Realistic advice needed

My husband is currently a company driver. He has held his CDL for just over a year now (15 months). He was in the oil fields until they went south and has experience with heavy haul.

He wants to buy his own truck and lease onto a company and haul either heavy haul or flatbed.

My questions are (I am a super planner, sorry and bear with me):

1. What is the average that should be expected for expenses - ie fuel, insurance, repairs, etc? And is that figure based off of a yearly, monthly or weekly amount?

2. We would be residents of either Texas or Tennessee - we currently live in our rv and have not decided where to settle yet. Is a business license required if you plan to be a 1099 sole proprietor?

3. What is your average gross income yearly and what do you actually net from that? I am expecting to net approximately 40-45% of gross, is that a reasonable expectation?

4. He would want to work pretty much non-stop for 8-9 months at a time and then take a few months off, is that doable with leasing onto a company?

5. We would be buying a truck outright (hopefully spending around $30-40k), we currently have just over $115k in liquid cash assets and have no debt except for one small car payment ($250 a month).

6. Is it 100% necessary to have an accountant or can you handle your taxes on your own? If you do it on your own do you use a certain software program or tax program? Everything would be highly organized - he would have a small filing cabinet with him to file his receipts away in and a log book to record all expenses.

7. Anything else I need to know? We would be looking at buying and going O/O within the next year.

I have tried searching but have not found exact answers to most of my questions. I appreciate any and all advice that I can get! Also any recommendations for companies to lease on with, he really wants to haul military equipment as he was an active duty Marine for 12 years.
Thank you so much!

 

Yes I know. But I am just looking to get some advice, I am very on the fence about doing this and do not want to risk going bellyup and our life savings depleted.

 

That is what I am thinking but he really wants to do it. So I am just trying to get information to show him.