Owner Operated with no experience

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Sangster, Oct 16, 2020.

  1. User666

    User666 Medium Load Member

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    I understand. I have no problem with the post per se even if it is a troll. I was laughing until The TTR Thread Enforcement Unit showed up and began following me. Now I know my days are numbered before you ban me.
     
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  3. Dino soar

    Dino soar Road Train Member

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    Well I'm going to give you a serious answer.

    If you know nothing about this business I can see how you think this could be done.

    And I mean this with no disrespect, but if you knew anything about this business you would know that there is a 99% chance that you will fail and that this is a bad idea.

    I can't sit and explain to you the thousands of reasons why that is but believe me, and believe everyone else that is telling you, it is absolutely positively a terrible idea.

    Take the money that you would spend buying a tractor trailer and the $20,000 a year that you're going to spend on Insurance, along with all of the Myriad of expenses that you could never dream of to get started, and just take that money and go buy a piece of Real Estate.

    You have a 99% better chance of finding a good renter than you do of finding a good driver.

    You will have a 99% chance of having a greater return on your money and owning real estate, then having a truck that is going to depreciate and cost you money and I can't even say anymore to you.

    If you are an intelligent person get this out of your head.

    And no, I am not going to explain it to you any further. Get it out of your head or use the search bar and find out the bazillion reasons why it's a horrible idea.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2020
  4. TheLoadOut

    TheLoadOut Road Train Member

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    My advice to the OP is to keep reading your response over and over until it sinks in. Very well said.
     
  5. Siinman

    Siinman Road Train Member

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    Better drive yourself and learn the ropes. I started out with basically no experience but I drove to and it has helped out a lot on finding the the right freight lanes.
     
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  6. Cattleman84

    Cattleman84 Road Train Member

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    Truck= $160k
    Trailer= $25k to $75k
    Insurance= $20k /year
    Pay for GOOD driver= $80k /year
    Fuel= $60k+ /year
    Maintenace= $5k to $25k /year
    Ect...
    Ect...
    Ect...

    How many more reasons do you need to convince you this is a BAD idea.
     
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  7. kemosabi49

    kemosabi49 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    85%+ of experienced drivers that do what you are looking that and drive the truck (so no hired driver needed) fail in the first year. You going to shell out the $160,000 for a new truck. Buying used can be a crapshoot. An emissions problem can hit you for $10-15,000. $30.000 for an engine. And during this downtime all of you fixed expense keep adding up. Good drivers are hard to find. You have a driver that you are going to trust with your investment? Are you ready to pay the $$ needed to get and keep a good driver. A bad drive can kill your business. What if he quits with your truck 2000 miles away and under a load?
     
  8. pavrom

    pavrom Road Train Member

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    You should create a thread then which plane is better to buy for your application :)!
     
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  9. pavrom

    pavrom Road Train Member

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    But honestly i know several business owners who never had CDL and can barely put license plate on the car but they have 10-15 trucks and somehow doing pretty good ... didn't even have contracted loads , all loadboard
     
  10. User666

    User666 Medium Load Member

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    So true. This is great advice. Passive income from real estate doesn't require the payment of the 15.3 percent self employment taxes either. Of course there's the gamble of finding the right tenant. One that will pay and not tear up your property but either way it's a much better route than sinking it all into a single truck contractless transportation company. Also, in real estate the competition is much more agreeable as well. It's funny you should mention this to the OP as an alternative because I've been seriously considering picking up a rental property myself.
     
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  11. Midwest Trucker

    Midwest Trucker Road Train Member

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    How much money do you have set aside for this business venture? What industry do you currently work in? Where are you based out of? (Where do you live).

    Have you ever been around trucks at all or know someone who has? Why do you want to do this? Are you prepared to do a complete deep dive and live, eat, breath trucking?

    It’s much more difficult then it appears but absolutely you can do it. A lot of us are completely ate up with this stuff. I ran my company all week long and before bed last night I’m on here reading about trucking, soon as I woke up and got some orange juice I’m back in here reading about trucking.

    I’ve been doing this going on 13 years and I still learn something pretty much everyday.
     
    Sangster, Casimir66, haycarter and 2 others Thank this.
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