Real numbers, and where they came from
Most trucking blogs restate the same advice with a different photo on top. These are worked through with our own settlement figures, current ATRI and DAT data, and a source list at the bottom of every page so you can check us.
Start here
The three questions everybody asks first
If you read nothing else, read these. Between them they cover what the job pays, how the freight gets booked, and whether you should be doing this under somebody’s authority or your own.
$71,808
What Owner-Operators Actually Make in 2026
The average owner-operator netted $71,808 last year while job boards advertise $228,575. Both are true. A full week costed line by line at 2026 fuel and rates — including what a bad week looks like.
Read it85%
Self-Dispatch Trucking: How It Actually Works
You find the load, you set the rate, you keep 85%. What a load board and factoring really cost, how many hours a week booking takes, why “no forced dispatch” is not a legal protection, and the three drivers it is wrong for.
Read it$20k–$37k
Lease On or Get Your Own Authority?
Your own authority is worth twenty to thirty-seven thousand a year more — on paper. The full 2026 cost of running one, what the headline leaves out, and the honest answer on who should go and who should wait.
Read itBy topic
The rest of the library
Money and taxes
What comes in, what goes out, and what the government wants.
- What owner-operators actually make in 2026The full cost model, with sources
- The five biggest expenses of an owner-operatorAnd how to keep each one down
- Tax issues for truck driversDeductions, quarterly payments, per diem
- Affordable health insurance for truck driversThe gap nobody covers for you
- How to plan your retirement as an owner-operatorNobody is matching your contributions
Booking your own freight
Load boards, brokers, rates, and running the truck as a business.
Going independent
Authority, equipment and the paperwork between you and it.
Licences, medicals and compliance
The rules that decide whether you can work at all.
- How to get your CDL in IndianaSchools, tests, costs and timing
- CDL classes and endorsements explainedWhich ones are worth having
- DOT driving hours: the 14- and 16-hour rulesWhere drivers actually get caught out
- The DOT medical cardWhat it is and how to keep it
- Drug and alcohol testing, end to endThe procedure and the Clearinghouse
- Ten road practices that protect your CSA scoreYour insurance renewal is watching
Your truck. Your loads. Your rates.
Stop reading, start running
Everything on this page is the arithmetic behind one offer: book your own freight, set your own rates, keep 85% of the load. The application takes about ten minutes.
Questions? Call (317) 978-0276 · Read the FAQ · See the requirements
