Solo Operator vs. Hiring Drivers | Running A Box Truck Business In 2026

[00:00:00]Solo operator versus hiring drivers.

[00:00:02]Starting a box truck business, should you hire a driver or stay an owner-operator? I'm going to tell you what nobody else will. I ran my box truck business for the last 5 years and I've been a driver for half the time and I've hired a fleet of drivers for half the time. The answer isn't [music] what most people think. In the beginning of my box truck business, I worked 3 to 4 weeks out of each month. I had no time for anything, but I did gross the most amount of money because I did work pretty much every week of the month.

[00:00:24][music] Back in 2021, I was making between 15 to 20,000 dollars gross per month and usually was taking home about 10K. I knew in order to grow my box truck business, I had to be able to scale.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> So, my main focus was being able to get out the truck and hire new drivers to be able to replace myself. When starting your box truck business, you're going to trade a lot of your time because you're growing a business and you're trying to scale, but the ultimate goal for everyone is to be able to get out the truck, buy more and more trucks to be able to build a profitable business.

[00:00:51]Obviously, I knew that hiring a driver would be more expensive because I'd have to pay the driver, but in the end, I knew that it was going to generate me the money that I wanted to bring in from my business.

[00:01:00]>> [music] >> There's different ways to pay a driver.

[00:01:01]You could pay via percentage or cents per mile, but it's more so about building with that driver so you could build a relationship and a long-term [music] partnership to grow your business. Some people pay drivers 20%, some people pay drivers 25, some people would pay [music] drivers 50 cents per mile. It's more so about what works for you and your business and ultimately uh cultivating a relationship with the driver and what's best for you guys both. When I hired a driver, I paid 25% of loads myself and [music] down the line, I started paying cents per mile because I felt it was better for me and my business and the [music] miles we were doing with not a lot of dead head.

[00:01:33]Other companies may pay 20%, some 25, others may pay 60 [music] cents per mile. It's really just about what works for uh that company specifically and what they can afford. So, when I first started, I used ADP for my payroll. So, every time I would pay a driver, there was always an extra cost for payroll that would come out and that would always affect my net profits. Because time is money, on boarding a driver takes a lot of time when bringing on a new driver. Typically, it takes about [music] 1 to 2 weeks to hire a driver and train them to be ready to hit the road and be responsible out there to do the job. [music] Bringing on a new driver can add to your insurance costs as well, depending on the driving record. If they have multiple violations, it's going to deduct from your net [music] profits monthly as well. Hiring a good driver is important because just because you have trucks doesn't mean that they're going to be out there making money without good drivers supporting them. So, make sure you hire a good driver and keep them moving. Everybody's break-even point for the business is going to be different.

[00:02:22][music] Mine personally is 32,000. So, for me to make any money from my business and my nine trucks, I have to gross $32,000.

[00:02:28][music] But, for the next person that has an insurance note, has truck note, has driver pay, uh they're all going to be a different number. So, make sure that you know yours that you and your drivers can go out there and make the most amount of profit for your business. [music] As an owner operator with me driving, the quality is always going to be high with a company I'm working with because I'm always going to be on time. I'm never going to have damaged loads [music] cuz I'm going to make sure that they're strapped in, and I'm always going to have a a good running truck cuz I'm going to pay attention to maintenance.

[00:02:54]As an owner operator, I'm always going to have a higher net margin because I'm driving. So, I'm always going to be taking that 25% or that 50 cents per mile, whatever I would be paying a driver otherwise. I'm always going to keep that in-house, which is going to help me make more money [music] as an owner operator growing my business.

[00:03:09]Advantages of being an owner operator would be learning the business from the inside out, working it day-to-day, and understanding everything that you have [music] to do to be successful. In doing so, it helps me be able to hire and train good drivers because I've done the job and I've done it for a while, and I'll be able to put that knowledge into another driver. This also allows me to save the majority of the profits because I'm driving, [music] and it's going to lead me to scaling the business faster like I've been trying to do. And because I'm in the field myself, I'm able to build [music] a rapport with my clients that I'm working with because they're seeing me day-to-day, face-to-face, [music] and seeing how hard I work and what I do for my business. Transitioning from an owner operator into a fleet owner is something that you really have to think about before doing so. If you never managed people, you have to really know and be able to work with people [music] on a different level. There's a level of selfishness that you cannot have as a fleet owner, as a boss, because you're helping support people and their families. So, you have to make sure you're putting your drivers first and allowing them to make money while [music] you also build your business out in the long term. Hiring makes the most sense when you have 3 months operating expenses as [music] a buffer to be able to bring on another driver and make sure you have funds to be able to allow that driver to make certain mistakes that you wouldn't make if you were in the driver chair, [music] but of course you need to make sure that they can go through a learning process. Hiring makes the most sense when you have 3 months [music] of operating expenses as a buffer for the business. And transitioning from an owner-operator to hiring [music] a driver will give you more time to go out there in the field and in life to be able to bring [music] on contracted freight for the business. In this situation, you're willing to become a a manager and not just an owner-operator because you have systems in place like dispatching, uh mechanics on deck.

[00:04:39][music] In this situation, you're willing to become a manager and not just an owner-operator because you have systems in place like dispatching, mechanics [music] on deck, invoicing.

[00:04:46]And because you have these systems in place, all you have to focus on is just buying [music] trucks because you already have everything in the back office nailed down. Honestly, neither is wrong. Whatever you want to do is based on what you want to do in your business model. Of course, I started as an owner-operator and I built my business up to nine trucks, but my goal was always to scale the business to [music] be able to make, you know, eventually millions of dollars. And that's what I've done so far. But for you starting out, you may start off with an owner-operator, you may say you want to hire a driver starting out. [music] It just really depends on how you want to run it. For a fleet owner, you have a higher ceiling and more complexity for the business because there's more risk involved. want to make sure you know which one you're building before you go out there and hire. For you, are you owner-operator still or have you hired drivers? Let me know, drop it in the comments, let me know what's worked for you. For those of you that's been watching my content, make sure you guys follow me on Instagram at KKingTrucking [music] where I post all my daily content, the loads I do, everything we do in the business, my L's I take, obviously the W's that we take. So, make sure you guys follow me on there and then watch for the next video as we got [music] more coming soon.