I agree, USHIP sucks.

Just so you know, I"m talking in relatively generic terms about markets, marketing, and competition.

And, NO GOOD IDEA IS EVER CREATED that doesn't need to be tested against critics and skeptics. Those are who point out what they see as flaws, and who help hone the concept by asking questions and making criticism.

I invite both. Please.

 

Most small businessmen live paycheck to paycheck, or month to month, whatever the case is.

This is a ubiquitous problem...among all people, be they truckers, mechanics, or even regular employees. Far too few make provisions for their future and live judiciously. And I have been among those almost all my life.

 

Here's how I approach everything like this: I look for something that gives me a leg up of some kind. Whether it is having a friend in it, or having some advantage that other people don't, or understanding or learning it faster than others.

It's all competitive out there, and if you just jump in, doing exactly what everyone else is, you're going to get eaten, at least for a while. Me, if I need to do this, I think I need something or somethings that is or are different and push the odds more into my favor than the "conventional" approach. You cannot take the exact same approach to competing in a market that others are. You need that one thing or more than one thing that moves the odds into your favor... Oh, wait, that's not quite right. The odds are NOT the favor of anyone starting. At least you need to get them less against you than they would be otherwise.

I have a background in IT, Diesel Mechanics, and some other things, and my whole life, I've been a "find and fix the problem" kind of person. I think outside the box, and often think conceptually. I've now been thinking about this idea of "adjusting" a market to favor the independents for some time.

I'm thinking that if I get into it for a while, having up close and personal experience, it will broaden my depth of understanding, which would help refine the ideas in my head. I also may need a job. And I'm fifty. My resume for the last 26 years consists of being a diesel guy - and I can't go back to that - and running my own high-tech business. Or, in other words, I have no resume to speak of, except self employment and no degree of any kind in anything I know or have in depth knowledge of.

Drive? I know how to do that. I have driven everything from a 50's 2-1/2 ton truck to heavy equipment, but never as a trucker. And, if I start, I will NOT be in debt, not a cent. I may have someone to work "back office" stuff for me and do dispatch type duties, and I'm looking for other things I move into the "in my favor" column, just in case I have to change careers.

 

Seriously, RickG? "Don't listen to him, he's new around here." That's practicing politics.

In every part of my life, be it self employed or employed by someone else, I have been in the "big guys vs little guys" situation. Other than skills driving a truck, and learning all the regulations and what paperwork to do, there's not that much difference between being a doctor, internet provider, repair shop, logger, and truck driver. Every one of them has the difficulties in competing in large vs small organization. Each has its own set of skills and knowledge unique to it. And every industry has its economics of scale and advantages of scale and the advantages of being small.

You have never once commented two sentences on the idea of using technological and market tools to improve the competitiveness of the individual owner/operator, or the merits of any other discussion I've been in here, instead you've tried to marginalize my role in every conversation you join. Hey, I might be ignorant to trucking, but since I've been involved in online discussions for well more than two decades, I've seen it all, when it comes to forum politics.

 

Hmmmm. I'd suggest reading this thread through again, from start to finish. If that doesn't help in this conversation, I guess I just can't get what I want to say across to you.