August 11, 2025 • 45 mins
TaxTalk4 U Trucking to Success. Trucking 101 starting a trucking business Owner Operator. What do you need to run start a trucking business? Strong Financial Performance, Operational Efficiency, Customer Satisfaction & Retention, Safety Performance. Operational/financial Metrics cost per mile, REvenue per mile, operating rations, Net income. Keeping taxes lower, Fuel effcieney. Safety & Compliance Accident rate, DOT compliance. OOIDA Truck to Success.
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Tax Talk 4 U is broadcast live Mondays at 10AM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Tax Talk 4 U is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Tax Talk 4 U Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of w FOCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Barry G.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fouler EA brings you tax talk for you right here
on W four CY Radio and talk for TV. As
an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax resolution
as well as Trucker bookkeeping and tax planning.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
With over thirty years of experience.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Barry will break down taxes, bookkeeping, tax planning, and tax relief.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
For individuals and businesses just like you. So let's have
some tax talk for you with your hosts. Barry G.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Foul Or, Good morning and welcome Ask. It's great to
be back in the office. Last week was a busy
week for us, you know here, you know we've been
going through a conversion of software that we used for
bookkeeping and stuff. We're transitioning completely away from you quick
(01:24):
books and moving to software called zero x e r O,
really good software. We're at a seminar on Friday all
day learning a little bit more about zero and the
tools we can use to help all of our businesses
(01:46):
out there be more successful and get them the financial
information that they need to be able to run their
business and be successful. And so that's a great week
to have this show of you know, trucking to success.
And you know here at truck or Tax Tools, you know,
we do a lot of bookkeeping for truckers obviously, and
(02:11):
we want to see them be successful. And you know,
when we're talking about being successful, you've got to start
from you know, how do you start and run a
successful commercial trucking company? You know, running a business regardless
of whether you are going to be a trucker, whether
you're going into consulting, whether you're going to go in retail,
(02:36):
whatever it is that you enter into. You know, it's
not an easy thing, an easy task to jump out
and do and be successful just because you decided you're
going to go into you know business. You know, there
are many many successful business owners, successful truckers. Many people
(02:59):
that are successful in business working for somebody else, but
not everybody has what it takes to run a successful
business or a successful trucking company for that matter. You know,
I love when you sit here and you run questions
on the internet and how they have this wonderful AI
(03:19):
who's going to answer, you know, questions? And I sit
here and look at it and go, hey, you know,
the question I put in was what is a successful
trucking company? And it first came back with you know,
like FedEx, a couple of the real large businesses out there,
(03:41):
Old Dominion, Yellow, XPO, Schneider just to you know, name
a few. And they're sitting there saying, you know, hey,
these are successful examples of successful businesses and stuff out there.
It wasn't what I was looking for, you know. They're
saying this is these companies are successful, such as you know, FEDEG, GPS.
(04:05):
They have high revenue, strong employee bases, and efficient operations.
But is that what you're really entering into when you're
first getting into trucking business. No, you're you're a single
owner operator and you're looking to be successful being out
there by yourself. You know, I looked over the weekend
(04:25):
preparing for this show a little bit of successful business
owners and one of the other ones that came up
was an owner of a gas station. Yeah, believe it
or not, they're tired. I'm talking about how an owner
of a gas station became very successful and that success
was because of his drive to be successful. He found
(04:46):
his niche within the gas station business to become one
of the biggest gas stations, not just in Texas, but
now he's expanding across the country. And that is BUCkies.
You know, could you imagine owning a gas station and
becoming a multi millionaire off of gas and it's all
(05:08):
the other products and everything else he puts in his store.
It's almost like going to an amusement park just to
watch the people that are going into the store. And I,
you know, I admit, you know, I get gas at
Bucky's and that's great. I hate going into their store though,
because of how many people are in the store. So
I will avoid those stores on Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays
(05:33):
unless it's first thing in the morning on Friday or
something because of the people that are there and the
massive number of people. But he's been truly successful, not
because he got out there and ran one gas station,
but the drive to be successful, and so you know
here you're going to run a successful business in the
(05:56):
trucking business. And speaking of being successful trucking business, one
thing that does help is being a member of oh
IDA Owner Operator and the Driver's Association, and there's a
lot of other good associations out there as well. But
o idea, if you're looking to get into trucking business
(06:16):
and be successful, what's on a seminar coming up at
the end of October called truck to Success. So you
can go to oh Ida search for oh Ida Truck
to Success and you can come up with this seminar
comes up in October. I believe the twenty second through
the twenty fifth. Matter of fact, I'm going to be
there talking about bookkeeping, taxes, lease, purchase, business entities, all
(06:42):
those things, and then they're going to be talking about
everything else that you need to know to be successful
in the trucking business. You know, getting your own authority,
all these things that come to play when you're in
the trucking business. But you know, continuing on, what is
it hey and what are the traits of a successful
(07:03):
trucking company, well, one is going to be having excellent equipment,
reliable equipment. You know, a good trucking company needs quality equipment.
You have to have reliable trucks, well built trailers, updated
safety equipment, quality communication tools, plenty of maintenance devices, keep
everything working properly. And the ability availability of excellent equipment
(07:27):
can make or break your trucking company. If you can't
keep the truck on the road, there's no money coming in.
Inter fink, it's only going out. You've got to shut
down and you don't have your equipment available. Guess what,
there's no money coming in the door. You also got
to know what's happening in the market. You know, these
day and as dual costs have gone here, they haven't
(07:50):
come down completely yet. Equipment costs we're up here. Load
prices has been pushed down because people get in this
business and they think they have to take a load
just to keep the truck running it on the road.
They don't look at what the profitability of that load.
(08:11):
If truckers would take the time to look at these
loads and know, this is my cost per mile, this
is what it costs me to have this truck on
the road. Here's my cost if my truck is standing
still and doing nothing, So how am I going to
make money in the business by taking loads that exceed
(08:31):
your cost per mile? So just having a truck on
the road and running doesn't guarantee you're going to make
a profit. All it guarantees is is you're going to
have additional expenses. That's all it does. So to build
a successful trucking business, you need to keep an eye
on the market at all times, make sure you're setting
the right rates, plan for your future, make adjustments to
(08:55):
your operations and to your business plan by keeping that
pulse on market, you know, using trade magazines, news sources, podcasts,
podcasts such as tax Talk for You, Matter of fact,
connect with us at tax talk for you dot com.
Follow us over there, never miss an episode, and maybe
(09:15):
you just learned something to help your business run a
little bit smoother. Having connections within the industry as well,
you know, getting to know people that also do the
same thing that you're doing and how to be a
little more efficient in running your business makes all the
sense of the world. Kind of like meeting I was
at on Friday for zero. Getting to talk to other
(09:39):
people that are in our business. Finding ways to make
us operationally more efficient helps our bottom line. Yeah, we're
going to be making changes and making things better for you.
Are clients that are truckers and if you're not a
client of truck or tax tools, and you should be
great rates, great people, great communication. This is what we
(10:00):
get to do to help you in the business. Now,
when you're keeping that pulse on the market, don't forget
to go back to a business plan you should be
writing as you're getting started to go into the trucking business.
That business plan is your guide, is your bible, is
the route you need to take to make your business successful.
