How often do you check your performance? If you are an owner-operator or business owner, you know that regular evaluations are crucial for growth. Anyone can get caught up in the daily demands of running a business, but growth requires more than staying busy. It requires periodically taking a candid look at your performance to identify both strengths and weaknesses....

Recently, our country went through another election cycle. Did you vote? Were you on the road and unable to get home in time to cast your ballot? Did you vote early or use an absentee ballot? Regardless of how you answered those questions, voting is a way of participating in our communities and our country. Voting is a very personal subject. It can quickly become a hot-button topic. We have often been told to avoid topics on religion and politics. I want to make it clear that...

Learn how financing or leasing affects truck accident claims, ongoing payments, downtime losses, and financial responsibilities for owner-operators....

Discover how trailer damage can disrupt trucking operations, affect deliveries, and potentially support downtime claims, even when the tractor remains operational....

Paid Off! There are some moments in business that deserve a little celebration. This is one of them. Paying off any major debt is a wonderful accomplishment. Paying off an expedite truck that cost more than a house? That feeling is almost impossible to describe! But we did it. Our truck is PAID OFF! When we first purchased this truck, we knew we were making a huge financial commitment. Anyone who owns an expedite truck knows these aren't your average vehicles. Between the tru...

Old School vs. New School Recently, my husband and I were talking with his sister about her plans to buy a vehicle. She’s looking at a newer used SUV with plenty of bells and whistles. Some people might consider that extravagant, while others appreciate the extra comforts. In her case, she believes this may be her last vehicle, so she wants to get the features that matter most to her. That conversation got me thinking about how we make similar decisions when purchasing a se...

Do You Use AI? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more common every day. Is AI something you use personally? Do you use it in your business? I have to admit that at first I was nervous about using the new technology. Lately, I have found it useful for both business and personal uses. In business, I have found that it helps me to put my thoughts together in a more professional way. Some might say that the work is no longer mine. I will politely disagree. Remember when yo...

A trucking career ages in one of two directions. Some drivers come into the industry with a sprint mentality. They run hard, grab every load, chase every mile, and try to squeeze the most money out of every week. It feels good at first. It feels like momentum. It feels like ambition. But the road has a way of showing you the limits of that approach. The body starts to tighten. Sleep gets shorter. Stress gets louder. The job becomes something you endure instead of something yo...

Autonomy is one of those words that gets tossed around in trucking circles like everyone agrees on what it means. But out here, running freight in a straight truck with your name on the door, autonomy isn’t a slogan. It’s the oxygen of the job. It’s the difference between feeling like you’re steering your own life or just riding along in someone else’s schedule....

Stability in trucking does not mean regularity, it means consistency. Transportation is tied to market forces which tend to run in cycles, like everything else. Consistency in trucking is recognizing cycles and planning for them. When you choose your loads at random and don’t know your numbers for Cost Per Mile (CPM) or your daily rate needed to be profitable, planning for down markets is nearly impossible....