Poke Holes In My Plan, Please

They do good work. The oilfield truck I ran had a lot of their work done. They're the ones who swapped for the single larger turbo and boost controller. It normally ran at 690 but could be turned up to 750 on the dial.

My timeline for this is 4 months, zero to hero.

That was the most comical part of your plan.

Honestly, I was interested in your plan's details. The lack of which would cause any banker to reject it. You need to show actual numbers for your expenses, and then amortize them out over the years. You also need realistic numbers indicating how many miles you'll need to be turning and actual rates you'll need to be working at.

I wanted to start my trucking career as an owner/operator about seven or eight years ago. I had been a business owner for many years and owned my own small fleet of big trucks. I felt I had a good grasp on what it takes to succeed in business. No matter how I massaged the numbers, I was driving myself crazy trying to prove to myself it was profitable. I couldn't make it work on paper.

At that time period I came up with a plan that made me a salary of approximately 40,000 dollars, and I needed freight that paid an average of $1.75/mile. That plan covered all legitimate estimates for expenses and cleared just enough to make what a rookie driver makes on average. What really kicked me in the teeth was that in my research I discovered the big companies I'd be competing with were actively hauling freight around $1.40/mile. I said, "Why would I invest all that capital just to buy myself a job that might not even make the same money as one I could easily just apply for?"

You really don't have a plan. At least what you shared with us isn't a plan - it's a fantasy - it's an idea that you can take your money and buy yourself a job. That's one of the biggest mistakes you can make in business. It will drain your savings and create a very demanding load for you to shoulder just to keep it afloat. You will be very busy wearing out your equipment just to earn a basic salary. The risks are high, the rewards are low. The money is not worth the effort. You can discover that on your own, and I have no doubt you will.

Once again I just can't understand why you want to start a business that you have no expertise in. It seems crazy to me. I threw out all my plans to be an owner/operator and found a company that would hire me as an inexperienced driver. That lead me into eventually landing the great dedicated trucking job I'm in today. I'm making twice what my business plans indicated I could earn as the owner, and I have zero stress and zero administrative paperwork or business taxes. I'm just about as free and easy as you can get, and loving every minute of it.

Think of it this way, I don't know anything about electrical work. I can screw in a light bulb and that's about it. I want to be able to wire a house and open my business in a year because all I have to do is file some paperwork. What can go wrong? A lot can go wrong.

I always recommend learning your craft on someone else's dime. It leaves more room for error and you can see how certain hiccups are handled.

As for starting your own business, it depends on what you value. I value benefits, retirement plans, paid time off and a check every week. There are only a handful of reasons to start a business. The main 2 being you plan to build it up to sell it or you can make money while controlling everything. None of these apply to trucking. You're losing money as soon as you sign on the dotted line because the vehicle depreciates. You can build it up, but it'd be difficult to do and almost impossible to sell. You'd be making as much as a company driver with no control because your customers control everything. If you're hauling cars and the cosignee says I need these cars ASAP, you can't say I'm taking some time off. You just lost a customer. As a company driver, they'll send somebody else and they have a system in place to satisfy the customer.

What makes you think insurance rates will go down and rates will go up? The opposite tends to happen. Insurance rates go up and rates go down. I've never paid less for insurance without giving up some coverage, be it medical, auto or home.

I can't think of any brokers willing to risk their business and customers by gambling on a driver with no experience. What happens if you buy a dually, trailer and pay for insurance and everybody says "get some experience then come back"? That's most likely going to happen.

You have a lot to think about here, but don't go jumping into this huge investment based on hearsay. Contact insurance companies and see what the rate would actually be. Call brokers and see if they would actually work with you and what the current rates are. You're doing a lot of guessing with no facts. Get real numbers and then do the math.

The OP's question, similar to many others that have posted with this similar question, and Old School's response, quoted below, reminds of a joke about economists.

Once again I just can't understand why you want to start a business that you have no expertise in.

A pastor, engineer, economist are stranded on a desert island.

The pastor suggests that all three join hands and pray for divine intervention.

The engineer believes he can fashion a crude raft that will get the three out into the shipping lanes where they will get picked up by a ship and rescued.

