No experience but getting Authority

Bill I'll ping you when I get the back-office stuff working and figure out a way to do a demo. Just know that in order to get the certified fax feature, the company has to be on rapidlogs, the additional cost service that gives you the carrier features that I have yet to see work.

Standalone, Eclipse is good but you have to print out the pages to paper or pdf and add your signature outside the app.

 

Thanks. You will want to print and sign regardless. Some states, IL and IN being most recent for me, will not accept digital signatures. I don't do this but because my was in black ink, IL trooper made me sign in front of them. He was holding up to light and I just said "Sir, I would be happy to resign in fornt of you. Your time is too valuable to waste figuring this out."

Maybe as I get larger I will care about auditing. I would be happy to get an electronic file in weekly and signed every couple weeks.

I am making a run with my first leased driver tomorrow. I know I will have the truck leased to me but the driver was hired by my business partner based on he would be driving most of the time that planting or harvesting was not happening. He told me the other day that "he was in charge of the farm operation and he didn't care what the owner said, he had far too much to do to get ready for harvest to be spending his time driving."

Yeah, right. We have one other full-time employee who is capable and when it was just me I was able to do everything to get ready for harvest on my own. And I was clueless.

So I have a whole day with this guy tomorrow. Wish me luck.

On a more positive side, I have the funds to bring on 4-5 more O/O's to run vans with a plan to let them be trained and move to flatbed after 6-9 months of clean safety record.

And an even more positive note. I leave for Utah and Vegas on Wednesday. First real, non-business related vacation my wife and I have taken in years.

 

You may wind up being a one man conglomerate, BigBadBill. It seems that you are getting things line up the way you want, but I would caution you about moving too fast until you get your feet wet with the owner operators. You seem to be planning things out and thinking your decisions through.

 

Watching what I am doing. Would not even be attempting this if I did not have my wife available to work this full-time. She is a great sales person and builds relationships with people like no one I have ever seen.

Harderst part is find the right O/O.

 

It is a constant challenge finding good owner operators and drivers. Having a wife involved who has a good head for business is a real asset. My niece is very good in sales. She and her ex husband owned a couple of businesses. One was a trucking company. She was great finding above average paying loads. The problem is that she HATES sales. She is a natural but just doesn't like it. It is a waste of talent. She is now a stay at home mom. Owner operators who are leased to carriers such as Landstar that pay percentage and have their own loadboards, do much better when they have a spouse at home checking the loadboard. It can also help when you run your authority to have someone at home looking for loads. It can make it much easier.

 

Biggest thing is GETTING PAID , lot of companies closing up and leaving BIG PILES of UNPAID bills behind. They love to hook a STARTUP outfit to pull their freight then POOF they are gone.

Watch your recievables and stay on top of the cash flow is the IMPORTANT thing to do.

 

Gentlemen. Just want to say thanks to Red, Bill & Gman for all of the valuable info. I greatly appreciate the time you all have spent sharing your experiences and insights. It is truly valuable.

A few years back I hauled a double drop part time delivering heavy equipment local (for my dad's company). That was while I was in college... now I am a CPA working an office job and I suppose I am kind of similar to Red in that I'm contemplating venturing back into the world of trucking. I simply can not stand the corporate drama any longer. I can not stand the boring number crunching, the back-stabbing, the gossip, etc. The problem is that I am good at what I do and if I don't get out of it now I'm afraid I will just continue to make more and more money until it will be too lucrative to leave and I will be miserable but making good money.

I don't know why I'm telling you all of this, maybe its because I think Red might understand where I'm coming from. Anyway - I suppose it's time to "quitcherbitchin" and start talking trucking. I want to do something similar to what Red has done with his operation. It sounds like Bill is ready to pull the trigger and pick up some additional drivers too. Anyway, here's a couple questions for you guys:

1. Red what do you pay your son? Is it competitive? Meaning are you able to pick up an additional driver at the same price? Also, I realize you've had a ton of repairs and additional expenses, but what do you expect to Net once things settle down and you are able to keep your driver consistently on the road running decent paying routes? Is it reasonable to expect to take home maybe $1k per month per truck on a good month and with a good driver?

2. Bill why are you bringing on O/O's rather than buying some trucks and employing some folks? Just want to know what the strategy is.

3. I frequently browse the bizbuysell website and see some trucking companies for sale that are really reasonably priced. (Meaning the majority of the cost is for the equipment). My first thought is that this would be the best way to enter the market since I wouldn't have to worry about setting up authority and all the related B.S. And then I wouldn't have to worry about having to wait 6 months to work with brokers since the company has already been operating. What are your thoughts on this? Am I just naive or is this a good idea?

4. What are your thoughts on purchasing FEDEX linehaul routes? It seems that the owners of these routes make excellent money and have a very stable business.

 

I will address a couple of things you noted. As far as buying a trucking company is concerned, it could be a mixed bag. There is usually a reason a company is for sale. It could be the owner is retiring or there could be some other issues. Many of the major carriers we know today grew at such a high rate through acquisitions. If you don't know anything about the business you will need to hire someone or have someone with the acquired company who can run things for you. Not all brokers require that you be in business for at least 6 months. Many will start with you as soon as they verify your authority and insurance. If that would be your reason for buying a trucking company, I am not sure it is a valid reason.

I don't think that I would want to buy a FedEx route. I saw the numbers that one guy did who wanted to sell his route. I would rather bid on mail contracts or just find my own freight rather than spending so much money buying a route that should be free. Besides, if I remember correctly, those routes pay a low mileage rate compared to what may be available elsewhere.

