To drive or not to drive

Ehh...if there's one thing less reliable and more nonsensical than being an OO, it's trading...

 

With enough capital you can do alright scalping trades
Lower risk but you can't make much money unless you already have a ton of it. The gains are smaller and you need at least 25k in your account to do it legally.

 

Exactly the question I was asking earlier this year. I opted to buy a truck. So far, so good. Am I making anywhere near what I was before? Of course not, but then again I didnt expect to. But I am doing better in the current situation than I expected. The upside for me is that my former position in mgmt. had me occupied day and night. Now I am home and have absolutley nothing to do at least 8 days a month. And it turns out that with a growing company, it was looking more and more like they expected corporate sheeple to work there, better I find a way out before they figured out I wasn't going to assimilate.

If you don't already have some experience running a business then maybe you should get your feet wet by driving a company truck for someone for a while. You can track all the expenses and see what works vs. what doesn't all without having any capital risk. Get good at it before you put your money at risk.

Everyone's situation is different. But it is possible to make it work, although in the current freight market it's going to be tough depending where you want to put your truck to work. Get a truck that's going to be efficient. I'd love a show truck but nobody is going to pay me to drive one. Then start with at least $40K in the bank for your business. Then make every decision on a cost vs. revenue standpoint. If youre going to be out here for the next 25 years there will be plenty of time for interesting experiences and sightseeing.

And don't forget your government is going to force you to buy overpriced health insurance and unless you're currently dying from an illness only seen on an episode of House, the deductibles are so high you might as well also plan on paying cash for all healthcare.

If you don't already know how to work on a truck, find a good mechanic and learn as much as you can from him. Then try to avoid paying him to do things you can do. And do not cut corners on maintenance. Usually $500 up front will save you a $2500 surprise later on down the road.

Or you could just keep marinating in misery for $100k a year. For me, I am glad I did what I did. But everyone's situation is different. Good luck.

 

First rule of trucking, take the good with the bad. If you are making 100k you'd be nuts to buy a truck, no matter what you're dealing with. You realize that's over double what national average is?