering Dispatch – Verify load information, catch impossible schedules, and communicate problems with solutions. Pre-Trip Inspections by Equipment Type – Different trailers have different failure points. Know what to check and when to call maintenance. Weather and Challenging Conditions – When to shut down, when to continue, and how to communicate delays professionally. Hours of Service Mastery – Work strategically within HOS regulations instead of fighting them. Legal Compliance – Maintain the credentials that allow you to work and avoid career-ending mistakes. Written by J. Baldwin, a transportation executive who started as a company driver in 2001 and worked his way to VP-level leadership. He's been in your seat. He knows what works because he's lived it. Your CDL opened the door. This book shows you how to stay employed, safe, and legal while you build experience.