New authority... How did you get your first load

Good old new joyzee

 

huh ? New Jersey ?

 

Yup, there is freight, hard to get a decent rate

 

I'm trying to!

 

I have been a one-man operation for 20 years. I have dealt with very small businesses and also large international corp at their local operations. As stayinback says, yes it can be done. Some folks like to deal with smaller operations because you are not just another steering wheel holder at the end of a long string of office personnel to go through before getting an answer to a question like "what is your ETA?".

With that said, it may take some time to develop the customers you want; as in a lot of phone calls and quite a few who will tell you no or even that they might could use you but never do. Some customers you will deal with once and never again; some you will have to worry about whether you will get paid or not.

Also, most often the shipper will be handling the transport, but on some occasions your customer may be the receiver who is handling getting their material in.

Are you familiar with the term 'cold-calling'? Tell them who you are and that you are in the trucking business, what you want to do, and can you be of service? Some will share rate info with you, but some may not be forthcoming with factual info about that ('low-ball' you just to see if you will run for that).

I understand that if you are running long-haul, making contacts may be more difficult but I would encourage you to try at least some work direct. Your business, your choice...

 

I like that last sentence. Every and their mother apparently now knows what it takes to run a Trucking business now that we have our own authority.

Thanks for the input

 

So you've only had one broker that said you didn't meet their criteria. Big deal.

The others were too cheap. Welcome to the world of being a carrier. It's not uncommon to make 50 calls before getting a rate you can live with. How many have you made?

 

KW600 just hang in there. It can be rough when you first start but you'll get loads (especially this year so far, like shooting fish in a barrel) and it will get easier. I've had my authority for close to 4 years and I only call on loads about every 4th one. Other than that I receive calls from brokers I have worked with wanting to know where I am. It would be nice to have direct shippers that paid well but a lot of the direct shippers pay less than I can get from brokers AND I feel there is more risk of not getting paid from some smaller shippers. You can get good rates from brokers, you just have to be patient. I compare it to fishing, get your bait out there and wait for a bite.