So You're mental About Becoming an Owner Operator?

You want to come to be an owner-operator, huh? Well, there's some very good info in this description so I suggest you read it straight through and leave me a criticism at the bottom - I want to know what you think.

First things first. Have you lost your mind? Well, maybe not. Maybe you're just pondering it because you don't understand the trucking industry, or you're finding for a new challenge. Maybe owning your own enterprise sounds exquisite to you. Maybe the romantic idea of cruisin the American highways in your own big, beautiful, shiny rig just sounds so damn cool you can't take it anymore! Well then do it! But wait...wait...wait.....come back here a second. Get out your wallet. Give me all your money. No I'm not robbing you! You're a giver! You've decided that having money isn't important to you anymore so you're going to buy a truck so that you can throw it all away! Well, I need it! So if you're gonna lose it all anyhow you outta just give it to person who needs it - like me!

California Sky Diving

You say you don't understand what on Earth I'm talking about? Well then you better keep reading. There must be a lot you don't understand.

I get questions quite a bit from people about becoming owner-operators, especially (ironically enough) since the economy has slowed and fuel prices have dropped.

My friend, I've gotta be honest with you - as I always try to be with every person - I know one thing very well about becoming an owner operator - the chances of ever development a nickel doing it are one in a million. I've never tried it, and I never will. Here's why:

Trucking is a commodity enterprise - the only thing that matters to anything is price. So the trucking enterprise that can offer the bottom price gets the load. every person else loses. Correct? Not necessarily. Sometimes every person loses. Nothing in enterprise is ever simple. Read on.....

I once took a small enterprise policy that was offered by the Small enterprise supervision and the speaker was a retired gentleman that spent 26 years in upper supervision at normal galvanic (not normal Motors! Lol!). He said something that he was dead serious about and wanted it to stay with us throughout our enterprise careers, and it has always stayed with me. He said "If you're going to go into a commodity-type business, remember that there is only one winner - the one who offers the bottom price. Even that person barely wins because their profit margins are always razor-thin and on the edge of breaking even or losing money. So if you're going to do it, you better be the low-cost provider, because the second bottom cost provider and every person else behind him goes out of business."

Listen, I taught myself computer programming while my years on the road. Also truck driving school, I have also graduated from motorcycle Mechanics found as a Harley mechanic, I'm a certified welder, and I've owned a tree assistance ( I was the crazy climber!). I love to learn and challenge myself. That's why I've had so many careers! It sounds to me like you want to push transmit in life - challenge yourself, make your life better. There are very, very few people out there like that anymore. Life has been too easy for an whole generation of us now. I'm 37 years old - and the only suffering I have done is self-inflicted. Sports, physical training, bad decisions, and working injuries. To this point there has been no World War in my lifetime. There has been no economic depressions. I've never gone hungry. And believe me, I was not raised by rich parents. A bookkeeper and a premise worker. Blue-collar all the way baby! Just your ordinary, perfectly spectacular, small town upbringing. A dream life for sure. So for my generation and those that have followed, toughness, ambition, and hard work is something we were either born with or taught by our parents. It wasn't burned into us by the hardships of world wars, economic depressions, and moral dilemmas - like the way Vietnam divided the country and spawned the hippie generation who tired of constant war and pain and suffering.

For people like us, hardships that test and forge our character and push us to our limits must be self-generated. Rock climbing, scuba diving, skydiving, running, and weight lifting in the physical realm. Spiritual reading, beginning a business, or going to college in the cerebral realm. There are many ways to create hardship for those of us who are so inclined.

You want hardship? come to be an owner-operator. Obligate yours for years in the trucking enterprise and lose all of your flexibility in life when you buy that truck. Struggle and suffer straight through the anxiety of development a huge venture in something that will likely never make you any money over time. Try to be a one-man-band contribution the bottom price by beating out the competition from the large companies who are getting volume discounts on fuel, tires, parts, and mechanical work. Large companies who have services to contribute that you can't - like dropped trailers, flexible scheduling when loads suddenly growth or decrease from a shipper, and team runs coast to coast in 48 hours. Large companies who have gigantic pools of financing behind them from bond issuance, underground equity, collective equity (stock offerings), and collateral-based financing from the tool and real estate they own that allow them to control at a loss for years if need be.

And maybe down the line if trucking doesn't work for you anymore then you could open up your own minute division store right between a Wal-Mart and a Dollar Store.

