What does it mean "to run it like a business" for a solo o/o?

As far as separating business and personal for me that's pretty simple

Every penny that comes in goes into one account. From there it's split into three other accounts.

One account pays all trucking expenses. One account pays all personal expenses. The third account is a savings account. That account is mainly used for real estate taxes since it is a fairly large amount.

Right now I'm talking with the tax people about an exact salary to pay myself but for me that's kind of irrelevant that's just a tax thing.

I live very frugally so my personal expense is mostly just my bills and Electric and food and stuff like that. I don't really do a whole lot beyond all that and I put as much money as I can back into the business.

 

1.75 keeps me afloat, but only barely (includes ALL expenses including paying myself and taxes) but it certainly wont allow for reinvesting in the buisness or allow for a vacation.

No, 1.75 certainly aint the price for victory, and MY expenses are very low in a ton of ways

 

That’s refreshing to hear. Some honesty and someone who knows their business.

Not @you Joe. I already know that you do. I’m sorta curious what prompted this thread?

 

Its disturbing to me to hear (read) that someone thinks i know my buisness, but i keep hearing it a lot the past year. I kinda think im doing bad and being lazy and sometimes dumb, but for instance, where i work, im the youngest by nearly 10 years and the dispatcher keeps sending guys that have been o/os for 30 years to me for basic buisness advice and it never ceases to unsettle me.

Id like to think im smarter than the average bear and i probably am, but that doesnt make me pat myself on the back, it makes me worry for the average or below average bear...

 

Why this thread?
Running it as a business has many faucets, obviously. Without reinventing the wheel, it is motivating and mobilizing to reaffirm the right approach. Many of us in the recent times, did exceptionally well, I hope. Being solo, especially in good times, is very prone to losing your focus.
Refreshing theory behind what is practiced and seeing what other people think in contrast to my own convictions can be quite educating too.

 

Don't buy a boat when you can't afford a engine for your truck.

 

If you can’t drop a driver in your truck tomorrow and continue on with no real changes, you’re not running it like a business.

 

I’m a one man show taking the easy way by leasing to a carrier. I’m fairly organized as far as keeping track of my paperwork and such. I pay myself $1k a week no matter if I work or not, but if something happened to me and I had to find a driver I could pay a fair wage and not lose any money. Now, there have been times where as a sole prop I have used “truck money” for personal stuff like paying off debt, buying a house, etc but I didn’t make a habit of it and now that things are paid off I can live comfortably on the $1k a week I pay myself. Yes it was a gamble using truck money to pay debt but my reasoning was if something happened when my bank account was low then I would have about $45k available on credit cards if I needed it. Luckily it all worked out.

So I’m not sure if that’s running it like a business or buying myself a job but I’m pretty happy with how everything has worked out and is currently going.

 

Threads like this are why i love TTR. Nitty gritty