Why did you decide to become an owner operator?

I could never understand being employed. Way too crazy of a Texan to work for someone else! After all I value freedom. These days if you value freedom your a radical or crazy. Who wants to work in those conditions.
FREEDOM.........FREEDOM.......FREEDOM......THIS IS YOUR ANSWER/SOLUTION

 

The last time I was "employed" I folded pizza boxes for $1.00 hour for a really cranky italian guy, I did tho, learn from him not to work for anybody but yourself and it will allow you to make your own schedule and decide what work you will or won't do. As far as off time, if you are a good safe O/O, you are dependable and aman of your word ANY company that won't let you make your own schedule is not worth hauling for..

 

It all happen back in 1977 thanks to Hal Needham, Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed. Then the teamsters told me I couldn't drive one of their trucks like that and had to do things their way. So then I went and rode shot gun at 18 with an old independent they called "Poor Boy" and got the bug and said I will own my own and did five years later. He always owned his own truck, worked on it himself from changing a flat tire to overhauling it and when he died a few years ago the man never in his life drove or owned a truck with a electronic engine. He was pure old school trucker. The stuff I learned from him they don't teach in no truck driving school, can't read it in a book and a Swift trainer wouldn't have a clue.

 

I honestly became an O/O because I have always tried to climb the ladder everywhere I worked and it never seemed to work. I knew I could do the job better than my supervisors and I always had solutions to issues they brought up (or caused) and I never got any credit or they took it all. So I decided to follow in the footsteps of my father and grandfather and become a driver. I loved the freedom and not having anyone looking over my shoulder. But that too got old and I wanted to take the next step so after 9 months of being a company driver I just said F* it and bought my own truck with cash and leased on at my company. I had no savings and no plan and got lucky as hell it all worked out for me.

Besides, I was tired of my truck only going 62. As an O/O I could drive as fast as I wanted too......until fuel went up and I realized that MPG is more important than speed lol.

 

I don't work well with others and I'm unemployable, so my wife says.

 

How about to have a sink, dinette, toliet, and large plasma TV in my cab and a nice bike on the back.
How about always saying no to New York, if that place still exist.
Far as dollars, I probably ain't making as much as alot of company drivers, but I take a lot of home time and only haul good freight. I say no to loads lousy loads.
O/O just for the fun of it. Difinitely not for the money.

 

Well,i have always been ''self-employed'' since i got out of high-school,just never could wrap my head around working for the man,so to speak. I borrowed money, little by little, buying a piece or 2 of farm machinery and a couple of cows every year till i had decent enough credit to purchace a small piece of land that not much anybody else wanted to buy,and went from milking cows on rented land to milking 'em on My land. I never bought more than i could afford to pay back in 3 years,and never hired a single soul to milk my herd. After 20 years of milking cows twice a day,7days/week,i just got tired,and since i had always loved equipment,and really enjoyed hauling my own grain,i decided it was time for a change,so i started looking at getting into trucking full time. I looked into driving for someone else but once again i found myself not likeing the thought of someone else telling me where and when to go,or what i could haul,and realized purty quick that if i was gona do this for a living,it would be dang near impossible to enjoy it if i was relying on someone else(dispatcher) to PLAN my week for me,much less be profitable. I like the fact that i can plan my week/month ahead of time and for the most part it ends up on me whether or not that week/month goes as planned. I know none of us can plan for a lot of the ''unforseen'' stuff like shipper/receiver delays,breakdowns and all the other little things that happen thru the week/month,but i beleive if your observant,and realistic most of those things can be accounted for,so it's still on me. Myself,i love it,(not so much all the paperwork that comes with being an independent o/o) but ALL the rest. The vacation/time off is not as important to me as some of the other folks have stated although i understand where they are coming from after milking cows for 20 years,but every day i'm out running seems like a vacation to me. I have not gotten rich,but i'm making a decent living at doing what i love and most of all,I'M HAPPY! Actually,running a 1 truck show is not that much different from owning a small farming operation,it has to be treated like the buisiness it is FIRST,then the rest will fall into place. I have found that a feller's ''word'' still means more than anything else,folks you do buisiness with like to know they can ''rely'' on ''you'',whether you are selling them cows,or delivering them a load to feed for the cows,they will call you back if your ''word'' is good. I don't have NEARLY as much experience as some of these other folks that have posted,but i have been in buisiness for myself ,in one form of the other, for over 27 years, and for me,it is the only way i know.

IMHO,it's not rocket science. Don't spend more than you make,save up when times are good becauce it will come in handy when times aren't so good. My dad always told me this,''Son,the things you NEED financially won't get you into trouble,it's the things you WANT that will get you into trouble''

Geesh,i have been a member on this forum for a tad over 2 years and i think that's the most typeing i've ever done,sorry for the long-winded post folks

 

Great Post, dairyman ! Your Dad hit the nail on the head !