Soon to be O/O, I have no idea what I'm getting into!

I think you should have waited maybe another year or so to make that leap.
Being an o/o is not all peaches and cream.

I don't think one can make the transition from company to o/o with less than two years.
Usually people build their experience and knowledge of the "trucking game" then go get their own truck.

As enticing as it looks it seems as though you might not be ready, just my opinion.


Good luck.

 

The questions I would be asking myself is:

Am I a smart business man?

What are my fixed costs to run my truck?

What kind of fuel mileage am I going to get?

What do I know about freight lanes and GOOD and BAD?

Have you tracked all of your fuel purchases in the company truck that you are in ow to get an idea of what your fuel bill is going to be?

Have you tracked your actual mileage and your paid miles to get an idea as to what your actuals are?

How much money do I have set back for maintenance and breakdown? If less than $10,000 your already off to a bad start

The list goes on and on. You should probably get a little more experience. Just my thinking. I have been driving 11 years and I am still leary about making the jump into O/O. I have seen too many people fail with little to no experience. I am not saying you will but I am saying that it is likely for someone having very little experience. Look at all the different aspects of trucking before you jump in. The only good thing that I see out of it is that you are paying cash for the truck. Atleast if it doesnt work out, you arent totally screwed and you can sell the truck or let it sit. Good luck to you driver as your going to need it.

 

That is a key piece of info right there. Looks like you will do fine. You have people in your corner with the experience and the money to help you get started. I would say just listen to what people that know what they are doing help you. It always gets me seeing people that own a truck and have very little experience look down on anyone that is a company driver. Just because you own a truck doesnt mean you know it all. It really sounds like you have what you need in your corner though. Listen to what experience tells you and decipher the BS out. their could be one piece of info in a paragragh of info that could help you out.

 

shoot, let your family guide you in the right direction, they have been [FONT=arial, sans-serif]successfully[/FONT] running a business why aren't you over at their house drinking coffee and discussing this stuff...

 

I been driving 20 years as company and just took the leap a few weeks ago after a few years of research. I can honestly say I still don't know what the hell I'm doing Lol

It is getting better every day. All the stuff you didn't think would happen will happen. Good luck

 

..your posts sound like daddy handed you a set of keys and said "go get 'em son" .. is this what you really want to do as an occupation or is it that it's all in the family so you're expected to drive as an O/O? .. since your family is backing you financially one of the main reasons O/Os don't make it are breakdowns, I've seen the good ones wiped out by continuous breakdowns and then there are fuel costs that aren't stable but it sounds like you're covered there too.. my main concern is that maybe this is something that your not really enthused about doing or looking forward to doing; maybe I'm wrong but if you have doubts that this and it isn't what you really want to do you'll end up being miserable doing it every day.. maybe you need to rethink about what you really want to do in the near future, there are other positions in trucking that you might look into if you want to stay in the family business, just don't be afraid to man up & tell your dad/family that OTR isn't what you really want to do right now.. whatever the reason I hope you will make the right choice for yourself.

 

Family.....

when I was in my late teens, I started roofing. My older brother joined me. We both became carpenters and drove nails for years for a friend of the family. I went OTR and my brother became a general contractor. I retired from driving and went back into construction. My kid brother grew up, graduated high school went to trade school,became an electrician and joined our business.

If my brothers were drivers and we had an in with a shipper, we would start our own company instead of being leased to someone.i am trying to figure out several things

1. Why doesn't your family pool their resources? They could make a lot more than 75%.
2. Why are you still green? If I had what you do, I would have known a truck back and forth before I was old enough to get a drivers license for a car.
3. Whose truck are you driving right now?
4. Why didn't one of the family put you in a truck, and let you drive for them? My brothers and I had to depend on each other and trust each other in order for the business to survive. If I had an uncle, or relative that trucked, and I wanted to truck, that's who I would have went to first to learn from and get seat time.