So you want to "own " your own company

Has your SBA loan been approved?

 

I'll check in today...usually takes a couple weeks to decide..

Wish me luck...I need to work my old pony..Im officially indigent,,aaak

 

Whew, finally finished reading this entire thread, all 94 pages of it. Thanks to all of you that contribute such great comments and advice. It's surprising how many people pop in and ask the same questions without doing their research themselves.

Gears, love your attitude. You and a few others are so right on so many fronts. I am just finishing up the entire process here in CA to run all 48 states. Did all the registrations, filings, taxes, etc. by myself just by reading the threads and doing the research on-line. Bought an '07 Volvo 780 and 53' dry van. Should be on the road after Thanksgiving. Now I've got to cram on learning the load boards, negotiating with brokers and earning back some of the past month's spend.

One thing I haven't found yet, if someone leases on with a company, e.g. Landstar, what restrictions does that imply? With full authority, if I were leased with Landstar, could I carry their loads as well as from other brokers?

 

Landstar will not lease you on if your authority is still active. Most other carriers won't allow you to lease to them as long as you are running your authority. Since Landstar brokers some of their loads, you could broker loads from them using your authority. There is no need to lease to a carrier if you have your own authority. It defeats the purpose of running your authority when you lease to another carrier. If you have your own authority you can haul loads from any shipper or broker. Some may require you to be in business for a certain amount of time, but technically, you can broker a load from anyone.

 

I've got my own Authority and have pulled for Landstar.
....and CHRobinson....and MCT.....and many many more.

 

So, you were leased onto Landstar, CHR and MCT and still had your authority?

 

Nope, I've never been leased on to anybody. I'm a "qualified" carrier for these guys (and others) and get loads of their load boards.

 

Guess you didn't read what he said.

"Landstar will not lease you on if your authority is still active"

 

That's right. With Landstar, you can either lease on with them or, if you have your own Authority, you can get loads from them off their load board.

 

when you look on load board for a load, does that price include fuel or do you negotiate that when you call for the load?