($300k) To lease or not to lease? that is the question!

i didn't say one is a pita...i said more then 4 would be....i'v hired employees before, not drivers, but i have had employees working for me before. I know it can be trouble some, but if I find the right ones and pay the right wages I can make it work.

 

Yes but an employee at mcdonalds can burn a burger break a register steal some food etc a driver can cost you dot fines insurance deductables and god forbid take out your entire rig and get you.sued maybe better to just buy gold or run drugs

 

A ran a videography business. My reputation was on the line every time one of my employees went out. In many cases you only get one shot. They also were operating, red cameras which are pretty expensive. With all the accessories, they are more expensive then a used truck lol. I eventually sold the business to one of my employees. I never had the artistic touch for great videography. You can teach tech and science, but art is more something your born with IMO. (Obviously art schools can focus that gift, but if you don't have it, you dont have it) My biggest clients were universities near Scranton, and i wanted to move out of the area as well as work in the green industry. (thats when I started in the bio diesel industry, before I worked in solar) Pont is, I ran a successful business, that was NOT mc donalds. I can handle finding the right person for the job. I'm not cheap on my employees and I give them respect and high enough wages so i can hire the best.

 

Just send me the 300 G's and Ill get your trucking company going for you :smt096

 

So far I am in conversations with Mercer and Con-way, hold on! just to listen and decide or keep looking. No decision made yet.

 

land star is another one to consider.

 

Fears on drivers' intentions (non desired habits) are a common point among all the thread subscribers, I ask; which industry has a 0% presence of bad/wrong/fool/ intended employees? Someone mentioned Bill Gates worked in a garage workshop and began from there to where he is now a days, but didn’t he work for Jobs and stole part of his ideas? Without going away from the initial conversation, besides finding the right company to lease to, hiring drivers under a structured recruiting process, which additional position would you create for your investment sanity? Supervisor, coordinator, Senior Driver?

Let me put it this way, if I can make this work in a period of 1 year, meaning I see numbers… I will have tens, perhaps hundreds of small investors willing to trust my firm “know how” in the U.S trucking industry. I haven’t mentioned yet, but my main purpose is not to earn dollars to spend dollars, dollars will become a less valued currency which represents a more than a decent profit. Did I make myself clear? In other words the profits made will go out of the U.S. after taxes and will represent much more that they do in the U.S.

 

I believe that they are both a lesson that our policy makers should look at. Money is nothing but stored labor. There have always been barter companies. Man father was a photographer and we would often do business for farmers and end up with beef in the freezer. Bitcoin and litecoin at a glance seem to be foolish but some very wise men are buying. China cannot be trusted but people do. If you buy online, $500 for a bitcoin, might be a buy.

Richter, dad went through a strange period in his life, nuts if you know what I mean. He called me up and told me he was think of putting in a television production studio. Great if we lived in a town that had a television channel within 100 miles. I told him no, so he bought the equipment. $500,000. That was back in the three tube camera days and 3/4 inch tape. Time base corrector's and such. He would take three people and do a wedding, spend 30 hours on post production and then sale it to the folks for 200 dollars. He also did the still photography and charged real world prices there.

The reason I drive a truck has nothing to do with money. Long story.

I think that answers everyone.

 

You're wise to be cautious about sticking one's neck out too far in growing a business.

Like above, in Bill's excellent and informative post, when he suggested to leverage the investment in trucks with financing to see a worthy return -- I cringed. There is no way I would use debt to start a new business, especially in trucking.

This economy is still on life support, in my opinion. Our leaders, still, are short-sighted and naive.

I own and operate one truck without leverage. I make a living. I have the ability to expand, but won't because I don't see solid economic ground to step onto. As a little guy, I would be wiped out with the smallest mistake.

The only investments I have now: I'm long gold ETF, double short SP500, long gold & other metals miners, and am always looking for small bank owned raw land properties.

Invest more in trucking? No.

 

I didn't mention Landstar to him; because small fleet owners report it is hard and takes too long to get drivers approved. Downtime costs money.