how to educate yourself on being a OP

Yes. The school of hard knocks. It's the best in the business.

 

Just read all threads in the O/O section from the last few years and you will learn a lot

 

For one, you can google it, and there are many threads on here that help. If you look at the ask an operator thread, there is 2 really good ones by double yellow, and blairandgretchen.

 

^^^This for sure

Best to make friends with owner operator, learn the real story quick and easy....so many paths and possible experiences available to you LOL!!
Be a company guy somewhere you can lease your truck on after 6 months..LTL for me
Safe and they cover alot of stuff..

 

No classes just research. Every guy had it different. Every guy runs differently depending on our overheads, areas, commodity, and how much we want to make. Some do better than others. Only thing you can do is take care of your truck, make wise decisions on loads you take, and everything else that may happen good or bad is out of your hands.

 

Check out NASTC, "National Association of Small Trucking Companies". They have a class called "New Entrant Survival Training Course" you can go to. I think it's a one or two day course they give once a month.

Also join OOIDA "Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association". They can help you set up your own authority as well as give you advice.

You can also get some good advice on here. BUT you may have to sift through a lot of advice from those with little to no experience who think they know a lot.

Good luck.

 

There are lots of free resources out there if you put in the time and effort. TTR probably has the most info of anyone throughout various threads, but NASTC & OOIDA both also have lots of info on their websites & sell lots of related services. There are also a number of groups on facebook, and some folks making free podcasts.

If you want someone to bundle most of that info together and sell you a product/service, Kevin Rutherford comes to mind -- he has a dvd/audiobook/pamphlet he sells for a couple hundred dollars and puts on a seminar called the CMC that I think is a couple thousand dollars.

 

You can go to Tim Brady's website "Write Up The Road" at writeuptheroad.com for books and classes. Tim is an owner-operator turned author. OOIDA also has courses you can take on line, but they are expensive. Another suggestion is to find an O/O mentor in your area to ask questions. Basic business courses also help and having previous business experience.

The major information you need to be concerned with before you get your own truck are:
Insurance (Cargo liability)
IFTA
Vehicle registration (This can be an onerous task depending on which state you live)
Forming a company (Usually an LLC)

While my wife and I had owned businesses before we got into trucking, it was Tim Brady that gave us the most advice and answered a lot of questions.

Hope this helps.