Starting a company but not driving

Hi Everyone,

I want to purchase a truck and start my own trucking company, but hire someone else to drive the truck. (I'll stay home to keep up with the paperwork and do some brokering.) My question: If I pay someone else to drive the truck will there be any money left for me? I see a lot of companies out there with 5-10 trucks and they usually have office staff, etc. so I figure there must be some money in it.

Thanks for any responses!

 

Get your own shipping customers and you should be alright. Wouldn't hurt you to get your CDL and learn the ropes so you really know what goes on out there. You'll be more well respected by the guys that drive for you.

 

Thanks for the advice. I've got my CDL and I drove for 3 years. Been working for shippers the last 12 year and have been doing some brokering lately. Just wasn't sure if being in business for myself would pay if I wasn't the one in the seat. I appreciate your opinion. Thanks.

 

I've thought about going this route myself, but if I do I'll keep the full-time job I have and live off that salary (my job is flexible enough that I could search for loads and keep on top of the business, even during business hours).

The numbers I've crunched so far show me keeping a profit somewhere between $7000 and $15,000 in my first year. Not bad, but not enough to live off of. And of course, there are also a lot of variables that could drag those numbers down.

If your brokering earns you a decent income, you should be in good shape.

 

What do brokers look for in an O/O in order for them to broker out loads? Number of trucks? Years of experience? The guy I'm leased to receives texts and emails of loads all day. He somehow secured a gauranteed load (over 5k) from CA to NY for every Friday. He's only been in business for a few months. I want to get my own authority and my own loads but don't know to get hooked up with a broker or even better a warehouse.

 

Getting hooked up with brokers is easy. Just subscribe to a loadboard or two, find a load and call the broker that's handling the load. You'll have to exchange paperwork with the broker to get signed up, but it's no big whup. They'll want a signed W-9, copy of your insurance, most want copies of your Authority too. They'll send a contract for you to complete and sign and maybe some other paperwork. Once this is done, they'll send a rate confirmation sheet for you to sign which outlines the load you're about to haul for them. Starting and ending points, dates and rate.

 

Thanks, Gears. Whats a good amount of time for the broker to pay (if they will even pay you from what I've been reading)? I heard 30 to 45 days. How do I do credit checks?

 

30-45 days accurate. Most pay closer to the 30 days (my experience). Some loadboards will supply credit scores. Join OOIDA. Their loadboard is the exact same board as Trucker's Edge, but costs less.

 

I own 2 trucks myself and have 6 owner operators leased on to me all reefers...and im the only guy in the office lol...started out with brokers inbound and outbound...now after 3yrs im using shippers outbound and still use brokers on backhauls...started out with 40k and one reefer and 4 yrs past by and all my trucks/trailers paid off...house paid off 3 cars paid for...life is good...prior to being on my own for 4yrs I worked for CH.Robinson for 5yrs as a regional produce manager...i learned how to build a load and now that is what i do all the time for my own company. Somebody already mention in one of the threads how to build up a load so im not going to get into that, but i just think everyone should do that especially 1 truck operation guys...and if you do that i guarantee you that you will maximize your profits. Happy Holidays!