Business college or lease?

How I did it.

Bought my own truck through my own bank and signed it onto a percentage company. Learned what lanes pay what rates. Eventually got sick of giving up 20% so I started my own authority. Before I did this I called all the brokers I knew and chatted with them about if they will load me in the future, I told them my plan. They all said yes. And from there I load myself and keep all the money. Some might call this back stabbing the carrier I was running for, but to be fair, I am not going after the direct customers he has, even though they know me by name. With one truck I cannot serve enough loads for a direct account. I tell people sorry not available lots of times. Now I have it pared back to where I only work with a handful of brokers with regular business. It is much nicer to know exactly what the day's/week's plan is ahead of time rather than delivering on a Friday and not knowing if you will sit all weekend. Nevermind avoiding the dispatch games. If one broker wants to play games with me then fine. I will find work from someone else. It's all good.

I would never recommend doing any kind of lease through any trucking company. What is the point of a "short term lease" anyway? You get to pay rent for 6 months and hopefully you make enough to make company driver money?

 

gokiddogo has a great plan, it worked for him and could work for you. Learning freight lanes, load planning, how to interact with brokers while having the support of a large carrier to steer and educate you will be a much better learning expierence than just trying to make it in a lease purchase agreement where you are treated just like a company driver.

My question for you, do you have any trucking experience at all, or would you be buying a truck and getting your CDL/driving experience all at once? Do you plan on operating the truck yourself or hiring a driver and just managing the business? These all will determine which is the right way for you to go.

Lease/purchase is usually one sided, with the motor carrier holding the advantage and the operator not making much money, if any at all, which is a very expensive way to learn the industry. If you already know how to drive a truck and have some experience and are fairly competent at it, then studying business would be a logical next step. If you have no idea how to drive a truck or even if you are going to like it and plan on being your own driver instead of hiring an experienced driver then either being a company driver for a while to test the water or a short term lease may not be a bad way to see if you even like being a trucker before you jump in over your head.

As for business lessons, you will learn some from a lease purchase program but in my opinion, and that is what you asked for, I don't think the risk and costs associated with a lease purchase is worth the few lessons you will learn. You would do much better to shadow a successful owner operator then partake in a lease purchase plan, even working for a company just to get a feel for freight flow and planning would be beneficial.

There are successful lease operators, not many but they do exist, and there are successful owner operators who knew nothing about trucking before taking the plunge into ownership, but again they are not common. I am a third generation towing operator turned trucker, knew a lot about the business long before I could even drive a car, and I still have made many mistakes along the way. I couldn't imagine jumping into owning my own trucking company without having any first hand experience in the industry, I think I would have been eaten alive by the brokers. As for the business education, I don't think a college degree is required to be successful, just some common sense and good budgeting/money management skills. Most small businesses fail because of lack of planning or sticking to the plan, even when things get tough. You have to have excellent financial management skills, great discipline so you don't spend your extra money just before you need it, and a lot of self control/willpower to do the hard tasks even when you don't feel like it.

 

Brian991219, thanks for the good advice. If you know a good mentor or don't mind mentoring a little, please let me know.

Thx.

John.

 

I took a fair number of business classes, but not one of them was taught by anyone with any real business experience (let alone success).

That isn't to discount the value of learning, but education is incredibly overrated in this country.

Look up the class list for a business degree, look up the texts for each class and start reading at the lower courses and work your way up. Run into a road block, search google, youtube, Wikipedia, or business forums. You'll probably learn a lot more and it'll be for less than pennies on the dollar.

 

I have always been a proponent of higher education. But, I am not sure the current costs are really worth it. Life is a learning experience. I have a good education and don't regret the time I spent in college. But, I did not learn how to run a business in college. I learned from growing up in business and by doing. When I started my first business we did not have the internet or other resources about how to run a successful business. If you want to work for a major corporation then a college degree is usually mandatory to just get your foot in the door. If you want to start your own business, you might be better off to take some accounting classes or find books that will give you the information you need. The only way to learn how to run a successful business is to start a business. Without some planning and money in the bank your chances of success are greatly diminished.

One problem that I see with most who want to buy a truck and start their own business is planning and capital. But, the biggest problem is patience. You must be patient. You must be disciplined. If you are impulsive and impatient you will find it difficult to find success.

Something a college degree does offer you is options. If you get hurt or have some other physical reason you can no longer drive a truck, a degree offers you options. It is much easier to get an education when you are young than older. With today's technology, you can drive a truck and take classes online to get your degree. Just taking one or two classes at a time would allow you to get your degree in only a few years.