Aspiring Small Fleet Owner

This is a tricky business , and I hope you figure it out. Bad news is there is a boat load of guys that have dedicated their lives to this business that can't make money with your game plan. I wish ya all the luck in the world, but luck doesn't pay the bills!

 

Years ago, I heard a kid on the radio talking about how his grandfather was a trucker, dad and all his uncles were truckers, and that they taught him everything they knew and he knows everything he needs to know. We were running eastbound on 20 and hit that weigh station to the east of Meridian,Ms. Suddenly I hear something on the radio...

"Driver, pull on around back. Bring in your manifest, logbook, permit book, log book and fire extinguisher."

Well, when I cam through the coop, I saw a kid carrying his papers and a fire extinguisher. The CB buzzed with laughter. I could hardly steer through the coop.

Okay, you want to buy a rig. What kind of trailer? For Houston ,"A tanker" would be the number one answer. If that's so, you ant to buy a truck with a wet kit. But before I dropped money on this rig, I would kind of want an estimate of the return I could expect for my investment. You need to talk to someone that's already where you wanting to be, living in your area, pulling the wagon you're wanting to pull. Are you planning to drive that truck for a year or so? If so, do you have any experience? See without experience, even with Pawpaw and Uncle helping you, another driver could burn you before you know it.

Lane Keator was on IRT for several seasons. Most of the time, you would see him in the office. Some times, you would see him on the yard in the cold. Sometimes you would see him in his pickup on the side of the highway doing damage control when a tanker wiped out. Sometimes you would see him in a rig, running freight when one of his drivers dropped the ball. Don't be a desk jockey. You should be able to do any job that you'd expect your drivers to do and you have to be good at it.

 

Forgot to mention: if you're going to have your own company and your own small fleet, you need to have your own freight. Get one truck, run it, learn the ropes, get your money right, network and make those contacts with contracts...and....BAM! You're in business.

Theres a a huge difference between using brokers as your bread and butter, instead of using brokers for a back haul to your bread and butter.

 

If others can do it why can't you?

 

yep, everyone had to get their start. SOMEHOW.

 

OK first things first - get a cdl and get on the road. Don't make plans until you understand the business you are going to enter with some confidence.

ALSO another thing that gets me is this idea of finding work, work the phones and all of that sounds like we are talking about 1970. There are ways to make money without even having your wife involved to that point - it gets to be a PIA after a while so this is where my first point is really important - you have to learn what the industry has to offer and them form a plan around that. Sitting on a forum and day dreaming isn't going to do it.

ALSO as I am thinking about it, if you have a good day job, keep it and forget about this.

Great, that will work but for some of us we started out with one truck, worked it until we knew what we were doing (you can't learn it doing two jobs) and then planned on our next moves.

Well failures are subjective. I know a couple fleet owners who if they don't make $4k a month in profit per truck, they are failing.

You first need to understand this isn't what it used to be, you may have had travelled around a bit when you were a kid, when fuel was cheap, freight was good and easy to find and regulations and litigation didn't rule. BUT now it is a different world, you need the right tools that are hard to find, one is a good lawyer who can be there when you need them but also understand what you are doing and you need a really good person for the numbers, a good accountant who not just knows what to do on taxes but also guide you on your planning. Many forget those two tools or ignore them altogether until they need help or go out of business.

 

Kids screaming in the background is going to sound so professional. ...