Chris is going from behind the desk to behind the wheel and starting his own trucking company.
Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
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It's Halloween, which is a fun time of year. I love driving down the road and seeing how drivers deck out their trucks. It's fun to see their personalities come through.
What To Expect From Episode 166
We are still slugging through this unprecedented freight market. I wish I knew when things would turn around, I keep thinking it has to be right around the corner, but I have thought that for a year now. I expect we'll see at least a little relief due to the holiday push, but I don't expect it to blow anyone's socks off. Here are the numbers for September.
- Total miles ran– 107,902
- Deadhead miles– 5,141 (4.8%)
- Total revenue- $227,931.30
- All-in rate-per-mile- $2.11 ($0.02 better than last month, $0.20 better than last year)
Haulin Assets had a profit of $16,024.48. Which is more than I would have guessed, based on the revenue number. Still not close to where we want to be, but… all things considered, it could have been worse.
Here are the P&L items that we'll talk about.
- Maintenance and Repairs
- Fuel
Wednesday Oct 16, 2024
Wednesday Oct 16, 2024
Get the full show notes at haulinassetsllc.com
Check out MotorcarrierHQ.com
Find our courses at haulinassetsacademy.com
In this episode we are going to step out of the truck and away from the business and focus on you and your health. This can be a sensitive topic and it's something I have struggled with most of my adult life. I have found something that is working for me better than anything else I have done and want to share it. I'm no health expert, but want to share my story. It a change is something you are looking for, I hope this helps. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the topic, Craig and I talk about some of the challenges the trucking industry is facing because of the crazy amount of fraud going on.
What To Expect From Episode 165
Not everyone cares about their weight. With this and most things in life I take the attitude of to each their own. Do whatever makes you happy in life as long as it isn't impacting someone else. For me, weight is one of those things I love and hate. Because I am in the National Guard, I have to maintain a certain weight standard and it is something I constantly struggle with. I like food too much and I like to eat too much food. I tend to yo-yo. Most years during the summer I lose 20-30 pounds and then gain it back in the winter. This summer I tried something different that is working better than anything else I have ever tried. It is something you can do while on the road so I thought it would be good to share it with you.
It's nothing new, you have probably heard of it. I've been counting macronutrients, commonly referred to as macro nutrients. Neither Craig or I are nutritionists so I am not going to go into the science of it, but I talk about my experience and share what I have been doing in more detail. Basically, I figure out what my macro breakdown needed to by, actually a professional figured that out for me. I use an app to track my macros on a daily basis to make sure I am eating a little less than what my body actually needs so that I lose about a pound a week. Like I said, we go into this in more detail during the episode.
Here are some of the things I typically eat for each meal.
- Breakfast
- Greek yogurt (It's higher in protein than regular yogurt)
- Cottage cheese
- I often mix the cottage cheese and yogurt (I like it my wife doesn't)
- Oatmeal Mix (Oatmeal with water or milk, protein powder, I like vanilla, and fruit)
- Reese's peanut butter cup protein shake (8 ounces of milk, ice cubes, spinach, half a banana, two scoops of PB Fit, one scoop of chocolate protein power, mix it in a blender)
- Lunch
- Chicken breasts 8-11 ounces, grilled or baked with seasoning. You can cook it with a Road Pro 12 volt stove.
- Sandwiches using pitta bread and filled with cold cut lunch meats and cheese or healthy chicken salad.
- Cold cut lunch meat wrapped in cheese for a lower carb option
- Dinner
- Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, makes several meals
- Breakfast burritos or an omelet
- Fish
- Shrimp cocktail, if I want to treat myself
- Tons of healthy dinner recipes, we make a big meal and eat leftovers. I always took as many leftovers as I could when on the road.
- Snacks
- Protein drinks
- Protein bars
- Snickers, not the king size
- Beef jerky
- Boiled eggs
- Egg muffins
- Eating Out
- I still tend to get a burger and fries at least once a week. I just usually don't have the bun, some places call it protein style others call it a lettuce wrap and I only get a regular fry.
