Your company's cashflow can either make or break you. It is very important to understand the difference between cashflow and your net income or profit and loss. Some people treat them as the same thing, and that can get you into a lot of trouble. In this episode we'll try to bring some clarity to the subject to help you avoid some of the more common missteps people take when it comes to managing cashflow.

What To Expect From Episode 85

Managing your cashflow is one of the more important topics trucking company owners need to understand well. It's an important subject for any business owner, but incredibly important for trucking companies because it's a very cash intensive business and margins are thinner than they are in many other businesses. We start off the episode by explaining the difference between cashflow and net income. We spend most of the rest of the episode talking about the following times in a trucking company's life cycle when cashflow tends to be a challenge:

At startup

When you are growing

When you stop factoring

When freight rates decrease

When fuel prices increase, but rates don't

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Ahhhh, the ups and downs of trucking. We went from a record profit last month to a loss this month. The situation is not as dire as it might sound. There were some one-time expenses that created the loss. Craig and I will explain it all.

Craig and I start off this episode by talking about a YouTube video I recently watched of a commencement address Admiral McRaven, a Navy Seal, gave. It's a 16 minute speech where he talks about 10 lessons for changing the world. While you may not have ambitions to change the world, these lessons will help you in your life and in your business. If you follow even a couple of them, you might just do more good than you think. We discuss a couple of Admiral McRaven's lessons:

1. Respect everyone

I highly recommend you watch his address. You can find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc&t=13s 

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 33,293

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $3,933.94.

In the episode, we cover the reasons we had a loss. The biggest two are: first, we added a new truck and there were costs getting it on the road and second, we replaced the turbo on truck #1.

Don’t spend it all in one place. I think I am going to try to figure out how many different ways I can say the same thing so saving money will probably be a reoccurring theme in the impact tip section of the podcast. If you had a great month, don't waste the profits on something you'll regret.

Ahhhh, the ups and downs of trucking. We went from a record profit last month to a loss this month. The situation is not as dire as it might sound. There were some one-time expenses that created the loss. Craig and I will explain it all.

Craig and I start off this episode by talking about a YouTube video I recently watched of a commencement address Admiral McRaven, a Navy Seal, gave. It's a 16 minute speech where he talks about 10 lessons for changing the world. While you may not have ambitions to change the world, these lessons will help you in your life and in your business. If you follow even a couple of them, you might just do more good than you think. We discuss a couple of Admiral McRaven's lessons:

1. Respect everyone

I highly recommend you watch his address. You can find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBuIGBCF9jc&t=13s 

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 33,293

Haulin Assets realized a loss of $3,933.94.

In the episode, we cover the reasons we had a loss. The biggest two are: first, we added a new truck and there were costs getting it on the road and second, we replaced the turbo on truck #1.

Don’t spend it all in one place. I think I am going to try to figure out how many different ways I can say the same thing so saving money will probably be a reoccurring theme in the impact tip section of the podcast. If you had a great month, don't waste the profits on something you'll regret.

Drivers are such an important part of your business. Two of the common descriptions that truck drivers use to describe each other are professional drivers vs steering wheel holders. What we cover in this episodes dives into the difference between the two.

What To Expect From Episode 83

Hiring drivers is hard. We talk a lot about the hiring process and what to look for in a driver. Here are our main discussion points:

• What type of driver do you look for

A question I get asked about all the time that is related to the driver topic is, "Can I start a trucking company without a CDL?". The short answer is you can, but the first several drivers you hire are going to be the difference between being successful or not. Craig and I dive a bit deeper into this topic too.

It was another great month for Haulin Assets, I'm super excited to share our numbers with you this month. We need to keep this momentum going for as long as we can. There are some great financial nuggets in this episode so make sure you listen all the way to the end.

What To Expect From Episode 82

Craig and I start off by answering a super important question. What do you think has a greater impact on your net income, your take home money, a $1 increase in revenue or a $1 decrease in expenses? Or are they the same? Understanding this principle is important for any business.

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 34,523 (New record)

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $29,876.82, we blew the previous record out of the water.

Impact Tip

Keep your overhead low. I saw an interesting take on a "Distribution Center" while I was in Morocco a couple of weeks ago. It made me think about keeping your overhead expenses low. Listen to the episode for the full details.

I'm out of the country on a military assignment so this episode is short and sweet, it's just an impact tip.

