Podcast: Trucking’s Hidden Weapon, How Kevin Rutherford Helps Owner-Operators Succeed

There is very little support out there to help owner-operators succeed in today’s market. 

Enter Kevin Rutherford, the Owner and Presenter of LetsTruck.

“I’m shocked at how little help there is for owner-operators and carriers in this market. I look at other industries. I study other industries. I can find all kinds of education in almost every other business. If you want to get started, there’s all kinds of resources.”

Kevin is now the go-to resource for owner-operators looking to improve fuel efficiency, reduce maintenance costs, and increase their bottom line. How did he get here? In this episode of Freight Nation, he explains his backstory.

Profiting From His Mistakes

Growing up, trucking was ingrained into Kevin’s life. At one point, almost all of his relatives were owner-operators. Kevin wasn’t convinced by the career path, especially after seeing his father in a constant cycle of going bust and having to restart. But at 21, he decided to get into truck driving and bide his time until he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. 

In just four years, Kevin had a fleet of 11 trucks, but instead of making money, the more he bought, the worse things got.

“The more trucks I had, the more I was struggling financially, and that wasn’t making sense to me.”

He added each truck to increase his earnings, but with rising operating costs, he eventually reached a point where he couldn’t cover his employees’ salaries and had to resort to taking out loans.

He even considered bankruptcy to clear his debt. However, Kevin felt this wasn’t morally right, so he didn’t follow their advice and managed to pay back what he owed over four years. But the experience changed his life and his plans for the future.

He dedicated time to educating himself about business and finances while gradually reducing his debts. Four years later, he was completely debt-free and possessed the knowledge needed to operate a successful trucking company. But surprisingly, he opted not to pursue this path.

“The interesting thing was, throughout all this, I figured out how to really run a successful small trucking company. I learned how to run one truck as profitably as you could possibly run it, right? And then I decided not to run a trucking company.”

Building an Owner-Operator Community

Instead, Kevin took his new knowledge and started building a company that would help educate other drivers on how to avoid the costly mistakes he made to help them create a more successful and profitable business. This is what would eventually become LetsTruck. 

From there, he expanded his business to include a software program, ProfitGauges, that helps owner-operators plan their businesses by understanding the numbers. He also contributed articles for Overdrive magazine and was invited to speak on the Partners in Business panel to help guide businesses on their journeys. 

Kevin’s path has led him to a growing and thriving business where he’s constantly learning. But one of the most important lessons he’s learned along the way is to be open when he doesn’t have all the answers.

“I will never answer a question on the air and tell somebody I know something if I don’t know it. And one of my most common phrases now, even though I can cover all kinds of topics, talk about all kinds of things, you will hear me use the phrase, I don’t know, a lot.”

 To learn more about the story behind Kevin Rutherford and LetsTruck, tune into this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.