From the conference room back to the driver's seat

So a little over 6 months ago I made a change. After much thought I decided to leave the company I was with and become an owner operator. I made this decision with help from this forum and it occured to me that while similar, my journey has been a little different than others and maybe it would be worth sharing. If for nothing else I can maybe help someone else thinking about making a change.

The job I had was as a fleet manager for a chemical company. I was over about 24 trucks and I think 20 drivers at the busiest time. I will say that management is a thankless job but I am glad I did it...but if I can help it, never again.

I will break this up into a few posts on this thread to begin with to keep it from becoming a novel. The truck, the process of getting ready, the company, repairs. etc.

So if you want, stay tuned, maybe point me in the right direction if you can , or offer some properly placed ridicule from time to time.

I 'll start with why...

I had started with the company as a driver and through a very unfortunate turn of events I was literally the only one left standing to take a management position. It was a good experience, but that kind of job can change your personality without you realizing it. The company was growing and becomeing ever more "corporate" and I thought it best that I leave before they find a reason to ask me to go. But it was a greeat company and I still have friends there. I think I surpised them by leaving.

Next: the truck

 

The truck is a 99 Int'l 9400. I bought it for the company as a package deal when they needed trucks. The company gave me a budget of $30K to buy two trucks (insert laughter here). So I found two trucks and haggled them down to $22K for the pair. One ran for 3 years without anything more than tires and a oil changes. The one I have spun some bearing on it's first trip out of the yard. So it say out back of the shop for a couple years.

Fast forward to my uncle buying it off the company for $2500 and installing a used engine in it. The engine had come from a wrecked Freightliner and had fresh bearings and a decent dyno report. $7500. The original plan was just for him to haul the occasional load of hay.

I should say that I try to do all my own work. I don't know everything but I won't learn it by sitting in a shop waiting room. I do have a friend who is a very good mechanic that I trust for the things I don't trust myself with, usually internal engine stuff. Thankfully he doesn't have much to do on my truck.

 

So this truck has a 12.7 Detroit in it. Hadn't been around one since I hauled rolloff trash many moons ago but I remembered them to be reliable, although leaky. This one is very clean. As we were installing my mechanic friend's dad gave us a barely used 10 speed to install in it. From what I can tell this truck was originally owned by Killpack, then Aulick Leasing, then by the company I worked for.

 

So early last year I found this forum. I spent many hours reading and followed a few guys here who chronicled thier travels. I couldn't decide where to go. I knew that my stubborn personality and my inability to be PC and obedient would be a bad combo working for someone, this makes O/O my only option. I kinda felt like part of what I was burned out on was the office side of trucking. I was intrigued by being completely independent but I dreaded the prospect of paperwork, billing, monthly and quarterly filings, etc.

So that made the choice come down to where to lease on to. The age of my truck narrowed it down quite a bit. Eventually i was left with looking at Landstar and Mercer. I have a couple friends leased to Mercer and they never seemed as confident in the ability to forge ahead as the Landstar guys I talked to. Not that there's anything wrong with Mercer, but it just didn't feel right for me. One of the guys I hired as a company driver in OH had been with LS until the untimely death of his engine and he had a big influence in my decision to come to Landstar.

 

I will say that the qualification dept. at LS as kind of like a bicycle. If you stop pedaling them, they will fall over and not work. You have got to stay on them or you will get back-burnered. I think I applied in mid- April and it took until June 9th to get approved and told where to go for orientation.

 

I started out with this truck and $40K in the bank set aside for the business. Filed for a LLC with the state, got an EIN from Uncle Sam. I mentioned earlier that my uncle had bought the truck from my former company. He no longer needed it and I agreed to pay him 5% of TTT line haul revenue. I felt better about this than buying it from him outright, saving money for everything I knew was coming up.

 

Well I couldn't decide how to pay myself at first. I knew I wasn't going to match the near six figure salary I left, so 30% of gross TTT is what I settled on. Sometimes I take less, sometimes more, just depends on what's happening at the house.

 

So originally I had been talking to LS recruiter about pulling RGN. All thoughout the application and background process I had been planning on this. I had a nice trailer found, a '09 Trail King stretch trailer, 29' well closed and I think 71' stretched, 3 axles. for $72K. It was only when I called to ask about the price of a max weight plate that I found out they were not going to let me pull RGN yet. Apparently they have a rule that you must pull a SD for two years with them before you can switch to RGN. Glad I made that call before I signed on the dotted line!

So I located a '14 Transcraft stepdeck. 48' with 38' lower and 10' upper. fixed spread, with 4 toolboxes. New tires and brakes and I talked them down to $24K. In hindsight I wish I would have looked for a trailer with container locks, and a 51' or53', but living out west I am used to the 48' trailers. Did I mention I live in Wyoming? yeah when I tell people that they always assume that I am about to starve to death for the inability to find loads near home. Yes we have telephones, no we don't eat jackrabbits...So anyway back to the trailer. I put $5K down on it and signed away. Unfortunately the hoops that need jumped through to get it in the LS system did not happen until after I went to orientation.

 

So orientation was in Reno. I got lucky and was the only one there. I really believe that you get more out of the experience that way. I did take my wife with me. honestly it helps to have two people paying attention and comparing notes later. They told me I didn't need to take the tractor with me so we just went over in the car.