Questions for those operating under their own authority

[jjoerger]

How much of your time is spent on operating under your own authority?
I'm not talking about the driving part, I'm talking about the time you spend finding a load, getting set up with the customer, sending out bills, collecting past due monies, etc. All the things you would not have to do if you were leased to a carrier.
Are you driving 40 hours a week and spending 10 or 20 on the business side?
Does making approximately 33% more per mile make the time and additional expenses worthwhile?

 

[zero3nine]

How much of your time is spent on operating under your own authority?
I'm not talking about the driving part, I'm talking about the time you spend finding a load, getting set up with the customer, sending out bills, collecting past due monies, etc. All the things you would not have to do if you were leased to a carrier.
Are you driving 40 hours a week and spending 10 or 20 on the business side?
Does making approximately 33% more per mile make the time and additional expenses worthwhile?

Most of my time is spent driving. I generate the invoice for each job within minutes of completing the work. All paperwork gets scanned and emailed/faxed along with the bill.

As soon as I know which direction I'm heading I just have to open my web browser to a preset group of tabs with various load boards. I check within 150 miles of my destination and if I see anything interesting then I bid on it. If nothing jumps off the screen at me I set up email alerts to hit my phones when new loads are posted. I email a few brokers to let them know where I will be. It takes less than 5 minutes.

If no alerts have come in by the time I arrive at my delivery then I widen my radius another 100 miles.

If still nothing then I check major cities for freight going back towards home. If the deadhead is half the miles of the delivery then I bid on it. If I'm more than 750 miles from either Atlanta or Long Beach and no work to be found I figure out what is nearby in the way of campgrounds and I will spend a single night if the mood strikes me. Maybe hike or ride my skateboard a bit. Drop a line in the water and maybe catch something for dinner.

If one of my direct customers calls and I'm unable to do it then I find someone for them. In these cases I act as broker and do the invoicing for the driver I use. I push fuel money to his or her account and pay them 80% of the linehaul within 7 days after I receive all the paperwork.

There is a lot to keep track of. I have a fairly streamlined, mostly paperless system so the administrative side doesn't take much time really. Drivers that habitually send me late paperwork very quickly stop hearing from me. Customers who don't pay on time get a visit from me and I tell them straight up: not paying me isn't an option. I will accept payments as long as they communicate. I understand that small businesses struggle but they must show good faith and not waste my time. I am not above cutting my losses and moving on. I have been very fortunate to have prompt clients like Ducommon Aerostructures. Deep pockets with big contracts... paying me is easy for them. If I drop off the bill in person I usually can expect to leave with a check in under 30 minutes.

I guess the basic answer to your question is "yes" I think its worth it but I do work about 90 hours a week, with maybe 80 of that behind the wheel and 10 or so on the computer.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[jimlookup]

As a solo straight truck, I don't try to hit home runs, so I have to bid/accept more load offers than a team. I get my loads in two ways; on the internet or on the phone. Getting loads offers on the phone can be tricky. Your contact wants to know if and what price you'll haul for before they bid. The shipper may think they have all day to decide if they want to use your service. I tell the broker that in 15 minutes I will feel free to accept another load. I also use the scan/email process to bill. I would estimate I average about 15 minutes Admin tasks on each load. Waiting/searching time for a load is probably less than that of a leased O/O. Depends on carrier or contacts. One problem; HOS. The time I spend watching the internet and waiting for the phone to ring should be "on duty, not driving" Like many others, I have to lie about this in order to have time to haul my loads. On the other hand, If I don't feel well rested and ready to roll I don't feel I have the obligation to accept the load that I would have if I was leased to someone.
Setting up a contact can be done in a day using fax

 

[goslow]

Yea paperwork only takes 10-15 mins. Looking for a load or calling customers is the most time consuming part. If I am wanting to work I spend most of the time glued to the computer in search of loads or calling my customers/brokers letting them know where and when I will have a truck in there area.

The unit I operate is not accepted by any expedite carriers, so I have no choice but to be independent. I also found my stress went way down since I no longer have to explain to anyone why I do not want that load or why I want more $ out of it. The loads I am usually after are C-D truck loads which pay allot better than van loads. 33% would be really low in my opinion. I will say that my CPM is about .58 with fuel at 3.79 a gallon and while I rarely take a van load (1.24 being minimum) most of my loads are a minimum of 1.59 a mile or more. I try to make atleast 1.00 a mile profit so I do not have to run so hard. I also try to keep un-dispatched DH down. I do allot of sitting in odd places, away from the herd

p.s. someone made a comment about customers not paying DH in another thread. This is not true!! if the customer wants it moved bad enough or if the load is going to a remote location. I have found that they will pay for DH to pick and DH after the drop to the Closest major city. I recently went to a remote mine in Montana about 105 miles from the closest major city and I explained to the customer that the high rate I offered to them included the 40 miles to pick-up and 105 miles back to the closet major city. Shipper had no problem with this because they knew the mine was in the middle of nowhere.

