14 years at a desk job, ready to own?

most company drivers don't even make 3g a month.

and unless your brother ran the truck entirely. your in for a big learning experience that could sink you.

reading this forum for 2 weeks. isn't enough time to learn ANY thing.

lots of guys have done what you want to do. i don't know how many are left still doing it. but most have come and gone.

i remember one guy that was in the medical profession. posting on here about 5 years ago. he had a bigger bank account. and at the end. he lost it all.

not trying to discourage you. but you really need to think about gambling your money. you already know people buy 30k trucks. and people get screwed. screwed being the KEYWORD. repair shops are no joke. rakes are drills are there best tools. and they love to use them.

brokers also like to screw around. and then there's the governement regulations.

and then you have all the other aspects of running a trucking business.

 

yea,if you want to make a million dollars in trucking you should start with two..I would say dont buy a truck untill you learn the broker side of this bussisness,a 30 trk with no freight on it is ,well worth nothing...If your trying to be the owner of two trucks you must know how to keep them loaded..another thing you should learn "is real world trucking" get in that truck and drive with your brother.what you learn affter a month of doing that should help you in any future choices..

 

You can earn $50/year as a company driver or if you want to buy a truck and drive it yourself. If the guy your brother was working for only grossed $7,000/month then the truck wasn't running much or he was operating for very low rates. Fuel is your single most costly expense in this industry. Trucking requires a significant capital investment. Whether you get your own authority or lease a truck to another carrier, there is a large capital investment. Entering a business where you have absolutely NO previous experience makes you very vulnerable to failure. This industry has a high failure rate for owner operators, even with experience. It is never a good idea to enter an industry without fully understanding what you are getting into and have no first hand experience. Your brother may be a good company driver, but probably has little knowledge of the business side of the industry. The view is much different when you own the truck. Breakdowns can kill a new owner if you are not prepared. It is good to know that you have $150,000 to start your new venture.

If your ultimate goal is to become a freight broker, then I would suggest you start by going to work for one of the major freight brokers, such as CH Robinson. After a year or two you could venture out on your own and have a much greater chance of success. If your goal is to provide a job for your brother, then I would suggest you allow him to find a position with someone who is already established as an owner or find something with a major carrier. Dealing with family in this business is not always a good idea. I have seen it work, but you take your chances.

If you plan on buying more trucks then you need to expect that the trucks will sit for days or even months until you find a qualified driver. You could probably find a body to put in the truck, but that is not a good idea. It takes time to find good loads and to keep trucks moving with decent paying freight. Starting out you have no idea where you should run or have any contacts. That doesn't mean that you can't learn. But, learning takes time. You should expect to spend at least 6 months to a year to start to get a feel for this business. There have been several who have posted on this forum as well as others who have come from the IT field. There are two ways in which you can learn this business. The best is to get your CDL, find a company job for a year or two and then go buy your own truck. The second is to buy a truck and trailer and go it on your own. Expect to drop a significant amount of money as you learn the business. At this point, you don't know what rates are running or what your operating expenses should be. I don't wish to discourage you from doing this, but there is much to learn and learning in this business can be very costly. A few months ago I stopped in a TA in San Antonio for an alignment. The mechanic tried to sell me on the idea that I needed all kinds of bushings, etc., for a total bill of over $3,000. I passed and had my mechanic check the truck when I got back home. I did have a bad drag link. I replaced it and the truck is very tight. An inexperienced owner might have paid the $3,000 for repairs that the truck didn't need. I once had another shop try to get me to replace NEW king pins in order to get an alignment. These are also not cheap to replace. Again, I had them checked and they were fine. The point is that you can spend a lot of money in this business if you don't know what you are doing.

Running trucks is not a 9-5 job. You can expect to get phone calls in the middle of the night due to the driver breaking down and he expects you to find a repair shop to get him up and running. If you plan on running your own authority you will spend a lot of time on the phone and computer finding decent paying loads. It will be difficult for you to work another job and keep a truck moving with profitable loads. It isn't impossible, but I would not recommend it. It is your money at risk. If you ran team with your brother for at least a few months, you would get a much better feel for what is involved in running a truck, providing this is what you want to do.

 

You can do what you want several ways. Depending on what your goals are.

1) helping brother AND learning
a) buy truck have brother drive it, lease it onto a company, get a broker job. dbl the work for you to do your job and keep up with the truck.
b) get your own CDL, buy a truck and run team with your brother while leased on to a company. You will learn, but slower.
2) Learn the broker side ( so you can start your own company later)
a) put your money in the bank, get a job as a broker. work for a yr or so, then buy your truck. you can either get your CDL OR buy the truck and find you a driver ( brother or good driver).

Just know that it's not an easy business to succeed in, most fail.

 

as in any buisness you get into the more research you do and the better you understand it the better your chances of sucess are. One think that catches my attention very quickly is it sounds like you will be going into buisness with a family member and you are fronting the money and depending on the family member to teach you how to make it succesful, that can cause hard feelings very quickly if things go sour. I am not saying it won't work and i am not saying it will but loseing money can drive a very large wedge very deep down in a fast hurry. i wish you the best of luck in your future endevors.

 

You'll never keep $50K a year off a one truck operation with a hired driver. Not going to happen.

 

That is the truth!

 

Red Foreman has done pretty much exactly what you are thinking, and I believe he comes from an IT background as well. You are correct in the assumption that most that fail didn't have the proper or more likely, any financial resources to fall back on. IMO, a proven family member to drive an investment truck is a pretty good way to start out. Keep reading here and asking questions, but you are on the right track to start out if you choose to. Good luck, and don't haul cheap freight.