Every October 31st, a strange and bizarre change spreads through millions of communities across the U.S. Monsters, goblins, and ghouls emerge from every nook and cranny, fanning out through residential neighborhoods, city blocks, and apartment buildings, wandering in an excited sugar-fueled daze from door to door.

There are plenty of benefits to being your own boss, but being an owner-operator also comes with plenty of challenges; namely having to do a little bit of everything. On the bright side, there are a growing number of apps to help you balance the administrative side of trucking with driving and/or managing other drivers.

Severe fatigue can impair someone as much as being drunk would, so it’s important to make sure your drivers are getting enough sleep. Following the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours of service regulations is a good first step, but ensuring that drivers can get the restorative sleep they need to stay sharp helps keep the roads safer and your business on the right road.

If you’ve been driving on the highways lately you might have noticed that there seems to be a truck everywhere you look, and if it seems to you like trucking is making a comeback in a major way, you’d be absolutely right.

The beating heart of your fleet is your team of drivers, the men and women on the road that ensure your cargo is moving safely and efficiently to its destination. A great group of drivers can be the difference between a thriving, growing trucking company and one struggling to maintain the status quo. Making sure you have systems in place to recruit and train new talent is absolutely necessary to keeping your fleet healthy and strong.

Planning your fleet’s route through the financial landscape of a year can be a daunting task - trying to stagger routine maintenance costs, registration, insurance, and more so you always have enough cash on hand to keep things rolling.

Even the best laid plans of fleet operators can fail to account for the costs of accidents, injuries, and other unforeseen circumstances. Keeping enough cash on hand to cover all your operating expenses can be a major headache, forcing you to make bad decisions about things like preventative maintenance.