Trucking: Starting a Trucking Business, direct shippers, trucking business

Question
My husband and I are looking into starting a trucking business in North Carolina. We had a friend who started a few months ago and has reported earning about $12,000 their first month AFTER expenses. This sounds good, but my question is, what is the most profitable product to ship and how much can we expect to make (starting with only 1 truck, 1 driver) our first 3 months?

Answer
Nikke, I wouldn't make such a major decision on 1 persons report of 1 months results.  The term "AFTER expenses" can be misleading.  Did he account for wear and maintenance, replacement tires, Insurance, tags, etc?  Even though these expenses do not occur every month you need to be a smart enough business person to plan and set back a reserve for when the inevitable expense occurs.  Plus the lost revenue while the truck is down for repairs.  Having said that if you know what you are doing you can make a decent living since trucks are always in demand.  The most "profitable" loads generally involve either high value goods or high service needs.  The trade off is higher insurance requirements and harder work.  Also shippers with high value freight tend to go with established carriers and not a start up.  Best bet is get to know a few brokers that can feed you low margin moves to keep you moving as you try to find a few direct shippers that you can serve profitable.  Not only will you need good business knowledge but also a certain amount of sales effort to get the best accounts.
Here are a couple of resources to check out:
http://www.truckingsuccess.com/starting-a-trucking-business.html
http://www.ooida.com/
Best of luck.
Jim