Truck driver how to create a trucking business plan

If you’re thinking about starting your own trucking company or even expanding the one you already own, it’s time to start thinking about a business plan. Why? A business plan is what guides you toward your end goal and keeps you on track to success. It’s true that creating a business plan takes a lot of work, some heavy thought, and some research, but in the long run, you’ll be happy that you have one. All of the work involved forces you to think about what can and/or will happen, which sets you up to be prepared and proactive.

Register Your Trucking Business First

Your first step is to register your trucking company business. This step puts you on the map, and it makes it harder for you to procrastinate or put it on the back burner. You can register your business in a few different ways; some options include:

• DBA. DBA stands for “doing business as.” When you pick a business name, but you’ll be a sole proprietor, you can opt for a DBA, and then you can do your business under that company name and receive payments to that name or make payments with a checking account in the company name.

  This can also work in a partnership situation, but it’s usually used in sole proprietorships.

• LLC. LLC means limited liability company. An LLC is a separate entity from the business owner, even if it is a sole proprietor. It allows the owner group or membership to have some liability protection, a flexible management structure and there can be some tax benefits.

• C Corp. A C corporation is a larger business that has shareholders, directors, and officers working as a single entity. It’s the most common type of corporation. It’s a good idea if there are several partners and you’re looking to be a bigger business or to expand a smaller business.

• S Corp. An S corporation is quite a bit like a C corp, but it puts more of the financial bonus on the shareholders. If your business isn’t going to have shareholders, then this isn’t something you need to look into.

Before Writing Your Trucking Company Business Plan

Now that you’ve established your trucking company as a registered business, it’s time to get some more paperwork out of the way. Yes, there’s a lot of paperwork involved in starting any business, and because there are licenses, restrictions, and regulations in the trucking world, you’ll need to comply with them before you can ever think of operating your business. Make sure you have the following in order.

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)

• Department of Transportation number

• Motor vehicle carrier number

• File a BOC-3 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

• Get the right kind of truck insurance for your business

• Get apportioned plates

• Set up an International Registration Plan

• Set up an International Fuel Tax Agreement

• Get a Unified Carrier Registration

All of those might not be necessary for your particular business, but they should be something you at least consider.

Information You Need for a Trucking Business Plan

Okay, now that you’ve got all of your licenses in order and you've registered your business, it’s time to start gathering information for your business plan. This is where it can get exciting and it can get a little scary. Each person will have different areas of primary concern, but the following gives you a place to start pulling data from.

• Add up your assets and liabilities. It’s a good time to do this personally as well because you might have to tap into your personal resources to start your business.

• Research what it will cost to run your business per year. Fuel, wear and tear, insurance, taxes, repairs, and other expenses should all be taken into consideration.

• Establish the logistics of your business, i.e., operating procedures, including pick-ups and drop-offs.

• Determine what you will need to earn to make a profit and how best to spread that out to your customers to practice fair and ethical pricing standards. Consider fuel surcharges and whether you’ll include them.

What to Put in a Trucking Company Business Plan

This is where it gets tricky, pulling all of your information together into one document that basically outlines your professional dreams and goals. It can be completely overwhelming, which is why we suggest following this basic outline to start organizing your data and filling in the blanks. As you’re working, you may find that you want to extend some areas with special considerations while others don’t apply to you very much. That’s okay – this is your customized trucking business plan. This is just a basic outline to get you started.

1. Executive Summary

   This is a brief description of the company — why your business fills a need in the market and how you plan to make your business a success, or why you’re an essential player in the market.

2. Company Description

   Think of this as the “about us” section. While the executive summary states why the company exists in the first place, the company description lets people know who comprises the company. Make sure to point out all of the features that separate you from others doing the same or similar work.

3. Operational Plan

   This is where you start to get into the nitty-gritty and explain what your business is going to do and how it’s going to do it. You can’t just say, “we’re going to haul goods,” instead, you need to explain what vehicles you’ll use, what routes, and how you’ll be doing pick-ups and drop-offs. List licenses and technology that you use that’s important.

4. Services

   What are you offering your customers? Sometimes it will be the same service that many other companies do, but they can get their head around what to expect, and you’ll know what to focus on. In an ideal situation, you can spotlight what services you offer that set you apart from the competition.

5. Market Analysis

   This is where some math and market knowledge comes in. How well do you understand the current market, and how are you going to slip in there and become relevant. Look at competitors, prices, profits, regulations, etc. This is an overview of the entire industry you’re going to be representing.

6. Other Key Players

   In your company description, you probably mentioned some key players; this is where you line them up and explain what they do. The company hierarchy is another way to look at this section, and you can leave areas open with the notation that you will hire to fill spots as the company grows.

7. Sales and Marketing

   Having a business is one thing; getting customers is another. Map out how you will go about attracting customers, working connections, and marketing to get a strong business base. You might even want to explore how you’ll keep your customers and turn them into loyalists.

8. The Future of Finance

   How much do you expect to make in the first year? How about the fifth or the tenth year? You need to be prepared for the unexpected, but your first step is to plot out an expected and logical financial trajectory. Don’t forget you’ll be rolling some profits back into the business to expand and maintain.

Completing Your Trucking Business Plan

Pulling together and writing all of that information is no small task, but you’re not done. Now, it’s time to put it together into a logical business plan that is easy for anyone to understand and can be a reference for you. If organizing, labeling, and adding references isn’t your strong suit, hiring someone to help you wrap it all up and put a bow on it can be a very useful expense. But, it’s more beneficial to do it yourself because it reinforces your commitment to making your trucking business successful and reminds you how you’re going to do it, why you’re going to do it, and it shows that you’ve put so much work into the front end that there’s no way you can fail.