The Road Less Traveled

I picked the title of this thread because I feel like getting operating authority and owning a truck and trailer really is the road less traveled by most drivers. Many dream, some of those dreamers even get a plan in place, some of those go the route of lease/purchase and others get their own truck and lease on and run under someone elses authority. The jump to becoming independent is difficult and expensive. It requires long hours of research over long periods of time and some of the most vital information needed to help make this decision is almost impossible to obtain. There are roadblocks along the way and when you put all the information together the result sometimes makes you think that there is no way to make money being an owner operator. The other options ( leasing on, lease op or company driver) can be used to ease into independence and learn the ins and outs of being an owner. Its a little cheaper too and therefore more appealing to many with financial hurdles. So complete independence, to me is the road less traveled and it is the road I am currently on as I begin the process of getting my authority and owning my own transportation company.

A little bit of background; I moved to Florida in 1990 and began driving trucks when I got here. In 1992 Florida instituted the CDL license so I got my CDL right away and have had it ever since. After getting my CDL I got a job with a small trucking company, Harry Ludwig Trucking, running flatbeds throughout the state and regionally in the south east. We are talking about a time in trucking when there were no cell phones or GPS. If I was empty I had to find a pay phone and call into dispatch and was usually told they were working on getting me loaded so call back in a few hours. There was also less regulation or at least less enforcement of what regulation existed. After a few years I decided to become a firefighter and have been doing that as my career for the last 19 years. But I still managed to drive big trucks the entire time working for companys like Bealls Department Stores, Roadway Express, local fuel tankers and container delivery. And I am currently driving now locally. Now that I am close to retirement from the fire service I began research about two years ago on becoming an owner operator.

My journey began with internet searches and I quickly discovered The Truckers Report forums and signed up as a member right away. What a resource of information we all have here! I began reading all kinds of forums but I found on thread that was started by a member and it was created so we could follow him on his journey into owning his own truck. It turns out the creator of the thread stopped posting rather quickly and the thread was hijacked by Redforman who decided to use that thread so we could follow him as he built his business. I have read that entire thread more then once because it is loaded with valuable information, as are many many others on this site. The reason I bring up that particular thread was that at some point I decided to post a response thanking Redforman for his thread and I mentioned that when I decide to become an owner operator I would create a thread and chronicle my journey as a way to take all that I learned here on this site and pay it forward with some information of my own. I plan to update the thread as often as I can and post where I am at as I take the plunge into this very difficult challenge.

So there is post #1. I will get back on tomorrow and let anyone who might decide to check in where I am at exactly and what I have been through so far. I can tell you right now I am waiting on a phone call from the bank about a loan to help finance my purchase of equipment for the company. There is more to tell but it will have to be tomorrow as this post is getting kind of long. I hope this will become something you will find as informative as I have found what others have posted on the varios threads I have followed over the years. See ya tomorrow!

 

It actually works like a line of credit. No payment unless I use it and gives me more negotiating power when purchasing a truck. The first step on the road to failure is dealing with commercial credit... They dont have to disclose any details and the interest rates are usualy pretty high. This way I know going in what Im paying and what my rate will be.

 

Ill be pulling a flatbed, most likely a 48 ft spread. There is a small chance Id get a 53 spread but from everything Ive read a 53 requires a permit for over length believe it or not.

 

Let me add one more thing before bed. It has been said we all love a success story but when it comes to internet truck forums or social media it appears we love a failure story more. Ive spent a lot of time researching this venture and I have found that there are many ways to go about purchasing a truck and trailer and they all have advantages and disadvantages all can lead to failure. I can tell you that its isnt the method of financing a truck that leads to failure its managing the business after getting that truck that leads to failure. Failure is systemic, its a product of many individual mistakes throughout a business model that leads to overall collapse of the structure.

So Ill update the thread as soon as I know where I am at with financing and we go from there. Whether this will be a success story or a failure story remains to be seen but it will be quite an experience and Ill do my best to detail what I can here.