7 Steps And 50 Ideas To Starting A Successful Trucking Business
Trucking Is One Of The Largest And Most Profitable Industries In The United States.
Without small trucking companies and the drivers who work for them, the economy would grind to a halt.
So why not get into an industry that will always be in high demand, like trucking, by starting your own lucrative trucking business?
Before you begin, it’s a good idea to take the time to develop a basic business plan that covers the type of equipment you need, whether you plan to buy or lease that equipment, and who your drivers will be. You can get your equipment after you have an insurance coverage plan, but it is important to know the type of equipment you want, as you will need to know the associated costs before beginning this process.
Believe it or not, getting equipment and insurance is just one piece to starting your own trucking company! There are many other steps to starting and running a trucking company, and it can be a confusing process.
With These Seven Steps, You Can Set Your Trucking Business Up For Success And Stay Organized, Too.
1: Form Your Transportation Company And Get The Transportation Authority
To start a trucking company, the first thing you’ll need to do is get the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) number and the carrier’s operating authority number. (MC) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Along with insurance, equipment purchases or leases, and other required filings and registrations, the process can be long and complicated. Services like the Apex Startup Program, our startup program, help you start your own trucking business. We take care of the tedious parts by collecting all the necessary information, assisting with the formation of the entity in its home state, completing and filing the appropriate registration applications. Once your transport company has active authority, we will send you a logbook with all the documentation organized and ready to use.
2: Find Loads To Transport
If you’re new to the trucking industry, online freight exchanges can help you find cargo so you can start hauling. You can try free freight exchanges, like our NextLOAD.com freight exchange, or pay a monthly subscription to other freight exchanges. Freight exchanges can help you create and establish relationships with a variety of brokers and shippers. Once you have a strong customer base, you can build on those relationships and even in some cases start shipping your customers directly and establish your own lanes, generating a steady regular income.
3: Check Credit Regularly
Regularly checking your customers’ credit before moving a load is one of the best habits and helps you, screen brokers and shippers. Doing so will help 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. When you factor in with Apex Capital, you get an unlimited free credit check, which can help you make the best decisions for your transportation business.
4: Know Your Expenses
It is important to know the business expenses of your transport company. A profit and loss statement or accounting software are two of the most effective ways to track insurance payments, truck maintenance and repairs, truck and trailer financing payments, fuel, office expenses, wages, and other monthly expenses. You can even track tax deductions, which can help you save money. When you have all of your business expenses in one place, you’ll know exactly how much it costs you to run your business. Knowing how much it costs to run your trucking business is necessary to ensure your business is profitable. Setting a minimum amount for your cost per mile will help you never get paid below your cost or fall short on a load.
5: Save Money On Fuel
Fuel can be up to 40% of a trucking company’s operating expenses. Getting a fuel card can help you track and manage your fuel purchases and save money at the pump. When you use a fuel card, like the Apex Fuel Card, you always get the cash price or better, including additional discounts, at thousands of truck stops. Using a fuel card also gives you other benefits, like fuel management tools, IFTA reporting information, fuel theft protection, and more.
6: Manage Cash Flow
As a start-up business, you just spent a small fortune to pay your insurance premiums and finance or buy your truck and now you have to wait for30, 60, or even 90 days for your customers to pay. You may not be able to access a line of credit from a bank to keep your trucks running. As an alternative to bank financing, a factoring company can provide you with operating cash flow by purchasing your freight bills. Freight invoice factoring is a smart way for small and midsize trucking companies to manage cash flow and keep their trucks on the road. Instead of waiting for your customer to pay, factoring companies will advance you a percentage of your load the same day you deliver,
7: Get Office Help
If you are starting a trucking business as a small operator or owner-operator, you will need to take the time to document and contact your customers to make payment. If you don’t have good systems in place, this can take a lot of time away from running your trucking business. Having a partner who can handle the red tape and collection simplifies this process, so you can spend your time focusing on administration. One of the benefits of factoring is that your factoring company handles your clients’ collections for you. Just make sure you work with a factoring company that treats its clients in a professional, courteous, and civil manner.
Do you have a truck sitting somewhere in your house with no idea what to do with it? Or are you looking for a lucrative business idea to earn a few extra dollars this year? Why not buy a truck and use it to set up any of these 50 lucrative businesses that we have carefully researched for you below:
50 Best Truck Related Small Business Ideas
1) Moving Service: You can never go wrong starting a moving service. From business owners looking to move goods from one place to another to homeowners moving from one home to another, there will never be a shortage of people to patronize your moving business.
2. Pest Control Business – A truck is one of the most important pieces of equipment to start a pest control business because you would need it to move your tools, equipment, and employees from one customer’s home to another. If you already have a truck, then you already have the main equipment to start a pest control business.
