Southern California-based independent owner-operator Ken Brodeur has found his niche in trucking and is sticking to it.
Headquartered in Escondido, California, just north of San Diego, Brodeur’s specialization in flatbed freight out of the area puts him in a unique position, he feels.
“How many truck drivers, solo acts, are operating out of Southern California in the flatbed world?” he asked. Very few in his estimation, considering the population density in the region. “When you get into an industry, sometimes you realize how small it is." He wagers "there’s probably not more than 10 or 15 flatbedders that have their own business” with authority in San Diego County. “You’re talking millions of people, and there’s probably a dozen of us.”
Brodeur takes pride in not only his ability to maintain profitability as one man, one truck, one trailer, but also to make it in the regulatory hotbed that has been the state of California over his time at the wheel of the business. He's followed his own advice for anyone who asks about getting into trucking as an owner-operator: "Learn to be smart," he said. "To operate a small business in this country, I don’t care what you do, you have to be pretty savvy, which means you’ve got to think, you’ve got to learn.”
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He's certainly done that, delivering Ken Brodeur the feather in the cap of being named Overdrive’s Trucker of the Month for January, putting him in the running as a semi-finalist for the 2025 Trucker of the Year award.
Taking the 'road less traveled’
Driving a truck wasn’t Ken Brodeur’s first career. In fact, he didn’t get into trucking until he was 55 years old.
He had a few things he wanted to do in life as a young man, but none of them quite panned out. He wanted to be a pilot, but his nearsightedness was prohibited. He wanted to go pro in ice hockey, but he “didn’t concentrate on it and focus on it enough,” he said, spending too much time in college “having too much of a good time.”
He went after the music business and had his own recording studio nearing the end of the last century, yet he knew he had to figure something out to make a better living in the meantime.
He went to business school at Kent State University, but eventually dropped out. “I think business school teaches you how to operate for a business,” he said. He wanted to be in business for himself, and landed at a technical school to learn electronic engineering. He spent nearly three decades in IT. “Even as a technician in the computer industry, I pretty much did everything you could do” other than “make a million dollars.”
Throughout this time, though, he still “probably always knew I wanted to have my own business, be my own man."
His IT income dropped fast as work went offshore, particularly starting around the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007. He jumped into the music business with his studio with both feet, yet the downturn swallowed him whole -- Brodeur filed for bankruptcy in 2010, yet was primed for a comeback.
He'd done plenty driving in support of his IT work through years, not to mention school, visiting family and friends and all else. Thinking about work and life behind the wheel led him straight to the Roadmaster Drivers School in November 2012. His first official day trucking was Jan. 10, 2013, age 55.
“I guess you could say I take the road less traveled,” he said.
He got his start as a company driver for Swift, then went to work for Prime and wanted to do flatbed “because sitting in a box truck was just too much inactivity for me,” he said. “I figured at least if I’m throwing chains and straps and tarps … that’s at least a good physical workout.”
He stayed with Prime for about a year, then he went to the oilfields of North Dakota for five months surrounding a summer. He spent time trucking as a team driver with an acquaintance, all the while building experience toward going into business for himself.
Though his credit was shaky given the past bankruptcy, Brodeur found the Lone Mountain Truck Leasing outfit, willing to work with individuals with bad credit to purchase a truck. By December 2016 he'd saved $10K for a down payment in Lone Mountain's lease-to-own program, ready to venture into business for himself with the lease of a 2016 Kenworth W900L. He'd be doing business as Arianne International Cartage, leased to Landstar.
His first year in that truck, which he runs to this day, he drove 160,000 miles and generated $250,000 in revenue, he said. “I was scared to death I’d fail,” he said. “And my poor wife, God bless her, she had to deal with me not being around, and she still does, and it’s tough.”
He made it, though, through freight ups and down by being patient enough to wait out the tough times and striking when the iron's hot. Admittedly, the last couple years with rates as low as they've been, he's slowed down, spending more time at home.
“I’m just kind of like taking it easy until when rates are really good," he said, when he'll strike. "I’ll probably go really hard, ... make some good money and stash it away.” He’s taken some time off this last year to take care of his own health, which at 67 years old is critical, he said. He also had an accident last year that damaged his trailer, necessitating an axle replacement.
Tony Gonzalez, owner of AG & Son Trucking, also out of Escondido, California, runs 10 trucks in his business and has been using Brodeur as a sub-hauler for several years.
“He’s a good, dependable worker,” Gonzalez said. “Whenever I call him, he’s there. For his age, he gives it his all.”
Rod Myrick, a one-truck independent hauling reefer freight as Rod Hauling and who met Brodeur around 2016-’17 when both were leased to Landstar, said Brodeur is “one of them good old success stories” in trucking. Myrick said Brodeur's an operator who “started with a big company and moved his way up, bought himself a truck, got himself a trailer and watched his Ps and Qs. ... Just a true owner-operator.”
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'Business is war'
With the freight downturn of recent years, Brodeur said he “learned to go slow, and I’m more interested in trying to figure out ways to cut costs" than boost revenues. "I’m limited in how much I can make because of the rates and how many hours a human being can work. So, I can only make so much money, but I can certainly control my costs.”
As such, he's turned into something of an in-cab chef in recent years, cooking his own meals on the road to save. That’s also helped his health, along with daily workouts in and around the truck, all the flatbed activity.
While he was off the road during parts of the past year, he's piled up some debt, yet he's confident he'll be able to “burn it off." He invoked the old “war is business and business is war” cliche, noting that he went to business school and “didn’t learn how to do business,” so instead, he decided to study war. “It’s done more to help me survive in business, studying war, than anything else.”
He’s spent a great deal of time on Napoleonic history, and Napoleon’s team of marshals.
“No man is an island. You need your team,” he said. “I’m a solo operator,” but “I do have people that support me. I have an agent that I hire. He deals with the government stuff. I have an accountant that does my books. I have a tax person, separate from my accountant, that does my taxes. And he’s also my financial advisor.”
He leans on fellow truckers and others “that are resources to good places to do maintenance.”
Brodeur's mostly focused on the spot market for freight, following the demand from place to place. He’s “considered contract work, and I look for it," he said, but tends to hit his revenue targets by utilizing brokers and staying smart about load choices. He's careful to keep any destination in mind for the ability to get a good load coming back out of the area.
His sweet spot for length of haul is about 1,000 miles, with at least a night's downtime in-transit to plan for the next load. “When I stop" mid-run, "I’m trying to get my next load."
The truck today is paid for, and he has a year left on his trailer before it’s also paid off. He's optimistic for his business' prospects in 2025, in part due to the new administration, possible energy price drops (including oil, diesel), and a generally better business environment. “I’m looking forward to ’25,” he said. “I think Trump might make some good changes that inspire business.”
Time will tell.
[Related: Staying young, learning more: Trucker of the Year Alan Kitzhaber]
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