Stacking the deck in your favor.

Rookies and wannabes, read this thread
Worst mistake of my life....

Some tool didnt do his homework, and thought that he could get in a truck and suddenly make money hand over fist. From the start, he had unrealistic expectations. He says that he did research. Did he do research? Well, let's see...4 months experience and leasing a truck. Now, I am not going to go into whether or not people should go into leasing, because I have known some to be successful. But the people that are successful at leasing know the system, they know the ropes, the know the freight lanes, they know the customers, they know the freight. The same principles go with buying a truck and being an owner operator and looking on load boards and dealing with brokers. If you dont know the business like the back of your hand, odds are you will be broke before you learn.

Contrary to what you may have read on a billboard, you will not just get a CDL and money will start rolling in, UNDERSTAND? Get that thought out of your head. That's like someone going to a Mac Tools truck and buying $20000 worth of tools and expect to make money being a diesel mechanic.

But, how hard can it be? It's just driving, right? Sure, and anyone can climb underneath a truck and get greasy and dirty.

It's funny to see people who are in driving school talk about all the places where they wont go and what they wont do. "Oh, I read this on TTR...I wont go northeast." If you can make$1500/week running the northeast vs $900 for avoiding it, you, brand new rookie wouldnt take the job. "Nope. Not worth it to me. I would take the $900."

$78000 vs $46800. Same amount of time. Sorry, I'm here for the money.

"When should I lease/buy a truck?"

When you know the business like the back of your hand. As you guys know, most people fail horribly at leasing. If you have to be a trainer to pay the bills, you dont know the business. Call the recruiters at your company and ask them what the average driver makes there. If you are not making a minimum 1.5x average, you dont know the business well enough to be leasing or owner op. Successful lease operators and successful owner operators are NEVER, NNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR
average. Theyre self motivated hard chargers. They know their craft.

"Okay Six, I am making 1.5-2x average wage and I want to take that next step. What do I do now?"

Get a mentor. He/she should be able to help you with the business end of things. He/she should be able to help you spec out the right truck. Remember, the goal in all of this isnt to just get a job, the goal is to be good at what you do.

Luck in battle.

 

The other guy doesnt have a mirror so he cant see what the problem is. I hope that others chime in with their experiences and words of wisdom.

 

I actually knew a driver like that. Hotheaded. Always running off at the mouth to shippers and receivers for the slightest issues. The majority of the contracts we had told the company that they didnt want him back on their properties ever. So, then he started complaining about how long he sat while waiting for the next load. He went to the office and dropped a bunch of F Bombs and they terminated his contract.