Grain Hauling Business Plan

Hey guys here is a rough sketch of my plans for hauling grain under my own authority in Kansas and surrounding states.

I plan to buy an older truck (maybe 1998 to 2003 before egr and emissions) I want to get good mpg and be lightweight. The trailer will probably cornhusker ultralight. I will be doing most of my own maintenance on my truck to reduce overhead. I will not need to borrow any money to buy the equipment, tags, insurance, etc. and will still have lots of money left over for unexpected expenses. I think I should use a broker for the first year or so until I learn how to arrange my own loads. Does this plan sound like a winner or a loser? Will I gross enough on my own or should I just lease onto a company that will find good paying loads for me. I would like to gross $200k and hopefully net $50 to $70k with no truck or trailer payment. Is this possible? I hear people saying they only get $1.20 per loaded mile and that just doesn't sound good to me. What are your thoughts? Thanks.

 

Uh i consider 50 to 70 grand as a minimum like it wouldn't be worth doing it if I made less. I made it clear in my post that I was going to reduce as much variable expense as possibe but there's always the unexpected like fuel going sky high, etc.

 

Not trying to get rich. Tell me this, how much would you expect to gross hauling grain in a year? I have talked to a few companies that have given me quotes from 150k to 250k if I lease onto them. Are they full of it?