The Road Less Traveled

You seem to have the opposite issue I had. My loan funding went smoother than expected but my authority was delayed with the insurance issue. I was surprised to see my authority go active on Monday, I really believed it would be another week waiting on the FMCSA.

What I have learned is that these hurdles will force you to problem solve and in turn make you a better educated O/O. Paying a company to handle things might reduce the stress but I saw it as the cost of doing business. Now I know all the steps it takes to accomplish this and Im a better person for it. I know youll be out there very soon. And thanks for following along. I plan to keep the thread updated but Im expecting to be busy for about two weeks attempting to generate some cash flow.

 

Update Time

It has been a while since I have been on the forum. It turns out actually being an O/O takes more time then getting ready to be an O/O.

So I am about a month into this and although I had a slow start in week 1 the finish was strong. Once I received my certification of authority I started calling to book the first load. After all of my research and questions asked here on the forum things began as expected. I made about 60 phone calls and negotiated rates with brokers and stuck to my guns on what I thought was a fair rate for each load I was calling on. To be fair to the brokers..out of all those calls a number of loads were passed on due to either being too heavy or needing securement equipment I just did not have yet, so me not taking a load was not always about rate. Anyway in the eveining of day one I got lucky. I found a deal going 88 miles locally and, according to the broker, there were enough loads to be moved that he would need trucks for about two weeks. We negotiated a rate athat would have me getting two loads a day until all the loads were moved and he verbally agreed. This was actually a perfect set up for me to kind of work the bugs out of loading, delivering, invoicing and getting paid....and keeping track of al of my numbers. The next morning I got to my truck, loaded all my stuff into the truck and did my pre trip. I know from stories here that I was not moving until I got the rate confirmation and he was supposed to send it in the morning. I still hadnt received it so I gave the broker a little time to get that paperwork to me. Once I was ready to go I checked in with the broker and I said "just FYI I have not received a rate con yet" ...His response.... "Oh....All loads for today have been covered"... Now I actually talked to this guy for over 30 mins about this load and all the loads needing to be moved... Im 90% sure that the translation of what he said would be " Oh I found trucks to do it cheaper"... but Im just speculating.

So I figured Im learning fast how this game works. It was a little annoying but hey thats trucking...right! So we move on and not get worried about the small stuff. I get on the computer and start calling for that elusive first load. It took me a little time but I found a decent paying load out of Jacksonville Fl. coming right back to home and it paid enough for me to DH up and get it deliver back in town and make a profit for the day so I booked the load. Things were looking up until I get a text message from the broker saying dont head north just yet the customer might be pushing delivery out by two days..... Then 10 mins later confirmation that the load was cancelled. So I am 0-2 on the day and getting annoyed... It shouldnt be this hard to get a load on the truck right? I have'nt left the area yet so instead of getting too frustrated I decide to go back to the house, regroup and find something befor the day is over.

Back in the comfort of home I start searching. There is a good and bad to everything and with flatbed loads it seems most of the freight appears early and as the day wears on most everything decent is covered and there isnt a lot to choose from until the next morning. But loads do pop up in the afternoon and if you are quick enough to book them you can still salvage a day. For me I got to the point that I knew I was looking for something to deliver the following day. And around 2 pm a load appears. I call and get a decent rate, $2.03/ mile from Jacksonville, FL to Charlotte NC. Easy load too ..shingles..just strap and go. I get my confirmation and it looks like I will finally be in business. I loaded first thing in the morning and it felt good to see something get put on the deck...so Im officialy now earning revenue.

I got to Charlotte and delivered in the morning and decided to post my truck and see how that went. It didnt take long but before I was empty I got about 4 calls for loads in the area. One took me right back to central Florida and payed $2.95/mile (loaded), I had to DH from Charlotte to Columbia SC. It was also easy strap and go so I took that load back and called it a week. The slow start broght me to a strong finish and with just one night out on the road I grossed $2100 on 1041 total miles. Not bad for the time period. If I were able to have a full first week I think I could have done really well but it is what it is and I got the truck moving and making money so thats a win for week one.

 

It sure does ..lol. Especially tis start up period.. Lots of bills to pay and it will be a while before I can get even so all of the time is spent serching for loads, negotiating rates and getting the truck to the freight... LOL...

I have more to update so maybe I can get another one in this weekend.. Right now I have my truck posted and hoping that will lead to a load out of here Monday morning.

 

One of the reasons I tend to use daily numbers is because I am running a limited schedule (not everyday) because I still have my job in the fire service. I am fortunate enough to have enough days off to get some decent runs in and still be back in time to go back to work at the FD. Im close to retirement and the trucking schedule will pick up. Right now I use a little of my time off to get full weeks in for trucking so I generate some cash flow in the company.


