How much would it take.

In 2011 when I first started out with Werner I was making 28 com, averaging 3000 miles a week, roughly 700 a week after taxes. Home every 3rd wkend. 2nd and 3rd year about 900 a week after taxes pulling flatbed and being out 4 to 6 weeks at a time.
Last year I was on a 1099 job, 7 day, 4000 mile run Mt to Tx 50 cpm. Made good money but ended kinda badly. 'DON'T DO 1099'!!
Started a new job in Jan hauling logs where on a good week I made $1400 before taxes, home every night. Ended up buying my own log truck during spring break up.
I think the average is around 1200 take home for a lot of 2-3 year drivers but it can vary a lot to. All depends on what you are willing or want to do.

 

It’s not that things cost too much,
It’s that you can’t afford to pay for them.

 

You don't even try to compete with them. Let them places haul whatever it is they haul, then specialize in work they don't do. Going back about 25 years in my area of the world this company came in called Arrow transport. They were going to just try and take over everything by cutting rates. Some truckers panicked at the time, i said relax guys, the thing about these sorts of companies is they are poorly run, have terrible trainers who have zero ability to train their staff to do any specialized work. Well about 20 years ago now they had a large fleet of trucks and were hiring idiots to drive them. It was a gong show at best, and they were wrecking trucks as fast as they could buy them. Their own terrible reputation caught up to them, and many places didn't renew their contracts with Arrow when they expired. Fast forward another 5 years, to about 15 years ago, and while Arrow still exists today they have about 1% as many trucks as they did once, and they really struggle still to erase the memories of their own poor performance with people. I might see one of their ugly yellow trucks per day now, not 100 like I saw 20 years ago. Everyone needs to just calm down, figure out what their niche is in the trucking world, and do it really well. Be patient, and don't work too cheaply ever. Let the truck sit in the yard if the price is not right. Pretty soon the cheap haulers will screw up and the customers will come back to you because they can count on you to do it right, and on time, every time.

 

Exactly!

I have avoided the mainstream work my whole life. Let the 5 axle guys fight over terrible paying hwy only hauls, they can have them. 99% of people are too scared to do what I do, so while they fight over peanuts, I can cream the good paying jobs, and have the skilled drivers to do it, and the right equipment to get it done. Already used to taking big risks, I decided to go all in 13 years ago and I bought 1280 acres that I developed into a gravel pit, bought some heavy equipment , and just kept expanding it all. Bought the adjoining 1280 acres, with a small house, lived in it while i built my dream house and dream shop there, now rent out the original house, plan to subdivide up 640 acres of it into lots and sell them off eventually. Throwing all your eggs into one basket is a recipe for disaster. My exit strategy is simple, my daughter would like to own it all. So i have been grooming her slowly more and more each year how to run it all. Told her if she's ready in my opinion to take the reigns when she turns 30 years old, to have a downpayment ready for me in cash of $250,000, and she pays me 30 grand a month for the next 30 years, the whole thing is hers. Funny thing is she is only 24 now, and I think she is almost ready to handle it now. I feel comfortable with letting her handle the day to day operations, I play a lot more than I used to doing stuff i enjoy, or going away on vacation. This papa couldn't be more proud to see what I started carry on with her, and I know she will succeed. Now i pull loads I enjoy if i feel like it. I train the new blood how to do more difficult work, I have time to go to the pit and play on a loader which I enjoy, or talk to my crusher, wash plant, screening plant crew, or sit in the scale shack and have a coffee and scale trucks in and out. The good old days are behind me, and the future of trucking looks very different than when I started, but its a very bright future as well. Some of these young people have a real spirit in them to excel!
Ninety percent of my time in a truck now is spent with one of three extremely hard working young ladies, eager to learn how to haul the big stuff, not just content to do some easy peasy job like hauling fuel that a monkey can be taught to do in about 3 minutes.

 

Yessir..like my cousin in zmissouri...trying to "Convince" me hes getting $32.75 an hour driving a Dump truck.Has anyone "heard of this" in KC. If its real...who pays this much.Said he cashed out $1350 with a "Rainy Day Off". Lol

 

Sounds Good.Thats a chunk of land around 2 Square Miles? Awesome