You know, I love to drive. I love to drive a big truck and I love to drive my pick-up, I even love to drive my wife's car. I no longer drive a big truck for a living, but that doesn't mean that I don't think that it is the best ride in the world. There is no better ride than a big truck. I will be honest with you, I didn't start out as a truck driver, I went through the whole " you have to get a good education" process and I guess it ended up being good for me, but I always wanted to drive a big truck and I finally did learn how and I did go out on the road for a couple of years as a company driver. What an education that was. The experience showed me what the trucking world was really about and what good people there are in the industry.
It's interesting, most people on the street do not consider a trucker as a business. They consider the little sandwich franchise on the corner a business, yet that thing cost about $100,000 less than the trucking business of one owner operator. Trucking is a business with large assets, cash flow, expenses and hopefully profit. Truckers are serious about their business and they are serious about where they conduct their business, the roads. There is not another group of people (this includes Legislators, lobby groups and safety organizations), who are more concerned with the safety and condition of our roadways. All you have to do is get on the CB for an hour and listen, you will get the picture.
Are there bad truckers who are unsafe? Sure there are some people in every group that are marginal, but I have met and driven amoung many truckers and the bad ones are very few. Most truckers are very concerned with safety and its the four wheelers that usually cause the problems. Unfortunately, all too often the truck gets blamed for a stupid mistake by a four wheeler because the truck is not as easily manouverable and is big enough for everyone to see. Then other small vehicle drivers blame the truck for some bad manouvering that was probably caused by the truck trying to avoid a car that made a stupid move.
I am very concerned with the trucking business right now, in fact, I am very concerned with the fact that I love to drive. The way fuel prices are going is making it really hard for truckers to make a living and it is getting harder for me to do what I love to do, drive. It seems that you have to be a very large company now with hundreds of trucks to even consider making a profit in the low margin trucking industry. What does it mean for owner operators, even less time with your family just to get enough miles to try and break even or yield some small profit? What about liquidation. Who will buy your equipment with fuel prices this high? I don't know about you, but I love to drive and I am not going to quit. The only problem is that I need more money to buy this expensive fuel. Yes, it is not a fuel price problem it is a cash flow problem. Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki in their book "Why We Want You To Be Rich", lay it all on the line. They are right, the middle class will disappear and there will only be rich and poor. The rich will be driving and I want to drive, I hope you do too. Ask me about what I have done.
I changed my mind. You don't have to ask, I'll just tell you. I have found a way to use the power of the internet to make money while I sleep. If you need to know more, you can ask.
Robert Burghardt
Tags: Driving On The Road Fuel Prices Business Opportunities
