Owner-operator Jeanette Simpson (Jenny, to confidants) isn’t your typical American driver. In fact, she’s not American at all—she emigrated from Australia in 1999, bringing with her a business-savvy repertoire and an entrepreneurial attitude.
From the onset, she says, “I [saw] the potential in trucking from a business aspect,” and she became a company driver the same year she arrived in the U.S. for Keystone Freight Corp. before buying a truck and leasing to Landstar Ranger as a high-risk, high-value load carrier.
She’s also built quite a lucrative operation – she netted $75,000 in 2011. Simpson can’t talk publicly about the freight she carriers, but she did offer a few pointers she says make a successful owner-operator.
Act like a professional: “The No. 1 thing is to be personable and communicate well,” Simpson says, “meaning your company, customers, brokers, basically everybody.
“You have to keep your head on your shoulders and keep your cool. You can’t just get upset over anything. Also, dress professionally. Don’t go up to customers looking like 100 miles of bad road.”
If customers “remember you for good reasons, they’ll want you back,” says the Grand Prairie, Texas, resident. “If you say you’re going to do something, do it. I don’t take a load unless I can give it 100 percent.”
Work toward goals: Simpson works to continually improve profits by controlling spending, she says. “The theory is it’s not how much you make, but how much you keep. If I need something, I get it. If I want something, I just think about it.”
