Starting Line

What it takes to be your own boss: The truck owner-operator's playbook for success

Understanding what it takes to be an owner-operator, the risks and rewards of ownership and more are key to understand before signing a lease or buying your own equipment.

January 1, 2025

truck on divided highway

Creating your financial map: The basics of business planning

A business plan should show all sources of revenue and costs while taking into account trucking industry averages, personal expenses and cash flow. With regular updates, it can show a complete financial picture in weekly, monthly and annual detail.

January 1, 2025

truck with van trailers at dock

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February 19, 2025

Let our deep industry knowledge become your data-driven insights

Trucking business services providers: What they do, and how to pick one

As you learn the ropes of owning your business, focus most closely on managing business and personal expenses. A strong financial services provider can help with accounting, taxes, financial goals and more.

January 1, 2025

flatbed on highway bridge

Managing the trucking money: Best practices for healthy cash flow

Ways to avoid cash-flow problems for your trucking business, as well as things plenty to be on guard for to avoid financial woes.

January 1, 2025

trucks on highway

Debt resources: Last-resort backstop to cash-flow crises

Here find a variety of lending resources, as well as strategies other than borrowing, that an owner-operator or small fleet business could tap to help manage a cash-flow crisis.

January 1, 2025

past-due payment credit cards

With ID theft on the rise, guarding your trucking business is a necessity

With a proliferation of sophisticated identity theft schemes aimed at trucking companies in recent years, it’s important to understand how to protect your business' profile from the jump as an owner-operator.

January 1, 2025

Hacker Keyboard Gloves And Bulk Tanker

How to choose a business structure that works best for your operation

There are several ways to set up an owner-operator business, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Find out which works best for you.

January 1, 2025

Trucks and cars on a highway

'Beneficial Ownership Information' reporting required of some small businesses

Foreign-owned LLC, corporation or certain other small business entities are required to report ownership information to the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

January 1, 2025

FinCEN BOI reporting

The costs -- and broader considerations -- to keep in mind when leasing to a carrier

For any owner-operator, it's expensive to switch carriers, so keep these things in mind if you're in the market for a new business partner to lease to.

January 1, 2025

John McCormick's 2021 Kenworth W900L

Evaluating carriers' compensation packages starts with knowing your own numbers

While comparing pay packages is time-consuming, the key is to start with an understanding of how much you need to make each month to cover expenses. Only then will you know whether a pay package is a good deal for you.

January 1, 2025

trucks on highway

The skinny on mileage v. percentage pay in trucking company lease contracts

An owner-operator running on percentage shares the brunt of market conditions with the carrier, earning less money in bad times, whereas a mileage program in such times can be an attractive safety net as long as the freight's there.

January 1, 2025

truck traffic on highway

Trucking self-dispatch: How to get comfortable, and master the process

Effectively self-dispatching may well be the most difficult task an owner-operator business is saddled with. There are a seemingly unending number of moving pieces that will affect the outcome of any decision made about any load.

January 1, 2025

Driver Sleeper Getty Images 1398965826 632ca9ebaf7ab

Finding your niche haul: The tradeoffs and triumphs in freight specialization

Specializing in a freight niche -- heavy-haul, auto hauling, livestock, the list goes on -- can add to an owner-operator’s earning potential with higher-paying loads, but with that comes added expenses in many cases.

January 1, 2025

Niche hauls collection

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Final week to enter Overdrive's 2025 Small Fleet Championship

Time is running out! Entries are due next Thursday, July 31, for your fleet of 3 to 30 trucks. Test your trucking mettle for a chance to take home the 2025 title belt in Overdrive's Small Fleet Championship. Four finalist fleets will ultimately square off in Nashville in late October at event sponsor NASTC's annual conference.

The Rise Non Domiciled Cd Ls Crop

Overdrive reporting reveals at least 60,000 active non-domiciled CDLs

T-Quip's Peterbilt 589 works hauling heavy equipment around the East Coast.

Heavy machinery-hauling 2023 Peterbilt 589 shows strong at Gear Jammer

Flatbed Truck Highway Adobe Stock 459185791

What Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' legislation means for owner-operator taxes

The ALL NEW JBL FLIP 7 - Featuring AI sound boost, deeper base, longer battery life, and Auracast... it's MADE to be HEARD.

The ALL NEW JBL FLIP 7 - Featuring AI sound boost, deeper base, longer battery life, and Auracast... it's MADE to be HEARD.

Truck-ownership traditions staying alive: Owner-operators Lucas Zach, Harlan Martin

More episodes »

The Business Manual for Owner-Operators

Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the Partners in Business playbook.

Access the Playbook

Partners in Business Issue Cover