The 90-day launch plan — week by week

The plan

This is what week 1 through week 13 looks like for a serious new carrier.

If you follow it, you'll have MC authority, insurance bound, a truck on the road, and 4+ paid loads by day 90.

Week 1 — Legal foundation

• File LLC with your Secretary of State
• Draft & sign operating agreement
• Apply for EIN at irs.gov/ein
• Open business checking account
• Fund with $1,000+ owner capital contribution
• Sign up for QuickBooks Simple Start

Time investment: 6–10 hours. Cash out: $150–$550.

Week 2 — FMCSA filings

• File OP-1 at urs.fmcsa.dot.gov ($300)
• File BOC-3 with DOT Authority ($40)
• Note your USDOT # and pending MC #
• Enroll in drug consortium ($85)
• Begin insurance shopping (contact 3 agents)
• Register domain (yourcompany.com, ~$12/yr)

Time investment: 5–7 hours. Cash out: $425–$450.

Week 3 — Truck shopping

• Refine budget with financing pre-approval
• Set alerts on Ryder, TruckPaper, and Commercial Truck Trader
• View 3–5 candidate trucks in person
• Get pre-purchase inspections on top 2 ($200 each)
• Refine insurance quotes with specific truck VINs

Time investment: 10–15 hours (test drives, PPIs). Cash out: $400 (2 PPIs).

Week 4 — Truck purchase & prep

• Close on truck (financing or cash)
• Get truck to your yard/parking
• Order lettering with MC + USDOT (federally required on both doors)
• Get annual DOT inspection
• Install ELD (Motive)
• Get fuel card active (RTS or factor)

Time investment: 8–12 hours. Cash out: down payment ($8k–$15k) + lettering ($120) + ELD hardware ($150) + DOT inspection ($100).

Week 5 — Waiting on MC + prep

• MC should be active this week (or early next)
• Register for IRP and IFTA with your state
• Register for UCR (if in current window)
• Bind insurance immediately upon MC activation
• Confirm MCS-90 + BMC-91 filed with FMCSA
• Get your COI as PDF
• Print MC + USDOT on truck lettering

Time investment: 4–6 hours. Cash out: insurance down payment ($2,500–$4,500) + IRP ($800–$1,800) + UCR ($46).

Week 6 — Amazon Relay + load board apps

• Apply to Amazon Relay
• Sign up for DAT One Pro (free trial)
• Set up broker Carrier411 checks
• Set up factoring (RTS or TAFS)
• Sign broker packet templates

Time investment: 3–5 hours. Cash out: $195 DAT + $20 Carrier411.

Week 7 — First loads

• Book first load on DAT (spot) at ANY reasonable rate
• Complete first load, get POD signed
• Submit first invoice through factoring
• Receive first factored payment (24–72 hrs)
• Log broker + rate + lane in your Google Sheet

Time investment: 40+ hours (full driving week). Cash flow: first factored income arrives.

Weeks 8–9 — Ramp

• 4–8 loads per week
• Follow Sunday market audit routine
• Every load includes rate negotiation
• Approve Amazon Relay carrier packet
• Complete first Relay load

Expected: $3,500–$6,000 gross revenue per week.

Weeks 10–11 — Optimization

• Amazon Relay dedicated lane application
• 2–3 repeat brokers texting you loads
• Deadhead under 15%
• First direct-shipper cold calls
• Sunday reconciliation locked in as routine

Expected: $5,000–$8,000 gross revenue per week.

Weeks 12–13 — Stabilize

• All compliance calendar reminders set
• First month's P&L complete
• CPM recalculated with real data
• Rate benchmarks vs. DAT reviewed
• Maintenance reserve at $500–$1,500 (per revenue miles)
• IFTA reserve started

Expected: $6,500–$10,000 gross revenue per week.

Day 90 milestone

If you've done everything above:

• MC active for 60+ days
• Amazon Relay carrier packet approved
• 3+ repeat brokers
• Positive cash flow every week
• Cash reserves at $8k+ (post-launch spend)
• Understanding of YOUR CPM (not a guess)

The 3 things that make the plan fail

1. 1Skipping the compliance calendar setup — you'll get authority revoked by month 8.
2. 2Not factoring day 1 — you'll run out of cash by week 8.
3. 3Chasing loads at any rate to "keep the truck moving" — you'll grind down your reserves and burn out.

Follow the plan. Do the work. Trust the compounding.

Final action items

• Print this plan. Put it on your fridge.
• Set weekly reminders for each week's tasks.
• Update yourself against the milestones every Sunday.
• When you complete week 13, message me — I want to hear how it went.

Welcome to the industry. Now go build a real business.