Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/818577
30 | Overdrive | May 2017 G ary Buchs re- calls asking an experienced owner-opera- tor years ago about business plans. "He said, 'Get a load, and go to work,' " Buchs says. Buchs, 62, knew then that there's a lot more to running a successful owner-operator business than saying yes to any old load. He put into words what he's learned in his 14 years as an owner-operator when he had to submit a formal busi- ness plan last year as part of his application for the 2016 Owner-Operator of the Year contest, produced by Overdrive and the Truckload Carriers Association. As he and his wife, Marcia, approached writing the plan, they also drew upon their experience beyond trucking, which included running a farm and launching a livestock feed business. Another was Marcia's work as a nurse. "When I look at a patient, I set goals, plan for interventions and evaluate the outcomes," says Marcia, who works at the Illinois State University College of Nursing in Bloomington. She and Gary followed the same crite- ria for the business plan. "I've found even at this late date in my career, writing this plan has made me a better operator just in the last eight months," says Buchs, of Colfax, Illinois. "It helps you re-evaluate some things." It also helped judges evaluate Buchs' qualifi cations, naming him the winner of the contest. That honor included a $25,000 prize, made possi- ble by sponsors Cummins and Love's Travel Stops. That awareness of self-employment's responsi- bilities and potential benefi ts has guided Buchs' trucking career, enabling him to shape a private niche that fi ts his professional and personal preferences. It's also a big reason he chose to lease to Landstar System in 2003. "He's one of the few guys who really does run his truck like a business and keeps track of everything," says Landstar agent Bobbie Applegate, who's worked with Buchs from the beginning. "What he does realize – and a lot of guys don't – is that ship- pers and consignees are our customers. He goes the extra mile to make friends with them. It's not just a job." As Buchs was changing from company driver to owner-operator, he saw that Landstar's model of self-dis- patch, which has long drawn many of the industry's most business-minded owner-oper- ators, would suit him well. "They had advice they would give us, but it was our decision," Buchs says. Fees and deductions were more fa- vorable toward the owner-op- As an Owner-Operator of the Year fi nalist, Buchs and his wife, Marcia, were treated to an expense-paid trip to the Truckload Carriers Association annual conference, held this year at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS Max Heine Landstar operator chooses loads, drives low miles and frees his schedule by applying numbers derived from his annual income goal BY MAX HEINE