Looking for advice for first year plan

Sounds like a good first year plan to me.

 

Hope you know i was joking

 

If you have no debt and no expenses outside your own food, insurance and a storage bill, you can save $25k cash in a year. (I know, I did it).

It takes a minimum of about $40k CASH to make it as an owner/op/. from scratch.

That's the START. It takes a minimum of two years before you stop making stupid, EXPENSIVE rookie mistakes. Because yes, there's more to it than it looks like in school.

I've been in the game for slightly under 2 years, have $33kish in cash and decided to give it another year.

I recently joined OOIDA. This spring I'm going to the Mid-America truck show for some workshops.

I'm in contact with a local broker that I have confidence in. I talk to every O/O I meet (sorry guys about how to do it.

#1 thing everyone says is DO NOT do this before you have 2 years.
#2 thing is: "Everything will cost more than you think."

+ prudent reserve
+maintenance fund
+ taxes (like you pay your own SS, so that's 7.5% off the top just for starters).
+ health insurance
+ a retirement program
+ a LOT more work for paperwork, like IFTA
+ BOOKKEEPERS/ACCOUNTANTS
And on and on.

If you aren't completely prepared to run a small business AND do all your own load brokering/dispatch AND not be doing damage to your own equipment and other stuff, AND still drive 11 hours a dfay, you are not ready to be an O/O.

1. Get the experience. a LOT of people do this for a year and realize it's not for them. Do it all on someone ele's dime. (excepting truck school, which you should ALWAYS pay for yourself).

2. Do the research. If you're going to risk $40-50k CASH, You'd better ###### well know EVERY penny pof cost for your first two years.

3. Make the jump.

What I would caution ANYONE just in school NOT to do, is get into ANY lease program, NEVER buy a truck from your employer unless it's an outrigh cash purchase, and NEVER lease on to a company with salary employees, who will always take a choice run cheaper than you will. Plus the above.

Hope this is helpful. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but thinking you're going to get out of school and in a year be start8ing yoiur own trucking empire is a fantasy. And there are lot's of crooks out there, like PRIME, SWIFT, KNIGHT and others who will have you working for $400 a week chasing a dream that will nbever happen.