There’s never been a better time to own a trucking business. With more and more trade taking place than ever before, trucks remain the best and most efficient way to transport goods from one area to another. While the idea of owning your own trucking company might sound daunting, it’s not as difficult as you might think — and once you’re all set up, you could be looking at earning in the region of $100,000 each year as an owner-operator. However, as with most competitive industries, success is far from guaranteed. Below, we take a look at some tips that’ll push you in the right direction.
Get Experience
Running a truck business isn’t as simple as driving from point A to point B. There are logistical matters to take care of, and navigating the various duties can be a challenge. As such, it’s highly recommended that you get some experience working for a trucking business before you decide to do things on your own. When you’re on the inside, you’ll get to learn the ins and outs of what it takes to make a trucking business successful. Once you’ve got enough experience, you can branch out on your own.
Find Your Niche
You’re going to face a lot of competition for business, and thus it’s important that you’re specializing in one particular niche. If you try to be all things for all people, then you’ll just find that you’re losing jobs to people who are experts in that particular haulage niche such as bulk liquid carriers. So find your own. There may be one particular product or service that you feel drawn to, or you might want to see what’s in vogue, and thus profitable. Whatever you select, learn as much about transporting those goods as possible, and you’ll soon become the go-to company for that niche.
Get Your Finances in Order
There’s no getting around the fact that, while there’s plenty of money to be made in the trucking business, there are also plenty of high costs involved, both when you’re initially getting set up and with your day-to-day operations. You’ll need to be smart with your capital when you’re first setting up your business. Instead of buying a brand new truck, look at semi truck leasing instead — it’s much more economical, and you’ll still have access to a reliable vehicle. Also, keep in mind that many truck companies go out of business because they’re forever waiting for their invoices to be paid. You’ll want to stay on top of your cash-flow, and using an invoice factoring service if your money situation is entering difficulties.
Build Relationships
Running a trucking business is about so much more than just taking goods from one place to another. It’s about trust — your clients need to have faith that you’re going to deliver when you say you’ll deliver. As such, one underrated method for running a trucking business is to take time to foster your relationships. The stronger your bonds, the more likely it is that you’ll get consistent work.