- I make healthier choices. When I go to Texas Roadhouse I only eat one roll instead of five
- For example, I recently went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I got the traditional 10 piece non-breaded wings, half with a dry rub half with a sauce and I only dipped a few of them in ranch.
Tips for being successful
- Don't let yourself get hungry
- Focus on hitting your protein goal
- You'll feel fuller and have less cravings
- Don't drink sugary drinks
- Coffee and diet sodas are good
- Water is the best
- Don't beat yourself up if you aren't perfect, you are going to have bad days. If you can follow the plan 80-90% of the time you are going to be successful.
- Eat for fuel, not for fun
Wednesday Oct 02, 2024
Wednesday Oct 02, 2024
Get the full show notes at haulinassetsllc.com
Check out MotorcarrierHQ.com
Find our courses at haulinassetsacademy.com
Holy cow, Hurricane Helene has caused some serious problems. It seems like it has been a while since we have had a hurricane that was this bad. Ashville, NC received over 2 feet of rain and is a zone of devastation. It's not an area we deliver to often, but guess what, we have a load trying to deliver there now. The receiver's parking lot is full of mud and can't take trucks. It could be weeks before they are up and running again. I'll keep you posted on what happens.
We are constantly trying to improve. We start off this episode talking about a few things we have decided to do a little different. We hope both changes will improve our bottom line. One of them should also have a positive impact on our maintenance BASIC score and hopefully on our overall maintenance costs.
What To Expect From Episode 164
We had a really good revenue month, but overall numbers are still not where we want them to be. There are some positives in the numbers that we will talk about throughout this episode.
- Total miles ran– 136,000 (That's a new record)
- Deadhead miles– 10,513 (7.7%, down a little from last month.)
- Total revenue- $283,586.73
- All-in rate-per-mile- $2.09 ($0.03 better than last month, $0.10 better than last year)
Haulin Assets had a profit of $5,189.78. With the big revenue month, I was expecting more. There were some P&L items that impacted net profit.
Here are the P&L items that stick out, we'll talk about them.
- Damages
- Payroll
- Maintenance and Repairs
- Fuel
Wednesday Sep 18, 2024
Wednesday Sep 18, 2024
In episode 160, we talked about CSA scores and how they work and some best practices. Managing the safety program for a trucking company is not an easy job, whether you are an O/O or have a fleet. There is a lot to know and do. So, what happens if you didn’t do a good job with those things and you are under the FMCSA’s microscope?
In these two episodes, Craig and Chris are joined by Alex from Motor Carrier HQ to pick her brain about her experience with the FMCSA, maintaining good ISS scores, and how to get yourself out of a hole if you find yourself in one.
Get the full show notes at haulinassetsllc.com
Check out MotorcarrierHQ.com
Find our courses at haulinassetsacademy.com
Wednesday Sep 04, 2024
Wednesday Sep 04, 2024
In the last episode on safety, we talked about CSA scores and how they work and some best practices. Managing the safety program for a trucking company is not an easy job, whether you are an O/O or have a fleet. There is a lot to know and do. So, what happens if you didn’t do a good job with those things and you are under the FMCSA’s microscope?
In these two episodes, Craig and Chris are joined by Alex from Motor Carrier HQ to pick her brain about her experience with the FMCSA, maintaining good ISS scores, and how to get yourself out of a hole if you find yourself in one.
Get the full show notes at haulinassetsllc.com
Check out MotorcarrierHQ.com
Find our courses at haulinassetsacademy.com
Wednesday Aug 21, 2024
Wednesday Aug 21, 2024
Haulin Assets T-shirts and More
This year has been better than last year, but we are still not where we want to be. Hopefully, things continue to gradually improve as the year goes on. Here is what July looked like.
- Total miles ran– 118,563
- Deadhead miles– 9,649
- Total revenue- $243,804.91
- All-in rate-per-mile- $2.06
Haulin Assets realized another small profit of $10,342.41. That continues our profitability streak of 10 months, but cashflow is still negative and we talk about that a bit, including a big change to help alleviate some of the pressure that causes.
