Broom made a response about what your time is wort

[mrgoodtude]

In response to an earlier post Broompilot brought up a point that has been a sore spot with me for awhile...
Simply put what is your time worth to you?
My reefer box runs about $1000 a foot.
My reefer runs approx $3000.
My superior truck build cost me $160,000.
Yadayadayada.(of course I speak of no one specific)
No one ever talks about what their time is worth...
For anyone interested in expedite you need to ask yourself this question Will I be satisfied staring out my windshield during the slow periods knowing full well I have only earned enough to pay my truck expenses for the month.
What if you made a profit the previous month only to retract it the next to cover a slow period hence you only break even for 2 months?
Question is do you need to be a savy business owner to reap the rewards of expedite?
When it is all said and done is it a worthwhile endeavor?
Not trying to throw down a big negative but if your time is of value to you this may not be your cup of tea.
Just trying to show both sides of the coin.
Mike

 

[greg334]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

I agree with most of what you are saying but let me say this as a business owner who has had a lot of sucess in the past;

Being savy is not an answer it is all about knowing the basics.

Simply put -
Setting realistic goals
Knowing how much things cost outside of the truck cost
Knowing where you are and what you need and being able to plan
Knowing what your willing to put up with to reach those goals
Knowing basic financial stuff, like how depreciation works etc..

Nothing is a given, nothing is easy even though some make it look easy and advice as such. Some of those who think it is easy have been lucky.

Basics, that is what counts.

Now with all that said there are two other things, advisors and protectors. I won't get into this other than get a good accountant (READ REAL CPA) and a lawyer.

I hope this helps.

 

[x06col]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

The main reason new start up business fail, is because the business owner places way too much value on their time. I will suggest that a business owners time is not worth anything. Making assets pay off should be the goal rather than setting aside $25 bucks an hour for me.
Ask Lawrence what his time was worth when this site was just a dream versus now. Most look at it all wrong.

 

[dieselphreak2K]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

I don't try to put a dollar figure on my time. I just try to earn every available dollar in that time. When I can't be earning that dollar, i'm trying to find ways to spend less of it.

 

[nightcreacher]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Holy cow,only truck drivers make less than farmers per hour,especially in expedite
you cant figure your time per say in hours,and as a business owner,in trucking or what ever,you start figureing your hours then you won't be successful.
owning a business is a 24 hour a day job,you may not be putting time in at the office,but you will be thinking of ways to increase your income,even when you are asleep

 

[ATeam]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

The "my time is worth nothing" approach has its merits. Clock-punching employees get paid by the hour. Self-employed business owners do not.

 

[mrgoodtude]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Nothing but respect for all that have replied and I whole heartedly agree with with the message you convey...
Except when does it come down to your time sacrificed "building a business" as opposed to trying to sustain one?
Larry said in another post he paid his truck off with the last run so with him I would have to say no disagreement.
But for alot of new folks going out and doing the Vegas with a 5 yr $2000 a month note may not be the right response and if you do really value your time this might not be a great idea for everyone.
Mike

 

[davebeckym]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Your time is worth whatever the market would pay for it.

Doing what you love....priceless!

 

[mrgoodtude]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Dave,
I like to fish but..
Mike

 

[RichM]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Every time I would run into GEO at t/stop George was always pushing some product for trucks. He did not sit around drinking endless cups of coffee and complaining about his carrier but used his layover time to try to make some more revenue.

 

[Bruno]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Great post.

 

[davebeckym]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Mike, yeah, fishing doesn't pay very well and It's more dangerous than expediting! As a matter of fact, if you buy a really nice boat, the fish are pretty expensive!

 

[TeamCaffee]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

A really good book to read about paying yourself first is " The Richest Man in Babylon" Always put money back for yourself first is a very hard lesson to learn.

 

[Broompilot]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

You all make great points. I am going to dissagree, I have wittnessed the success and failure of my Father who is now pennyless. Why? He refused to ever pay himself, it was always BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS.

If he charged just .10 cents more a widget instead of giving them away at half of what the competion did, and sold over ten million in his life he would easily be a millionair. Nope instead it was always more and more volume at what cost? To retire pennyless. Now there is much more to this story but if you do not pay yourself either hourly (which is almost impossible in this business and where I agree with yall) weekly, monthly, one falls into the trap of working for FREE.

My father is a great educator, I just do not care to follow that philsophy, and my suggestion to you, is pay your self first, stay out of debt or delete it ASAP. When you retire its nobodies fault but your own if you must depend on others to support you, and 96% is the last % I heard cannot get by on there own savings. Sad when you think of the millions of dollars that roll thru your fingers in ones lifetime that you could not keep even a small % to support yourself when you will no longer be able to work.

Than again great posts, I understand where you are comming from. Do not forget money does not grow on trees, and your time is worth $, and you need to be the one to respect that fact more than the person paying you. If not chances are your failure to plan will be just that a plan to fail.

Mike thanks for the opporuntiy to share in.

 

[ATeam]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

In the interests of clarity, this post started out about the value of one's time. It has now morphed into one about building personal assets, especially with retirement in mind. "Do you pay yourself first?" and "How much is your time worth?" are different questions that will likely evoke different answers if asked of the same person.

