Is Owner Operator my calling?

This. ^^^

Also, have you tried hiring people? My guess is it’s pretty competitive rate wise with all the illegals running around down there. So, maybe you can’t afford too?

 

I can understand you not wanting to expand your business, but...

You have all the connections. You did the hardest part. You don't have to be out in the Sun.

I have seen guys that started Landscaping with one lawnmower at 14 years old. Then they grew to have several lawn mowers. Then they got the contracts for all the universities and schools and Townships and industrial parks and Senior Living Community and retirement homes...

Then they took those contacts and they went into Excavating and Paving. They're literally multi-millionaires many times over now. They are not out working in the Sun.

The thing is for someone that just started an Excavating & Paving business they don't have those kinds of connections. It isn't easy to make those connections generally. But it's really easy to go to the purchasing department of the University that you have the contract and say hey by the way we do Paving & Excavating. Really? We're building a new Wing we're looking for an Excavating contractor to will do all the Excavating and all of the paving and lay all the pipe and redo all of the concrete sidewalks and put in handicap ramps. We will send you the plans.

On top of that every homeowner is going to need some kind of Excavating or Paving andconcrete work at some point. So many people install pavers or patios. If their landscaper that they have known for the last however Many years does that type of work why would they not use him before someone else?

You can do whatever you want to do but the fact that you have the connections in my opinion is what you should take advantage of and do it in a way that works for you. Just dumping all of that and going into something completely different is truly stopping in your tracks and turning in a completely different direction.

Maybe that's what you want to do, but this business is just full of rules and regulations. It is rapidly changing. The rates will fluctuate. Trucking is not a business that has kept up with the cost of living. And now we are moving into high inflation.

The grass is not always greener.

 

15$ per load must be a misprint lol

 

I always thought that it is an accomplishment to give up trucking business for some other business, not the opposite way.
Is lawn mowing already close to landscaping and is there no potential for growth there?
These guys are always too busy in Chicago area.

 

Trucking isn’t just sitting in the AC and driving .
landscaping is just sitting on a mower , right ? Mow, blow, and GO!

how hard can it be ?

Just like landscaping is a lot more work than it looks like , so is driving . And the biggest difference is that right now YOU are in control of your schedule.

in trucking you will NOT be in control of anything except the steering wheel . everyone else will be in control of your life.
How would you feel if you rolled up to mow and the homeowner said , “eh, just park over there , we will tell you when you can come mow, Probabaly gonnna be five or six hours before we get to you”

and it’s gonna be like that all day every day. The dispatcher , the people on the loading dock, the guy on the forklift , the minimum wage guy in the guard shack, EVERY one is in control of YOUR life except you.

the city I’m in , all the landscapers use immigrants, I’m sure mostly illegals, to do all the outside work, the owner sits in the office or is out knocking on doors finding new or more profitable customers .

min the landscaping biz you have few if any govt regulations.
In the trucking biz , everything you do is regulated by some govt and they are all out looking for a way to bust you for violating it and grab some money.

two of my neighbors are landscapers.
One does the mow and go , and the other does trees and shrubs and walkways etc .

both make a good living and are home every night with their kids.

how would you feel if the wife said she was gonna take a traveling job , gone for days or weeks at a time or working 14-16 hour days , comes home and goes right to sleep ?
Oh and by the way , you’re gonna be raising the newborn by yourself while I’m gone ?

most truckers on here with small children would trade places with you to be home with their family.

buy some of those hi tech cooling vests or something to help with the heat.

you are right that you shouldn’t be doing this when you’re older, by then your employees should be doing the outdoor work and you should be assisting them and managing them and looking for more profitable customers, or profitable ways to expand into mulch or tree transplanting or something .

 

I think you're expecting a bit too much from trucking. Those expenses that you are all too familiar with in your current business will certainly happen in trucking, only the costs will be much higher. So you couldn't work because of the ice storms last winter? Do you think there were a lot of trucks running during those ice storms? Some of the worse snow storms I've ever seen as a driver were along I-40 in the south. There is always something in trucking that can shut you down for a while not making money.

As others have mentioned, expand your business and go from a laborer to a manager. You know that business and how to make it work. A very high percentage of truck drivers quit within the first year because it wasn't what they expected. About 90% of owner operators fail within the first couple of years. Do you really want to gamble taking on something with such a high failure rate? Stick with what you know. Sit in an air conditioned office and call your workers on the phone and tell them what to do.

I started an insurance brokerage with my dad and my brother when I was 22 and still in college. I hated it, but I was good at it and stuck with the company for over 30 years before retiring and becoming a driver. Although insurance wasn't my dream job, it paid very well and I got to work 10 minutes from home for all those years while my wife stayed at home and we raised our 3 kids because I was home every night. That made the job I use to hate well worth the price. Now I get to do what I want.

 

Maybe try driving for a company first, see how you actually like the trucking lifestyle before you jump into being an owner op.

Trucking is a lifestyle, not a normal job.