So you want to hot-shot? (Will be updated/edited frequently)

So, how have you done so far?

 

I am still running steady.With everything it's how much you put into it,and I put it all.no crying or whining here.Now I will say I personally don't think you can make a crazy amount of money in this industry with just one tuck,unless you are out all the time.Me I don't care to be out all the time because I did that in the oilfield and the money was much better.

 

Good deal that is how you are supposed to look at it IMO

 

Getting started in this business on your own you can kinda feel like a chicken running around with his head cut off.

Once you've made the right connections (which you will) you'll settle into a route where those connections can help you the most. Hopefully that'll lead to more home time and better pay for you then you're finding out there right now on load boards.

 

The rates on some of these load boards right now is terrible.

 

Subscribing for future info !

 

I'm currently an otr flatbedder. I'm looking at getting into hot shot trucking. I live just north of daytona beach fl. Is that a good area to be or will i have a hard time getting loads to and from? I'm not against otr but am starting a family soon so need to be home more then now which is once a month. Thanks!

 

As you know Florida is never a great area for outbound freight. The gulf coast has quite a few hotshots running around but who knows how much of that work is tied to the oil industry.

 

We've been fortunate, have had plenty of work. Seems like we're making new connections every week. Some of those connections are being made because some of our regular shippers that we haul for are talking to people they do business with and handing them our number. They're looking for people to move their freight they can count on.

This morning I spent a few hours sending out emails to mfgr's in areas that we run regularly, I've done that off and on in my free time for the last 20/30 years. I don't care what time of day or night it is, if I have some free time I'm hunting for more work. Sometimes you don't get responses from those emails for months, even years out because they're happy with the people currently moving their freight when your email came in.

I had a Shipper call me awhile back telling me that they've been receiving my emails for several years. Lol. The point is, it can take a lot of effort to stay busy. To do well in this business you have to put in a lot of hours tracking down enough to work to keep you busy. Not for just today and tomorrow, I mean even for next year, or the year after.

What you see on load boards can be horrible but you can still make good Broker connections on them. You just have to standout, and sometimes even prove yourself to whoever you haul for, whether it be a Broker load, or a Shipper direct load. You want to be remembered in a good way.

And I can tell you for a fact, the types of Brokers and Shippers you really want to work with don't go for any funny business, or unethical business practices. The connections worth making in this industry are the ones moving a lot of product, who rely on professional Owner Operators to help them get the job done without any problems. Over the last 30 years I've had a lot of shippers approach me, a good 85/90 % of them were the unethical type that I personally refuse to haul direct for. That doesn't mean I won't haul their freight, it just means ID rather hail it through a reputable freight Broker.

Here's a few recent loads we've booked. Some of what you see on these trailers are from Broker, and Shipper connections that I personally made, as far back as 25/30 years ago.

 

If you have the drive, it really doesn't matter where you're based. You just have to do some ground work and hunt for good Brokers, and Shippers moving product around your area, or out of your area to get started.

Over the years I've heard a lot of negative about finding freight out of FL but I have to say, everytime I sent a truck into FL I had no trouble finding a reload for it. How I did it was I scanned load boards, and I called businesses with the types of freight I like to move. I easily made connections for the types of freight I was looking for. In FL I was searching for things like golf cars, boats of all types, trailers of all types, small rv's, conversion vans, ATV's and motorcycles from dealers and manufactures. I'd even call dealers out west here where I'm based to find out if they needed anything picked up and hauled out of FL, GA, AL, or MS.

I booked a golf car out of FL once from a dealer who was based in California, the golf car was purchased by an executive at PayPal, or EBay. Just one golf car, I placed it sideways on the deck, it took up approx 5' and they offered $1.50 per mile to take it to Nebraska. I grabbed every piece of LTL freight that I could find going the same direction we were heading and filled the trailer out. Turned out to be a awesome run.

You can do the same stuff I'm talking about, it's not what most people would call easy but it can be done.