Time For An Owner-operator Update

I take my last sentence back. I do believe old school and Bret are very successful. As are a lot of company drivers ( I plan to be a company driver, I have no desire to run my own business).

It is nice to see someone succeed as an owner operator when most don't. Just like most small business fail in the non trucking world. But when you accuse people like Steve of "throwing numbers around" as if he's lying that is what's frustrating.

And Realist, I think you are a winner too :)

Sorry I'm not here to defend Steve. He doesn't need defending. It just p...ses me off when people that haven't figured out how to be a winner has to criticize those that have.

Ya know Larry, I'm not sure why I'm even going to stay in this conversation, because it seriously doesn't bother me to be misunderstood, even when it is from well meaning folks. I suppose you think I am being critical, when that is the farthest thing from my mind. Steve himself stated he was making five or six times as much money as an owner operator , but after a few simple questions from me he dialed it way back to claiming he has been paying himself 500 dollars a week. Now the way I do business, and I do know what it takes to be a winner (I retired from my custom manufacturing business after thirty years of producing tens of millions in sales), it appears to me that Steve is making less than he was at Prime. I don't know how you guys do your math, but paying 7500 in quarterly taxes regularly, or even putting fifty thousand in a maintenance account is not considered making money - that money is already allocated, it just hasn't been needed yet. But it most probably will be at some point - I had six big rigs in my fleet, and that was only part of our fleet - there were other trucks and vehicles also - and I learned my lessons about running trucks down the road from the school of hard knocks. I consider myself to have a worthless Ph.D. in managing the expenses for a fleet of trucks.

I'm all for being winners in the game, trust me there is no bigger risk taker than I have been in business, but the cards are stacked against you in this trucking business. I don't expect everyone to believe me, but I still have a responsibility to share with you what I know is true. So many people don't really understand how difficult it is to actually "make" money at this - they see those big checks coming in, and they are getting to write some large checks themselves, and it all seems like a yellow brick road. In the trucking business there are some really stubborn things that we call means and averages - and if you understand those words then you know they cannot be avoided. During the "honeymoon" they seem so distant, but like a wolf after it's prey, they have this nasty habit of nipping at your heels and then one day grabbing you by the legs and pulling you down to fight with you. If you can overcome them then you are the victor, and Steve is certainly taking the right steps to do that by setting up his maintenance account, and hopefully a few other back-up plans. My experience in watching this industry is that very few actually succeed at beating those wolves - the failure rate is astonishing - I have a lot of respect for Steve - I remember when he was first in here years ago. I want him to succeed, but if he seriously believes he is making five or six times what he was making at Prime, then he still has a lot to learn about business.

I spoke up because I don't want to see any of you guys deceived into thinking it is going to be easy to make a killing by becoming owner operators - it just is not the case.

Sorry I'm not here to defend Steve. He doesn't need defending. It just p...ses me off when people that haven't figured out how to be a winner has to criticize those that have.

Ya know Larry, I'm not sure why I'm even going to stay in this conversation, because it seriously doesn't bother me to be misunderstood, even when it is from well meaning folks. I suppose you think I am being critical, when that is the farthest thing from my mind. Steve himself stated he was making five or six times as much money as an owner operator , but after a few simple questions from me he dialed it way back to claiming he has been paying himself 500 dollars a week. Now the way I do business, and I do know what it takes to be a winner (I retired from my custom manufacturing business after thirty years of producing tens of millions in sales), it appears to me that Steve is making less than he was at Prime. I don't know how you guys do your math, but paying 7500 in quarterly taxes regularly, or even putting fifty thousand in a maintenance account is not considered making money - that money is already allocated, it just hasn't been needed yet. But it most probably will be at some point - I had six big rigs in my fleet, and that was only part of our fleet - there were other trucks and vehicles also - and I learned my lessons about running trucks down the road from the school of hard knocks. I consider myself to have a worthless Ph.D. in managing the expenses for a fleet of trucks.

I'm all for being winners in the game, trust me there is no bigger risk taker than I have been in business, but the cards are stacked against you in this trucking business. I don't expect everyone to believe me, but I still have a responsibility to share with you what I know is true. So many people don't really understand how difficult it is to actually "make" money at this - they see those big checks coming in, and they are getting to write some large checks themselves, and it all seems like a yellow brick road. In the trucking business there are some really stubborn things that we call means and averages - and if you understand those words then you know they cannot be avoided. During the "honeymoon" they seem so distant, but like a wolf after it's prey, they have this nasty habit of nipping at your heels and then one day grabbing you by the legs and pulling you down to fight with you. If you can overcome them then you are the victor, and Steve is certainly taking the right steps to do that by setting up his maintenance account, and hopefully a few other back-up plans. My experience in watching this industry is that very few actually succeed at beating those wolves - the failure rate is astonishing - I have a lot of respect for Steve - I remember when he was first in here years ago. I want him to succeed, but if he seriously believes he is making five or six times what he was making at Prime, then he still has a lot to learn about business.

