The first year is the most crucial for survival when you’re a small trucking company owner. Within the first year of business, many trucking companies shut down. There isn’t a surefire way for your trucking company to become and stay successful, but there are some things you can do during the first year to increase the chances of your company staying afloat.

Manage Your Rapid Growth

As a business owner, you’ll soon realize that your business might be growing faster than you can handle. You may not have anticipated or planned for a boom in business. This is one of the reasons that small trucking companies fail within the first year. Sure, it may be exciting that your business is quickly growing – but if you’re not organized, or you lack the resources and manpower to handle the growth, you may not be able to survive it.

One way to survive rapid growth is to take time to organize your processes. If follow-up is already an issue that your business faces, it will be amplified as you gain more and more clients. Take time to perfect your processes while your business is still small so that they don’t become issues that affect your company’s success.

Pass Your Inspections

Another reason that small trucking companies fold in the first year is failing inspections. For new trucking companies, there is a “new entrant” 18-month period established by the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) initiative. During this time period, fleets are audited for how well they comply with safety regulations. What most fleet owners don’t understand is that registering for this audit should be done as soon as possible. The audit can take place at any time during the 18-month period. Don’t wait too long to register for the audit, because it can happen at any time. If a trucking company is chosen to be audited and the owner hasn’t registered yet, the company can be shut down.

Utilize Freight Factoring

Another important way to keep your small trucking company up and running is to give a factoring company the responsibility of handling your invoice payments. Managing invoice payments can be stressful and time consuming.

As your business grows, you’ll have less and less time to worry about payments – and that can mean big trouble for your bottom line. Take accounts receivable off your plate and focus on the daily tasks that require your attention the most.
Contact us today to learn more about using a factoring company to handle your billing for you.