Owner Operator

YOU will make less money at first and if you make the change when there is a downturn of the economy, you will suffer the most in the O/O world.

The pros are it is a path to fleet ownership and having more time for yourself.

The cons are numerous so here goes -

it is not simple like getting a truck and getting a load, too many things are involved like insurance and learning how to handle the money part.

Many think it is freedom but those who have customers who need things moved yesterday, it is not where you can tell them "can't do it now but if you want to wait, I'll pick it up"

Too many are failures at basic finances, like balancing check books and knowing when to buy things, they see money and only money so they don't get how to handle it. This is where they run it into the ground and try to walk away from it.

Too many failure to understand one important concept, time is money. IF you spend time on paper work, you ain't making money. So for many like me, we let another company deal with the back office things and focused on the trucks and work - see my alternative description below.

I can go on but I have to stop for my own sanity.

By the way, there is an alternative for you to look at, an owner lease operator - it isn't a lease purchase thing, but where you own the truck, and lease to a company so they can chase the money.

My advice, it is simple. take the time to learn the industry as a driver. YOU can ask questions about how a shipment is created at a customer's place, figure out questions to ask them as time goes on and then learn the other stuff about how to handle money and prepare for things like taxes and so on.