Know The Trucking Business
Miles here. Of course, Mamie’s hasn’t always been the “Gas Up and Go Truckstop, Café or not.” When it was a stagecoach stop, it didn’t even have a sign. Back when Mamie 4 or 5, I disremember, was lookin’ fer somethin’ new, she tried “Mamie’s Diesel Up” for the hippie…
It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause. – H. L. Mencken
I’m not suggesting taking up arms to bring forward changes in the trucking industry. What I am recommending is taking a revolutionary approach to how you conduct your trucking business.
Trucking is by its nature, an unpredictable business. But at the same time, no matter what unexpected event occurs, a load either needs to get there or you need to find another one. This brings us to the # 1 Murphy’s Law of Trucking:
Well, everbody, seems I’ve been picked by Mamie herself to kinda write a memwire of how her lil’ place got famous. I’m Miles Wheeler, an’ up until a short while ago, I held the title of the Oldest Truck Driver in the world, still fillin’ out a log book at 110.
The thought of riding a roller coaster leaves me with memories of the stomach in the throat, white knuckles, sweaty palms, and sheer fear of what’s over the next rise or around the next corner. Kinda sounds like trucking, available freight scraping bottom and freight rates leaving our stomachs in knots—well, like a roller coaster.
It’s not just a question of survival during these times of low freight volumes and freight rates. It’s time to take advantage of the many opportunities coming down the road. The last year was one the hardest on small motor carriers since the Great Recession of 2009 and 2010. But…
Becoming bankable needs to be the goal of every small business owner, and that includes trucking company owners.
There’s a method used in real estate investing that also works well for owner operators and lease operators. When investing in real estate for the purpose of receiving the greatest return on the dollar invested – for renting it out, in other words (creating a sustainable, consistent income), purchase the house with the lowest price in a neighborhood. In so doing, you have far greater profitability by being able to charge a higher rent with lower costs. Yet the revenue (rent) necessary to support the expenses like loan payments, taxes and insurance can be lower than other houses in the area.
What if you become as efficient in the business of trucking as you’re at getting loads from point “A” to point “B”? Let’s start by planning your finances the same way we plan the route to pick up and deliver loads.