could not have said it better. while i know if i wanted to i could have a real expensive car, nice house, new truck and trailers.. i'd rather just pay off what i have and bank the rest for when the rainy day comes. anyone that will be real with you in this business will tell you there is more bad then good days in this business

 

I was a Distribution Manager in a large distribution center for 20 years and then it closed and I was left with no job in a town of 4,000 people.

I went to school at a community college for 6 weeks and got my CDL. I had never seen the inside of a truck before I started school.

I bought a truck and trailer when I got out of school and leased on to a small company and lasted 2 years there. I quit there because I didn't like someone telling me where I was going to run and for how much money. They didn't care if you made any money as long as they got there 20%. The last straw was when they gave me a load home 1700 miles that paid me .83 after they took their cut. That was when fuel was $4.00 a gallon.

I got authority in 2010 and everything has been great since then. I run 2 or 3 days a week and make way more than I ever did being leased on. Some weeks I run 4 or 5 days and some weeks I just go fishing. I keep my runs at about 300 miles so I am home everyday. I use a broker who has a load I do as a dedicated out and I have a broker who has 20 loads a day coming back so all I have to do is call them and say I need a load home.

I will disagree with everyone saying you need to be a company driver first. The one thing you need most is common sense and a company can't teach that. You will need some business experience and know how on how to handle money. I paid cash for my truck and trailer and I use cash or debit card for everything. (fuel, repairs, etc) I feel you need your truck to work for you and you not work to make a payment.

It sounds like you have plenty of cash on hand to get started the right way. I paid $32k for my first truck and had it 4 years until the motor blew and I sold it to the junk yard for $7500. I then bought a truck for $15K 3 years ago and I haven't had any major repairs on it yet. I bought my trailer for $5500 and then put another $2k in it to make everything on it good.

The thing you have to sell is yourself. Build a good relationship with your customers and brokers. I am always on time and bring donuts or pizza from time to time. The place I haul into has called the broker and told them they want only me bringing their freight to them. By them doing that they can't lower their rate like all the brokers are doing now. The load is 280 miles and pays $700, the load back is 262 miles and pays $675. I do 1-3 rounds a week depending on what they have going over. Sometimes if they have a week with with only 1 load going over and I want to do another round I will find a load on the load board going over because I know I always have a good load coming home.

I know I have done it like you are not suppose to do it but it has worked for me. I started in 2008 and wished I would of quit the office job and done this long before. There are a lot of people out there that think if you buy a truck you are going to make lots of money. Those are the people that think if their wheels are turning they are making money. You have to use a little common sense and figure out if the load is paying you enough to make the money you want and if it isn't don't haul it. When you don't have any bills you can do that.

The only hard part on starting up is finding insurance. I had to lie a little and tell them I drove a shag truck at the distribution center for 20 years.

If you have any questions and want a opinion from someone who has did it the wrong way let me know and I will pm you my phone number.

 

There are a lot of people living in expensive homes with several new cars in the drive or garage who live paycheck to paycheck. There are also some who live modestly have money in the bank and a comfortable lifestyle. Some who live paycheck to paycheck would lose everything if one of them lost their jobs. From their appearances you would think they were living the so called "good life." In reality they are a couple of paychecks from bankruptcy. I know people who have done well. Most don't flaunt their wealth. If they want to buy something or take a trip or help others, they have the resources to do it. I learned at a very early age that you cannot judge people or their worth by appearances.

 

I don't think you necessarily need to be a company driver first, in order to achieve success as an owner operator. However, there is a learning curve in this business and it is much less costly to learn on the other guy's dime. I do agree with you in that it is better to have common sense and a good head for business. A good company driver may do well as a company driver, but fail as a business owner when he buys the truck.

 

I will agree with you on that. I don't know how many many guys I have talked to that say I am running my tail off but not making any money. I ask them what it costs them to run a mile and they say well I'm getting 6.2mpg. I quit right there because there is no hope for them.

 

Regardless of the type of business you are involved, you must know your operating costs. I had a guy ask me the other day about my operating costs. I didn't hesitate to give him the figure. With fuel prices your actual operating costs can change from week to week. But, if you own a truck you need to have a close idea of what it costs to run your business. The last thing you need to do is run a truck for less than it costs to at least break even (plus some profit).