by Justin Lu, CEO & Co-Founder of Truckpedia
I helped my dad build a trucking company from $1M+ to $20M+ in 3 years.
Don’t get me wrong—this is far from the top.
But here’s the secret: I did the hard things, the things that 99% of my competitors weren’t doing, and I did them over and over again.
The trucking cycle repeats itself every 3-5 years. Everyone knows it, but very few take advantage of it. You need to recognize the cycle and focus on building true partnerships rather than one-sided relationships.
Here are five lessons that helped me.
Lesson 1. Figuring out your cost per hour & ROI.
Start by identifying the tasks you do daily and determine how much revenue they generate.
Then, sort them into three categories:
- Tasks that bring in less than $150 per day.
- Tasks that bring less than $500 per day.
- Tasks worth more than $1,000 per day.
Next, automate tasks that generate less than $150 per day with a TMS, and if automation isn’t possible at the moment, delegate them to someone else. Your primary focus should always be on tasks that generate over $1,000 per day.
Lesson 2. “Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy” – Buffet
This is easy to say but hard to execute.
When Celadon went out of business in 2019, I bought about 20 of their trucks for $20,000–$30,000 each at auctions—2016 Cascadias with less than 500,000 miles.
The trucking market is more predictable than the stock market, so trust your intuition and follow market patterns. The opportunity to buy cheap equipment will come again, and we’re already 6–8 months into the bear market for carriers.
Lesson 3. Chase down direct shippers at the peak of a bull market for carriers.
Never put 100% of your capacity into chasing record-high spot market loads—99% of your competitors will do that, but remember, you’re in this for the long run. The easiest time to build partnerships with direct shippers is when they struggle to find trucks, not the other way around.
Once you land them, be customer-obsessed, as no one will award you dedicated loads right away. Leverage technology to provide top-notch services and set yourself apart.
Lesson 4. Don’t get burned out. Build a team.
Growing a business is a marathon, not a sprint—you need a clear head to make the right decisions consistently.
Hire and develop the best talent instead of trying to run a one-person show. Be frugal, but not when it comes to your team—pay at least 10% above the market rate to attract top talent, but don’t hesitate to fire quickly when necessary.
Lesson 5: Having an operating system is the most critical piece
The most important lesson I’ve learned is about having an operating system in place. An operating system is the backbone of how your business works.
For example, my weeks are scheduled to execute tasks worth $1,000+ first, while my technology automates the rest. If tasks can’t be automated, I delegate them to my assistants. Everything I do is intentional, and the results are highly predictable.
A spreadsheet is great, but it’s not an operating system built to scale. Truckpedia is essentially the system I created to scale my dad’s trucking business—it’s my favorite operating system.
From choosing a trucking niche to building relationships with shippers and brokers, automating repetitive tasks, generating inbound and outbound leads, and making sales, it’s all part of an operating system.
Want to see how it works?