Here are some areas of the P&L that we highlight.
- Factoring
- Fuel
- Repairs
- Taxes and licenses
Wednesday Aug 07, 2024
Wednesday Aug 07, 2024
What do peaches and the FMCSA Safety program have in common. You'll have to listen to find out, but I will tell you, understanding the low hanging fruit principle can help you stay out of hot water with the FMCSA. We cover a lot in this first episode of a two part series on the FMCSA Safety program. It can be tempting to neglect safety, especially when you are struggling to survive in a tough market. However, failing to manage your safety and your FMCSA scores can sink your company faster than low freight rates. Listen to the episode as Craig and I share some great tips when it comes to safety.
What To Expect From Episode 160
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front), If you want to have good CSA scores, be safe, maintain your vehicles, obey traffic laws, and don't break the hours of service rules. With that being said, we give a lot of tips about what the CSA scores are, how they are calculated, and some of the best practices to keep them low. Lower is better. Here is an outline of what we cover.
What Are CSA Scores
Most Motor Carriers receive scores in 7 Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, which wrapped up in a nice little acronym called BASICs. The categories are:
- Unsafe Driving 65%
- Crash Indicator 65%
- Hours-of-Service Compliance 65%
- Vehicle Maintenance 80%
- Controlled Substance 80%
- Hazardous Materials Compliance 80%
- Driver Fitness 80%
- Insurance and Other (This one isn't really scored, it's more like pass or fail)
The percentages are the thresholds, we explain those during the episode.
How You Get Your CSA Score
The simple answer to this question is they come from interventions with the FMCSA/DOT Officers. Those can be anything from roadside inspections to an audit. Most inspections occur at Ports of Entry or because of an inspection that happens when a driver is pulled over for a moving violation or obvious vehicle maintenance issue. One of the biggest contributors to the number of inspections you get is your ISS Score (Inspection Selection System). You can check your score and a lot of other important things regarding your company's history with the FMCSA by logging into their system here.
Understanding The Scoring System
The scoring process is a bit complicated. I am going to over simplify it, but here is the general idea. Every time you are inspected your company receives a score. If there is a violation, you get bad points. If the inspection report is clean, you get good points. The formula the FMCSA uses basically divides the bad points by the good points. If you have more good points than bad, your resulting "measure" will be less than one. If you have more bad points than good points, your "measure" will be higher than one. Good inspections will give you more good points and lower your "measure". Your "measure" is then compared to all the other fleets that are roughly your same size. If you are right in the middle, meaning half the companies have a "measure" lower than yours and half the companies have a "measure" higher than yours, your BASIC score will be 50%. If you are in the top 10%, your score will be 10%, etc. Every BASIC has a threshold, if you are above the threshold you are going to be on the FMCSA's radar. You just became low hanging fruit, if you don't know what that means, listen to the episode.
If you really want to nerd out and dive deep into the methodology and calculations, you can learn a lot by clicking on this link and reading the document.
Understanding The Consequences Of Your CSA Scores
There are several things that happen if your CSA Score exceeds the threshold.
- You are going to get a letter from the FMCSA saying you need to behave and do better
- Your ISS Score is going to increase and your are going to get inspected more, when that happens, most scores get even worse
- If your score stays elevated for a while or if you exceed the threshold in multiple categories, you are way more likely to be audited, that's when the fun really begins
Most audits result in a Safety Rating, either Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory. In part two of the series we will talk about what happens if you get a bad safety rating or if the FMCSA tells you that you need to complete Corrective Action Plan.
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Haulin Assets Academy: https://www.haulinassetsacademy.com/
Motor Carrier HQ: https://www.motorcarrierhq.com/
This is a topic I wish I did not have to cover, but fraud in the trucking industry is going crazy right now and it is affecting all of us. Being dishonest is very short sided and will catch up with you in the long run. There is no place for dishonesty in the business world. In my opinion, fraud is one of the worst forms of dishonesty.
