Any successful o/o's on here?

Hey grizzly, im about to go independent.....was actualy seeking advice on where to find loads, how do you feel about job boards

 

Couldn't agree more with ya there Bill. I've been seeing this more and more as the economy goes to crap and more people get laid off or terminated from their regular job. They decide to go buy a truck and make a go at it. Most all wind up failing but not till after they have made a chunk of money but not paid any taxes on it. So in the end they just wind up back where they were and with a worse credit score and a tax levy.

 

You gotta start thinking "business"!!! You don't, or shouldn't get any money back. Maybe with your personal income but not from your business. This IS a business.

 

I bought a brand new truck in 1995. Paid it off in 2000. Did it with pay phones, calling cards and no computers.

I love trucks. The business math is easy. The mental game of driving among herds of jassacks and the lack of good paying freight is the hardest part.

Paid off my new trailer last year.

I work when I want and do what I want. I'm not rich but I eat well and don't throw money around.

I am getting lazy. I only work enough to pay little in taxes. If I owe a thousand to Obammy then I feel I worked 2 weeks too many that year.

I am happy and don't need drugs so I consider that success.

 

I am not doing so well either we are a power carrier for JB Hunt and the money is not there at all and our biggest problem is bad credit in the past and not being able to rent a trailer being an o/o without paying someone like penske a huge deposit and large weekly payment we just can't get a chance at a break sorry but it is sooo hard

 

I will not speculate how your friend got to the success in trucking so fast, don't know don't want to know. I came up the hard way, 3 wives 3 trucks, hmmm I am not sure but I see a pattern forming here. If it could break it broke, if it had to be fixed I have fixed it out on the road, if it could be taxed I have paid it. I run my own authority and have for many years, do not know another way but do know there are easier ways. If you buy a truck it is your mistress, you can't quit or you lose, the first years you must live, eat and breathe trucks, sometimes you will love it sometimes you will hate it but you will keep on truckin. The biz end of it? It changes every year, be flexible, do not be bashful about charging what it is worth, get some help with the paperwork so you have some time for yourself or you will go crazy, but be able to do the paperwork so you know what that person is doing to you or for you. Right now I have been home for 2wks with a friend from Europe visiting. I may be home another week do not know, but I am careful with the money no foolishness. No speed boats, no $20,000 snow mobiles or $80,000 sports cars ect. Business and quality time off, build my house. It all depends on what you define as successful? Truckin is an independent sport, if you are trying to impress the Jones you will lose, if you are trying to impress yourself and are reasonable in your demands you will win....
just my opinion, to get to the success part everyone pays their dues first, but if you listen close to what others say and think it through you can sidestep the land mines sometimes.....
J-J

 

If you are a Sole Prop (Schedule C) or an LLC taxed as a Partnership (Form 1065), there are no income taxes owed. At the end of the year all your business expenses are deducted from your business gross revenue. The business net is then transfered to the owner(s) as gross personal income, on your 1040. Then your income tax is figured. If you think you will owe tax, at the end of the year, make some quarterly estimated payments to avoid any penalties.

 

I am a new o/o and so far I feel sucessful. The reasons are 1 I set myself a goal when I started driving to save my coin and buy a truck and I achieved that. 2 I am very happy now that I am in my own truck. Those are two measures of success, achieving a goal and being happy. Am I making as much or more money than I did as a company driver? Yes and no, yes my gross is more and no because I have had to spend money on repairs. Let me say I would rather be doing what I am doing now than what I was befor as a company driver. It is true that you buy yourself a job when you buy a truck but what's wrong with that? I love trucking and even more so now I am doing it for myself, I have a good steady company I lease to now and i also worked for them early in my trucking career and am now back with them. Happy days. I know a guy making 120000 dollars a year and he is miserable, he just isnt happy doing what he's doing but can't quit because of all the loans and toys he's paying off. If you can honestly say you're happy with what you're doing and your not in the poor house or on the street then in my book you're a success!

 

And aside from just clicking THANK YOU - had to actually SAY IT.

While I don't necessarily think "one step from the street", isn't potentially a precariously "unhappy" place to be either...

But for some of us, that are planning to go "all in" - the dedication it takes to BUILD A BUSINESS (and not just be a driver for someone else's business), is admirable - and gives a sense of self achievement that $$ cannot buy...

BRAVO!

Rick