Ready to jump in, Looking for advise

Yes, in TX and most other states running 26k LBS or below you are not subject to all the things you are as running a big rig at 80k LBS. Here in CA you are, once your trailers GVW is rated above 10k LBS you need a cdl with all the things that go with that. In TX you can run 26k on a car license right?

 

Nice, name calling. That actually had nothing to do with you. But just for the record, when it says revoked it means just that. When you change your name, it says name change instead of revoked. And fyi, my name only has one R in it. Robert.

I'm sure glad I didn't turn you on to any of my leads up north when you PM'd me asking if I had any freight up that way.

 

Once again you are wrong but nothing new there. That's only when you change name but not business type. Again, if you take a munite to read post 6 & 16 of this thread you might begin to realize why.
And now that you found my website and know who I am and the type of work we do it should be pretty clear that I'm not exactly kicking myself you didn't turn me on to your 50c and $1 PM leads.
You go right ahead and keep "helping" your revolving door of O/O's go broke hauling that crap!
You have a remarkable way of spinning things in a negitave or positive way, I guess that's what makes you a successful broker but that only goes so far. You spin 50c PM freight in a positive way and try to spin the fact that what populates on the safer system after a business "type" change, into a negative thing against me because you didn't like the fact I pointed out a few flaws in your "good advice" to a newbie.
Do you really think we would be hauling stuff like jet engines if our authority, insurance and safety ratings were as your trying to make them out to be?
Come on Gary, when's the last time you hauled a Jet Engine? Wait, I think I know the answer to that!
I know who you are and what your past holds, I did my research on you a long time ago when I initially decided to set up a CA based Hot-Shot service, there were only two companies in this state that had the potential and motive to infringe on my plans and the type of freight I was going to target, you and one other guy based out of Bakersfield.
Well after my research you clearly weren't a threat but the other guy was. He, like you is now out of the trucking business, but also like you trying to stay in it in a similar capacity to what you are doing.

Trust me brother, if I wanted to post stuff you really wouldn't want posted in a public forum about you I could. Especially here where you are trying to be a point of contact for newbies. I know why you do that!
Anyway I have a little more class than to do that just because I don't like what the other guy is saying on a forum.
In fairness you do post some good info and as you may have noted in this thread and others I will actually commend you for that just as I will call bs on something.
Thats what you call being a straight shooter, I highly recommend you try it!

 

There you go making stuff up. My authority is easily verified and you've never worked with my company. It's obvious I struck a nerve . How about we just stick to answering Armyguys questions, and we just don't talk to each other? It's not right to mess his thread up. Only time will tell who's advice helped and who's didn't.

 

You are a funny guy Gary. That thread "Beware of M&H Logistics" was started by someone you did work with. I happen to personally know him. He sat, like I did more than he ran. I have no doubt that you do offer SOME good advice. You come across as a great guy and I did enjoy talking to you when you did talk. To be honest, I left you without any notice because you always told me to "call when you get unloaded and we will start looking for another load" I laugh to myself when you talk about running in good lanes because most of the time you sent me to dead areas that had hardly any freight in my weight class. The only person that made any money while i had you on MY payroll was YOU. $250 a week "every Sunday by paypal" was a real waste when I was only getting one load a week out of you. ALL of my profit off of a load went to pay you for the next week. Do you know how many load boards a guy can subscribe to for $1000 a month? Selling your "How To Guide" for $50 is another waste of money. All that info is easily obtained by a simple google search. I know, a man is worthy of his hire. Your business is your business. It did not work for me and a LOT of others. I started making money the moment I subscribed to the load boards and took control of my own destiny.

On another note:

My advice to all the new guy's would be this. Join OOIDA it cost like $50 for the year, You get all the info you need to start including copies of contracts etc. As a member you can call and get startup advice that is up to date with todays laws. You get to talk for FREE to the legal experts to make sure you are totally covered. Join a good loadboard, one of the best ones out there is ITS. Add on some of the features that allows you to see fuel prices and load densities in certain areas. I would highly reccomend finding freight in your area that is in your weight class directly from the shipper, and use the load boards to get back. Finding freight while driving is also a breeze. Just post your truck, dimensions and available weight and let the Brokers call you. Check the load boards during your mandatory 30 min safety break.

Hotshot work is very specialized in the industry. True "Hotshot" work like in the oilfield pays really well. Some people consider LTL "Hotshot" but it is not the case. You may look in an area and find 900 loads but only 20 in your weight class. Unless you get lucky and find a light full load to deliver. LTL prices are offered as "filler" for your trailer. Brokers and Shippers alike know that trucks have "extra room" that a small lightweight piece will fit.

