Inherited Trucking company transition!!

I don't think anyone here is intentionally being rude, but they are being upfront, honest and to the point.

You never said what you and your husbands current careers and the like are. Why you can't move or become more involved in the day to day operations. Have you considered relocating the business' home office/location?
You said you have dedicated accounts but you didn't say if these accounts are local, regional or scattered throughout the lower 48 (OTR) or how many accounts you have.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Mainly because the trucking industry is a mess right now and is getting worse all the time. It's a very difficult business to make work because its so regulated. I can't emphasise a more important word in this whole post besides "regulated". Too many people think that they can just buy a truck and get loads and make money hand over fist. They think it's just easy money.. and an easy industry to make a lot of money and can run a business soley off of a degree from an office and a book. Its not! And I am not by any means saying that its your intent. But you haven't given us much info on why YOU both wont take a bigger interest in a business that you own and are ultimately responsible for. I can assure you, you and the brokerage company will never agree 100% of the time. There are going to be disagreements. You're going to see some things differently as you go along. How do you know you're right? How are you going to know when you're wrong, if you don't know anything about the business? How do you know they are not "getting one over on you"? If you don't know about the industry, you can rest assured, you're gonna assume something is wrong via your half-assed knowledge or your lack of knowledge. This industry is very complicated and very regulated. You gotta be mechanical minded, knowledge of trucks, trailers, roads & issues, BOLs, loads and what is required and needed, shipping/receiving, drivers, CDL rules, insurance, and expenses like unexpected breakdowns & costs, roadside DOT inspections/violations (tickets), how to handle breakdowns, and how to handle them including what to do about the load. Again, EVERYBODY has a finger in this pie and you gotta make sure you know the rules and the reality of the industry.
This aint about just having a truck and trailer, putting a driver in it, getting a load, delivering the load and getting a check.

Ok, so I get it that you dont know anything about the trucking business. For me... that in itself is an issue. That's why some are saying its a nightmare waiting to happen. I admire the fact that you want to show your employees that they are appreciated. I get that. But that should be the least of your worries. Get an email address from employee records and send them an email that says thank you for all you've done, as of now nothing will change and that you will be in touch with them as things progress... and give you their feedback. Its ok to ask them to share their thoughts on how it can be better... but you can't just start handing out favors.
I mean at this point you know zero about how the business is being run, if it's turning a profit or if its even being run legally or in terms of FMCSA, DOT etc.

Why do you want to pay a company 30% of the profits to run a company either you should be running and being paid for, OR you should sell the company. Number one, that money should be going in your pocket. If you don't have time to oversee a business that you own and are responsible for, you should sell it. Number one rule in ANY business.... Nobody's gonna run it like you would.

This ain't a snow cone business operating out of a 6X10 cargo trailer. I can't stress enough how regulated this industry is.. not from one entity, but from from many. DOT, FMCSA, DOE, DHS, Insurance, on and on. Every governmental agency and many agencies outside the government have a finger in this pie.
You don't have a clue if this brokerage company is even running it legally or even who this brokerage company really is. Are they stable? Is it a Chicago based company? You need to become involved and learn how this business is supposed to work by paper and in reality. A trucking company very seldom works successfully out of a book. It takes someone hands on that understands the industry and the logical aspect of firsthand knowledge. Let me reiterate... YOU are responsible for whatever happens in this business. You say it's making a profit, but how do you really know? A lot of people said their investments with Bernie Madoff was making a profit too. Just because its on paper dont make it reality.

Let me be realistic. Before you can promise your employees anything, you need to spend about 2 months in the passenger seat and about 6 months in the drivers seat and learn everything you can about what : "realistically" what goes on out here. You can read our posts from dawn to dusk and you wont ever really know until you sit in that seat for a few months.
Then you need to sit in the office and read everything you can read about the regulations and compare it to what you've learned in reality... in the real world. You need to spend about 2 months in dispatch, and 6 months in accounts payable and accounts receivable records.

You need to be hands on and understand what's written on paper and what's happening in reality.

If you can't do this.... if you can't dedicate the work that it requires to run a business that YOU own, you need to take a hard look at reality and seriously consider selling this business.