My point being that I dont run a ton of miles so the daily breakdown of fixed costs gives me a number to break even at the end of each week. If I am short I know the following week what my revenue needs to be. If revenue exceeds that breakeven I consider it a "weekly profit" although I do not pull that money out of the company weekly.. I just use it as a benchmark for the following week. Rollin coal is correct in that the longer term numbers are most meaningful but for me the dailys and weeklys give me a better snapshot of production since I am not going to be averaging thousands of miles per week.......... If that makes any sense...lol

That being said Ill post a quick update next so you can see how limited a schedule I am running.

 

Holiday Update

I left off with my progress through week 1. Ill use this update to breeze through what is now officially the 33rd day of operation. Now that I broke 30 days of operation the door is open to be able to haul loads for a few more brokers that would not load me with less then 30 days in business. I will say that I really had no major trouble finding brokers willing to load me as a new business. There are about 3 that wanted me to have 30 days and a handfull looking for 6 months. Ive called many more then that and all the rest were fine with my time in business so if I wasnt loaded it was only because we couldnt agree on a rate or I didnt have the equipment needed to secure the load.

After completing week 1 I ran head on into Thanksgiving week. A short week to begin with made shorter by the fact that I had a trailer tire locking up on my way back from completing my run back home from Charlotte. I left the truck with my mechanic and when the week started the truck was "in the shop". The repair cost me enough time that it was impossible to get a load before things slowed down for the holiday so week 2 was a wash. I knew starting at this time of year would be a challenge with the holidays so I didnt sweat it, I saw this speed bump ahead of time I just thought I would be able to generate a little revenue that week but it turned out to be a week off. Week three I loded ocally and got up to north Florida and found a cross town load in Jacksonville paying $400 on 13 miles so I thought it would be a nice add to the day and Id have time to load something back to central Fla...this could be an easy $1000 day..... Well it was not to be.. after unloading I was headed to the truck stop when I saw smoke from the trailer.... the brakes were just adjusted from the issue I had Thanksgiving week and now they were dragging... I stopped checked things out and was able to make a short term fix to get me to the shop and find out if I had a trailer issue or a mechanic issue.

It ended up being an ABS valve in the trailer.. A new one costs $1100 but they were able to re work mine and its been working fine since so I saved a lot of money although it still cost me just under $500 in labor and some other parts. When I got started I had an expectation of spending money on the tractor since its an 05 with 700k miles but its been the trailer that cost me to my surprise.

This oast week I was very productive with several loads into Georgia and back to Florida and all were paying quite well. My family and I planned a Christmas trip up north a long time ago and since I got a late start witht he business I was thinking Id send them up and I d find a load to get me there and id generate some additional revenue but in the end I decided to park the truck enjoy the holiday and start fresh in January. So when I say Ill be running a limited schedule youll see in my numbers how limited I was in the first 30 days. What I am posting is not indicitive of my normal operation I was hindered by both repairs and holidays not to mention getting my autority late in the week so even in week 1 I had to deal with not having every day of the week to work with. January will bring better perspective as there are no expected speed bumps.

So far I have operated for 30 days with 11 of those days under loads.... You read that correctly 11 days of actual operation..

Ive generated $5225 in revenue on 2664 total miles

$1.96/mile for all miles (I havent been great at keeping track of all DH miles so its a New Year resoloution to track DH better)

Ive spent $1842.52 on fuel. on a miliage basis fuel cost is .41/mile

 

Happy New Year... You Have An Audit

Well I decided to leave the truck home and go on vacation with the family for the holiday. Originally I was planning to find a load going up north and meet them at our destination but the plan changed and I decided to just enjoy the holiday and relax. The short amount of time I actually spent driving was mostly based on the timing I had in getting started combined with a few repairs on the truck. The result was short weeks added to an already limited schedule. In the end I made some money and I am still not factoring or even taking quick pays. The checks just started rolling in and as long as I stay consistent I should begin to see the company finance itself month to month so I can use the leftover money to pay down the debts incurred. So all in all not a poor start just a poorly timed start.

Yesterday was New Years Eve and I got a call from a number I did not recognize. This is usually a broker, if I had posted my truck, or a factoring company trying to convince me how helpful they would be to my business. Since the truck is not posted I figured it was the latter.... Listened to the message and it was Florida Highway Patrol letting me know that my safety audit is now underway and I have ten days to produce all the necessary documents. The good news is that I have been uploading documents to the federal website since I began operations. So all the trooper needed was 30 days of logs. Once I provide those he would give me a call and discuss any issues. Because i have had a solid safety record thus far my audit will be conducted "offsite". Which means a phone call with the trooper and discussion about my operation and him letting me know if there are any issues I need to correct. So far it seems like it will be painless but only because I have used the last few months to upload scanned copies of all pertenant documents to the FMCSA website. The only reason I havent uploaded logs is because I wanted to get a full 30 days of operatons in place before I add those to the uploads. He also said I can email them to him or fax them so it was nice of him to provide some options. In the end I plan on uploading the logs to the FMCSA website so all of my documentation is in one place for inspection.

Ill know more over the next 10 days and will provide an update on how things went and what should be expected from an offsite safety audit in my next post to this thread.

Happy New Year and thank you all for following along on my journey!