This business is NOT hard. YES you do need to establish relationships with people. This is NOT a "get rich quick" scheme. It is a lot of work. The work is made mentally harder when you have to sit and you are in a little pickup. I don't care how awesome you are, eventually you are going to sit. (ex: get somewhere to deliver on a Friday and find out they are closed for a Holiday) In a pickup, it is tough. Yes you can eat up your profits and get a hotel....

Bottom line is this.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. There are a lot of "Con Men" out there that are offering up advice trying to make you feel like it is so hard to do this on your own that you need to hire them to help you "learn" the ropes. I have met a ton of guy's that were supposedly making "millions" that have gone out of business. Talk is cheap. If you don't feel confident in your abilities to talk to Shippers and Brokers then this business is not for you. Don't give away all your money to people offering "services" to you that you can do for yourself. Chances are they are the only ones making money. ITS (loadboard) even has free podcasts and webinars on finding loads, dealing directly with the Shippers and all the other legal stuff like logs etc.

The other thing is to really consider whether running a pickup is the thing to do. Unless you find that niche market, the options are much better with a class 8. Freight is everywhere with a class 8. Yes, you burn more fuel (If you buy the right truck you can get 7-8 mpg) However your maintinence cost will be down because you are running a truck that was designed to put on over 1,000,000 miles, 20,000 miles between oil changes etc. Plus you get the benefit of a comfortable lifestyle on the road. (full size bed, stand up to put your pants on, etc.)

Enjoy the adventure!

 

I can't stress enough how important it is to not put yourself in a position where you are operating for the sake of operating. Did you ever physically run so fast that you felt you couldn't stop or slow down without falling? It's kind of like that, a lot of guys that start in this business feel they are not that good at obtaining direct shippers, reason for this is they know they can drive, they have been doing that all their life, it's easy and familiar. Going out and obtaining customers, well they are not so familier with that and don't feel confident, unfortunately that's the key to this business.
They decide it's easier to work under a broker or just pick loads off the loadboards where they don't have to put themselves in that unfamiliar situation of actually obtaining the real customer. From my personal experience you loose 40% to 50% of the dollar amount hauling through a broker, sometimes more sometimes less depending on the circumstances. Don't be fooled by brokers who say they only take a certain % of what the shipment pays. They usually take that agreed % of what they "told you" it pays!
Eg; the load pays $1000 from the shipper (which broker negotiated), broker tells you it pays $700 and takes the agreed % out of that $700 while pocketing the full $300 along with the agreed % on the $700.
Remember a big company will have a higher customer acquisition cost than you which gives you the upper hand in your own locality. You also have something a big company can not offer, and sure a big company will have other advantages over you but seek out customers that don't need 50 trucks on call, more the type that have a couple of shipments per week or month that need the attention to detail that an O/O is more lightly to provide. These type of customers are typically the ones that don't tend to need the lowest dollar per mile shipping but rather when the shipment gets to their customer it's delivered by a cheery well organized driver that will go above and beyond to make sure that end user is happy.
I would say if you want to start a hotshot, or any type of business here are the steps;
(1) Find customers or potential customer acquisition.
(2) Set up business and acquire needed equipment if you don't already have the equipment.
(3) Find more customers!
(4) Provide a good service to the customers you have just got.
(5) Find more customers!
(6) Spend a little time with your customers and understand their goals.
(7) Find more customers!
(8) Start to weed out the customers that are not quite as well suited to your situation as you should probably have more work than you can handle at this point!
One important thing to get your head around is if a customer pays well, is slow paying (90 days) but always pays then they are a good customer! Just make sure you are getting very well compensated.
We have customers that pay (120 days) but boy do they pay whatever we ask! You just can't put all your eggs in this basket.
(9) Find more high caliber customers!
(10) If you feel like it buy another rig and put a driver on it. And yes you guessed it, FIND MORE CUSTOMERS! Lol.
This business is about finding customers more than any other part in the process, why do you think brokers have customers without any equipment to service them.
Sure, there are carriers out there working for big brokers and on a standard $pm most of the time working steady, they are making a living. Iv said it before, you can make a living flipping burgers without buying and running the restaurant.
Hope this advise helps new guys focus on the core requirements to starting any successful transport business.

 

Thank you for your service, and you should be popular for that reason alone! Good luck with your new venture.

 

Armyguy, what have you determined?