I'll run under your authority

Where exactly do you live that you cant find a place with a steel building or can have 1 put up??- Their relatively inexpensive- For $40k you can have a 40x 120 with electric-water and concrete

All tax deductible- Anyway...Its all about what works best for you

 

Middle of Illinois. Land is hard to come by around me because they farm every square inch.

 

Be more specific, I know Illinois like the back of my hand

You say Central- So are you Near Decatur or Pana? Peoria or Beardstown? Every City in Illinois just about has a few Homes on Land with some room- Yeah,Get a Good Realtor to help you out on what you'd like to buy- If you ever choose to go that route-

Im Up here just outside the city- im in Cook County.....But I Wont get into what I Pay for a Corner Lot just in taxes- You'd Fall down,lol

 

My arrangement is a bit different. I give up 20% of my gross.

Other than $75 month for Bobtail,.. I pay no other insurance. I do pay for my tag ($1684 annually Fla tag) and while I do have my own 2290 Fla IFTA,. he pays and files my IFTA taxes. I also use his CPA for filing my own taxes. I give him the numbers for the various costs and deductions. He crunches the numbers and files it for me. Carrier pays for this as well.

I'm now getting on average a $0.20 - $0.30 per gallon off the cash pump price fuel discount from all of the major truck stops and anywhere from $0.10 - $0.25 per gallon off the smaller chains and stops. I get mechanical discounts if I happen to be in the Chicagoland area. Tire discount through his national account. Example,.. after trading in the casings, I can get Michelin steers mounted and out the door for $490 a tire. They would run me over $600 a tire if I tried to buy them in Fla.

Other than sending in my bills once a week. I do almost zero paper work. I get a weekly settlement, no factoring or waiting on invoice payments. My 2 direct customers pay COD. My carrier handles my drivers payroll as well. Carrier takes it out of the settlement and then handles the tax deductions and does a direct deposit to his bank account.

I'm pretty content with this arrangement. Being based out of Fla,.. I have called around for insurance quotes and its insane. So while 20% of my gross is a big chunk of change to give up. It evens out in the wash. If I was not profitable or starving and struggling I would have jumped ship long ago.

I'm the same. Carrier treats me well. Always taking me out to eat or wants to take me to a Cubs game when I'm in town. Hands me the keys to his BMW M6 or Tesla S for something to drive if I put the truck in the shop. Always has my back. When my motor went down and I was running out of money. He put me to work in his RGN so I could maintain some cash flow. We have a very good working relationship. I have no desire to let that go.

Thats why I stay leased on. I do what I want,. how I want,.. when I want. No questions asked.

Hurst

 

There is a lot of positive to be said for being leased to the right someone. Some people would have you believe that totally independent is the only way to go. Hogwash. Tug Toy and Hurst make fine arguments in favor of being leased on somewhere.

 

Guys you can find many who have successfully worked under other's authority but it isn't the successful ones the op and others who want to do this need to read about, it is the ones who failed and why they failed that they should be reading about.

 

Amen to that! If I was being charged %25 and nickels and dimed to death with a newer truck I wouldn't have made it through the first 6 months.

I did a lot of research and have 20 years management experience in buissness. I am also secure in my personal finances with great credit. Still was close to calling it quits a couple of times in the first year. I still may in the future? The market was good this year but could be bad again next year. I am solvent in this venture and can walk away at any second if I need \ want to.

That was my plan from the start though. I didn't want the buissness to OWN me I wanted to OWN the buissness. For the most part that has been true. Still takes a lot of hard work and maybe even a little luck.

 

Problem with that is (And this is just my opinion) most new guys who get into this business do not understand where and what mistakes they made. If a carrier is cheating them,.. or if they simply took too much home time,.. got in over their head with new equipment,.. lack of self discipline,.. lack of ambition,.. too lazy,.. or what ever the case may be.

No one is going to readily admit their own faults or bad decisions. Especially if they do not even understand the bad choices they made. They will blame it on the carrier or where ever else they can lay the blame. They generally will not have the experience to recognize the problem. Most even after 1 yr of being O/O still do not understand this industry or how to really get ahead in it.

Honesty and integrity are rare and I doubt most will come here to lay it out on the table for others to learn from.

Hurst

 

My first year was pretty easy. I just let my carrier dispatch me and everything was pretty much the same as it was when I was a company driver.

It wasnt until later when I started to get confident and felt my nest egg was secure enough to weather out any storm that I got into trouble. I had 2 back to back events that after all expenses,.. to include bills at home,.. set me back almost $40k. I was so stressed out, I wasnt sure how I would manage to get back in the saddle.

It was then that I realized I needed to think outside the box. How could I improve on my carriers operation? It was then that I started booking my own loads. I started making phone calls to get what ever extra business I could. I started paying attention to which business and industry was moving and where they needed a truck like me. I got tips from various smaller brokers on who to call in a certain area. I learned where these guys had customers and then started to develop a network in which I could keep my truck running in favorable lanes. I started getting incoming calls,.. slowly at first,.. then daily,.. then to the point where I did not really need the loadboard any more. I was operating directly through the brokers.

The 2 direct customers I have got my number from other brokers who told them to call me because I could get the job done. This is why I feel reputation is everything in this business. No one wants to hear no I wont,.. or no I cant. I try my best to be a can do, lets make this work guy.

Unfortunately I have nothing else to fall back on. Its either this or go back into construction. So I have to make this work and set up my retirement this way.

Hurst

 

How do you learn the business side being a company driver? You can drive for 20 years and still have no clue how to run a business