Follow this link to register to access the replay of this online session held August 22, 2024.
Building owner-operator and/or small fleet business to effectively weather down cycles was the central point of discussion in Overdrive's August 22, 2024, online event featuring a roundtable with three trucking pros all at different points on their businesses' journeys through the trucking world. The three are pictured below -- from top to bottom: Ilya Denisenko, Jason Cowan, and Gary Buchs -- and following find bios for each of the men to learn more about their histories.
Or hear plenty from them via the replay of the hourlong talk by registering via this link.
Ilya Denisenko is the owner and operator of one-truck ICV Express, headquartered in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. Denisenko’s trucking business follows close on the heels of several years’ experience hauling both over-the-road and locally, and draws on lessons the owner learned in the restaurant industry. Business experience drove him to a keen focus on containing costs with a maximum of efficiency, which he’s putting to work in the tough freight markets today to thrive, though ICV Express’ authority is less than a year old. His careful planning, and tireless efforts to network with solid brokerage partners, have his 2020 Volvo making good on the time-honored maxim that the best moment to start a business is at the bottom of the economic cycle. If you can succeed at the bottom with profit to show for it, he said, you’ll really make bank when conditions improve.
Jason Cowan is the founder and President of Henderson, Kentucky-based Silver Creek Transportation. Launched by an acquisition of a local trucking company in 1994, Silver Creek has since become a leader in specialty trucking. Under Cowan's leadership, the 30-plus-truck fleet serves a diverse customer base with an array of services, from walking floor and dry bulk tanks to flatbeds and dry vans. Cowan’s laser-focused on maintaining a healthy company culture in the increasingly fine-tuned operation that seeks to actively involve its company driver team and leased owner-operators in the achievement of safety and maintenance goals. And he's become a leader not only in the transportation industry but in the area of relationship development more broadly. Fundamentally, Cowan is forever trying to answer this question for himself, too, when it comes to those working with Silver Creek: "What can I do to help them have a better life?" In 2021, Cowan and Silver Creek Transportation were crowned Overdrive’s Small Fleet Champ award winners.Hailing originally from New Jersey,
Gary Buchs lives with his wife, Marcia, in Colfax, Ill. Formerly leased to Landstar, the longtime owner-operator retired from active hauling in October of 2019 after a decade and a half working with multiple freight agents and dispatching himself on dry van runs in the region around his home base. Today, he offers private owner-operator business coaching services, sharing the wealth of knowledge he picked up over his career, and is a frequent Overdrive contributor and guest on Sirius XM’s Road Dog trucking talk channel. Buchs was the recipient of the 2016 Owner-Operator of the Year award in part for his professional acumen.
Register to catch the replay of the August 22 talk at this link.
[Related: Trucking tactics for this down market -- and the next one]
Find more information on a myriad of owner-operator and small fleet business topics in the updated Overdrive/ATBS-coproduced "Partners in Business" book for new and established owner-operators, a comprehensive guide to running a small trucking business sponsored for 2024 by the Rush Truck Centers dealer network. Follow this link to download the most recent edition of Partners in Business free of charge.
