Whether you are a trucker, working for hire, owner-op, or just someone with an interest in the logistics sector – you will inevitably have a wish to start your own company. After all, everyone knows that this kind of business is always in demand. This became especially obvious during 2022 when demand for goods carriage took a sharp rise. Yes, your business may not close due to a lack of work. But there are other factors that may lead to potential bankruptcy. But most of them may be negated by carefully planning the launch of your company and its first “steps” in the market.
To help you succeed, we have made an 11-step guide on launching your trucking company that will mark every step of your journey to success.
Step 1: Create a business plan
There can be no business without a proper business plan. This plan is an essential step, as it helps grow your business. A proper plan should project at least 3-5 years in the future.
What should your plan include:
Summary
You need to write down all the info on you, the company as a whole, the means to achieve your plans and your expectations. Basically, it’s a miniature version of your business plan. It is very handy to give yourself a bit of motivation and to remind yourself of your strategy.
Company description
Write down your vision of your business: what makes it special, and how YOU make it special.
Operations
What are you planning to haul? Are you going to do something else? Learn the market and plan ahead.
Market analysis
A brief summary of the current state of affairs in the trucking sector. Revisit it from time to time to keep it relevant.
Sales and marketing
What are your thoughts on attracting your customers?
Financial projections
A roadmap to achieving your financial goals. Try to include every minute detail – you will thank yourself later.
Step 2: Get the Commercial driver’s license
FMCSA necessitates all drivers and owner-operators to have a Commercial driver’s license (CDL). So, check whether all of your drivers have it previously to getting your trucking business started. Working without CDL is a severe violation.
Step 3: Get your trucking authority
Every business which works as a hired carrier for vehicles with more than 10,000 gross weight needs to apply for the trucking authority.
To do that, create a unique name for your trucking company, check whether it is available, and file it with the state of your operations. After that, complete your application with the FMCSA.
Step 4: Find a process agent
A process agent is a person that deals with court papers for your business. Each new state of operations requires its own process agent. Working without one is illegal, so do not try to skip this step.
Step 5: Choose a business type
As a businessperson, you have to file taxes for IRS. The type of your company determines the amount of taxes you pay. You can choose any of the following types:
Each of the business types has its benefits and downsides. If you want to make the right choice – consult a tax accountant.
Step 6: Create a bank account
You need to have a different account in the bank for your business for multiple reasons. Firstly, it will be much easier for accounting. Secondly, you will start with a clean credit history, which will be useful when you will need a bank loan. And you need to obtain a business credit card too!
Step 7: Brush up your legal knowledge
Logistics is a vital industry. That is why it is subject to numerous regulations. Take your time to learn them and do everything to stay compliant with them.
Here are some of the things you need to do:
Step 8: Get an insurance
Large trucks are often blamed for causing a lot of serious road accidents. Unfortunately, it is true. Such large vessels are hard to control, especially if the trucking company employs inexperienced drivers (which becomes more common with each passing year). To defend your business from collapsing under the potential damage costs a proper insurance is needed. Cargo, physical damage, and Commercial liability insurance are the most popular options among the trucking business owners.
Spend as much time as needed to look for the most suitable offers. Keep in mind that the insurance is needed to protect your business from financial losses, not to cause them. So, be reasonable and calculate your costs.
Step 9: Financing
Most of the up-and-coming companies have to get their starting budget through loans or investors. Even if the funds are readily available – your business still needs a loan in the future. No one knows what can happen, so we advise you to start preparing an emergency budget in advance.
Banks and credit unions can be good sources of loans. Although banks usually require at least two years of operation. Finding investors can be tricky, but still doable. By the way, our new service will deal with this problem. But we will tell you more about it later.
Banks and credit unions can be good sources of loans. Although banks usually require at least two years of operation. Finding investors can be tricky, but still doable. By the way, our new service will deal with this problem. But we will tell you more about it later.
Lastly, you can ask your friends or relatives for a loan or an investment, but involving them in your trucking business might not be a good thing to do.
Step 10: Find a vehicle
There can be no trucking business without trucks. When all the legal documents, insurance policies, licenses, and registrations required by law are ready – you can start looking for actual trucks. Here are the types of leases most companies use:
Operators
This gives you full possession of the vehicle. However, all the permits, taxes, and maintenance are needed to be paid for. After your lease ends – you need to return it.
Lease-purchase
An option for low-credit business. In this case, the trucks are financed right away, but the interest becomes bigger.
Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause
You pay a down payment upfront. After the end of the lease, you can pay for the vehicle’s balance or let the leaser sell it, gaining some money after the purchase is complete.
Step 11: Hire staff
Here it is – the final step. Do not underestimate it. Your staff can become a salvation for your business, or cause its downfall.
Let’s start with drivers. Before hiring a potential candidate – check his profile. Look for violations, cases of driving under the influence, work experience, and his previous vehicles. You need professionals who will bring you money, not just someone who drives your vehicles and gets your business in trouble.
When you’ve got yourself a team of drivers – time to pay attention to the other workers. For comfortable work, you need to have at least three departments – safety, accounting, and dispatch. They will free you from unnecessary work. And if you spend as much time hiring workers for these departments as you spent hiring drivers – your business will be in good hands.
As you can see, each point of the company’s creation process influences its future. So, it might be a good idea to not take this endeavor all by yourself. You can hire some outside help or you can get an easy start by just buying an already existing business.
TruckStaff Solutions provides you with both of these options, and even adds some additional ones. Our specialists can help you to build up from scratch, sell you an established business with a clean history, sell a company with a 100% Amazon performance rating, outsource safety, accounting, and dispatch departments, and do many other things that will help your business.
TruckStaff Solutions provides you with both of these options, and even adds some additional ones. We can help you to build a company from scratch, sell you an established business with a clean history, sell a company with a 100% Amazon performance rating, outsource safety, accounting, and dispatch departments, and do many other things that will help your business.
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