OO or stay with company?

No such thing as luck.

Luck is opportunity meets preparation.

 

I think being a owner operator solely depends on your financial make up. Low personal overhead is key. To make money you have to find a niche and stay. Plan your trips within a region and stay there if using a load board. Try to research the market in where you live it can make or break you. And lastly Good luck...

 

Why do you want to be a O/O if it's because home time or money that's a poor route id say.

 

Keep doing research, costs, etc. once you have a better idea of everything involved, You can run your Company Truck, as if you owned it. Crunching numbers. Learning more. The calculator is your friend, The numbers don’t lie. Meanwhile it’s not costing you a dime. No hurry, don’t let a Company blow smoke, talk to other O/Os. Try to weed out the info. Lots of BS, use your calculator.Theres a lot of costs, sometimes it’s not worth it, as Drivers pay and demand is high now, while rates are down. It’s starting to get ugly. Great time to be a Company Driver. Less headache, less risk,

 

Or great time to get in starting costs will be less equipment will be cheap and of you can learn how to survive and thrive in lean times you will be able to make it anytime .....it's the guys jumping in during the great times only that are overleveraged and shocked by the market swings......thruth be told I am expanding into the drops ....drivers are easier to get equipment is cheaper, and amazingly because of my track record and numbers financing is easy lol.....

Bring on the rough waters.....I believe Warren buffet said when there is blood in the streets is the time to buy (ugly paraphrase)

 

The biggest problem to overcome as a OO is insurance. As a new entity, in many states, there is only one company that writes new entity insurance-Progressive, so that will wipe out $20-30k from first year profits. Compared to the paltry $300 a month leased on to a company and NOT INCLUDING fuel, IFTA, title, tags, broker fees, and factoring fees....well, becoming an OO is like playing with a loaded revolver and you are betting your life savings, retirement and livelihood on a game that includes you not having any claims-EVER. The old Eastwood scene "Do you feel lucky, punk? Do ya?" Comes to mind.

 

So let's throw out the "own authority" part. What about leasing on? How is the money? Fuel? Gross? Average? Let's hear some personal testimonies of those who have leased on and what "actually" happened. I want to know. =)

 

No-one can answer that. There are so many vastly different companies and lease arrangements out here. Regardless of that the money is always up to you. Do you have some wits about you or not? That is an unknown and what I or anyone else does leased or independent has absolutely zero to do with what you may accomplish. There's trade-offs no matter what you do.

I've been leased for the past 10 years. It works for me. I learned a few things through the school of hard knocks and really that's how you do it out here. You just figure it out. Maybe you have a few friends who have been there or are there that you meet along the way. Nobody on a forum can tell you and even if they tried most of you wouldn't listen to reason anyway. You'd call it negativity and whine how everyone is pissing on your parade when all they're doing is telling you reality. Get out here and make it happen. Figure it out on the fly.

I'd suggest having $15,000-$20,000 extra to burn thru after you've already paid for your equipment and other needs because chances are very high you're going to need it. I'd also suggest some seat time and experience driving someone else's truck so you can hone the basic skills of trucking that they are second nature/old hat and not problems you're learning while trying to also learn the business part. But a lot of people say that is unnecessary and unrealistic. But that's how I did it and I'm still doing it so what do I know?

 

So your "personal testimony" is what as for as average money per week gross? How much in fuel do you spend? I think anyone can answer that question when it comes to their personal situation. Atleast I would hope they could lol.

 

Your'e not asking the right questions. I've had years where I netted $50,000 pre-tax and years where I netted $100,000+ pre-tax. Where I live either option is good. Some weeks I spend zero on fuel some weeks I spend $1,200 on fuel. I look to gross about $150,000 a year on as few miles as possible with as much time at home as possible. I'm kinda lazy. Does that answer your questions? The biggest thing out here is it does not matter what you gross. The most important thing is what you keep.