Why I want to become a freight broker

There are several reasons I want to be a freight broker. The first one is that it allows me to stay active in an industry that I enjoy. I can not drive truck anymore due to a bad back and shoulder. I need to be able to work from home because of the back and shoulder. The problems with those make it difficult for me to work elsewhere. It's very hard to make the adjustments to my routine to suit my physical health working outside the home.

There are quite a few brokers out there that do not treat drivers well. I am going to be a broker that takes care of the drivers. The drivers are the ones that are dealing with the shippers, receivers, traffic, and the fuel, yet there are brokers out there that take a percentage of the fuel surcharge, and treat the drivers like crap.

I read the threads in this forum about brokers, and then started my own thread to find out some more info on what things make a good broker in the eyes of those that utilize those services. It has been a very useful source of information.

My searches on the web have provided me with some of the information that I needed. I will be purchasing a training manual from a freight broker to learn the rest of the stuff I need. I was able to review a summary of what is in their manual, where as some of the other books available did not have even a table of contents available.

I plan on starting as an agent so that I can earn the money I will need to start my own brokerage. It takes a bit to do that between the DOT Authority, insurance, surety bond, and operating funds. Having an established client base will help make the transition easier. I already have the office equipment that I need in place. I may want to get a different computer by time I am ready to fly solo though. Maybe a laptop. I'll make that decision later though.

Well, that covers some of the basics of why I want to become a freight broker. I will be ordering the manual today or tomorrow. Once I get it, I will go through it, start learning and then get started.