(10:24):
You don't head off on the road without programming where
you're going in your GPS. You shouldn't head off on
the road without programming where you're heading with your business. Hey,
we're going to keep talking about what makes the traits
for a successful trucking company or business owner.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Right after this, we have only scratched the surface of
today's show. Please stand by as Barry G. Fowler will
be right back with tax Dog for you. If you
own the IRS or are going through an IRS audit,
don't go at it alone.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Called Taxation Solutions, Tax.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Relief at eight eight eight nine three zero one zero
one six. We are your solution for IRS, TETs, audits,
back taxes, garnishments, leans and levies. Whether you're an individual
or business, you need a solution and a strong, aggressive
tax resolution.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Don't let the IRS walk all over you.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Stop the IRS now call eight eight eight nine three
zero one zero one six or go to Taxationsolutions dot
net now for a free no obligation consultation. Let's get
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock
(11:46):
once again.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Hey, you know, I kind of love sitting here talking
on the radio and telling you guys and helping you
become successful and being successful and your business. And sometimes
it's about customer service relationships, you know, with your vendors,
(12:15):
with the people you're transporting goods for. Maybe it's logistics company. Uh,
maybe it's a broker. And sometimes you know, you might
find a good broker after it doesn't charge you very much,
and hey, that's great, get a good relationship with them.
You might find a company that you're transporting for, like
one of our clients transports cattle and he's got a
(12:38):
great relationship with the people that he transports cattle with,
so you know, they probably pay him a little bit
more for him to take the loads and stuff. So,
you know, being oriented around customer service kind of like
trucker tax tools. You know, we're oriented around you and
communications with you, keeping you abreast of things that are
(12:59):
going on the industry, but also following up with you
to make sure that we've got everything so you've got
good books to run your business, and so maintaining good
customer relations is critical. If you know what customers like,
what helps their business, and what drives them nuts or
(13:20):
just basically pet peeves to avoid you know, hey, you
can establish great relationships getting to know, you know, Jimmy
and a little bit about him. You know, maybe his
kid plays baseball, maybe they love fishing, maybe they love
the outdoors. Maybe they're ranchers, maybe you know, whatever it is,
you know a little bit more about them. You can
(13:42):
establish more personal relationships with those people so that you're
the first one on their list to call if they
need a load transported or taken somewhere, or maybe you're
getting in where you're transporting loads for these people every
single go. You know, weak and you know, maybe you
(14:02):
find somebody at the other end where you're transporting the
loads back. And now you've got a great business going
back and forth to different locations to help you become
operationally sound. And one thing we always tell people is
you should keep a reserve, keep some operating capital on
hand for those emergencies. You know, if you're not good
(14:24):
at saving money just because your bank account looks really good,
set up a couple of different accounts. You know, set
up account that's for maintenance, set up an account that's
for your taxes, or set up an account that's you know,
more of your es grower reserve account. But you can
do it yourself and make money off of it and
keep money aside for those emergencies. You know, at all times,
(14:46):
your trucking companies should have that kind of emergency fund
that will cover at least three months of expenses. That way,
you know, if some reason, you know, work is a
little bit slower, where the loads aren't paying quite as
well and you don't want to take the loads and
put the wear and tear on the truck where payments
get delaid, you've got the wherewithal to do it, because
(15:09):
if your trucks still sitting still you're still got to
pay for insurance and other costs, make your truck payments,
pay your family of bills. So three months is a
good target. Six months is even better. A year's worth
would be wonderful. Put money aside, especially if for those
emergencies as well, where maybe that truck goes down and
(15:31):
you've got to pay for major repairs and stuff. Now
we talk about somebody being in the trucking business, you know,
being about safety is important as well. You know, yeah,
you need to be efficient, you need to be frugal,
but you're never going to cut corners on safety. You know,
(15:55):
depending on the size and needs of your company's safety
program may include regular training and you know training like
I d A. You know, puts on and some of
the things that they do to help you in you
know business. You know, if you have other people working
for you in how safety programs are are great. If
(16:19):
you've got multiple upon multiple trucks, having a safety department
or safety minded people working for you, you're more likely
to last in the business. And you know, one more thing,
you know, if you're expanding your business, and the same
we do in our business, we hire slowly and then
(16:39):
we're looking for employees here to be here for the
long haul. You know, turnover happens just the way it is.
Somebody's going to pay more and to attract good talent
and take your talent from your business. But you know,
it's not about just getting a warm body and putting
them in the truck. It's getting a person that has
(17:02):
the same ethics, same mindset as you, that is willing
to go the extra mile to help you in the
business and make not just them profitable, but hopefully make
your business profitable as well. Employee turnover can kill you
as a company, and while employee retention in any business
(17:26):
can help you become successful and help you to run
the business more smoothly. You know, finding people this day
and age to you know, work sometimes it's hard. It's
hard in our business to find people that have the
talent and the drive to want to do what we
do for our truckers. And you know, we go the
(17:50):
extra mile to help and being able to go through
to do that helps you and your business and helps
us in our business because we're here to help try
to help you be successful. Now, we can't help you
be successful by installing drive into you and the desire
to go out there and hoof it and make more money.
(18:11):
Those are in your heart before you ever get started.
See I always say some people are meant to be
in business. Other people are meant to have somebody else
drive them in business. So you know, when you're sitting
there talking about the drive to be in business, are
you willing to go through and go the extra mile
(18:32):
to find the places get your loads, to get out
there and move it and not take the time off.
Whereas if you're working for somebody else, you've got somebody
that's hounding you to get you to go to drive
because you're going and going and going. Hey, yeah, we
got a great question here. You were talking to someone
(18:53):
who is thinking about going into trucking. Would you suggest
a stepping off point where other than schooling, would person
start to know if this was a career choice for them. Well,
first off, you know, if if you're thinking about going
into trucking, might be sitting down talking to some truckers.
Good place to learn a little bit about what they
(19:15):
do besides just driving, you know, out there on the
open road. You know, do you love to drive? Can
you handle being out in a truck? Twenty four to
seven as many days as you can possibly be out
there on the road, and you've got to follow a
lot of rules Department of Transportation, you know, there's a
lot of other things that are that go into this.
(19:37):
But what you might do is go and get your CDL.
So you're going to have to go through some training.
That may be a starting point where you get out
and you start to see, hey, do I really want
to do this? And I drive the truck. You know,
truck driving is not for everybody. And then maybe take
(19:57):
a W two job for a year or two. It's
your feet. See this is this for you before you
spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you're going
to spend to get a truck, get a trailer, gets started,
get all set up, learn everything you need to do,
and then from that point, once you decide that this
(20:18):
is the place that you need to be or want
to be, then you know, hey, then maybe you go
and you go to Old Ideas truckt to Success Seminar
and you learn the ins and outs of running a
trucking business and what you've got to do. One of
(20:40):
the benefits of coming to a seminar like Oh Ideas
tructed success. You not only learn the ins and outs
of everything in the business, but you get to meet
some the great people at o IDA. You get to
sit down with me and learn more about taxes and
bookkeeping and the financial side of being in business. And
then you get to meet and greet and talk and
(21:04):
network with other people that are looking to do the
same thing that you're looking to. And you've got some
contacts out there. So those are the places that I
would start and then keep moving from there. Now we
come back, we're going to continue talking about trucking to success.
How do you get out and start your own business
in the trucking business, and you can apply this to
(21:27):
every other business in the real world. We'll do that
right after that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Please stand by as Barry Chief Fowler will be right
back with tax talk for you. As an owner operator,
you already spend too much time away from your family.
Trucker tax tools handles all your bookkeeping and taxes.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No matter what level trucker you are. Life on the
road can meet taxi, but.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
That doesn't mean that your wallet or time with your
family should suffer. For Trucker Tax Tools makes your life
run smoothly. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot com for
a free guide that will give you the tools to
never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker Tax Tools
eight seven seven nine six six two four seven seven
(22:18):
or go to Trucker tax Tools dot com now and
let the experts keep you trucking. Let's get back to
tax stock for you with more tax stock once again.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fallon.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Hey, welcome back. You know I love questions. If you're
looking to get started in the trucking business, this is
a great place, in a great forum to put your
questions out there and I'll answer them the best I can,
and those that I can't maybe over for you to
ida and you can get the answers over there. One
thing to do is make sure you get your membership
so ideas you have the tools necessary to help you
(22:59):
in the business as well and great contacts over there.
