Haulin Assets

#91. Annual Planning for 2022

Planning for the coming year is one of the most important things you can do for you company. My brother Chet is going to cringe when he reads this, because he hates over used cliches, but I am going to use it anyway. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Or a the very least, you are not going to be as successful as you could have been. Over the years I have become a big fan of planning. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I have seen how much of a positive impact it has had on all of my businesses over the years. I attribute a lot of my success to annual planning. If I break it down by how much time I spend doing it vs the benefit it brings, it is probably the most valuable thing I do. Let me say that again, it is the most valuable thing I do. That's saying a lot.

What To Expect From Episode 91

My philosophy with planning is that you should only have 2-3 big goals for the year. These should be very impactful for your business. If you have too many, you'll get spread too thin and either won't do them all or you won't do any of them very well. Each goal will typically have 3ish tasks associated it. We have done some of the main planning for Haulin Assets for 2022 and I want to share with you our main goals and their tasks.

1. Grow by 5 trucks
   1. Decide Direction
      1. Owner Operators or Hired Drivers
      2. Purchase, new/used
      3. Brand of trucks and trailers
   2. Work on Financing
   3. Make sure we are able to attract and retain quality drivers
2. Improve Scalability
   1. Start using a TMS (Transportation Management System)
      1. Evalute different TMS's
      2. Implement the one we choose
   2. Use a better method to track and issue driver pay
3. Establish direct shipper relationships (Probably 3^rd or 4^th Quarter)
   1. Create an outline with targets and dates to accomplish this goal (1st quarter)
   2. Hire someone to help us build relationships and possibly start a brokerage
4. Improve our financial strength (This one doesn't really take much time, but is incredibly important so I want to make sure we have it as a defined goal)
   1. Savings
      1. $15,000 in operating capital per truck
      2. Build savings to 10% of outstanding debt
      3. Accomplish 1 & 2 before we take any distributions
   2. Pay down debt

In this episode, Craig and I go into more detail about planning and we talk about the Haulin Assets goals for 2022.

Impact Tip

Just Do It. Annual planning is not the most fun or glamorous thing you will do in your business. I would argue that it is one of the most important things you can do and possibly the most important thing you can do. Make it a priority and do it!

#90. October 2021 Financials

We have MERCH!!! T-Shirts to be exact. I think they look pretty cool and say catchy things. Chet and I have bets placed on which tagline is going to sell better. I hope you pick mine. Buy a shirt to place your vote and spread the Haulin Assets message. You can purchase a shirt by going to the motorcarrierhq.com online store. They are $25 each, shipping is included in the price.

The good times keep rolling along, October 2021 was another good month for the financials and the bottom line. By the end of the month we are starting to see some mild rate increases typical of the 4th quarter. Feels like it happened a little later than normal, but this year has been anything but normal.

What To Expect From Episode 90

Some very good looking numbers.

• Total miles ran – 43,903
• Deadhead miles – 2,591 (5.9%)
• Total revenue - $121,014
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.76

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $36,749.68

Impact Tip

Create a savings plan. Ours is to have $15,000 in operating cash in our checking account per truck that we are running. Then to maintain a cash reserve in savings equal to 10% of our outstanding debt. We currently have about $750k in debt, because we just got our 5^th truck and trailer so $75k in our savings reserve. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) The other plan I came up with early on was just too complicated and hard to scale. I think this one is better.

#89. Hiring a Truck Driver: the Mechanics

Good truck drivers are THE key ingredient to a successful trucking company. If you haven't hired a truck driver, or if your process for hiring and onboarding drivers could use some help, this episode is a must listen. In the intro to the episode I speak about Colin Powell's 13 rules that you can learn all about in his book, "It Worked For Me", you should check it out.

What To Expect From Episode 89 We have talked about our hiring philosophy and what we look for in a driver. In this episode we take a very deep dive into hiring drivers and cover many of the mechanics of the hiring process. We will go over the steps we take, the paperwork we collect, how we screen drivers, what we do to onboard them and how we try to make them a part of our team.

