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"We’re here today to walk you through a two-part series that’s going to help you go through the basics of writing out a business plan to start your trucking company.
What is a business plan? Well, a business plan is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a plan for your business’ future. It’s a way to think through how you want to run your business and coming up with strategies for how to achieve those.
When you’re developing your business plan for your trucking company it’s important to think about what types of services you’re going to provide. These services can be hauling long haul over-the-road, intrastate or interstate, expedited freight, or just full loads.
Who are you going to hire? It’s important to think about who you’re going to hire for your trucking company. When you think about who you’re going to hire that really means are you going to be your driver or are you going to hire a driver? Are you going to have an office staff that is going to help you do your paperwork or are you going to do all of that on your own? Think about your taxes, are you going to need to have a tax consultant? Who is going to be doing your taxes, like your quarterly IFTA taxes and then your regular IRS taxes? Are you going to need additional services like and ELD provider or fuel card? Those are all considered to be staff support so it’s important to decide who you are going to want to help you with your trucking company.
What products or services will you need? You’ll need an ELD that tracks your hours of service compliance. You’ll need an alcohol and drug program in place for a consortium you’ll need your drivers to be in for testing every quarter. You’ll also want a discount fuel card because it offers good savings at the pump. Which can help you gain additional cash flow for your trucking company. Will you need freight factoring? Freight factoring can give you cash flow immediately for your freight bills and provides back-office support so that you aren’t having to collect on your freight bills yourself.
What will be your competitive edge? You can build a competitive edge with a good safety score, reputation with your customers, and industry experience.
Where will you find your customers? A really important thing to think about is where you’re going to get your customers. So, if you’re just starting out, you’re probably going to be using a load board, where you go to find general spot-market freight. If you already have customers or connections that you can take advantage of then use those relationships to gain established customers for the long-run. Lastly, there is also dispatch services that are out there, and they will coordinate your loads for you.
What do you know about your competitors? It’s also important to think about what you already know about your customers. Are they well known in the industry? Maybe they’ve been around longer so their drivers have the experience, or their staff does. Do they have different types of equipment? Maybe it’s newer or older? Those are all things you want to think about when considering the traits of your competitors.
What are your main goals? Setting your goals at the outset is important. Do you want to set up a trucking company that will become a family business for future generations? Do you want to expand your trucking company, adding more trucks in the future? Do you want to start your trucking company as a retirement plan? Maybe you just want to see the country. So, what are your goals?
What is your short-term growth plan? Are there areas that you can cut costs in the short-term? Do you want to go from leasing your truck to owning your truck? You’ll also want to identify where the break-even point is for your trucking company.
What is your long-term growth plan? Now you’ll also want to have a long-term growth plan in place, things you want to think about are adding trucks and drivers over the long run. Another thing to think about is reinvesting a percentage of your profits back into your business to use over the long-term.
Do you want to learn more about how to plan for your trucking company’s future? Watch part two of our business plan series to learn about revenue, expenses, and how to make a profit for your trucking company."
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