So we've got a question here from Greg. Do you
get taught the dot rules that's the Department of Transportation
rules and what to know in the trucking schools, Well,
the trucking schools if you're talking about getting your CDL.
(23:20):
I'm not sure everything that they will teach you or
train you in the trucking school, but you know, I'm
pretty sure they're going to give you some of the
regulations that you've got to follow as a trucker out there.
I know, Truck to Success teaches a lot of Department
(23:40):
of Transportation rules and regulations you've got to go through
and follow as a trucking business. So getting over to
Truck to Success as well worth it, you know, I
will say this about Truck to Success. I've met a
lot of great people that are over there. There's a
lot of people that have come to this seminar and
(24:01):
decided this isn't the right path for me, which is
a great lesson to learn for trucker that, hey, this
may not be the right path that go down. I
don't want to have my own authority, or I don't
want to be running a business and have other drivers.
Then maybe I just want to go and be a
least on driver somewhere, or maybe I just want to
(24:23):
stay W two because it's easier or better. Those are
all valuable lessons that you can learn a try to
success when you're when you're actually learning about the trucking
business and everything it takes to run this business, especially
before you put your investment into you know, the tractor
(24:44):
and trailer out there, because those are big investments and
your side tied to those loans. Now you're getting started
in this business, you know, it's about financial stability. It's
about financial it's about keep being close eyes and close
watch on your bottom line. And that starts as you're
(25:06):
starting the business and you're putting that business plan together,
you know, and you're going out and let's say you're
going to buy that new piece of equipment. When you're
buying that new piece of equipment, make sure you read
what you're signing when you buy it. So you're going
to go get it finance or you're going to have
a lease, you know, you've got to read those agreements.
(25:27):
I think one of the funniest things that the truck
to success. You know, when we're talking and we've had
some of the people of Ida talking about how you know,
the least purchase is good or bad to walk away
lease is you can walk away from your lease at
any time. You know you're going to be leased onto
this company and they're going to lease you a truck
(25:48):
as well, So now they've got you coming and going
and then oh yeah, don't worry about it. You know,
here you are. And the next thing you know, the
loads are slowing down, coming towards the last year of
the lease out. They're taking the truck back for me
to watch and read. Not always the smartest place to
go is to leash your truck from the company you're
going to be driving from, especially when they're holding the
(26:10):
purse strings and giving you the routes and giving you
the loads. So you may have to watch some of
those things there, but I will tell you maintaining good
financial practices. Having truck or tax tools do your bookkeeping
your taxes helps you track your revenue and your expenses,
and it becomes very crucial to be able to look
(26:32):
at that and read that for your long term success.
And you know, maintain that adequate, adequate working capital that
we talked about a little while ago in reserves so
that when those ups and downs happen, you know you've
got more money. So if you've got a big upside,
it's a great time to put more money away or
(26:54):
when that eventual downside is going to be because you know,
maybe the freight these have shrunk a little bit or
now you know fuel costs if isn't a little bit,
or insurance costs went up higher, replacement costs, repair costs,
all that inflation and everything that you're running into right now,
(27:17):
you know you've got the wherewithal to overcome that and
then optimizing your profit margin. You know, understanding and actively
managing factors like you know, revenue per mile, cost per mile,
loaded mileage, not deadheading helps maximize the profitability of your business.
(27:41):
Did you catch that? Managing factors like revenue per mile.
I'm a treat making per mile, what is your cost
per mile? What is your loaded mileage? So you know
how are you going to maximize your profitability? And we've
got a great worksheet that we get from oh Ida
(28:05):
on cost permile. Love to give that to you. Hey,
connect with us at tax Talk for you dot com
messages through there go to truck or tax tools dot
com or Facebook page messages there we can get to
you the cost per mile worksheet so that you can
work through what is your cost per mile and make
(28:28):
your business more successful by monitoring the revenue per mile,
your cost per miile, your standard costs for sitting still. Hey,
we've done some great things here at truck or Tax Tools,
and you know, one of the things has been this
great transition we're making away from in house QuickBooks to
(28:50):
the new software we're using zero. We have modified our financials.
We think it's great. I can't wait to see what
some of our clients say about the financials we're now
producing because we have now been able to with the
new software move things around more of uh direct costs
(29:11):
to the costs that you have while you're on the
road moving your load from point A to point B,
and then indirect cost costs that you're going to have
every month basically standing still. You know, interest expense, professional fees,
(29:31):
meals and stuff. You know, these are costs out there
that you're going to get. And we put per dams
down here in the administrative costs side because basically that's
just your meals while you're on the road, but it's
not truly a direct cost of running your truck. So
you're going to have, you know, the direct costs up
(29:54):
above the line for such things as fuel tolls, scales,
fuel surcharge. So there's a lot of great things that
we are actually doing in our business that is there
to uh make it better for you and help your business,
(30:15):
and then you'll be able to see some good, you know,
financial reports that you'll be able to look at and
understand your business. And uh so I'm trying to bring
up here a real quick income statement that we look at.
So we've got everything from growth trucking revenue to refer fuel,
(30:38):
duel surcharge, stop fees, tollpays, unloading fees, and then we
got the cost of service maybe death, fuel mileage charge,
refer fuel tolls, scales, truck maintenance costs, all these things
that you have out there for you know your cost
(30:58):
of service, and then you have all your administrative type
costs such as your bank fees, does subscriptions, insurance licenses,
parking supplies, truck lease, maybe uniforms out there, professional fees,
(31:20):
fuel tax, heavy highway tax, and travel and stuff. So
you can see we itemize things very well so you
can help look at your business and see what your
business is doing. Hey, Sally, thanks for the question. Is
bookkeeping counting as a professional service? Absolutely, and it's tax deductible.
Do you get the benefit of having a professionals like
(31:42):
us doing your bookkeeping for your trucking or your business
and then being able to deduct that and save money
on it because it is a tax deductible service that
we do provide. We've got a few more questions coming in,
which I really love, you know. Get those questions to us,
and then we're gonna get to those questions right after
(32:05):
this break.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please
stand by as Barry G. Fowler will be right back
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator, you
already spend too much time away from your family. Stop
spending time doing paperwork. Go to Trucker tax tools dot com,
(32:28):
a solution filled specifically for truckers. Trucker tax Tools dot
Com makes your life run smoothly. Let's get back to
tax stock for you with more tax tock once again.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Hey, uh, you know, great questions coming in today, So
keep those questions rolling in and we'll get those questions answered.
Because this is about you. This is about trucking to success,
you know, and it doesn't matter whether you're in business,
in the trucking business or you're in any other business.
(33:08):
These things are important to you and your business and
being successful in business. And we've got another question that
just came in. What other types of businesses have costs
and fees. If you're in business, you have a cost,
you have fees, you have expenses. You know. Some of
(33:28):
the other businesses that we do relate to you know, farming,
ranch relate to daycares. You know, families of our trucking
companies do all kinds of businesses out there, production, business,
you name it, do it. But they have costs. You
maybe have a cost of labor, contract labor, staffing, You
(33:52):
may have automotive expenses. Mileage, So if you're if you
have your personal car and you're driving to or from
the store to pick up stuff for your truck or
for your business. Maybe you're going out to meet with
a client or a prospect out there, that mileage is
all deductible for your business. Dues and subscriptions, subscriptions you
(34:17):
do for the business, or maybe membership to an organization,
if you're running equipment that you use in the business
is all deductible. Of course, your insurance that you pay
for becomes a deductible business expence. Again, professional fees, getting
your taxes done, your bookkeeping done, are all deductible expenses.