Check out the full show notes here.

#88. September 2021 Financials

September 2021 financials were great giving us another strong month.

What To Expect From Episode 88

Before we dive into the financials, Craig and I compare onboarding a new driver to my marriage. It wasn't all peaches and cream. We talk a bit about some of the things that will help make the process run a bit more smoothly.

Some very good looking numbers.

• Total miles ran – 46,541
• Deadhead miles – 2,376 (5.1%)
• Total revenue - $127,527
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.74

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $38,702.03.

Impact Tip

Fail to plan, plan to fail. We are coming up on the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. Now is the time to start planning for next year. What are your goals for 2022 and to also take a serious look at your 3-5 year plan. The best companies always do annual planning. Even if you are in this by yourself, you need to do this. Don’t just have a plan in your head. Make is a deliberate process and write the plan down.

#87. How Much Does it Cost to Sit for a Day?

Back in Episode 36, you can listen to it by clicking here, we talked about the cost of sitting for a day to wait for a better paying load. If you are like me, I can't remember what I ate yesterday, it might not hurt to go back and listen to that episode again. In this episode we are going to analyze a similar question, but instead of looking at if from the front end of a load, we are going to consider the back end of a load.

What To Expect From Episode 87

Dealing with shippers and receivers is one of the most frustrating things about running a trucking company. As carriers, we are held to their schedule when it comes to pickup and deliver times and those usually are built to benefit their efficiency, not our efficiency. We talk a bit about why shippers and receivers schedule the way they do and how that affects us as carriers.

Receiver's schedules affect our profitability so we have to take into account transit time and sit time with every load we accept. Not all loads are created equally. The wrong load may look good when you look at rate per mile, but it may not be as good as another load with a lower rate per mile when you factor in transit time. It often boils down to how much transit time the shipper and/or receiver has built into the load. Many add some extra time to make sure the carrier arrives on time and that can have bad consequences for trucking companies.

We dive into several of the factors regarding transit time you need to consider when accepting loads.

#86. August 2021 Financials

Ahhhh, the ups and downs of trucking. I started the last financial episode show notes with the same phrase. The roller coaster continues, we went from a record profit  in June to a loss in July to another record profit in August. last month to a loss this month. Hold on tight as Craig and I explain it all.

What To Expect From Episode 86

This episode is a fun one to talk about. It was low on drama and high on results. It's not often we have a month where repairs and maintenance were just over $2,000, and that is with 4 trucks running. That is a very good sign.

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 46,210 
• Deadhead miles – 3,260 (7.1%)
• Total revenue - $116,991 (All 4 trucks running for the first time.)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.53 (Great Rate Per Mile)

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $43,017.42. 

Impact Tip

Seize the day. The freight market is very good right now. Take advantage of it. We elaborate on this tip during the episode so be sure to give it a listen or a watch.

 

———

Website: http://bit.ly/haulinassets

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haulinassetspodcast/

iTunes: http://bit.ly/ha-itunes

Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ha-google-podcasts

Stitcher: http://bit.ly/ha-stitcher

Motor Carrier HQ: http://bit.ly/motor-carrier 

#85. How to Manage Your Cashflow

Your company's cashflow can either make or break you. It is very important to understand the difference between cashflow and your net income or profit and loss. Some people treat them as the same thing, and that can get you into a lot of trouble. In this episode we'll try to bring some clarity to the subject to help you avoid some of the more common missteps people take when it comes to managing cashflow.

