What am I missing?

trailers are, without a doubt, one the most neglected piece of equipment in trucking, I will never buy another used one if I can help it

 

60K for a driver? Maybe driver pay, but that'll cost you $80 with taxes, work comp, insurance and benefits at a minimum.

 

Need three trucks. Or 1.
Odd number.
Reason, 2 trucks running, one goes down, 1 can’t pay for 2.
2 trucks running, one down, 2 can pay for 3.
But you’ll need trailers, 6 for 3 at least 5, may have to drop one somewhere. Or have customer require a dropped trailer to load.

 

And still going to wind up with bottom of the barrel

 

Years back a boss I respected said:

It's hard for two to live off one truck.

Retired after 45 years in operations working for large and small companies and have witnessed many failures along the way.

Several of the small time single owners started on return from WW II at a time when companies were begging individuals to haul their freight and these guys found their 'spot' with a couple shippers providing a constant source of steady revenue.

Trucking was regulated and 'Authority' was costly but fuel was $0.12 a gal. and the DOT wasn't too obtrusive and local enforcement was 'affordable' and 'brokers' involved the stock market.

Times are different but the starting point is still the same:

Start with a customer -or- two and build on that.

Brokers are not customers supplying the steady source of revenue needed for any business to grow and prosper.

Even the smallest owner had a back office collecting a steady stream of revenue and monitoring the credit of those customers 'collect' freight customers that often started 'back in the day' by the driver/owner's spouse on the dining room table.

Most important was the fact that every one of these 'owners', once successful, were their own sales department keeping things positive using the same personal attributes that made them successful.

As their employee I knew if we screwed up that the owner would quickly know about it...

On the other hand, I do know a guy who grew a base of sprinter and van owners into a multi-million dollar company.