Hey Experts!

I am an owner operator currently work for a small company in Chicago. I live in LA County California. I own a big rig and have all my numbers (MC, US DOT). I am trying to start my own company and subcontract other owner operators to drive for me. Can anyone give me advice on how to get started? How do I find brokers in different states that can provide me with sufficient loads for my drivers. How do I write up contracts for my employees? Do I need to hire a lawyer to do all the paperwork for me? Please any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Only someone in your line of business can really help with your specific questions. So far doesn't seem to be any truckers to help with your questions, so I will offer my opinion and ideas. All I know about trucking is how to track shipments with Pro numbers,wait for my shipment to arrive so I can install my equipment, and how to make claims for concealed damage.

Quite honestly, these are aspects of business that you should already have some idea how to tackle if you have been working in this line for some time, let's call it experience.

Even if you knew how to get started, wise advice will be to contact an attorney for help with the contracts. My guess will be that he will ask for sample contracts that pertain to the business line.

Beyond that, the attorney may be able to help with other aspects of startup, however, this may become expensive, and better handled by yourself, let's call it sweat equity.

Locating brokers seems to be the life blood essential to having work. This is marketing, locating and attracting customers that need your services.

Doing web search for trucking brokers found:

http://freightfinder.com/trucking/trucking-broker.cfm

http://www.business.com/directory/tr...ation_brokers/

I am not too keen on just using the Internet with finding all the business I would need, I am of the mind set that personal face to face deals will lead to long term relationships in business.

When I started my electrical contracting business, I already had customers in mind, (never took one customer from current employer) where to find them, how to make contact, how to get them to tell me what they needed and how I could help them. This took hours of phone calls, letters, appointments, lunches, etc. to get the opportunity to work for them.

I had all the permits and licenses in place, had the proper insurance policies, tax ID numbers, an office and warehouse, and a clerk to answer the phone while I was out meeting with clients, running jobs, and actually doing the work. Starting up a small business, no matter the industry, means a lot of lost hours, 18 hour days, missed suppers with the family, dedication to what will seem at many times a lost cause.

I had an attorney on retainage from the very beginning, however he only was helpful with setting up the corporation. The most important person to have on board from the beginning, and consult with every month is an accountant.

Money is every businesses life blood. You need to know how to make the money, the accountant will help with how to use the money to keep the business in business. He can give forewarning when the costs are not in line with income, and will certainly help when, hopefully, there is more income than costs.

I also did a web search "starting a trucking business", and found a wealth of information such as:
http://www.truckingsuccess.com/start...-business.html
http://www.truckinfo.net/

Even some books at Amazon about how to get started:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157...lance&n=283155

Also did a search for "trucking owner/operators associations" and found the following:
http://www.ooida.com/
http://www.truck-loads.net/associations.asp
http://www.aitaonline.com/page98.html

I admit that I have no idea what I am looking at, or how to determine if this info is of any worth. This I will leave up to you to sift through, extract what is helpful, and see if better ideas can be found to help direct you. I know you have heard this cliché before, Think Outside The Box, but believe me, doing just that will give you the edge over your competition.

One thing I realized before starting my own electrical business is that even thou I thought I was the best electrician around, good electricians were a dime a dozen, and I needed to find that one thing that set me apart from all the others. That did not mean I was going to win the Nobel Prize, but, I was able to , day by day, insure I had a reason to go to work the next day, and along with developing those personal relationships I spoke of before, I was able to build a company that was respected by my peers, and trusted by my customers.

So many times I thought, punching a clock for someone else sure seemed like it had it's benefits, while I was working late into the night while my employees were home with their families, having fun on the weekends, so many sacrifices to be made. But the rewards were definitiely worth the effort.

So I wish you luck, your line of work is no picnic, but like I said to myself, this is all I know and love. You have a long road ahead of you, and I will commend you for asking the questions before just jumping into the fire. Do your homework, talk to everyone you can think of for ideas and stragedies, and keep on trucking!

Hello,

If you would like to give me a call at 800-727-3377, I would be more than happy to tell you some of the steps you need to take to get set up, I don't know all of them, but I think I could help some.

Adam

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Originally Posted by TrcukerB1984

Hey Experts!!