 

[ATeam]

These are some of the best descriptions of own-authority operating I have seen in the Open Forum. Thank you, gentlemen, for your informative posts.

 

[TheRebel]

Does making approximately 33% more per mile make the time and additional expenses worthwhile?

Maybe if you drive a straight truck or tractor/trailer, but if you drive a cv, believe me, it's not worth it.

 

[zero3nine]

Maybe if you drive a straight truck or tractor/trailer, but if you drive a cv, believe me, it's not worth it.

That's your opinion. I'm clearing $2k per week after fuel and I'm home 3 nights a week on average. Sleeping in a real bed and having dinner with my family.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[x06col]

That's your opinion. I'm clearing $2k per week after fuel and I'm home 3 nights a week on average. Sleeping in a real bed and having dinner with my family.

fired at you from my Droideka

Ya gotta understand, it's that dreaded number........90 that gets em. They do 30-40 actually hitting the ball. They make $500-$1000 a week and it take that these days to live.....so will continue doing that for eternity. On the other hand you can hit the ball harder for a while, live on 1k of your 2k and rathole 1k a week for a sum of $780k plus interest after 15 years. Then you can be like me, travel, take it easy, and get in the truck WHENEVER ya feel like it. But, mindsets won't allow it. Interesting ain't it??

 

[zero3nine]

It's not enough for me to just get by, I have to make money. So I take the work as it comes, I get out there and do the job nobody else will do.

You got a job that requires a hand offload of 2000 pounds to the third floor at 3 am? I'm the guy for that job. Service with a smile. Some call it too much work, I call it a free workout. Why pay for a gym membership? I'm still young man and I get out there and bust my *** while I still can.

When it's time to retire I'll get back in a big truck and take Mrs. 039 on the road with me. We can tour the country and get paid to do it with no touch loads, when and where we decide to take them.

For right now though, I'm gonna get my hustle on.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[davekc]

If you have the capital and a good six months to get it off the ground, the rest of it isn't too bad. The typical dreaded parts we let the carrier do. We give up 15 percent but that covers collections, audits, drug tests, logs and much of the paperwork. Doing it ourselves would be roughly 10 percent of revenue so we give up 5 percent at the end of the day. We recover that through loads the carrier provides that we couldn't obtain on our own. Primarily government and high dollar loads that carry a higher rate and insurances. Through that six months you have to develop your contacts and prove that you are a bankable partner.
No one is going to look after your profits better than yourself.

 

[TheRebel]

That's your opinion. I'm clearing $2k per week after fuel and I'm home 3 nights a week on average. Sleeping in a real bed and having dinner with my family.

fired at you from my Droideka

Lucky you!

 

[zero3nine]

Lucky you!

No luck involved. I understand what you mean and appreciate the sentiment.

My current status is the result of quite a few years eating hot dogs and ramen noodles every day... on the good days.

A lot of shrewd decision making, sacrifice, and risk went into it. Had to step on some heads and cut a few throats on the way.

My attitude is this: if somebody is going to die, I'm surely not going to be the last one.

I have gotten out of it exactly what I put into it. I can partially thank labor unions for going on strike at certain times when I was able to capitalize on their stupidity.

I have had more than one broken windshield and several tires slashed crossing picket lines at McDonnell Douglas and later at Boeing. From the work I acquired there I went on to establish relationships with many of the small machine shops which vend their products to Boeing and some of the larger shops that build airframes and control surfaces for the military aircraft they produce.

It's been a pretty wild ride.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[TheRebel]

No luck involved. I understand what you mean and appreciate the sentiment.

My current status is the result of quite a few years eating hot dogs and ramen noodles every day... on the good days.

One will never become rich over night, especially in this business where the competition is very high... it took me two months til I got the very first load under my own authority...

 

[skyraider]

Glad someone out here is making money.

 

[fastrod]

Does making approximately 33% more per mile make the time and additional expenses worthwhile?

I operate a van with my own authority and make about 80 to 100% more than being leased to a carrier. I work directly with shippers and spend about 1 day every three weeks doing sales calls. As far as billing I use a factoring company to pay me and handle the billing. I have been doing it this way for 5 years now and it works good for me.

