Owner Operater vs Just Owner

The pie is only so big.

 

Don't try it at Landstar. Go to Schneider.

 

Yeah I am ready to give up on any advice because this seems to be the norm, the guy has a buddy with a daddy with 20 years experience with a broker ... ok all set ... I will keep buying up distressed assets, fix them up and sell them to the next one with great ideas.

 

Do you own a home? Take a loan against every nickel of equity you have in it, cash in your 401k, strip all your savings and put it all into your business.
That pressure will either cause you to work a lot harder at success til you make it work, or you’ll learn your lesson once and for all.

 

If all you wanted was validation and approval for something you'd already decided to do you came to the wrong place.
I'd listen to what these guys have told you. They've been there and they know.
Or, go on your way, make mistakes you could have avoided if you'd listened to good advice, and let us know a year from now how your ideas worked for you.

 

So your buddy has three trucks and wants to work for you??? Tell me I got that wrong. All I see on social media is fellow owners looking for a driver. They have ok pay but that’s where the buck stops. A small operation can’t give out health care or probably even a vacation.

When he leaves and you need someone talk to all these great idea theories. That bought a crap truck for cheap and wonder why someone won’t drive it for normal cash and nothing else.

Truth is trucking is a #####. No way around it. I tried it twice and I sold both times cause the day never ends. Fmcsa doesn’t stop, dot is ruthless, and drivers are mostly idiot steering wheel holders. Most can’t even shift hence why magas are all auto.

If you can risk and stomach everything then jump in buddy. Don’t expect help from anyone and the ones that seem like they want to help are just prying information from you. Out here nobody is your friend. You land a good contract 100’s of O/O will do anything to steal it or undercut you. Plan in simple a rough industry to get into with one truck and you yourself are not going to drive it. That alone is about the dumbest thing I heard of here.

Good luck. We are not mean but we have seen the war of this industry and I will say it’s as shady as Afghanistan.

 

Hardly salty dudes. These folks come from every walk of this industry. They've given advice on this hundreds of times. A quick utilization of the search function would've saved you from the snark- this particular thread has popped up dozens, if not hundreds of times. I've seen @Ridgeline answer this numerous times, and he's a successful fleet owner. @Ruthless is a successful owner-operator. Everyone else that's answered this has levels of experience in this industry that would make them worth listening to - and as your potential customer in such a scenario, I can tell you that I'd strongly encourage you to listen to them. Running a truck, without industry background, is terminally stupid. Running a truck that you aren't even driving is even worse, in this scenario.

Could you be successful? Sure. There are exceptions to every rule. If you're all fired up on doing this, do it up. Prove us wrong. But it's not likely going to work out the way you think it is. If you value your friendship and your assets, you'll look to doing something else, or get some industry experience, first.

 

Question for you. Are you doing this to make money or trying to get your friend a job? Sounds to me like your friend needs a job and no one will hire him and has convinced you he can make money hand over fist in you finance him.

 

Friend already has 3 trucks.