Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

First oil analysis on the new inframe & synthetic oil. Break-in oil was changed at ~750 miles (conventional) and at ~5000 miles I switched to 5w-30 mobil synthetic.

Since Polaris took their sweet ### time (~3weeks), I wound up changing the oil yet again to be safe, but the results ultimately came back good (though oxidation, potassium, and soot are things I'll be monitoring).




Again, on the new engine I've switched from 15w40 mobil 1300 conventional to 5w30 mobil 1 LE synthetic so the viscosity & additives have changed...


As for the engine itself -- its doing better than ever. Between 15,000 and 20,000 miles it was like someone flipped a switch as mpg & power came up, the oil leak stopped, and oil consumption dropped to pre-inframe levels.

My posted mpg numbers are still a little lower, but I'm now running my APU almost all the time instead of sweating, so the actual driving mpg is at least as good as before.

 

Since September 2014 was the first full month I ran, I thought a look back at annual cash flow might interest some folks -- especially now that it excludes the start-up costs. Accrual income was higher (due to net 30 payment terms & annual expenses like insurance/plates), but cash flow better tells the tale of what the bank account was doing...


(start-up capital was proceeds from the sale of Trailer #1 -- more than offset by the purchase of trailer #2)



A look at the monthly ebb and flow (this should illustrate why you need a decent cash cushion):

notes:
Sept 2014 only had a few checks come in because I only did a couple shakedown runs in August...
Nov 2014 had negative cash flow because I paid off the insurance for the entire year & converted to wide singles
Mar 2015 I bought my new trailer
May 2015 I paid for 2015-2016 insurance/plates/permits
June 2015 I had the inframe



If you told me when I started this business last May that I'd earn ~$54K my first year I would have been pleased, but compared to where I was last November (when I started this thread) it feels like a disappointment.

Still, with a new trailer & fresh engine I should be on pretty solid footing going forward so I'll say now that I'll be disappointed if the next 12 months don't show 6 figures. Two keys will be required to reach that: minimizing mistakes & staying motivated to run when I have no impending need to do so (something I haven't been very good at this last year)...

 

Cash vs accrual -- I paid monthly until November of last year, then paid the balance (~$5000). This year I just paid all at once (~$8000). The remainder is obamacare...

I've also prepaid some tolls, have the plates/permits paid through May, etc so this sheet is a little more pessimistic than reality...