If I get time to dig it out I'll post the exchange with start, stop, delivery back to start point city/state edited out. I don't like to give out too much info as I'm sure this load can be cherry picked from time to time. Most times they move it for nothing he told me that lol.
I found that email be looking for a new post in the o/o section - me versus CHR, and the winner is..... hahaha, the gross rate on the actual load ended up being $4.16 a mile on 685 loaded miles - not "close to $5 a mile" as I stated above.. ..but $4 or $5 who's keeping score right? Now Kevin in our office did however gig TQL for over $5 a mile gross rate on 600+ miles a few days later, it was over $5 a mile on the gross rate (before my cut out of it) I just checked, he kicked my butt big time lol.
That's when you park the freight in a storage warehouse, that charges daily fee's. Then, see who gets the last laugh and their money, before you know where your freight is. Be careful who you play games with, might bite you in the ### if the driver is smart.
My best bet is to hook up with an established broker. Sometimes it makes sense to work with somebody more experienced. Once you have the knowledge you can always branch out on your own. Good luck with your business endeavor.
When I was in my 20's and decided to broker freight myself, even the trucks I had relationships with were nervous. Go down to fedex, mail them a check on Monday for a load they've agreed to haul on Friday, I'm assuming you have at least a $25K revolving line of credit or that kind of cash to float. You're going to have to make yourself vulnerable to develop credit as a broker. Also, open a comdata account. Most trucks who are willing to haul freight for a new broker will do so if they receive 50% upon loading. And remember, you really shouldn't plan on making (for yourself) much more than minimum wage for the first two years you're in business. I say this because the only thing that has kept our brokerage open since 1971 was the steadfast resolve of my grandfather to keep cash within the company for operating capital and his common sense approach that the bigger your brokerage becomes, the more cash you need to operate it. I'm assuming you're trying to broker freight by yourself...not have five brokers blowing up the phones all day long. If the latter is the case, I hope you have at least $100,000 liquid or available.