When is the best time to go into the trucking business?

Not even close, the competition isn't the ones who will fail, they are the ones who will hang on by a thin thread and driving the rates into the abyss because they will take anytime to pay the bills.

THIS is all the same for the past 30 years, overcapacity and then it slides off to an equilibrium and goes down a bit then back up the hill, with the result of an overcapacity situation again.

 

Great thread. It coincides with a thread I started here, “The Journey Begins”. The rhetorical question of “when is it a good time” …. well I guess we’ll see. I acknowledge there are many who have become Owner Operators or aspire to become one, so my attempt is not unique. However, in my case I’m approaching it, outside in or inversely. While I have prior business ownership experience as an entrepreneur across diverse unrelated industries, I have zero truck driving experience or am even mechanically inclined. Until the start of CDL school (I have secured my CDL), I had never even sat in in a rig, much less driven one. You might say florescent lights and a desks was my professional environment; spanning 4 decades (yes, I’m in my very late 60’s). I’ve chosen to put my ego aside and expose myself, and I can share, the pre-trip inspections and knowledge parts, I handled, as well as the driving skillset. But those 90* and parallel parking maneuvers were killer! Yikes!! Anyway, all the comments to this thread are helpful, although I’d be interested to here thoughts from newer members as it seems many comments are from the seasoned members, which is obviously very helpful. I’ve got thoughts regarding market timing or general start up decisions but defer to the more experienced members.

 

the purpose of the margin of safety is to render the forecast unnecessary

 

The journey begins - purchased a truck.

My lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter.

 

There are levels to this game! Only unicorns farting fairy dust will succeed! (Joking, joking Lolol)

I think it takes hard work, well a lot of hard work, some good luck and fortune and some cash in the bank to ride out a storm.

Spend a lot of money on the wrong truck, have a major breakdown on the road 1200 miles from home base with a the tow bill in the thousands could only be 10% of what your total bill will be etc. It is so much more than driving… (driving not hitting things) driving is a very tiny part of this deal. You can hate driving and be successful if you make the right choices. I mean if you hate to drive you ain’t going anywhere for tiddlywinks lol.

To your comment @D.Tibbitt i think when grown men get on the internet and have a self inflated view of their ability to do something thousands upon thousands of other men and women have done for years and years they somehow think that only they can something and be successful doing it and no one else has the gusto for it. They are really only a trade by away from being humbled themselves. Shat happens and in my life I’ve seen many men buckled by things they never saw coming and they turn into mere mortals. Now, before anyone gets a wrinkle on their azzz I don’t blame them. Do you think Mike Tyson thought he could be beaten? NFL cornerback? They must feel superior? I mean for good sakes in my younger years I always felt I was the very best football and or baseball player on the field (playing pickup games at lunch) no one can hit harder, throw further, or run faster then my goofy azzz. Lolol.

I myself posed the question and got some fun comments, if it wasn’t for @blairandgretchen who reached out to me and helped me get rolling I would probably be doing something completely different and the man and his wife literally changed my life and I can’t even begin to thank them enough. Now that I am pulling this end dump around (3 days in… Woot, Woot!) I am like a ####### step child now but I am forever grateful to him and Gretchen.

No one knows how someone will do without taking the time to hear or read their story. I do think it is good when folks answer the questions with a bit of a negative or feeling out process because they may be saving that person some heartache. They will hear and see a-lot worse on the road that’s for sure lol.

I’ve always wondered what constitutes failing at this? If someone was ahead, the fuel prices skyrocketed and they said well, I’ve run the numbers and it is time to sell out and head to the keys… I’m sure to some Truckstop commando they failed. To a smart person they made a wise decision. Now buying a $250k truck, a $85k dry van and hauling stuff around the country until Lone Mountain comes and takes it back because they couldn’t pay the bill… well that is a fail in my book…