What To Expect From Episode 159
Why is fraud so rampant right now? I have my theories that Craig and I discuss, but I think it stems from the tough market we are in. Here are some of the more common types of fraud that we talk about:
- Double brokered loads (We spend a lot of time on this one)
- Companies that pretend to be the FMCSA, DOT, IRS or State Agency
- Emails from government entities should end with a .gov not .com
- Card skimmers
- New Entrant Audit scams
- Watch out for these domains
Being vigilant and skeptical is your best weapon. Here are some of the things we talk about watching out for:
- Formatting is off on the rate confirmation
- Rate confirmation is missing information, like your company name
- The logo looks blurred or otherwise messed up
- The rate is well above market rate
- Email addresses with a domain that does not match the company
- Gmail, Outlook, iÇloud, Yahoo, etc email domains are a big red flag
- New domains, you can check the domains age at https://www.whatsmydns.net/domain-age
Verify everything, especially when working with someone for the first time
- Independent internet searches
- Call the phone number you find independently, not the one on the paperwork they gave you
- Your factoring company
- Get a second opinion from someone you trust or someone who is an expert
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Haulin Assets Academy: https://www.haulinassetsacademy.com/
I start off this episode ranting a bit about a couple of challenges I faced recently. One involved being dropped from a load that I think was completely unwarranted. The second situation was because of a strong oder in a trailer that wouldn't go away, even after a washout.
What To Expect From Episode 158
We are not where we want to be, but if you look at June of last year verse June of this year, we are in a much better spot. All the trucks are running. Here are the numbers:
- Total miles ran– 118,237 (The sitting truck was back working for about half the month)
- Deadhead miles– 8,806 (7.5%, Creeping up. I have expected this and explain why)
- Total revenue- $244, 523.12
- All-in rate-per-mile- $2.07 (Drop from last month)
Haulin Assets realized a profit of $23,521.93, that is the second best of the year. What has me even happier is that it is $46,983.01 better than last year when we had a loss of $23,461.08. We continue to extend our streak of being in the black, that makes me happy. If we continue to see profit through the summer I will continue to get more and more optimistic that the market is finally turning the corner.
The P&L was pretty bland this month. Additionally, I explain why we were able to have a lower all-in rate-per-mile, but had a higher profit than last month.
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Haulin Assets Academy: https://www.haulinassetsacademy.com/
Throughout my military, business ownership and corporate careers I have held many different types of leadership positions. I have lead groups with just a few people to groups with hundreds of people. I am a much better leader today than I was 20 years ago. I hope this episode will give you some things to think about so you have a leg up to becoming a better leader. Keep in mind that a great leader positively impacts an organization in ways that are immeasurable. Great leadership is a multiplier for your organization.
What To Expect From Episode 157
Whether you are a single owner operator or the owner of a fleet of trucks, you are the leader of your trucking company. I want to share some of the things I have learned over the years about being a good leader. Some of the greatest leadership lessons I have learned came during difficult circumstances. Here are a few of the leadership experiences I have had that have helped me gain experience: Army Engineer Company Commander in Afghanistan, starting and running multiple businesses, running businesses in difficult times and learning how to lead at the Army's Sapper Leader Course under extreme hunger and fatigue.
During this episode, Craig and I break down and expound on the following keys I feel like are imperative to being a good leader for your trucking company. Here they are:
- Provide good direction and guidance
- Good company policies
- The type of drivers you hire
- How big of a company you will be
- Build a good culture
- Safety
- How hard your drivers run
- How your drivers are treated
- Hiring process
- Be a servant leader
- Find ways you can serve your drivers
- Find ways to give your drivers a win
- Be self-aware
- Be honest with yourself, change the things you do that cause problems
Leadership is a life-long endeavor. You should always work on your leadership skills. Here are some ways I like hone my leadership skills.
- Read great books on leadership, here is a list of some of my favorites:
- Good to Great, Jim Collins
- Speed of Trust, Steven
- Start With Why, Simon Sinek
- Biographies
- Ulysses S Grant
- Alexander Hamilton
- Buffet: Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein
- Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
- Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson
- Be reflective
- Get feedback