Avoiding The Pitfalls Of Commercial Truck Leasing
Why do some semi truck owners succeed when owning a trucking business while others fail? I have seen a number of owner operators come to Lone Mountain Truck Leasing to get their truck and start their own commercial truck business. A large portion of our customers take the truck off the lot, start hauling loads, make their payments, and get the title to the truck at the end of the commercial lease. There are countless success stories, even throughout the last two years which have been some of the most troublesome for our industry and semi-truck financing becomes more challenging.
I've seen a lot of individuals who really struggled to make their commercial trucking business profitable. Many of these individuals were first time owners and some were even what I'd call trucking veterans. Each story is unique but at the same time they have a lot in common. In fact, there are a number of qualities that set this group up to fail at owning their own trucking business. I'll cover these factors as well those seen by today's top semi truck operator owners.
The first place to start when thinking about becoming your own truck owner operator is motivation. When I was younger, sitting in school, I didn't have a lot of motivation to excel. In fact, I pretty much squeaked by because I had little interest and was unmotivated. Over time, I developed a real motivation for trucking and being an owner operator. I enjoyed the lifestyle that trucking could bring and at the same time was interested in being my own boss. Is being your own boss and having your own semi truck something that you are internally motivated to do? If not, perhaps you should think twice before starting your own trucking business. If you are not internally motivated, then when times are tough you'll be hard pressed to stay focused and be successful.
Commercial truck owners who are successful at running their own business, either as a single truck or a small fleet, it isn't sufficient to simply be a driver. In addition to driving your truck you have additional roles as President, Accountant, and Truck Mechanic. If you don't take on these critical business roles you can't be successful. The reality is that you need to wear many hats if you wish to succeed. You'll certainly be doing more than if you were simply a driver. To keep a semi truck running at its best and run a thriving business, you must manage every one of these jobs well.
As I mentioned earlier, it's hard to be successful just by excelling at the jobs you like. Unfortunately in the trucking business, you can't let certain jobs slide simply because they don't interest you. If you're going to be picky about which loads you haul and which you don't, do so based on profitability not location or load type. Keep your focus on profitability and you'll go far. Combine this with your willingness to take on multiple roles as a semi-truck business owner and you're sure to be successful. Being a successful business owner means that you'll stay focused while wearing many hats.
Interested in truck leasing? Check out the commercial truck leasing program at LoneMountainTruck.com.