What To Expect From Episode 81

Don't be indecisive. I witnessed a train crash into a car last week and the experience was a good reminder about the importance of being decisive. Listen to the episode to hear about all the details of the crash and how I relate it to being decisive in your life and especially in business.

Leasing a semi-truck is very misunderstood. In today's episode Craig and I are bringing some guests onto the show to help answer some of the common questions people have when it comes to leasing a truck. Before we jump into the main topic I talk about a crazy load one of our drivers is currently on and how it has the potential to cause frustration. It is important to find a win win situation under an uncommon set of circumstances that this load has.

What To Expect From Episode 80

The word lease in the trucking industry is incredibly confusing, because it means so many different things. Craig and I start off by breaking down some of the most common ways the word lease is used in the industry and which type of lease usually creates the most horror stories. This episode's focus is going to be on the type of lease that is similar to a car lease. Here are some of the questions we answer:

• Who owns the truck?

Back in the saddle again. After a month with two trucks sitting we had all three trucks running for about half the month of May and that was enough to get us back in the black. I am super excited to see what will happen in June. During this episode, I also share what I think is going to be the biggest threat to small trucking companies and could potentially put them out of business.

What To Expect From Episode 79

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 26,722 (New record)

Haulin Assets realized a profit of $7,582.17.

Impact Tip

Make your company scalable. This is actually one of my favorite tips, especially if you want to grow your trucking company. What does it mean to be scalable? It basically means you have a business that can adapt to increased workloads. That can only happen if you have good systems in place. Systems for buying equipment, hiring drivers, billing clients, etc. It's important that you have all the necessary systems in place and aren't missing one. Imagine what happens if you can add trucks and drivers, but you don't have a system for billing clients. You will complete more and more jobs, but you won't get paid for them or your payments will lag behind, neither is a good thing.

When your company is small you can often manage the little inefficiencies and problems in your business. As you grow, if you don't solve those problems or inefficiencies they grow with you and can quickly get out of hand. If that happens, you'll have serious problems that will lead you to a nervous breakdown or even a shuttered business.

Most people can't start a trucking company without using credit. There are both similarities and differences between personal credit and business credit, we'll cover some of the nuances. If you want to learn more about how business credit works, some of the pitfalls to avoid, and steps you can take to help establish good business credit, this is the episode for you.

Craig and I try to shed some light on this confusing and often misunderstood subject.

What To Expect From Episode 78

We bring on a couple of business bankers, Jaron and Rob, as guests to explain some of the specifics of business credit. Here are some of the questions we answer:

• What do lenders look at when making a loan decision?
  • Brand new companies
    • Owner's personal credit

Impact Tip

Don’t make late payments, EVER! Not even after the due date, but before the grace period. Just like with personal credit, your payment history has a big impact on whether or not a lender will lend you money. Making your payments by the due date every time builds trust with lenders. It helps them see you take making your payments seriously.

Iron Maintenance

I just had a PM completed by Iron Maintenance, check out this time-lapse video I shot. They have 12 locations all across the country, you can find out where all of them are by clicking here. 

Their prices are super competitive and more importantly they are fast. I was in and out in under an hour and that included dropping my trailer and hooking back up. They are going to give Haulin Assets listeners a 15% discount off their already great pricing. To qualify, all you have to do is give Mike a call at 801-678-4749 before the end of June and then have the PM done before the end of 2021. You can get the discount no matter what location you go to.

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Numbers never lie, but this month, I don't think they tell the full story either. So, was April a good month or a bad month? On the surface, it looks like a bad month, but I don't feel like that is really the case. Operationally, it was a good month. We did have a loss, but that loss is all attributed to investing in growth. Craig and I break that down and explain in detail what drove the numbers. This is a really good financial episode to listen to, especially if you ever plan on growing your trucking company.

Here are the numbers for the month.

• Total miles ran – 10,437

In the end Haulin Assets realized a loss of $4,828.77.

Listen to the episode for the details about the loss and we talk about what the numbers would have looked like if the expenses tied to our growth would have been backed out.

After you follow through, follow up. It is always a good idea to maintain regular contact with people you do business with, or want to do business with. You should jump on any chance you have to talk to them. If you committed to do something for them or help them with something, once you have completed that task, follow up with them and let them know it's done. It is a way to casually brag about how well you are taking care of them. Follow up once you have delivered a load, let them know it's done and how everything went.