Shoestring start ups?

I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Seriously , I was in collage 19 years old (Staying with my parents) when my dad who was a O/O got very sick.
For a year the debt just mounted as he was bed ridden a lot of the time.
His main customer went belly up after not paying for 3 months.
I left collage and started driving with my father in the sleeper giving me guidance for about a month.
I was then on my own as he almost died in the cab while I drove.
I would never have done this but I had no choice as my parents were on the point of losing everything.
The truck was an old Mack (16 years at that time) that had seen many miles.
The bank called in the debt (3 times what the truck was worth).
If I had a choice I would have ran away but I had no choice.
I worked over 120 hours a week , only slept about 5 nights a week.
Cant even begin to tell you the the things I had to do to keep the bank at bay , keep the fuel account open and just keep going.
It took 5 years to get out of the hole.
Then another 5 before it got comfortable.
There were also a lot of answered prayers during those years.
They say smooth seas don't make for skillful sailors, I can tell you I learnt a lot.
Do I look back fondly?
Hell no , it ruined my health and stole years of my life.
Financially it turned out okay as I now have a small fleet and a warehouse all paid up.
Would I suggest doing it on a shoe string.
No.
Is it possible to make a success on a shoe string.
Yes , but not probable.
You need to be willing to make huge sacrifices with no guarantees.
If you have a family they need to understand this and be 100% behind you and also willing to do this.
You need to at least have a plan of some kind , I don't think going OTR is the answer.
There is too little room for you to use your abilities or extra effort to compensate for your lack of capital.
Going OTR you are going to be relying to much on the good fortune of getting a good truck for little money then getting enough fair work.
I would look for something that other drivers cant or don't want to do.
This may be the thing or that edge you require to succeed.
If you don't have skills or are not willing to do things that will differentiate you from the crowd, then with a shoe string budget I don't think it a good idea.

 

Hey I was just being sarcastic. part as humor, part truth. after 11 years, I have run across maybe one that looked at things the way I do. I am talking about folks I met in person only. what does most harm to most o/o's i.m.o. is not starting on a low budget, but their gotta have a hood, chrome, loudest c.b. & the home is not much different. they usually start off making decent money & then start buying & charging as if they need everything RIGHT NOW! I know several personal people, who have run 3500 45000 miles a week for a co. after displaying their drive & ambition, they figure if I did this for myself I'd do great money wise. they do, but with the purchase of a big screen t.v. & other many toys, that they always wanted & think they can now afford them, cause this particular week they made $2000 take home, they dont think about breakdowns, slow freight, e.t.c. most I know went from co driver to o/o back to co driver. I even hear this a lot at truck stops, while talking to drivers. it is a lot of drivers story, just as I describe here. the one's who have made it can tell you how they did it, but most will not do what the other driver did to make it. when I fist got started I got a 95' intl coe. all my friends had just bought long tall hoods, double what mine cost. yeah they all laughed. you have to be frugal to start out if you want to make it. yes there are who made it starting off with expensive equip. you would have to choose what you need to succeed. after a couple years, no one even came close to what I did financially. I am talking about the few I ran with. all running the same lanes & miles. after their truck payment, is & all the toy's 4 wheelers, motorcycle, e.t.c. they had no more, in fact even less than when they were a co driver. they had accumulated much more debt & some lost it all. just take heed at what the successful tell you, but as important listen to what the ones who failed tell you too. my best to any one who wants to be a o/o.

 

that is a great story. thanks for posting.

 

ZAB- Best of luck to ya and I hope it all works out. Just keep working at it as you seem to be very strong willed and have the desire to make it work.

 

Back when I was building my business plan I read an article about starting a business on a shoestring. What struck me is being told to plan for that unexpected printer failure or a $100 phone bill instead of the $50 you budgeted for.

When dealing with the big trucks you have to add a couple zeros to the end.

 

That sounds like a shoe string budget to start a broker business.

 

Oh cmon now you know those broker startups have insane overhead thats why they have to keep 40% and can't offer quickpay lol.

 

I never had some glamorous dream of being an owner operator. I thought O/O were pretty dumb from all the ads I read looking for owner operators to run for less than $1.00 per mile with a five year or newer truck. This was in 2000 when I started out and there wasn't a fuel surcharge. I actually said I'd never be an owner op because it didn't make financial sense.

Well, a couple years later, I bought my first truck. A 1991 ex-werner condo cabover for $4,000 in 2001, and I had less than $1,000 left over for expenses. Fortunately, I was leased to a great company that I had been a company driver for, and the truck was already leased on there, so there were no surprises as far as mechanics go. I was basically living out of the truck and my girlfriend's dorm, so it worked out real well for me. I didn't go a single week without a paycheck and after I banked the first couple ones, I was good to go. The easy fallback of scrapping the truck and getting most of my money back from the scrapyard and hopping in a company truck GREATLY minimized my risk. I averaged 1.20 per mile with that truck in 2002, and my first tank of fuel in Nov. '01 was $1.12/gallon. Plus, I had weekends off. After a year, I bought a '93 FLD with a bigger bunk. It too was already leased on and had been most of the trucks life, so there were no mechanical surprises there either.

I left that company for another regional company full of hot air. After three months, I figured out I could do better with my authority as I was already booking my own freight with this new company. I had 5,000 in the bank after setting up the business and paying my insurance down payment, no truck note as I'd bought that truck for 8,000 cash, and less than a thousand a month in personal bills. I ran my butt off for a month, until I only had enough to cover the next months bills, and then waited for the checks to come in from my first couple week's work. 30 days is usually 40. It was risky as all get out, but I had fall back scenarios with being a company driver for my former great company, and I was only responsible for myself.


Can it be done? Of course, but you are really relying on luck and your skill at assessing your abilities, as well as the knowledge you have in the industry. If you've never owned a truck, found freight, know how to do basic accounting and maintenance on your rig, and don't have the funding to learn all the lessons the hard way, you'll most likely be a statistic.