So You Want To Own Your Own Truck?

The qualities that make a tradesman a great tradesman dont always make them a great businessman. The reason most small businesses fail, (most dont make it past the first year, let alone 3) is because owners are unprepared for the costs and overhead (expenses that are not provided for by job revenue) and have grossly unrealistic expectations.

Ive owned and operated my own businesses for most of my life, they will devour your resources, your finances, your energy, your marriages, and most importantly your time if you let them. Little bit by bit, decision after decision, you can end up sacrificing more than you realize just to keep the thing afloat, after all, you have so much invested in it. I have a hunch that being an O/O is not much different than any other business venture in that regard.

If one is willing to make those sacrifices, a business can be profitable and enrich their life, but its a gamble and one that Im not willing to take these days, and probably not again for the foreseeable future. Why, when I can take the wages and use them as a vehicle to invest in retirement and passive income, would I risk it.

Another way to think of it, is how much revenue would you have to bring in to net your take home from wages? IE, if you made 60k in wages, how much would you have to do in business to net 60k in profit after expenses and overhead? Hint, its a staggering amount.

Hey ya’ll. Sorry been super busy lately. I agree with all the above info. Driving is probably my least amount of time invested these days.

Costs just keep going up. From trucks, parts, fuel, etc. and the price we get on the freight makes it hard.

Now the federal gov’t is trying to enact in effect AB5 on the entire country. If that passes it will really make a huge impact on those of us that lease onto big companies. We do it to save money mostly on insurance. In my case I already have a 5m policy because of hauling hazmat. I pay less than half going through QC as what I could it for on my own.

The stress and constantly rising costs really isn’t worth it anymore. People have all kinds of reasons they do it, and some will always try.

I have seen so many folks try and fail it is unreal. I have always said new drivers espically, have no business jumping into this end of the pool.

Excellent info PJ , this is the type of info I look at when bringing up the future of O/Os in the industry here in the States . Like OS said there will always be entrepreneurial spirit in some truckers out there and I agree I just think it will be nowhere near as prevalent as it was a few decades ago . Its seems like it would be a hard sell to most younger generations getting out there and even experienced vets can see it's not a overall profitable endeavor. Again with razor thin profit margins and being a commodities industry its who gets A to B the cheapest .Unlike a particular trade or owning a restuarant where some may pay more for a specific company or Individual who can stand out as the best like a highly skilled carpenter or mason / Chef .How would one "stand out" and justify a higher price as an O/O ? Being safe and in time is expected, so is it better service/communication or as OS said go into a niche market but again they don't stay niche for long . I'm just trying to keep the convo going . It's a very interesting type of independent business .