THE TOP 4 ROOKIE MISTAKES OF A TRUCKER/HAULAGER

Many people who start businesses, including me, have little or no experience and just jump in. Thank God that I was able to learn very fast. But over the years, I have seen people make the same mistakes over and over again in the trucking business. I recognize them because I have made them all, too. Mind you, you will make mistakes but never try to make mistakes that will be tantamount to the destruction of the business or to a situation whereby you will have to go back to square one or Zero. Have you heard people saying “oh I want to sell my truck, oh I want to look for a new driver, oh I want to look for a new manager”? It was all bore down on mistakes that keep on repeating itself. That is why I ask people to go for entrepreneurship courses so that they can learn how to handle business. Trucking business or haulage business is not different from other businesses, just that they have different approaches to them. Here is my list of the biggest rookie mistakes:

1. Keeping your rent as low as possible. Never try to rent a battery from all these battery chargers. For goodness sake, what is the rationale behind the renting of a truck battery that is not fully charged? No 24hrs electricity supply in Nigeria, Therefore never expect a battery charger to give you a fully charged battery for your truck. Remember that the battery charger needs money, if he puts a battery on charge for just one hour and you come to rent, if that is the only available battery, he will give it to you. By the time he is gone, you will face the problems all by yourself. But ehh, your money is gone. Simply ask yourself, what the turn around time of your truck is. In trucking business, time is money

2. Hiring someone you know and trust. Competence is more important. While hiring drivers that you know and relatives can work, it severely limits the pool from which you choose. Friends and relatives can also carry baggage. They can also be very hard to manage, which leads to my ultimate advice: if you can’t fire ‘em, don’t hire ‘em

3. Buying used equipment to keep expenses down. This, too, works sometimes, but it is often shortsighted. For example, buying used tyres will guarantee that you will spend valuable time and money fixing the truck when it should be out taking care of customers. Can you really afford downtime with any your truck? This is why truckers have problems with the law enforcement agencies.

4.Saving money on professional advice. It is very important that you save money once you have started your trucking business. Please I beg you, look for a good bank that will help you that have a tenacity to loan you to move to greater heights. See all the transporters with 20 trucks or 50 trucks, they are been supported by the banks. They never walk alone. That is my dream. That is my long term goal; to be a transporter.

I hope this list gives some new truckers or haulagers a little insight, or even keeps some wanna-preneurs from getting in over their heads. And one more thing. In sports, you are a rookie for one year. In entrepreneurship, it can last many years. When you learn from your mistakes, you are no longer a rookie. Better yet, learn from someone else’s. Learn from me The special One “lol”. 08185208688 07065149588