Gus loves driving. Every minute he’s on the road, he’s happier than a pig in mud. Becoming an owner operator was a dream come true for him.
Gus hates every minute he spends at the computer, trying to manage his books. He’s organized. He’s got a stack of fuel receipts there, and another stack of bills of lading here. Between them are his logbook and a very large adult beverage. Every minute he’s doing his books, however, it’s another story altogether. Some things just don’t make sense to him. His daughter took all his papers to a bookkeeper at the end of the year just to be sure his income taxes were done right, but that was after he’d spent 16 hours trying to do his IFTA.
After being on the road for someone else for nearly 20 years, Gus thought the transition to being an owner operator couldn’t be too hard. He’d never realized what that nice lady who always had donuts and coffee for him when he stopped in for his settlement checks was doing the rest of the time. The IFTA. IRP. Business taxes. Billing.
Gus had only been on his own for 6 months and already, he was thinking about giving up – the extra stuff is killing him..
What’s an owner operator’s biggest fear?
That it won’t work. He’s not good enough. She can’t make it happen.
Stepping up into the driver’s seat for the first time was a scary, exhilarating experience for men and women like Gus. It’s just the same for those who want to be their own boss. To own their own company.
The challenge of all the extras – finding the loads, the paperwork, the bookkeeping – knock more owner operators off the road than anything else.
Let’s face it. Not everyone is cut out for doing accounting. It’s a chore. If we wanted to be bookkeepers, we wouldn’t be sitting behind the wheel and hauling tons in the trailer behind us. I’m not saying that truckers can’t be bookkeepers. Plenty of us have to be. We find ways to manage the numbers the best we can.
We can’t get away from the accounting. We can’t let the accounting get away from us.
The key to success has to be finding the tools that help us accomplish the tasks we can’t manage on our own.
You’re not going to fix your engine with just your hands – you’ll use the tools you need.
Managing your business is no different. Find the tools that will make the job easier and better. Tools that will help you manage your dispatches and handle the billing, and then use the same data to figure out your profits, your margins and your overall success. Then it will take that same data again and produce an accurate and fast IFTA and IRP so you’ll know you’re paying exactly what you should.
It’s not just organization. It’s the tools you use to be organized.
TruckingOffice software that does it for you, the owner operator. Faster than you could ever do it. Keeping you more organized than you ever imagined.
Try it for 30 days, no charge. Put in last month’s dispatches and receipts and discover how quickly you can input the information – then see what comes out. Reports about your business, in terms that truckers use and understand. You’ll make it as an owner operator with the tools we give you.
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