Podcast: What Every Owner-Operator Needs to Know

Do you know your cost per mile? And be honest.

According to Adam Wingfield, Founder of Innovative Logistics Group, only 5% of owner-operators are aware of their cost per mile, despite it being a key metric for anyone in the trucking business.

If you’re part of this majority, it’s time to dive into the value of this metric and the top three ways you can optimize it to keep your business moving forward and put more money in your pocket.

Mastering Logistics Efficiency

Most owner-operators fail to take time to really gain a basic understanding of their operational expenses. This prevents them from identifying and improving their variable expense costs. Consequently, owner-operators often face challenges in making crucial decisions, such as evaluating the cost implications of high-end equipment.

But to succeed in the business, you must be obsessed with efficiency and business acumen.

Wingfield recognized this about himself, prompting him to create a business that would not only help owner-operators achieve more success—but also transform processes in the transportation industry.

“I wanna teach you how to be successful. I wanna teach you how to understand, hey, once I understand the financial influence and impact on my one truck and once I got that in control, now I gotta master, mimic, and multiply. Because you’re not gonna get rich off of one truck, and if you really wanna make a business, the thing about business is that a business must be prepared to scale, and you’re prepared to fail.” Adam Wingfield, Founder of Innovative Logistics Group

Adopt the Right Scaling Mentality

Reflecting on his journey, Wingfield initially thought that managing multiple responsibilities himself would save costs. But instead, this approach only slowed his growth potential.

It wasn’t until Adam hired more people that he noticed the company’s ROI triple.

In hindsight, it became clear that he was too absorbed in the day-to-day operations instead of focusing on the long-term goal.

Wingfield recommends that newcomers in the industry remember to maintain a forward-thinking mindset and set clear objectives. For example, if you aspire to have 100 trucks in ten years, be present today but always be thinking ahead to allow room for adjustments when challenges occur.

“I don’t care if you got a team of one driver or you got a team of 150; you gotta show up the same way. And that was my biggest mistake in business, man; it was really not going in with the mindset of people and scaling people first.”

Track the Right Things:

So, which metrics should truckers focus on?

Wingfield identified four things that every owner-operator should be tracking:

• Variable expenses
• Fixed expenses
• Average price at the pump
• Miles per gallon (MPG)

Tracking these can significantly help you reduce your overall expenses and accurately calculate your break-even point, which will allow you to operate effectively in any marketplace.

Today, the trucking business has become a science in which understanding and acting upon key metrics is essential to success. But with industry leaders like Wingfield, the road to profitability becomes easier. After all, if you want to make a business thrive, “a business must be prepared to scale, and you’re prepared to fail.”

To find out more about Adam’s road to success, tune into this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.