(34:42):
If you have rent an office building and you have
janitorial expenses, those are tax deductible. Telephone, even a portion
of your cell phone you use in the business all
becomes tax deductible. One of the things that we talk
about try to success, to make you successful in the
business is all the ordinary and necessary costs of doing business.
(35:07):
You got to think about your business in a different way.
It's about getting every tax deduction you can possibly find
that relates to your business. Now, the IRS says it
has to be ordinary and necessary. Your cell phone is
necessary in business. Now, how much is it used in
(35:27):
business versus used for personal You kind of got to
look back at the bill. How much are you calling
your significant other or other family members that aren't necessarily
working in the business, what you're just communicating with And
then how much are you calling your suppliers, calling your broker, logistics, bank,
(35:48):
you things that you do for business in business and
making sure that you've got the things that you need
to get the deduction so that you're saving money on taxes. See,
one of the biggest expenses anybody has that's in business
is taxes. You know, taxes, taxes, taxes were always hit
(36:09):
with taxes, and so it's about managing your finances to
minimize the tax as well. So it's kind of a misnumber.
We want to maximize profitability, we want to minimize tax.
And you've got to remember just because your bottom line,
as you know, one hundred thousand dollars at the bottom line,
(36:30):
and you're going to get tax that if you're self employed,
you know you get tax fifteen point three percent right
off the top for Social Security and medicare. Now, minimizing
that will also help profitability. So if you were able
to find ten thousand dollars of additional expenses, it saves
you fifteen hundred dollars. So you know, that becomes kind
(36:52):
of important because at the end of the day, it
helped your bottom line. It may have been things that
you've been paying on the personal side. They relate to business,
but you didn't think about how they relate to business,
and we need to get them over here to where
it is a pre tax item, not some item you
pay after tax. Hey, britt a good question. Should you
(37:14):
have a separate phone line for business? Yes? No, maybe
you know a separate phone line for business is something
you can advertise. Now, if you are growing a business,
you know, and we're talking specifically about a trucking business,
but I'm going to relate this to other business as well.
If you're out there and you're going to be the
only driver in your trucking business, your personal phone line
(37:36):
your business phone line can merge and be one in
the same. Now, I remember, you know, in that cell
phone you're using for business, it's only going to be
a portion deductible, but it can be used because you're
not out there. Now, Let's say you want to go
out there and compete with JB. Hunt and you're going
to have a massive number of truckers running for you,
(37:59):
or you're going to run ten fifteen trucks, you will
probably want a line that is dedicated for business and
business only aligne that you can actually put the business
name on so somebody can find you as if you're
running on a website and everything else. You might want
a second phone line, you know, for that. Or maybe
(38:22):
you're going to start running an office and you're going
to want a voiceover IP system that has the mobile
apps that you can answer the phone anywhere. Then maybe
you've got the office phones, but it can be run
on an app on your phone as well, So we
do that here at Truck or Tax Tools. We got
(38:43):
voiceover IP, but we can answer the phones that come
in through our phone service provider, and we can also
answer on our cell phones through their apps. So you know,
it not necessarily separate phone, but it does have a
separate phone number for the business and we can answer
(39:06):
these things through the apps out there. And that's kind
of leveraging technology which can help you and your business,
whether you're using fleet management software, real time tracking, communication tools,
things that enhance efficiency and aids and compliance and stuff.
(39:27):
Now that's really nice in any business that you have,
because if you're running a business, embracing technology sometimes is
the way to go. So we're at the zero meeting
on Friday and looking at new technology, new integrations our
software to better service our clients and provide more efficiency
(39:48):
so that you know, we can make things smoother and
easier for not just our staff but our clients as well.
So as we go through additional transitions and making things better,
maybe adopting some new innovative technologies, some new AI powered
(40:10):
optimization tools, things that we are doing in our business
to help you, you can use and do in your business,
maybe something like alternative fuels or ways of you know,
when resistance and things like that that can help you
in the business and get better deal knowledge out there
(40:32):
as well. So looking at operational efficiencies and prioritizing safety
and managing your finances and having a strong culture of
safety and strong customer relationships are all things that you
should be embracing when you're in business, regardless of whether
(40:56):
it's a trucking business or any other business. It really
helps you promote your business and keep in business, not
just today but down down the road. You know, AI
is wonderful. So I'm sitting here looking at this and
I thought, you know, hey, you know was some things
(41:18):
we can do with AI? Or how can trucking firms
use technology to cut fuel costs? And AI came up.
You know, I hate to say things are always listening
to you, but they always seem to be. Have you
ever noticed when you talk about vacuums and next thing,
you know, everything through Amazon or you're seeing online is
(41:40):
going to come up vacuum. Sorry, I didn't mean to
pollute your phones with vacuums this week, but hey, when
that comes true, message me next week that you talked
about vacuums and all I'm seeing is vacuums on my phone,
So you're welcome, but we're talking about you know, how
do firms use TAG to cut fuel costs? And optimization
(42:01):
is one minimizing mileage and time. You know, AI sometimes
in the GPS can analyze factors like delivery locations, traffic,
road conditions, vehicle constraints to create the most efficient routes,
cutting down on necessary mileage. Having real time traffic integration
(42:24):
so it's integrated with real time traffic data, the software
can dynamically reroute vehicles to avoid congestion. My wife does
that for by the way, when I'm on the road,
they don't use AI. I use her smarts to find
us routes along the road we're out driving. And then
using something like predictive analytics, you know, they can use
historical data external factors to forecast demand and traffic patterns.
(42:48):
Kind of cool telematics, you know, real time monitoring and
driver behavior analysis help you get better safety improvements. And
this is kind of fun, you know, looking at what
AI comes up. Aerodynamic designs, lighter weight materials, engine and
(43:09):
transmission efficiency, fuel saving technologies, alternative fuels, and electric trucks.
Good luck with electric trucks, by the way, But hey,
that's what you want, Hey, go for it. I avoid them,
you know. I prefer my F one fifty being on
gas and look at the F two to fifty probably
be on diesel. Hey, we're coming to an end of
(43:31):
a great show. I mean this time went fast again.
Connect with us at tax Talk for You dot com.
Go to our Facebook page, like and share, get it
out to other truckers and other people. Definitely go to
truck of tax Tools were running great promotions today for
bookkeeping and tax work. Get with us there, call us,
(43:52):
let us get started. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot com.
But atbobb all you need to be right back here.
At tax Talk for You Every Monday at ten am
Eastern time, W four CY Radio, you can hear a
podcasts iHeart, Spotify, you name it toasted. There. We have
(44:12):
it all available to you to learn more, to help
you run your business more smoothly. Find those operational efficiencies.
Decrease the amount you're going to pay in tax by
finding every deduction allowed by law. That's what the name
of the game is. Saving money, keeping more money in
(44:34):
your pocket keeping it away from Uncle Sam. Hey, we'll
see you next week. Yeah, but God blessed, glorious, an
awesome week. Stay safe and all truckers, thank you for
what you do. Thank you to our military and police
again and fire those that are in the service industry.
Have a guide, blessed everyone, have a guide. Blessed, glorious week.
(44:55):
See you next week right here W four CY Radio
and Tax Talk for You.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers.
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping? Are you
dealing with dirs and ready to have some relief? Then
(45:22):
you need Tax Talk for You, hosted by tax and
trucker expert Barry g.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Fouer EA.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Tune in ten am Eastern Time every Monday right here
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to check this and past episodes at tax TALKFORU dot com.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
See you next week at W fourcy dot com.
