One Year In

I noticed today it's been one year since my authority was granted. I wanted to celebrate this occasion by thanking TTR and all the folks here for answering my questions, discussing ideas with me, arguments, etc... I've heard that many fail in the first year, so I consider it a feather in my cap just to have survived.

Special thanks to lil bit's sticky on the steps, forms, etc.... which was pretty much my bible for the first few months of getting set up. I don't mean to leave people out, but off the top of my head there have been several people who either through reading their posts, discussing, and yes even arguing with them helped me develop my understanding of the trucking racket, errr, I mean business. BigBadBill, windsmith, rollincoal, OscarKW, RedForeman, MNdriver, SHC are a few who have really helped me get my head on straight and figure out what I need to do. If I didn't mention you, i probably just forgot, but I'm sure there are many others whose comments and posts have been helpful.

I think without the advice of this forum I probably would have gone down the path of trying to run harder, more loads, more miles pretty quickly. With the help of the forum I work more on finding good opportunities, keeping my ducks in a row, and planning for the long term. I can't say it's made me a raging success, but I think I'm headed in the right direction at this point.

I really don't have a bunch of advice or anything, I can't say for sure if I'll still be in business in another year. I will say this though, it takes time to get established if you are starting up with your own authority. But now a year in, I have some better brokers and get solid offers of good paying loads pretty regularly. I don't think I'd recommend someone to start with their own authority, I'd probably say go for a good lease deal unless you are darn certain you are in it for the long haul and think you have something to offer that all the other carriers can't.

thanks all !