Ever think to yourself, “Man, if I could just get a fresh start with what I know now…”?
You’d be surprised the number of owner-operators who’ve said something similar to me. It goes like this: “Well, now that I’ve figured this out, I’m about to retire.”
For those with hard-won experience and still in the trucking business, it can be really hard to remember the many little baby steps toward getting comfortable enough to relax after making the leap from company driver to truck owner. Whether you made that leap in in the last few months or several years back, owner-operator business basics can never just be put away, forgotten or ignored.
In just the last few months, I’ve had some newer owners talk to me about how much stress they're feeling about the prospects of failure. Here in 2024, takeaways from the decidedly tough 2023 have fed emotional disappointment. But not only that. Difficult circumstances trigger too-fast reactions. You need to get on the brakes fast when someone cuts you off, sure, but the management moves needed to secure the business for the long term are more likely to be slower, deliberate actions to address plans to reach goals.
As I’ve illustrated before: Think it out, set a goal, assign a date for completion, and evaluate the success of your efforts to get there along the way. Be deliberate about change, and your business’s Spring may come sooner than you think. Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania didn’t see his shadow this year, that’s at least certain.
[Related: Truckers' New Year's Resolutions: Get closer to the freight source, and back to basics on costs]