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(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Barry G.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fouler EA brings you tax talk for you right here
on W four CY Radio and talk for TV. As
an enrolled agent and a national leader in tax resolution
as well as Trucker bookkeeping and tax planning.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
With over thirty years of experience.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Barry will break down taxes, bookkeeping, tax planning, and tax relief.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
For individuals and businesses just like you. So let's have
some tax talk for you with your hosts. Barry G.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Foul Or, Good morning and welcome Ask. It's great to
be back in the office. Last week was a busy
week for us, you know here, you know we've been
going through a conversion of software that we used for
bookkeeping and stuff. We're transitioning completely away from you quick
(01:24):
books and moving to software called zero x e r O,
really good software. We're at a seminar on Friday all
day learning a little bit more about zero and the
tools we can use to help all of our businesses
(01:46):
out there be more successful and get them the financial
information that they need to be able to run their
business and be successful. And so that's a great week
to have this show of you know, trucking to success.
And you know here at truck or Tax Tools, you know,
we do a lot of bookkeeping for truckers obviously, and
(02:11):
we want to see them be successful. And you know,
when we're talking about being successful, you've got to start
from you know, how do you start and run a
successful commercial trucking company? You know, running a business regardless
of whether you are going to be a trucker, whether
you're going into consulting, whether you're going to go in retail,
(02:36):
whatever it is that you enter into. You know, it's
not an easy thing, an easy task to jump out
and do and be successful just because you decided you're
going to go into you know business. You know, there
are many many successful business owners, successful truckers. Many people
(02:59):
that are successful in business working for somebody else, but
not everybody has what it takes to run a successful
business or a successful trucking company for that matter. You know,
I love when you sit here and you run questions
on the internet and how they have this wonderful AI
(03:19):
who's going to answer, you know, questions? And I sit
here and look at it and go, hey, you know,
the question I put in was what is a successful
trucking company? And it first came back with you know,
like FedEx, a couple of the real large businesses out there,
(03:41):
Old Dominion, Yellow, XPO, Schneider just to you know, name
a few. And they're sitting there saying, you know, hey,
these are successful examples of successful businesses and stuff out there.
It wasn't what I was looking for, you know. They're
saying this is these companies are successful, such as you know, FEDEG, GPS.
(04:05):
They have high revenue, strong employee bases, and efficient operations.
But is that what you're really entering into when you're
first getting into trucking business. No, you're you're a single
owner operator and you're looking to be successful being out
there by yourself. You know, I looked over the weekend
(04:25):
preparing for this show a little bit of successful business
owners and one of the other ones that came up
was an owner of a gas station. Yeah, believe it
or not, they're tired. I'm talking about how an owner
of a gas station became very successful and that success
was because of his drive to be successful. He found
(04:46):
his niche within the gas station business to become one
of the biggest gas stations, not just in Texas, but
now he's expanding across the country. And that is BUCkies.
You know, could you imagine owning a gas station and
becoming a multi millionaire off of gas and it's all
(05:08):
the other products and everything else he puts in his store.
It's almost like going to an amusement park just to
watch the people that are going into the store. And I,
you know, I admit, you know, I get gas at
Bucky's and that's great. I hate going into their store though,
because of how many people are in the store. So
I will avoid those stores on Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays
(05:33):
unless it's first thing in the morning on Friday or
something because of the people that are there and the
massive number of people. But he's been truly successful, not
because he got out there and ran one gas station,
but the drive to be successful, and so you know
here you're going to run a successful business in the
(05:56):
trucking business. And speaking of being successful trucking business, one
thing that does help is being a member of oh
IDA Owner Operator and the Driver's Association, and there's a
lot of other good associations out there as well. But
o idea, if you're looking to get into trucking business
(06:16):
and be successful, what's on a seminar coming up at
the end of October called truck to Success. So you
can go to oh Ida search for oh Ida Truck
to Success and you can come up with this seminar
comes up in October. I believe the twenty second through
the twenty fifth. Matter of fact, I'm going to be
there talking about bookkeeping, taxes, lease, purchase, business entities, all
(06:42):
those things, and then they're going to be talking about
everything else that you need to know to be successful
in the trucking business. You know, getting your own authority,
all these things that come to play when you're in
the trucking business. But you know, continuing on, what is
it hey and what are the traits of a successful
(07:03):
trucking company, well, one is going to be having excellent equipment,
reliable equipment. You know, a good trucking company needs quality equipment.
You have to have reliable trucks, well built trailers, updated
safety equipment, quality communication tools, plenty of maintenance devices, keep
everything working properly. And the ability availability of excellent equipment
(07:27):
can make or break your trucking company. If you can't
keep the truck on the road, there's no money coming in.
Inter fink, it's only going out. You've got to shut
down and you don't have your equipment available. Guess what,
there's no money coming in the door. You also got
to know what's happening in the market. You know, these
day and as dual costs have gone here, they haven't
(07:50):
come down completely yet. Equipment costs we're up here. Load
prices has been pushed down because people get in this
business and they think they have to take a load
just to keep the truck running it on the road.
They don't look at what the profitability of that load.
(08:11):
If truckers would take the time to look at these
loads and know, this is my cost per mile, this
is what it costs me to have this truck on
the road. Here's my cost if my truck is standing
still and doing nothing, So how am I going to
make money in the business by taking loads that exceed
(08:31):
your cost per mile? So just having a truck on
the road and running doesn't guarantee you're going to make
a profit. All it guarantees is is you're going to
have additional expenses. That's all it does. So to build
a successful trucking business, you need to keep an eye
on the market at all times, make sure you're setting
the right rates, plan for your future, make adjustments to
(08:55):
your operations and to your business plan by keeping that
pulse on market, you know, using trade magazines, news sources, podcasts,
podcasts such as tax Talk for You, Matter of fact,
connect with us at tax talk for you dot com.
Follow us over there, never miss an episode, and maybe
(09:15):
you just learned something to help your business run a
little bit smoother. Having connections within the industry as well,
you know, getting to know people that also do the
same thing that you're doing and how to be a
little more efficient in running your business makes all the
sense of the world. Kind of like meeting I was
at on Friday for zero. Getting to talk to other
(09:39):
people that are in our business. Finding ways to make
us operationally more efficient helps our bottom line. Yeah, we're
going to be making changes and making things better for you.
Are clients that are truckers and if you're not a
client of truck or tax tools, and you should be
great rates, great people, great communication. This is what we
(10:00):
get to do to help you in the business. Now,
when you're keeping that pulse on the market, don't forget
to go back to a business plan you should be
writing as you're getting started to go into the trucking business.
That business plan is your guide, is your bible, is
the route you need to take to make your business successful.
(10:24):
You don't head off on the road without programming where
you're going in your GPS. You shouldn't head off on
the road without programming where you're heading with your business. Hey,
we're going to keep talking about what makes the traits
for a successful trucking company or business owner.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Right after this, we have only scratched the surface of
today's show. Please stand by as Barry G. Fowler will
be right back with tax Dog for you. If you
own the IRS or are going through an IRS audit,
don't go at it alone.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Called Taxation Solutions, Tax.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Relief at eight eight eight nine three zero one zero
one six. We are your solution for IRS, TETs, audits,
back taxes, garnishments, leans and levies. Whether you're an individual
or business, you need a solution and a strong, aggressive
tax resolution.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Don't let the IRS walk all over you.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Stop the IRS now call eight eight eight nine three
zero one zero one six or go to Taxationsolutions dot
net now for a free no obligation consultation. Let's get
back to tax stock for you with more tax stock
(11:46):
once again.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Hey, you know, I kind of love sitting here talking
on the radio and telling you guys and helping you
become successful and being successful and your business. And sometimes
it's about customer service relationships, you know, with your vendors,
(12:15):
with the people you're transporting goods for. Maybe it's logistics company. Uh,
maybe it's a broker. And sometimes you know, you might
find a good broker after it doesn't charge you very much,
and hey, that's great, get a good relationship with them.
