- Brittany Traylor was a truck driver for five years before starting her own trucking company in 2021.
- Trailer Transpo generated $1.4 million in revenue last year through brokerage and dispatch.
- She explained how she built her company and earned the trust of her drivers despite the rising cost of fuel.
Becoming a truck driver wasn’t Brittany Traylor’s dream, but after seeing her uncle driving a truck, she took classes and became one.
“He posted a lot of great pictures on Facebook and started sharing his experiences with me.At the time, I wanted a piece of it.
She was an open-deck driver, mainly hauling construction equipment. As COVID-19 spread, manufacturers shut down operations, construction halted, and supply her chains tightened, the reliability of shipments declined.
After driving for five years, Traylor took an online class and became a license broker. This is the trucking role that connects drivers and cargo jobs and manages the delivery process. In January 2021, she founded her Traylor Transpo, a trucking brokerage and dispatch company. Last year, the Dallas firm grossed her $1.4 million. This was confirmed by her Insider in a document.
Through Trailer Transpo, she is able to create opportunities for others, a key element of entrepreneurship for her.
“I grew up in foster care and never had the opportunity,” Traylor, 31, said. “Trucking allowed us to do that, so we could partner with others, hire employees, and give them a platform to empower them.”
Here’s how Trailer built a million-dollar shipping company in one year.
Starting from “Literally Zero”
Trailer and driver Freddie Williams.
brittany trailer
Traylor said he doesn’t need a lot of money to start a brokerage business. I had “literally zero” cash, which came in handy as I was about three months behind on paying my bills. To keep the business off the ground, she got shingles, glass windows, and freelance gigs delivering Amazon packages in her truck.
“I was at a breaking point where I thought I might need to get back into the world of work,” she said. “Then we started excelling.”
She developed a relationship with a leasing company to acquire more trucks, which helped her pivot to an asset-based business: an equipment-owning company. When she was ready to hire an employee, she posted an ad on her Facebook and waited for candidates to apply.
“At the time, I didn’t know how to hire people or interview people,” she said. “I explored the subject at the same time and was constantly educating myself to build this team.”
Her first employment helped her get her first shippers, which gave her the ability to take on aluminum suppliers. I am a business partner.
Trailer Transpo currently has seven employees, four of whom are drivers. The company also works with approximately 50 contract owner his operators or truck his drivers who lease or own their own trucks. Trailers have daily meetings and regular training to make sure the team is always learning and growing.
One of the keys to her company’s success is implementing technology to connect her team, track shipments, and manage orders.
A reliable ally in difficult fields
Traylor was a truck driver for five years before starting his own business.
brittany trailer
Over the past two years, the truck industry has experienced many ups and downs, from supply chain issues to inflation. You won’t lose your job, but your payment can fluctuate depending on fuel costs and cargo type.
“Last year we had all these smaller carriers and the owner-operator boom, and it was a great market for carriers at the time,” Traylor said. It’s a broker/customer market.”
Cargo is hard to find today and fuel prices are skyrocketing, she said.
Due to these challenges, it was essential to support our drivers.
“We had to help many of these carriers pay directly or offer fuel advances to be able to carry these loads,” she said. “We’re doing our best to make it happen and that’s where these good relationships with our careers come in because we can all win.”
Still, Trailer urges anyone interested in starting a trucking business not to be deterred by the market.
“The supply chain is an ever-changing market, and there is never always the right time,” she said. “Just do it and be open to allow the market to guide you.”