When we speak of success in business, the conversation usually leads to “What is your bottom line?” 
By Timothy Brady, www.truckersu.com

But what are the steps to success, the process, so you can reach the level of profitability which defines that bottom line?

Increasing knowledge in the different aspects of your business from communications to accounting and finance, personnel management, time management, customer service, leadership skills and so on, is part of what brings your company the skills it needs to be successful. A thriving motor carrier is always on the lookout for seminars and workshops to which it can send its owners, employees and drivers so as to run a tighter, more profitable ship.

But the biggest challenge for the small motor carrier is to have both the time and dollars to invest in an educational program, and the smaller the carrier, the more difficult this is. Time and money need to be invested in keeping your trucks rolling, right? But if you and your company aren’t keeping up with the newest information, tracking what’s going on in all aspects of the economy you serve, are you investing your time in the wisest and most beneficial direction?

In the quest for programs which can improve your business skills, it’s difficult to schedule time to take a course. The reasons for this are many and varied:

• Whenever a trucker has to be scheduled to be in a specific place at a specific time, it costs everyone money in the form of lost revenue.
• Any time off and away from the truck has a potential of lost revenue to a trucker; so this is time he doesn’t want to spend in a classroom.
• Because of the difficulty most trucking companies have getting their drivers to participate in workshops and seminars, coupled with the high cost of putting on a workshop; carriers are reluctant to spend the money.
• Then there’s that line between what constitutes a contractor versus an employee. We want a very thick and impenetrable line here. (Side note:  According to tax expert Esta Klatzkin, EA, in order to maintain the separation between you and your contracting truckers so there isn’t any question of whether they‘re an employee or not, you will need to charge them a fee for the courses they take. There is no stipulation as to the amount. It is also important to know the courses would be a deductible business expense to them. )
• And if your carrier has invested money in the past on educating your self, your employees and drivers, but not gotten a reasonable return, you probably would question venturing there again.

Of course we all know the problem; truckers need a better understanding of running their trucks as a business. This in turn improves your motor carrier’s bottom line. But how do we find the solution to educating truckers?

In next week’s post I’ll cover the steps in developing your company’s business education program and some additional benefits from a continuing education program.

Good loads and good roads, everyone.

Timothy Brady
© 2009

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