My only concern is finding loads

I have been a successful business owner for many years and my only concern with being an o/o is the ability to find decent loads in your current area. Is this as big a challenge as it seems? I pull a reefer as a company driver and if I became independent I may get a dry van since I sleep like a log when the reefer doesn't cut on at 3 AM and shake my whole truck. I just hope there are enough dry van loads out there to make earn a profit. I noticed a lot of guys who complain about cheap freight expect to make over $150,000 and not have any expenses, but I am more realistic and accept the fact that not everything will go as planned and I have to spend money to make money.

 

Yeah I imagine the reefer is more profitable since people NEED food which is the main thing we haul. I have always been a light sleeper and when that reefer cuts on it wakes me up every time. I go back to sleep but when I get a dry load or I am empty, I sleep so well that the next day I feel like I am 16 years old again. Plus some places I pick up require a washout only. Even when I did a great job sweeping it out the guard saw small specs of pallet and said I needed to wash it which was bs.

 

It was an Americold in MI the name of the city escapes me now. The funny thing about it is that the nearest trailer washout is at a retired trucker's house. You pull into his muddy driveway and he walks out with a cheap electric pressure washer he bought from Lowes. I wouldn't be surprised if he worked out a deal with the security guards to send all unwashed trailers there even if they didn't need it.

 

Doesn't C.H. stand for cheap and heavy though? I actually deal with them a lot when I wind up in a strange town in the middle of nowhere and dispatch quickly gives me a CH Robinson load to get me back into civilization.

 

So if I get a good working truck, keep it maintained, save for emergencies, keep all licenses, insurance, etc. in order, I just call up CH and they will give me loads that I can make a profit on? Or is it best to find a lot of different brokers so that something is always available? Because my dispatch can get me a load VERY QUICKLY, so it cannot be that difficult. A lot of drivers sit but my dispatch always has something within an hour of my location within 15 minutes. I like my company but I would like to customize my truck and go where I want. I also have the fear of making a mistake and being fired. My programming business still makes money on its own so trucking is not my only income. I do not have to drive 3500 miles per week to survive.