You might find a company that you're transporting for, like
one of our clients transports cattle and he's got a
(12:38):
great relationship with the people that he transports cattle with,
so you know, they probably pay him a little bit
more for him to take the loads and stuff. So,
you know, being oriented around customer service kind of like
trucker tax tools. You know, we're oriented around you and
communications with you, keeping you abreast of things that are
(12:59):
going on the industry, but also following up with you
to make sure that we've got everything so you've got
good books to run your business, and so maintaining good
customer relations is critical. If you know what customers like,
what helps their business, and what drives them nuts or
(13:20):
just basically pet peeves to avoid you know, hey, you
can establish great relationships getting to know, you know, Jimmy
and a little bit about him. You know, maybe his
kid plays baseball, maybe they love fishing, maybe they love
the outdoors. Maybe they're ranchers, maybe you know, whatever it is,
you know a little bit more about them. You can
(13:42):
establish more personal relationships with those people so that you're
the first one on their list to call if they
need a load transported or taken somewhere, or maybe you're
getting in where you're transporting loads for these people every
single go. You know, weak and you know, maybe you
(14:02):
find somebody at the other end where you're transporting the
loads back. And now you've got a great business going
back and forth to different locations to help you become
operationally sound. And one thing we always tell people is
you should keep a reserve, keep some operating capital on
hand for those emergencies. You know, if you're not good
(14:24):
at saving money just because your bank account looks really good,
set up a couple of different accounts. You know, set
up account that's for maintenance, set up an account that's
for your taxes, or set up an account that's you know,
more of your es grower reserve account. But you can
do it yourself and make money off of it and
keep money aside for those emergencies. You know, at all times,
(14:46):
your trucking companies should have that kind of emergency fund
that will cover at least three months of expenses. That way,
you know, if some reason, you know, work is a
little bit slower, where the loads aren't paying quite as
well and you don't want to take the loads and
put the wear and tear on the truck where payments
get delaid, you've got the wherewithal to do it, because
(15:09):
if your trucks still sitting still you're still got to
pay for insurance and other costs, make your truck payments,
pay your family of bills. So three months is a
good target. Six months is even better. A year's worth
would be wonderful. Put money aside, especially if for those
emergencies as well, where maybe that truck goes down and
(15:31):
you've got to pay for major repairs and stuff. Now
we talk about somebody being in the trucking business, you know,
being about safety is important as well. You know, yeah,
you need to be efficient, you need to be frugal,
but you're never going to cut corners on safety. You know,
(15:55):
depending on the size and needs of your company's safety
program may include regular training and you know training like
I d A. You know, puts on and some of
the things that they do to help you in you
know business. You know, if you have other people working
for you in how safety programs are are great. If
(16:19):
you've got multiple upon multiple trucks, having a safety department
or safety minded people working for you, you're more likely
to last in the business. And you know, one more thing,
you know, if you're expanding your business, and the same
we do in our business, we hire slowly and then
(16:39):
we're looking for employees here to be here for the
long haul. You know, turnover happens just the way it is.
Somebody's going to pay more and to attract good talent
and take your talent from your business. But you know,
it's not about just getting a warm body and putting
them in the truck. It's getting a person that has
(17:02):
the same ethics, same mindset as you, that is willing
to go the extra mile to help you in the
business and make not just them profitable, but hopefully make
your business profitable as well. Employee turnover can kill you
as a company, and while employee retention in any business
(17:26):
can help you become successful and help you to run
the business more smoothly. You know, finding people this day
and age to you know, work sometimes it's hard. It's
hard in our business to find people that have the
talent and the drive to want to do what we
do for our truckers. And you know, we go the
(17:50):
extra mile to help and being able to go through
to do that helps you and your business and helps
us in our business because we're here to help try
to help you be successful. Now, we can't help you
be successful by installing drive into you and the desire
to go out there and hoof it and make more money.
(18:11):
Those are in your heart before you ever get started.
See I always say some people are meant to be
in business. Other people are meant to have somebody else
drive them in business. So you know, when you're sitting
there talking about the drive to be in business, are
you willing to go through and go the extra mile
(18:32):
to find the places get your loads, to get out
there and move it and not take the time off.
Whereas if you're working for somebody else, you've got somebody
that's hounding you to get you to go to drive
because you're going and going and going. Hey, yeah, we
got a great question here. You were talking to someone
(18:53):
who is thinking about going into trucking. Would you suggest
a stepping off point where other than schooling, would person
start to know if this was a career choice for them. Well,
first off, you know, if if you're thinking about going
into trucking, might be sitting down talking to some truckers.
Good place to learn a little bit about what they
(19:15):
do besides just driving, you know, out there on the
open road. You know, do you love to drive? Can
you handle being out in a truck? Twenty four to
seven as many days as you can possibly be out
there on the road, and you've got to follow a
lot of rules Department of Transportation, you know, there's a
lot of other things that are that go into this.
(19:37):
But what you might do is go and get your CDL.
So you're going to have to go through some training.
That may be a starting point where you get out
and you start to see, hey, do I really want
to do this? And I drive the truck. You know,
truck driving is not for everybody. And then maybe take
(19:57):
a W two job for a year or two. It's
your feet. See this is this for you before you
spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you're going
to spend to get a truck, get a trailer, gets started,
get all set up, learn everything you need to do,
and then from that point, once you decide that this
(20:18):
is the place that you need to be or want
to be, then you know, hey, then maybe you go
and you go to Old Ideas truckt to Success Seminar
and you learn the ins and outs of running a
trucking business and what you've got to do. One of
(20:40):
the benefits of coming to a seminar like Oh Ideas
tructed success. You not only learn the ins and outs
of everything in the business, but you get to meet
some the great people at o IDA. You get to
sit down with me and learn more about taxes and
bookkeeping and the financial side of being in business. And
then you get to meet and greet and talk and
(21:04):
network with other people that are looking to do the
same thing that you're looking to. And you've got some
contacts out there. So those are the places that I
would start and then keep moving from there. Now we
come back, we're going to continue talking about trucking to success.
How do you get out and start your own business
in the trucking business, and you can apply this to
(21:27):
every other business in the real world. We'll do that
right after that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Please stand by as Barry Chief Fowler will be right
back with tax talk for you. As an owner operator,
you already spend too much time away from your family.
Trucker tax tools handles all your bookkeeping and taxes.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No matter what level trucker you are. Life on the
road can meet taxi, but.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
That doesn't mean that your wallet or time with your
family should suffer. For Trucker Tax Tools makes your life
run smoothly. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot com for
a free guide that will give you the tools to
never worry about your taxes again. Call Trucker Tax Tools
eight seven seven nine six six two four seven seven
(22:18):
or go to Trucker tax Tools dot com now and
let the experts keep you trucking. Let's get back to
tax stock for you with more tax stock once again.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fallon.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Hey, welcome back. You know I love questions. If you're
looking to get started in the trucking business, this is
a great place, in a great forum to put your
questions out there and I'll answer them the best I can,
and those that I can't maybe over for you to
ida and you can get the answers over there. One
thing to do is make sure you get your membership
so ideas you have the tools necessary to help you
(22:59):
in the business as well and great contacts over there.
So we've got a question here from Greg. Do you
get taught the dot rules that's the Department of Transportation
rules and what to know in the trucking schools, Well,
the trucking schools if you're talking about getting your CDL.
