The trucking industry is easily one of the largest industries in the entire country. According to the American Trucking Associations, it generates almost $800 billion each year.
Are you interested in using your experience in the trucking industry to get a small piece of this pie? If you’re willing to learn how to start your own trucking company from the ground up, you can do it.
It’s not always easy to jumpstart a trucking company. But it can be done if you know what you’re doing. Here are the steps you should take to bring your idea to start a trucking company to life.
Begin by Creating a Business Plan for Your Trucking Company
Is your trucking company going to specialize in hauling loads in your city? Or are you going to try and launch a company that can haul loads all over the country?
You should have a plan for your trucking company going in. And you should set this plan in stone by creating a foolproof business plan for your company that lays out its intentions and goals.
Your business plan should include everything from an executive summary that spells out what your company is all about to the marketing strategies you’re going to use to drum up business. It should also include lots of market research that shows a need for your company.
You’re going to have to present this business plan to lenders if you need to take out a loan to start your company. It’s why it’s so important for you to spend a lot of time finetuning it.
Come Up With a Name for Your Trucking Company and Legally Establish It
When you first decide that you’re going to figure out how to start your own trucking company, you might have the perfect name picked out for it. Or you might need to brainstorm ideas for your business name.
Either way, coming up with a name for your trucking company will make it start to feel real. It’ll also help you to legally establish it in your city and state.
Kick around some different ideas for the name of your trucking company and choose the one that you like the most. It’ll allow you to create an LLC for your company that separates your personal assets from your business liabilities when creating a new business.
Get Your Hands on the Necessary Business Licenses
To open any kind of business, you’ll need to obtain licenses for it. It’s especially important to do this when opening a trucking company since trucking companies need to get access to a handful of licenses to do business.
As the owner of a trucking company, you’ll need to get:
- A commercial driver’s license (also known as a CDL)
- A USDOT number
- A Motor Carrier Operating Authority number (also known as an MC number)
You may also need to get things like an International Registration Plan, or IRP if you plan on hauling loads across state lines. Whatever you do, don’t open a trucking company before you have all the proper licenses in place.
Obtain Trucking Equipment and Hire Truckers to Work for You
You’re obviously not going to be able to run a trucking company without—you guessed it!—trucks. You’ll need at least one reliable truck to start out with, and you’ll need to add to your fleet from there.
You shouldn’t buy just any old trucks, either. You need trucks that are designed to carry the type of loads that you’re going to handle for companies.
If, for example, you’re going to be hauling perishable items, a truck with refrigeration will be necessary. You should think about what will be going into your trucks and buy or lease the right ones.
You’ll also need to hire truckers to work for you. You should search for the most experienced truckers in your area and offer them competitive rates to drive for you. Having great truckers on your side will give you a leg up on your fellow trucking companies.
Sign Up for Insurance and Emphasize Trucking Safety to Your Employees
Before your truckers start heading out to haul loads, you’ll need to sign up for insurance. It’ll protect your company in the event that your truckers are ever involved in accidents that damage your trucks or the loads that are on them.
You’ll also want to emphasize the importance of trucking safety to everyone who works for you. SMS segmentation will keep track of any safety issues involving your company, and it could force you to pay higher insurance premiums if you’re not careful.
Bottom line: If a trucker isn’t safe, they shouldn’t be a part of your time. You need to make sure everyone understands how important it is for them to be safe at all times.
Figure Out a System for Tracking Income and Expenses
Once your trucking company is up and running, you’re going to have income coming in and expenses sending some of that income right back out. You should come up with an accounting system to keep income and expenses organized.
If you don’t have a budget in place for your trucking company from the start, it’s going to be doomed to fail. You either need to handle your accounting needs yourself or hire someone to help you do it.
Touch Base With Companies That Can Benefit From Your Trucking Services
There are probably a bunch of companies in your general area that can benefit from your company’s trucking services. Get in touch with as many of them as you can and offer to help them.
Some of them might already have trucking companies that they work with. But as long as you’re able to show that your company is different, you shouldn’t have too hard of a time attracting companies to work with you.
Make it a point to provide them with the best trucking services in the business. It’ll keep them coming back and help spread the word about your services to other companies.
Learn How to Start Your Own Trucking Company Today
If you’ve been working in the trucking industry for a long time now and always dreamed about figuring out how to start your own trucking company, now is the perfect time to do it.
There continues to be a huge need for new trucking companies throughout the country. You can launch a potentially lucrative business by following the steps that we’ve outlined here.
Check out our blog for more informative articles on running a successful trucking company.
You must be logged in to post a comment.