Is Owner Operator my calling?

Consider the following

Buy old dump truck, get cdl, learn the ins and outs of that engine, transmission and cab setup. Get those in absolute tip top shape.

You will be able to use the truck to do other things in your current industry.

Then buy a junker same mfgr otr semi, get cab and sleeper nice enough you can use it to live in for 2 or 3 days at a go parked at your buisness. Then go transplant the engine and trans. from the dump. In hauling with the dump, you may have run into people needing help on moving equipment etc, might be a good way in.

The killer for you will be if you go completely on your own (including authority)

Doing it this way is slower but you never actually lose your current customers or cash flow and just build assets more instead of liquidating.

 

My thought is if you need to ask random people on the internet, no you are not ready to be an O/O.

If you feel confident enough to do it, do it. If not, don't.

It's not an industry you can dip your toes in. You must be 100% committed to succeeding, or you will fail (and lose money).
Now if you are committed to building a successful business, go ahead. As a business owner you know to treat it as a business, and of what I've seen the biggest failure rate is from people that never treat it as a business, but a just a job with added expenses.

 

You need to find some commercial landscaping accounts .
Office parks , large churches , homeowners associations that pay someone to mow every week and plant flowers every three months etc

 

most dump is exempt commodity, no authority/cargo required, just a DOT number

I second dump because while you don’t make a lot working them for somebody else, it will be very handy to expand your current business, maybe even grabbing a tag trailer and a little bit bigger equipment to go with it in the future

 

I probably have a bit less experience than most of the people on here but I have been both regional and local. Regional was nice as I didn't want to be fully OTR to start. Some weeks I was on 4.5 day and had a long weekend other days I was on 6 it mostly went with demand. I'm in the north east so you shouldn't see jersey so it may be different but I saw alot of short trips 4-6 hour drives park and deliver in the morning. Grab a new load repeat. It was honestly nice and relaxing, easy pace work. Then the bunk heat/ac went bad, and it was not a fun time for a few days. I am now local home every night but they are 10-12 hour days. With what I am doing its pretty easy work 2 stops 4.5 hours out then same route back. It is boring but I dont mind it at all. Its give and take finding what works for you and there are different start times all over the place. Take your time, look all over for job postings, interesting things pop up once and a while

 

I think u are looking at trucking as an escape and as an outsider looking in , trucking looks easy. U just drive down the road right ? It is work just like anything else. Starting out u are not going to be home on the weekends unless u go get a local gig. Theres probably some good regional gigs in that area ur in but probably gonna need experience.

U can luquidate everything u got and jump into this business head first , drop 6 figures on a truck and trailer and insurance and authority. Now ur ready to roll. How do u find freight? Load boards? Ever looked at a load board of the crap loads that are in your area? Texas is a tough market to work. Not saying u cant do it . but u are going to have a hell of a time since u want to be home weekends . I would try to find a local job there , construction company , coca cola , any p&d ltl company . u can make 75k+ ur first year... But if u want to just drive down the road for a couple days and go home.im sorry to say but its most likely not gonna happen unless u go on ur own. But if you do that. Just understand the learning curve is going to be tremendous and i think u will find yourself tired of working on ####ty equipment and realize alot of the crap u deal with in landscaping business( bad weather, equipment always breaking, people not paying , to much work not enough time) etc , u deal with in trucking ( bsd weather, equipment always breaking, customers not paying, to much work not enough time) and i think u will be at this same point a couple years down the line.