The freight brokerage launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 44 steps in 8 phases, 20 of them specific to a freight brokerage. Free to read; ticking steps off and putting in your own numbers come with membership.
The plan44 steps
- 01Not started0/6Fold
Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
A brokerage makes money one way, and it is essential to say it plainly: you keep the SPREAD between what the shipper pays you and what you pay the carrier.
Typical for one unit is $400,000 to $8,000,000 a year; the owner keeps 20 to 35% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
~50% survive 5 years. Roughly half of all new U.S. businesses reach five years.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: if you can buy a brokerage where the agents and shipper relationships are likely to stay (ideally with the seller transitioning them), buying buys you a book that would take years to... Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
- 02Not started0/5Open
Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
Brokerage is capital-light compared with anything asset-based: there is no and no fleet, because you own no trucks.
The itemized cost to open8 lines
- Broker authority, BOC-3 and UCR: $380 to $430FMCSA filing is $300; process agents and UCR add the rest
- BMC-84 bond, first-year premium: $900 to $7,500About 1% to 2% of the $75,000 bond with strong credit, up to 10% with weak credit
- Contingent cargo, liability and cyber insurance: $1,500 to $7,100First-year premiums; shippers ask for proof before they tender
- Computers, screens, headsets, printer and network: $3,800 to $15,300For you and two operations staff
- Desks and chairs: $1,500 to $10,500
- Business setup, license and office deposit: $450 to $9,300LLC, broker-carrier agreement review, CPA setup, lease deposit
- Logo, website and launch marketing: $2,200 to $14,500
- Working capital (float carrier pay): $15,000 to $75,000Pay carriers before shippers pay you; the biggest line
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to 10 yr · 75-85% government-guaranteed)The workhorse for buying an existing brokerage or funding a startup’s working capital.
- Seller financing (Often 10-30% of price · 3-7 yr)Very common when buying a book of business.
- Factoring / working-capital line (Secured by receivables)Not for the purchase, but essential to operate: factoring advances cash against shipper invoices so you can pay carriers now and collect later.
- Revenue-based / line of credit (Underwritten on earnings & receivables)For asset-light businesses with steady margin, a credit line or revenue-based facility can fund growth without hard collateral.
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
- 03Not started0/4Open
Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
- 04Not started0/4Open
Where you will work froma week or two
A brokerage has no storefront and no service territory in the usual sense; you can book a load from Ohio to Texas from anywhere.
What decides it for this business: direct shipper relationships, deep, vetted carrier network, a specialized freight niche, dense, repeatable lanes, creditworthy shippers.
Most cities allow a business at home with limits on signage, visitors, employees and deliveries; some HOAs and leases do not. Confirm before you print the address on anything.
A door that closes, the equipment and software the week needs, and a business address (a registered agent or mailbox) if you would rather not publish your home.
A home policy rarely covers a business. at minimum, professional liability if you advise, and the certificate clients ask for.
- 05Not started0/2Open
Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
The lender funds against the quotes and the insurance; the money goes to the vendors and the build.
After:
- 06Not started0/9Open
Permits and registrationstwo to four weeks
Freight brokerage is federally regulated by the FMCSA: you need broker authority, a surety bond, and process agents before you can legally arrange a single load.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:Register your or corporation and obtain a city or county operating license.
With your state, before the first taxable sale. Usually free and online; check your state.
Many cities issue a simple permit for a business run from a home; some only need the business license.
The federal broker bond that protects carriers and shippers if you fail to pay.
Designation of a process agent in every state, filed with the FMCSA as a condition of authority.
Not federally mandated, but expected by shippers and essential to cover the claims you will eventually broker or absorb.
Annual registration of brokers and carriers operating in interstate commerce.
- 07Not started0/8Open
Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
The backbone: quotes, load booking, carrier dispatch, tracking, and billing in one place.
Verify authority, insurance, and safety, and watch for double-brokering and fraud.
You pay carriers before shippers pay you.
The $75k BMC-84 broker bond and authority are to operate; contingent cargo and liability cover the claims you will eventually face.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Early morning: Check the board and the routing guides, quote shippers, and book the... Mid-morning: Cover the booked loads: call and vet carriers, negotiate the buy... Daytime: Track and trace loads in transit, update shippers, and put out...
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
- 08Not started0/6Open
Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Agent commission; Carrier pay & the float; Bad debt & shipper credit.
Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Register as an employer and carry workers’ comp before the first payday.
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
Brokerages sell, but what a buyer is really buying is the book (the shipper relationships, the agents, and the carrier network), none of which sit on a balance sheet.