CRST Malone new lease driver doing fine

I have always heard that unless your making over 100,000 or something, you shouldn't bother incorporating or LLC.

Everything you stated about running a business, I understand. I am looking forward, and yet somewhat nervous, to starting this venture. I am not going about it the way I really want to, in a perfect world I would be buying a 10K or 15K truck and leaseing it onto a company, NOT lease purchase! But, this is not a perfect world and neither am I so, this is the best I can do at this point. I will be 45 in a week and life is not slowing down for me, and only God knows how long I will be around. We have nothing in leu of a retirement!

 

Go to the dingiest convenience store you can find and ask them if theyre incorporated.
Corporations pay 15% federal tax max. You as a contract employee and as owner are not civilly liable for that corporations liabilities. IE if your truck catches on fire and burns the 4 cars around it while youre at home... the corporation can lose all its assets. They probably cant touch you. If you take that $15,000 in the bank and buy a car youve paid maybe 20% federal taxes off the top then you pay car taxes etc. If the corporation buys it for you to use to drive to your truck every weekend you get to write off depreciation every year.. and never pay federal income tax, social security etc on it.... starting to get the gist? This is why eliminating corporate taxes=telling rich people they dont have to pay ANY taxes anymore.

I'm 48 and i have more fun than ever man. And dont be nervous. No payment fist 3 weeks so take half that money and pay your bills up and ahead of time. Take the other half and leave it in the bank as a business fund. Get a spreadsheet program, set it up and plug every run into it before you run it. Also have a weekly spreadsheet. I can help you if you need. Just think with your head not yoru emotions. That spreadsheet should determine if you take a load or not, not your emotions. And remember the first half of the week is to pay for the truck. The end of the week is gravy.

 

Youu shovel and I'll drive awhile because you aen't going to make it with 2100/week. That 109,200/yr. Take out your wages at $50K, take out $500, road use to the IRS, take out 60K for fuel and fuel tax for every state you enter. Take out 10 tires at 500=5K Insurance 12K and 30 % tax bracket paid quarterly. Get it. 800 people a day go broke in this business. I started out with $20,000, bought a Pete and covered wagon and at the end of 4 years and 430000 miles made enough to feed myself and buy a pair of bluejeans + pay the IRS 20K for making too much money. BWAHAHA! I can show you the paperwork and I had a good lease but if I was to make money, needed to buy 3 trucks and hire drivers and etc..... Good thing my wife made 100000K a year as an Exec at Verizon.

 

Im uncertain as to what your point is.. that you cant run a business?
And where did you get this "2100 a week"??

My Career average in trucking should be in the 2700 a week range and home every weekend. That's career. Not today. Not this month. Not excluding when i was a newbie. Career.
And i started my own business with $0. Sold it 5 years later to an australian company that hired me to work for them then flew me to australia and put me up in a 3 star hotel for a month to consult.
And btw "first take out your wages" is why people fail. Youre not an employee your'e a business owner. Any money youre lucky enough to put in yoru pocket comes After everyone else is paid including your companies emergency fund, it's operating fund etc.

 

I can appreciate and respect what your saying here, thats for sure but, making $50k right out of the gate sounds real nice! Did you really pay yourself that much? I am sorry to hear it didn't work out for you brother, or my good friend of a lot of years. He did a lease purchase through SNI and after about 2 years, hung it up and went back to being a company driver. I should listen to you and him concerning my rescent decision.

I just feel like now is the time to do it. Kids are grown, and we only need about $1500 a month to survive. I will be 45 in a week and don't have any retirement to speak of. I want to be my own boss so bad these days, I can taste it! I have researched and researched about this and I feel confident, that I can survive.

I would love to hear, specifically, what did it for you? What sent you back to the "company"? My friend says the industry is set up to cause us to fail. LOL,,,it isn't great by no means but if it was set for all to fail, there wouldn't be anyone doing it! His problem was a lemmon truck and bad decisions. Nothing he could really do about the problems he had with the truck but he could have moved his truck to some other company and pull different freight. At SNI you can only use their board and I think very few brokers. At least at CRST, you have a board, agents and you can use some other loadboards.

 

You are thinking ahead. Already debating differences on load boards and brokers, ect. That is the first step to not going belly up. CRST Malone is not a bad company from what I have heard as long as your fully aware that the load planners are not 100% looking out for you. You do not have to take what they want you to, and because of their load board and agent list, they really can't black ball you off better loads. Number one complaint I hear out of their drivers is they have to do too much leg work to get their loads. However, isn't that part of why they became ICs? So no one else can force the garbage loads down their throat? Road Runner is another option you may want to look into. Same basic set up, mainly dry van though. Just food for thought. Explore all options and make the choice that fits you. Good luck and let me know how you are making it. I am 33, with a wife and 2 Children. For now the company way is just more secure for me.

 

I wouldn't even think about it, if my kids were still at home..in fact, I didn't think about trucking at all, until my kids were pretty much grown.

 

According to my chart, I need to get $1.675 for every mile,,,that is including the FSC. That would cover all fixed/variable expenses, household expenses and pay me $35k a year. Anything over that, would be gravy. My question is; would I ALWAYS get a FSC, for every load I pull with CRST? I'm not even counting on tarp pay or accesorial pay (forgive spelling), how often does anyone ever get that anyway?

 

a good rule to remember in business. try minding ur own business. don't worry about if someone else is doing better then you are. that's there business their running. not yours! keep focused on the money that is coming in. and find ways to improve on the service you are providing. and all the extra pay and better loads will follow. I have never owned one of these trucks. I have only managed a truck and the finance and business end of it. and from what i have seen happen. the ones that whine about f/s/c or detention pay or some kind of small pay known as extra pay. usually end up sitting more and making less which results in their business going under.

 

I have never owned a truck either, hence the questions. I understand what your saying but, I have no problem consulting with a friend that has been an O/O for years and is doing as well as I would want to. Sure, got to pay me dues, got that but I am always open for improvement.