(23:20):
I'm not sure everything that they will teach you or
train you in the trucking school, but you know, I'm
pretty sure they're going to give you some of the
regulations that you've got to follow as a trucker out there.
I know, Truck to Success teaches a lot of Department
(23:40):
of Transportation rules and regulations you've got to go through
and follow as a trucking business. So getting over to
Truck to Success as well worth it, you know, I
will say this about Truck to Success. I've met a
lot of great people that are over there. There's a
lot of people that have come to this seminar and
(24:01):
decided this isn't the right path for me, which is
a great lesson to learn for trucker that, hey, this
may not be the right path that go down. I
don't want to have my own authority, or I don't
want to be running a business and have other drivers.
Then maybe I just want to go and be a
least on driver somewhere, or maybe I just want to
(24:23):
stay W two because it's easier or better. Those are
all valuable lessons that you can learn a try to
success when you're when you're actually learning about the trucking
business and everything it takes to run this business, especially
before you put your investment into you know, the tractor
(24:44):
and trailer out there, because those are big investments and
your side tied to those loans. Now you're getting started
in this business, you know, it's about financial stability. It's
about financial it's about keep being close eyes and close
watch on your bottom line. And that starts as you're
(25:06):
starting the business and you're putting that business plan together,
you know, and you're going out and let's say you're
going to buy that new piece of equipment. When you're
buying that new piece of equipment, make sure you read
what you're signing when you buy it. So you're going
to go get it finance or you're going to have
a lease, you know, you've got to read those agreements.
(25:27):
I think one of the funniest things that the truck
to success. You know, when we're talking and we've had
some of the people of Ida talking about how you know,
the least purchase is good or bad to walk away
lease is you can walk away from your lease at
any time. You know you're going to be leased onto
this company and they're going to lease you a truck
(25:48):
as well, So now they've got you coming and going
and then oh yeah, don't worry about it. You know,
here you are. And the next thing you know, the
loads are slowing down, coming towards the last year of
the lease out. They're taking the truck back for me
to watch and read. Not always the smartest place to
go is to leash your truck from the company you're
going to be driving from, especially when they're holding the
(26:10):
purse strings and giving you the routes and giving you
the loads. So you may have to watch some of
those things there, but I will tell you maintaining good
financial practices. Having truck or tax tools do your bookkeeping
your taxes helps you track your revenue and your expenses,
and it becomes very crucial to be able to look
(26:32):
at that and read that for your long term success.
And you know, maintain that adequate, adequate working capital that
we talked about a little while ago in reserves so
that when those ups and downs happen, you know you've
got more money. So if you've got a big upside,
it's a great time to put more money away or
(26:54):
when that eventual downside is going to be because you know,
maybe the freight these have shrunk a little bit or
now you know fuel costs if isn't a little bit,
or insurance costs went up higher, replacement costs, repair costs,
all that inflation and everything that you're running into right now,
(27:17):
you know you've got the wherewithal to overcome that and
then optimizing your profit margin. You know, understanding and actively
managing factors like you know, revenue per mile, cost per mile,
loaded mileage, not deadheading helps maximize the profitability of your business.
(27:41):
Did you catch that? Managing factors like revenue per mile.
I'm a treat making per mile, what is your cost
per mile? What is your loaded mileage? So you know
how are you going to maximize your profitability? And we've
got a great worksheet that we get from oh Ida
(28:05):
on cost permile. Love to give that to you. Hey,
connect with us at tax Talk for you dot com
messages through there go to truck or tax tools dot
com or Facebook page messages there we can get to
you the cost per mile worksheet so that you can
work through what is your cost per mile and make
(28:28):
your business more successful by monitoring the revenue per mile,
your cost per miile, your standard costs for sitting still. Hey,
we've done some great things here at truck or Tax Tools,
and you know, one of the things has been this
great transition we're making away from in house QuickBooks to
(28:50):
the new software we're using zero. We have modified our financials.
We think it's great. I can't wait to see what
some of our clients say about the financials we're now
producing because we have now been able to with the
new software move things around more of uh direct costs
(29:11):
to the costs that you have while you're on the
road moving your load from point A to point B,
and then indirect cost costs that you're going to have
every month basically standing still. You know, interest expense, professional fees,
(29:31):
meals and stuff. You know, these are costs out there
that you're going to get. And we put per dams
down here in the administrative costs side because basically that's
just your meals while you're on the road, but it's
not truly a direct cost of running your truck. So
you're going to have, you know, the direct costs up
(29:54):
above the line for such things as fuel tolls, scales,
fuel surcharge. So there's a lot of great things that
we are actually doing in our business that is there
to uh make it better for you and help your business,
(30:15):
and then you'll be able to see some good, you know,
financial reports that you'll be able to look at and
understand your business. And uh so I'm trying to bring
up here a real quick income statement that we look at.
So we've got everything from growth trucking revenue to refer fuel,
(30:38):
duel surcharge, stop fees, tollpays, unloading fees, and then we
got the cost of service maybe death, fuel mileage charge,
refer fuel tolls, scales, truck maintenance costs, all these things
that you have out there for you know your cost
(30:58):
of service, and then you have all your administrative type
costs such as your bank fees, does subscriptions, insurance licenses,
parking supplies, truck lease, maybe uniforms out there, professional fees,
(31:20):
fuel tax, heavy highway tax, and travel and stuff. So
you can see we itemize things very well so you
can help look at your business and see what your
business is doing. Hey, Sally, thanks for the question. Is
bookkeeping counting as a professional service? Absolutely, and it's tax deductible.
Do you get the benefit of having a professionals like
(31:42):
us doing your bookkeeping for your trucking or your business
and then being able to deduct that and save money
on it because it is a tax deductible service that
we do provide. We've got a few more questions coming in,
which I really love, you know. Get those questions to us,
and then we're gonna get to those questions right after
(32:05):
this break.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
We have only scratched the surface of today's show. Please
stand by as Barry G. Fowler will be right back
with tax talk for you. As an owner operator, you
already spend too much time away from your family. Stop
spending time doing paperwork. Go to Trucker tax tools dot com,
(32:28):
a solution filled specifically for truckers. Trucker tax Tools dot
Com makes your life run smoothly. Let's get back to
tax stock for you with more tax tock once again.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Here's your host, Barry G. Fowler.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Hey, uh, you know, great questions coming in today, So
keep those questions rolling in and we'll get those questions answered.
Because this is about you. This is about trucking to success,
you know, and it doesn't matter whether you're in business,
in the trucking business or you're in any other business.
(33:08):
These things are important to you and your business and
being successful in business. And we've got another question that
just came in. What other types of businesses have costs
and fees. If you're in business, you have a cost,
you have fees, you have expenses. You know. Some of
(33:28):
the other businesses that we do relate to you know, farming,
ranch relate to daycares. You know, families of our trucking
companies do all kinds of businesses out there, production, business,
you name it, do it. But they have costs. You
maybe have a cost of labor, contract labor, staffing, You
(33:52):
may have automotive expenses. Mileage, So if you're if you
have your personal car and you're driving to or from
the store to pick up stuff for your truck or
for your business. Maybe you're going out to meet with
a client or a prospect out there, that mileage is
all deductible for your business. Dues and subscriptions, subscriptions you
(34:17):
do for the business, or maybe membership to an organization,
if you're running equipment that you use in the business
is all deductible. Of course, your insurance that you pay
for becomes a deductible business expence. Again, professional fees, getting
your taxes done, your bookkeeping done, are all deductible expenses.
