Haulin Assets

#118. November 2022 Financials

Every month that goes by I tell myself we are closer to getting through this rough patch. I am really optimistic that we are either at the bottom of the valley or very close to it and by March of next year we will be climbing out to better times. I'm not sure how steep that climb will be, it may be gradual, but at least we will be moving in the right direction. 

What To Expect From Episode 118

We start off the episode by talking about some recent meetings we had with shippers and some of the lessons we learned. Make sure to listen because it will have some really good information for any owner operator or fleet owner. November was better than October and I think December will be better than November. Craig and I talk through the numbers for the month, but here is a snapshot.

• Total miles ran – 77,557 (Close to our best month, but still not where it should be)
• Deadhead miles – 3,162 (4.1%, really good)
• Total revenue - $169,215.25 (Much better than last month, but still almost $20k down from our high)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.18 (Still tough, but slightly better than it was last month)

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $5,015.91. Not where we want things to be, but better than a loss. With 9 trucks running, I would like to see that number consistently over $30k.

A couple of the things we talk about regarding the P&L are:

• A $2,000 hiring expense
• Fuel, 45% of our revenue, yikes!

Impact Tip

Go talk to 5 new shippers within the next two weeks. When you meet with shippers you are doing sales. I have a lot of experience in sales and sales is a numbers game. For example, for every 10 phone calls you make, you may get 3 face-to-face appointments and out of those you may get 1 sale. A big chunk of sales is having the discipline to make the "cold calls", set the appointments and meet with people. If you do that consistently, the sales will come.

#117. October 2022 Financials

To start off the episode I tell a story about a problem I have never faced with one of our loads and answer a question I get asked all the time by people who are in the process of starting a trucking company. After that, Craig and I talk about the crazy month of October.

What To Expect From Episode 117

October was another tough month. We had two trucks sitting and a third truck that only ran about half as many miles as it should have. That put us nearly 25,000 miles short of where we would like to be and was the biggest impact on our P&L. Here are the numbers:

• Total miles ran – 63,455 (Significant drop)
• Deadhead miles – 4,495 (7.0%, highest we have had in a while)
• Total revenue - $134,281.24 (Lowest in 8 months)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.12 (Significant drop, lowest it has been in a really long time. Freight rates were just not good in October. I don’t have November numbers yet, but I am pretty confident November was better, especially the latter half of the month.)

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $20,825.09. Two months in a row with a loss. Is the sky falling? I don’t think so. I think all in all we can get by as long as we don't average more than one truck off the road. Hiring drivers in a timely manner is crucial. Craig and I dive into the two main reasons I feel like we had such a big lost, a low number of miles and a freight market that is struggling.

We also talk about a few expenses on the P&L that were outside of normal.

• Fuel
• Adding Truck 09
• Maintenance and repairs
• IFTA

#116. Book Review: Can’t Hurt Me

My favorite episodes are ones where I feel like listeners get some good nuggets of wisdom out of them. I think this is one of those episodes. You are probably expecting a financial review for this episode, but we're not ready and you'll get something else. Instead, we tell an interesting story from the road and we review a book that can be life changing, if you embrace it's principles.

What To Expect From Episode 116

I have been talking about the incident that I haven't been ready to talk about for two months, well, I am ready to talk about it. Craig and I discuss a significant issue that occurred with one of our trucks and drivers in September. You'll want to listen to this episode just for this story. On top of that, there is an abundance of good content about a book I just finished that I really loved.

I recently finished listening to an audio book that I feel like I really relate to, and it is full of lots of great lessons anyone can learn from to make their life better. The book is "Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds" by David Goggins. David is a retired Navy Seal and one of the best endurance sports athletes in the world. His life experience and how he views our existence is inspiring and there are lots of lessons we all can learn from the book to make us better at all aspects of our lives. He also issues 10 challenges that we can follow to help us along a path of perpetual improvement. Below I list 6 of my favorite lessons and challenges from the book. I encourage you to read or listen to it. You can learn more about it be clicking here. Comment on your favorite lessons once you have had a chance to pick it up.

1. Life is not fair, don't use that as an excuse and let it hold you back.
2. Create an "Accountability Mirror". It will help you be self-aware and hold you accountable to achieve self-improvement.
3. Get out of your comfort zone.
4. Be willing to work harder than the next person.
5. Remove the governor in your brain.
6. Be uncommon.

