flatbed vs. dry van

I don't mind at all. I own Digicor, inc. We sell, lease, rent and service multifunctional copy machines (print, scan, Fax, copy). I generally work only about 10-20 hours per week in my business. Virtually all of that can be performed remotely ( most is billing customers). I do some sales, but mostly we have established customers that stay with us year after year and we upgrade them as necessary. 75% of my revenue is from service contracts and in house rentals, which I own. It's actually a very good business. Even if I stayed over the road all the time, I don't expect to earn the money I make in my business now. I also own 4 rental houses that I own out right. I started that two years ago. My goal is 8 of them. I've been buying one a year and paying people to help me fix them up. I rent them out for income. It's part of my retirement nest egg.

I like business! Driving for a while is a means to an end. It will allow me to get out and learn the business, so I can build a small fleet. Just like with houses, I look at a truck as an income stream. Buy used trucks, fix them up using small local mechanics that I know or will meet. Then hire drivers, either home grown by paying for their CDL school locally, or hiring drivers and structuring their driving around their personal goals as best as possible..... Treat them better and allow them a better opportunity to own a truck, if thats what they want. Is trucking the best industry to build another business? I see potential as a small fleet owner to do quite well. There are a lot of risks, but I take calculated risks and like to change things up and keep moving.

Anyways, that's what I do and part of my plan. The goal has to be $5,000 per truck per week gross to make it work well in my calculations. Initially, I am going to learn from hard knox and skip all the steps that the average guy is going to have to do. I will pay cash for a truck and trailer, the same way I do with my houses. I have no debt in my existing company. You may ask why not expand my existing company? Because I'm just over it. I need a change and a new challenge. Each truck is like a house to rent, except it eats a lot of cash and there are challenges that will make a guy crazy if not prepared for it.

 

I believe you.. since I wrote that earlier today, the dry van ship has sailed. I'm not one to work that many hours. Maybe 20 years ago. I'm starting out with a flat bed and rolling tarp system of some sort. The reason: My quote from progressive was actually less pulling a skate board than a dry van. I wanted to do that, but felt the flatbed would be a lot more for liability. For me, at least, it isn't. The math speaks for itself in your post, but impossible once in a while, I doubt that. It takes luck, planning and being at the right place at the right time. I see it's not likely, though.

 

That's hauling a dry van, right? Is that approximation of 3,500 based on total miles, or just loaded trips?
Coming out of Florida, there seems to be two choices: long dead head to get to good paying loads, or taking cheaper loads that eat time, to get to those better loads.

I haven't bought a truck yet and already subscribed to DAT truckers edge professional, to familiarize myself with the lanes and 15 and 30 day averages for those lanes. My first truck is going to be a flat bed. The insurance rates were actually a little less through progressive. Besides, for a bit more work and ability to load and offload quicker, its more money that dry van from what I've observed on DAT load board and youtubers I follow.

No, I probably wouldn't. I'm 55 years young and am eager about driving some, but really am more interested in learning and building a small fleet. Since I have a profitable small business in place, I don't have the pressure to keep a truck busy. I also won't invest more than I need to in order to have truck and trailer that can make me money. I figure if I ask the questions and get enough answers, I can decipher the truth from the hype. I've been around too long to be fooled and I do too much preparation to make sure I have a solid plan or at least one which I can recover from if things (too many repairs, for one) turn out worse that I even anticipate. Thanks for your input. I appreciate all you guys and gals taking time to help.