3. Mobile Food Truck: Mobile food trucks are trending and very profitable right now. You can convert your truck into a mini restaurant or you can sell packaged meals from your truck. You can target employees who need lunch or busy areas where you can always get people to buy food from you.
4. Mobile Vending Machine: Another thing you can do with your truck is to start a vending machine service. You can use the truck to take your vending machine to events, recreational parks, exhibitions, museums, schools, and anywhere there is a busy crowd. This would earn you more money than parking your vending machine in a permanent spot.
5. Courier service: You could also earn a lot of money by helping people transport letters, parcels, parcels, and purchased items from one place to another. This is a very lucrative business if you can get a lot of customers to patronize your courier service.
6. Truck Driving School: Many people who understand that there is a lot of money to be made in the trucking industry want to learn how to drive trucks. It is a very good business idea to start a truck driving school and help people get their driver’s licenses and permits to drive trucks.
7. Transportation/Transportation Service: This is one of the most popular companies in the US and is a multi-billion dollar industry. You can start your own business that helps people transport commercial goods from state to state and sometimes across borders.
8. Mobile Photo Studio: Pick up some photography gear, turn your truck into an awesome photo studio, and start hopping from event to event — especially events for toddlers, teens, and college students. Many people would love to have memories of past events with them, especially when there is a very beautiful studio to take photos.
9. Truck Rental: If you don’t have time to do business with your own truck, you can still make money by renting it to other people for reasonable rates.
10. Personal Trainer: A lot of people don’t have time to go to the gym for a workout. If you have a truck, you can easily transport training equipment to the homes of clients who prefer personal training from the comfort of their own homes.
11. Specialized Transportation – You can start a business that involves the transportation of specialized items such as human blood or human parts for healthcare organizations and other sensitive items that cannot be transported through regular transportation services.
12. Mobile Auto Detailing – Many vehicle owners need a thorough cleaning, finishing, and restoration of their vehicles. You can make a lot of money if you can find a way to get this service to them instead of putting them through the stress of going to your shop.
13. Ambulance Service: Another lucrative business you can do with your truck is to turn it into an ambulance service to transport sick, injure,d or deceased people.
14. Mobile Private Tutor: With a very good truck, you can easily move from one home to another offering private teaching services to students. You can even teach other non-academic subjects like computer training, baking, cooking, and just about anything people are interested in learning about.
15. Livestock/Farm Produce Transportation: Farmers often need transportation services for their produce, especially on days when they need to transport it to market for sale. This is another lucrative niche that you can choose from.
16. Party Transportation: You can offer services to party vendors who need to transport food, decoration supplies, and other party supplies from one location to another.
17. Recreational Vehicle [RV] Rental Services: Another lucrative business idea for truck owners is to convert their truck into an RV. Many people rent these vehicles for camping and weekend getaways.
18. Furniture Collection Service: You can also offer transportation services to interior designers, furniture manufacturers, upholstery services, and people who need to transport furniture from one place to another.
20. Mobile homes: Many of the major cities in the country have housing problems and many people cannot find suitable places to live. Mobile homes are one of the innovative ideas that people have come up with as a way to solve housing challenges. You can consider building such houses and selling or renting them to interested people.
20. Mobile Gaming Center – You can set up a mobile gaming center inside your truck so you can drive it too crowded places or events where lots of people might patronize you.
21. Mobile Grocery Store/Market: Mobile grocery stores are also very lucrative. These days, people are too busy or lazy to visit supermarkets every time they need to buy products. A mobile grocery store that allows them to get what they need is always a relief to people, especially when the products are reasonably priced.
22. Garbage Removal and Removal Services: With a very good truck, you can set up your garbage disposal and removal service and make money from it.
23. Mobile Boutique: Turn your van into a nice big shop with attractive, reasonably priced merchandise, and you’d make a lot of money out of it.
24. Transportation Services Affiliate: The trucking and transportation industry is very competitive. If you are joining the industry, you may not have access to enough customers of your own, but you can overcome this challenge by becoming a trucking services affiliate where you put your truck in the hands of other trucking companies with a lot of customers and then get a commission from them.
25. Ice Cream Parlors: Ice cream trucks have been popular for decades. It’s not too late to start one such business and make a lot of money selling ice cream to little kids and even adults too at amusement parks, homes, and events.
26. Towing Services – If you have ever broken down your vehicle on the road, you will understand how inconvenient it can be and how you wouldn’t mind paying a lot of money to get your vehicle off the highway. You can set up a business that caters to people with this dire and urgent need.
27. Champagne Bars: You can set up a mobile champagne bar for people who would love to have a glass of champagne without the stress of going to a bar. You can target areas where there aren’t as many bars or where a lot of people are hosting events. These are places where you could easily sell champagne.
