Career Track

Yearly increases are hard to come by in trucking. Fuel costs eat up any rate increases it seems. The way you will be able to make more money is to work smarter rather than longer or harder.

If you want to be an owner operator, make sure you are always learning and listening to people but also know when people are BSing, it is also important to remember you have to treat this as a business and not a job or hobby. You will probably find more success if you work into a more specialized line of trucking. It is too easy for a bottom feeder company to under bid you if you are hauling vans. However if you work your way into a more specialized area, especially with smaller companies or companies that value the dedication of an O/O or a smaller company you will have an easier time keeping a contract however it will take more time for you to build to that as well.
I would also say you need to focus on relationship building. You wont make a ton of money working off of load boards, but can if you are able to work directly with a few companies you can. If you are able to do this make sure you are building the relationships with the right people. Being buddies with the dock foreman or loader wont get you very far as they dont make any decisions. They may be all like ya sure we would totally only use you if you go out on your own, but they dont actually get to make that decision and people get burned by it all the time.