Minimum amount of cash in the bank to start O/O

JB Hunt and Swift were started by truckers. Those were men who knew what this business was about. It was their core. Thanks for illustrating the point I made in that earlier post. I don't know of any examples where someone working a full time job in an unrelated industry went out like you are planning to do - borrowing a bunch of money for one truck, hiring a driver for it, and turning that into a multi-million dollar business? Can you point to one for me because I'd like to know about it? That's impressive. Granted, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt you're not some bored individual just trolling on here.

 

My full-time job is related to trucking and I do know about the business but it's not wise to just Dive Right In something and don't have any type of foundation any type of safety-net that's not wise so of course I wouldn't flat-out quit my day job not right away eventually yeah I agree

 

Learning the game.... I think you will be fine. I had to put my house up to get a line of credit when I first started. That was in 2008 when everything was going to crap and nobody wanted to finance a truck, especially since I was young with not much experience. It definitely forces you to give it everything when you know failing means ending up on the street per say.

You also definitely don't have to drive the truck to own a trucking company. However, it does mean there is just 1 more thing stacked against you. It's nice to have the option to jump in the truck and go if your driver unexpectedly quits.

I do tend to agree attitude and positivity goes a long way. Many people look for all the reasons not to do something, there fore only talking and wishful thinking happens. Eventually those people end up with a victim mentality since the go getters pass them by.

You also have to be extremely realistic though. Sugar coating never helped anyone in this industry. I think your hardest and most difficult challenge will be finding and retaining top driving talent. Since your leasing on to a company many of the other challenges and risks will be mitigated but of course your earnings potential will be capped until you go fully independent.

You should try and buy the truck on an equipment loan, then have the line of credit to operate off of and cover unexpected expense.

Good luck!

 

Thanks, I appreciate and respect your opinion, you have an understanding of what I'm trying to achieve, minus the negativity.

 

Holes in a plan aren't negativity. It's a truth you need to hear. Here's another one for you. Operators that are leveraged work cheap and they always leave money on the table. That's why I discourage anyone borrowing their way into this business. We have enough of those kind out here already.

 

Yeah, yeah, ,don't fear more competition, I swear, the things people say to try to discourage you, everybody has their own way of doing business. Some pay cash for everything, and some use leverage, using other people's money to make money. It's the same thing people said when I wanted to buy a home, but I got c the loan, instead of paying cash, now home is paid , free and clear, so why not leverage it a lil, not aNutting outrageous.

 

Borrowing money is never as good as paying upfront. Doesn't matter what you're buying. He is right, when people are leveraged and times get hard they make desperate moves. Times will get hard too. This industry is a roller coaster ride.

 

i would never leverage my house for my company. we even put our house 100% in the wifes name to try to further distance the house from my trucking company. i want to try to make sure no matter how sideways things go, i can always just go get a job somewhere and still have a nice roof over my head.

 

Starting a business is risky. Starting a trucking company is very risky.

I don't necessarily advise that people get a line of credit against their home, but it's not the end of the world either. Look, I had busted my butt to pay off my house in just 5 or 6 years. It's a small 900 sq foot home worth $85k. What is the difference between me paying the monthly payments and putting the rest of the money in the bank? Compared to paying it off early, paying less interest, and now instead of going into savings I'm getting a line against my largest asset being my house. It's all the same thing just I paid less interest.

Also since the loan is secured, you should be able to get that line for 4 to 5 percent. Again, saving a ton of money vs many lenders on trucks at 6 to 10%.

I knew I wanted to build a legit full on logistics company. So, the risk was worth taking for me and now years later we're doing 7 figures and guess what, I still live in my modest small home that is still owned outright and clear.

Everybody is different and has different strengths, different appetites for risk, etc. People get in trouble by buying stuff willy nilly and living beyond their means! Can't stress that enough! I started poor and still live poor, but be #### sure my butt will retire far younger then any of my peers if I should choose too. That's what business is for me. Being free and in charge of my own destiny, I don't give 2 ####s what anyone thinks and it feels great!