A black Peterbilt tractor pulling out under lights, filmed from the side.
Dispatch that plans your revenue per day instead of chasing rate per mile — and a licensed insurance broker who reads the policy before you sign it. Both from one person.
I plan loads around revenue per day, reload opportunity and what the run actually costs you — not the number on the rate confirmation. Route planning, rate negotiation, broker relations, load vetting, back office.
I am a licensed property and casualty broker, which means I shop multiple carriers instead of quoting one. Auto liability, cargo, physical damage, trailer interchange, non-trucking liability, cyber.
A freight broker is a licensed intermediary: they hold the contract with the shipper and the money moves through them. A dispatcher works under your authority, as your agent, and never contracts with a shipper directly. That line is the whole legal difference — and it is why your dispatcher having eyes on your insurance is an advantage rather than a conflict.
The full difference →A line of tractors parked in a yard at dusk.
Dispatching, fleet management, and insurance aren’t separate. They work together.
— Shay Denise
They fail from:
Three of those four are things a dispatcher and a broker touch every single week. That is why I do both.
The number on the load board is revenue. What is left after fuel, tires, maintenance, the note, the insurance and the miles you ran empty is the only number that decides whether you are still trucking next year.
Work out your own and the rest of this site gets more useful — you will know which loads to turn down before you call about them.
Her breakdown of where owner-operator arithmetic goes wrong, from her feed.
The intake form takes 10–15 minutes.
Most dispatch services will not tell you what they charge until they have your phone number. Here is mine.
You are billed on what got booked, on the same day every week. If it stops working for you, 30 days’ written notice ends it — there is no penalty clause to argue about, because there is no long-term contract to leave.
How the pricing models compare →A captive agent has one carrier to sell you. As an independent broker I shop several — and then read the exclusions on the one you are about to sign, which is where the coverage you thought you bought usually goes missing.
Auto liability, motor truck cargo, physical damage, trailer interchange, non-trucking liability, occupational accident, cyber.
See what each one covers →
Freight Strategist & Commercial Insurance Broker
Based in Hampton Roads, Virginia, working with owner-operators and small fleets since 2022. Sociology and criminal justice degree from Old Dominion — which sounds unrelated until you watch her pull apart a rate confirmation.
A $4.00/mile load isn't always better than a $2.20/mile load.
A flat 10% per load — the same rate for box trucks and semis. Invoiced every Friday. You can leave on 30 days' written notice, with no long-term contract.
Booking freight is not the hard part. Running compliant, keeping brokers happy, making sure your insurance does not get you turned away at the gate, and protecting profit after fuel, factoring and downtime — that is where it gets hard. If you are already clearing your target revenue per day and your paperwork is current, you may not need a dispatcher. That is a real answer, and it is sometimes the right one.
Yes, and it is a lot of the work. New authorities need a specific approach: starting with the brokers who accept day-one authorities, then working up to the ones with 30, 60 and 90-day requirements as the authority ages. Going straight at the brokers everyone else wants is how new carriers sit empty.
The carrier intake form takes 10–15 minutes. Have your MC number, USDOT number, EIN, W-9, Certificate of Insurance (COI), MC Authority Letter and truck details to hand. Credentials get verified, then we finalize the dispatch agreement.
It is the opposite. Your dispatcher is the person who finds out first when a broker rejects your certificate, when a load needs trailer interchange you do not carry, or when your limits are about to cost you a lane. As an independent broker I shop multiple carriers rather than quoting one. You are free to use your own agent and plenty of clients do.
box truck and semi truck freight. Dry van, reefer, power-only and intermodal lanes.
Call or text (757) 744-2484, or send the intake form and I'll come back to you with something specific about your operation — not a brochure.