 

[ATeam]

One will never become rich over night, especially in this business where the competition is very high....

Regardless of one's own-authority or leased to a carrier status, one won't get rich overnight, but it is possible to get rich in this business (rich as in financially independent).

There are several reasons that many people don't but the one that amazes me the most is how people stop working or immediatly spend the money after having an exceptionally good week or month. They are in the game with all the skills, equipment and customers they need to put points on the board, but they choose to sit on the bench instead of play.

When you're hot you're hot. If you want to do more than live hand to mouth, you need to keep your shoulder to the wheel, especially when the freight is running strong.

You also need to build wealth instead of frittering it away so that money becomes your servant instead of you becoming its slave. Financial independence means putting money to work for you instead of you working every day for money (the man, the boss, the company, the bank, etc.).

The Bible says ""No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:19, NIV).

When you make money your servant, you don't have to worry about a conflict between two masters. You can serve God while money serves you.

 

[zero3nine]

Regardless of one's own-authority or leased to a carrier status, one won't get rich overnight, but it is possible to get rich in this business (rich as in financially independent).

There are several reasons that many people don't but the one that amazes me the most is how people stop working or immediatly spend the money after having an exceptionally good week or month. They are in the game with all the skills, equipment and customers they need to put points on the board, but they choose to sit on the bench instead of play.

When you're hot you're hot. If you want to do more than live hand to mouth, you need to keep your shoulder to the wheel, especially when the freight is running strong.

You also need to build wealth instead of frittering it away so that money becomes your servant instead of you becoming its slave. Financial independence means putting money to work for you instead of you working every day for money (the man, the boss, the company, the bank, etc.).

The Bible says ""No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:19, NIV).

When you make money your servant, you don't have to worry about a conflict between two masters. You can serve God while money serves you.

Just goes to show, once again, that the bible really does have all the answers.

That's good commonsense advice there, Ateam.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[jjoerger]

Thanks for the answers and good points Phil.

I asked this question because I owned a construction business for 23 years. (Windows and hurricane shutters) I normally worked 40-45 hours per week on the job site and then spent evenings giving free estimates. Late nights were spent ordering materials and supplies, book keeping and paying bills. Early mornings were for unloading delivery trucks and prepping the days jobs and weekends were used for doing all the pre cutting and drilling required for the jobs. I worked on average 90 hours a week. It was financially rewarding, but I had no time for myself.
At age 50 I was starting to feel old and worn out.

As a leased owner operator I don't have all the business headaches. My carrier provides the jobs, collects the money and pays me for my portion of the job. I take care of my non driving end of the business in less than an hour per week. I am much more relaxed and rested without the headaches and I feel my mental state is much better.

I am glad there is the option to operate under your own authority for those that wish to do so. For some being more independent than a leased owner operator is a great thing. I can see some members are very proud of their ability to operate independently of a carrier and run their business as the see fit.

For me I think being leased to a carrier and letting them deal with the non driving business portion is the best thing for me.
Especially since I'm not feeling old anymore

 

[Jefferson3000]

We started out with one truck as well, with me in it. It took time to develop a customer base, and we are still developing that base. One visit to the customer's office doesn't constitute acceptance or rejection. Everything takes time. There was one guy who said he would never need my services. The next day he called and has been calling back for four years and even a change in companies.

This is a fun problem: What to do when your fav contact at a company decides to leave, or even gets terminated? I've had that a few times. You then have to schmooze the new guy to keep the business. However, those old contacts get settled somewhere else and suddenly you have a contact into a facility that you could never get otherwise. Linkedin is a good way to keep track of those professionals that move around, or that you knew in the past, but have no phone number to keep up with them.

 

[zero3nine]

Never limit yourself to a single contact at any shipper. Deliver your invoices in person at least twice a year and get to know department heads as well as accounting staff.

Deliver lunch. Find out what people like, what they don't like, and most importantly find out if anybody is allergic to anything like tomatoes .... if you deliver a 10 foot sandwich and the entire thing is slathered in tomatoes then that one person will feel left out.

I like to cater in something unusual like barbeque and a salad bar for the indoor staff. For yard and warehouse workers, simultaneous arrival of a prepaid lunch truck is essential when feeding the white collars.

Sounds expensive, right? Kind of.... but I can't even begin to describe how a strategically spent $500 has yielded many thousands of dollars in freight. Plus, the $500 is a sales expense... another nice write off.

fired at you from my Droideka