Trucking business plan

The idea of ​​starting your own business and working for yourself is very attractive for many reasons.

1. Firstly, it makes it possible to be independent of the employer and the capricious situation in the labor market.
2. Secondly, owning a business is a completely different level of earnings.

It is always difficult to start, but when this stage is overcome, the further development of the enterprise only pleases. Anything can be such an enterprise.
In cities with more than 150 thousand people, it makes sense to open a company providing cargo transportation services.
This business has not yet been particularly developed, which means that the niche is relatively free, there are few competitors, and there is a chance for rapid development and good profitability.

The company can provide cargo transportation services to individuals , organizations, entrepreneurs when moving, transporting furniture, building materials, all kinds of goods, etc.

But first you need to write a business plan in which you need to calculate all the costs and the expected profit.

How to start a trucking business?

Any business requires a preliminary stage, which consists in preparing documentation, collecting permits, etc.

To implement the “cargo transportation” business plan, you need to register as an individual entrepreneur (if you are going to start with a “small” one — for example, with two trucks and a minimum number of employees).

In the event that you plan to engage in large cargo transportation, you will need to open an LLC.

To register a business, you need:

1. collect a standard package of documents,
2. pay the state fee ,
3. write an application to the tax office

In addition to standard data, it indicates the OKVED code of your future activity. For cargo transportation, this is 60.24.
In the «trucking» business plan, you need to determine whether you will buy cars or rent them. It is more profitable to rent if there is not enough start-up capital to buy cars (you can read where to get start-up capital for a business here ).
In the case of a lease, the cost of it will pay off within the first 4-5 months.

What costs of organizing a business should be included in the business plan for cargo transportation?

If you still decide to buy cars, then you should pay attention to inexpensive models.

1. For starters, for example, 2 GAZelles are perfect. The purchase of two new cars will cost approximately $1 million.
2. Next, you should rent boxes for storing cars after hours. You will have to pay about 10 thousand dollars a month for renting boxes.
3. You will need a dispatcher to receive orders and an office. A small office space can also be rented for $10,000/month.
4. Ideally, if you have category B and C rights, then you can get by with just one hired driver. The second you can be yourself. This will significantly save money at the initial stage of doing business.
5. 2 or 3 more loaders will be needed (it is better to hire them on a piece-rate basis).
6. It will be necessary to think over options for advertising (in the media, on the Internet) and agree with a company providing accounting services.

Starting investments in a trucking business plan include:

1. Purchase of cars = 1 million dollars.

The current monthly expenses of the business include:

1. Rent of an office and boxes for cars = 20 thousand dollars / month.
2. Fuel and lubricants = about 40 thousand dollars / month.
3. Salary expenses for employees = about 30 thousand dollars / month.
4. Advertising and other expenses (for example, purchase of office equipment) = 30 thousand dollars.

To implement a business plan for cargo transportation, you will have to spend an amount within 1 million dollars.
Having 2 cars available, you can earn about 150 thousand dollars a month. We subtract 100-120 thousand for expenses — the net profit is about 30-50 thousand dollars / month.
After 2 years, you will have a complete self-sufficiency of the business.

What should you pay attention to when implementing a business plan for cargo transportation?

Cargo transportation is quite a profitable and profitable business. However, this business also has its risks:

1. Breakdowns and expensive car repairs (therefore, it is better to work with new cars, not “killed” cars).
2. As in any business, there is a human factor. When selecting employees, pay attention to their work experience, recommendations from previous places, professionalism and integrity. The quality of the services you provide, punctuality and commitment will be the best advertisement for your business.
3. Competition. In order to successfully compete with other companies involved in cargo transportation , you need to constantly “keep your finger on the pulse”: place ads on time, provide regular customers with discounts, fulfill orders with high quality, and generally try to make your company the most attractive in this market.

You can read about how to attract customers when organizing a long-distance cargo transportation business in the following article .