28. Snow Plow Service: With a good truck and the necessary tools and equipment, you can set up a snowplow service. This is a service in high demand during the winter seasons, but you may need to find something else to do with your truck when it’s not snowing.
29. Mobile Pet Grooming Salon: Mobile pet grooming salons are also very popular as many pet owners find it inconvenient to transport their pets to grooming salons. You would make a lot of money if you allowed pet owners to groom their pets without ever leaving their homes.
30 . Contractors/Building Materials Delivery Service: Another lucrative business idea is to start a business that helps building material sellers and home building contractors transport their goods from one store to another.
31. Mobile Dry Cleaning: A lot of people are switching to patronizing mobile dry cleaning services as it’s more convenient than driving to a dry cleaning center to drop off or pick up their clothes. Mobile dry cleaning is also quick and time-saving as customers can get their clothes on the spot.
32. Moving billboard: You may have seen some moving trucks with big billboards mounted on them or moving trucks with big screens on the body. These people are paid to offer mobile billboard services to business owners and others who want to promote events, services, and people.
33. Smoothie Bar: Another lucrative business you can do with your truck is setting up a smoothie bar. You can target places where people are running, training, or other busy areas.
34. Garden Services: With a truck, you can easily transport garden equipment and earn good money by helping people take care of their flowers and gardens and beautify their homes.
35) Mobile Beauty/Barbing Salons: This is a service almost everyone needs. You can significantly increase your clientele by making your beauty and grooming business mobile.
36. Mobile Bakeries: Fresh hot bread is a must-have delicacy for many people. You can set up a mobile bakery that meets this need. However, you must ensure that you obtain the necessary permits before setting up such businesses because the government is usually very strict when it comes to food-related businesses.
37. Restaurant/Pizza Delivery: Many restaurants need to be able to deliver food to their customers who prefer to order from their homes, offices, or other places convenient to them. It is a great idea to create a business that offers delivery services to multiple restaurants and pizzerias.
38. Farmers Market Trucks: You can set up a mini farmers market inside your truck and sell fresh produce to people.
39. Mobile Mechanic: There’s nothing like having a mobile mechanic to your rescue when your vehicle suddenly breaks down. With a truck in your hands, you can easily transport yourself and all the devices you need to rescue your customers from a pesky vehicle breakdown.
40. Mobile Coffee Shop: Millions of people drink coffee daily. You can make a lot of money catering to the needs of this very large market.
41 . Mobile Clinic – If you have the necessary license and qualification, you can set up a mobile clinic to handle health emergencies. You can even set up a skincare clinic, physical therapy clinic, chiropractic clinic, or any other specific niche that is in high demand.
42. Mobile Bookstore: A mobile bookstore is also a great idea. You can have people borrow books from you, and since you have a truck to drive, it’s easier to deliver and pick up books. You can also set up a cozy reading space inside your truck for people who want a reading space. This type of business would sell very well in student areas, parks, and during school holidays.
43. Tattoo Artist – You can also offer tattoo drawing services with your truck. You can easily drive to your clients’ homes instead of having them drive to your tattoo shop.
44. Mobile Pop-up Cinemas: Another interesting and lucrative business idea that you can do with your truck is to set up a mobile cinema where people can easily watch the latest movies without having to visit a regular cinema.
45. Mobile Brewery: Homebrews are becoming very popular and are in high demand. If you know how to brew delicious beers, you can set up your own mobile brewery and sell it to beer lovers.
46. Juice Bars: The number of people joining the fit family or fitfam as they are often called is on the rise. Many people prefer to drink fresh fruit juice than to drink soft drinks and other carbonated beverages with harmful ingredients. You can earn a lot of money to meet the needs of these people.
47. E-commerce delivery services: The number of online stores is also increasing daily. You can set up a service that helps collect and deliver merchandise on behalf of people who sell products online.
48. Pop-up Retailers – You can use your truck as a pop-up truck and sell different retail items from one place to another.
49. Mobile Gadget Repair Services: A person whose refrigerator or washing machine suddenly breaks down would be very excited to have someone drive over to their house to fix it, as this takes the stress out of transporting broken equipment. turn off gadgets for repairs.
50. Mobile Massage Services: Who doesn’t love a massage from time to time? You can make more sales from your massage business by bringing your services to your clients instead of having them come to you.
You Can Do It
These seven steps and fifty ideas can put you on the right path to starting a successful trucking business. Many people start with a truck and a dream. With a little hard work and dedication,n they lead the growth of their transport company to an impressive fleet. What is your secret? Find the support systems that make your job easier. It can be as small as finding a freight exchange that makes it easy to book loads quickly, a fuel card that saves you thousands on fuel, or a factoring company that provides back-office support. Some steps can add up quickly over time.