Craig and I talk about these 6 lessons and challenges and why they stuck out to me. I hope you read the book and enjoy it as much as I did.

#115. Give Me My Money

Managing your Accounts Receivables well so you are paid promptly by your customers can be the difference between operating smoothly and being tight on cash. We recently had a glitch in our accounting system that prevented a bunch of invoices from being sent out. We didn't notice the problem for several weeks, which delayed payments and almost caused us to have to dip into our savings account so we had money to operate. It was a good reminder that in business invoicing clients and staying on top of your receivables is extremely important. So here you go, I hope you like it.

What To Expect From Episode 115

If you have listened to this podcast for very long, you probably know that I also own a factoring company, iThrive Funding. Factoring companies are usually pretty good at managing receivables and I think iThrive Funding does an exceptional job at it. In this episode, Craig and I bring in a guest, Farrah, from iThrive Funding to help share some of the best practices iThrive uses to keep its average days to pay low. Here is a snapshot of what we cover.

The Process

1. Gather the paperwork and create the invoice
2. Make sure the invoice and accompanying paperwork are sent to the right place (This is the number one mistake people make)
3. 7 Days after the invoice is sent, send an email that confirms they received all the paperwork and that they have all the info the need to send a payment
4. 25 Days after the invoice is sent, send an email asking for a payment status
5. 35 Days after the invoice was sent you should have received the payment, if you haven't make a PHONE CALL to see what is going on
6. Call every other business day until you have a resolution

Tips and Tricks

• Identify issues early, step 3 is the key
• Make sure you are sending the invoice to the right place (We explain this one in detail so make sure you listen)
• Make sure all the paperwork is in order, common issues include:
  • Missing pages of the bill of lading or rate confirmation
  • Scans or pictures of paperwork that are difficult to read
  • Missing signatures
  • Missing BOLs (Bills of Lading) when there are multiple drops
  • Unresolved claims, shortages, etc

Free Credit Checks

iThrive Funding is offering a free version of credit checks. The website to get the credit checks can be accessed by clicking here. Before you can use the system you have to get in contact with Farrah by calling her at (385) 430-2315 or you can send her an email at farrah@ithrivefunding.com. She will get you the login information you will need and give you some tips and tricks for using the system.

Impact Tip

Do something today that will strengthen your personal finances. Why do you put your oxygen mask on before your child’s, even though it is kind of counter intuitive. If you don’t take care of yourself first (If you’re not strong) you can’t help anyone. Same goes for finances. Your personal finances are the adult and your business is your kid. If you can’t manage your personal finances, you aren’t going to be able to manage your much more complicated business finances. If you have bad personal spending habits, your personal finances are going to bleed your business dry. Make sure your house is in order.

#114. September 2022 Financials

Another month has come and gone and it's time for a financial episode. It's a pretty interesting market right now and we start off the episode talking about that. I also mentioned a Soldier I work with who had an accident that is likely to leave him paralyzed from the waist down. If you are able to donate to help him and his family, it would be greatly appreciated. He has a Go Fund Me page you can access here.

What To Expect From Episode 114

BLUF (Bottom line up front), we lost money in September, it wasn't much, however we also had a lot of one off expenses that skewed our numbers a bit. We also had two trucks sitting for some of the month so revenue wasn't quite as high as it should have been. This month's P&L was pretty chaotic, Craig and I dive into the details and explain it all.

• Total miles ran – 78,386 (New record, but still not where it should be for 8 trucks, should be closer to 90k)
• Deadhead miles – 4,094 (5.2%)
• Total revenue - $187,637.46 (Record, but should be over $200k)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.39 (Drop from last month, but it is still better than average over the last 6 months)

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $5,326.76. This month was really just one of those months that was a sacrifice to the gods of the up and down trucking industry. A lot of things kind of came together, in not such a great way, this month and we lost money.

Here is a few of the things that impacted the P&L that we talk about.

• Bank charges, $2.5k in loan origination fee
• Damages, $12.5k
• About $10k in repairs and maintenance, a bit on the high side, but not crazy high
• $4.5k in HVUT (2290)
• $500 in travel, refer to the incident that has not yet been named.