What To Expect From Episode 85

Managing your cashflow is one of the more important topics trucking company owners need to understand well. It's an important subject for any business owner, but incredibly important for trucking companies because it's a very cash intensive business and margins are thinner than they are in many other businesses. We start off the episode by explaining the difference between cashflow and net income. We spend most of the rest of the episode talking about the following times in a trucking company's life cycle when cashflow tends to be a challenge:

At startup

When you are growing

When you stop factoring

When freight rates decrease

When fuel prices increase, but rates don't

———

Website: http://bit.ly/haulinassets

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haulinassetspodcast/

iTunes: http://bit.ly/ha-itunes

Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ha-google-podcasts

Stitcher: http://bit.ly/ha-stitcher

Motor Carrier HQ: http://bit.ly/motor-carrier 

#84. July 2021 Financials

Ahhhh, the ups and downs of trucking. We went from a record profit last month to a loss this month. The situation is not as dire as it might sound. There were some one-time expenses that created the loss. Craig and I will explain it all.

What To Expect From Episode 84

Craig and I start off this episode by talking about a YouTube video I recently watched of a commencement address Admiral McRaven, a Navy Seal, gave. It's a 16 minute speech where he talks about 10 lessons for changing the world. While you may not have ambitions to change the world, these lessons will help you in your life and in your business. If you follow even a couple of them, you might just do more good than you think. We discuss a couple of Admiral McRaven's lessons:

1. Respect everyone
2. Life is not fair, keep moving forward

I highly recommend you watch his address. You can find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc&t=13s 

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 33,293
• Deadhead miles – 1,960 (5.9%)
• Total revenue - $82,041 (Three trucks running, forth one hit the road the last couple days of the month.)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.46 (Great Rate Per Mile)

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $3,933.94.

In the episode, we cover the reasons we had a loss. The biggest two are: first, we added a new truck and there were costs getting it on the road and second, we replaced the turbo on truck #1.

Impact Tip

Don’t spend it all in one place. I think I am going to try to figure out how many different ways I can say the same thing so saving money will probably be a reoccurring theme in the impact tip section of the podcast. If you had a great month, don't waste the profits on something you'll regret.

#84. July 2021 Financials

Ahhhh, the ups and downs of trucking. We went from a record profit last month to a loss this month. The situation is not as dire as it might sound. There were some one-time expenses that created the loss. Craig and I will explain it all.

What To Expect From Episode 84

Craig and I start off this episode by talking about a YouTube video I recently watched of a commencement address Admiral McRaven, a Navy Seal, gave. It's a 16 minute speech where he talks about 10 lessons for changing the world. While you may not have ambitions to change the world, these lessons will help you in your life and in your business. If you follow even a couple of them, you might just do more good than you think. We discuss a couple of Admiral McRaven's lessons:

1. Respect everyone
2. Life is not fair, keep moving forward

I highly recommend you watch his address. You can find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc&t=13s 

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 33,293
• Deadhead miles – 1,960 (5.9%)
• Total revenue - $82,041 (Three trucks running, forth one hit the road the last couple days of the month.)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.46 (Great Rate Per Mile)

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $3,933.94.

In the episode, we cover the reasons we had a loss. The biggest two are: first, we added a new truck and there were costs getting it on the road and second, we replaced the turbo on truck #1.

Impact Tip

Don’t spend it all in one place. I think I am going to try to figure out how many different ways I can say the same thing so saving money will probably be a reoccurring theme in the impact tip section of the podcast. If you had a great month, don't waste the profits on something you'll regret.

#83. How to Hire Great Truck Drivers

Drivers are such an important part of your business. Two of the common descriptions that truck drivers use to describe each other are professional drivers vs steering wheel holders. What we cover in this episodes dives into the difference between the two.

What To Expect From Episode 83

Hiring drivers is hard. We talk a lot about the hiring process and what to look for in a driver. Here are our main discussion points:

• What type of driver do you look for
• How do you find them
• How do you keep them

A question I get asked about all the time that is related to the driver topic is, "Can I start a trucking company without a CDL?". The short answer is you can, but the first several drivers you hire are going to be the difference between being successful or not. Craig and I dive a bit deeper into this topic too.