Truck to Success course focuses on drivers becoming owner-operators

Professional drivers considering whether to become owner-operators need to collect savvy information for the basis of their decision.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association wants to help. That is the focus of OOIDA’s Truck to Success course. This year it will be available online.

Truck to Success is scheduled for Oct. 26-28.

OOIDA debuted its Truck to Success course in March 2019 as an in-person course. The coronavirus crisis has forced the format to change. Even so, the 2020 course will offer the same in-depth instruction featuring OOIDA in-house experts and others with focused expertise brought in to teach.

The No. 1 goal at OOIDA is to help drivers be more successful and more profitable in their business, and that is the driving force for this course, said OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh.

“Small-business trucking is a very tight profit business,” Pugh said. “There are many overwhelming statistics that show how many small business fail in the first three years. Don’t be a statistic! Truck to Success is a chance to arm yourself with the knowledge you will need to apply to your business to become successful and not be a statistic.”

The Truck to Success curriculum is designed to follow a logical transition from a company driver to an independent contractor.

Truck to Success course topics:

• Developing a business plan.
• Buying a new or used truck.
• Equipment financing.
• Insurance.
• Running under your own authority or leasing on to a carrier.
• New entrant safety audits and compliance reviews.
• Drug and alcohol testing requirements. Permits and licensing.
• Taxes and business structures.
• Brokers and factoring.

Tax advice

One confusing part to consider when deciding whether to become an owner-operator are the tax consequences. That is why OOIDA has asked tax expert Barry Fowler to lead a session on taxes as part of the Truck to Success.

Fowler owns and founded Fowler Tax and Taxation Solutions Inc., Houston. He is an enrolled agent, which means he is a federally authorized tax practitioner who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service.

TruckerTaxTools.com is a division of Fowler’s Taxation Solutions.

Through TruckerTaxTools.com, Fowler and his staff provide tax solutions for every level of trucker, from driver to owner-operator to corporate. As an owner-operator and business owner have available to them a suite of tax strategies that are not available to employee drivers getting W-2. Fower has information on forming a business entity and maximizing deductions.

Buying right

For advice on deciding whether to buy new or what financing options are available, OOIDA is bringing in Ethan Nadolson, who has more than 30 years of experience in truck sales.

Nadolson is chief commercial officer for TruckTractorTrailer.com, an online marketplace for commercial vehicles. Nadolson is a former board member and committee chairman of the Used Truck Association. He also created the industry’s first digital inventory management system for dealers, finance companies, original equipment manufacturers and fleets.

Owner-operators need to recognize the truck is a tool of their business, Nadolson said. Don’t focus only on what the truck looks like when you shop for one. Keep in mind the specs you need and the payments you can manage, he said. Also keep in mind the possibility that the market or a driver’s circumstances may suddenly change, so what options can a driver consider?

Here are some of few the main topics Nadolson plans to cover in OOIDA’s Truck to Success course:

• Whether to buy new or used.
• Big reasons truck specifications matter.
• Financing, warranties and third-party inspections.
• Finding used trucks.
• Buying trucks online.

Registering for Truck to Success

The 2020 Truck to Success course via Zoom is scheduled for Oct. 26-28. Tuition will be $250, which is about half the in-person course cost last year, and there won’t be travel expenses.

There are a limited number of logins available for the course. If more than one person wants to view the course from one computer with one login, they are welcome to do so. If a guest needs their own login, there is an additional guest charge of $150.

Attendees will be asked to indicate whether they would like to receive a physical copy of the Truck to Success course materials or an electronic copy.

For more information, click here.

To go directly to the registration form, click here.

Here is a rundown of some of the topics covered during the first day of the 2019 Truck to Success course.