Calling All O/O

I have a cat hat. Like the Snow man.

 

I became a. Owner operator after 7 years that was 25 years ago before ifta, ever seen a truck with 7 or 8 license plates bingo stamps and form d,bingo pay Mississippi fuel tax at the scale and the list goes on what do you know about 73280. If you do you are old enough to smoke

 

Yes still making it

 

I bought an older truck and leased on to a carrier once I was a year in.. Now a year later just filed for my own authority.

There is no magic number as far as I’m concerned. You need to be mentally and financially prepared for the worst case scenario at all times, and then you fix that #### and move on.

I personally wouldn’t have jumped into this without prior experience owning a business. However, if you can make decisions based on numbers and not emotions you should be able to succeed.

 

I bought a truck after 18 months of driving. I did a ton of research prior to the purchase though and had run small businesses my whole adult life so I knew my way around a P&L. Only thing I wish I would’ve done is somehow apprentice at a diesel repair shop but other than that, I feel I’m holding my own fairly well at this point.

 

To this I would add that there's a LOT of good YouTube videos that can help an owner operator. Case in point, I'm taking a day off tomorrow to break out the tool box and work on the truck. I've spent a few hours watching "how to" videos. First thing I plan on doing tomorrow morning is buying a couple of specialty tools to make the job easier.

Never ever stop developing your skills. Always WORK on getting better at driving, maintaining your truck and trailer, developing relationships with mechanics and customers, and learning to crunch the numbers.

One other thing is to ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to haul freight for cheap. There's a LOT more room for inevitable learning curve errors IF you lease on with a company that pays percentage AND runs high line haul rates. Only then will you be able to properly maintain your equipment.

 

That is the clearest and most concise post I have ever read on the subject.