Are you thinking about driving yourself or putting drivers in your truck or trucks?

 

You're welcome wyo.

I didn't exactly "go back" to trucking, as I truly have no experience in the industry before 5 months ago. I did have a class 5 license in GA until the national CDL was invented. I got it because I worked for my Dad's pavement maintenance company and we had a water truck and a big flatbed straight truck that could gross over 26k full if they ever went over scales at the wrong time. Occasionally I'd have to move a semi on the jobsite or for local stuff. After that I worked as an auto mechanic for 10 years before finishing a business degree and entering the world of Dilbert. I left the construction work about the time the CDL was instituted and I had better things to spend $100 on than a DOT physical and just renewed without it.

I've reached a point in my career as a project manager that the leadership I work for is so out of touch with reality I wasn't tolerating it any more. Shortly after I put in my notice, I had one VP I was working with decide that the 30 seconds it took me to drop what I was doing to rush over and answer some question for him was not fast enough and he interrupted and dragged me out of a critical meeting. While we were walking to his office he made a wise crack along the lines of "you need to remember who's paying you." I just glared at him and told him, "maybe you're not the only one paying me." I couldn't have gotten a better shock value if I'd stuck a dog turd in his shirt pocket. The douchebag was so arrogant that it never occurred to him I might actually have a life and other business interests outside of the office.

It's good money, but you can't spend and enjoy it after you finally have that stroke or heart attack from being stressed out over things that are usually not associated with actual work (office politics, career climbers, and whatnot) and out of your control. So now I get just as stressed at times, but I am now the decision maker and don't need to get a roomful of clueless fks with no stake in my success to second guess me for a month or two before I can take care of business. It's a totally different kind of stress as I am in control, but it's my very own US Dollars out there on the line every time I make a decision. Not some client's money or a fictitious budget carved out of some pool of corporate funding or another.

I'm telling you this because I did not just wake up one morning and think it would be a good idea to buy a semi and start trucking. I've been considering a lot of different options and had a false start or two over the past 10 years. Little did I know when my son got stranded at truck driving school by a bogus carrier-sponsored program and I picked up the $1,500 tab to enable his career choice, that it would be a seed for a business venture 3 years later. It hasn't been easy and we're both learning every day.

As far as profitability, that's the big question isn't it? If I truly felt that $1,000 a month per truck was all I'd be able to take, I would never have started. On the other hand, I've got no delusions of getting wealthy in this business. My business plan has played out almost exactly as expected to this point. That is break even for the first year, and the unexpected $5,000 overrun on reconditioning equipment is within a few dollars of the -$5,000 at the bottom of my income statement year to date. If it continues to play out, I'll be able to clear $60k/yr off of two trucks give or take, with pessimistic assumptions. Any upsides will depend on opportunities I must develop as I direct the business. If it fails, it won't be my first one and I'll dial up my project management network and be back at one of the top 10 I/T outsourcers in less than two months. Just having the balls to step away and start my own business has earned me more respect from my peers than I did doing the okie-dokie for the last five years.

The other thing you need to be clear on is that everyone here has taken a direction dictated by their own circumstance. Bill is doing a few things that are enabled by his business contacts and experience. He and I think alike on many topics, but I wouldn't be successful trying to follow his plan. Figuring out your approach will be the most difficult task you face right now. Before you go any further, you need to seriously write a business plan. Use this SBA template and seriously fill out every section, and don't just scan it and think you have it covered. It will force you to carefully consider what you are about to commit to, from every angle.

The appropriate driver pay is exactly the least amount you can pay to get the driver you want behind the wheel and keep him or her happy enough to stay there a while. That's as simple as it gets. My son was willing to work for what he was earning on his last two jobs, running a Maverick flatbed for a year and a small, not too successful o/o after that. I showed him all the figures and models that forecasted driver pay at $40k a year. He didn't have anything to lose and said if he could take home an average $600 a week he'd give it a go. I told him it might take a while to get it figured out but that I believed he could do it and here we are. His rate is a combination of mileage and accessorial line items when I can stuff them in and get away with it. After 5 months, his gross is at $17k and exactly on track. Here's the catch - it's trending up. As he matures beyond steering wheel holder thinking (he gets line of sight on the business) and I develop reliable business contacts and get more efficient at scheduling loads, his pay is getting more predictable and slowly increasing over time. My plan is that the next driver I hire won't have to endure my learning curve as he has done, and I'll be a lot more clear on what drivers I will pursue when the time comes.

 

Good times continue. Yesterday my son got back in the yard to park for the weekend and pointed out one of the air springs on the trailer looked bad. It wasn't blown, but about 50% bigger than the other three. So wise guy me runs over this morning to scrape crud off and see if I can find part numbers and do it myself. Turns out that was the least of the problem.

I'm the sort that looks at everything when I'm checking something out, and I noticed a piece out of place on the right rear brake actuator shaft. I follow that to the backing plate and the shaft is not centered in the hole. I get out the flashlight to get a better look and find the brakes have come apart, just hanging in there and the wheel seal is blown. The right front brakes appear to have an odd wear pattern too.

So here I sit waiting for the service truck. Gotta love these little soup-rises. Good news is it got discovered in the yard before a much worse outcome had it let go on the road. The consequences of that tandem coming off under a load would be a lot more expensive than the road service call.

As the safety director, I'll be conducting a pretrip lecture in the next day or so. Attendance is limited, make your reservations early LOL