So you want to "own " your own company

Nightwind I applaud you I enjoyed reading some of your post & replies, I must admit I didn't read all of them because there are so many and this is my first day posting as well as getting acquainted with the site. Would you provide me with feedback on my post if I may ask? Thanks! Basically my main/biggest issue at the moment is a lack of financial backbone. I agree with you and many who claim that this industry is not easy unless you've done some wise planning. Well all in all, I am learning from my mistakes and although my lack of experience shouldn't be an excuse, I will say I am female, mid-twenties, running or trying for that matter, to run this show. Thanks for your time.

Here's my post:

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and excited to be able to share and receive feedback from many of you. One of the main reasons that I joined was to ask for advice from all of you who are Owner operators/Independent Motor Carriers as I am. My trucks have been running for almost 4 years now. I must confess that I now see the financial setback I have put myself into by not having funds from the beginning, to back me up in these difficult times. I pretty much threwmyself into the water with nothing more but a passion and respect for big rigs and a need to become my own boss. 2009 has definately been a very slow and difficult year as far as trying to keep my account from going NSF. My debt has peaked due to relying on business and personal Credit cards to pay for repairs, diesel, and over the road expenses. I still owe on my equipment, in need of yet more repairs, must soon come up with Insurance renewal down payment, and to top it all off, over 10k that I must pay back to the IRS. To illustrate my situatio further, I do factor my invoices and everything up to last December seemed to be running peacefully. I am still paying a mortgage also, incurr office expenses, loads are extremely underpaid, and I had the misfortune of having two brokers still owe me money (I'm trying to deal with that legally). Can anybody offer some advice? I'm really trying to avoid getting a loan, but is that my only option? What should I do now? Get out of business? Wait it out? Sell my company or equipment? Any other options that I may have?

 

Brokers don't, but insurance companys do.

 

If one was looking to become an O/O, having little capital and not so good credit, would it be alright to buy your truck from the company you are working for, stick it out for a year until the truck is paid off, then move in your own direction once the truck is paid off?

Thanks

 

We had the same problem... we were running around on the same rates all the dang time but with about 12 company trucks. We've lost half of them since but I think we have this thing somewhat beat now. I'm figuring it out slowly, but surely.

There is really no secret, you need outbound freight. You take the cheap crap right back and run the decent freight again. We finally hooked up with CHR back here and have been hauling their stuff for them for about average of $1.50 (depends where you go. Florida is $2.00, east coast is more, Texas is about 1.40).

We'll take the low dollar amount back and then run this stuff again. What really hurts a company is the upkeep of the truck. If you're truck is coming straight home, you can usually nurse it back if there is a problem and it saves you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

Bottom line, you need the outbound stuff... write down all your brokers that you can find that pay you the $1.50 and call them every time you know your truck is going to be home. I have a book full of different brokers in every state that, at one time, paid decently. I call them when I'm there to get back home. Sometimes you'll nail it and get $1.50 out and $1.50 back... but most the time, like you said, you don't.

Let me know if this helps. Good luck!

 

Have a buddy that had 6 trucks. Heavyhaulers. He told me that he leased on with a bigger company because he got tired of getting ripped and IOUs amounting to over a million dollars.
He then leased on with a larger carrier and pays them a percentage. He still books his own loads and hasnt pulled one load for the carrier. The carrier insures that he gets paid and they go after the non paying broker.

 

I'm 54 years old and I can buy a new truck if I want to. I have a CDL class B for a bus. Iwant to get my class A and buy a truck with a warrantee and drive as an independant. What do I need to know???

 

I am not an O/O but now is not the time to buy your own truck. There are not a lot of loads going out of FL right now. I know someone who waited 3 days for a load and had to end up deadheading to ATL.

Good luck Sir.

 

start with this thread

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-operator/13608-so-you-want-own-your-own.html

then read

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...r-operator/78842-doing-what-cant-be-done.html, http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...erator/70022-instant-o-o-and-load-boards.html, and of course the first few hundred of this one
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...er-operator/20752-here-we-go-finally-o-o.html

then i would hit the TRUCKS section, and start checking out different engine's, tranny's and what kind of problems to expect

also, use the forum search funtion, to find answers to specific questions

 

That you may play hell getting insurance or even a company to hire you with ZERO OTR experience.

 

I know what you mean, it has been #### hard making a living right now.....I tried something for a little bit, you know while waiting for things to improve. Now before everybody starts in on me, it was just an experiment.
I took my tractor, authority, and insurance, and set myself up with JB Hunt. (Ok, I have heard it all before, so spare me guys,.....) I never thought I would ever pull one of their boxes, but you know what? I averaged between $1.40 and $1.90 a mile as my percent. They advanced me 50% upon loading confirmation, and offered 48 hour quickpay for 1 1/2%. I would receive confirmations via email like any other broker. I pulled their trailer, used their "Driver Manager"(as a dispatcher), did not have to look for loads, prepared a simple invoice to transflow in after delivery, and was paid within 2 days. It was a no forced dispatch, I did not have to deal with their bullcrap, and I was moving using their "mega carrier" freight pool. There were some hiccups, like some places company trucks would take priority(never, ever go to Laredo), but once I was moving again, I was doing okay.
I was/am using load boards as well, and I get sick of the $1.20 freight, putting together loads only to have part of my turn cancelled or delayed, then starting all over again. This "experiment" was actually less stressful and I am considering doing it again until things pick back up. The requirements for me were:
1 million General Liability,
1 million Auto Liability,
100 K Cargo,
and Workmans Comp (only if your state requires it, Alabama did not).
I am not a recruiter, just a poor old owner operator trying to figure out how to make a living. From what I understand, there are other companies out offering this kind of program, This one just happens to be the one I tried. Best of all, it was not a lease, no exclusive agreement. You can come and go as you see fit.
From the sound of it, you are having a pretty tough time right now, we all are, and maybe a program like this will help you get on your feet while your company struggles to grow.
Just my two cents worth.....Mike