(34:42):
If you have rent an office building and you have
janitorial expenses, those are tax deductible. Telephone, even a portion
of your cell phone you use in the business all
becomes tax deductible. One of the things that we talk
about try to success, to make you successful in the
business is all the ordinary and necessary costs of doing business.
(35:07):
You got to think about your business in a different way.
It's about getting every tax deduction you can possibly find
that relates to your business. Now, the IRS says it
has to be ordinary and necessary. Your cell phone is
necessary in business. Now, how much is it used in
(35:27):
business versus used for personal You kind of got to
look back at the bill. How much are you calling
your significant other or other family members that aren't necessarily
working in the business, what you're just communicating with And
then how much are you calling your suppliers, calling your broker, logistics, bank,
(35:48):
you things that you do for business in business and
making sure that you've got the things that you need
to get the deduction so that you're saving money on taxes. See,
one of the biggest expenses anybody has that's in business
is taxes. You know, taxes, taxes, taxes were always hit
(36:09):
with taxes, and so it's about managing your finances to
minimize the tax as well. So it's kind of a misnumber.
We want to maximize profitability, we want to minimize tax.
And you've got to remember just because your bottom line,
as you know, one hundred thousand dollars at the bottom line,
(36:30):
and you're going to get tax that if you're self employed,
you know you get tax fifteen point three percent right
off the top for Social Security and medicare. Now, minimizing
that will also help profitability. So if you were able
to find ten thousand dollars of additional expenses, it saves
you fifteen hundred dollars. So you know, that becomes kind
(36:52):
of important because at the end of the day, it
helped your bottom line. It may have been things that
you've been paying on the personal side. They relate to business,
but you didn't think about how they relate to business,
and we need to get them over here to where
it is a pre tax item, not some item you
pay after tax. Hey, britt a good question. Should you
(37:14):
have a separate phone line for business? Yes? No, maybe
you know a separate phone line for business is something
you can advertise. Now, if you are growing a business,
you know, and we're talking specifically about a trucking business,
but I'm going to relate this to other business as well.
If you're out there and you're going to be the
only driver in your trucking business, your personal phone line
(37:36):
your business phone line can merge and be one in
the same. Now, I remember, you know, in that cell
phone you're using for business, it's only going to be
a portion deductible, but it can be used because you're
not out there. Now, Let's say you want to go
out there and compete with JB. Hunt and you're going
to have a massive number of truckers running for you,
(37:59):
or you're going to run ten fifteen trucks, you will
probably want a line that is dedicated for business and
business only aligne that you can actually put the business
name on so somebody can find you as if you're
running on a website and everything else. You might want
a second phone line, you know, for that. Or maybe
(38:22):
you're going to start running an office and you're going
to want a voiceover IP system that has the mobile
apps that you can answer the phone anywhere. Then maybe
you've got the office phones, but it can be run
on an app on your phone as well, So we
do that here at Truck or Tax Tools. We got
(38:43):
voiceover IP, but we can answer the phones that come
in through our phone service provider, and we can also
answer on our cell phones through their apps. So you know,
it not necessarily separate phone, but it does have a
separate phone number for the business and we can answer
(39:06):
these things through the apps out there. And that's kind
of leveraging technology which can help you and your business,
whether you're using fleet management software, real time tracking, communication tools,
things that enhance efficiency and aids and compliance and stuff.
(39:27):
Now that's really nice in any business that you have,
because if you're running a business, embracing technology sometimes is
the way to go. So we're at the zero meeting
on Friday and looking at new technology, new integrations our
software to better service our clients and provide more efficiency
(39:48):
so that you know, we can make things smoother and
easier for not just our staff but our clients as well.
So as we go through additional transitions and making things better,
maybe adopting some new innovative technologies, some new AI powered
(40:10):
optimization tools, things that we are doing in our business
to help you, you can use and do in your business,
maybe something like alternative fuels or ways of you know,
when resistance and things like that that can help you
in the business and get better deal knowledge out there
(40:32):
as well. So looking at operational efficiencies and prioritizing safety
and managing your finances and having a strong culture of
safety and strong customer relationships are all things that you
should be embracing when you're in business, regardless of whether
(40:56):
it's a trucking business or any other business. It really
helps you promote your business and keep in business, not
just today but down down the road. You know, AI
is wonderful. So I'm sitting here looking at this and
I thought, you know, hey, you know was some things
(41:18):
we can do with AI? Or how can trucking firms
use technology to cut fuel costs? And AI came up.
You know, I hate to say things are always listening
to you, but they always seem to be. Have you
ever noticed when you talk about vacuums and next thing,
you know, everything through Amazon or you're seeing online is
(41:40):
going to come up vacuum. Sorry, I didn't mean to
pollute your phones with vacuums this week, but hey, when
that comes true, message me next week that you talked
about vacuums and all I'm seeing is vacuums on my phone,
So you're welcome, but we're talking about you know, how
do firms use TAG to cut fuel costs? And optimization
(42:01):
is one minimizing mileage and time. You know, AI sometimes
in the GPS can analyze factors like delivery locations, traffic,
road conditions, vehicle constraints to create the most efficient routes,
cutting down on necessary mileage. Having real time traffic integration
(42:24):
so it's integrated with real time traffic data, the software
can dynamically reroute vehicles to avoid congestion. My wife does
that for by the way, when I'm on the road,
they don't use AI. I use her smarts to find
us routes along the road we're out driving. And then
using something like predictive analytics, you know, they can use
historical data external factors to forecast demand and traffic patterns.
(42:48):
Kind of cool telematics, you know, real time monitoring and
driver behavior analysis help you get better safety improvements. And
this is kind of fun, you know, looking at what
AI comes up. Aerodynamic designs, lighter weight materials, engine and
(43:09):
transmission efficiency, fuel saving technologies, alternative fuels, and electric trucks.
Good luck with electric trucks, by the way, But hey,
that's what you want, Hey, go for it. I avoid them,
you know. I prefer my F one fifty being on
gas and look at the F two to fifty probably
be on diesel. Hey, we're coming to an end of
(43:31):
a great show. I mean this time went fast again.
Connect with us at tax Talk for You dot com.
Go to our Facebook page, like and share, get it
out to other truckers and other people. Definitely go to
truck of tax Tools were running great promotions today for
bookkeeping and tax work. Get with us there, call us,
(43:52):
let us get started. Go to Trucker tax Tools dot com.
But atbobb all you need to be right back here.
At tax Talk for You Every Monday at ten am
Eastern time, W four CY Radio, you can hear a
podcasts iHeart, Spotify, you name it toasted. There. We have
(44:12):
it all available to you to learn more, to help
you run your business more smoothly. Find those operational efficiencies.
Decrease the amount you're going to pay in tax by
finding every deduction allowed by law. That's what the name
of the game is. Saving money, keeping more money in
(44:34):
your pocket keeping it away from Uncle Sam. Hey, we'll
see you next week. Yeah, but God blessed, glorious, an
awesome week. Stay safe and all truckers, thank you for
what you do. Thank you to our military and police
again and fire those that are in the service industry.
Have a guide, blessed everyone, have a guide. Blessed, glorious week.
(44:55):
See you next week right here W four CY Radio
and Tax Talk for You.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Are you an individual or business that wants to understand
taxes and how they affect you. Are you looking for
specific tax advice for self employed business owners and truckers.
Are you behind on taxes and your bookkeeping? Are you
dealing with dirs and ready to have some relief? Then
(45:22):
you need Tax Talk for You, hosted by tax and
trucker expert Barry g.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Fouer EA.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Tune in ten am Eastern Time every Monday right here
on W FOURCY Radio and Talk for TV. Don't forget
to check this and past episodes at tax TALKFORU dot com.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
See you next week at W fourcy dot com.
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