Without small trucking companies and the drivers who work for them, the economy would come to a standstill, literally. So why not get into an industry that will always be in demand, like trucking, by running a successful trucking company?
Before you get started, it’s a good idea to take the time to learn about the trucking business and develop a basic trucking business plan. This plan should outline the steps to owning a trucking company, including the type of equipment you will have, whether you plan to purchase or lease that equipment, and who your drivers will be. While your equipment can be obtained after you have an insurance coverage plan in place, it’s important to know the type of equipment you want because you’ll need to know the associated costs before starting this process.
Getting equipment and insurance are only two steps to building a trucking company! There are a lot of other steps to running a trucking company, and it can be a confusing process.
Step 1: Form Your Trucking Company and Get Trucking Authority
To start a trucking company, you’ll need to form your company and get a United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Number and Motor Carrier Number, or MC Number, from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Along with insurance, equipment purchases or leases, and other required filings and registrations, the process can be lengthy and complicated.
Services like Logity Dispatch can help you with company formation easily. They handle the tedious parts for you. They do everything from collecting all the necessary information, and assisting with entity formation in your home state to completing and filing the appropriate registration applications. Once your trucking company has active authority, they send you a digital record book with all the paperwork organized and ready to go, contributing to successful trucking.
Step 2: Find Loads to Haul
If you’re new to the trucking industry, online load boards can help you find freight so you can start hauling. You can try free load boards, like NextLOAD.com, or pay a monthly subscription for others. Load boards can help you create and establish relationships with a variety of brokers and shippers, a key aspect of managing a trucking company. Once you have a solid customer base, you can build on those relationships. In some cases, you can start hauling directly for your customers and establish your own lanes which creates a regular, stable income, crucial for successful trucking.
But there is the easiest and not costly mode of getting the best loads. By leveraging their expertise and resources, Logity Dispatch not only finds suitable loads but also optimizes routes, manages paperwork, and assists in establishing profitable relationships with clients. This support allows trucking companies to focus on their core operations while Logity Dispatch handles the intricate details of load management, enhancing efficiency and profitability in the trucking business.
Step 3: Know Who You’re Hauling For
Checking credit on your customers before you haul a load is one of the best habits for how to run a successful trucking company. Doing so routinely helps you feel confident that your customers will pay regularly. Subscriptions to credit services are available but can be expensive. To maximize your efforts, try to choose loads that pay more per mile, not necessarily faster.
Step 4: Know Your Expenses
It’s important to know your trucking company’s business expenses. A profit and loss statement or bookkeeping software are two of the most effective ways to track insurance payments, truck maintenance and repairs, truck and trailer finance payments, fuel, office expenses, employee and driver wages, and other expenses. You can even track tax deductions, which can help you save money.
When you have all your company expenses in one place, you’ll know exactly how much it costs to run your business. Knowing how much it costs to run your trucking company is important to ensure that your business is profitable. Setting a minimum amount for your cost per mile will help so you never get undercharged or come up short on a load.