Settle an argument...Owner/operator a good thing!?!

There are so many layers, conditions, "what-ifs" connected with being an O/O so there is no simple answer. It depends how smart you are in your preparation and you do need to have a long ponder about your initial moves.
Do I buy a new or used truck? An old timer truck salesman told me up front, at the beginning, that I need to get into a new truck asap, but I plumped for buying a used one initially. The down payment alone can thwart you at first in buying new. Your first truck is probably going to be the hardest to get financed. After that, it should get easier.
Quite frankly though, buying used is really a crap shoot. IMHO you have to have a bit of luck in buying used. You may get away with it and have little trouble, but on the flip side, and this happened to me, I incurred some significant repair costs and almost put me in a financial crisis. Luckily, I had the resources to weather the storm and fight my way out of it.
Therefore, its advisable that you have a significant amount of money set aside to cushion those potential expenses. How much? There are going to be many opinions on that topic, but I would say that a kitty of at least $20,000 would be a reasonable amount. Others may say more, so its a matter of opinion.
What specs does the truck need to be to be successful, hauling whatever?
What do I want to haul and what is the best type of freight to haul to make the most $$
Do I lease on to a company as an O/O or do I get my own authority. These are 2 different worlds. Obviously you are going to get a little more help
and hand holding by being leased on as opposed to having your own authority, and you are on your own and thrown to the wolves, so to speak.
Yes, by being leased on, you are giving up some of the gross profit, so serious consideration has to come into play.
Somebody said something about being "cash only" I think in this day and age, that isn't going to happen, unless a long lost auntie left you a nice pile of cash in her will And in fact now is the time to have leverage especially when buying the truck. Interest rates are as low as they will ever get, but you still have to shop the interest rate when buying a new or used truck as I did. I was quoted 12-20% interest, but after shopping I got it down to less than 7% YMMV because of your credit rating. Mine happens to be excellent. You don't want a lot of credit card debt, that will eat into your profit potential.
There are a plethora of things to satisfy in order to be profitable. Much of it is just down to earth common sense, and setting your stall out with all of the business entities in place. Keeping costs down at every turn.
Just make sure you hire a darn good accountant who can give you the ideas and lean on his experience when doing your day to day running. Make sure he's an expert on trucking. He will probably help you make the decision of running as a sole proprietor, an LLC or a S Corp. I took my accountants input and formed an S Corp. Someone out there may have a different opinion. Whatever works for you.
I chose to be leased on to my present company and its working out fine. You can certainly make $$ this way, so its all up to you to figure out what is the best way.
Going from company driver to be leased on, maybe the best way to ease your way into this world, then you can consider moving into being a full blown O/O with
your own authority. I'm at the twilight of my career so in my case, I decided to go the Lease-on route.
But good luck. Its a great business and life style.
Do it right, yes, you can make money. Just learn from your mistakes as I did, and don't keep making them.
Because if you go out of business and run out of money, then you only have yourself to blame.

 

I think this post hits the main issue with O/O. The risk factor seems to me the prime issue with O/O. Before I go any further, I'm not even a trucker, just planning to be and have been pursuing the O/O threads to get a longer term perspective. Now although I lack any real experience, I do have an objective view based upon the data I see and as a risk management professional (CPA) I'm very experienced in assessing investments (although normally of a much greater magnitude). It seems to me that although you could probably make more as an O/O the risk:reward ratio is adversely skewed against the driver. Sure with a run of good luck some guys will come out on top. But for 10% of guys who make it big there will be 90% who fail. Being in the 10 or 90 is likely a matter of luck rather than experience/skill (just like being a stock-picker). Again that this FWIW ... which may be very little ...but for me as a CPA just seems to me that the O/O area rewards do not justify the risk.

 

your chances increase greatly once you get away from that buck a mile freight. 1.90 per mile makes things much much easier

 

You are right, the reward for risk as well as the capital tied up in equipment is not considered by most owner/ops. But, what are you gonna do? You can be the smartest owner/operator, but you still have to compete with knuckleheads who undercut you until that big cash flow crunch eliminates them. Then another knucklehead comes in behind them to start over that endless cycle of aspirational business owners.

You probably see many different types of business's books. Which ones do best in terms of profit, but have the least capital invested, and are flexible as far as time off and location? That's a huge plus for being an owner op, that I can park it and take off just about any time I like and I'm not dependent on one city or area for finding enough business.

My guess is there is no such thing as the "perfect" business.

 

That depends on whether you are leased on and 1.90 is to the truck after the carrier takes their 25%, and takes care of IFTA, cargo insurance, etc. OR you are totally an independent with more costs and duties. If the later, 1.90 isn't enough to out earn most good company jobs.

 

I was referring to being leased on. it's just the way my brain works, I hear the word owner operator and I think leased on, hear the word independent and my brain says guy with his own authority.