I spoke up because I don't want to see any of you guys deceived into thinking it is going to be easy to make a killing by becoming owner operators - it just is not the case.

Im pretty sure he doesn't think it's easy. And just because you failed as an owner operator but have found success as a company driver doesn't mean it can't be done.

I don't have a business degree but I think most start up companies don't even take a salary for the first couple years. So for Steve to pay out what he is, and pay himself a salary of $2000/per month, I would say he's doing pretty good. I would even venture to say he's making 5 times what he was at Prime because he has real assets.

It is a curious thing how folks praise us to the skies when they are new to this industry and soaking up what we have to offer them as helpful information to get their careers underway. Yet when we try to warn them of the inherent dangers of being an owner/operator we all of a sudden don't know what we are talking about.

This website has been around since January of '07. I've been warning people about leasing and buying trucks all these years. I've had dozens of blowhards come through here telling me how they're gonna make a fortune doing exactly what I told them they shouldn't do. And yet here we are 8 1/2 years later and over 6 million visitors and not one single guy ever came back to show us how well they've done.

Not one.

Where are all those big success stories? Where's the guy who has owned a truck for 5 years and has $250,000 in the bank, a big custom rig, takes all the time off he likes, and still takes home $150,000 a year in straight up profit? I'm just not seeing anyone like that. I'm sure there has to be a few out there. But think about it - there are 3.5 million trucks on the road. Shouldn't there be a long, long list of fantastic success stories from owner operators all over the place?? With 3.5 million trucks on the road there should be hundreds of thousands of these kind of success stories going on. Somehow I've yet to hear of one.

Everyone says it's easy in the beginning.They come here with fuzzy math and boastful claims of big money on the horizon. But nobody ever says a word after that. I look to the horizon and it's empty. They somehow quietly disappear never to be heard from again.

When they say the average profit margin in trucking, after paying the driver, is 3% then you'd better believe it. And in fact that means by definition about half the trucks on the highway don't even make that much. So if you're gonna come in here and tell people you're making 5 times what you were as a company driver then you should turn an actual profit to the truck of about $200,000 this year. So if you're making a straight profit of $4,000 each week after all expenses then what you said is accurate. Otherwise you're misleading people.

So which is it? Are you gonna turn a pure profit of $200,000 this year or are you coming here misleading people?

My checks have been as high as 4600 in a week but are regularly in the 3200+ range when I work a full week

$3,200 range? hmmmmm......seems your revenues are 25% short of what you claim your profits will be. That's not good for your credibility now is it?

Sorry if I misled anybody

That's alright. We'll get it straightened out. We do this routine about every other week with someone. We know the math.

when you accuse people like Steve of "throwing numbers around" as if he's lying that is what's frustrating.

I would even venture to say he's making 5 times what he was at Prime because he has real assets.

Well then congratulations my friend! You too have the gift for "Owner Operator Math".....it's the math that dreams are made of!

And just because you failed as an owner operator but have found success as a company driver doesn't mean it can't be done.

Larry, where ever did you get the idea that I failed as an owner operator? You are reading this stuff with your own conclusions already established, and because of that it is no wonder you are completely missing the point of the discussion.

I would even venture to say he's making 5 times what he was at Prime because he has real assets.

Well then congratulations my friend! You too have the gift for "Owner Operator Math".....it's the math that dreams are made of!

Hey I told you I don't have a business degree. 😀 I'm just a cop.

So now you are calling him a "blow hard". Nice.

Maybe the ones that have come through here and went on to build a successful owner operator business don't have the time to frequent your forum anymore. Or just maybe they tried and you guys gave him the "Steve" treatment and just laughed and moved on, like I have a feeling Steve will do

Maybe the ones that have come through here and went on to build a successful owner operator business don't have the time to frequent your forum anymore. Or just maybe they tried and you guys gave him the "Steve" treatment and just laughed and moved on, like I have a feeling Steve will do

You believe that if you want to Larry, but you don't know too many truck drivers apparently. They would love to come in here and show us where we were wrong, and to be honest with you we would love to hear how they did it. We are business people ourselves, but we don't see any light at the end of the owner operator pipe dream.

And just because you failed as an owner operator but have found success as a company driver doesn't mean it can't be done.

Larry, where ever did you get the idea that I failed as an owner operator? You are reading this stuff with your own conclusions already established, and because of that it is no wonder you are completely missing the point of the discussion.

My mistake I apologize. I read your post wrong. I at first thought you said you had 6 trucks. I missed you retiring from your manufacturing business. The trucks were a part of that?

My mistake I apologize. I read your post wrong. I at first thought you said you had 6 trucks. I missed you retiring from your manufacturing business. The trucks were a part of that?

That's correct!