ProTrucker.net - A Success Story

The Surface Transportation Industry at your Command

A Success Story by Russ Mohney
The decision to start his own trucking business didn't come easy for David McKinley, but he had plenty of time to think about it. That, in fact, was a big part of the problem. David had to drive most of a hundred miles to his job as truck boss for a big hauling outfit in Vancouver, and it was just too far to commute. Instead, he set up a camper in the truck yard and came home only on weekends.
McKinley and his family had generations-long ties to the small community in which they lived, but he had reached the point in his career where the only positions that would pay him fairly were in the big cities. That, too, was part of the problem.
“Sometimes I didn't get home until late Saturday, and by Sunday evening was on my way back to Vancouver,” David recalled. “That gave me a lot of hours to think about making a career move that would work for me and my family.”
McKinley had learned a lot about the trucking industry during those years working his way from log truck driver to dump truck foreman, and he finally decided to put the pieces together. “If I could get together the right combination,” he explained, “I could work from home and develop a profitable business.”
One notion that kept recurring was the need for a flexible, responsive service that could move single item loads, even fairly small ones, for shippers that couldn’t wait for the rest of a full load to accumulate, but didn’t want to pay for a half-empty over the road delivery.
“I finally figured that a well-managed "hot shot" trucking outfit could provide an essential service to a lot of medium to larger shippers,” McKinley said. “If I could capitalize on those specialty hauls, and if the shippers knew they had a reliable hauler, it would work.”
McKinley contacted friends at Idaho Transportation Equipment, and explained his idea. While they made arrangements for him to buy a FL70 Freightliner, McKinley began the process of getting all the necessary permits and licenses for his newfound "Poor Boy Hauling" company. “I had to jump through a lot of hoops,” he laughed, “but I finally got everything in order.’
Fitted with his modified tractor and a specially-built gooseneck flatbed, McKinley launched "Poor Boy" with few customer contacts but a well-conceived business plan and a lot of hope. “I knew if I could provide a reliable specialty shipping service that was cost and time effective,” David said, “the business would build.”
Since David McKinley took that first big step in determining his own business destiny, Poor Boy Hauling, LLC has grown into just the kind of outfit he’d hoped for. He gets a lot of business from shippers with special needs, a better than average amount of repeat contracts, and he has been able to restore a normal family life in a hometown he enjoys. Best of all, he can make a good income doing what he knows best, and provide a service that the industry needs.
“Because of my experience advantage in most phases of trucking,” he concluded, “I didn’t have to reinvent myself or the business. The combination of knowledge, a good plan, and the right equipment made it all work!”

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