Trucking: Owning your own dump truck, sample business plan, luck jim

Question
Hello,

My fiance' is thinking about looking into owning his own dump truck. He has worked in the trucking field for about 6yrs now. I think it would be an excellent idea but we are clueless on where to start. We live in Virginia Beach. Va

1. How would he go about leasing his own dump truck?
2. Do he have to come up with a business Plan?
3. Do he have to obtain a business license?
4. What is the first steps he should take?

I looked at a sample business plan and it seems kind of complicated. As far as coming up with the figures on how much will be made and so forth. If you have any helpful information please let us know.

Clueless in Va

Answer
Tomica, the first question is who will hw haul for?  Do you have customers lined up or will he contract to another company.  Leasing a truck should be relatively straight forward, but a good business plan will include a Marketing plan that predicts where the sales will come from and how much revenue can be generated.  You also will need at least a basic understanding of the costs associated with running a truck as well as the overhead for licenses, tags, permits, insurance etc.  You have a lot of planning and ground work to do before committing to a truck lease.  Make sure you have a strong steady flow of paying work and an escape plan if it doesn't work out.  Best of luck.  Jim.