Want to learn the dispatching process

I'd get in touch with Big Bad Bill ( BBB ) on this board . He seems to have some great insight on this topic and the INS & OUTS of it .

 

I never did the invoicing when I worked as a dispatcher.

The process we used:

pick up the phone...
Call a broker/shipper.
Talk to them about the rate and #### chat while you figure out the miles to include dead head.
Tell them the rate is too cheap, you need $XXXX
They respond that it can't happen.
Tell them thanks and have a nice day.

lather, rinse and repeat till you get your rate you want.

Sometimes they call back and offer you it at a lower rate. Ignore the begging until you get your rate you want.

You are really going to have to be comfortable with cold calling.

 

If you want software, there's this online service I use. It's part of Internet truckstop. www.its-dispatch.com
let's you dispatch, input trucks and trailers info, drivers info, O/Os info, decide how you pay, and calculates it for you, IFTA(calculates practical the miles for you!), invoicing... and much more. about $100 a month, might seem pricey, but it's worth it!

 

Sounds like you need some book keeping skills, find a local community college and enroll in the business basics and be sure they offer a taxes etc. course, also SCORE in your area offers courses that you can take, they also have courses for getting businesses started and all of that stuff, Look into all of it and also think about getting maybe a general office helpers position where you can learn first hand how to do the books in a general business sense. Hope This helps.

 

taxes aren't paid just at the end of the year.

For a business, you have to file income tax quarterly. You can learn how to do that by going to the Federal IRS website and also your individual states Department of Revenue or whatever they might call themselves.

If you aren't using something like quickbooks or quicken now for managing your home finances, I would suggest getting Quicken home & Business so you can start using it now and get a hang of it. One of the better software packages for doing financial management I know of. Yes, there are packages like peachtree, but quickbooks is more common.

It also inputs data into TurboTax very nicely for doing your taxes. What could take you days to do, will take you just minutes.

It would never hurt to take business, bookkeeping or accounting classes. Just makes the learning curve that much less risky and easier.

 

Agree with all the above. We use QuickBooks Online Plus. Very reasonably priced, internet based and very easy to use. Great customer support. For dispatching, we use Strategy Live. Internet based and very easy to use.

I think your biggest challenge is going to be finding out if you have the edge to negotiate rates and take the attitude some brokers will give you. If you can find work to give you some of the experience, it will be worth it because the risk of failure will not be on your shoulders. It motivates some, causes IBS in others.