• Businesses must make important decisions on adding departments, supervisors and employees; or to outsource various aspects of a business.
• Equipment needs to be maintained and business owners need to decide what maintenance can be done by the company, what maintenance needs must be completed by others, and if an in-house maintenance department may be feasible at some point.
• As a business grows, it is important to hire competent management and personnel that share in the company’s vision for continued success.

Most business owners hope their business will grow in size and structure. Others want to remain a one person, one-truck business. Growth can be positive, but it can also generate a whole new set of problems that some business owners don’t want to deal with. Even one truck businesses that want to remain that way may need to develop a support structure to help them succeed in their business venture.

With growth comes more responsibility. Every business owner will come to a point in their life where they may not be able to do everything themselves anymore. The decision to add departments, supervisors, and employees, or to outsource various aspects of a business, is an important one. It’s important to remember through this process that this is still a business. Business owners need to decide what to keep under their direct control, what they can hand over to others within the business, and what they can allow outside entities to do for the business.

Common areas that a small trucking business may use outside businesses in creating their support structure are licensing, permits, and accounting. These three areas are heavily regulated, can involve tremendous amounts of time, and may directly affect the continued success and life of the business. Businesses can certainly do these things on their own or hire an employee to deal with them, but there are excellent companies out there that can take the worry out of a company’s hands and allow them to concentrate on customer service, revenue building, sales, or driving the truck; whatever they do best.

Equipment maintenance

As a business grows, decisions will need to be made in the areas of equipment repair and maintenance. Again, it will be important to determine what tasks the business can do themselves, what tasks the business should do, and what others can do for the business. Many truck drivers perform basic maintenance on their vehicles every day. Some do major repairs as well. For example, unless a company is in the business of being a mechanic, they may need to look to others for help in this area. They may hire a part-time person to do minor repairs and maintenance, while using a major repair facility for the big jobs. Eventually, it may be feasible for the company to have their own repair facility and do all the work in-house. The size of the fleet and the current profitability of the company will help dictate what direction to go in this area.

Staffing

Another area of concern is office staffing. In the beginning, a business may be able to handle everything on their own but now phone calls are being missed, customers are being ignored, and the reputation of the business is starting to falter. It takes a lot of hard work to build a business to this point; don’t let the business suffer due to an “I can do it myself” attitude. Whether the business hires office personnel directly, or they use a temporary staffing service, it’s important to continue to present a professional attitude to customers and the industry. If no one can get through on the phone, or all they get when they call is a recording saying, “We appreciate your business, please hold,” they will quickly go somewhere else. If the business is a one-truck business conducting business from the driver’s seat, a landline or “800” number at a message center may be an option.

As the business continues to grow, areas that were originally outsourced can be brought in-house with the development of specific departments and the hiring of competent management and personnel in those areas. When considering this step, look to people for their expertise in the specific area or department which is being created. A good driver doesn’t always make a good dispatcher. Just because someone has a good safety record doesn’t mean they’d be a great safety director. A business needs to do their homework and hire the best. That way, the business can feel confident that their employees and staff are competent in what they do and that they share in the company’s vision for continued success.