I am an owner operator currently work for a small company in Chicago. I live in LA County California. I own a big rig and have all my numbers (MC, US DOT). I am trying to start my own company and subcontract other owner operators to drive for me. Can anyone give me advice on how to get started? How do I find brokers in different states that can provide me with sufficient loads for my drivers. How do i write up contracts for my employees? Do I need to hire a lawyer to do all the paperwork for me? Please any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

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Ummm. Adam? It is very nice that you are willing to be so helpful, but please look at the date of the original posting. You have answered a post that is over one year old. I doubt very much the original poster will see your answer.

First off, let me introduce myself. My name is James Shepard, and I've been on both sides of the industry for about 9 years. Im going to try to give you a little insight on what it takes to start and run a successful trucking business, as Im about to undergo exactly what you went through to get to where you are, today. The only difference between you and I would be that I have a lot of information on what to do, and how to do it.

The answer to your first question: There are many different resources to go by when trying to find brokers in different locations; they are quite easy to find, but it usually depends on what type of trailer you pull. Just because you find a broker in a state that you are hauling to, It doesn't mean that the particular broker specializes in the type of freight that goes onto the type of trailer you haul. I've found that the easiest way to get the freight you want, at the price you want, would be to go through the shipping & receiving department of the customers that you already have, and present a great offensive front to the brokers that handles their business. Another way, would be to lease your business to a freight company, who could keep you and your trucks busy. There are companies out there that only move freight, thus the need for owner operators and fleet owners work great for them.

To answer the second question, I would need to answer third question, first. When drawing up contracts for employees, its best to hire a lawyer, or have one present as a witness, especially if you plan to hire O/O's with their own equipment. Having lawyer present and signing the contract protects you in case the O/O wants to pull a funny move and break a contract. You never want to submit a legally binding contract to a driver, without first having some kind of back up.

I hope the info I have provided to you is some help. Like I said, Im about to start my own trucking business; from the company name being incorporated and patented to the issuance of the 48 state authority. So, I wish you luck, and have a nice day.

Hopefully, what is continued to be posted here will be of benefit to others who might read it, since the original poster, TrcukerB1984, has not logged back onto this site since March 2, 2006 at 09:09 P.M.

What is the first thing have to do to start my own trucking company?:)

I'm in the same boat, that is starting a trucking company. Experts and others with experience please continue with advice. Any is much appreciated!!

What info do you need about starting a trucking business I can answer that question

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Originally Posted by RICKYLANDRY

what info do you need about starting a trucking business i can answer that question

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Then, how about please taking a look at the following question that is on the link below? Thank you.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/other-...ss-184809.html

That was a great well-thought out response.

Starting your own trucking business is a large undertaking. I have worked with many trucking companies over the years and have found that you have to have a good checkbook or a great relationship with your bank. With the rising cost of fuel (today the price is $4.79 a gallon) it is a good chance that you will spend a great deal of money before you will get your first paycheck. In my experience a Freight Broker, like myself, pays quicker than if you go directly through the customer. A carrier can take up to 90 days to receive payment from a customer, while the usage of a Brokerage firm tends to pay immediately after all the paperwork is received.

If anyone would like to receive more informaion or be helped with finding loads or trucks for that matter, respond back to this posting or e-mail me at [personal email address removed for privacy]

Thank you for your time,

Tom

Great and well-intentioned answers in different posts, Tom! However, I did need to remove your email address in order to protect your privacy. People who spam others send out "spiders" on the Internet looking for exposed email addresses such as yours, and we don't want you to get spammed because of posting yours on a site such as this that gets really excellent exposure when people do searches for things on the Internet.

Funny you ask. #1 challenge in starting a trucking company is loads. Do you have contract any where ? See I have small trucking company, but we recently lost contract and have not been able to find new freight. So when I say you you need loads I'm not kidding. If you got the freight, then you got a start. The other problem is equipment, no one wants to loan small trucking companies a dime and this is a real challenge. As far as the rest like, operating authority, Insurance, and safety req. are easily handled if you got the LOADS.

I would advise contacting an attorney to aid with contracts, but if budgetary constraints come into play, you might consider doing your homework and moving forward with that on your own.

TruckersInfoSource.com is a great new site I found that has all sorts of info related to the trucking industry... in fact, there are links for attorneys that focus on serving truckers and trucking companies, load boards/freight brokers, state DOT information, and trucking associations that can be a great help to owner operators and small fleet owners.

Just my two cents, but definitely check out that site.

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