Everybody has skills and abilities that make them unique. Traits that set them apart. Strong points that help them overcome their weak points. Find your strong points and carve out a niche in life that gives you an advantage over most of the competition. Do something that you'll love to do, but make sure that not many people will be willing to work as hard at it or come to be as good at it as you will. Then attack! As one website I frequent states - "Track Your Rivals. Then Eat Their Lunch". Lol! I love that.

I love to compete. I love to push myself to my limits. I love to learn. I love to run my own business. I'm just that type. And from what I know of the trucking industry, becoming an owner-operator is a game that most people lose in a big, big way. Sure, some win. But what is winning? Breaking even? development a few grand a year after expenses? I don't know - I never tried it. I never will. There are lot of "next steps" you can take in the trucking industry. You can come to be a trainer. You can work your way up in the offices of a larger company. You can come to be a freight broker. You can come to be an advisor. You can learn computer programming and write software for the industry. You can make money blogging. But becoming an owner operator has been a mission of financial suicide for the vast majority that have gone that route. Look at it from the shipper's standpoint - what advantages will you offer that they should use you instead of the companies they've been using for years?

"What about these companies like Landstar that are only owner-operators? Will leasing on to them give me an advantage?" you ask. Well, it will admittedly be better than staying independent and trying to find your own freight and discounts on products and services. But if owning a truck is so profitable, then why do so many companies allow owner-operators in their fleets? Anytime person offers me an occasion to get into enterprise with them doing what they are doing - like becoming an owner-operator and leasing on with them, or raising Alpacas, or beginning my own home-based enterprise - I always ask myself the same ask - if being in that enterprise is so profitable, then why don't you just scale it larger yourself? Why do you want me to do what you're already development so much money doing? It doesn't make any sense! I'll give you an example.

Krispy Kreme used to be a bigshot. Their donuts are delicious for sure. I mean, my God! Amazing! I used to own their stock and did quite well with it for a while. Krispy Kreme was a enterprise that offered franchise opportunities - anything could start one. But you had to use the company's recipies and buy your tool from them also. Well, Krispy Kreme has since collapsed. Why? Because it turns out that owning a donut shop is not admittedly very profitable. What was profitable was selling the licensing rights, food, and tool to the franchisees! The vast majority of the money that the enterprise itself made was not from selling donuts (maaaaaaaaan those glazed donuts were insane!!!), it was from selling franchises. Well, owning a franchise became more and more costly because the enterprise had to continue to grow their profits to satisfy Wall Street. On top of that, the shop became saturated once a huge estimate of franchises were opened and they began selling donuts to every gas station, suitable store, grocery store, and bistro that wanted them. Eventually, the enterprise model collapsed.

If owning a truck was so profitable, companies wouldn't want other people owning their own trucks. If raising Alpacas was so profitable, people raising them wouldn't want other people raising them. They would just raise more themselves! There are a million enterprise opportunities out there, and all of them offer fierce competition and endless challenges. But owning a truck is nearly a financial suicide mission. If you love trucking, then keep on lettin those companies pay you k/year to drive their big, beautiful, shiny trucks - and let them suffer straight through all the headaches of running a commodity business. Licensing, fuel, permits, breakdowns, assurance - blah!!!! You just kick back, enjoy the ride, and make a killer living viewing the sites over North America in your company's dream machine. And if you get tired of trucking - quit. A enterprise driver can always just quit and return later at anytime - I did it a thousand times over the years. Drive for 6 months, quit that job, party for two months, run out of money, go back to truckin. Lol! There are advantages to those of us who have never been married and have no children!

But if you buy a truck - man are you in it up to your eyebrows now! But if I can't change your mind, then my best guess would be to talk to one of the larger owner-operator companies like Landstar. Actually, first talk to their drivers. Get the real scoop on life as an owner-operator. And don't be shy about telling these guys to be level up with you. You're not there to hear any fairy tales, you're there to get the truth about owning a rig. Talk to a bunch of drivers, not just one or two. See what they say.

Then, when you've heard a million opinions on becoming an owner operator, you've discussed all the strategies, and you're positive you've gathered all the information that is most requisite to becoming an owner-operator, don't just walk away from the whole thing - Run! Run for your financial life! For the love of God, man, get outta there while you can!

I sure hope I've made myself clear. Sometimes I'm not real good at expressing my opinions.

I sure hope this helped. Let me know if you have any other questions. That's what I'm here for!

Best of luck to you in all your endeavors,

Well, there you have it folks. So if you're going to get into the owner-operator business, then get out your wallet. And please email me so that I can instruct you how to send me all your money - while you still have some! Do not skip this important step in your career! I need your money!

So You're mental About Becoming an Owner Operator?