Impact Tip

Try to manage time off. October through December typically have the best freight rates of the year. Avoid taking time off during these months. I would much rather as an owner operator work hard through the holidays, and then take time off in January and February when rates are often at their worst. Same thing for drivers, try to work with them to limit time off in the 4th quarter and take it in the 1st. With that being said, don't sacrifice relationships for a few extra bucks.

#113. Are We Staying True To Our Purpose?

Every once in a while it is good to be called on the carpet. A couple of months ago a listener did that and I really appreciate the time and thought he put into his comments. He put a bit of a novel into a Facebook comment about episode 105. You can find his original comment here. He had some nice things to say, suggested some things he thought we should do better and made some general comments about the podcast. Craig and I spent most of this episode addressing most of the points of his comments. I think that makes this episode another listener questions episode. Eric, this one's for you!

#112. August 2022 Financials

I feel like my head won't stop spinning. There has been a lot going on and to be honest, I think that is going to be the new normal for us until we can bring on another admin employee. At our size, we are on the cusp of being big enough to justify someone to help us out in the office, but we just aren't quite there yet.  We'll probably be redlined until we get there.

What To Expect From Episode 112

Profitability has improved, but we are still struggling with cashflow. The loss we had last month and catchup from adding trucks 6, 7 and 8 in such a short period of time have really stressed our bank account.

• Total miles ran – 67,773 (About 10k less than our record last month, kind of low for 8 trucks)
• Deadhead miles – 3,095 (4.6%, really good)
• Total revenue - $170,655.41
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.52 (Best month since March)

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $29,840.34. Our best bottom line number since March. I am hoping this trend continues. I think we are probably going to have some up and down months over the next couple of months, but I am hoping we have our cashflow smoothed out by the beginning of the year because I think the first quarter of 2023 is going to be tough.

Impact Tip

Always monitor your cashflow. Cashflow is different than profitability. A profitable company can still have cashflow issues. Any time you add a new unit to your fleet, it is going to have an impact on your cashflow, and you need to take that into consideration. Have a backup plan incase things don’t go as you planned.

#111. Managing Challenges

Typically, you can make more money working for yourself than you can working for someone else, but doing so comes with challenges most people don't want to deal with. It it was easy, more people would do it. Growing a business is never easy and we have dealt with some pretty big challenges over the last couple of months. I want to share some of the experiences we have had and hopefully some of the lessons we have learned to help you manage some of these challenges as smoothly as possible.

What To Expect From Episode 111

Here are the challenges we will discuss in detail:

• We had to let a driver go, he is a great guy, but was just costing us too much money
• Fuel prices are really hurting the bottom line when freight rates, especially on the spot market, don't leave much wiggle room
• We have struggled to get financing for our next trucks, although we think we have it worked out through a lot of work
• Rates have dropped, we are working on direct shipper loads

#110. July 2022 Financials

July was a crazy month and this episode is jam packed with lots to talk about. In true trucking fashion, there were lots of ups and downs. Driver challenges, unexpected expenses, mistakes, a new revenue source and we'll talk about it all.

What To Expect From Episode 110

We lost money in July. July must be a tough month, out of curiosity I wanted to see when the last time was that Haulin Assets lost money, it was July of last year. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the loss and we'll talk all about them during this episode. There is a lot to cover, so buckle up.

• Total miles ran – 77,238 (The most we have ever run)
• Deadhead miles – 4,419 (5.7%, pretty good)
• Total revenue - $182,752.07 (Another record)
• All-in rate-per-mile - $2.36 (A little better than last month and I am pretty sure we will see it go up in August too.)

Even with all the records, Haulin Assets realized a loss of $17,562.75, this is why we saved money early this year and last year when we were making really good money.

#109. Listener Stories, August 2022

This was another really cool episode for Craig and I. We got to talk with some of our listeners and hear about their experiences.

What To Expect From Episode 109

We asked each guest a version of the 8 questions listed below.

1. Tell us about your story.
2. What was the tipping point for you? When did you decide to take the plunge into ownership?
3. What has been the biggest impact of listening to Haulin Assets?
4. What has been your biggest challenge of starting and owning a trucking company?
5. What has been the most rewarding?
6. What is your favorite episode?
7. What would you like to learn more about?
8. If you could turn back time, would you do it all over again?