Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Haight.
Hi Cindy , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in a trucking family, I have one sister and one brother, we moved from town to town, wherever my dad’s job took us. We spent every summer on the road from the day school was out til it started again. We moved to Lawson, MO when I was in grade school then moved away for two years to Post Falls,ID, then moved back when I was in middle school. While I was in Idaho, I started dabbling in drugs and alcohol at 12yrs old. Hanging with the wrong crowd while I was there, then when I returned to Lawson, I did the same thing, just started hanging with the wrong crowd, making bad decision after bad decision. I met a 20yr old and ran away to Oklahoma with him when I was 14, which ended me up in juvenile hall for a month followed by a girls home for troubled youth for 11 months. When I got out, I tried doing better but still made bad decisions. Ended up pregnant at 16. Dropped out of school. My father said if I wanted to keep it, I had to get out, so I moved out at 16 with my boyfriend’s parents. That lasted a few months then I ended up back at may parents place. By this time, they moved to California but still had their place in Lawson. My dad agreed to let me come home if I paid all the utility bills myself. So I got a full time job at the Elm’s Hotel in Excelsior Springs,MO where I worked for almost a year. When I became pregnant, I stopped doing drugs and decided to turn myself around. I ended up back with the 20yr old and pregnant again by 18, then pregnant again by 20. The 20 yr old continued to do drugs and became abusive towards me, was in and out of prison every six months. I stayed because I thought I loved him, and I had 3 kids. I had waitress jobs and other random jobs throughout those first two years of being on my own, then when I was 18, my dad offered me an office job with him (he owned his own trucking company).My brother also worked for my dad, but as a truck driver. I took the job and started learning even more details about trucking than I already knew. I was still struggling at home with the 20 yr old not working, not helping, being abusive, being in prison all the time. One day I woke up and realized, I needed more and I was never gonna get it as long as I continued with him. So I left him in Jan 2005. In April of 2005, at 24 years old, 3 kids, on welfare … I met my current husband Andrew. By Nov 2005, me and the kids had moved in with him. Life was starting to turn around. I ended up pregnant in 2006, having my 4th baby in Feb 2007. Then me and Andrew got married in Aug 2007. I was still working for my dad, In early 2008, my dad came into my office asking me if I wanted to make extra money, if so, I needed to teach myself how to do oversized/overweight permits for semi trucks. He said he would pay me instead of any outside business if I learned how to do it. So I started researching and started with just the state of Missouri, then after a couple months decided I knew enough to do more states, but in order to do it, I had to become a permit agency. So in July 2008, I opened C & A Permits LLC (stands for Andrew & Cindy). In 2011, I had my last baby. I forgot to mention, my husband had 2 babies when I met him. Over the next 5-10 years I taught myself how to do permits with every single state in the United States. I did choose to only do permits for my dad’s company though, he kept telling me to expand but I was raising 7 kids. They were doing sports which I was able to be at everything due to not being overly busy. Around 2015, some personal things happened with my mom and dad, which after 36 years for them, ended in divorce. At this time, me and my brother broke off from working with my dad, and started our own trucking company also. So now in 2015, I’m running a heavy haul company and my permit company. I started expanding my permit company and started taking on more and more business. By 2020, all my oldest 5 kids had graduated high school so I only had two left in the house now, so I decided to expand even more. When I started in 2008, I was lucky to make an extra $10,000K a year. By 2020, I was making 6 figures. All it took was hard work and determination. I wanted my kids to have a good life, I wanted more than I was allowing myself back in the day. My faith in God kept me going through the bad times and the good times. All credit goes to God that I was able to build an amazing business all by myself with the support of my amazing husband of now 18 years without so much as a high school diploma. My inspiration for others is that they never forget that God is with them and if they turn to him, then the path will not be easy but it will be enough.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all, there were days I didn’t know how I was gonna feed my kids, pay my bills, make it another day. That’s when I had no options but to turn to God and pray. One of the biggest challenges was making the decision to leave my EX, I remember a time when I didn’t think I could breath one breathe without him. Even though he was abusive to me, even though he wouldn’t work and help me. Even though he cared about drugs more than his family. There were times I didn’t even have a car in the beginning, times I never thought I’d be able to live a better life than the one I was in and living.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Cindy’s Permits Inc DBA C & A Permits LLC?
I specialize in oversize/overweight special hauling permits for semi trucks all across the United States. I started this business just trying to make a little extra money to feed my family. I gave it my all, I put in the handwork and dedication to build it over the years. I think because I was raised in a semi truck my whole life, I learned time is money and that is what makes me a good permit tech, making sure I get the permits done and out to the driver as fast as possible, so they can keep moving.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
God has blessed my business tremendously over the years, but each day, I hope to continue to grow, continuing to make a legacy for my children to take over one day.
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