Please hold my hand and tell me EXACTLY what to do.

Haha! Just kidding....mostly.

I drove OTR for 2 yrs, Line Haul overnights for 10 yrs, and now I drive a Cement mixer. I needed to get off nights and wanted a change. Cement is decent work and I mostly enjoy it, but turns out the company I went with is awful to work for. So, lately I've been toying with the idea of going Owner-Op and my research brought me to this forum. Thanks for it! Seems like a lot of good information here.

I've been doing lots of research into auto transport, but it is getting tedious and difficult to find specific answers. I figured I should sign up here and start asking questions.

I live in Southeast Pennsylvania. I'm thinking about using a Dually or a single axle daycab and a 3-5 car trailer. I want to run locally and be home every night. There is a Manheim auction house 2 miles from my house and dealerships and junkyards all over the area. Also there is a huge vehicle rail-yard down on the PA/DE border. I figure there has to be some decent volume of freight. I've tried signing up to 123loadboard (couldn't get on CD without insurance info) so I could check freight prices and available loads, but its confusing and not really user-friendly.

So, I'd love to hear from anyone in my area that can tell me what to expect in the way of freight volume and the ability to run locally and still eek out a living, and a modest living at that. I could get by at $40k/yr starting out and would be just fine at $50k. Maybe I'm dreaming? Maybe I'm thinking too small? That is what I'm trying to find out!
Thanks for any info!!

-Mike