alot of o/o also have a 1200 to 1500 truck payment. or higher
make sure you have 7000 to 10000 in your trucking account when
starting out ! If you have a major breakdown, there's nothing worse than
having to call your banker and pay interest on a repair or putting it on a charge card (Big mistake)

A stupid question is easier to correct than a stupid mistake

The one thing I was most naive about when starting driving was that if I had a perfect MVR I could get hired anywhere to drive any time I wanted. Far from it!!! After pissing off two trucking companies (one who payed me 26 cpm pro miles, and one who paid me 29 cpm practical) by quitting without notice (I did return their trucks and trailers and finish the loads I was on), I am unhireable. My DAC report is clean. My work history outside the trucking industry is good (five years at the company I worked for before trucking). But when companies call my last employer they don't ask "Did you lie to Driver about making him drive tired and illegal to get him to come to work for you?"

Thus, the most important part of becoming O/O with my own authority would be to have control over when I drive by not taking JIT loads that can only be delivered on time if driven illegally. And to not have one ruined trailer tire sidewall become some huge safety concern that every potential hiring company should be warned about (It's not on my DAC but I guarantee company two is bad mouthing me). I don't know how many times I have driven into Chicago where I should never have been when LA would have been a much better drive but my company did not service the west coast.

Maybe it's time I buy (not lease) my own truck. And correct me if I am wrong, but if you are O/O leased on to a trucking company, you may have the right to refuse a load but if you do you may piss off the dispatcher and he may not work real hard to find you another. Whereas if you have your own authority you can choose where you want to go from ALL available loads. Bottom line is I was always hauling CHRobinson loads as a company driver so if company # 2 could make money doing that then I can too.

BRI

We are doing that now. But the only way for us to really make it work is to get a 2nd truck/driver so that it will supplement the income. We're going to do owner financing with the guy we haul for. He is giving us a good deal, too. Later bring in more trucks (from same guy) and eventually hubby hopefully won't have to drive anymore except for emergencies.

We did that and came out in the red. Wasn't worth it for us. Because they were the ones finding he loads and we ended up with many low paying loads, and when stranded they left us to fend for ourselves.

We're proof of that (although not making 3K). That's why we're going to slowly add more trucks.

We aren't necessarily looking for exciting challenges, but we DO want control. Plus, if one truck is in the shop we can still have the other (or others) running.