If broompilot's real point is about retirement savings, I could not agree more. A month or a year or more of working as an expditer but having little to show for it is nothing more than a glorified hand-to-mouth existence with poverty in retirement a near-certain result.

How do you know if expediting is worth the time and trouble? You should see your net worth increasing on your statement of financial condition (a/k/a balance sheet or statement of assets and liabilities). If you do not have such a document, it may well be that you are making the same mistake Broompilot's father made.

People grow sad or shake their heads in disbelief when they see someone jump into expediting unprepared and fail soon after. Sadder still is the sight of someone who hauls expedting freight for a long time and has little or nothing to show for it in the end. If you are going to fail as an expediter, it is better to fail fast.

 

[Broompilot]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Intresting post Phil, and yes it has gotten twisted. My feelings are no matter what you do you need to be compensated in one form or another be it by the hour, day, or month and what I read (Col.) was it does not matter my opinion (REALLY).

Failure is Failure sooner or later maybee sooner is better but I would not give that reccomendation to anyone asking for advice.

Maybee just maybee there are a couple of other posts out there that are in connection with one another. How I have come to tie them all together is Just Getten Bye = Just Aint Good Enough for this Yankee.

 

[mrgoodtude]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

>In the interests of clarity, this post started out about the
>value of one's time. It has now morphed into one about
>building personal assets, especially with retirement in
>mind. "Do you pay yourself first?" and "How much is your
>time worth?" are different questions that will likely evoke
>different answers if asked of the same person.
I disagree Phil,
They are closely related, as a means to an end.



>People grow sad or shake their heads in disbelief when they
>see someone jump into expediting unprepared and fail soon
>after. Sadder still is the sight of someone who hauls
>expedting freight for a long time and has little or nothing
>to show for it in the end. If you are going to fail as an
>expediter, it is better to fail fast.

I believe it is better not to fail at all but we can't all be the "A Team" can we?
I posted this for the normal person considering expedite as a career,
I saw a subject never really brought up before and like I said wanted to show the flip side of the coin.
On a personal note I have always held you in the highest regard as a writer, your talents are second to none. Being that you came from such a fabulous "White Collar Background" and now are aspiring to be the "Perfect Truckdriver" I have to wonder if your writings are a work of fiction or non fiction.
In achieving you Peter Principal are you really helping others as you so boldy grandstand?
Truth be told....
You may think you have the greatest message to share.
It won't be heard if folks don't like the messenger.
Believe it or not I used to be a raving fan.
Now go have a special day sunshine.
Mike

 

[mrgoodtude]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Thank's Broom,
You are an excellent case study of what it's really like to stick your neck out and succeed on your own merits.
Mike and Cyn

 

[greg334]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Mike,

Ouch, that stings!

You said what a lot of us have been thinking.

I was going to post something in the FedEx FSC thread but I will do it here instead.

For many of us, this is a business that we will be marginally successful in based on today’s norm. I for one have little to show for the time I have been on the road but for that matter a few know what happened to me and my family and what I ended up with after years of hard work - marginal success is a big gain at this point. I started out with negatives and now have positives – in other words I went against everyone’s advice and started out with nothing.

I had the successful businesses and career, I had the nice things in life, and my vacations were at the Ritz not motel 6. But I always had a lot of failures along the way. Success has always been for me paying the bills ahead of time and having money left over.

Broom put it correctly and a few of us get it. Others did not and many more will have to think about it.

Many of us come from a position that we have a lack of career choices and options. Many of us are either retired, at the end of our careers, downsized or whatever where expediting gives us a good chance to make money and support our families and sometimes create a new start for us. For some this is it – the last thing we will ever do in our lives.

I am not demeaning Phil in anyway, he does give very good advice, many times it is insightful, thought provoking and informative but he has not walked in the shoes of the people who have been doing this for 10, 15 or 20 years and miss a few things that only experience gives or even sometimes failures only can give. He seems not to have been in a business that has failed or from all I gathered failed in any venture he has undertaken. He has been lucky, somewhat luckier than others and somehow putting himself in to a position to extend that luck. Even despite the fact that a lot of us would like to have the luck to be in your position, the truth is that Phil has been lucky enough to have the success that a lot of us strive for and I compliment him for giving us an illustrated goal.

But with that said, three years is nothing to claim success, it is only a start. I am leery of people who make money right out of the box (so to speak). I find sometimes that they have little in the way of real interest to help others or be useful to the bigger picture of a community, just fill their ego.

For me I figured that in one year that I am with FedEx; I will learn but not earn the big bucks. A year is minimal to learn a company and the industry – I wish I could take two years but I feel after that year, it is time to get really serious. Knowing my capabilities, opportunities and using the skills, the tools and experience gained in that year I will now try to make real money. If in three years I am still in the position I am in, I will throw in the towel and sell the trucks. My goals are simple and my time line is five years.

I hope my ramblings and ego filled comments helped someone out there in EO world.

 

[mrgoodtude]

RE: Broom made a response about what your time is

Greg it does help,
It helps people to relate and unify when we put ourselves out there like that so thank's for sharing.
We all have our moment in the sun but the sun doesn't shine on the horse's butt all the time.
Mike and Cyn