The economist says "ASSUME we have a boat."

All of these posts follow the same theme. They assume certain things about 1) costs, 2) risk, and 3) the freight market, even though they have absolutely no experience in the industry. So they ask the experienced people in the industry to comment on their assumptions. And when those experienced people challenge their assumptions, they try to argue with the experienced person's advice. Or when the experienced person tells them there are simply too many holes in their assumptions to explain in detail, they make a comment like this below:

I love it when folks take the time to tell you that they don't have time to tell you anything.

Essentially, what these people want is for someone to tweak his or her already formed plan so that they can succeed in this industry as an owner/operator. Asking this question if futile because:

1. Most of the prudent experienced drivers don't recommend anyone entering this industry as an owner/operator. 2. Most of those who have succeeded as owner/operators aren't going to give you their "secret sauce" business plan so that you can compete against them.

I can make "plans" for any industry based upon certain assumptions that would make me a million dollars in a year. However, making a "plan" is a whole different world than executing that "plan" successfully.

I plan to follow the advice from the experienced drivers and attend a company sponsored training program and remain a company driver for at least one year.

Rob very good observations. I am willing to share what I know. That is all it is, sharing info. What works for me may not work for someone else. That is up to the person receiving the information to determine. It is always nice to see people succeed, but that is their responsibility.

I equate success in this world like I do happiness. It’s up to each of us to determine both of those, not someone else.

I made friends with a fellow student at Swift's CDL Academy five years ago. I started with Swift, but after a few months my buddy decided to buy a truck and go O/O.

For a year or so, he did just fine, thank you. But in the last year he's told me he wants to get out of the business all together.

Not some made up story. My friend's name is Hassan and he lives in Minnesota.

I think Pack Rat made a great suggestion right there for you. Going to a company sponsored CDL school. Everything worth doing takes time. Your timeline that you laid out seems like your in quite a hurry. Even if you don’t like doing OTR it’s only a year and the school is completely paid for by the company when the year is up. After that you’ll have a class A CDL and many many opportunities to get good experience because you have a class A. Not to mention the experience you’ll pick up during your year with the company. Think about it. Don’t rush into anything. It’s never a good idea.

I haven't seen "specialness" as a requirement on any load boards. Maybe it's a CDL endorsement in some states...

I love it when folks take the time to tell you that they don't have time to tell you anything. If nobody works with new drivers with new authorities, just say so. If you know something about how to stand out and succeed, don't keep it to yourself.

I do want folks to poke holes in my plan, but "You're just going to fail" is not a comment I can work with. I deal in specifics. I guess that makes me special!

You are spot on on number 5, it is the biggest challenge that people face in expedite freight, you DOT has to mean trust to brokers and you start gaining that trust after at least 1 year of operation ................. hard to come by in 4 months

Hey, all-

I currently have no CDL and no experience hauling freight, and I want to go from zero to own-authority hot shot trucker this year. I need some help determing whether I'm being smart or stupid about this. My motivation is that I need a career change, I like to drive, and I like to make money. So here's the plan:

1) Get a CDL. I understand you can hotshot without one, but that most of the money is in >26,001# GVWR hauling. Guess I'm going to trucking school just to drive a dually 2) Get a rig. Right now I'm thinking an F450 with a 40' gooseneck. Take CDL exam and pass 3) Get authority. Sounds like it's just paperwork. I've already got a corporation (I own an RV park) based in CA. Bring on the fees. 4) Get insurance. I'm expecting to pay around $2k per month as a new driver (41 y.o., clean record) 5) Find a broker or dispatch service that will give me work. This sounds like maybe the biggest challenge I'll face starting out. 6) Hit the road. With my insurance being super high, I'll need to do a lot of miles to pay the bills. $2k per week gross income sounds achievable based on what I've read and that's the goal. 7) Adjust. Once I get some stick time, I expect more loads will be available and insurance rates will drop. Tweak the business accordingly.

My timeline for this is 4 months, zero to hero.

So, what am I missing? There's always something. Got any other advice?

I appreciate your time.