10-4 Magazine / February 2025 47 your success as you are. How you react or respond to their interest is also, in their eyes, a measure of your potential. Before you jump to conclusions or run off the handle blaming someone else, first look around and assess what services are available to you through your current carrier or lease agreement. Remember what I said about Mr. Schneider – the more people he added to his organization the more potential they had as a group. As an owner operator I was, at the time, a one man band without any instruments or sheet music. But I did have the ability to recognize opportunities greater than myself. There are several third party organizations that offer management tips or industry training opportunities, most of which are offered at an additional expense to your already strained financial situation. However, is it really necessary to heap more wet rags on an already slow burning fire? I’m not a big fan of those weekend short courses that promise to turn around failing companies. Case in point: if they were that smart, why don’t they obtain the said company at a fire sale price and turn it around for themselves! Trust me, if there was that much profit in it, they wouldn’t pass up a sure fire thing. The reality is that they are often offering you the same information that’s already available to you at the home office of your carrier – and usually at no additional cost to you other than your time. Take control of your resources, turn the tables on expensive mistakes, and redirect your energy by becoming an active member of the corporate mentality. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if you are an owner operator, you should be thinking like a company. If you are a company, you should be thinking in terms of a corporation. If you are already a corporation, you should have people thinking for you now. Traditionally, January and February are slower freight months due to end of year purchases and inventory consumption. With that being said, you may have some extra time on your hands. This is the time to ask yourself, “How can we increase revenue when we don’t control the rates?” This article started out to be about maintenance, referring to fixing your equipment for long term usage, but once again I somehow got off track. Imagine that! The average owner operator only considers his/her physical equipment (trucks, trailers, tires, brakes, etc.) to be the assets that need to be serviced. In truth, your management plans are also assets that need to be restructured as opportunities offer change. Last month I made a statement that cash on hand was the cheapest money you can spend. This month I would like to add, “The easiest road to cash solvency is through reduced spending.” Too bad our government agencies don’t read 10-4 Magazine for the good advice we offer! The road to success can get rough and dirty... SUCCEED ANYWAY!
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